Tourist’s Map of California — Published by the Southern Pacific Company, 1888

Cartographer: Prepared by the Map Department of the Southern Pacific Company from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers base compiled under Brig. Gen. George H. Wright, Chief of Engineers

Year: 1888

Issued as a fold-out brochure for vacationers, this tall strip map fills the state with subtle hypsometric colors: green for low valleys, yellow for rolling uplands, and brick red for high Sierra and desert plateaus. A bold black network traces Southern Pacific mainlines and branches then open—from San Francisco Bay to Shasta, the San Joaquin Valley trunk, the Tehachapi loop into Los Angeles, and the newly completed Sunset Route toward Yuma—while lighter dashed lines indicate connecting roads. Tiny locomotive symbols mark division points, and a boxed elevation table at the top lists twenty-one scenic peaks from Mt. Shasta to Castle Peak to entice sight-seers. Coastal steamship lanes and ferry crossings ring the inset of San Francisco Bay printed faintly beneath the title block, underscoring the company’s integrated rail-and-water service. With its compact size, bright tints, and easy-to-follow route diagram, the map functioned both as an advertising piece and a pocket guide for eastern tourists bound for California’s mountains, orchards, and seaside resorts.