Cartographic Artifacts and the Curious Case of Carson Lake

In 1955, Carson Lake did not exist

The Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains as depicted on a dateless Rand McNally Raised Relief World Map

Growing up in the flatlands of Northeast Wisconsin, I have long been fascinated with big topography  and consistently drawn to maps - particularly those that use raised relief to depict elevation changes.

Raised relief maps are models of reality that present landscape formations in 3-Dimensions - allowing the user to both see and feel the  plains, valleys, and mountain ranges of the world. As a child, I remember being intrigued by the vast raised ridges that ran across the Americas -  one flowing from Alaska to New Mexico, and another running through Ecuador, Peru and Chile - places in which I would later work, travel, and live. These raised relief maps brought the dramatic geologic formations that occupy much of the western extent of the Americas to the classrooms of the topographically challenged Midwest. 

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