Route of Colpitt’s Private Car Parties to California and the Pacific Northwest July 5 and August 2, 1930

Route map of a Gilded Age-style train tour during the Great Depression.

Promising ‘Tours of the Better Grade’, Boston-based Colpitt’s Tourist Company catered to high-end clientele during the 1920s and 1930s. This ephemeral map of the United States highlights the route of two 1930 railroad tours organized by the firm.

A straight shot from Boston to Chicago along the New York Central is followed by a circular path that explores portions of the Great Plains, Southwest, West Coast, Pacific Northwest, and southern Canada before returning home through the Upper Midwest. Deliberate side-trips include Rocky Mountains National Park (in Canada), Yosemite, Colorado Springs, and the Grand Canyon. Interestingly, it appears as though the map was an ‘in-house’ production; a custom composition, rather than licensing a base map upon which the tour can then be overprinted.