Map of California, Oregon, Texas... [Gold Rush!]: Colton, 1849

• Title: MAP OF CALIFORNIA, OREGON, TEXAS and the TERRITORIES adjoining WITH ROUTES & C Published by J.H. Colton, No. 86, CEDAR ST., NEW YORK.with Original manuscript logbook of the American Eagle
• Author: Joseph H. Coltonr
• Date: 1849
• Condition: See Description
• Inches: 18 1/2 x 21 1/8 [Paper] 
• Centimeters: 46.99 x 53.65 [Paper] 
• Product ID: 308734

One-of-a-Kind Offering – A California Gold Rush Map and Ship’s Logbook

A foundational Gold Rush–era map of the American West and the sailing vessel’s logbook in which it was found – a truly remarkable discovery.

The map shows the western United States extending from the Canadian border south to central Mexico and from the Pacific Coast eastward into Texas and the Great Plains. The map presents a dramatically reconfigured post–Mexican War West: Texas shown with its expansive, pre‑Compromise claims reaching far beyond the Rio Grande and northward toward what is now Colorado, a vast “Upper or New California” embracing present‑day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, and a still-undivided Oregon Territory stretching from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains. Indian Territory and the central plains remain largely unorganized, with numerous Native nations and tribal regions carefully labeled across the interior.

Prepared at the height of the California Gold Rush, the map highlights the newly famous “Gold Region” of the Sierra Nevada foothills by means of a distinct wash, focusing attention on the mining districts along the American, Yuba, Feather, and other rivers. A dense network of overland routes and military roads is traced from the Mississippi Valley to Oregon and California, incorporating the Oregon Trail, earlier exploratory routes, and military marches that guided emigrants west. In the upper right, a detailed table of distances compares alternative routes—overland, via Panama, and by sea—between Atlantic ports and key western destinations, making the sheet as much a practical emigrant’s guide as a political and geographic statement. Topography is rendered with fine hachuring, and the map is richly annotated with forts, missions, settlements, river crossings, and key passes, reflecting Colton’s synthesis of the latest government surveys and exploratory maps available in 1849.

Colton’s decorative vine-and-flower border and finely engraved title cartouche underline the map’s status as a substantial publishing effort rather than a disposable guide-sheet. Issued just after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and before Congress had carved the newly acquired Mexican cessions into smaller territories, it captures a fleeting but pivotal moment when American claims, emigrant hopes, and on-the-ground geography had outrun formal political organization. Widely regarded as one of the most accurate and influential early Gold Rush maps available to the public, it is now a cornerstone piece for collections focused on the Mexican–American War, western expansion, the California Gold Rush, and the cartographic history of Texas and the Far West.

The Logbook

Accompanying the map is the original manuscript logbook of a mid‑19th‑century American merchant ship American Eagle, commanded by Captain J. A. Freeman.  Built at New York by Jacob A. Westervelt & William Mackey and  launched 1846, the American Eagle is a well‑known U.S. ship.  She is well documented in the Palmer List of Merchant Vessels.  From the Palmer entry, she had “…tonnage of about 899/1059 tons (old/new measurement), length 158 feet…”.

The logbook records a 1852–1853 voyage from Boston (departure 4–5 December 1832, off Chatham Light) to San Francisco (landfall off San Francisco light, final approach into the bay, May 9, 1853) via Rio de Janeiro and Cape Horn. The American Eagle was a square‑rigged, ocean‑going merchantman capable of a full Atlantic–Horn–Pacific run.  The ship was commanded on this passage by J. A. Freeman, almost certainly a New England deep‑water captain.  Freeman is a well‑represented Brewster/Barnstable shipmaster name in the period.  The ship clearly operated in the early 1850s California trade, carrying cargo and passengers into San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush.

The abstract log documents daily positions, weather, sail handling, and encounters, with detailed entries for the Staten Land / Cape Horn region and the final approach to San Francisco Bay. Entries record positions from the North Atlantic through Brazilian waters, the Horn region (Staten Land, Cape St. Diego, Cape Horn 25 miles abeam), and a long Pacific crossing in the trades.

The logbook also includes a two page treatise on the albatross and a further one page describing the Cape pigeon.

The logbook contains at least two distinct textual layers. The abstract log of the ship American Eagle (courses, winds, and daily positions) is written in a regular, clerkly hand characteristic of an officer or designated log‑keeper and uses standardized nautical phrasing. In contrast, the prose essays on the albatross and Cape pigeon are in a more informal hand and take the form of personal natural‑history sketches or letters (e.g., addressing “Franky dear”), without dates or navigational data. These differences in function, voice, and script strongly suggest that the bird essays were added by a second writer, probably a non‑officer passenger or family member, rather than the official keeper of the log.

Provenance

The first page of the journal is twice signed:  “Home is where my heart is – Helen Hayward”, along with “Helen M. Agnew, Dec 8th 1852”.  The signature is somewhat enigmatic as, sadly, there is no historical record for either of the women. Perhaps she was  sweetheart or wife of the sailor who recorded the log, as it is clearly written by a practice nautical hand in strict seaman’s terms.

The book has a stationer’s trade plate on the front cover; MANUFACTURED BY JOHN MARSH, No. 77 Washington St. JOYS BUILDING, BOSTON.  John Marsh was a mid 19th century Boston stationer and account book maker producing higher grade commercial items — essentially bespoke or semi-standard account books, memorandum books, or similar stationery. The Joy’s Building address places Marsh squarely in Boston’s central commercial district, alongside printers, booksellers, and engravers.  The logbook as an object sits in the ecosystem of mid 19th century Boston blank book manufacturing: sewn, often hand ruled, sometimes leather backed, and sold either off the shelf or finished to a client’s specifications.

Logbook Synopsis

Condition

Logbook ¾ calf with calf corners, marbleized paper cover and endpapers.  Buff blue unruled blank pages.  Neat, tidy, clean and sound.  Outstanding.

Map with expert repairs at folds with minimal infill, refreshed original color.  Very good.

References

Palmer, Michael P. Palmer List of Merchant Vessels. Claremont, Calif.: Michael Palmer, 2000–. Online edition at OoCities.org.