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Historical collections

Research about west

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including west.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
Library of Congress1867

Map of the territory of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean; originally prepared to accompany the reports of the explorations for a Pacific railroad route

Hand colored. Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. Shows military departments, posts, routes and dates of expeditions and surveys. Includes list of "Authorities." Scale 1:3,000,000. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC copy annotated in pencil. Vault AACR2

united states↗
Library of Congress1859

General map of the United States & their territory between the Mississippi & the Pacific Ocean. 1. Showing the different surveyed routes from the Mississippi valley to the coast of Pacific Ocean, 2. the new established & proposed Post Routes, 3. the recently discovered gold, silver, and copper region in Kansas, Nebraska and Arizona

Gold mines are indicated in yellow and silver mines in blue. Indicates post routes, "old trail," finished and unfinished railroads, and the proposed state of "Colona."

west↗
Library of Congress1859

Map of the United States west of the Mississippi showing the routes to Pike's Peak, overland mail route to California and Pacific rail road surveys. To which are added the new state & territorial boundaires, the principal mail & rail road routes with all the arrangements & corrections made by Congress up to the date of its issue

"D. McGowan and George H. Hildt's 1859 map of the United States west of the Mississippi was based on an official map of 1857 produced by the Pacific railroad surveys. In the 1850s, Americans concluded that they needed to build a transcontinental railroad linking the east and center of the country with the Pacific coast. The U.S. Congress authorized the army topographical service to undertake engineering surveys and general assessments of five possible routes: from Saint Paul, Minnesota; from Council Bluffs, Iowa; from Saint Louis, Missouri; from Memphis, Tennessee; and from Vicksburg, Mississippi. Cities, states, and business groups competed fiercely to be the eastern terminus of the transcontinental railroad. This map offers an excellent example of a promotional map used to encourage settlement and investment in the American West. Published in Saint Louis, it emphasizes potential routes emanating from that city. The focus on Pike's Peak highlights the recent discovery of gold in Colorado. The map is hand-colored, framed in decorative borders, and shows drainage, state boundaries, cities and towns, and transportation and communication networks." World Digital Library. Detailed general map framed in decorative borders showing drainage, state boundaries, cities and towns, and the transportation and communication networks. An excellent example of a promotional map to encourage emigration. [From published bibliography]

west↗
Library of Congress1858

Map of the territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean; ordered by Jeff'n Davis, Secretary of War to accompany the reports of the explorations for a railroad route

Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. Incorporates note and surveys added after Jan. 8, 1858. Shows Indian tribal locations, military posts, routes and dates of expeditions and surveys. Includes "Note" and "Authorities." Scale 1:3,000,000. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC copy annotated in color to show boundaries, black ink to show place names, and blue ink to show routes. Vault AACR2

west↗
Library of Congress1858

Map of the territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean; ordered by Jeff'n Davis, Secretary of War to accompany the reports of the explorations for a railroad route

"The United States gained vast territories in the West through the Mexican War of 1846-48 and the 1846 Oregon Treaty with Great Britain. By the early 1850s, government and commercial interests were debating the possibilities of building a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific. The Army Appropriations Act of 1853 provided for the completion of railroad surveys to determine possible routes. This map, issued in 1858 by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, depicts the United States west of the Mississippi on the eve of the Civil War. California and Texas were at this time the only Western states. Western regions initially became part of the United States as military departments, which only later were organized into territories and, eventually, states. The map uses colors to show the military departments and Indian lands. Brown flags indicate military establishments. In the lower right are listed all of the important surveys and expeditions that contributed to the mapping of the West, from the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to a survey of roads between the Sacramento and Columbia Rivers undertaken by two army officers in 1855. The routes of these expeditions are shown on the map. The map was compiled by then-Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren of the Army Topographical Engineers and a future Union general in the Civil War. Davis later became president of the Confederacy and a bitter adversary of President Abraham Lincoln under whose leadership, ironically, work on the transcontinental railroad began in 1862." World Digital Library.

united states↗
Library of Congress1858

Map of the territory of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean; ordered by Jeff'n Davis, Secretary of War to accompany the reports of the explorations for a railroad route

Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. Second bar scale glued on. Shows Indian tribal locations, military posts, routes and dates of expeditions and surveys. Includes "Authorities." Scale 1:3,000,000. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. LC copy annotated in color to show boundaries, in red and blue ink and pencil to show place names, base lines, railroads and railroad exploration routes. Vault AACR2

united states↗
Library of Congress1858

Map of the territory of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean; ordered by Jeff'n Davis, Secretary of War to accompany the reports of the explorations for a railroad route

Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. Shows Indian tribal locations, military posts, and routes and dates of expeditions and surveys. Includes "Authorities." Scale 1:3,000,000. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Exhibition: Exhibited: Rivers, edens, empires: Lewis & Clark and the revealing of America, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., July 24-Nov. 29, 2003. LC copy annotated in color and black ink to show boundaries, place names, base lines, proposed Indian reservations and Indian land cessions. Vault AACR2

west↗
Library of Congress1858

Map of the territory of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean : ordered by Jeff' Davis, Secretary of War to accompany the reports of the explorations for a railroad route

Very detailed map of the United States west of the Mississippi River indicating drainage, relief by hachures, cities and towns, forts, trails, wagon roads, and routes of exploration. An important map of western expansion, it utilized and lists 45 major exploration and mapping reports from the Lewis & Clark to the U.S. General Land Office Surveys.

west↗
Library of Congress1855

Map of routes for a Pacific railroad

Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. Appears in the U.S. War Dept.'s Report of the Secretary of War on the several Pacific railroad explorations, 1855. "This is a hurried compilation of all the authentic surveys and is designed to exhibit the relations of the different routes to each other. An elaborate map on scale of 1:3,000,000 is being compiled and is in an advanced state." In manuscript ink on verso: "Maps showing boundaries of proposed territory of Arizona belonging to the [illegible], Department of the Interior." Annotations in ink at lower center. LC copy imperfect: Mounted on cloth, minor discoloration horizontally along lower right half and along upper left half. Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image.

united states↗
Library of Congress1855

Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Route near the 38th & 39th parallels

Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. From U.S. War Department, Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Topographical Maps ... to Illustrate the Various Reports ... (Washington, 1859) Scale 1:760,320; 12 miles to 1 in. LC Railroad maps, 160 LC Railroad maps, 161 LC Railroad maps, 162 LC Railroad maps, 163 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. AACR2: 100, 650/1; 700/1; 700/2; 700/3; 700/4; 700/5; 710/1

united states↗