-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: What pocket map of California did John Muir use?
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 15:22:49 -0500
From: April Carlucci <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: Yale Univ Library
To: 'Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems Forum' <[log in to unmask]>
Hello Mary
I'll kick off the discussion with some general observations about 19th
century popular maps, although others can certainly add more specific and
authoritative information.
What comes to mind immediately is a fairly small map printed on lightweight
or tissue paper, and folded into a small book-like leather cover sized to
fit into the traveller's pocket. However, it may be that the map was not
published with that specific intent, and may have been originally sold flat
and without cover, particularly if the word "pocket" or "traveller's" (etc)
does not appear in the title of the map itself, as is often the case. The
map could then have been folded and pasted into a cover either by the
publisher or a map-seller, in order to cash in on the travel market, or even
by a previous owner of the map who wanted the added convenience of the
pocket size and protection offered by the cover. While I can't swear to
these possibilities, I've seen enough variations in "pocket maps in covers"
to suggest these ideas.
It's also possible the map wasn't all that small. Some pocket maps are quite
thick when folded depending on the size and thickness of the paper, and open
up to a sizable map. We see pocket maps today which have been mounted on
linen, but did they start out that way?
This of course makes it more difficult to narrow down what pocket map of
California John Muir used.
Perhaps Muir could have used a similar treatment on the rolled maps he found
himself carrying west.
Hope this helps.
April Carlucci
Catalog Librarian for Maps
Yale University Library
-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 9:09 AM
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Subject: What pocket map of California did John Muir use?
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: What pocket map of California did John Muir use?
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 22:38:53 -0500
From: Mary Douglass <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
CC: Mary Douglass <[log in to unmask]>
Today I was contacted by an author who discovered my name/number as the
current president of WAML (Western Association of Map Libraries). He has a
map question which he has not been able to answer, and he asked if I could
query the "map experts". Rather than trying to paraphrase his question, I
will insert his whole request. You can certainly reply directly to him
([log in to unmask]), or I can relay the information to him if you
reply to the list.
"Donna and I are writing a history/guide book for Wilderness Press about our
2006 project/walk to recreate John Muir's 1868 walk from San Francisco to
Yosemite. You can see information about our project on our web site:
www.johnmuir.org/walk.
What I would like to ask your membership is if anyone can help give any
insight to our question. John Muir said he bought a pocket map of California
in New York in March of 1868. Which map would that most likely have been.
Knowing this will help us determine what level of detail John Muir had about
the route.
We have already looked at many maps using the resources at the California
State Library and referring to Carl Wheat's Mapping the Trans-Mississippi
West. What we cannot determine from our research so far is would one of the
maps been more commonly refereed to as a pocket?
Here is the information we have gathered:
Muir writes:
The day before the sailing of the Panama ship [March 13, 1868] I bought a
pocket map of California and allowed myself to be persuaded to buy a dozen
large maps, mounted on rollers, with a map of the world on one side and the
United States on the other. [Footnote 2] In vain I said I had no use for
them. "But surely you want to make money in California, don't you?
Everything out there is very dear. We'll sell you a dozen of these fine maps
for two dollars each and you can easily sell them in California for ten
dollars apiece." I foolishly allowed myself to be persuaded. The maps made a
very large, awkward bundle, but fortunately it was the only baggage I had
except my little plant press and a small India rubber bag.
Footnote 2 [I may be missing information here and will appreciate any help
or corrections]
When Muir said he carried a "pocket map", he meant a small folding map in
contrast a big cloth-mounted wall map. Which map did he have? There were two
maps of California available at that time. One was "Bancroft's Map of
California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona" published in San Francisco, the other
"A new map of the States of California and Nevada" by Leander Ransom and A.
J. Doolittle, published by W. Holt in San Francisco. These maps both show
similar details, cities, mountain ranges and rivers, but neither map has
much information when compared with modern street and topographic maps.
[There were several editions of both maps, but details do not change much
between the 1867 and 1868 editions of the Bancroft map. is this correct, I
have only seen one edition of the Ransom map?] Both maps only show a single
road from Oakland through San Jose to Gilroy, and then what must be the
Butterfield Stage Road going over the Pacheco Pass, then south towards
Fresno. There is no route from Pacheco Pass to Yosemite.
There were also more detailed California maps available, but only for
specific regions of the state. Of these there are two that would have been
of value to Muir. One is the topographical and railroad map of the Central
part of California published in 1865 C. Bielawski, the other Bancroft's Map
of Seventy Miles around San Francisco from 1866. The Bielawski map has
better detail, showing the two roads down the east bay and details of the
road to Gilroy. The maps southern limit is Pacheco Peak, so it does not show
a road over the pass. If you know what you are looking at, you find see the
confluence of the Merced and San Joaquin Rivers at the border of the map and
determine there is a road going east from Hills Ferry. But it is unlikely
that Muir saw this map, as he recounts he had to ask which way to go upon
reaching Gilroy."
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