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[ Return to 19th century regional US maps ]
A landmark map of headwaters of many of the major rivers of the American West, an area at the intersection of Wyoming, Utah and Montana. From 1832 to 1835, Bonneville explored the northern parts of the American West, proceeding up the Platte River and for the first time crossing the South Pass with wagons, thus establishing the route for the thousands of emigrants who were soon to follow his path on the Oregon Trail. His expedition explored this region of the Rockies, including the Green, Snake and Columbia Rivers, the Great Salt Lake, and what would later become the California Trail across the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In the area explored extensively by Bonneville were the sources of many of the great rivers of the west, including the Colorado, Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake, and Salmon. This map shows those sources carefully located among the complex mountain ranges of the region. Bonneville drew the map based on his explorations and it was a huge improvement on any rendering previously done. Carl Wheat says of it is "an excellent map, by far the best yet published of this region….a map of real import…" It was published in Washington Irving's The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, based on Bonneville's notes and manuscript maps, which Irving purchased from Bonneville for $1,000. It is a landmark map of the American West. $1,100
"Map of the State of California, The Territories of Oregon & Utah, and the chief part of New Mexico." From Universal Atlas. Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., [1850]-1851. Copyright, H.B. Burroughs, 1845. 15 1/2 x 12 7/8. Lithographic transfer from an engraved plate. Original hand color. Full margins. Very good condition.
A mid-century map of the western part of the United States, one of the first maps to show the state of California and the territories of Utah and New Mexico. The map is an updated version of a map that appeared in S. Augustus Mitchell's Universal Atlas of 1849. The southern part of the region shown in that map, "Upper California," had just been won from Mexico in 1848, and Mitchell's map was important for presenting the vast new U.S. territories to the American public. In 1850, the rights to Mitchell's atlas were sold to the firm of Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., which reissued the atlas with some updating. That year the newly acquired lands were divided by Congress into the state of California and two territories, Utah and New Mexico; Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. revised the Mitchell map accordingly.
Besides the new political information that appeared on this map, what had appeared on the 1849 map as the "Great Interior Basin" is now somewhat filled in based on Fremont's map, renamed "Fremont Basin." Other topographical features included considerable orography, rivers, and lakes. The Great Salt Lake is shown, next to which is "Salt Lake City. Mormon Set.," which had just been settled in 1847. Early settlements and a coastal road are illustrated in California, and the old Spanish trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles is also indicated. Of further interest is the prominent depiction of the Oregon Trail, shown snaking from present-day Colorado to the Columbia River. The entire region north of Utah and California appears as the Oregon Territory, which it remained until the Washington Territory was created in 1853. Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. continued to revise this map, for in 1851 they came out with a further up-dated map retitled "A New Map of the State of California…" and with more information provided on the counties of the territories and state. This is a fascinating and historical important map, one of the first to show the new political situation in the west after the Compromise of 1850. $875
"Map No. 10. United States." From Roswell C. Smith's A Precise and Practical System of Geography. New York: Burgess & Co., 1853. 10 1/4 x 8 7/8. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition. Denver.
A small but interesting map of the configuration on the western U.S. shortly after gold was discovered in California. Shows Washington and Oregon extending from the Pacific to the crest of the Rockies, and Utah and New Mexico extending from California to the Rockies. Nebraska and the North West Territory are shown in part. $150
A.H. Dufour. "États-Unis Région Des Territoires." From Atlas Populaire. Paris, ca. 1854. 12 1/2 x 9 1/2. Lithograph. Full original hand color. Very good condition. Denver.
A fascinating map of the Trans-Mississippi West by Adolph Hippolyte Dufour; it seems that he had access to up-to-date information, but not fully accurate and laid onto an underlying geography which was less than correct. He shows the territories created between 1850 and 1854, including Washington, Utah, New Mexico, and Kansas, but the borders are all somewhat skewed. Of particular interest is Dufour's depiction of the Utah Territory, which he also labels Deseret. The borders of this territory are essentially those of Brigham Young's proposed state of Deseret, including the entire Great Basin and Colorado River drainage. This is thus one of the few maps to show this transitory territory. $350
Go to page about the proposed state of Deseret
Carl Flemming. "Californien, Oregon, Utah und Neu-Mejico." From Heinrich Berghaus's Vollständiger Universal-Handatlas. Glogau, Germany: C. Flemming, 1854. 15 1/2 x 13 5/8. Lithograph by C. Flemming. Original outline color. Very good condition. Denver.
