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A foundational map of the Northern Rockies and Plains, capturing Yellowstone Lake, the Tetons and Jackson Hole, the Wind River and Big Horn Ranges, the Gallatin and Madison valleys, and the confluence country of the upper Missouri, drawn from the landmark Raynolds Expedition of 1859–60.
The map depicts the extensive region between the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries, encompassing nearly all of present-day Montana and Wyoming and parts of adjacent states. The expedition’s routes are marked in detail, with dates and encampment numbers noted along the way, including the 1860 Missouri River boat survey and the overland route from Fort Pierre to the Wind River Mountains. The topography and hydrology highlight the Wind River, Big Horn, and Absaroka ranges, as well as the Gallatin and Madison forks of the Missouri. While the map includes Yellowstone Lake and the Falls of the Yellowstone, the interior of the future park is left largely blank, a visual reminder of the expedition’s failure to penetrate the snowbound plateau in spring 1860, despite the leadership of veteran guide Jim Bridger.
The map records both geographic and military features of strategic significance, including the Bozeman Trail and Forts Reno, Phil Kearny, and Smith, which would become flashpoints in the post-war Sioux conflicts. It also includes post-1860 updates such as Fort Casper, Camp Marshall, and the Montana mining towns of Virginia City and Bannack.
Wheat described this as “an extremely well drawn map... probably the best map of its area that had been produced,” though he was unaware of the earlier 1867 issue and based his remarks on the re-imprinted 1868 state. Contemporary evidence from manuscript-inscribed examples at Yale and the Montana State Library confirms that this edition preceded the publication of Raynolds’s official narrative. The plate remained in use for several years thereafter: William E. Merrill of the Topographical Engineers distributed copies in 1867–69 to be annotated with new field data, and a later colored variant appeared in Hayden’s Geological Report of the Exploration of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers (1869).
