Map of the Country 40 Miles Around San Francisco, Exhibiting the County Lines and Correct Plats of All the Ranchos Finally Surveyed and of the Public Land Sectionized

Cartographer: Leander Ransom, General Land Agent — compiled from United States surveys; lithographed by Louis Nagel, San Francisco, 1860

Year: 1860

Hand-colored to distinguish jurisdictional boundaries, this 1860 sheet shows every confirmed Mexican rancho, shaded township grid, and county line within roughly a forty-mile radius of San Francisco Bay. Pink and yellow blocks outline patented ranchos such as San Pablo, Las Pulgas, and Rancho San Antonio, while the green tint marks federal public lands already subdivided into six-mile townships and one-mile sections. Bold red lines trace county limits then in force, and a fine network of wagon roads, ferries, early rail projects, and stage routes knits together the emerging towns of Oakland, San José, Stockton, and Napa. Hachures render the Coast Range and Diablo Range relief, and tidelands around the Bay appear in pale wash to underscore their reclamation potential. A boxed legend lists more than 130 ranchos by name and acreage, providing a quick index for land speculators and litigators. The map offered lawyers, surveyors, and settlers a definitive snapshot of land titles and survey progress at the height of California’s post-Gold-Rush boom.