Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842 and to Oregon and California in the Years 1843-44
Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1845. Senate Issue. Hardcover. 691pp. Octavo [23 cm] Rebound in sturdy tan cloth. New endsheets and flyleaves. Good plus. The plates and pages are foxed, and there are sporadic tidemarks of varying sizes on the pages as well. Item #44400
22 single-sided plates (views, botanical, fossils) and 3 maps (missing the large folding map by Charles Preuss, and the map at p. 247). John Fremont's expeditions of 1842 and 1843-44 were the most spectacular reconnaissance of the American West since Lewis and Clark. Performed under the auspices of the Army Bureau of Topographical Engineers, the expedition's published reports and maps brought a factor of dependability and trustworthiness that would aid American settlement of the West. Fremont's report was the most detailed observations of the western territories at the time. The country covered by the report was previously terra incognito--Brigham Young is said to have used both the report as a guide in bringing the Mormon people West. Utah was then part of Mexico and would first become Deseret and then Utah territory. One of the seminal works for any western or Utah collector. Howes F-372(Senate Issue). Wagner/Camp 115.2.
Price: $500.00