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1891 George F. Cram
$ 195.00
Description

Large and detailed map of the Arizona in outline color by county.

The map is highly detailed, and includes a key identifying the 7 Railroads then operating in Arizona, including the Arizona & New Mexico Railroad, Arizona & Southeastern Railroad, Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, Central Arizona Railroad, Maricopa & Phoenix Railroad, Prescott & Central Railroad, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. Dozens of mining areas and boom towns are shown.

We have dated the map based upon the appearance of Coconino County (formed in 1891) and the early short list of railroads.

Issued in Cram's scarce Standard American Railway Atlas.

Highly detailed map, showing railroads, stations, towns, mines, mountains, elevations, rivers, Government lands, Forts, Reserves, roads, Indian Reservations, etc. The best commercial atlas map of the period.

George F. Cram Biography

George F. Cram (1842-1928), or George Franklin Cram, was an American mapmaker and businessman. During the Civil War, Cram served under General William Tecumseh Sherman and participated in his March to the Sea. His letters of that time are now important sources for historians of the Civil War. In 1867, Cram and his uncle, Rufus Blanchard, began the company known by their names in Evanston, Illinois.

Two years later, Cram became sole proprietor and the company was henceforth known as George F. Cram Co. Specializing in atlases, Cram was one of the first American companies to publish a world atlas. One of their most famous products was the Unrivaled Atlas of the World, in print from the 1880s to the 1950s.

Cram died in 1928, seven years after he had merged the business with that of a customer, E.A. Peterson. The new company still bore Cram’s name. Four years later, the Cram Company began to make globes, a branch of the business that would continue until 2012, when the company ceased to operate. For the final several decades of the company’s existence it was controlled by the Douthit family, who sold it just before the company was shuttered.