CENTRAL ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC, FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI TO CALIFORNIA: JOURNAL OF THE EXPEDITION OF E.F. BEALE...IN 1853

Book Description

Philadelphia. 1854.. 136pp. plus thirteen handsome lithographed plates (some tinted) and 46pp. of ads, and the folding map. Half title. Original cloth, stamped in blind. Minor wear to spine ends, cloth a bit rippled. One plate with a very small chip in the top left corner, another with a very small bit of wear along the top edge. The text, plates, and map are all in remarkably clean and fresh condition. A near fine copy. In a cloth case, leather label. E.F. Beale and Gwin Heap were greatly influenced by Senator Benton in their choice of a route across Colorado and Nevada. The party travelled from Westport (Kansas City) southwest on the Santa Fe trail to Bent's Fort, then to the short-lived Fort Massachusetts, the Rio Grande Valley, the Grand River, and then to the Uncompahgre. They returned to Taos for supplies, and then continued southwest via Utah to California. The map, which is present here, was issued with only a few copies. Wheat lauds the map and spends several pages discussing the journey, saying that it has received less attention than it deserves. He notes that it is the earliest published map to show the middle Rocky Mountain region, through what is now southern Colorado, the first to depict several streams and rivers, and the first attempt to chart a route through Death Valley. This book is one of the first detailed examinations of the "Central Route" from Missouri to the Pacific, and a basic piece of Western Americana. The present copy of Heap's work is unusual for having forty-six pages of advertisements at the end, more than the usual complement of thirty-two. COWAN, p.273. HOWES H378, "b." MINTZ 562. SABIN 31175. WAGNER-CAMP 235. FLAKE 3934. RITTENHOUSE 290. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 808. STREETER SALE 3177.

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