A presentation based on this paper was given at the Western History Association Conference in Los Angeles, CA on October 26, 2023.

ABSTRACT: Charged by a hopelessly deadlocked Congress to “determine the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific,” the Army Corps of topographical Engineers fanned out across the trans-Mississippi West between 1853 and 1855 in the largest peacetime expeditionary force the United States had mounted prior to the Civil War. Unable to answer an essentially political question of where to route the railroad, the Pacific Railroad Survey expeditions, nevertheless played a crucial role in nineteenth  Century expansion and settlement. The young Army cartographer, 2nd Lieut. G. K. Warren, is rightly recognized for compiling the first accurate comprehensive map of the trans-Mississippi West, not only depicting the vast territory’s complicated physical geography but its complex human landscape. Warren’s observations from three expeditions he took deep into Nebraska Territory between 1855 and 1857 informed his knowledge of the topography and the indigenous people living there. His private journals, official reports,  cartographic work and interactions revealed both empathy toward the Native Americans as well as a cold-eyed analysis of how best to move them out of the way. Warren’s often contradictory and ambivalent stance, typical of the time, transformed his legacy from merely compiling the foundational of the trans-Mississippi West to creating a blueprint for expansion.

 

Read the full paper here: G. K. Warren and the Map that Changed America