Essential Classic of the Sante Fe Trail
The Map "a Cartographic Landmark" (Wheat)
First edition, first issue (with New York imprint of Henry G. Langley only), of the "chief contemporary authority on the Sante Fé trade-route and traffic" (Howes), universally praised by all authorities. "One of the classics of bedrock Americana" (J. Frank Dobie).
The folding map, published by Sidney Morse, shows the Texas Republic, Indian Territory, and Mexico as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Described by Carl Wheat as a landmark in the cartography of the American West, the map shows the Oregon and Sante Fe Trails, locations of Indian tribes and villages, and other scattered settlements. Based upon Humboldt's map of New Spain, Long's 1st Expedition and J.C. Brown's survey's along the Santa Fe Trail, with corrections added by Gregg from his own observations. The map shows nearly a dozen major routes of commerce and exploration during the period. Wheat devotes two pages to the description of this map. An essential map for American map collectors. The other map shows the Interior of Northern Mexico.
Wheat calls Gregg's map "a cartographic landmark... an outstanding achievement."
Born in Tennessee, Josiah Gregg set out for Santa Fe in 1831 to recover his health, and afterward he became an active trader on the Santa Fe Trail for the next decade. Largely self-educated and an accute observer, Gregg made detailed notes on many facets of his experience. He took his manuscript to New York for publication and it was an immediate success. Gregg participated in the Mexican war as a "gov't ag't, interpreter or what you please," then in 1850, he led a small exploring party across the Coast Range in California. Worn out by hunger and privation, Gregg fell from his horse and died at Clear Lake, California. - Wagner-Camp.
The plates are as follows:
- Arrival of the Caravan at Santa Fé (frontispiece of vol. 1)
- March of the Caravan
- Mexican Arrieros with an Atajo of Pack Mules
- Arrival of the Caravan at Santa Fé (duplicate, as frontispiece of vol. 2)
- Camp Comanche
- Dog Town or Settlement of Prairie Dogs
Provenance
Ownership name of Ellis B. Gregg, Greene County, Pa., on vol. 1 title page. Ellis B. Gregg (1827-1854), a graduate of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, possibly a relative of Josiah Gregg.