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Scarce map of the Western United States, illustrating the proposed route of the Northern Pacific Railroad, prepared to illustrate Thomas Canfield's report on the progress of the line.
The map reflects both the Route of the Northern Pacific (blue) and Thomas Canfield's Route (in red).
Issued shortly after the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, the present map shows the various proposed routes of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which would become the second transcontinental Railroad.
The map illustrates several of Canfield's earliest proposals for transportation routes from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, in conjunction with his earliest promotional efforts on behalf of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
This map is provides a contemporary graphical record of one of the most fascinating and important events in the history of the expansion of the Railroad across the United States and into the American Northwest, showing the early promotional efforts of Canfield, during his successful effort to find sponsorship for the Northern Pacific Railroad in the wake of the United States Government's initial refusal to fund the development of the line.
Early History of the Northern Pacific Railroad
After unsuccessfully lobbying for the right to run a railroad from the Missouri River to San Franciso, Josiah Perham received the initial charter for a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. With the help of Speaker of the House of Representatives Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, Perham obtained a charter in July 1864, under the name of the Northern Pacific Railroad, along with a grant of 50 million acres of land. The charter required commencement of construction by July 2, 1866.
As a result of failing health, control of the charter was later turned over to J. Gregory Smith in December, 1865. Smith made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain financing, before turning to Thomas Hawley Canfield to lead the project. Canfield successfully lobbied Congress for an extension of time to commence construction (the Union Pacific obtained a similar extension during this period), but was not able to obtain financial subsidies. As a result, he spent the rest of 1866 organizing a syndicate of twelve prominent businessmen representing other transportation interests, to gain credibility and ultimately funding for the Northern Pacific.
On January 10, 1867, Canfield obtained the agreement of the original 12 businessmen, which became known as the Original Interests Agreement. The original parties were J. Gregory Rice (Vermont Cental RR), Richard D. Rice (Maine Central RR), W.B. Ogden (Chicago & Northwestern RR), Robert H. Berdell (Erie RR), Danforth N. Barney (Wells Fargo & Co. Express Company), Ashel H. Barney (United States Express Company), Benjamin P. Cheney (United States & Canada Express Company), William G. Fargo (New York Central RR and American Express Company); George W. Cass (Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago RR); J. Edgar Thompson (Pennsylvania RR) and Edward Reily. In 1869 Congress permitted the Northern Pacific Railroad to issue bonds under the direction of Jay Cooke and Company, and finally in 1870 ground was broken for the railroad.
Canfield's Route and the Original Propsal
The map reflects Canfield and the other director's earliest vision of the route to the Pacific and tracks with his efforts to join forces with businessmen controlling alternative means of transportation, utilizing existing express, rail and other water routes as central to the proposal.
The original plan was to follow the route recommended by the US Pacific Railroad Surveys of 1854, which proposed a route headed northwest from Detroit Lakes to Devil's Lake and then west. The land west of the Red River belonged to Native Americans (Sioux, Chippewa, Crow, and others). An 1867 treaty between the Government and the Indians provided that no white man should cross the Red River west for any purpose. Little was known of the area. After surveying the region, Canfield recommended a more southerly route than originally planned. He recommended going west to Yellowstone rather than north of the Missouri River as planned. Canfield's recommendation was adopted in 1870.
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.
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