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Montana’s been a red state for years, but now it’s showing shades of blue.

At least on the map shelves of local bookstores and magazine stands.

We’re not talking politics, but the appearance of a new statewide map collection bearing a bluish cover. Benchmark Maps’ Montana Road and Recreation Atlas now provides competition for the longstanding, red-covered Montana Atlas and Gazetteer.

Benchmark’s collection has the same general size and format as the red Montana Atlas and Gazetteer, which DeLorme Mapping has produced for decades. Both collections come in an 11-by-15-inch paperback booklet, with the state divided into dozens of quadrants. DeLorme’s version uses 95 map panels, while Benchmark’s works with 123.

Inside the booklets, the style differences are obvious.

DeLorme’s maps use topographical elevation lines to describe mountains, canyons and slopes. Benchmark uses landform imagery, a shaded contour that shows the shape of terrain instead of elevation intervals. Major summits have elevations listed, but valley floors do not.

“We compared it with the DeLorme map, and my concept was the new Benchmark maps look more like a map regular people would want to see,” said Fact & Fiction Downtown manager Barbara Theroux. “Those who like topographical maps might not like it as much.”

The Benchmark maps print lots of comments and lists on its pages. Near Missoula, it lists 11 public amenities, including golf courses, museums and U.S. Forest Service offices. Near Browning, there’s mention of a 100-degree temperature change over 24 hours that set a record in 1916.

Both use a color-code system to mark the agencies that own parcels of public land, a handy addition for hunters and others navigating between public and private boundaries. The Benchmark also includes 24 pages of detail on local attractions, recreation opportunities and regional maps, compared to DeLorme’s 15 pages.

Benchmark spokesman Bridger DeVille said the company’s researchers spent two years and 40,000 miles of driving to field-check the new atlas’ details. The Medford, Ore.-based company now has atlases for 11 states, while DeLorme features all 50 states.

“We sell lots,” Theroux said. “And all year around. Hikers, fishermen, hunters, people who are looking for off-road things - they buy them all year long and for all areas of the West.”

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