An illustration of Fort Massachusetts, Colorado, made during the surveys
The Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853–1855) were a series of explorations of the American West designed to find and document possible routes for a transcontinental railroad across North America. The expeditions included surveyors, scientists, and artists and resulted in an immense body of data covering at least 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 km2) on the American West. "These volumes... constitute probably the most important single contemporary source of knowledge on Western geography and history and their value is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of many beautiful plates in color of scenery, native inhabitants, fauna and flora of the Western country."[1] Published by the United States War Department from 1855 to 1860, the surveys contained significant material on natural history, including many illustrations of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. In addition to describing the route, these surveys also reported on the geology, zoology, botany, paleontology, climatology[2] of the land as well as provided ethnographic descriptions of the Native peoples encountered during the surveys. Importantly, a map of routes for a Pacific railroad, was compiled to accompany the report.[3]
^"Pacific Railroad Surveys 1855-1861". Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
^"Isothermal chart of the region north of the 36th Parallel &c. &c. between the Atlantic & Pacific oceans; compiled under the direction of Isaac I. Stevens, Govnr. of Washington Territory". Library of Congress.
^"Map of routes for a Pacific railroad, compiled to accompany a report of the Hon. Jefferson Davis, sec. of war". Library of Congress. 1857.
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