1873 U.S. Coast Survey Map of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska
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Description: This unusual map is the U.S. Coast Survey’s first significant mapping of the Aleutian Islands following the 1867 acquisition of the Alaska territory from Russia. The map covers the Aleutian Archipelago from Atta Island to Unimak Island and extends far enough north to include the Pribiloff Islands. Identifies each major island in the archipelago as well as important island groups, such as the “Islands of Four Mountains” and notable naval passes, such as the Amukhta Pass. There are numerous but hardly exhaustive soundings illustrative of the embryonic state of the survey in this region. Produced under the supervision of Benjamin Peirce, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey.
Date: 1873 (dated)
Source: Report of the Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, Washington, (1873 edition).
References: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, UAF-M0106.
Cartographer: The Office of the Coast Survey, founded in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Commerce Albert Gallatin, is the oldest scientific organization in the U.S. Federal Government. Jefferson created the "Survey of the Coast," as it was then called, in response to a need for accurate navigational charts of the new nation's coasts and harbors. The first superintendent of the Coast Survey was Swiss immigrant and West Point mathematics professor Ferdinand Hassler. Under the direction of Hassler, from 1816 to 1843, the ideological and scientific foundations for the Coast Survey were established. Hassler, and the Coast Survey under him developed a reputation for uncompromising dedication to the principles of accuracy and excellence. Hassler lead the Coast Survey until his death in 1843, at which time Alexander Dallas Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, took the helm. Under the leadership A. D. Bache, the Coast Survey did most of its most important work. During his Superintendence, from 1843 to 1865, Bache was steadfast advocate of American science and navigation and in fact founded the American Academy of Sciences. Bache was succeeded by Benjamin Pierce who ran the Survey from 1867 to 1874. Pierce was in turn succeeded by Carlile Pollock Patterson who was Superintendent from 1874 to 1881. In 1878, under Patterson's superintendence, the U.S. Coast Survey was reorganized as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C & GS or USGS) to accommodate topographic as well as nautical surveys. Today the Coast Survey is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA. Click here for a list of rare maps from the U. S. Coast Survey.
Size: Printed area measures 26.5 x 15 inches (67.31 x 38.1 centimeters)
Condition: Good. Light overall toning. Verso reinforcement and toning on original fold lines. Blank on verso. Paper extremely brittle.
Code: AleutianIslands-uscs-1873 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650)
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