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1873 G.W. & C.B. Colton
$ 175.00
Description

One of the earliest obtainable separately printed atlas maps of Dakota Territory.

Dakota Territory was formed in 1861, although it can occasionally be found on maps which pre-date its formation. The Territory originally represented the Northeastern Portion of the Louisiana Purchase, and included the modern day states of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana. When Minnesota was organized as a state in 1858, the region essentially west of the Missouri River became the defacto Dakota Territory, although it was not until after the Yankton Treaty in 1858 (where the Lakota ceded much of their lands to the United States) that a provisional government was set up for the region.

The provisional government lobbied until 1861 for Territorial status, before President Lincoln finally signed the treaty creating the territory. The territory included most of Montana and Wyoming initially, and only took on its final territorial configuration in 1868.

The resent map shows a number of early counties east of the Missouri River, but with the majority of the land still reserved to the named Indian Tribes on the maps. The earliest township surveys have been competed along several of the eastern rivers. Early evidence of the railroad surveys appears, along with several forts.

G.W. & C.B. Colton Biography

G. W. & C. B. Colton was a prominent family firm of mapmakers who were leaders in the American map trade in the nineteenth century. The business was founded by Joseph Hutchins Colton (1800-1893) who bought copyrights to existing maps and oversaw their production. By the 1850s, their output had expanded to include original maps, guidebooks, atlases, and railroad maps. Joseph was succeeded by his sons, George Woolworth (1827-1901) and Charles B. Colton (1831-1916). The firm was renamed G. W. & C. B. Colton as a result. George is thought responsible for their best-known work, the General Atlas, originally published under that title in 1857. In 1898, the brothers merged their business and the firm became Colton, Ohman, & Co., which operated until 1901, when August R. Ohman took on the business alone and dropped the Colton name.