Washington and Oregon (1853)

Washington and Oregon (1853)

Northwest, Pacific -- Maps

1 map : col. ; 29 x 36 cm., on sheet 37 x 44 cm.<br>Relief shown by hachures and spot heights<br>Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1853 by J.H. Colton & Co. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York."<br>Text about Mexico on verso<br> Prime meridians: Greenwich and Washington<br>Plate no. 55<br>Scale [ca. 1:3,500,000] (W 125°--W 109°/N 50°--N 41°).<br>In 1852, a group of farmers met at Cowlitz Prairie (northeast of Astoria) to discuss the formation of the Territory of Washington. Citing distance and a feeling of isolation from the Oregon territorial government based in the Willamette Valley, the Cowlitz coalition persuaded Congress to approve the new government in 1853. While Oregon was granted statehood in 1859, Washington would not formally join the Union until 1889. The new territory's boundaries included the Columbia River in the south, the 49th parallel in the north, and the Rocky Mountains in the east. This meant that it spread through parts of what is now Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Much of the geographical information of this area used by contemporary mapmakers came from the expeditions of John C. Fremont and the Wilkes Expedition in the early 1840s. However, another major source of land routes came from the Pacific Railway Surveys of 1853--completed by the first Governor of the Territory of Washington, Isaac I. Stevens. The proposed railroad route is visible on this map, and so perhaps publisher J.H. Colton used Steven's findings as a source as well.<br>Inspired by the Wilkes expedition and the travels of John C. Fremont, many settlers journeyed to Oregon Territory during the Great Migration of 1843. Just three years later, the Oregon Treaty would place the Pacific Northwest boundary between U.S. and Great Britain at the 49th Parallel. By 1853, Oregon farmers north of the Columbia River pushed Congress to create the Territory of Washington. Its original boundaries are distinguished on this map, separating it from Oregon (which was defined a territory in 1848 and would become a state in 1859) and sprawling throughout the entire region now known as Idaho, and even parts of Montana and Wyoming.<br>New York publisher J.H. Colton's maps at this time were lithographs derived from steel plates. The colors are applied by hand.

J.H. Colton & Co.

University of Washington Libraries Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives Division<br>Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, WSU Libraries

New York : J.H. Colton & Co.

1853

University of Washington Libraries Map Collection<br>Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, WSU Libraries

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English

Maps

uwm88<br>G4240 1853 .J1<br>wsu 324

Pacific Northwest