Search Tips
The challenge in finding maps of specific features is a result of their naming. These geological features were named, and catalogued by various different people, in different parts of the country, in different time periods. Not everyone thought alike in the way they should be named and catalogued. For example, one person might call a mountain just that: a "mountain". While someone else might call it a "range", and someone else might call it a "ridge".
With that in mind, your searches for topographic maps will be most effective if you abide by the following rules.
- With keyword searches, leave out the common words in feature names. If you're looking for a map of Strawberry Mountain, for example, leave out "mountain". If you're looking for the John Day River, leave out "river".
- Try to narrow your search to a state and county, if possible. Even better, search as close as possible to a city, or a lat and long. The reason being that many popular names are used many, many times. For example, as many as 10 streams may be named "Camp Creek" in the same county.


