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Description

Rare separately issued map, centered on the area between Beach and Richardson North Dakota and centered on the area which would become the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, South Unit, and extending as far south as Butte County, South Dakota.

The map provides a very detailed look at the region, including early stage roads, carriage roads, telephone roads, post offices, watershed and townships. The route for the Northern RR is also noted, as are several surveyed routes. The most dramatic feature of the map is the tremendous growth during the first decade of the 20th Century, which saw the opening of region to settlers by the growth of the railroad and a concerted effort to populate the area. A marvelous contrast can be seen between this map, published for the The Press in Dickenson, North Dakota, and a map covering the same region, published 2 years earlier for a different Minnesota Land Agency based in St. Paul. Link here: /gallery/detail/21878 .

The stage, carriage and railroad lines shown, along with the several survey lines of the Northern Pacific Railroad show an extraordinarily promising future for the region, so much so that one must wonder if perhaps the publisher of the map was a bit overzealous (fraudulent?) in promoting the region.

In 1884, after the death of his wife and mother, Teddie Roosevelt traveled to his North Dakota ranch to escape his personal tragedy. For most of next two years he remained in the area and wrote several pieces published in eastern newspapers and magazines. While he returned east, the experience left a lasting impact on Roosevelt. The National Park was ultimately established on lands which had in part been a part of Roosevelt's ranch. Roosevelt's last n visit to the area was in 1892. He sold the ranch and buildings to Sylvane Ferris in 1898. Gradually the buildings were stripped of their furnishings and, according to a local lore, by 1901 "every scrap of the Elkhorn Ranch had disappeared with the exception of a couple of half rotted foundations."

Condition Description
Folded, as issued. Several minor breaks at folds, but generally very good. Pencil annotations in upper margin.