Fishing Trip Leads to Formation of Mapping Company

Maine Today details the humble beginnings of mapping company DeLorme:

The story began one spring in the 1970s when [David] DeLorme was fishing in the Moosehead region and came to a fork in a private gravel road, confusing him as to which one led to his destination.

No up-to-date road maps existed for Maine's large, private lands, so his problem proved a common one in those days.

DeLorme's dilemma spawned an idea that took root in 1976 on his kitchen table after he had collected county, town and road maps that were in the public domain. He put a large-sized maps book together, named it DeLorme's The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer and drove around the state, selling from his car, a most humble start.

The story goes on to outline some of the problems Mr. DeLorme in his early days as a cartographer.

Complete article here.

Grammer corrected 01/28/07 (I'm going to stop posting on Saturday nights).