Antique Maps and Prints of the Historic Territory of Wyoming.
This short
REFERENCE PAGE is designed to provide no more than a 'glimpse' of
the history of the State,
with a couple of examples of antiquarian maps and engravings and some interesting Links.
This Page is provided as a REFERENCE
RESOURCE - it is NOT an Inventory.
Genuine
historical maps and prints by mail order - all are eminently suitable for framing and
are offered On Approval, which
GUARANTEES
YOUR ENTIRE SATISFACTION!
Look us over, but don't
overlook us.
TERRITORY OF WYOMING
The article below was written in 1885 and makes interesting reading.
Topography: The surface is elevated and mountainous, the main chain of the Rocky mountains extending across the Territory from southeast to northwest and forming what is known as "the divide." The principal ranges are the Wind River, Big Horn, Laramie, Bishop and Medicine Bow mountains.
The Black Hills lie partly in this Territory and partly in Dakota. The Big Horn, Tongue and Powder rivers flow north and join the Yellowstone in Montana; the Green river drains the southwest, and the Little Missouri the northeast; while the North Platte, rising in Colorado, receives the Medicine Bow, Laramie and Sweetwater rivers in Wyoming and enters Nebraska from the southeast, where there are some smaller streams of little importance.
The most interesting of the natural features of Wyoming, and those which have most attracted the attention of travellers, are found in the extreme northwest corner of the Territory, in the section known as the Yellowstone National Park. This wonderful park has a length of sixty-five miles north and south by fifty-five miles in width, and an area of 3,575 square miles. No part of it is less than 6,000 feet above the sea, and the snow-covered mountains that hem in the valleys on every side rise to a height of 12,000 feet.
It is a land of wonders, with its grand caņons and geysers, its beautiful lakes and rivers, with cataracts, cascades and rapids of unexampled beauty, and mountains towering far above the deep and rugged valleys through which the rapid streams flow. The geysers or boiling springs are situated near the Firehole river, the middle fork of the Madison, which forms one of the three principal sources of the Missouri.
There are several hundred springs, of which the Beehive, Giantess, Old Faithful, the Turban, the Giant and the Grand Geyser are the largest. Wyoming is situated between latitude 41° and 45° north and longitude 104° and 111° west; it has a length east and west of about 350 miles, and a breadth of about 275 miles, and forms an almost perfect quadrangle, with an area of 97,890 square miles, or 62,649,600 acres, of which 9,079,186 are surveyed into sections and 42,638 are improved.
Climate: The climate is severe in the mountainous regions, but mild and salubrious in the sheltered valleys; the air is pure and bracing, and the rainfall light, not exceeding fifteen inches per annum, and in some parts even less.
The mean temperature at Cheyenne (6,058 feet above the sea) in July, the warmest month, is about 71° in January, the coldest, 12° and the mean for the year not lower than 43.6° Fahrenheit. A maximum of 98° is recorded in one year, and a minimum of -38° Fahrenheit.
The soil of the valleys is a fertile loam, but irrigation is needed for the successful prosecution of agriculture.
Mines and Minerals: The great mineral resources of Wyoming have as yet scarcely been developed. At Evanston, Carbon, Rock Springs, and several other points on the line of the Union Pacific, lignite has been mined.
The coal is of good quality and is shipped to many of the Territories, besides furnishing an ample supply for locomotives. Iron ore is abundant, and consists principally of pure red hematites of great value.
Copper, lead, plumbago and petroleum also occur. Much gold has been taken from the mountain gulches of the Sweetwater country, and auriferous quartz veins of great value are worked in the neighbourhood of Laramie City.
Valuable deposits of soda exist in the valley of the Sweetwater. The deposits of sulphate of soda are from ten to fifteen feet in thickness, and are almost chemically pure.
History: The Territory of Wyoming was organized, under the act approved July 25, 1868, from the southwest portion, of Dakota, together with small sections of Utah and Colorado.
The first settlements within its limits were made in 1867, during the construction of the Union Pacific railroad, and the Territorial organization was completed on May 10, 1869. Its historical record is naturally a short one, and is unmarked by any serious conflicts with the Indians.
Population: Census of 1880: Males, 14,152; Females, 6,637; Native, 14,939; Foreign, 5,850; White, 19,437; Colored, 1,352, including 914 Chinese, and 140 Indians who have no tribal relations. About 1,250 Shoshone and 900 Bannock Indians occupy a reservation of 1,520,000 acres in the western part of the Territory.
HUNTING SKETCHES IN NORTHERN WYOMING
Published in The Graphic in 1883.
Click on image to view a larger version
VIEW IN YELLOWSTONE PARK, WYOMING
Mammoth Hot Springs, Gardiner's River
Upper Fire-Hole from "Old Faithful."
Published in the Illustrated London News in 1874.
Click on image to view a larger version
VIEW IN YELLOWSTONE PARK, WYOMING
The Mammoth Hot Springs, Gardiner's River
Published in the Illustrated London News in 1874.
Click on image to view a larger version
ANTIQUARIAN MAP OF WYOMING
Published by Armstrong - 1891
Click on the image to view a larger version
INTERESTING LINKS
OTHER POSTAPRINT US STATES FEATURE PAGES
Wyoming State Parks & Historic Sites
Lake Guernsey State Park National Historic Landmark
Contributions and suggestions for additional links would be most welcome.
After very many years in the Trade,
I am now
retired and the
Postaprint Website
as such is no longer available.
However this large collection of Reference Pages
is being
left on line, as we hope you will find them to informative and helpful. They
provide details of many of the maps, books and engravings we had the pleasure of dealing in over so
many years.
For a complete index of all
such Reference Pages PLEASE DO CLICK
HERE.
However,
my wife has a
store on eBay, with
many offers of delightful antiquarian maps & prints
& engravings.
SOME INTERESTING & UNUSUAL GIFT IDEAS FROM JULIE
DO VISIT MY EBAY SHOP
FOR UNUSUAL IDEAS FOR PRESENTS
Perhaps a map or print of somewhere important in
someone's life. For example, where
they were born, got married, went on honeymoon etc. I do have a wide selection
of topographical views and historical maps.
America's,
UK,
Europe,
Asia,
Africa,
Australia,
The World, Etc.
...Or do a search for their last name, you will be surprised
what you might discover!
Specialist mail order suppliers of collectible historical antique maps and engravings.