near the 41st parallel - May and June, 1854
From the Humboldt Mts (now called the Ruby Mts)
to the Mud Lakes
Including Rivers and Towns between 116° and 119°30´ west longitude
and 39° and 42° degrees north latitude. The routes of the Survey Party are
indicated, including their campsites, which are indicated by date.
Topographical details of the mountains are provided
18 x 20.5 inches
Please click here to see detail scans.
Historical notes below
History: In 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 41st parallel under the leadership of Lt. Edward G. Beckwith, in the region between the Green River Valley and the Sacramento River Valley, conducted in 1854. Beckwith's survey was a continuation of the survey at the 38th and 39th parallels headed by Captain John Gunnison, which was terminated in October, 1853 after Gunnison, artist Richard Kern and others were killed by Indians along the Sevier River, in what is now Utah. The precisely detailed landscape drawings of Egloffstein were coordinated with the maps produced. The specific location from which the five panoramas were drawn is indicated on the relevant map. ~~~ This map is associated with the Panoramas of the Valley of the Humboldt River and the Valley of the Mud Lakes.
The Library of Congress in conjunction with the University of Michigan has put the entire Pacific Railroad Survey on the Internet. If you would like to read the narrative of the survey near the 38th and 39th parallels that corresponds to the Maps and Lithographs, click on the link below and then read the first and second reports in Volume II.