A New Map of the Great West

The Great West Beckons!

Published in the volatile years following the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, this fascinating map by Erastus Beadle captures the American West at a moment of explosive, and often violent, transition. While Beadle would later achieve fame as the godfather of the “Dime Novel,” his early cartographic efforts were equally focused on feeding the Eastern public’s insatiable appetite for frontier narratives. This striking image was issued as an accompaniment to at least five separate editions of The States and Territories of the Great West by Jacob Ferris.

The map offers a sweeping overview of the trans-Mississippi region, depicting a landscape that was rapidly shifting from a Great American Desert into a potential Garden of Eden. The Midwestern states have a robust network of railroads, highlighted in red, which reaches to Jefferson City, Missouri. Further west, the available transportation routes are restricted to the prominent emigrant trails and several mapped explorers’ routes (Kearny, Fremont and Lewis & Clark among them). Settlement and surveying patterns become noticeably sparse west of the Missouri River. While large swathes of territory are assigned to various Native American tribes, either through official reservations (outlined) or a generalized presence, numerous frontier outposts are shown as protection against possible incursions. Topography is depicted with somewhat rudimentary hachures, showing an unusual range in which the Rocky Mountains are directly connected to the Black Hills and the Green River Mountains. A fascinating variety of geographic features are labeled throughout, including the source of the Mississippi River (Lake Itasca), the Great Falls of the Missouri, and the Rio Grande.