California Lost Mines and Ghost Towns Early Spanish Missions

Scarce alternate edition of Dagosta’s dramatic depiction of historic California.

This marvelous map of California combines the early history of the state from the Spanish colonizers to the mid-19th century into one distinctive image. The content, emphasizing ghost towns, gold mines, military forts, and Spanish missions, was heavily influenced by the 20th-century representation of the Wild West. A legend in the lower left aids the audience in determining what’s what. The illustrated scenes could be lifted directly from a spaghetti Western, and the variety of place names included would make Louis L’Amour proud.

The map was drawn by Andy Dagosta and published in Scottsdale, Arizona by Cooper Enterprises in 1969. One of at least two variants issued that year – the more common edition replaces two of the vignettes, the Spanish priest and the man dying of thirst. Born in Nebraska, Dagosta was a talented illustrator, WWII aviator, and avid consumer of all western pop culture. He co-founded the American Indian and Cowboy Artist Association and created at least three other similar maps of western states during the 1960s.

Alternate example is available on my website here.