“General Map Showing the Countries Explored & Surveyed by the United States & Mexican Boundary Commission in the Years 1850, 51, 52, & 53. Under the direction of John R. Bartlett. U.S. Commissioner” . New York: J.H. Colton & Co, published 1854 for inclusion in Bartlett's Personal Narrative of explorations and incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora and Chihuahua.
Image Size: 15 x 19 inches.
The U.S.-Mexican Boundary Survey surveyed the border between the two countries, as determined after the Mexican American War (1848-1849). The map covers the entire west from the Mississippi River with particular emphasis on the land recently obtained from Mexico. Territory covered is from the Falls of St. Anthony on the Upper Mississippi to the "toe" of Louisiana and part of the Gulf of Mexico; in the West, it covers the Baja peninsula, north to approximately the northern boundary of California today, and Mexico as far south as San Juan Guadalupe (Guadelupe) in the East and Guadalajara (spelled Guadalaxara) in the West.
Important and Informative map with early reporting of the Gadsden Purchase border. The map is historically significant also for the notes included, such as the note in the Texas/Oklahoma panhandle region (today): "The whole country from the head waters of the Red, Brazos & Colorado Rivers to the Rio Pecos is a sterile and barren plain without water or Timber producing only a few stinted shrubs which are insufficient to sustain animal life...." It places Native villages, forts, elevations, and a number of landmarks that had been uncertain before. The map was also important for planning a possible southern route for the transcontinental railroad.
References: Wheat (TMW) #798; Howes B-197; Wagner-Camp 234:1; Sabin 87268.
Condition: Folds as issued. Tear at right margin through Arkansas into Indian Territory, crudely repaired with adhesive tape on verso.
Shipped unmatted
