Plate III Upper Klamath Lake from 28: USPRR Exp & Surveys. California & Oregon

Washington DC:: Washington DC, A.O.P. Nicholson, Printer,, 1853-59.. First printing. Fine. Fine original lithotint. Image clean. Large Octavo (8.5 x 10.75 inches). Pair of Native American scouts on rocky outcropping above Ummper Klamath Lake. From US Pacific Railroad Surveys: Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practicable & Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, an early depiction of a North American conifer first described by Scottish botanist David Douglas (1799-1834).Funded by the US government, these reports were produced to determine possible routes for transcontinental travel and contained the greatest wealth of topographical and natural history discovery of the Western United States during the nineteenth century.In his excellent book on the Prints of the West Professor Ron Tyler states: Speaking before the Senate on January 6, 1859, Senator James Harlan of Iowa praised the Pacific Railroad Reports, pointing out that because 'some Senators and members of congress might not be able to read and comprehend them, they have been illustrated. Every swell of land, every unexpected or unanticipated gorge in the mountains has been displayed in a beautiful picture'.... Single sheet matted in Neutral Rag Board & backing