This original double-page folio map by John Bartholomew appeared in "General Atlas of World" published 1857 by Adam and Charles Black in Edinburgh. Printed in color by Schenck and McFarlane. John Bartholomew, F.R.G.S. (1831-1893), was a mapmaker and publisher. He established in 1826 the company "John Bartholomew and Son" located in Edinburgh. Plate No. XLVIII.

Superb map of the United States following the Compromise of 1850, which settled the Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute, and the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854. It clearly shows major cities, rivers, lakes, mountain chains, railroads (in operation and in progress), and steam boat routes. Excellent detail. Below given are some interesting details related to the map's content.

• The map shows large Washington which extends all the way to the Rocky Mountains. (Washington Territory was established 1853.) Seattle is shown as a small city called Statle.
• Large Oregon includes Idaho. Between 1853 and 1859 Idaho was divided between the Oregon and Washington territories. It was then attached to Washington until it was organized separately as the Idaho Territory in 1863.
• The huge Nebraska Territory includes Montana and Wyoming. Originally the Nebraska Territory comprised 351,558 square miles, but by 1863 the organization of the Colorado and Idaho (including the states of Montana and Wyoming) territories had reduced Nebraska almost to its present dimensions. The Montana Territory was established in 1864 and the Wyoming Territory was created in 1868.
• Nevada and Colorado are not shown; both territories were organized in 1861.
• New Mexico covers present-day Arizona and parts of Nevada and Colorado. The southern border of the United States correctly ends on the Gila River. After the Mexican War, Arizona was ceded to the United States as part of New Mexico in 1848, and the Gadsden Purchase, an area south of the Gila River, was added in 1853.
• The Dakota Territory is not shown since ot was created in 1861. On the map, it is divided between Nebraska and Minnesota. The town of Pierre is called "Ft. Pierre Chateau."
• The Oklahoma Panhandle (counties of Beaver, Texas, and Cimarron) is shown incorrectly as part of Texas. From 1845 until 1890 this area, then refered to as "No-Mans Land" or "Public Strip", belonged to no recognized state or nation. In 1890 the Organic Act organized the Indian Territory made No-Mans Land part of that territory.
• The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 created Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), where tribes who occupied lands wanted by whites were relocated. Historical Fort Gibson is marked.
• On March 3, 1853, the 32nd Congress, 2nd Session, approved "The Military Appropriations Act of 1853" of which Sections 10 and 11 authorized the expenditure of $150,000 by the War Department to conduct "explorations and surveys ... to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean." Within two months the surveys were underway. All of survey leaders were convinced that the path that their team followed would be the optimal route for railroad. Congress deadlocked over the issue and it was not until 1862 that it passed the Pacific Railway Act, authorizing the Union Pacific Company and the Central Pacific Company to begin construction. When completed in 1869, the route selected did not directly correspond with any of the original four that were proposed. The map shows the routes of the proposed Pacific Railway:
  • Route explored by Lieut. Parke and Capt. Pope (New Mexico - Arizona - California)
  • Route explored by Lieut. Whipple (Indian Territory - Texas - New Mexico)
  • Route of Northern Pacific Rail Road explored by I.I. Stevens, Governor of Washington Territory (from Duluth, Minnesota, to the Puget Sounds, Washington).
  • Route explored by Lieut. Beckwith (Utah - Nevada - California), and the route explored by Capt. Gunnison (Kansas - Colorado - Utah) (see below)
• Captain John William Gunnison was Indian fighter and railroad surveyor; the place of his death in Utah Territory (October 26, 1853), the Gunnison Massacre, is indicated. During the early 1850's, numerous U.S. Government surveying expeditions were made into the Rocky Mountain West. In the Spring of 1853, Captain Gunnison, U.S. Army Topographical Engineer, took command of a party on the Survey of Pacific Raiload route through the central Rockies. His command was made up of Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith, second in command; at least eight civilian topographers, geologists, etc., and also, for security, included thirty soldiers of the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen (U.S. Army Dragoons), Captain R. M. Morris, Commanding. By the first of September, they had negotiated the Continental Divide, and the 17th of October found them on the Sevier River, south of present day Manti, Utah. They hired Mormon guides from the Manti settlement to lead them on to Lake Sevier . Days before, early in October, a wagon train of Missouri emigrants, enroute to California, had passed through the Fillmore settlement (shown on the map) and camped on Meadow Creek. A small band of Pahvant Ute Indians came into the camp, wanting to trade buckskins for tobacco, etc. The Missourians attempted to disarm the Indians of their bows and arrows. In the fracas, war chief Moshoquop's father was killed by revolver fire. Meanwhile, Gunnison had divided his command, sending the larger force to explore miles upriver, toward the Nephi settlement. He then proceeded down the river towards Lake Sevier, his small party consisting of four civilians and a corporal and six of the Mounted Riflemen. At dawn the next morning, the 26th of October 1853, while eating breakfast, they were surprised in an attack by vengeful Pahvant Ute Chief Moshoquop and forty of his warriors. Within minutes, Captain John W. Gunnison, his four civilians, and three soldiers died of gunshot and arrow wounds. Only Corporal Barton and three of his horse soldiers escaped to tell of the massacre. [Witold Nazarewicz credits Wild Goose Creek Studio.]
• The Apallachians are called Alleghany Mountains.
• Milledgeville is shown as the capital of Georgia, Iowa - the capital of Iowa, and Le-Compton - the capital of Kansas. Brooklyn is marked as a separate city.
• Slave states are color-coded.
• Canada is called "British America".