Squam Lake Maps by Brad Washburn

The 11 original Squam Lake Chart work plans cataloged here were the result of the detailed surveying during the 1960's (by Brad and others) described above. In the work plans' black-and-white medium, water is distinguished from the land areas mainly by the 300-foot grid of depth soundings throughout the lake. Other points of interest and clarification are as follows:

• 1 The shoreline is shown as a dark, solid line. The nearby dotted line marks where the lake is three feet deep at the mean low water level of 560 feet above sea level. (Mean high water level is 562.5 feet.) The other solid lines further from shore or around shoals indicate the approximate boundaries of shallows or shoal areas.
• 2 The many numbers along the shoreline are the distances to that shoreline from one of the grid points along one of the north-south or east-west grid lines.
• 3 Brad drafted 11 work plans to cover Big Squam, Little Squam, and White Oak Pond. He donated these and other materials related to the creation of his two local maps to Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in the 1980's. Of the original 11 work plans, only Map 5 (Dog Cove area) is missing. That area is covered by Map 12, which is in a format closer to the finished Chart, but lacks some of the hand drawn detail of the other ten.
• 4 Orientation of the work plans is true north (except for Map 11). Red text has been added to identify points of reference.
• 5 The “R” next to a depth sounding designates a rocky bottom.
• 6 The work plans are in PDF format; they are hard to see at the small scale when opened, but details show up very well when zoomed in.

It is my hope that lovers of maps, property owners around the lake, students of history, and people interested in the extraordinary life of Brad Washburn will enjoy viewing these original work plans. For me, access to these maps provides a window into his drive and perfectionism.

Brad gave many, many talks and slide shows over the years about his experiences in Alaska and the European Alps doing mountaineering, surveying, mapmaking, and photography. He loved to include a quote from Aristotle: “Each one of us adds a little to our understanding of nature, and from all the facts assembled arises a certain grandeur.”

Tom Stepp
Holderness, NH
Summer 2014