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Rare early edition of Geore Cram's first map of Colorado.
Cram's railroad map of Colorado is an exceptional way to track the changes in Colorado between 1875 and 1879, a Cram meticulously updated this series of maps.
One of the best maps of Colorado to appear in a commercial atlas during the period and one of the rarest. Shows a number of early railroad lines and extensive details in the mining regions.
Cram's map went through a number of impressive changes between 1875 and 1879. For example, this 1878 edition immediately pre-dates the township surveys in Ouray County and the first appearance of San Miguel (later Telluride), and a number of other boom towns which would appear on the 1879 map, as well as changes to the western boundary if Hinsdale County.
A quick comparison of the 1875, the present 1878 example, and 1879, reveals the significant changes, especially in southwestern Colorado and tracking the growth of the railroads.
George Cram would become one of the most prolific atlas publishers of the last 19th and early 20th Centuries. His earliest maps, issued in the late 1860s, were marvelous separately issued railroad maps. His success led to the publication of several editions of his now very rare New Commercial Atlas of the United States between 1875 and 1879, which included a number of Cram's rare separately issued railroad maps.
Rarity
This is the first example of the 1878 we have offered for sale.
In over 30 years, we have had 2 examples of the 1875 and 1 example of the 1878.
George F. Cram (1842-1928), or George Franklin Cram, was an American mapmaker and businessman. During the Civil War, Cram served under General William Tecumseh Sherman and participated in his March to the Sea. His letters of that time are now important sources for historians of the Civil War. In 1867, Cram and his uncle, Rufus Blanchard, began the company known by their names in Evanston, Illinois.
Two years later, Cram became sole proprietor and the company was henceforth known as George F. Cram Co. Specializing in atlases, Cram was one of the first American companies to publish a world atlas. One of their most famous products was the Unrivaled Atlas of the World, in print from the 1880s to the 1950s.
Cram died in 1928, seven years after he had merged the business with that of a customer, E.A. Peterson. The new company still bore Cram’s name. Four years later, the Cram Company began to make globes, a branch of the business that would continue until 2012, when the company ceased to operate. For the final several decades of the company’s existence it was controlled by the Douthit family, who sold it just before the company was shuttered.
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