Sectional interest in controlling the West was particularly evident in the Pacific Railroad Surveys, conducted from 1853-54 under the direction of then Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis. Four east-west traverses, designed to satisfy both northern and southern sectional interests, were surveyed in order to determine the most practical route for the first trans-continental railroad. The potential routes were delineated on a “hurried“ map prepared by Lt. G.K. Warren in 1855, shortly after the surveys were completed. Although none of the four routes was selected in its entirety, the first trans-continental railroad followed a mid-continental route connecting Omaha and San Francisco. Begun during the war, this rail line was not completed until 1869, four years after the war ended.
Relief shown by hachures and spot heights.
Appears in the U.S. War Dept.'s Report of the Secretary of War on the several Pacific railroad explorations, 1855.
"This map is a hurried compilation of all the authentic surveys and is designed to exhibit the relations of the different routes to each other. An elaborate map on scale of 1:3,000,000 is being compiled and is in an advanced state."
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "Torn in Two: The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2011.
IIIF Manifest