Attractive coloured historically fascinating map of the State of Ohio issued by the General Land Office in 1866, just after the end of the American Civil War.

On this particular map, it is more interesting to note the sections of the State which were not surveyed as opposed to those that were. The State still bears the remains late 18th and early 19th century land speculators, harking back to the time that Ohio was the western frontier of the United States. These parts include the Ohio Land Company Purchase in the southeast and the purchase by Col. John Cleve Symmes in the southwest; his purchase adjoins the land reserved for veterans of the Revolutionary War hailing from Virginia who were given land for payment in lieu of cash. In the northeast is the Connecticut Reserve, centered on Cleveland, also called the Western Reserve.

A small key on the right notes the borders of these grants and also shows a small note detailing the natural resources of the state.

The maps issued by the General Land Office were usually functional documents used for legal and bureaucratic purposes such as allocating land to homesteaders, the sale of property and the settlement of legal disputes. They were also used to indicate the extent of geographical knowledge of the United States and to catalogue the possible mineral resources of unsettled parts of the country.

This particular example is unusual in that it has been coloured and backed on linen. Usually General Land Office maps, due to their status as government documents, were left black and white and were printed on thin, inexpensive paper. The special treatment accorded to this example suggests it may have had some promotional function; possibly as a show piece for a retailer of the maps or as part of the collection of an ambassadorial library abroad which could be used to encourage immigration into the United States.

Original colour. Laid on linen. [USA9897]