Lessons in chalk modeling: The new method of map drawing

by Ida Cassa Heffron

To read intelligently Scott, Dickens, George Elliot and others is to understand the peculiarities of climate and structure of the British Isles. The old Greek stories and the German Folk Lore as well, demand for their understanding and interpretation, that we place them not only in relation to the habits and thoughts of the people, but also to the physical foundation of the country itself.

Relief Map. The nearer a map corresponds in its inherent form and material, to the surface features of the earth which it is designed to represent, the more of reality does it recall to the mind. The most effective map of this kind and the one which corresponds most closely to the reality is the modeled map of putty or plaster, showing structure in relief.

These maps have been in use for years, and have been of incalculable interest and benefit to those whose stock of knowledge concerning geographical structure had been mainly gathered from the flat political map and old modes of teaching.

On seeing a relief map of one of the continents for the first time, there arises a sense of wonder and surprise, and as the realization dawns upon one of the continuity of the great mass of land represented, with its altitudes and depressions, and that it is one stupendous aggregation of soil, rock and vegetation, surrounded by a great expanse of water, a feeling of awe and astonishment is awakened.

As this new light comes to the student, he looks with interest and eagerness to see the plan of it all. We do not mean to say that he sees in the map before him an actual correspondence to the earth’s surface structure, that is, forms that are reproductions in miniature of mountain range and valley, but he sees a representation of them calculated to arouse his imagination to a lively degree. He is enabled to picture to himself great slopes crowned by lofty mountain peaks, and the meeting of their lower edges where mighty rivers flow. He sees in imagination how these waters have cut deep channels into the great uplifted masses, how they have torn jagged gashes into their rugged sides as they leaped and tumbled through dark cañons, grinding off rocks that form sediment constantly to be deposited later on upon the plain below. He easily understands that they must act as a source of drainage for wet lands and as channels for the irrigation of dry areas.

In looking upon the great bodies of water, oceans, seas, lakes and gulfs, as represented on the maps, he questions the relation of these waters to the land, their depth and what place they fill in the economy of nature. Indeed, the relief map has an awakening effect, quickening the imagination and stimulating to mental effort—earnest thought.

They are invaluable in their place and have come to stay; yet on account of their weight and general unwieldiness they are not practically as useful as maps which are lighter and more easily handled.

The papier mache maps in relief, although much lighter in weight, are still very bulky if made large enough to be of much practical use as wall maps, since they cannot be folded or reduced in size to facilitate transportation, or removal from room to room.

The best of these, also, are modeled in such low relief that they are better adapted to the use of pupils in the higher than in the lower grades. Other maps of rather recent date are the typographical map and the contoured map. The former shows general altitudes by the use of shades of color, and is of great value to one who can interpret it, but only a confused mass of signs and symbols to the young student, and thus not much more helpful to him than was the old reference map.

In the contoured map, the altitudes are scientifically represented by lines drawn to an exact scale, and such maps are most valuable to students of the higher grades.