Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:53 am by cornbinder89
I have a map program in my computer that I use to estimate distance and drive times, but it is useless for directions.
Sometime it will direct me down a dirt path that may or may not be passable or even there and at the same time miss a major truck route that is the shortest route and has been since at least 1942, according to Montana's antique road maps. The funny thing is you can "force" the map program to use this route (a 42 mile road) by picking no less than three data points along this route. If you pick less than three points, it will show going up the route, then back tracking around to a longer route and then coming back to the route from the other end and back tracking again!
Electronic devices can be helpful, I often turn to Google maps, to find ways to customers that I haven't been to before. Satellite views can be esp helpful when looking to see if a large truck can navigate the area.
I used to collect old maps but many were lost in one of my many moves. My wife had a atlas from the early 70's and I was really upset when she tossed it as being "too old to be useful".
If you travel up US 212 from Alzada MT, the mile posts are descending until Broadus, where the mile post goes from 79 and jumps back to 102! This had always been a question in my mind until I saw an early map. For much of the time, 212 continued north to Miles City and state route 8 continued west to Crow Agency (the present route of 212). They changed to routing but not the mile posts.