New and Correct Map of the Great Rock Island Route... Between Chicago and Council Bluffs, Kansas City, Leavenworth, Atchison, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and All Points East, West, South-West, and North-West

Chicago: Geo. F. Cram, 1885. Good plus.. Large folding pamphlet, approximately 20 x 41.5 inches. A few small chips and short closed tears at edges; several short separations and very minor losses along folds. Contemporary agent's ink stamp on cover panel. Tape repair across portion of horizontal fold; one panel with patches of light staining. A scarce, colorful promotional for the Rock Island Route, as well as its national and international connections, with a fascinating stamp of an Australian sales agent. One side of the sheet prints an extensive promotional text and timetables for the various routes and services of the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Railway. The main side of the sheet prints a map of the United States, with state borders shaded in four colors, highlighting the principal routes of the Rock Island from Chicago to Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas, and its connections to points on both the East and West Coasts. An inset map at lower right promotes the Rock Island as part of a transcontinental route between the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia. Most interestingly, this copy is stamped on the cover panel with the information of a George. H. Hibbard, "Australian Passenger Agent, America's Cons'd Trans-continental Railways, 6 Bridge Street, Sydney, N.S.W." Hibbard was evidently the agent in charge of distributing information about the trans-America route in Sydney, one of its end points.

Several issues of this map were published during the 1880s, all scarce. We locate copies of the present 1885 issue at Stanford, SMU, and the Library of Congress.