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Nostalgia & History > The Great Northern's 1910 Plaster Relief Map of Glacier ParkDate: 09/20/16 02:56 The Great Northern's 1910 Plaster Relief Map of Glacier Park Author: jkkeck As part of its seminal "See America First" tourism campaign, and expecting Congressional approval of the new Glacier National Park in 1911, the Great Northern Railway commissioned metal-smith, model maker and UW geology museum curator Ernst Hugo Jean (E.H.J.) Lorenz (1866-1947) and his Lorenz Model Company in Madison, Wisconsin to create a plaster relief map of Glacier National Park.
Photo 1.) For his remarkable Glacier Park map, Lorenz utilized a primitive airbrush technology to paint a unique, vivid colorful map which was displayed in the Great Northern's downtown Chicago ticket office. I photographed what I believe is this Railroad map (on the red background) while visiting Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier Park in 2012. It appears this map was updated a while back since it includes a painting of the 1950 orange and green Empire Builder. Photos 2.) and 3.) After creating his map for the Great Northern, it is reported that Lorenz also created a second relief map without park related annotations. I believe this map is the one that has been recently restored by the University of Wisconsin and is also available for public viewing in a stairwell at Science Hall at the foot of Langdon Street in Madison, in the same place it initially captured my attention thirty years ago as a student. I photographed this well-lit map (on the white background) and its annotation in 2015. More information on E.H.J. Lorenz and his amazing relief maps can be found in the 2015 book by Melanie Schleeter McCalmont, "A Wilderness of Rocks: The Impact of Relief Models on Data Science". Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/16 08:20 by jkkeck.    Date: 09/20/16 08:52 Re: The Great Northern's 1910 Plaster Relief Map of Glacier Park Author: SPDRGWfan Being educated and trained as a Geologiest (BS and MS) I'm a map kind of guy; thats very cool!
Cheers, Jim Fitch Date: 09/20/16 13:54 Re: The Great Northern's 1910 Plaster Relief Map of Glacier Park Author: RuleG Thanks for sharing. I am a UW alumni, but did not know about the relief map in Science Hall. Will check it out in a future trip to Madison.
Date: 09/20/16 23:58 Re: The Great Northern's 1910 Plaster Relief Map of Glacier Park Author: mp51w Very cool post! I'm going to check out that book too!
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