1866 Map Showing the progress of the Public surveys in Kansas and Nebraska
By: General Land Office
Date: 1866 (dated) Philadelphia
Dimensions: 24 x 33 inches (61 x 84 cm)
An impressive and important early land survey of Kansas and the Nebraska Territory immediately following the Civil War when America set its sight back on the western frontier.
The map shows Nebraska with boundaries reduced to close to its present borders, one year before becoming the 37th state. Less than half of the area shows has been surveyed and the Union Pacific Railroad is shown in its infancy, prior to the great transcontinental railroad labor effort that would extend the line nearly 1,000 miles over the next 2-3 years to join the Central Pacific and thus the country from coast to coast. Farther south, the Kansas Pacific Rout is shown connecting Manhattan, Topeka, Lawrence, Leavenworth, and Kansas City.
By the mid-19th century, the GLO had completed most of the surveys for lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, and so focused most of its attention to the American West from the rest of the century. All public land was required to be surveyed prior to settlement. Each surveyor was to record not only geography, but also features of the landscape with economic import, such as roads, Indian trails, existing settlements, Indian lands, mineral deposits, and of particular interest, railroads and their rights of way. This particular map shows areas with Coal, Salt, Lead, Platina and Marble, noted with color coding.
Condition: This map is in B+ condition, folded and backed with original linen as issued, with faint discoloration and some separations along original fold lines. Any separation has been archivally reinforced on the verso.
Inventory #12475
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