THE FIRST PRINTED MAP OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD

AUTHOR:

O’BRIEN, J. J.

TITLE:

Map of a Portion of Nebraska Territory. Showing Survey and Location. Union Pacific Railroad. Showing Surveys and Location by Peter A. Dey, Civil Engineer. J.O. Seymour New York, 1865.

CONDITION:

14 1/2” x 28 3/4”. Black & white lithograph. Some staining along left side of map.

DATE:

1865

DESCRIPTION:

This rare map is the first for the Union Pacific Railroad. The OCLC locates just two copies: Library of Congress and Penn State. In 1862 President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act which directed two companies, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, to construct a transcontinental railroad. By 1865, when the first track was laid at Omaha, the Union Pacific route had been surveyed across most of Nebraska. The result of these surveys was this map, which is also one of the earliest for Nebraska alone. The map shows Nebraska at an early state of its development, with virtually all settlements confined to the far eastern part of the territory. But the completion of the railroad across Nebraska in 1867 would lead to an immediate transformation. Nebraska was admitted to the Union as a state in 1867, and the population quadrupled, from 29,000 to 123,000, between 1860 and 1870.

REFERENCES:

Inventory No. 7792