Ian Gerrish said this news is “a bummer.”
He is a dispatcher for Cascade Lumber on Camano Island. Truck drivers carry atlases from Totem Publications in Stanwood when making deliveries.
Totem had been the only map game in town.
It closed its Stanwood storefront last week.
The business is for sale and stock on hand will be sold online through December at www.totem maps.com, or call 800-422-4996.
But lumber drivers can find customers using global positioning system devices or MapQuest, right?
“They don’t work that well up north,” Gerrish said. “When you’ve got a fully loaded truck and trailer, and roads they show don’t go through, we find map books are still the way to go.”
The folks at Windermere Real Estate Camano Island and Stanwood use Totem maps, said broker Marla Heagle.
“It’s an item of value we give to clients,” Heagle said. “We use hundreds of their maps each year.”
As I wrote Aug. 5, competitor Thomas Guide only shows the belly of Camano Island in its map books.
Whidbey Island doesn’t exist in the Thomas world. There is a map of Camano available at the Camano Island Chamber of Commerce, but it doesn’t show all the streets.
Totem Publications not only sells a map of Camano, but also sells the “Atlas of Northwest Washington” covering Island, Skagit, Whatcom and San Juan counties, plus the city of Stanwood.
Totem is owned by Elizabeth Severson, who lives in Wisconsin. Her cousin, A.W. “Bill” Tanner, founded Totem Publications with his wife, France Tanner, in the 1960s.
They sold a map of Marysville, Arlington, Stanwood, Granite Falls and Camano Island.
Tanner, who grew up in Washington, produced more than 100 road guides. He mapped Western Washington counties after his wife died in 1992. After his death in December 2003, Severson continued the business.
“He loved Washington,” Severson said. “The first time I visited, he tried to show me as much of the state as he could — in four days.”
Tanner, who lived on Camano Island, was a military pilot, she said. He used his own photographs to illustrate products.
“His love of flying came through in many of Totem’s maps and atlases,” Severson said. “He and France (his wife) had a plane for some years and loved to fly up to Alaska.”
The atlas was first produced in 1973 and continually revised and expanded.
Office manager Mary Ann McIntosh, who recently did a map for the Stanwood School District Transportation Department, has a background in retail marketing.
McIntosh said she learned cartography skills on the job.
Totem customers are feeling the economic downturn, she said. In 2008, Totem received an order for 60 atlases from the U.S. border patrol. This year, it requested six books.
McIntosh said those who will miss having updated maps include law enforcement agencies, fire departments, cities and counties, utility companies and transportation authorities.
She sent letters last week to wholesale customers about final sales for Totem products.
Elger Bay Grocery and Gifts on South Camano Island grabbed 300 maps this week.
“We really go through them,” said owner Laurie Flickner. “This is really disappointing to us.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com
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