Rare Survey for the Panama Railroad

"Plan of That Part of the Isthmus of Panama, Eligible for Effecting a Communication Between the Atlantic & Pacific, from Observations & Surveys Performed in the Years 1828 & 1829",

This detailed topographical map depicts the region surrounding the narrowest portion of the Isthmus of Panama, based on surveys conducted by John Augustus Lloyd between 1828-29. Around the time that railroads were being invented, President Bolivar of La Gran Colombia commissioned a study of the area between Chagres and Panama City with the intent of building a railroad to connect the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Although the report concluded that a railroad was possible, the project was abandoned until 1850, when US privateers began building the Panama Railroad. This map depicts two potential rail road lines to the Pacific, both extending from the River Trinidad: the nearest line and a proposed line. A large inset shows a bird's-eye plan of Panama City. Engraved by J. Gardner. Published in an article entitled "Account of Levellings Carried Across the Isthmus of Panama. By John Augustus Lloyd" by the Royal Society of London, 1830.

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Condition: B+

A nice impression, issued folding with a few minor spots of foxing and light toning along edges of sheet. There is a binding trim at bottom left that extends to the neatline.