Minnesota On The Map

Have you ever tried to visualize how Minnesota developed into the state it is, beginning from wilderness land? One way to envision those changes is to study old maps. This book, by David Lanergran, is a sesquicentennial project of the Minnesota Historical Society. In it, the author describes the history of mapmaking in Minnesota, and illustrates the text with maps ranging from the earliest explorers to statehood, to establishing counties and townships, towns and cities, the construction of railroads, and roads ("auto trails" or "motor trails" at first), the growth of the Twin Cities, and finally, recreation area maps. The majority of the maps date from the earliest explorers to the 1930's. It is an interesting book to browse, but also belongs in library reference collections, and will be useful to Minnesota history classes or for History Day projects.