George Woolworth Colton, Colton’s Map of the States and Territories West of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, 1868

A remarkable window into the past at a time when the American West was beginning to take shape, Colton’s monumental map of the states and territories west of the Mississippi River epitomizes the excitement and determination of a young country expanding westward to the Pacific Ocean. The first edition of this map, which was published in 1864, was the earliest map to show the appearance of Montana. The map offered here, published in 1868, contains crucial new developments that took place after the first edition had been printed. Most notably is the presentation of Nevada Territory as an official U.S. state. Nevada’s newly defined borders are shown expanding east into the Utah Territory and stretching south into Arizona Territory. Also, a substantial amount of information provided by the Williamson expedition to Silver City in 1865 made these new additions to northern Nevada possible. The hastened increase of settlement to this region was in part due to the discovery of large silver deposits in 1859.

Other exceptional components delineated on this map include the projected lines for the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and Southern Pacific Railroads. Having been completed up to Donner Pass in eastern California, the Central Pacific Railroad began to fervently move eastward for an anticipated junction with the Union Pacific Railroad, which was rapidly moving west from Cheyenne’s Pass. Only a year later in the spring of 1869, with the hammering of the ceremonial golden spike, the two lines would converge in Promontory, Utah forming the first Trans-Continental Railroad. Further significant features of the present map highlight the famous expedition routes of notable figures such as Fremont, Emory, Peck, Stansbury, Sitgreaves, and Simpson among many others. It was through the massive effort of these expeditions that supplied crucial regional and topographical information to aid in the mapping of this vast territory.

Notable differences from the 1864 edition also include the vast county development in Kansas and Nebraska as more settlers began flowing into the region after the end of the Civil War. A wonderful and complete illustration of the Black Hills in the expansive Dakota Territory appears prominently in the map. The placename of Dakota seems to be more compressed, perhaps to potentially make room for a coming Wyoming (?). Despite the attention directed towards the quickly developing railroad system, Colton’s map of the western frontier does not seem to overlook important events of the past. This is made apparent by the addition of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, as well as special notation of key sections of the famous Pony Express Route from Red Buttes Station outside of Fort Casper in Dakota Territory [present day Wyoming, just south of the Wind River Range] to Placerville, California. Lasting only from April 1860 to October of 1861 the route stretched from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA. Colton seemed to possess an extreme fondness of the Pony Express due to its appearance in many of his maps throughout the 1860’s.

Legendary U.S. Army forts are dispersed north to south and along vital passages that reach into the ever-expansive landscape of the American West. These strongholds proved to be an indispensible resource for travelers migrating west by providing essential protection from the harsh elements and skirmishes with the Native Americans. The end of the Civil War established a renewed effort to claim the frontier for the United States and expand settlement all the way west to the Pacific Ocean. This magnificent artifact encapsulates the rich and complicated history of the states and territories west of the Mississippi River and provides an intriguing glimpse into a time when a continuously changing United States was pursuing the maximum potential of a new continent.

Phillips, Maps, p. 913 (1864 ed.); Rumsey, #2928, #0158; Wheat, Mapping the Trans-Mississippi West, 1099 (1864 ed.).