Embodying Landscape, Transposing Space

François Matthes's topographical maps of the Grand Canyon

Nicholas Bauch
Geographer-in-Residence
Spatial History Project
Stanford University

#nacis2015

Transcript

1. Embodying Landscape, Transposing Space François Matthes's topographical maps of the Grand Canyon Nicholas Bauch Geographer-in-Residenc Spatial History Project Stanford University
2. Powell “wanted to map, carefully, with a consistent system of symbols and colors, and on a scale large enough to serve all normal foreseeable uses, the 3,000,000 square miles of the United States.” - Wallace Stegner, 1954
3. William B. Hartley, 1865. Courtesy Library of Congress.
4. USGS, 1873. Courtesy Library of Congress.
5. PLANE TABLE MAPPING: a primer
6. Image Source: U.S. Coast Survey. 1869. The Plane- Table and its use in Topographical Surveying. New York: D. Van Nostrand.
7. Image source: Greenhood, David. 1964. Mapping. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8. “The topography of the Grand Canyon proved to be next to ideal for plane-table methods …. Thousands of intersections and hundreds of elevations from one instrument station, - there is no other place on earth where it can be done.” - Francois Matthes, 1905
9. MATTHES AT THE GRAND CANYON
10. Francois Matthes topographical crew mapping the Grand Canyon. Ca. 1904. Courtesy Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection.
11. North Bass Trail. 14 hiking miles over a 6,000-feet elevation gain. Google Earth. 2015.
12. Muav Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Nicholas Bauch, 2015.
13. North Bass Trail, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Nicholas Bauch, 2015.
14. North Bass Trail, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Nicholas Bauch, 2015.
15. Henry G. Peabody, A Grove of Pines in the Kaibab Forest, 1928. Courtesy The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
16. Walhalla Plateau and Kaibab Plateau, U.S. National Park Service.
17. Henry G. Peabody, Up Grand Canyon from Bright Angel Point, 1928. Courtesy The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
18. Shinumo Quadrangle, 1906. Francois Matthes, topographer. Courtesy Branner Library, Stanford University.
19. Detail, Shinumo Quadrangle, 1906. Francois Matthes, topographer. Courtesy Branner Library, Stanford University.
20. Bright Angel Quadrangle, 1906. Francois Matthes, topographer. Courtesy Branner Library, Stanford University.
21. Detail from Bright Angel Quadrangle, 1906. Francois Matthes, topographer. Courtesy Branner Library, Stanford University.
22. “The map (not just the plotting but the actual map) grows under your hand right out there in the field! …. It's mapping direct from nature, at first hand, like a painter with a landscape.” - David Greenhood, 1964
23. Thomas Moran, Chasm of the Colorado, 1874. Department of the Interior Museum.
24. William Henry Holmes, Panorama From Point Sublime, Part II Looking South, 1882. Courtesy David Rumsey Map Collection.
25. Henry G. Peabody, Looking East From Grand Scenic Divide, 1899. Courtesy The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
26. THE TRANSPOSITION OF SPACE Changing a pictorial view into a plan view
28. Screen shot from Enchanting the Desert, forthcoming 2016, Stanford University Press.
29. Thank you! nbbauch@stanford.edu Detail from Bright Angel Quadrangle, 1906. Francois Matthes, topographer. Courtesy Branner Library, Stanford University.
31. Extra  slides    
32. Image source: Greenhood, David. 1964. Mapping. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
33. “The most magnificent picture of the Grand Canyon ever drawn, painted, or photographed .... Nearly diagramatic, it reproduces rock strata with miraculous accuracy - which is precisely what it was intended to do .... Not intended to be art, it succeeds in being art of a striking kind.” - Wallace Stegner, 1977
34. Image source: Greenhood, David. 1964. Mapping. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.