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Infiltration Forums > Archived UE Tutorials, Lessons, and Useful Info > How to find places to explore through documents and maps (Viewed 291 times)
yoviher 


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Puerto Rico




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How to find places to explore through documents and maps
< on 10/1/2006 3:19 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
How to use records and maps to located places to UE

I know I am somewhat new to exploring, but being the child of a historian and an archaeologist I think I can talk a bit of how to use old records to find places. I wonder... maybe the interest in what the past has left is in the genes. Hmm...

We all know the traditional methods of finding places. Keep your eyes open. Drive around. Try to get lost. Stopping and staring down at every single drain grille you find, and many, many others. A few are listed at the "You know you are an urban explorer if..." thread.

But maps, records and documents can be used to find what you cannot see with your two eyes.

Where do you start?

It all depends on what you are looking for, but there are several very universal documents which are invaluable.

The Topographic Quadrangles

In the United States, these are made by the USGS. Some state authorities make them accessible through the internet, others sell them for several dollars a piece. Search your state&#8217;s government. And they have a thing which makes them priceless: They are old. Topos often haven&#8217;t been updated since the 1980s and 1970s. Some haven&#8217;t since the 1960s. Therefore, recent developments do not appear. Start looking for places you know didn&#8217;t exist back then. If you are looking for a drain, you will often finds rivers and streams running across an empty field, in what is now the cinema or a parking lot. Usually an inspection of that place will reveal manholes and grilles.

Same works with diverted rivers. If a river you know, you see it going through a different course, and in that old way there is now an urban development, you will often find a whole drainage system in the area where the river was before it was diverted, in order to keep the river from taking its old course when it rains and floods.

If you are seeking abandonment, do the opposite. Look for stuff that&#8217;s no longer there. Oil Refinery. Wait a minute, we haven&#8217;t got any refineries miles around. Hydroelectric station. Wait, there are no hydroelectric stations in this city. Drive in theaters, etc. You know the drill. Take those places and go to the location and hope whatever it was, the place is still there, and its abandoned. This also works for train tracks. This is also good if you found some large ruins and want to learn what was that place all about.

In some regions the quadrangles have been updated a bit too much. Sometimes as early as the 1990s. There are still old Topos available. You will need to go to the historical society, the city or state archives, etc. A good bet is whatever agencies sells or provides the current ones. State Geological Survey, Public Works, in Puerto Rico its Transportation, so it will vary.

Also, other forms of maps should be used. Look in libraries, the good ol&#8217; historical society and such for old road maps, and compare them to the new ones. Same method.




Aerial Photographs

Everyone is familiar with Google Earth (I hope you are) so getting current aerials of the area is not difficult. But what when you want old aerials? Like, what was in the place in 1960? That&#8217;s a doozy.

Don&#8217;t panic! Look for the same agency that provides the quadrangles. They will often sell them. Also check the historical societies and archives. They exist. Hell, some archaeological reports have to by law use old aerials to demonstrate the impact to the area over the years.

Once you have aerials, do the same you would do with the quadrangles. These are particularly good for drains. Rivers that have been built over, diverted waterways, etc. It should be of worthy note that sometimes land &#8220;reclaimed&#8221; from the sea, will sometimes have a drainage system underneath to handle the sea water.

Due to the lack of signs aerials are not that good for abandonments, however, they can be used in a comparative fashion: By comparing buildings in the old aerial to what you see in Google Earth and such, you should be able to find stuff that used to be active, but now isn&#8217;t. Abandoned railroad tracks, schools, buildings. If you know your way around your city very well, this should prove a lot easier.

Sometimes, the old aerial will provide you a new insight: In archaeology, often a whole bunch of trees sticking out of an otherwise treeless landscape signify ruins of some kind, because the vegetation, particularly climbing weeds and such will grow on top, making it stick out, from the prairie. Such locations, which can be spotted in current aerials, depending on the age of the ruins, you might be able to see it when it was active through the old aerial, or if its a lot older, you might at least see it with less vegetation cover and thus realize there&#8217;s something man made sitting there. Hell, if someday you drive by an empty field with some trees together in a corner, look into it. Even if it&#8217;s some brick foundations, you are bound to find something. Many 19th century buildings have been located that way.


Records

The government keeps detailed records of where they spend their money and what they do. Often government built structures such as drains, hospitals, old offices and such, will have the plans and blueprints sitting around somewhere. In some cases even the drains have been forgotten. In fact, here in Puerto Rico massive 19th century drains have been discovered accidentally by workers digging holes and such, and these are hailed as historical monuments. Of course, had somebody been around at the archives looking for them, they would have found it easily.

These are more difficult, as they require a considerable level of time. This is not something to do on front of your computer in underwear for a few minutes.

