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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

United States. War Dept. Reports of explorations and surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean made under the Secretary of War, in 1853-4...

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04963.02 Author/Creator: United States. War Dept. Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Book Date: 1855 Pagination: 1 v. ; 30 x 24.5 cm. Order a Copy

Title continues "according to Acts of Congress of March 3, 1853, May 31, 1854, and August 5, 1854." Volume includes reports of Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith on the routes between the 38 and 41 parallels, reconnaissance from Puget Sound, a report of Captain John Pope regarding the territory between the Red River and the Rio Grande, the report of Lieutenant John G. Parke regarding the territory between the Rio Grande and Pimas Village, and an extract on the territory between the mouths of the San Pedro and Gila Rivers. Title page reads "33d Congress, 3d session" which does not exist; see GLC04963.05 which reads "2d session." Executive document no. 91. Large folio volume with modern leather binding. Pagination not continuous.

The reports of the Pacific Railroad surveys were prepared under the direct supervision of the Engineer Department. The volumes dealing with the soil, climate, geology, botany and zoology of the regions surveyed were edited and revised by Professors Henry and Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution. cf. Ingersoll, Hist. of the War Department. 1879, p. 292-293.

United States. War Department
Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878
Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887

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