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Stock# 48255
Description
Rare promotional broadsheet map, issued by the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B&M) to promote its lands in Iowa and Nebraska.
The map is credited with coining the phrase "the Gulf Stream of Migration."
As noted by P.J. Mode in Persuasive Maps:
Development of the Western U.S. was an urgent priority of the nation in the 19th century, and that in turn required the construction of transcontinental railroads. The cost of railroad development was staggering, and it was funded primarily by a combination of private capital and public land grants to the rail lines, rather than by direct public financing. Although the land grants have at times been regarded as a scandalous give-away to the railroads…, many historians now believe that, "looking at the matter from the perspective of today, it was the government rather than the railroads that got the best of the deal." (Holbrook[, The Story of American Railroads,] 1947, [pp.] 156-57….
Whatever the merits of the policy, it put the railroads in the position of funding construction up front largely with private bonds and repaying creditors from the eventual land sales. This brochure is typical of many such publications, providing maps of the covered territory and extensive text aimed at selling the land in the company's inventory, in this case, land in Iowa and Nebraska. The top map shows not only the route of the Burlington & Missouri, but its connection to the Central Pacific, providing a direct line to San Francisco. Across this map are the words " The Gulf Stream of Migration," intended to resonate with immigrants who were a principal focus of the sales effort. The bottom map provides detail on the location of the company's land for sale.
A fine example of this promotional gem. The maps were re-issued in a different form in 1875.
Reference
Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection, 1078.
![[ British Colonies in North America ] Carte Nouvelle de L'Amerique Angloise contenant tout ce que les Anglois possedent sur le Continent de L'Amerique Septentrionale . . .](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/100143.jpg)
