This historic lithograph is from Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean... The work was published between 1855 and 1860 in Washington by Beverley Tucker, Thomas F. Ford, and A.O.P. Nicholson.
The work came about as part of the Pacific Railroad Surveys conducted under the direction of the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis. The Surveys were conducted to explore the American West and document possible routes for trancontinental North American railroads. Surveyors, scientists, and artist partook in the journeys and gathered information that covered 400,000 square miles.
The publication was "probably the most important single contemporary source of knowledge on Western geography and history and their value is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of many beautiful plates in color of scenery, native inhabitants, fauna and flora of the Western country." (Robert Taft, Artists and Illustrators of the Old West, p. 5)
The Reports "contain[ed] a monumental collection of scientific information, geographical, zoological, botanical, geological of the still mysterious American West. Upon first examination, the volumes seem forbiddingly disorganized, however these faults are amply compensated by the richness of material within." (Wagner-Camp 262)