1953 Utah Bank Note Co. Pictorial Map of California, Colorado, Utah, Nevada

This is a c. 1953 Utah Bank Note Company map of California, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah promoting the western portions of Highway 6 and Highway 50. Pictorial vignettes highlight sites along the highways, including Death Valley, Arches National Monument, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Royal Gorge. Other vignettes reinforce stereotypical ideas of the American West, including cattle, cowboys and rodeos, striking it rich while mining, and gambling. Black lines trace the routes of the two highways from Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, to San Francisco and Long Beach, California. Large black dots mark cities and towns that can act as waypoints during a vacationer's trip through the region. Photographs of incredible scenery, tourist sites, and the region's successful mining industry appear above and below the central map.

U.S. Route 6

U.S. Route 6 is a U.S. highway that currently connects Provincetown, Massachusetts with Bishop, California. Also known as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway in honor of the American Civil War veterans association, U.S. 6 was the longest highway in the country from 1936 until 1964, when it ended at Long Beach, California. California renumbered its highways in 1964, which changed U.S. 6's route, and caused it to become shorter than U.S. 20, demoting U.S. 6 to the second longest highway in the country. According to American historian George R. Stewart, 'Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere, scarcely to be followed from one end to the other, except by some devoted eccentric.'

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by the Utah Bank Note Company c. 1953. This piece is not cataloged in OCLC and we have found a single reference to a cataloged example, which appears to be part of the collection at the Lebanon-Leclade County Library in Lebanon, Missouri.