Map of the United States, the British Provinces, Mexico &c. Showing the Routes of the U.S. Mail Steam Packets to California, and a Plan of the Gold Region. COLTON, J.H. MAPS - AMERICAS,North America

Original hand-coloured lithographic map (47 x 62 cm) folding into publisher's original brown cloth covers decorated in blind, the upper cover preserving original title label. Boundaries and explorers' routes are colored by hand, and the gold region is coloured yellow. There are insets of the gold region and South America, and an illustration above the title shows Pyramid Lake in Upper California as discovered by Frémont in 1844. With a nice contemporary inscription to front pastedown reading: 'George Thompson, Hutton's Ambo [North Yorkshire], Present from his Brother, Mark Thompson, Rochester N.Y., United States'. Some light wrinkling, toning, and occasional spotting, generally a very good example. A nice example of Colton's map of the route to the Gold Regions, perhaps the most famous and sought after of all gold rush overland guides. The map shows the routes from Independence, Missouri to the Gold Regions, including the Oregon Route, Central Route and a Southern Route that follows Kearny's Route through San Diego, then proceeds by Steamship up the coast to San Francisco. An overland route from Refugio, Texas on the Gulf Coast is also noted, again extending to San Diego and then via Steamship to San Francisco. There are also two overland routes noted in Central America. Includes a large inset map of the Gold Regions. Notably, there is an indication of Gold in the Los Angeles area. Colton's map gained prominence among overland traveller's to the gold regions and is frequently mentioned in contemporary accounts. An essential map for collectors of the region. (Graff 835; Kurutz; The California Gold Rush 149; Wheat, Transmississippi West 591; Gold Regions 70)