Titled “Bandon,” this United States Geological Survey quadrangle was dated 1970 and published with a 1973 imprint, preserving a precise portrait of Oregon’s southern coast at a moment of late twentieth-century change. At 1:24,000 scale, it presents Bandon not as a picturesque abstraction, but as a measured landscape of streets, shorelines, contours, waterways, farms, dunes, and forest. The city appears at the edge of the Pacific, where the Coquille River meets the sea, an estuarine setting that has long shaped local settlement, commerce, fishing, and travel. The map’s disciplined USGS design gives equal attention to urban fabric and natural form, making it both a technical document and an evocative record of place.

Bandon itself occupies a compelling position on the map: a coastal city set between ocean, river, marsh, and upland terrain. The gridded and curving patterns of residential areas and subdivisions reveal a community expanding within the constraints of water, sand, and slope. State Highway 101, the great north-south coastal route, threads through the mapped landscape, linking Bandon to the broader Oregon Coast and marking the importance of automobile travel in the region’s postwar development. Around the town, the cartography records farms, open land, and wooded tracts, suggesting the mix of rural and urban uses that characterized the area in 1970. It is a snapshot of a city balanced between maritime heritage, local agriculture, and modern coastal growth.

The Coquille River is one of the map’s defining features, its lower reaches shaping the estuary beside Bandon before opening to the Pacific Ocean. The surrounding wetlands and low-lying ground are especially significant when viewed from a modern perspective, as this area includes lands associated with what is now the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. The map predates the refuge’s later conservation status, making it particularly interesting as a record of the landscape before contemporary habitat protection and restoration efforts. Channels, flats, and marginal lands appear within the precise language of topography, inviting reflection on how coastal environments are used, altered, and ultimately revalued. Here, the map quietly documents an ecological threshold between development and preservation.

Along the coast, the map captures the restless meeting of land and sea. Sand dunes, beaches, and shoreline contours evoke a dynamic environment shaped by wind, tides, storms, and shifting sediment. The USGS symbology distinguishes these coastal forms from inland woods, agricultural parcels, roads, and trails, creating a layered visual account of human movement through a challenging terrain. Contour lines articulate the hilly country around Bandon, showing how quickly elevation changes beyond the immediate coastal plain. The result is a map rich in practical detail: one can trace routes, read slopes, locate waterways, and understand why settlement clustered where it did. Its beauty lies in that clarity, where scientific restraint produces an unexpectedly elegant coastal composition.

Produced by the United States Geological Survey, “Bandon” reflects the authority and refinement of one of America’s most important mapping institutions. USGS quadrangles became indispensable tools for engineers, planners, hikers, conservationists, and local governments, combining standardized cartographic language with meticulous regional observation. The familiar palette—blue for water, brown for contours, green for forest, black and red for cultural and transportation features—turns the landscape into an intelligible system without diminishing its character. As a historical object, this map captures the Bandon area before decades of further urban growth, environmental regulation, and coastal tourism reshaped the region. It is at once a topographical reference, a civic document, and a quietly compelling portrait of Oregon’s Pacific edge.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Bandon, Oregon
• Pacific Ocean
• Coquille River
• Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge
• Residential areas and subdivisions
• State Highway 101
• Trails
• Farms and agricultural land
• Forest areas
• Sand dunes along the coast

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map produced by the United States Geological Survey.
• Dated 1970 and published with a 1973 imprint.
• Shows the surrounding coastal area in Oregon during a period of late 20th-century development and land-use change.
• Uses typical USGS topographical mapping colors to depict elevations, land uses, water features, roads, and other landscape details.
• Contour lines clearly show elevation changes and the hilly terrain near the coast.
• Documents infrastructure and land-use patterns that can be compared with later urban growth and environmental changes.

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.