Water Taxis of Paris

Here is a nice map of the water taxi system in Paris, circa 1900.

Boats pulled by horses or with oars or sails were eventually replaced by steam powered boats in the 1800's. They were a large part of the Paris transportation network before the railroads took over in the early 1900's. 

Recently a new commuter boat service the Voguéo was started to serve part of the area. The maps are not nearly as attractive.

 

Summer of Extremes

It's been a summer of extremes around the world. Here is the United States we have dangerous heat,

via Washington Post

 droughts and floods, existing in close proximity in places,

US Drought Monitor

and wildfire smoke covering much of the country.

via Newsweek

Around the world there are floods in Pakistan and Japan, huge wildfires in Canada, droughts in South America and probably many more situations that I have not been following. For those still in denial about global warming, here's a picture of just a normal summer day in Phoenix.

via YouTube

Pictorial Bird's Eye Map of Banff

Here is a really nice pictorial map of Banff, showing the mountains, rivers, railroads and hotels. 

 Mountains are listed with their elevations.

A quiet corner at the end of Lake Minnewanka,

and some sky above the ice field.

Browse the whole map here.

Protein Survey Map

While looking for unrelated items I came across this 1920's Protein Survey Map of Western Canada.

Wondering what any of this means, I did some research and discovered that protein refers to the gluten content of wheat. In the early 1900's flour mills began classifying their wheat based on protein content with premiums offered for the highest protein flour.

The map follows along the railroad lines because rail cars were tested for gluten content. The color scheme of this map is hard to follow but red is the highest protein content followed by blue. 

The map credits the chemists in addition to the Trade and Commerce Department minsters. I lost the original source of the above map but found this map from a few years later

with an even more detailed and confusing color scheme.

Here is the title block.
 

In a previous post I highlighted the Alphabet Railway. Here is a piece of that, with a few interruptions for pre-existing towns.

See the whole map here.