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Wall Map of Idaho Signed by Spokane Chemist and Consulting Engineer for the Spokane Smelting Company

This 1899 wall map of the State of Idaho was produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior, General Land Office under Commissioner Binger Hermann and compiled under the direction of Harry King, C.E., Chief of the Drafting Division. The map presents a comprehensive depiction of Idaho’s administrative geography, public land divisions, and federal land designations at the end of the 19th century. It was compiled from official records of the General Land Office and other sources, reflecting the federal government’s effort to document surveyed lands, land offices, and reservations throughout the state.

The map delineates Idaho’s county boundaries in red and illustrates the region’s rugged topography through finely drawn hachures. Rivers, mountain ranges, valleys, and towns are depicted with precision, emphasizing the state’s varied terrain and hydrography. Key transportation routes, including early rail lines and roads, are also included. Federal land classifications are identified using a standardized legend: blue rings mark the location of U.S. Surveyor General's Offices; orange triangles denote U.S. Land Offices; red-orange hatched areas indicate Indian Reservations; red hatched rectangles show military reservations; and green shaded regions represent Forest Reserves. Unsubdivided townships are marked with faint outlined squares.

Several significant land offices are labeled, including those at Boise, Blackfoot, and Lewiston, indicating areas of concentrated land administration and settlement activity. The map also marks the locations and boundaries of Indian reservations such as the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho, the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in the north, and another near the western border. A large section of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve is shown extending into eastern Idaho from Wyoming, highlighting early federal conservation efforts.

Intended for administrative and public use, this wall map was a vital reference tool for surveyors, land agents, and government officials involved in the distribution and regulation of public lands. Its detailed annotations and color-coded classifications provide insight into land use policy, territorial development, and the federal presence in Idaho at the turn of the century. A handwritten notation in the margin—“Edgar B. Van Ogle, Spokane."

Professor Edgar B. Van Osdel received his A.B. degree from Knox College in 1894, later earning a master’s degree from the same institution. He pursued two additional years of graduate study at the University of Chicago, before  beginning work in a range of technical and managerial roles between 1898 and 1901. He served as a commercial chemist and assayer in Spokane, Washington; chemist with the El Favor Mining Company; consulting engineer for the Spokane Smelting Company; manager and chief chemist at the C.M. Fossett Laboratory; and chemist draftsman and assistant metallurgist with the Frisco Mining Company in Gem, Idaho.

In 1908, Van Osdel transitioned to academia, accepting a faculty position at McMinnville College (now Linfield University) in Oregon, where he taught physics and chemistry for thirteen years.  After 13 years, he became a professor of astronomy and geology at the University of Redlands, where he served from 1921 into the early 1940s. He continued to teach during World War II, even after his formal retirement, contributing to the wartime educational needs of the university.