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An excellent and important map of the old Northwest Territory. Published during the War of 1812, this map is from Carey's Atlas which represented the best American cartographic work of the period. Carey, an Irish immigrant, established the first American specialized cartographic publishing firm. He set up an elaborate cottage system of craftsmen for engraving, printing, and coloring his maps utilizing the best independent artists directed to a common end. Carey is important, then, not only for the excellent maps he produced, but for his setting the pattern for American map publishing, to be followed by the likes of John Melish and Henry S. Tanner.
When this map was issued, the area of the old Northwest Territory was still the frontier of the United States. This territory had been created in the lands to the north of the Ohio River, and it was broken into smaller territories, and then states, as settlement progressed. This map shows the situation in the region at the time, with Ohio and Indiana as states and Michigan and Illinois as separate territories. The current "Northwest Territory" is shown encompassing Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. Within the region depicted, rivers, settlements, topography, Indian tribes and roads are all shown. A non-existent elevated ridge running from the south and encompassing much of the Michigan peninsula is shown, a cartographic myth that originated over a century earlier. $1,800
J.H. Young. "Map of Minnesota Territory." Philadelphia: Charles Desilver, 1856. 13 x 15 3/4. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition. With decorative border.
Charles Desilver, one of the many publishers working in Philadelphia during the mid-nineteenth century, issued an atlas of maps based on the famous Tanner-Mitchell-Cowperthwait series. Desilver used much the same information as originally drawn in the 1840s, but updated the maps with new counties, roads, towns, and especially the transportation network of canals, roads and railroads, always the focus of the maps from this series. This map is typical of the rather unusual and scarce Desilver atlas. Of particular interest on this map is information from the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota of 1851, whence the Indians ceded land in Iowa and Minnesota to the United States. Land reserved to the Dakota Indians and Winnebagos is clearly indicated. An attractive and fascinating Minnesota document. $175
"Minnesota." New York: J.H. Colton & Co., ca. 1860. 14 5/8 x 11 7/8. Lithograph. Full original hand-coloring. Very good condition.
An updated version of the above Colton map of the Minnesota Territory, showing new political boundaries. When Minnesota became a state in 1858, the leftover area between the Missouri River and Minnesota's western boundary was a largely unorganized area known as the Dakota territory. This map shows the recently established Lake and St. Louis counties in the norteast of the state, and the later disbanded county of Davis, which dates this map to a period between 1856 and 1862. $150
"Johnson's New Railroad and Township Copper plate Map of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota & Nebraska From The Latest and Best Authorities." New York: A.J. Johnson and Chicago: P. Wyckoff, 1858. 27 x 31. Lithograph transfer from copper plate engraving. Original hand color and elaborate decorative border. Full margins. Some minor staining and chipping at margins. Separated at old folds; expertly joined and conserved. Overall, very good condition and appearance.
A very rare, large scale map of a group of mid-western states. The map was published by A.J. Johnson of New York in conjunction with Chicago publisher P. Wyckoff. Johnson is best known for his atlases which began to appear in 1860, but before this he was involved in the publication of separately issued folding and wall maps. In some cases Johnson put his publication imprint on maps from the Colton firm (from whom he acquired the plates which became his Family Atlas in 1860), but he also published some maps with D.G. Johnson and P. Wyckoff, including this wonderful map of Kansas and Nebraska. The latter is an obscure figure for which only five maps are recorded, including four with Johnson and one with the Colton firm.
This map may have been issued both as a folding map and as a wall map. This particular example is printed on heavy paper typical of a wall map (not the banknote paper of the typical folding map), but it was folded, perhaps for insertion in an atlas. Separately issued maps such as this were made to capture as current information in as much detail as was possible for they were intended to be used by visitors or citizens of the region depicted. This map is an excellent example of this. Because of the size and precision of rendering, every kind of feature is clearly presented, including early roads, settlements of all sizes, survey lines, political boundaries and so forth. This map shows Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and the very eastern part of Nebraska at a period when these states were growing tremendously. The detail is impressive and very current. $950
"Johnson's Minnesota and Dakota." New York: Johnson & Ward, 1862. 12 3/8 x 15 1/2. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
A graphic illustration of the border between the nascent development of the mid-west and the wilds of the western United States. This map, clearly acquired from the earlier efforts of the Colton firm, shows Minnesota within a few years of statehood, and the eastern portion of what became the Dakota Territory in 1861. Minnesota is shown broken into counties, and the southeast into survey quadrants. Towns, roads, and other signs of progressing settlement are indicated. To the west, the part of Dakota illustrated is devoid of counties and railroads, and only five towns are large enough to be indicated. Little information was available of the far northwest, with the Missouri, a few creeks and two forts the only details shown. A printed text at the top says, "The vast region of Prairies from Red River of the North and Mini Wakan I. to about the Gr. Bend of the Missouri R. is the great Hunting and Fighting Ground of Kdakotah, Odjibwe, Assiniboin, Arikara, Minitarree and other Nations."
Interestingly, this map shows one inconsistency, with Rock County labeled as Pipestone, and vice versa. Both counties were founded in May of 1857. This error continued to appear is succesive editions, and still later in some of the maps published by the S. A. Mitchell firm of Philadelphia during the 1860s. $150
"Johnson's Minnesota and Dakota." New York: Johnson & Ward, ca. 1865. 12 5/8 x 15 1/2. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
A later edition of the map above with an attractive border. Based on the map above, also published by Johnson & Ward, this edition shows updated political information such as Becker County, established in March of 1858. $150
"County Map of Minnesota." Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., 1862. 13 3/4 x 11 1/2. Lithograph. Original hand coloring. Very good condition.
