Lithographed map. 62x84.8 cm (24¼x22½").
Scarce, separately issued map of great significance, at a time when the Mexican-American War had recently converted vast regions of the Southwest to U.S. control, with many boundary issues still unresolved. The map includes adjacent portions of California, Utah Territory (with present Nevada), Texas, and the Mexican state of Sonora, as well as New Mexico centered on the Rio Grande, and what is now Arizona. Carl Wheat quotes Warren as stating the map "was a careful compilation of all the available and reliable information which could be obtained at that date from trappers and hunters, as well as from actual survey." Warren Heckrotte comments that "According to Weber, 3750 copies of this map were printed. If so, it seems remarkable that it is such a scarce map. Perhaps this is because it was not issued in a folder or book. According to Orozco y Berra, p 162, # 1099, there is a French issue of this map. A photo facsimile was issued in the book by Abel, Correspondence of James S Calhoun, GPO, 1915. A facsimile of this was made and sold in Museum at Taos in 1980's. The part of the Colorado River that bounds California is incorrectly laid down, running to the east. Eddy copied this in his Official Map of California leading to a major error in his depiction of California." Printed on thin but sturdy paper. On the verso of the present copy is handwritten, in old ink, "No 54. New Mexico."
Provenance: Arader, 3/93
References: W-TW 730 ( R ). Streeter 431. Weber, Kern, pp 129-135 ( R ). Orozco y Berra, no. 1046.