The West Coast 1849

While the easter coast of the United States was well-formed in the 19th-century, the territories west of the Mississippi River were yet to be formed into their current state. It wasn't till the close of the 19th-century that the central and western USA was fully formed with a total of 45 United States. Several reshuffling, redrawing, rearranging of borders took place and various temporary names appeared on these maps, some of which stayed till today, others disappeared or were renamed with time. Throwing light on the changing map of the central and western USA during the 19th-century, this post shall discuss those fascinating maps. 

As it is well-known that the states of California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming were ceded from the greater Mexican Republic in the late 1840s. At this time, Texas swindled between the Mexican and a temporarily sovereign state; the Republic of Texas that existed between 1836 to 1846. A political world map titled 'A New and Authentic Map of the World' dating 1831, by Henry Schenck Tanner (1786-1858) lists down the following, territories of the western and central United States: 

1. Oregon 
2. Upper California
3. Sonora & Sinaloa (extending to Mexico)
4. Santa Fe 
5. Coahuila & Texas
6. Ozark 
7. Osage 
8. Mandan 
9. Sioux 

On this map, one could see the Oregon territory stretched from the Queen Charlotte island of British Columbia, Canada to the boundary that the Winchuk River makes between today's Oregon and California states. The Native American tribes of Nanscud Indians, Nagiler Indians, Atnah Indians, Snake Indians and Callapoowah are shown. The territory of Upper California was the entire stretch to the west of the Colorado River to the west coast. The territory of Sonora and Sinaloa started from the Santa Rosa range of today's Nevada, going south to the city limits of Acaponeta, Mexico. Below the Arkansas River, the territory till San Diego, Texas was marked as the territory of Santa Fe. The territory between the Arkansas River and the Red River, inhabiting the Cherokees and the Choctaws is marked with the name Ozark. Going upwards, the territory between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers is labelled as Osage. Further north, the region to the west of the Missouri River to the 49th Parallel border between US-Canada is marked as Mandan, a Native American tribe. And lastly, the territory below the Red River all the way to the outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico, was the region of Coahuila & Texas.

A more organised and well-defined map of the United States was sketched in 1849 by Samuel Augustus Mitchell. As per the boundary defined in 1819, the entire belt below it to the Gila River with the Bear River and Wasatch ranges of the Rocky Mountains in the east, was defined as the larger territory of Upper California or New California. Today, the boundaries of New Mexico and Arizona states extend further down from the Gila River and a good portion of the Sonoran Desert lies within the Nevadan territory. An enclave of gold deposits along the Sacaramento River is also mentioned on the map. 

The Oregon Territory marks the northernmost end of the United States on this map with the Rocky Mountains marking its easternmost boundary. Several Native American tribes such as the Clalams (Klallam), the Chickeeles, the Chinnooks, the Cowlitz, the Wallawallas, the Waillaptus or Cayuses, the Shastes, the Umpquas, the Shoshones or Snakes, the Punashli or Boonacks etc. 

Talking about major establishments and settlements, the Californian coast had few harbours and ports on the lower region such as Point Barra de Arena (Point Arena), San Francisco, Santa Clara, Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Buenaventura (Ventura), Pueblo de los Angelos (Los Angeles), San Fernando, San Juan, San Luis Rey and San Diego. A thinner strip of territory along the Rio Grade del Norte (Rio Grande) river is marked as New Mexico. The eastern frontiers of the Oregon Territory is divided into the Indian Territory (a precursor to Oklahoma state and others) and the Missouri Territory. 

The gold region is marked around the two large lakes of Nevada - Lake Tahoe and Lake Pyramid. The former is marked as Mountain Lake and the gold region is spread along the Sacaramento River and its tributaries such as Mill Creek, Deer Creek, Chico Creek, Butte Creek, Yubah Creek, Feather River, American Fork etc. The Rio San Joaquin marks the westernmost boundary of the gold region with Sutters Fort or New Helvetia as a key settlement in the region. 

Below here is a recreation of a section of the map described above; A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoning, originally sketched by Samuel Augustus Mitchell, dating 1849. The gold region is marked with the letter 'G'.