S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., of Philadelphia, was one of the largest map publishers of the middle of the nineteenth century. The firm was founded by his father, who from the middle of the nineteenth century, issued atlases and maps of all parts of the world in all formats. The Mitchell atlases contained up-to-date maps which were as attractive as they were accurate. This is a fine example of the Mitchell firm's output. Interestingly, this map shows one inconsistency, with Rock County labeled as Pipestone, and vice versa. Both counties were founded in May of 1857. This error seems to have begun in an earlier published map of the state by Colton. $85
"State of Minnesota." Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1864. 22 3/4 x 20 1/4. Lithograph. Folded as issued. Fragile and splitting folds, but complete.
A fascination map showing knowledge of this area during the years of the American Civil War. $90
"Minnesota." New York: G.W. & C.B. Colton, 1866. 15 3/4 x 12 5/8. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
An up-to-date map of Minnesota from the New York firm of G.W. & C.B. Colton. Interestingly, the map does not show the northern boundary of the state, indicative of how sparsely populated this part of the country was at the time. $85
"County Map of Minnesota." Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., 1867. 13 7/8 x 11 5/8. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition. $65
Alfred J. Hill. "Sectional Map of the Surveyed Portion of Minnesota and the North Western Part of Wisconsin." St. Paul: J.S. Sewall, 1869. Copyright, 1857. 32 3/4 x 24 7/8. Engraving by C.A. Sweet, Boston. Original hand color. Full narrow margins. With some separation, wear and small holes at folds. With three stains at right. Overall, good condition. With original buckram covers.
This map, showing the entire state of Minnesota and part of northwestern Wisconsin, was issued within about a decade of Minnesota statehood. Sewall's map was the standard and best map of the region at this time of extensive development. Topographical information is excellent, with the extensive network of lakes and rivers well mapped. Counties are shown throughout the state, which is shown completely surveyed in the southern parts up to just past Mille Lacs. The northern parts are virtually unsettled and unsurveyed, though there is the beginning of development in places. In the developed areas, survey grids are indicated, along with settlements, both large and small, roads and railroads, Indian reservations and much else. An excellent item. This particular example of the map, which was issued over a number of years, was sold by D.D. Merrill, Randall & Co., of St. Paul. Their advertisement pasted into the front cover gives a date of June 1, 1869 and has the note that the map could be, "Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of $1.25." $625
"County Map Of Kansas, Nebrask, Dakota, and Minnesota." Chicago: Warner & Beers, 1872. 16 1/2 x 13 1/4. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
An unusual map from the Warner & Beers Atlas of Whiteside Co. (IL), which contained also maps of other Illinois counties and also the H.H. Lloyd Atlas of the United States. Details in Kansas and Nebraska are quite good, showing the extensive development by the early 1870s reaching west along the rail lines, which are clearly market. Minnesota is also shown as well settled, but Dakota-not yet divided into North and South-is relatively sparsely populated except in the south eastern part. $225
"The Central States West of Mississippi River." 1877. 10 5/8 x 8 7/8. Lithograph. Original color. Very good condition.
Illustrates North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. $40
"Map of Dakota and Minnesota." Chicago: Rand, McNally & Co., 1884. 11 1/4 x 17 1/4. Chromolithograph. Very good condition.
A promotional map published by Rand, McNally in their early days. It bears the legend "Presented by Graves & Vinton First Mortgage Loans, St. Paul, Minn. United States of America." $55
Tunison. "Tunison's Minnesota." Jacksonville, Illinois: H.C. Tunison, 1885. 12 3/4 x 9 7/8. Lithograph. Original hand outline color. Very good condition.
A handsome map of Minnesota from Tunison's Peerless Universal Atlas. With the development of wax engraving (cerography), more maps and atlases were able to be produced in cities beyond the major centers of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. Henry C. Tunison issued a series of fine atlases beginning in 1885 and lasting into the beginning of the twentieth century. This up to date map is an excellent snap-shot of the state at this time. $40
"Minnesota." From Gaskell's Atlas of the World. Chicago: Unknown, 1887. 12 1/8 x 9 5/8. Engraving. A colorful map with full borders. Very good condition.
Towns, railroads, topography and more are all clearly presented on this detailed map. Counties shown in contrasting pastel shades. Inset showing the tip of Cook County. Missouri on reverse $40
"Minnesota." Chicago: George F. Cram, 1903. 23 7/8 x 17. Cerograph. Separately issued folding map. Separated from (but accompanied by) original paper cover. Two tears at left edge (no more than 7/8" into image). Light wear along fold lines; small loss at lower right corner. Else, very good condition. With inset map of Twin Cities region.
Claiming that buyers could double their money, Minneapolis land agent Franklin Benner used maps like this to attract clients ready to buy on "easy terms." Layering his slogans over Cram's informative maps (which also illustrated rail lines snaking up from the Twin Cities), Benner turned an ordinary map into promotional material. With urgings to purchase immediately "as prices will continue to advance," he aggressively marketed land throughout the northern Midwest, including this patch of land in frigid, iron-rich Cass County, Minnesota at the edge of the Iron Range. As iron and manganese mines flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the logging industry also reached a high point in production, peaking around 1900 as water and rail transportation streamlined lumber movement.
Surprisingly, Benner advertises "improved farms" for sale in this area, as well as "wild lands." Dominated by logging and mining, the tree-covered areas around Leech Lake were much less suitable for agriculture than the more heavily settled prairies to the south. Enterprising to say the least, Benner probably used this map to market less saleable lands to uninformed outsiders. Folded into its compact paper cover, this map could be easily mailed to potential customers, who were invited to write Benner with "full particulars" of what they wanted. Colorful and detailed, this is a fascinating document of Minnesota land sales and settlement. $225
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