LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 December Signature Texana Auction #661  / 

56403

A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Maps, Atlases & Globes Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California
<B><I>A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California</B></I></B></I> <I>With the Regions Adjoining</B></I>. Compiled from the most recent authorities Philadelphia Published by S. Augustus Mitchell. N.E. Corner of Market & Seventh Streets. 1846. 21" x 22.5". The multi-colored map, folded inward twice each from the top and bottom, and then accordion folded eight times, is affixed to the inside back cover of a 46 page, 3.25" x 5.25" booklet titled "Accompaniment to Mitchell's New Map... " bound in embossed olive green leather boards, imprinted in gilt lettering on the cover "<I>Texas, Oregon and California</B></I>." Spine and covers' edges slightly rubbed. On the first blank flyleaf, the owner has penciled his name "<I>Jacob Warner/Oct 2 1846/Cincinnati Ohio</B></I>." On February 18, 1847, before he led his Mormon followers west to Utah, Brigham Young wrote from Winter Quarters, Indian Territory, to Church member Joseph Stratton in St. Louis, "Bring me one half dozen of Mitchell's new map of Texas, Oregon, and California and the regions adjoining, or his accompaniment for the same for 1846, or rather the latest edition and best map of all the Indian countries in North America; the pocket maps are the best for our use. If there is anything later or better than Mitchell's, I want the best." One of these maps, in Brigham Young University's Special Collections, is annotated "Mormons" with an "X" mark, near the Great Salt Lake, said to be most likely the earliest known map entry still extant placing Mormons<B> </B></I>in Utah. It is known that Brigham Young did indeed use Mitchell's booklet and map on his migration to the Great Basin. In his diary, Albert Carrington, a member of the Council of Fifty, the chief administrative body of the Mormon Church, makes note of his arrival at a Great Plains stream, concluding it was "supposed to be the Wood River of Mitchell's map." Brigham Young must have taken special note of page 26 of Mitchell's booklet: "The Utah Indians, who reside in the vicinity of the Great Salt lake, and along the head waters of the Colorado, are less savage in their habits, having had some intercourse with the traders, and with the people of New Mexico. Many of them are well mounted, and have good rifles; they also commit depredations at times on the whites, and especially on the annual caravan that passes along the great Spanish trace from California to Santa Fe." In addition to the map's importance in Mormon history, it is also one of the first widely circulated maps of the new state of Texas, showing the borders of Texas extending to Santa Fe and its claim to the Upper Rio Grande in present day New Mexico. In the text, Mitchell notes that "Texas possesses a soil of great fertility and a geographical position highly favourable to commercial interests with the United States, as well as with other parts of the world." The chapter titled "<I>State of Texas</B></I>" is on pages 4-11 of the booklet. Written on the eve of the Mexican War, this booklet was "Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by S. Augustus Mitchell, in the clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania." Fighting between the United States and Mexico did not begin until 1846, ending, in effect, on September 14, 1847 with Gen. Winfield Scott's occupation of Mexico City. Much of the territory depicted in this map were part of the United States by 1848. Minor cuts and holes in the map have been expertly repaired by silking. One of the most important published maps in Texas and American history. It is in fine condition as is the booklet to which it is affixed.<B>Condition Report:</B> <BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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