Official Map of Sacramento County, California — 1885

Cartographer: Compiled by Fred A. Shepherd, County Surveyor; lithographed by A. L. Bancroft & Co., San Francisco (approved by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, April 9 1885)

Year: 1885

Shepherd’s wall map subdivides the entire county into precise township, range, and one-square-mile section grids, overprinted with colorful outlines for 14 civil districts and the boundaries of older Mexican ranchos such as Del Paso and San Juan. Railroads radiating from Sacramento—the Central Pacific main line, the California & Oregon, and the narrow-gauge Folsom branch—are traced in bold black, while wagon roads, ferries, and levees thread through reclaimed tule basins along the American and Sacramento Rivers. Shaded relief distinguishes the Sierra foothills east of Folsom from the flat delta islands to the south, and tiny tick marks show drainage ditches that turned swamp into farmland. Insets illustrate the new State Capitol, the 1854 Courthouse, and the Insane Asylum at Stockton, underscoring civic pride. A distance table and agricultural statistics flank the title block, making the sheet both a land-title reference and a marketing tool for settlers attracted by orchard and grain acreage. Today the map provides an invaluable snapshot of property lines, transportation corridors, and reclamation works at the close of Sacramento County’s pioneer era.