Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean (G. K. Warren, 1857)
Lieutenant G. K. Warren's master map of the West, compiled in the Office of Pacific Railroad Surveys from every reliable exploration to date: the named country of each nation — Dacotas, Sheyennes, Comanches, Shoshonees, Utahs, Navajoes, Apaches, Blackfeet, Crows, Nez Perces, Pawnees and many more — with villages, forts, and the explorers' and emigrant routes that followed Native trails.
Source
| Map | Map of the Territory of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean |
|---|---|
| Author | Lieut. G. K. Warren, Topographical Engineers, U.S. War Department, 1857 |
| Archive | Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division · 1:3,000,000 |
| Rights | Public domain. A U.S. War Department publication (1857): public domain as a federal work and by age. The Library of Congress scan is free to use and reuse. Evidence |
| Accuracy | About 50 km (RMS 35 km at 65 control points). Territory boundaries on this map are Warren's synthesis of 1850s knowledge and are impressionistic by nature; the interior Great Basin and upper Missouri carry the largest positional error (up to ~70 km). Read the tints as whose country, not surveyed lines. |
| Method | The map is four separately registered sheets; each sheet fitted with its own polynomial (65 control points total: coastal capes, river confluences, forts, towns and boundary corners), samples routed to the sheet whose frame contains them. See the methodology. |
| Version | 1.0.0, updated 2026-09-17 |
| Covers | Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas |
Changelog
- 1.0.0 (2026-09-17): First release: 65 control points across four sheet fits, tinted and scan layers, z4–z9.
Control points
The full list of control points with residuals is in control-points.geojson. Historic names indexed for search: names.geojson.