An Improved Topographical Map of the Northern & Middle Mines

Cartographer: Compiled and drawn by M. Milleson, Civil Engineer; published by Alex Zakreski, San Francisco, 1857

Year: 1854

This richly shaded sheet focuses on California’s northern and middle Sierra Nevada mining districts at the height of the Gold Rush. Milleson overlays county lines in bright watercolor and traces every major river, ridge, road, and settlement from Siskiyou and Shasta south to Tuolumne. A bold orange line marks his proposed route of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, threading eastward through Fredonyer Pass to link Sacramento Valley placers with the Great Basin. Hachures give the mountains a striking relief, while icons pinpoint hard-rock mines and placer diggings clustered along the American, Yuba, and Feather Rivers. The map doubles as a regional travel guide, detailing stage roads, chartered towns, and ferries critical to moving ore and supplies. By combining fresh survey data with engineering annotations, it offered investors and legislators a persuasive case for a trans-Sierra rail corridor serving the richest goldfields of 1850s California.