Erosion and Flood Control Map Symbols

By golly! (gully?) If you’ve ever come across an old terrain map and wondered what those squiggly lines mean, here’s the answer:

Dams, bulkheads, arches, ditches, flumes, outlet spreaders, outlet baffles, revetments, riprap, fence, gullies, borings, test pits, siphons, retaining walls, culverts, inlet transitions, jump structure, overfall, tree plantings, sheet erosion plantings, streams, lakes, terraces, ground water, water seepage, water limits, drains, percolators … the language of erosion and flood control in 1930s America.

The above symbols are selected from five pages (full PDF) in Symbols and Instructions for Maps and Plans, a book compiled and published by the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Indian Affairs in 1941.

Making Maps blog by John Krygier, author and Associate Professor of Geography at Ohio Wesleyan University, has more: Link – Thanks Marilyn Terrell!