1879 Newton Bird's-Eye View of the Black Hills, South Dakota (Gold Rush)

Dramatic view of the Black Hills during the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush!

This is an 1879 Henry Newton view and map of the Black Hills during the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush. The Black Hills are a spectacular mountain range in the northern plains states of South Dakota and Wyoming. The view was designed by Newton to illustrate the bizarre geography of the Black Hills. The novel convention of birds are used to identify various types of stone, for example, a single bird flying downward is Archean Schists, while two cucks are Carboniferous Limestone, etc..

Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874 by the Black Hills Expedition, which was led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, who would later meet his end at the Battle of Little Big Horn. An expedition, led by Henry Newton and Walter P. Jenney, was sent to investigate the uncharted regions of the Black Hills by the United States Geological Survey in response to this discovery and the ensuing gold rush. Created during the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush, this map was published in an atlas which accompanied a government report titled Topographic and geological atlas of the Black Hills of Dakota to accompany the report of Henry Newton, E.M. assistant geologist.The expedition, led by Walter P. Jenney, E.M., Per Wheat, who quoted J.S. Newberry

When presented to Congress its publication would have been immediately authorized except for a selfish and heartless opposition it encountered springing from the fear that it would betray the inaccuracy of previously published descriptions of the geology of the region. [A scarcely veiled crack at F. V. Hayden.] This opposition cost Mr. Newton his life, for when Congress deferred action on his report till another session he determined to employ a part of the interval in revisiting the Black Hills, repeating some of his observations and recording the results of the rapidly-developing mining industry. While engaged in this work he was attacked by typhoid fever, and died at Deadwood, August 5, 1877.

This map was drawn by Walter Proctor Jenney under the supervision of Henry Newton. The view was published by Julius Bien in New York, 1879.

Cartographers

The United States Geological Survey (March 3, 1879 - present), commonly abbreviated USGS, is an American federal scientific bureau and civilian mapping agency within the Department of the Interior, established in Washington, D.C., and subsequently headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Congress created the Survey to classify public lands and investigate the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain, replacing separate western investigations with a permanent scientific organization. Its first director, Clarence King (1842 - 1901), organized geological investigations and recruited experienced scientists and topographers from earlier federal surveys. Under his successor, John Wesley Powell (1834 - 1902), director from 1881 to 1894, topographic mapping expanded from support for individual geological investigations into a nationwide undertaking. Congressional authorization in 1882 to continue preparation of a geological map of the United States extended the Survey's work into the eastern states, while systematic topographic mapping received authorization in 1884. Henry Gannett (1846 - 1914), the Survey's chief geographer, helped establish enduring methods and standards for this work. Its topographic quadrangles represented terrain through contour lines alongside drainage, settlements, roads, and other features, furnishing a common geographic foundation for scientific investigation and practical land use. During the 20th century, the Survey's mapping evolved from field surveying and compilation toward aerial photography, photogrammetry, and digital geographic information systems. A formal program begun in 1947 to map the conterminous United States at 1:24,000 scale culminated in nationwide coverage in 1992, comprising more than 55,000 maps. The Survey also produced geological and thematic maps and assembled national geographic information. In 2009 it introduced US Topo, a digitally generated successor to its traditional topographic quadrangles. Its continuing cartographic work includes The National Map, digital topographic products, and public access to historical quadrangles, alongside broader investigations of water, ecosystems, mineral and energy resources, and natural hazards.   Further Details...

Julius (Julien) Bien (September 27, 1826 - December 21, 1909) was a German-Jewish lithographer and engraver based in New York City. Bien was born in Naumburg, Germany. He was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, Cassell and at Städel's Institute, Frankfurt-am-Main. Following the suppression of the anti-autocratic German Revolutions of 1848, Bien, who participated in the pan-German movement, found himself out of favor in his home country and joined the mass German immigration to the United States. Bien can be found in New York as early as 1849. He established the New York Lithographing, Engraving & Printing Company in New York that focused on the emergent chromo-lithograph process - a method of printing color using lithographic plates. His work drew the attention of the U.S. Government Printing Office which contracted him to produce countless government maps and surveys, including the Pacific Railroad Surveys, the census, numerous coast surveys, and various maps relating to the American Civil War. Bien also issued several atlases both privately and in conjunction with a relation, Joseph Bien. At the height of his career Bien was elected president of the American Lithographers Association. After his death in 1909, Bien's firm was taken over by his son who promptly ran it into insolvency. The firm was sold to Sheldon Franklin, who, as part of the deal, retained the right to publish under the Julius Bien imprint. In addition to his work as a printer, Bien was active in the New York German Jewish community. He was director of the New York Hebrew Technical Institute, the New York Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and president of the B'nai B'rith Order.   Further Details...

Source

Newton, Henry, Topographical And Geological Atlas of The Black Hills of Dakota (New York: Julien Bien) 1879.    

Condition

Very good. Some tears from border, repaired on verso.

References

Wheat, C. I., Mapping of the Transmississippi West, 1540 – 1861, V: 329-31. Rumsey 2083.001 OCLC 56317221.