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Description

Rare pair of Rufus Blanchard maps, published in Chicago and printed one on the back of the other.

1871 Map of Kansas

Colored by Counties and showing two large unorganized areas in the western part of the state.

A number of railroads and proposed railroads shown in the west.

Shows Wallace and Gove counties with unorganized territory to their north and south; the Union Pacific completed as far as "Coyota" in Trego County, and Central Br. Union Pacific completed to "Lit Blue" in Marshall County.

The map is unrecorded and we can find no records of any other examples of the map.

1868 Cabinet Map of the Western States

This map focuses on the railroad line on either side of the Mississippi River, with a good accounting of hte Western Forts given.

The map extends west to the Black Hills, Eastern Colorado, Indian Territory and northern New Mexico and Texas.

The depiction of the Black Hills region is quite interesting, as it pre-dates by 6 years the Black Hills Gold Rush. Rumors and poorly documented reports of gold in the Black Hills go back to the early 19th century. In the 1860s, Roman Catholic missionary Father De Smet, is reported to have seen Sioux Indians carrying gold which they told him came from the Black Hills. Prior to the Gold Rush, the Black Hills were used by Native Americans (primarily bands of Sioux but others also ranged through the area). The United States government recognized the Black Hills as belonging to the Sioux by the Treaty of Laramie, in 1868. Despite being within Indian territory, and therefore off-limits, white Americans were increasingly interested in the gold-mining possibilities of the Black Hills.

The map is extremely rare. OCLC locates a single example of the map at Loras College , which does not include the map of Kansas on the verso.

Condition Description
Printed on two sides. Minor foxing and soiling.