Manual of Military Training, James A. Moss [books under 200 pages .TXT] 📗

certain marks or symbols shown on a map to designate physical features of the terrain. (See diagram, Par. 1875 Plate I and II.) On the Elementary Map the conventional signs are all labeled with the name of what they represent. By examining this map the student can quickly learn to distinguish the conventional signs of most of the ordinary features shown on maps. These conventional signs are usually graphical representations of the ground features they represent, and, therefore, can usually be recognized without explanation.

For example, the roads on the Elementary Map can be easily distinguished. They are represented by parallel lines (======). The student should be able to trace out the route of the Valley Pike, the Chester Pike, the County Road, and the direct road from Salem to Boling.

Private or farm lanes, and unimproved roads are represented by broken lines (= = = =). Such a road or lane can be seen running from the Barton farm to the Chester Pike. Another lane runs from the Mills farm to the same Pike. The small crossmarks on the road lines indicate barbed wire fences; the round circles indicate smooth wire; the small, connected ovals (as shown around the cemetery) indicate stone walls, and the zigzag lines (as shown one mile south of Boling) represent wooden fences.

Near the center of the map, by the Chester Pike, is an orchard. The small circles, regularly placed, give the idea of trees planted in regular rows. Each circle does not indicate a tree, but the area covered by the small circles does indicate accurately the area covered by the orchard on the ground.

Just southwest of Boling a large woods (Boling Woods) is shown. Other clumps of woods, of varying extent, are indicated on the map.

The course of Sandy Creek can be readily traced, and the arrows placed along it, indicate the direction in which it flows. Its steep banks are indicated by successive dashes, termed hachures. A few trees are shown strung along its banks. Baker's Pond receives its water from the little creek which rises in the small clump of timber just south of the pond, and the hachures along the northern end represent the steep banks of a dam. Meadow Creek flows northeast from the dam and then northwest toward Oxford, joining Woods Creek just south of that town. York Creek rises in the woods 11/4 miles north of York, and flows south through York. It has a west branch which rises in the valleys south of Twin Hills.

A railroad is shown running southeast from Oxford to Salem. The hachures, unconnected at their outer extremities, indicate the fills or embankments over which the track runs. Notice the fills or embankments on which the railroad runs just northwest of Salem; near the crossing of Sandy Creek; north of Baker's Pond; and where it approaches the outskirts of Oxford. The hachures, connected along their outer extremities, represent the cut through which the railroad passes. There is only one railroad cut shown on the Elementary Map—about one-quarter of a mile northeast of Baker's Pond—where it cuts through the northern extremity of the long range of hills, starting just east of York. The wagon roads pass through numerous cuts—west of Twin Hills, northern end of Sandy Ridge, southeastern end of Long Ridge, and so on. The small T's along the railroad and some of the wagon roads, indicate telegraph or telephone lines.

The conventional sign for a bridge is shown where the railroad crosses Sandy Creek on a trestle. Other bridges are shown at the points the wagon roads cross this creek. Houses or buildings are shown in Oxford, Salem, York and Boling. They are also shown in the case of a number of farms represented—Barton farm, Wells farm, Mason's, Brown's, Baker's and others. The houses shown in solid black are substantial structures of brick or stone; the buildings indicated by rectangular outlines are "out buildings," barns, sheds, etc.

Plates I and II give the Conventional Signs used on military maps and they should be thoroughly learned.