Carl Flemming was the founder of an important German firm located in Berlin and Glogau and this map shows characteristic German detail. Germans were very interested in the western parts of the United States at this time and the atlas from which this map came contained not only two maps of the United States as a whole-one single sheet and one four part map-but also a number of regional maps including this one of the region to the west of the Rocky Mountains. The topography is graphic but quite confused. The entire region is shown consisting only of California and the three territories of Oregon-which encompass the entire northwest corner-Utah and New Mexico. $475
"Utah, New Mexico and California." Wood engraving from unknown 1854 publication. 4 5/8 x 8. Very good condition. Denver. QW On Approval
"Territories of New Mexico and Utah." New York: J.H. Colton, 1855. Second state, 1855-56. 12 1/2 x 15 1/2. Lithograph. Full original hand color. Very good condition. Brown: 2; Wheat: 832. Denver.
An early example of J.H. Colton's important map of the American Southwest. With the American victory in the Mexican War (1846-48), the United States gained a huge amount of land to the west of the Louisiana Territory. In 1850, the territory gained outside of California was divided into two territories: Utah to the north, the home of the Mormans, and New Mexico to the south. This was one of the first maps to show this region and this early version of Colton's map--which went through at least 12 states until 1863--shows the original configuration of the two territories. The map is copious in its detail, forts, Indian tribes, counties, mountains, rivers, lakes are all clearly depicted. The information is impressively accurate, being based on the various explorations in the area. The routes of a number of these explorers are shown, including those of Fremont, Stansbury, Kearney and Gunnison (the latter noting that "Capt. Gunnison Killed by Indians"). Also indicated are the Cimarron Route from Ft. Leaveworth to Santa Fe, the Spanish route from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, the Oregon Route, and the different proposed routes for the transcontinental railroad. This map is interesting in showing Colorado (then mostly part of the Kansas Territory) just before the Gold Rush of 1858-1861. Over the next 8 years, this region would undergo tremendous changes, documented well in Colton's series of maps, of which this is the second state. $395
"Territories of New Mexico and Utah." New York: J.H. Colton. Fourth state, 1857-58. 12 1/2 x 15 1/2. Lithograph. Full original hand color. Very good condition. Brown: 4; cf. Wheat: 832.
A slightly later edition of the map above, but without the decorative border. $350
"A New Map of the State of California, The Territories of Oregon, Washington, Utah & New Mexico." Philadelphia: Charles Desilver, 1856. 16 x 12 3/4. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition. Denver.
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, etc. Here the country west of the Rockies is depicted with the state of California and the rest comprised of just four territories: Washington, Oregon, Utah and New Mexico. Settlement in those territories was quite sparse at the time, with some cities shown, and a number of counties developed in the western part of the northern most territories. The map was issued just after the Gadsden Treaty (1854) so the current southern border with Mexico is depicted. Of note are depictions of the southern route proposed for the Pacific Railroad, the Spanish trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, the routes of Lewis & Clark and Fremont, and the Oregon Trail. Forts are indicated, as are the territories of various Indian tribes. Of interest is the small section entitled "Middle Park," which is shown as part of Utah, but which is currently part of Colorado (the western part of which is shown as part of Kansas Territory. Overall, a terrific and up-to-date map of the western United States. $650
"J.H. Colton's Map of Nevada, Utah and Arizona." From Colton's Condensed Octavo Atlas of the Union. New York: J.H. Colton, 1865. 10 3/4 x 8 1/2. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
An unusual small map of the three territories by one of the leading map publishers of the middle of the nineteenth century, J.H. Colton. Colton's firm, out of New York, published folding and wall maps, and beginning in 1855, a series of folio atlases. Just after the Civil War, Colton issued his Octavo Atlas of the Union. The maps retained Colton's careful detail and attractive coloring. Included are rivers, mountains, lakes, and many of the large and small settlements.
This map shows an interesting period for these territories. Nevada was created just four years earlier and Arizona two years before. Nevada was created because of the gold and silver rush on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevadas, an area well depicted on this map. The original border with Utah was the 116th meridian, but in 1862 the border was moved on degree east. That border is shown on this map, with a dotted line indicating the original border. This is somewhat out of date as just the year before this map was published, the border had been moved another degree east. The border for Nevada would be changed again in 1867, with the western-most part of Arizona became the southern-most part of Nevada.
