Exploring the West

This very large wall map from the premier English cartographer Aaron Arrowsmith displays what was meant to be the latest information from North America. Fur traders in the Hudson Bay Company employ were required to send reports and geographic data back to London for the Arrowsmith firm to incorporate into their maps. The importance of new information is shown in the series of printed "additions" or updates: 1795, 1811, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1824, 1833, 1839. The red ink markings are post 1839, and are not among the "additions" referred to on the printed portion of the map.

This particular map displays the red ink of its cartographic editor or reviser. The lettering is professionally applied, and in some areas a faint pencilled grid can be seen to guide the mapmaker in his work. In the area of the Great Basin, covering Utah and Nevada, a sizable portion of the original map has been removed, and replaced with an inset of paper, on which other information has been supplied. However, it seems not to be new information, but copied from earlier sources.

Canada looms over the United States, which is limited to the area east of the Mississippi on this map. The Missouri Territory remains curiously unnamed, but the original base map on which this map is based is dated 1795. The hand colored border reflects a Mexican border east to the Sabine River. The Missouri River is shaded with hachures up to the Yellowstone River, making it stand out on the plate, as it is the only river so treated. Roads are designated by single lines.

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