1890 "Map of Oregon, Kansas, California, and the Territories" by S. A. Mitchell Jr.

Presented is an 1890 map "Map of Oregon, Kansas, California, and the Territories" by S. A. Mitchell Jr. The map was issued in the atlas “Mitchell's New Intermediate Geography” published in Philadelphia. 

The map is engraved, with attractive hand coloring by state. The states and territories colored and depicted are Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Territory, and “Public Land.” Depicted but not colored are the neighboring states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, Mexico and Lower California to the south, and the British Possessions to the north. Many cities and towns are depicted, as well as prominent rivers, mountains, lakes. Native American tribes are labelled throughout the map. Prominently featured are the many railroad routes, snaking through and crossing the western states, connecting the east to the west coast. 

This map is a lovely snapshot of the western states and territories during a time of exponential population growth. The passage of the Homestead Act and completion of the first transcontinental railroad meant that, by 1870, the possibility of western migration was opened to more Americans than ever before. Mining, agriculture and especially large-scale ranching, and the development of towns and cities around railroad hubs attracted large numbers of settlers to the West. Nearly 400,000 settlers made the trek westward during the height of the 1870s. Between 1867 and 1879, Congress also authorized and funded four significant surveys, in effort to learn more about the area west of the Mississippi River. 

North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington all gained statehood in November of 1889, with Idaho and Wyoming joining the Union in June and July of 1890. In 1890, the Superintendent of the Census described the western part of the country as having so many pockets of settled area that a frontier line could no longer be said to exist.

Samuel Augustus Mitchell Sr. (1792 - 1868) began his map-publishing career in the early 1830s. Having worked as a schoolteacher, Mitchell was frustrated with the low quality and inaccuracy of school texts of the period. His first maps were an attempt to rectify this problem. In the next 20 years Mitchell would become the most prominent American map publisher of the mid-19th century. Mitchell worked with prominent engravers J. H. Young, H. S. Tanner, and H. N. Burroughs before attaining the full copyright on his maps in 1847.

In 1849, Mitchell teamed up with printer Cowperthwait & Company to produce Mitchell's Universal Atlas and Mitchell's General Atlas. In the late 1850s most of the Mitchell copyrights were bought by Desilver and Co., who continued to publish his maps, many with modified borders and color schemes, until Mitchell's son, Samuel Augustus Mitchell Jr., entered the picture. S. A. Mitchell Jr. purchased most of the copyrights back from Desilver and, from 1860 on, published his own New General Atlas. The younger Mitchell became as prominent as his father and published atlases well into the late 19th century when most of the copyrights were again sold and the Mitchell firm closed its doors for the final time.

CONDITION: 

Good condition. Engraved map, with original hand coloring. Color is vibrant. Paper is healthy, with moderate toning. Faint stains to the left upper image, all else clean. 

Map is artfully framed with acid-free mats, UV Conservation clear glass, and a custom-built wooden frame. Framed Dimensions: 13 3/4" H x 15 3/4" W x 3/4" D

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.