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With Penciled Two Routes From Salt Lake City to Sacramento
Rare separately published map of the United States, published in New York in 1866.
The present map was part of a small collection of maps, which were likely owned by Thomas Canfield or his company and utilized by Canfield in connection with the earliest proposals for transportation routes from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, and his early promotional efforts on behalf of the Northern Pacific Railroad, including most notably this Colton map from 1866: https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/19570
While the pencil notes are crude, but distinctly show two routes, including a northerly route that approximates the route from the Great Salt Lake to just north of the Carson Lake (Tahoe).
Despite the title, the map does not include the arctic regions. We suspect that the present example was a remainder sheet, repurposed for a different (and undisclosed use). On the verso, there is a large map of the "City of Boston," published for the United States Map, Chart, Portrait & Print Manufactory, with an address of 141 Fulton & 20 Ann Street in New York and also dated 1866.
The map includes large inset maps of the "Great Railroad Routes," railroads of New England and Eastern New York and a south polar projection.
The map bears the imprint of J.H. Goldthwait and a copyright date of 1862. It appears to have been drawn from an extreme rare Goldthwait map entitled Goldthwait's map of the United States, British Provinces, Mexico, Central America, W. India Is. &c., exhibiting the railroads with their distances, single and double tracks and width of gauge. . . , published in 1861. https://www.loc.gov/item/98688330/
Thomas Canfield and the Transcontinental Railroad
After unsuccessfully lobbying for the right to run a railroad from the Missouri River to San Francisco, Josiah Perham received the initial charter for a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. 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 Central 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.
