[REPORTS] -- Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Washington, D.C.: George W. Bowman, 1861.

Volume XI only, 4to (289 x 216 mm). 13 engraved plates (5 folding), 32 maps and profiles (28 folding). (Dampstained, many of the folding plates and maps with splits and tears along folds, Warren’s General Map detached through the cartouche, but all parts present.) Spotting throughout, some stains, some tears to folds of maps.) Original publisher’s brown blind-stamped cloth (defective with contents becoming loose).

Senate Issue including the RARE WARREN MAP. Considered to be the first accurate representation of the region, the "Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean,” commonly known as “Warren’s General Map,” was not present in all volumes of the present work. Warren’s General Map draws on decades of government sponsored explorations and surveys, starting with those of Lewis and Clark. While most of the map was complete by 1854, it was not fully finished by the time the railroad survey report was first published in 1855, explaining its absence in some editions.

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis proposed four routes of exploration to determine a route for a new railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The present volume reports on the exploration of the fourth route, along the 32nd parallel from Central Texas to El Paso, following William H. Emory’s military reconnaissance of 1846-1847 to the Ghila River, Fort Uma, and San Diego. The House and Senate issues differ only in arrangement of constituent reports. Howes P-3; Wagner-Camp 266c. Sold with all flaws.

Property from the Estate of Professor Ethan D. Alyea, Jr., Bloomington, Indiana

[REPORTS] -- Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Washington, D.C.: George W. Bowman, 1861.