This is one of the earliest printed government surveys that was drawn from the original plot by Lt. Andrew Atkinson Humphreys. It was based on surveys by Lts. A.D. Mackay and E. French in 1831 and Lts. French and J.F. Izard in 1832. The topographic map illustrates an area between the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers to Winchester. Locates Harper's Ferry, Charleston, Smithfield Village, Winchester, and scores of mills and individual farms with the owner's name. It shows mills, distilleries, blacksmith's shops, etc. along the proposed routes. Across the bottom is an extensive table giving a summary of the routes surveyed.
br> The Commonwealth of Virginia was embroiled in controversy over the develop of a railway network in this region. The existing transportation system was inefficient for the farmers and iron furnaces in the Shenandoah Valley, as it concentrated economic trade benefits within Virginia at the exclusion of neighboring Maryland and Pennsylvania. This line was designed to divert Shenandoah Valley wheat from Alexandria and stimulate growth in Baltimore. Completion of the line in 1836 greatly contributed to the decline of Alexandria. A very nice example of this early railroad map.

References: Claussen & Friis #271; Modelski (Railroads) #4.

Condition: A

Folding as Issued. Fine impression on sound paper with just a hint of toning in two small areas, else fine.