"[Lot of 4 - Early Railroad Maps]", U.S. Government

These four interesting and historically important maps were early examples of the efforts of Robert Mills and Asa Whitney to advocate for the development of railroad routes to the Pacific. These men, with extraordinary vision, recognized the importance of trade to the Far East. Their Memorials to Congress eventually led to the Pacific Railroad Surveys and ultimately to the construction of our transcontinental railroad system.

1) Map of the Country between the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans… 1848 Report 145 H.R. (folded as issued, overall 31.3 x 10"). Here is the full vision of the Mills and Whitney proposal for a transcontinental railroad system. Composed of three images on one sheet. The first map, titled as given and drawn by Mills, details the proposed route from Little Rock to San Diego and Sonoma on the San Francisco Bay and its interconnection to existing railroads. The second, constructed by Whitney, is a world map with the railroad continuing on to the Columbia River. Beneath both is a profile of the route.
2) [Untitled - Rail Roads Finished, Unfinished, Proposed]. Senate Doc. 161, 29th Congress, 1st Session (15.8 x 9.5", tissue backed). Indian Territory is here called the Western Territory. Texas appears to extend to include Santa Fe.
3) [Untitled - Proposed Transcontinental Routes] Four proposed routes to the Pacific Coast; Southern, Northern, Galveston and St. Louis are described. (17.8 x 14.6" tissue backed). A large table above the map details the four routes, distances and other notations.
4) Mills' Map of the Several Routes Proposed to the Pacific Ocean from the Head Waters of the Missouri, to the Isthmus of Darien. (9 x 8.3"). This map shows four major routes; Whitney's route (connecting New York, Chicago and Astoria), the Albuquerque-Memphis route (connecting Memphis, Little Rock, Albuquerque and San Diego), the Vicksburg and New Orleans route (from New Orleans to Vicksburg and on to San Antonio and Guaymas) and finally the Mills Telegraph Route (cutting across Texas and Mexico from Matagorda to an unnamed terminal in the vicinity of Los Mochis).

References: #4: Wheat (Gold) 54; Wheat (TMW) 564.

Condition: A

All are very good except #3 that has a little scattered foxing, mostly in margins at one side.