This project is meant to illustrate just a sample of the “layers” of the area. I acknowledge that I haven’t covered nearly enough of this quadrangle to be all-encompassing. For one, I was not able to include Native voices in my project, mostly due to time considerations. If I were to do this project again, I would change that aspect of the project.

Beyond that, the main focus points of my project were geology and settlements (or lack thereof). For the former, I was aware of geologic formations because of my previous geology coursework. I then did further research into the geologic history of the area to supplement previous coursework.

The other main focus was from the contents of Roy Meyer’s book The Discontinued Post Offices and Ghost Towns of Goodhue County and supplemental material from the Goodhue County Historical Society about Goodhue County ghost towns. Then, due to time, I decided to focus on separate aspects of the information contained in the book and the different implications each set of information has.

As for mapping techniques, the ability to map was limited by my technological abilities. For geology I relied on previously created layers and pictures I took. To denote where the post offices/settlements were, I first mapped them into Google Maps and then found the corresponding location in arcgis. From there I made map notes and descriptions to give a broader context to the location.