An Oregon service station owner loved old maps so much, he launched a family business that’s still going strong more than 50 years later.
An Oregon service station owner loved old maps and Northwest history so much, he launched a family business that’s still going strong more than 50 years later.
Preston’s old atlases remain a valuable and distinctive resource because each volume features an assortment of public domain vintage maps originally published by governments, railroads, and other entities from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Users can flip through the pages of different maps from different eras and readily see and compare the changes over the decades – and perhaps even find, as language on the front covers tease, “Overland Stage Routes . . . Old Military Roads . .
And that time goes back nearly a century, to when Preston was born of modest means on a farm just outside of Lebanon, Ore. in February 1926. His father died when Ralph was just a boy, so pretty soon, Ralph had to quit school and get a job. After serving in the Navy in World War II and then working for a time as a logger, Preston got into the service station business in his hometown. By the 1960s, with help from his wife, he was running his own service station in Corvallis, Ore. And it was there – sometime in the late 1960s – when an old map changed the course of his life.
It wasn’t long before that single 1878 map expanded in the first Historical Oregon atlas, with other states following in short order.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD to be kept in check by the possibility of another Fed rate hike – CommerzbankGold Price Forecast: XAU/USD to be kept in check by the possibility of another Fed rate hike – Commerzbank Gold XAUUSD InterestRate CentralBanks Banks
Read more »
Alumni Report: Carlsbad's Nielsen brothers team up at Colorado School of MinesThe latest updates on San Diego-area high school products playing college baseball, softball and track and field
Read more »
Shocking video shows three men being robbed at gunpoint outside residence on Chicago's Northwest SideThree men were robbed at gunpoint outside a residence in Hermosa Saturday morning, and it was all caught on camera.
Read more »
Big land buy adds to Decatur’s industrial park northwest of Fort WorthThe Wise County town of Decatur is more than tripling its industrial park northwest of Fort Worth.
Read more »
A large fish that fills freezers in Northwest Alaska could be in dangerScientists are concerned that permafrost thaw could lead to declines in the sheefish population, a staple food for many people in Alaska's Northwest Arctic.
Read more »
Bicyclist dead after being hit by vehicle in northwest Harris CountyA bicyclist is dead after being hit by a vehicle in northwest Harris County Thursday evening.
Read more »