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This finely engraved folding map traces the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, based on William Clark’s original cartography first published in 1814. Drawn and engraved by W. G. Evans for the 1842 Harper & Brothers edition of History of the Expedition, the map offers a faithful reproduction of the original geographic outline and significant updates reflecting the evolving understanding of the American West in the early 19th century.
The long horizontal sheet emphasizes the Missouri and Columbia River systems, central to the expedition’s course, and preserves Clark’s practice of dense ethnographic labeling, with Indigenous tribal names distributed throughout. Superimposed on this early geographic core are numerous later developments: newly established forts such as Fort Madison, Fort Armstrong, and Fort Calhoun; towns including Vandalia, Springfield, Jefferson, Boonville, and Chicago; and enhanced hydrological detail, particularly in the Plains and upper Mississippi regions.
The map employs finely rendered hachuring to indicate relief and includes dual longitudinal references to situate the expedition’s route within global and national coordinate frameworks. The lower margin bears Evans’s imprint: “Drawn & Engraved by W.G. Evans, N. York.”
Issued as a folding map to accompany the octavo two-volume set, it served both illustrative and documentary purposes, providing readers with a geographic framework for understanding one of the most important overland expeditions in American history.
![Map of Oregon Territory. By Samuel Parker. 1838. [with:] Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains, under the direction of the A. B. C. F. M. 1840.](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/97939.jpg)