This map is also interesting for the trails and routes it depicts. Early trading and explorer routes are noted, as is the Pony Express route across Utah and Nevada. The year this map was issued, the first spike was driven at Omaha for the first trans-continental railroad, the route for which through Nevada and Utah is also shown on this map. $165
"Colton's Map of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona & New Mexico." New York: G.W. and C.B. Colton & Co., 1866. 16 3/4 x 26. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition. Denver.
A fascinating map of the southwestern part of the United States by the Colton firm of New York City, issued just after the Civil War. This was a period when the American west was really opening up for settlers and this map captures the region at a very early stage of its development. When issued, the territories had taken on the shape that the states have today, though in this early version of the Colton map of the region Nevada's southern tip is shown as part of Arizona. Detail or topography is very good, but it is the social information that is so interesting. Towns, forts (, Indian tribes, passes, explorer routes, the pony express, and early trails (e.g. "Emigrant Road") are all depicted. Of particular note are the indications of early railroads, both proposed and existing, including the proposed route of the "Pacific R.R." California, in contrast to the territories, is shown extensively developed, with many counties, towns, and a network of roads and rail lines. $325
Go to a sequence of maps of this same area, from about 1860 to 1880
"Map of the Territory of Utah." Washington: General Land Office, 1866. 25 1/4 x 18. Lithograph by Major & Knapp. Original outline color. Some light discoloration along folds. Very good condition. Wheat: 1155. Denver.
The U.S. General Land Office (GLO) was established in 1812 with responsibility to survey and control the dispersal of public lands. All public land was required to be surveyed prior to settlement, and the first director of the GLO, Thomas Hutchins, set up a systematic process of rectangular survey for the public lands and launched the great national project to survey and map the public domain in the entire country, a procedure which got under way in the famous "seven ranges" of southeast Ohio. Each surveyor was to record not only geography, but also features of the landscape with economic import, such as roads, Indian trails, existing settlements, Indian lands, mineral deposits, and of particular interest, railroads and their rights of way. Of note is that unlike most surveys of the time, the surveyors were instructed not to apply new names to the landscape, but to use "the received names of all rivers, creeks, lakes, swamps, prairies, hills, mountains and other natural objects."
By mid-century the GLO had completed most of the surveys for the lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, and so focused most of its attention to the American west for the rest of the century. The GLO published mostly state maps, which were issued in annual reports, bound into state atlases, and in a few atlases that combined all the current maps in progress. These maps produced by the GLO are the most accurate and detailed maps of the U.S., based on rigorous and comprehensive surveys not hindered by commercial concerns. These maps proved very useful to private American mapmakers, and they were often the basis for state and county maps in the second part of the nineteenth century. This 1866 map shows Utah five years after it took on essentially its current borders, losing some of its eastern lands to Colorado and its western half to the state of Nevada. The Morman settlements are show as are Indian reservations. An interesting map of the territory. $575
S. Augustus Mitchell Jr. "County Map of Utah and Nevada." Philadelphia: 1865. 11 1/4 x 13 3/4. Drawn and engraved by W. H. Gamble. Hand color. Very good condition. Denver.
For most of the middle part of the nineteenth century, the firm founded by S. Augustus Mitchell, Sr. dominated American cartography in output and influence. This fine map is from one of his son's atlases, and it shows Utah and Nevada in the final year of the Civil War. Towns, rivers, roads and other topographical information are clearly shown, and the counties are shaded with contrasting pastel colors. A fine decorative border surrounds the map, and the whole effect makes for an attractive and historically interesting mid-nineteenth century map. Although dated to 1865, the map shows Nevada's eastern boundary at the 115th meridian. However, when Nevada was granted statehood in 1864, its eastern border was relocated further east to the 114th meridian. $140
S. Augustus Mitchell Jr. "County Map of Utah and Nevada." Philadelphia: 1867. 11 3/8 x 14. Drawn and engraved by W. H. Gamble. Hand color. Very good condition.
An updated version of the above map from the Mitchell firm. Published two years later, this map shows the newly formed Lincoln Country, and Utah's expanded land claim eastwardly to the 114th meridian, giving it further access to navigable waterways. In 1867, Congress ceded more than 18,000 square miles of land from the Arizona Territory to the state of Nevada, giving Nevada access to the Colorado River. Although not seen in this map, these are Nevada's borders as we know them today. $140
"Map of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado & Indian Territory." From Atlas of Kendall County Illinois. Philadelphia: Warner & Beers, 1870. 16 1/2 x 27. Lithograph. Original hand color. Some light stains in upper side margins and a short tear in lower right (with old repair). Otherwise, very good condition. Denver.
