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Title: Geographical, Topographical and Railroad Map of California with California Resources and Possibilities Twenty-Second Annual Report of the California Development Board for the Year 1911
- Author: California Development Board
- Date: 1912
- Condition: See description
- Inches: 25 3/8 x 19 7/8 [Image]
- Centimeters: 64.45 x 50.48 [Image]
- Product ID: 308752
This handsome folding map was published by the California Development Board as an insert to its promotional annual report. Printed in a restrained yet highly legible palette of black, orange, pale yellow, and blue, it depicts county boundaries, principal cities and towns, railroads, wagon roads, waterways, mountain ranges, coastal shipping routes, and selected topographic features across the state. Its dense railroad network and maritime routes underscore California’s early twentieth-century connections to national markets and the Pacific world, while the large inset-style comparative diagrams at upper right place California’s 155,650 square miles beside other states and countries to emphasize the scale of its territory.
The map is equally a piece of economic propaganda. A substantial statistical panel headed “The Chief Horticultural, Agricultural and Mineral Products of California Classified in Counties” catalogs the state’s productive capacity county by county, separating mineral, horticultural, agricultural, and miscellaneous output. This transforms the sheet from a conventional reference map into a visual prospectus designed to promote settlement, investment, tourism, and commercial development. Its imprint—“For free information about California apply to the California Development Board”—makes that purpose explicit.
The map accompanied California: Resources and Possibilities, the Twenty-Second Annual Report of the California Development Board for the Year 1911, submitted in March 1912 and published from the Board’s offices in the Ferry Building, San Francisco. The report was issued during a moment of aggressive statewide promotion, only a few years after the 1906 earthquake and immediately before the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Its opening invitation to the “Universal Exposition, San Francisco,” scheduled for February 20 through December 4, 1915, positions California as a destination of international importance and links the state’s agricultural abundance, natural resources, transportation infrastructure, and commercial promise to the forthcoming exposition. The bibliographic record identifies this issue as the 22nd annual report, based on the year 1911.
Background on Creator
The California Development Board, established in 1910 through the merger of three key organizations, aimed to promote economic growth in California by encouraging immigration, supporting local products, and distributing information about the state's resources and opportunities. It published detailed maps and reports highlighting California’s agricultural, industrial, and railroad infrastructure, organized promotional campaigns to attract residents and investors, and played an important role in shaping the state’s public image and economic development during the early 20th century.
Condition
Folding map is clean, bright and fine. Text is clean and covers have minor wear. Map is detached from cover with thin margin at right.