This large soil map of Middlesex County, Massachusetts is a finely printed multi-color lithograph that represents the different kinds of soils present in Middlesex County that were deposited during glacial periods and as a result of more recent events. Each town is labeled. Contours are shown. Symbols illustrate different kinds of topography, such as wetlands. The scope of the map continues through Middlesex County towns Cambridge and Somerville to Suffolk County and Boston and Boston Harbor showing a detailed plan of Boston and an expansive view of the waters of the Charles River flowing through all of Middlesex County out to Boston Harbor and the sea.
The vivid colors of this fine lithograph paint a complex portrait of the natural history of this region of Massachusetts. In addition, the 1924 map presents wetland and other essential features of the landscape that have been damaged or obliterated by more recent land uses and may not be currently understood. Therefore it is historically interesting and informative for historic and current land use planning and agricultural programs, for wildlife habitat restoration as well as for the person interested in the landscape because the map permits us to see the 1924 (pre-WWII) and pre Great Depression character of the soils and the terrain before the proliferation of highways and commercial development that now occupy much of Middlesex county, Massachusetts.