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Description

An Early Map to Show the United States From Coast to Coast.

One of the earliest maps of the United States from Coast to Coast to appear in an American Atlas.

West of the Mississippi River, the map shows a massive Iowa Territory, extending to Canada and the Missouri River. To the west of Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas is a massive Indian Territory (in two colors), extending north to Canada and west to the Rocky Mountains, Arkansas River and Texas (Republic) border. Oregon Territory covers the region West of the Rocky Mountains and north of Upper California (Mexico). Each of the three territories includes a number of early forts, Indian place names, rivers and nice topographical detail for the period.

Upper California includes a number of early missions, but identifies San Diego as C(ape) Loma (a curious reference to Point Loma at the mouth of San Diego Bay). St. Francisco is also placed at the Northeastern Point of San Francisco Bay, near present day Vallejo. In Texas, Houston and Galveston are shown, along with Sn Felipe De Austin, Paso Del Norte and Santa Fe. The Sandy Desert of Upper California (Utah) is very much in evidence, along with the single Cordillera of the Rocky Mountains. The region east of Lake Timpanogos is labeled Eutaws, and the last remnants of the mythical lake Teguayo is a group of unnamed lakes with the St. Mary's or Ogden's River (after Peter Skeen Ogden) flowing in from the northeast and the Shoshokoes name to the East. Spanish Peaks and James Peaks are named in the Great Desert (Colorado). Ft. Cass appears on the Yellowstone River, but there is little evidence of the American Fur Traders in the region. Cape Florida Settlement is noted in Florida. Very curious boundaries for Michigan. Wisconsin is shown in its territorial configuration. Minor spotting and offsetting, especially near the lower centerfold of the map, as is often the case with this map, which was the only double page map to appear in Bradford's atlas.

The map is scarce on the market.

Reference
Wheat 430.
Thomas Gamaliel Bradford Biography

Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802-1887) was an American geographic publisher. He hailed from Bradford, Massachusetts and began his publishing career by working for the America Encyclopedia. Then, he edited and republished the Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Abridgement of Universal Geography, Modern & Ancient, which had originally been offered in French by Adrian Balbi. In 1835, he published another atlas, A Comprehensive Atlas: Geographical, Historical & Commercial, and, in 1838, An Illustrated Atlas Geographical, Statistical and Historical of the United States and Adjacent Countries. His interests were primarily in educational publishing and he was one of the first mapmakers to show Texas as an independent country.