1847 (dated)
1 : 1500000
Description
This is William Hemsley Emory's seminal 1848 map of the American Southwest. Depicting from Forth Leavenworth, Kansas (then in Missouri) to the west coast, the map follows Emory's military reconnaissance through the territory newly-acquired by the United States from Mexico. Emory marks his progress on a daily basis and highlights positions determined through Astronomical Observation. He also includes commentary on the terrain and marks the Battle of San Pasquale and the Skirmish of December 7th. Carl Wheat, in his incredibly influential work
Mapping the Transmississippi West summarizes this map's importance best
The territory shown on the map is limited to Lt. Emory's route, but since Emory was meticulous in his astronomical observations and because of his extreme care not to include mere 'imaginary geography', the map possesses an importance much greater than many of the more showy performances of the period. Its carefully fixed points enabled other map makers to orientate entire regions not hitherto properly tied into known geographic positions. In many respects, Emory's map was the most important milestone in the cartographic development and accurate delineation of the Southwest. In its period only the similarly scientifically based reconnaissance maps of Fremont were its equals.