Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean
This is a government survey report from 1855, issued by the United States War Department and printed in Washington, D.C., to document possible railroad routes from the Mississippi to the Pacific for policymakers and engineers. Its plates are lithographed natural history drawings of mammal skulls, jaws, and feet, presented as scientific specimens in grey tone with clean outlines. A designer might take their orderly grid arrangement and precise line-shaded anatomical detail as a model for technical specimen layouts.
