Precursor to Warren's Celebrated Map of the West

"Map of Routes for a Pacific Railroad Compiled to Accompany the Report of the Hon. Jefferson Davis, Sec. of War...", Warren, Lieut. G. K.

During the 1850s, the U.S. government sponsored an extensive series of expeditions designed to gather information on the vast new territories that had been acquired in western North America. The discovery of gold in California further stimulated westward traffic and heightened the need for a faster and more convenient way to bring the far-flung parts of the country together. In 1853 Congress commissioned the Army's Topographic Bureau to conduct a series of surveys to find a suitable route for a transcontinental railroad. There were six major expeditions; five of them covered the area between the Great Plains and west coast, and the sixth explored the coastal states of California and Oregon. All of these expeditions were accompanied by naturalists and artists to document the landscape, flora and fauna along the route. The reports, maps and lithographs were published in the 13 volume report "Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a Railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean."

This basic map of the western United States extends from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean and presents the potential routes for a transcontinental railroad as a result of the Pacific Railroad Surveys. A note at bottom by Lieutenant G.K. Warren states that "this map is a hurried compilation of all the authentic surveys and is designed to exhibit the relations of the different routes to each other." This map would soon be replaced by Warren's highly celebrated Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean... in 1857 (see lot 184 in our current auction). Lithographed by Julius Bien in New York. We found only one past sales record for this map in the last 30 years.

References: Cohen (Mapping the West) pp. 172-175; Wheat (TMW) #870.

Condition: B+

Issued folding with light toning along the folds and a few small fold separations with tiny loss at two fold junctions.