The shaded areas are Spanish and French land grants predating Missouri statehood.

A few of the darker squares are newly American land ownerships.

This is representative of the landscape the Cherokee's saw as they traversed the mining region of Missouri.

The older surveying methods often failed to account for the differnce between magnetic and true north.

MODOT provides free high speed correction data for our high precision GPS devices.

As our GIS software developed it allowed us to create 3D maps with high precision. This allows us to chart the Trail in 3D.

John Scott tried to make a living in the region circled in red. That land had been distroyed during the mining boom.

Family Maps show john Scott was an original owner in Section 10 on Hazel Creek.

Base map courtesy of the US Forest Service.

1837 State Road Survey discovered by a ToT researcher in the Missouri State Archives.  Much of route this map describes was followed by the Cherokee in 1837.

All the farms in the green areas (now forest land) failed.

GIS map of the 1837 97 mile state route showing the area between Scott's and Brickey's. The color shading is the terrain.  Red shows the high ground and blue and purple the lower drainage areas.

Base map courtesy of the US Forest Service, showing the current roads, towns, and the historic locations important to this story,

Family Maps plat showing the early roads in 1837. Follwing the existing roads took considerable time to travel relatively short distances.

Because the existing firewood stocks had been cut and sold to the Massey Iron Works for years prior to power the enormous iron smelting operation. The firewood supply was impacted up to 20 miles from the smelters.

Family Maps original ownership maps georeferenced over the terrain model in the GIS. This is the area southeast of Steelville, Missouri. The linework is the Trail of Tears in this portion of Missouri.