Published in 1948 from 1944 mapping, the US Geological Survey’s “Bandon” presents Oregon’s southern coast with the clarity and authority of mid-century American topographic science. At a scale of 1:62,500, it captures Bandon and its surrounding coastal country at a revealing historical moment: less than a decade after the devastating 1936 fire that reshaped the town’s built environment and civic memory. The map’s restrained palette, precise contouring, and disciplined lettering give equal dignity to settlement, shoreline, river, and forested upland. Here, the Pacific Ocean is not merely a boundary but a defining force, shaping beaches, headlands, river mouths, and the patterns of road and habitation that developed along this rugged edge of Oregon.

The US Geological Survey, founded in 1879, brought to maps like this a mandate that was both scientific and national in scope: to measure, classify, and render the American landscape with dependable precision. Its topographic quadrangles became indispensable tools for engineers, planners, conservationists, military users, and travelers, while today they serve as richly detailed records of vanished or altered places. In “Bandon,” that institutional rigor is evident in the careful depiction of elevation through contour lines, the differentiation of waterways and roads, and the understated elegance of the map’s design. Rather than romanticizing the coast, the USGS reveals it through accumulated observation: slopes, creeks, marshes, ridges, and routes organized into a lucid geographic portrait.

Bandon itself sits at the heart of the map, near the mouth of the Coquille River, where freshwater, tidewater, settlement, and maritime access converge. The river’s course is one of the sheet’s great organizing features, winding toward the Pacific and linking the town to a broader hinterland of farms, timberlands, lowlands, and transport corridors. Nearby Beaver Slough and other wetland features hint at the ecological complexity of the river plain, while Highway 101 records the growing importance of the coastal road network in the automobile age. The map preserves a Bandon still deeply tied to river navigation, fishing, lumber, and regional exchange, yet increasingly connected to the wider Oregon coast by modern infrastructure.

Beyond the town, the quadrangle opens into a landscape of creeks, hills, and coastal landforms, each named feature contributing to the texture of place. Twelve Mile Creek, Willanch Creek, Fivemile Creek, Harris Creek, and Crooked Creek thread through the terrain, their valleys and drainage patterns made legible by the contour work. Cooks Hill rises inland, while Finger Point and the beaches along the Pacific edge mark the meeting of land and ocean. The Flatz, a local feature, adds a note of vernacular geography, reminding us that maps preserve not only official measurements but also regional language and lived knowledge. Southward associations with Cape Blanco evoke one of Oregon’s most dramatic coastal promontories and its long maritime significance.

As a historical document, “Bandon” is especially compelling because it records a landscape in transition. The 1936 fire had profoundly affected the community, and the years surrounding World War II brought changes in transportation, resource use, and settlement patterns throughout coastal Oregon. Yet the map also emphasizes continuities older than any town plan: the steepening contours, the tidal river mouth, the sloughs, creeks, beaches, and headlands that governed human movement and development. Bullard State Park and the broader coastal setting suggest the later rise of recreation and preservation as defining themes in the region’s identity. This is a map of practical measurement, but also of memory—an elegant mid-century snapshot of Bandon’s resilient place between forested hills and the Pacific.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Bandon
• Coquille River
• Pacific Ocean
• Twelve Mile Creek
• The Flatz
• Cooks Hill
• Willanch Creek
• Fivemile Creek
• Harris Creek
• Crooked Creek
• Finger Point
• Cape Blanco
• Beaver Slough
• Bullard State Park
• Highway 101
• Coastal landforms and beaches along the Pacific coast

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Historical 1:62,500 topographical map of Bandon, Oregon, and the surrounding area
• Created in 1944 and published with a 1948 imprint
• Shows Bandon’s landscape in the mid-20th century
• Features contour lines to indicate elevation changes
• Uses a color palette typical of mid-20th-century topographic maps
• Provides detailed representation of hills, rivers, coastal features, and other natural landscape elements
• Reflects the geographic character of the region, including varied terrain and coastal conditions
• Offers historical insight into how development and environmental change reshaped the area
• Connected to Bandon’s history after the devastating 1936 fire

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.