Lithograph from the Pacific Railroad Survey
Showing the Formation of the Canyon
the Gunnison River
the mouth of Lake Fork with indications of the formidable Side Canyons
(larger scan and history
Lithograph - a
lithograph printed from 2 or 3 stones, one producing the details of the
image in black ink, and 1 or 2 others providing some wash-like coloring
(typically fawn, blue, green or gray).
1853, the U.S. Congress authorized the Corps of Topographic Engineers to
undertake a survey of potential rail routes between the Mississippi River
and the Pacific Ocean. This print is an illustration from the report
of the survey at the 38th and 39th parallels under the leadership of Captain
John W. Gunnison, assisted by Lt. Edward G. Beckwith, who surveyed routes
in Kansas, Colorado and Utah. Gunnison, Richard H. Kern, topographer
and artist to the expedition, and seven others were killed by Ute Indians
along the Sevier River in Utah. Beckwith assumed leadership and the
survey explored routes at the 41st parallel which Beckwith (and Gunnison
before him) recommended as an economical and practicable route.
Although this suggestion had little influence at the time of the survey,
the first transcontinental railroad completed in 1869, when the Union Pacific
and the Central Pacific Railroads were joined at Promontory Point, Utah,
basically followed Beckwith's route.
Title: View Showing the Formation
of the Cañon of the Grand River,
mouth of Lake Fork with indications of the formidable Side Cañones.
Note: In the text and on the maps associated with this lithograph,
the river now called the Gunnison is called the Grand. The Gunnison
is named after Captain John W. Gunnison, the leader of the USPRR
Survey near the 38th and 39th parallels that produced this lithograph.
W. Egloffstein, a topographer for the
Sarony, Major & Knapp, New York.
Size: 8 3/4 x 5 7/8 inches.
Size including margins: 10 7/8 x 8 1/8
Please see larger scan with