Map Map of Russian America or Alaska Territory. Compiled from Russian Charts and surveys by J. F. Lewis.

Title

• Map of Russian America or Alaska Territory. Compiled from Russian Charts and surveys by J. F. Lewis.

Translated Title

• Map of Russian America or Alaska Territory. Compiled from Russian Charts and Surveys by J. F. Lewis.

Summary

• This four-part American map, preserved in the collections of the Russian State Library in Moscow, was produced in 1867 at the time of the Alaska Purchase, when the United States acquired Russia's colonial possessions in North America. The map was mostly compiled from charts and surveys utilized by the Western Union Telegraph Company in its effort to build a telegraph line from North America to Asia across the Bering Strait. Few other Americans had such detailed knowledge of Alaskan geography at that time as the members of this famous endeavor. From 1865-67, the Western Union Telegraph Expedition (or Russian-American Telegraph) worked on a project to lay a telegraph line through Alaska and Siberia that ultimately would link San Francisco to Moscow and there connect to existing lines from Russia to Western Europe. This approach was seen at the time as an alternative to the transatlantic cable from the east coast of North America to Europe, the viability of which had not yet been established. Colonel Charles Bulkley was the chief engineer of the Western Union effort. J.F. Lewis was the chief draughtsman for this map. Place-names on the map are written in English, even though the original sources were often Russian. The four sections of the map show different parts of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands as well as a part of Chukotka on the Russian mainland. The Alaska-Canada border in the second and fourth sections is highlighted prominently in light blue. The fourth section also contains five insets at the bottom, for the Alaskan settlements at Captain Harbor (Unalaska Island), Coal Harbor (Unga Island), Saint Paul Harbor (Kodiak Island), Port Mulgrave (Yakutat Bay), and Sitka Harbor (Novo-Arkhangelsk). The scale for the insets is in nautical miles (one nautical mile = 1.85 kilometers); soundings are given in fathoms. Relief throughout is shown by hachures and shading. World Digital Library.

Names

• Western Union Telegraph Company , contributor.
• Bulkley, Charles S. , associated name.
• Lewis, J. F. , draftsman.

Created / Published

• San Francisco : Britton and Rey, 1867.

Headings

• -  Russia -- Colonies
• -  Western Union Telegraph Expedition (1865-1867)
• -  United States of America
• -  Alaska

Notes

• -  Setka geograficheskikh koordinat. Dolgota ot Grinvicha.
• -  Rel'ef shtrikhovkoĭ. Naneseny gosudarstvennye granit︠s︡y. Pokazany forty, bol'shie i malye naselennye punkty.
• -  Original map at: Russian State Library
• -  Сетка географических координат. Долгота от Гринвича.
• -  Рельеф штриховкой. Нанесены государственные границы. Показаны форты, большие и малые населенные пункты.

Medium

• 1 map on 4 pages : hand painted ; 67 x 92 cm

Source Collection

• Maps from the Russian State Library

Digital Id

• https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/mtfxmp.smf0018a
• https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.wdl/wdl.21644

Library of Congress Control Number

• 2018694076

Online Format

• image

LCCN Permalink

• https://lccn.loc.gov/2018694076

Additional Metadata Formats

• MARCXML Record
• MODS Record
• Dublin Core Record

IIIF Presentation Manifest

• Manifest (JSON/LD)