Map of the State of Nevada to Accompany the Annual Report of the Commr Genl Land Office 1866

Cartographer: Compiled in the U.S. General Land Office, Department of the Interior; approved and signed by Joseph S. Wilson, Commissioner, 2 October 1866

Year: 1866

This first federal survey map of Nevada outlines each county in bright hand-color and overlays the new state with a one-degree township grid. Blue stipples pinpoint scores of documented silver lodes, while scattered yellow and brown icons mark known gold and copper deposits, underscoring the mineral boom that followed the Comstock discovery. Sparse wagon roads link mining camps such as Austin, Belmont, and Virginia City to the Central Pacific grade at the California line. Hachures give a stark sense of the Basin and Range topography, and salmon-tinted blocks show the few areas already subdivided for homestead and railroad grant selection. The sheet provided Congress and land agents with a snapshot of survey progress, mineral resources, and transport routes only two years after Nevada achieved statehood.