[Colorado Mining]: Thayer, H.L.:

$4,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THAYER'S MAP OF THE LEADVILLE MINES. CALIFORNIA MINING DISTRICT, LAKE COUNTY, COLORADO. TOWNSHIP 9, SOUTH RANGES 79 AND 80 WEST. COMPILED FROM THE UNITED STATES SURVEYS AND COUNTY ... A very large and rare early folding cadastral map of the mining claims in Leadville, Colorado. Silver was discovered at Leadville in 1877, kicking off the last great American mining boom. By 1880 it had become one of the most populous cities in Colorado, and this map reflects the frenzy of claims staked by miners flooding in from all corners. Lithographed by the prolific Bien company at a scale of 800 feet to the inch, the map portrays hundreds of claims on total area measuring just over ten acres, each labeled with a name and number. A few plots have been highlighted by hand in red on this copy, and others labeled "iron" in ink. In addition to illustrating the profusion of overlapping claims, the map includes a list of Thayer's other western maps, including the Black Hills, Denver, and Santa Fe. The pastedown of the original cloth folder is dated "Leadville, September, 1880," and contains an endorsement of the map "as the best published for completeness and accuracy," signed in type by a list of eleven surveyors and mining engineers, as well as a notice from the Leadville Circular. A scarce and impressive Leadville mining map, made during the height of its activity as the center of mineral wealth in the nation. Thayer started off producing western maps from Chicago, but quickly moved his office

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.