Beschreibung:

Mitchell, Samuel Augustus. Map of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois with the Settled Parts of Michigan & Wisconsin. Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1849. 22.25 x 18 in. "onion skin" sheet, with hand colored counties and outlines of the inserts. In 24mo black leather embossed boards with gilt Mitchell's Map of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois & Michigan. Text is on 3 x 4.5 in. text leaf tipped to front board and a column of steam boat routes along left side of map. Inserts of (lower left) "Lead Region East of the Mississippi River," and (upper right) "Vicinity of Detroit." This map represents in a sense the "end of an era." There are thousands of miles of canals noted, but probably less than 500 miles of rail (none to Cleveland or Chicago). In Ohio, for example, the only rail line is Cincinnati to Sandusky, with a short line from Sandusky to Mansfield. But canals reached from the Ohio River to Lake Erie through Toledo and Cleveland with lines from the latter to the Allegheny - probably 600 miles of canals just within the state. Within a very few years those ratios would be reversed as the decade before the Civil War saw rail infrastructure explode, reaching all major (Northern) cities by the 1860s, a critical factor in the war. Mitchell's choice of inserts is also interesting. Very few maps emphasize the lead mining region around Dubuque, and he chose Detroit as the most important city on a map that, as the title indicates, focused on the Ohio-Indiana-Illinois region. An historically transitional map on a number of fronts. It is also interesting that the focus of the eastern lead regions should appear as the mining activity was in decline, and the focus would shift from the rivers to the railroads (and Great Lakes port cities). Provenance: Property from the Collection of Dr. Fred E. Schwab Condition: A few areas of foxing; minor holes at intersections of folds. Minor wear to boards, especially edges and corners.