Map of the Territories & Pacific States to Accompany Across the Continent by Samuel Bowles

The western United States shortly after the end of the Civil War.

In the summer of 1865, shortly after Robert E. Lee’s surrender effectively ended the Civil War, Samuel Bowles traveled overland to the Pacific Coast with a contingent of American politicians. Stops in Colorado, Nevada, and California were followed by a journey to the Washington Territory and British Canada before Bowles returned back East.

The resulting volume detailing his travels, Across the Continent, was published in December of that same year. The 450+ pages are divided across 32 separate letters of correspondence, plus 7 ‘supplementary papers’ that cover topics ranging from the Mormons to the Yosemite Valley. It also included a large folding map of the United States west of Illinois and Wisconsin, an example of which can be seen here.

The image was engraved by J.H. Goldthwait and printed in New York by G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co. Primary transportation routes are noted; including the Oregon Trail, the proposed path for the Pacific Railroad, Overland Stage Coach road, and the Sante Fe Trail to name a few. Mining towns and frontier fortifications are also labeled, but any Native American presence is conspicuously absent. An inset in the lower right shows further details about California’s Central Valley.