page_title: Pacific Railroad Surveys
hierarchical_section_title: Pacific Railroad Surveys
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: reportsofexplora02unit_0 (find matches) Title: Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean Year: 1855 (1850s) Authors: United States. War Dept Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878 Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887 United States. Army. Corps of Engineers Subjects: Pacific railroads Discoveries in geography Natural history Indians of North America Publisher: Washington&#160;: A.O.P. Nicholson, printer (etc.) Contributing Library: San Francisco Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: California State Library Califa/LSTA Grant View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: ' Text Appearing After Image: SNOW IN THE PASS. 39 of the guide, who had represented this route as without a hill, the party ascended a high peakand looked down upon the extensive plains, over which, for a month, we had wound our way.The view was majestically beautiful, with the Huerfano, Cuchara and Apishpa at their feet,and towering mountains to the north and south, with the valley of San Luis to the west. De-scending again to the stream they had left, and finding that about ten miles from its head theywere, by barometer, higher than on the Sangre de Cristo Pass, and that the gorge was very wind-ing and narrow, they turned back from their southern course for two miles, and then rode up hillfor two hours, much of the way steep and stony, and arrived at the summit of the ridge, whereone could look almost vertically down on the heads of creeks of the Cuchara—one of whichwinds under Bald mountain, considerably to the south of the Spanish Peaks, where there is a notinviting depression, entirely impracticable for a Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Pacific Railroad Surveys consisted of a series of explorations of the American West to find 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 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." 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 of the land as well as provided ethnographic descriptions of the Native peoples encountered during the surveys.
context_section_description: The Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853–1855) consisted of a series of explorations of the American West to find 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." 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 of the land as well as provided ethnographic descriptions of the Native peoples encountered during the surveys.
caption: An illustration of Fort Massachusetts, Colorado, made during the surveys
exif: {}