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Within a few years, the District was preparing its first official map, drawn up by Municipal Engineer W.B. Carter in 1913. And by 1926, Richard Ford was producing an entire Atlas of West Vancouver consisting of 14 separate plates. It contains a wealth of information including the legal division of land, the location of buildings, roads and old lanes, P.G.E. railway stations, and much else. Known as the 'Brown Book', the District's copy of Ford's Atlas was regularly consulted, annotated and updated over the next 30 years. Its damaged leaves are testament both to its heavy use and to its inherent fragility. Ford's Atlas is a good example of how maps present their own unique challenges. Many are large in size. Our largest map is almost 2 square metres when unfurled. Being awkward to store and handle, and often incorporating chemically unstable materials, maps are also easily damaged. Creating digital surrogates for maps is, therefore, a particularly beneficial option. Unfortunately, it is also an expensive one. While some of our maps and plans are available in digital format, the majority of our collection must still be consulted in hardcopy at the Archives. Descriptions of ail our map holdings are available through the Archives online catalogue. Simply navigate to our Advanced Search page, select 'Map' as the 'Physical format', and search your topic. https://westvancouver.ca/arts-culture/heritage/archives Caption: Atlas of West Vancouver, 1926 (1730- 01.01). 7 https://westvancouver.ca/arts-culture/heritage/archives