''OREGON, AND UPPER CALIFORNIA'' Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, c. 1846, from the 1846 edition of Mitchell's New Universal Atlas. Engraved map in excellent condition with bright original hand-coloring. (Ref: Reinhartz & Colley, p. 74 – illustrated; Phillips # 6104; Not listed in Wheat). (Image: 15 1/4 x 12 1/2 ’’)
This VERY SCARCE map depicts the region prior to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and prior to the Discovery of Gold in California (both 1848). Throughout the map Indian tribes are located, & trails such as the Louis & Clark Route, Great Spanish Trail, Fremont’s Route, El Camino Real (with the Missions noted) & the Oregon Trail are shown.
This is the first map of the West to appear in an American Atlas
The map is First Edition, First State, determined by the 1846 date and a lack of page number, inserted in the second issue of the 1846 Atlas & the 1847 as well. The difference between this & later editions is very clear: The Great Basin information pre-dates Fremont; the route to San Diego from the Gila is not included; elevation of the pass in the Sierras is shown; Owens Valley (River & Lake) is not yet present. Humboldt &Nicollet Lakes are not yet present; Fremont's route to Oregon is shown, but not his route from Walker Lake to Salt Lake, nor any of the regional cartography; the region between Mud Lake & Salt Lake City is similarly uncharted by Fremont. The tributaries of the Upper Colorado River are substantially incomplete, lacking the White River, Red River etc. The Gila River is shown with its terminus in the Gulf of Mexico & with a radically incorrect course & apocryphal tributaries. There is an apocryphal Sevier River along Rio Colorado.
Shipped unmatted