We are talking city/state archives, and sifting through their public works and building funds. Don&#8217;t expect a bunch of easy to read blueprints. Its going to be thousands of pages of documents talking about whether should it be built, the legal ramblings and permits for building it, funding for building it, etc. in order to finally locate a single sentence talking about the location &#8211; if you are lucky. Sometimes names change over time, so you will have to figure out the place&#8217;s current name.

To make it worse, archives are often only open from &#8220;Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM.&#8221; Precisely the times most of us are working or going to school. Also, archives sometimes will require a level of identification or registration, which will want to know your business there. After all, not any idiot should be allowed with century old documentation.

In the other hand, records can be very, very useful for drains... since they are still &#8220;in use&#8221;, the city keeps blueprints and plans. If you locate what agency of your government handles drains, you should be able to pump them for information on locations of their drains. Statements and reports, blueprints, budget programs detailing spending, publicity talking of what they are building to improve the city, etc. Come on, good old social engineering: You are here doing an urban hydrology project from college, or helping your kid brother&#8217;s geography project.

Cadastral maps.

Cadastral maps show who owns what. Different plots of land showing the name of the person who owns it. I hear they are a good way to locate drains. As predator of the Sydney Cave Clan writes in his Approach to Draining (available at infiltration.org, an excellent source of information for draining), cadastral maps will sometimes show plots of map with irregular boundaries, yet no geographical situation to define those irregular boundaries. Sometimes there&#8217;s a river that&#8217;s been buried and is underground. Look there for grilles and manholes. These maps should be available at the courthouse or property registry.

However, be aware that cadastral maps are sometimes not available. The main reason I can&#8217;t vouch personally about them is that in Puerto Rico they don&#8217;t exist. There are simply too many land titles talking of &#8220;from the hill due west to the mango tree and from there to the banana field...&#8221; to be able to make them without too much hassle. But where they exist, use them by all means.

However, when they are not available, you have to resort to Property Registries. These list land titles, and older land titles, from previous owners and such. However, these are as difficult as the archives to located stuff worthy of exploring. On the other hand, these are excellent resources if you want to find out about a place you already discovered. &#8220;Who did this place belong to?&#8221; That is one of the most healthy questions to ponder in UE. It is precisely the same curiosity which fuels one to explore places.

Newspapers.

Some of you may scan news to see about places that are going to shut down and such. But why not old newspapers? Old articles talking about stuff that&#8217;s no longer there... about places to shut down in 1967 and so on. Here in Puerto Rico, it&#8217;s at the University of Puerto Rico where they keep old newspapers. However, elsewhere you should look into libraries, and archives, etc. to locate the old city&#8217;s newspapers. These require some extensive reading, but can be worthwhile. Sometimes edicts are published about new works, and even announcing auctions for contracts to build this or that. These can give you hints as to the places and locations you are interested in, and look for it elsewhere.

That&#8217;s about all I can think of right now. If I can think of anything else, I&#8217;ll post it.



dewey379 


location:
North NJ & Baltimore, MD
Gender: Male


"Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici"

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Re: How to find places to explore through documents and maps
<Reply # 1 on 10/1/2006 3:48 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Excellent post! A lot of good information that I think everyone should read. Although its long, those who are willing to read all of it will be the ones that will most likely try those methods, since they take more than a few minutes to complete. Those that don't read it will be the ones that come here looking for freebies. You certainly know have an in depth knowledge on this subject matter and must actually listen to your parents when they talk. I think if this interests you and you are not yet in college, that you have a future in front of you. And I can think of nothing better than a PhD in archeology as an excuse to be in an abandonment.

We must always fear the wicked.
But there is another kind of evil that we must fear the most,
and that is the indifference of good men.
yoviher 


location:
Puerto Rico




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Re: How to find places to explore through documents and maps
<Reply # 2 on 10/2/2006 1:10 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Thanks! I actually tried to steer away from the methods that could be done within a few minutes, because most of us are already familiar with those. And no I ain't in college yet, and yes, I am interested in studying history.

My dad even takes me along to help in projects and digs. Thats why I say most of my abandonments are OLD (like 150 years old or more). We once found a few bricks. When we cleared, and got nearer, it was a full wall complete with door and window openings. When we brought a few guys to clear the weeds and vegetation, it was a full boiler room building from an old sugar cane hacienda. And well, we once took the metal detector along a 19th century railroad line. At first glance you wouldn't even know there was one. Forty minutes and a metal detector later, we found like three dozen railroad spikes.



Ninjin-san 


location:
Tasmania, Australia
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Re: How to find places to explore through documents and maps
<Reply # 3 on 10/3/2006 12:26 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Wow, some excellent information there! I find the local library is a definite stop if you want to find history on a site.

If you seek peace, prepare for war
Infiltration Forums > Archived UE Tutorials, Lessons, and Useful Info > How to find places to explore through documents and maps (Viewed 291 times)

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