{"product_id":"old-map-of-ashland-nebraska-by-usgs-1968-platte-river-melia","title":"Old Map of Ashland, Nebraska by USGS, 1968 – Platte River \u0026 Melia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe original title, “Ashland East,” identifies this 1:24,000 United States Geological Survey quadrangle devoted to Ashland, Nebraska, and its immediate surroundings. Dated 1968 and carrying a 1973 imprint, it presents the landscape with the authority and restraint characteristic of mid-century federal cartography. The map captures Ashland at a moment before many later patterns of suburban expansion, highway improvement, and land-use change had fully reshaped the Platte River country. Here, a compact Nebraska town is set within a measured grid of roads, fields, drainage features, rail lines, and contour-marked terrain. Its value lies not only in geographic precision, but in its ability to preserve a late-1960s portrait of a working Midwestern landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by the United States Geological Survey, the map belongs to one of America’s most respected cartographic traditions. The USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle series was designed to provide dependable, standardized knowledge of the nation’s terrain for engineers, planners, scientists, land managers, and the public. In “Ashland East,” that institutional clarity is evident in every convention: contour lines articulate elevation, blue hydrography traces watercourses and ditches, red symbols identify roads and paths, and the regular section grid reflects the legacy of public land survey organization. The result is a map both technical and elegant, turning practical geographic data into a disciplined visual record of place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Platte River is the dominant natural presence on the map, lending the quadrangle its broad lowland character and ecological significance. One of the great rivers of the central Great Plains, the Platte is famous for its wide, shallow, shifting channels and its importance to wildlife, agriculture, and human movement across Nebraska. Around Ashland, the river corridor creates a landscape of floodplain, terraces, and subtle elevation changes, all rendered through the careful language of contour lines. Ditches and drainage features hint at the management of water across cultivated land, while the mapped relief reveals how even modest changes in height shape roads, settlement, and field patterns.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshland itself appears as the principal populated place, its streets and connecting routes set into the larger agricultural framework of eastern Nebraska. Nearby Melia is also shown, a smaller named place that helps anchor the rural geography of the quadrangle. Railroad tracks cut across the mapped area, reminding the viewer that Ashland’s development was tied not only to river and road, but also to the rail networks that organized commerce and settlement throughout the Plains. The numerous gridded land sections speak to survey, ownership, and cultivation, presenting the countryside as both natural terrain and human project—measured, divided, traversed, and worked over generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a historical document, “Ashland East” is especially compelling for comparison with the present. Its roads, rail lines, field boundaries, waterways, and settlement patterns preserve a precise record of the area in the late 1960s, before subsequent decades altered the rhythms of travel, agriculture, and development around Ashland. The map’s classic topographical design rewards close study: each contour interval, route symbol, and water feature contributes to an integrated understanding of the land. It is a portrait of Nebraska not as abstraction, but as lived terrain—river valley, town, farm country, infrastructure, and surveyed order brought together in the unmistakable visual language of the USGS.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCities, towns and places on this map\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAshland, Nebraska\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMelia, Nebraska\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlatte River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDitch\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRailroad tracks\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNearby roads and paths\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNumerous sections of land marked by grid squares\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistorical context \u0026amp; cartographic details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProduced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical 1:24,000 topographical map of Ashland, Nebraska and the surrounding area\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDated 1968 with a 1973 imprint\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShows the area as it appeared in the late 1960s\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUseful for comparing historical land use, infrastructure, and development with the modern landscape\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClassic USGS topographical design with contour lines and shaded relief\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDepicts landforms, water bodies, infrastructure, elevation changes, valleys, and rivers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIncludes contour lines indicating changes in elevation and terrain features\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLooking for a particular place?\u003c\/strong\u003e Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/de\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eask our workshop to check before you order\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDetailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/de\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/de\/pages\/map-personalisation\"\u003eSee personalised map examples\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/de\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003erare old and vintage maps\u003c\/a\u003e to discover another place, period or style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Map","offer_id":58781090840960,"sku":null,"price":364.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58781090873728,"sku":null,"price":979.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":58781090906496,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":58781090939264,"sku":null,"price":364.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58781090972032,"sku":null,"price":979.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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