A New Map for Travelers through the United States of America, Showing the Railroads, Canals & Stage Roads
Sherman & Smith
New York, 1846
Appearing in John Calvin Smith’s The Illustrated Hand-book for Travelers through the United States, this map charts the country from the East Coast through the Midwest and includes parts of the western territories. Befitting its inclusion in a travel guide, it prominently features growing transportation networks throughout the country, focusing on concentrated systems in the Northeast and hinting at future prospects with detailed looks at Oregon, California, and Texas. A key in the map’s upper-right corner identifies unique symbols used to mark state capitals, shire towns (county seats), and villages, as well as railroads, canals, and stage roads. The prevalence of roads, including information for distances between locations, indicates a growing interest in interstate mobility and westward expansion.[1]
Six insets further emphasize regional connectivity and the vital economic ties between East Coast ports and the Midwest via the Great Lakes. Three images highlight the Hudson River linking New York and Albany, with railroads connecting both to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. A harbor scene represents the coastal shipping industry, and a nearby detail shows railroad and canal routes from Albany to Buffalo on Lake Ontario. The final inset at lower-right provides a stark counterexample to the crowded eastern states. In Oregon and California, the names of Indigenous groups and natural features are most prominent, alongside the occasional fort or town. The lack of roads provides an unobstructed view of the rivers, creeks, and topography of the area three years before the California Gold Rush created explosive economic and population growth.
Texas, the most recent state to join the Union, sits midway between these two extremes. A growing system of roads connects Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Washington, and Nacogdoches, while much of the state to the north and west remains sparsely settled.
Between the more populated areas and the Red River to the north lies Dallas, the townsite of which was surveyed and established in 1844. Its inclusion marks the nascent settlement’s first appearance on a printed map of the United States.[2] Dallas benefitted from the development of the vital transportation infrastructure seen in older cities, including the arrival of railroads in 1872 and 1873, that quickly transformed the town into a shipping and commercial hub. As the northeastern railroads and canals served to connect the East Coast and Midwest, transportation networks in Dallas linked the American West and Southwest to the rest of the country and helped establish North Texas as a powerful regional economy.[3]
[1] “A New Map for Travelers through the United States of America Showing the Railroads, Canals and Stage Roads, 1846,” World Digital Library, Library of Congress, 28 October 2014. https://www.wdl.org/en/item/9559/, accessed December 1, 2020.
[2] Barry Lawrence Ruderman, “First Map to Name Dallas.” https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/51292/first-map-to-show-dallas-a-new-map-for-travelers-through-sherman-smith, accessed December 1, 2020.
[3] Leon J. Rosenberg and Grant M. Davis, “Dallas and Its First Railroad,” Railroad History, no. 135 (1976): 40.
