Premiere Partie de la Carte de l’Interieur de la Louisiane [and] Carte de l’Interieur de la Louisiane

“Milestones in the mapping of the American West.” [Carl Wheat]

In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson authorized the first U.S. government-sponsored expedition to explore the southern and western portions of the newly-acquired Louisiana Territory. James Wilkinson, the territorial governor, assigned the task to Lieutenant Zebulon Pike (he was soon promoted to captain). Joined by twenty other men, the group of twenty men set out from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis to map the territory, make contact with indigenous tribes, and find the source of the Red River.

They traveled through modern-day Kansas and Nebraska before arriving in Colorado and discovering Pike’s namesake peak. When returning through New Mexico, an unfortunate encounter with the Spanish led to the group’s imprisonment and a long march through Texas before being released in July of 1807, almost a full year after departing. Pike wrote and published an account of his epic travels in 1810 and its subsequent popularity saw several editions issued in German, French, and Dutch.

This pair of maps were originally issued in the French edition of Pike’s account, translated by M. Breton, and published in Paris by D’Hautel in 1811. The first sheet shows a broad territory bounded by the Mississippi, Red, and Platte Rivers. European towns and fortifications are labeled amid Native American settlements (often with accompanying populations) and a variety of geographic features. Major transportation routes and boundary lines are noted and numerous annotations reference historic events or elements from the expedition.

The second sheet continues westward, though on a larger scale, following the course of the Arkansas River to the Rocky Mountains. The Grand Peak is prominently shown amid numerous pictorial mountain ranges, though Pike and his group were unsuccessful in their attempt to summit it. Additional annotations identify the sources of the Red and Arkansas Rivers, herds of buffalo, and the route taken while captive by the Spanish. A legend in the lower-left outlines the symbols used across both sheets – cornerstones in the mapping of the American West.

Sources: Wheat #297-298; Schwartz & Ehrenberg p.224; Wagner-Camp #9:3