"[2 Maps in Report] Map of the Great Salt Lake and Adjacent Country in the Territory of Utah [and] Map of a Reconnaissance Between Fort Leavenworth ... and the Great Salt Lake... [with Report] An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake...", Stansbury, M. Howard (Capt.)

This is a great pair of maps and comprehensive report is based upon Stansbury's famous explorations in Utah. The report documents Stansbury's trek from Fort Leavenworth to the Great Salt Lake and his circumnavigation around the entire Great Salt Lake. Stansbury's accounts included the study of the Indian tribes, the Mormons, and an extensive appendix on Geology, Botany and Zoology. The report also includes 57 (of 58) plates of views (with several very long folding views), reptiles, insects, plants, and fossils. One plate of reptiles (of 8 total) is missing. The maps included are:

A. Map of the Great Salt Lake and Adjacent Country in the Territory of Utah, hand color, (30 x 42.3"). This map details Stansbury's important exploration of the Great Salt Lake Basin that permanently established much topography and many of the place names of northwestern Utah. It extends from the 42nd parallel and includes the Wasatch Mountains, Cache Valley and Ogden's Hole, and south to include Lake Utah and the Youab Valley. Indian, as well as Mormon, names are given for the creeks. A wonderful notation in The Desert west of the lake provides important information for travelers, "This desert consists of clay and sand impregnated with salt. When wet, it has the consistency of mortar. Lightly loaded wagons can pass between Spring Valley and Pilot Peak in the driest part of the season. Forage and water must be carried for cattle, and the journey begun in the P. M. and continued through the night. Distance between springs 70 ms." Lithographed by Ackerman. Condition: Issued folding, now flattened and professionally backed in archival tissue to repair several fold separations and small holes along the folds, with very minor loss of image. There is also light toning along the folds. (B+)

B. Map of a Reconnaissance between Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri River, and the Great Salt Lake in the Territory of Utah, hand color, (65.5 x 28"). Made under the orders of Col. J.J. Albert, chief of the Topographical Bureau, by Capt. Howard Stansbury of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, aided by Lieut. J.W. Gunnison and Albert Carrington. Drawn by Lieut. Gunnison and Charles Preuss. Thus bringing together some of the most important names in Western cartography. This immense map covers the Great Plains, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah in considerable detail on a scale of 1" to about 16 miles. The detail is particularly evident in present-day Colorado, the Laramie Mountains (here labeled Black Hills), and in the vicinity of Salt Lake. Wheat devotes more than eight pages of text to this map, calling it "one of the most important [maps] of its decade, bringing permanently into Western cartography a number of outstanding details." Lithographed by Ackerman. On two sheets joined together, as issued. Condition: Issued folding, and now flattened with the folds professionally backed with archival tissue to repair separations and tiny holes. There is light to moderate toning along the folds, and an area of heavy toning at left where the map was attached to the covers. (B)

Octavo, 487 pp. Hardbound in original brown cloth-covered boards with embossed covers and gilt titling on spine. The maps were originally housed in separate covers, which are included with this lot, however the maps are detached from the covers.

References: Wagner-Camp #219:2; Wheat (TMW) #765 & #764; Howes #S-884.

Condition: B+

See description above for condition details of the maps. The plates and text have light toning and occasional minor foxing. The binding is sound and the covers and spine are heavily sunned, with light wear and bumped corners. The maps have been detached from the separate covers that housed them in order to be professionally conserved, and these separate covers are lightly worn and nearly detached from one another.