Wyoming Wagon Roads 1879

This highly detailed Wyoming territory map shows typography and transportation as it would relate to navigating through the state at the time. Railroads that cut across the state are denoted, particularly the Pacific Union Railroad, as well as rivers which would have also been used for trade and travel.

Mountains, lakes, and towns are shown in their various locations. Wyoming at this point in time in our nation's history was still a territory. That is the reason the map only has five counties. Typography is notated with sure marks, and a very simple border outlines the entire piece. My meridians shown on the map are those of Greenwich and Washington.

This map also happens to be one of the earliest published map of the state. It was originally part of a larger collection of Rand McNally's business atlas. That atlas contained several large square maps for every state or territory in the United States. The atlas also maps showing portions of Canada, and of course the West India Islands which were right for trade at the time.

Of note during this point in Wyoming's history are a couple of historical events, as they relate directly to the map itself. For starters, the intense military campaigns that were waged against the native Americans were finished a year previous to the publication of the ma you see here. The Sioux and Cheyenne Indians who lived in that area had either been placed in reservations, or driven to other places. Many of them fled to Canada. With that void, the buffalo herds, that numbered in the thousands, were prime targets for ̢‰â?Òhide hunters̢‰â?À?. Most of them were killed off and the pelts were rendered to be used as industrial belting. During that same period of time, the now empty grasslands of Powder County attracted a different sort of business... cattle. The transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad,
which you can find on this map, was used to ship the beef to market. Fort McKinney was stationed near the Powder River region and helped to encourage the growth of the livestock industry.