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Lithographed map, with water printed in blue. 20.6x34 cm (8¼x13½") including two small maps at right.

Scarce map of the western half of the United States showing the nearly completed transcontinental railroad, with many notable and charming features. Significant among these are the two small maps to the right of the main map, of "Vallée de Yo-Semite" and "Devil's Canyon, Vallée de Geisers." Warren Heckrotte queries, "The inset Devil's Canyon is a map of the region of the Geysers in Sonoma County. What could have been the source for this? - possibly a promotional piece; a hotel is shown. Some of the early maps of California show Pluton Creek and the Geysers; such as Goddard's. However the scale is too small to show the detail found on the inset. Rocque does not list any printings that could have a map to serve as model for insert. Le Globe is probably a newspaper (of Geneva?)." He briefly describes the main map, "The map also shows the route of the Central Pacific although it is shown coming into California south of Lake Tahoe. A little to the east of South Pass is the legend: Source de Petrole. Grand Canyon is shown and labeled Big Cañon." No copies are listed in OCLC/WorldCat.
 

Provenance: Ruderman, San Francisco Book Fair, 2/9/02

References: Tooley's Dict of MM lists a Paul Chaix of Geneva, a mapmaker, who lived and worked at this time.