One of the Earliest Published American Railroad Maps

"Plan of a Survey for a Rail-Road Made Under the Direction of the Board of Directors of Internal Improvements No. 2. From Springfield to Albany",

According to Andrew M. Modelski, this detailed and uncommon map is one of the earliest published American railroad maps. It emerged from the railroad surveys conducted by James F. Baldwin, the civil engineer responsible for the surveying and design of the Boston and Lowell and Boston and Albany railroads. The surveys outlined here predate both of those significant early railroads. It was published in Report of the Board of Directors of Internal Improvements of the State of Massachusetts, on the Practicability and Expediency of a Rail-Road from Boston to the Hudson River... (1829). The map depicts survey work from Albany to Springfield. It identifies towns and villages as well as individual property owners and shows wagon roads, watershed, and topography. "The Line Surveyed by Mr. Young" refers to an 1826 survey and spans from Albany to just south of Chatham. Engraved by J.V.N. Throop. Drawn on a scale of 2.5 miles per inch. On 2 sheets, joined.

References: Modelski (First Hundred Years) #1.

Condition: A

Issued folding on a bright sheet. The left margin has been extended to better accommodate framing.