Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean
A government survey report printed in Washington by the War Department in 1855, documenting explorations for a railroad route from the Mississippi to the Pacific and written for Congress and engineers. Its pictures are engraved views of desert valleys, mountains and camp scenes, plus botanical plates of poppies, that a designer could draw on for landscape compositions and naturalist-style botanical drawings.