A rare map from Warner, Higgins & Beer's atlas of Kendall County, Il. This atlas included maps of other Illinois counties as well as the maps from H.H. Lloyd & Co.'s Atlas of the United States (from which this map originally comes). This map has an unusual combination of states, as listed in the title, but also showing the northern part of Texas. 1870 was a period of considerable growth in the area. Just a decade earlier, gold and silver were discovered in Colorado and Utah, bringing large numbers of new settlers into American west. The end of the Civil War saw further development as many from the East took Greely's advice to "go west." The trails and wagon roads in the area are shown with impressive detail, including the U.S. Mail routes and recently laid "wagon roads."
This was also, of course, the period of great railroad building to handle the increase in immigration to the area and the growth in the region's economy. The trans-continental railroad, shown running along the top of this map, was completed just the year before this map was finished, and it was the year of publication that Denver was finally linked by rail lines both to the trans-continental railroad in Cheyenne, but also directly with the east by the Kansas Pacific Railroad. This map was issued before it was known in the east that these lines were completed, but the map does include an indication of the proposed routes of both. Also shown is the "Projected Rail Road" to Santa Fe, a route completed a decade later. $275
"Asher & Adams' Utah." Washington: Asher & Adams, [1874] - 1875. 16 3/8 x 22 1/2. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition. Denver.
It was only towards the latter part of the nineteenth century that today's western states took their status as independent territories and then states. Thus, it wasn't before then that there were individual maps of these states. Asher & Adams' atlas issued in 1875 contained quite a number such maps, and these are amongst the earliest available of the individual states. Each contains good detail of towns, roads, rivers, early survey-lines, and political divisions. Though the Territory of Utah was established in 1850-as part of the Compromise of 1850-it wasn't admitted as a state until 1896. This map is particularly interesting in showing the route of the first transcontinental railroad, including Promontory Point, where the golden spike was driven into the rail on May 10, 1869. $135
"County Map of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizon." From Illustrated Historical Atlas of Macoupin County Illinois. Chicago: Warner & Beers, 1875. Lithograph. Original hand color. 16 x 14. A few light stains in upper right margin. Else, very good condition. Denver.
A rare map from Warner & Beer's atlas of Macoupin County, Il. This atlas included maps of other Illinois counties as well as the maps from H.H. Lloyd & Co.'s Atlas of the United States (from which this map originally comes). This map is unusual in showing the four territories surrounding four corners. Colorado would become a state just the following year, but the other three would be decades later (Utah in 1896 and Arizona & New Mexico in 1912). Detail in the maps is quite impressive, including early trails and passes throughout, along with surprisingly good topography. In Colorado, the most developed territory, the railroads are shown with some prominence. Attention is paid to forts, towns, and locations of Indian tribes. An excellent map of the region. $210
"The Pacific States and Territories." 1877. 10 7/8 x 8 3/4. Lithograph. Original color. Very good condition. Denver.
Illustrates Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California. $45
S. Augustus Mitchell. "County and Township Map of Utah and Nevada." 1880. 14 1/4 x 21 5/8. Hand color. Very good condition.
A new map of Utah and Nevada from the S. Augustus Mitchell firm of Philadelphia. Rich in detail with much topographical information, the map also shows development of the plat system of surveying, just beginning in the new states west of the Mississippi River. Oddly, the map does not include all of the southern portion of Nevada below the 37th parallel. $95
W.M. Bradley. "County and Township Map of Utah and Nevada." W.M. Bradley & Bros., 1884. 14 3/8 x 21 5/8. Hand color. Very good condition.
An updated version of the above Mitchell map, published by Bradley. This map shows new political boundaries in Utah with the introduction of new counties, and it includes an inset of the southern tip of Nevada at the bottom left of the main map. $85
"Utah." Chicago: Geo F. Cram, c. 1890. 12 1/8 x 9 3/4. Wax engraving. Very good condition.
A colorful, detailed map of Utah from the latter part of the nineteenth century. The George Cram Company was an engraving and publishing firm from Chicago. In the mid-nineteenth century, the center of cartographic publishing was New York City, but in the 1880's this began to shift towards Chicago with the advent of the Rand, McNally and Cram firms. These firms were noted for their efficient output of precise maps filled with useful and up-to-date details on roads, towns, railroads, and so forth. Decorative border as shown. Arizona shown on reverse. $65
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