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One of the earliest maps of Oregon Territory (with the fourth edition of Parker's text).

Important early map of Oregon Territory by Samuel Parker, the first Presbyterian Missionary in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

Parker's map of Oregon Territory is a landmark map in the mapping of the region. Wheat notes that the map represented a real advance, and was made from personal observation. Wagner-Camp notes that the map was the earliest to obtain any circulation which contains reliable information as to the interior of the Oregon Territory.

The North Fork of the Platte is shown, with the Sweetwater flowing into it. South Pass is not named, but the sources of the Sweetwater and the Big Sandy (shown flowing into the Colorado), are close together. The Green River is a headwater of the Colorado. Bear River is shown inaccurately. Ft. Hall is shown, one of its earliest appearances. The Yellowstone River is shown, but Lewis & Clark's Biddle River is omitted. Jackson Lake is shown, feeding Henry's Fork and the Snake River. The Salmon and Clark's Fork are correctly shown, with Coeur d'Alene Indians near the lake, whose waters reach the Columbia by the Spokein River, near Ft. Okanagon. Fort W(alla) W(alla) is at the mouth of the Snake. West of Salt Lake is Ogden's River, and the Clamet (Klamath), with the Umbiqua (Umpqua) to the north and the Willamette shown. North of the upper Clamet is Mt. Shasty, with Mt. McLoughlin, Mt. Vancouver and Mt. Hood.

Samuel Parker was an early missionary in the West. He answered the call for missionaries to move into the American West in 1834. In 1835, he traveled with fellow missionary Marcus Whitman. After preaching at the Green River rendezvous of the American Fur Company, Parker continued west while Whitman returned east.

During the winter of 1835 to 1836, Parker was a guest at the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trade outpost on the Columbia River, Fort Vancouver. He was then the first Presbyterian missionary in what would become the state of Oregon. Parker would then seek out locations for the establishment of missions in the region. He traveled through the Willamette Valley and Lower Columbia Valley, to select sites that were later used by the missionaries of the American Board for Foreign Missions, including what became the Waiilatpu Mission. The text of the book includes a vocabulary of the Nez Perce language. The plate depicts basaltic formations on the Columbia River.

According to Carl Wheat:

Samuel Parker's "Map of Oregon Territory" of 1838 represented a real advance, and was made from personal observation. Of it Wagner-Camp remarked that it was "the earliest to obtain any circulation which contains reliable information as to the interior of the Oregon Territory ... On this map the North Fork of the Platte is shown, with the Sweetwater flowing into it. South Pass is not named, but the sources of the Sweetwater and the Big Sandy (which is shown flowing into the Colorado) are close together ... Parker's map had wide circulation and was a notable achievement.

Parker himself describes the origins of the present map:

The map which accompanies the work, has been prepared with much labor and care; and though some minute parts are omitted, it will be found far more accurate than any which has before been published. In addition to my own surveys, I have availed myself of those of gentlemen connected with the Hudson Bay Company, in parts which I did not visit, and am especially indebted to Vancouver, and the labors of other explorers for much that I have delineated of the North-West coast of the Pacific ocean, and the islands.

Samuel Parker then left the region by ship, sailing first to the Sandwich Islands and then around Cape Horn to the Eastern Seaboard.

The map is here with the fourth edition of Parker's book, which first appeared in 1838, but all editions of the book have the same important map.

An essential map for Oregon Territory collectors.