220 A HISTORY OF AMERICA IN 100 MAPS
Given the sheer size of the United States, the advent
of commercial aviation had a profound effect on
American life. Charles Lindbergh tapped the public’s
excitement around air travel when he flew solo from
New York to Paris in 1927. Three years later United
Air Lines offered the first transcontinental route,
from New York to San Francisco, with an overnight
stay in Chicago.
The introduction of the DC-3 airplane in the
mid-1930s made it possible to fly across the country
non-stop, and the surplus of aircraft after World War
II substantially expanded the number of cities that
could be served. The earliest passengers tended to
be bankers and businessmen flying from New York
to Chicago. The subsequent advent of trans-
continental routes helped to integrate geographically
distant industries, for instance the financial resources
of New York with the broadcasting and film industry
in Los Angeles.
In the early years of commercial aviation, the
in-flight map was not just a schematic diagram but
an active way for passengers to follow the journey.
These planes flew under the clouds at relatively low
elevations, so the maps included landmarks such as
radio towers to guide pilots as well as passengers.
Airline maps gave travelers a way to pass the time
while demystifying what for many was a new and
perhaps unsettling experience.
By 1950, the number of miles traveled by plane
exceeded that of rail, and the introduction of jet
aircraft in 1958 cut the length of a transcontinental
flight from nine to five hours. As flight speeds
increased, airline maps began to encompass far
greater geographical scope at a much higher
elevation. This United Air Lines route map from
1949 was part of a series drawn by Hal Shelton, one
that had implications far beyond air travel. Shelton
had trained as an artist, and his visual education
enabled him to think differently about map design.
Upon finishing a degree in scientific illustration in
1938, he did field survey work with the United States
Geological Survey (USGS). While mapping a remote
region of the Sierra Nevada mountains, he discovered
something: even though local residents could name
all the peaks of the nearby ranges, they could not
read the contour maps produced by the USGS. This
experience taught Shelton that to be successful a
map must communicate as much as possible without
THE ADVENT OF AIR TRAVEL
Hal Shelton, “Denver–Chicago,”
for United Air Lines, 1949
the use of abstract symbols such as contour lines.
Shelton was also spending a good deal of time
flying with his brother, a pilot, and this led him to
reconsider aeronautical charts. Rather than using
traditional conventions, he sought to present the
landscape more intuitively, as the viewer might see
it. His experimental charts caught the eye of Elrey
Jeppesen, a pilot who found Shelton’s technique
ideally suited for airline passengers. Together they
collaborated on a series of innovative charts for
United Air Lines.
Shelton’s creativity is at work throughout the
chart. By avoiding the use of symbols he removed the
need for a legend. He also deemphasized boundaries,
cities, and roads, minimizing the human presence
on the land in order to present the earth below as it
might be apprehended—or even imagined—from