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Pub Year	Map Maker	Pub Place	Map Title	Map Price (USD)	Picture
1881	Cram, George F.	Chicago	Cram's Rail Road & Township Map of California. Published by Geo. F. Cram. Proprietor of the Western Map Depot. 66, Lake St. Chicago Ills. 1875.	$600	Picture

A color printed stone lithograph

Size: 21.65 inches X 16 inches; Scale: 1 inch = approximately 28 miles.

Map Type: Atlas

This is a very clean superior copy, with vivid color. Slight age darkening on the centerline crease.

George Cram was born in 1841 and served with the Union forces in the Civil War before going into the map publishing business with his uncle in 1867. Two years later, he founded his own company, publishing maps and atlases. Based in Chicago, Cram produced maps and atlas volumes for over 50 years. Cram's Railroad and Township Maps were an important part of the expanding American West.

This highly detailed map is from a highly sought after, rare early edition of Cram's Standard American Railway Atlas, one of the first great large format atlases of the modern era of map publishing. Counties, railroads, railway stations, township surveys, cities, towns, villages, and congressional townships are show. Topographical features are also illustrated such as mountains, rivers, and lakes.

Dated in the cartouche 1881. State and international boundries are shown in green outline, county and districts in red outline, and sea water is washed in blue.

The verso contains a table of California Census by Counties, Cities, & Villages.

This map is rare.

References: Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, Volume 1 Page 311, Cram, George F., Scott, Valerie, Map Collector Publications, Tring, Hertz, England, 1999