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Exploration and Survey of the Valley of Great Salt Lake of Utah, Stansbury [134405]

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
Exploration and Survey of the Valley of Great Salt Lake of Utah, Stansbury [134405]
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"Including a Reconnaissance of a New Route Through the Rocky Mountains." First edition, rebound. Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852. 485pp. with appendices and index and numerous spectacular illustrations, some fold-out. A nice copy in good condition of this rare work. Howard Stansbury was a member of the newly formed US Corps of Topographical Engineers. He was involved in a survey of the Great Lakes in 1841, and supervised the construction of fortifications in the Dry Tortugas during the Mexican-American War. In 1849, the US Senate commissioned a research expedition to travel from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in the Utah Territory. Stansbury, then a captain with the Corps, was appointed to muster the personnel and equipment to carry out the expedition, which he completed in 1851. He assembled a team of scientific experts from various disciplines to assist him with the various disciplines they would study on the journey. This book (and a map volume not included) are the final report of that effort, and it is a masterful compendium of not only the topography, but it also includes ethnographic studies of the Native Americans they encountered along the route, along with sections describing the botany, zoology, geology and paleontology, and chemical analyses of specimens collected along the way. His writing is highly descriptive, giving a sense of traveling with the team and experiencing each new landscape as they encountered it. He writes with empathy about the native peoples and the various groups of emigrants that were also making their way west. His arrival and interactions with the Mormons in Great Salt Lake Valley earned him their respect and admiration. His writing on their community sought to dispel the misinformation and subsequent religious prejudice the rest of the country held for the Latter Day Saints. The discussion of the interactions of various Indian tribes as well as emigrants to the California gold rush are very noteworthy, as are the discussions of the trial and tribulations along the way, especially having to deal with cholera, which was killing emigrants and creating fear in all. The single-page and fold-out illustrations in the main volume are nothing short of exquisite, rendering landscapes, plants, animals, and fossils with near photographic precision.

Date: 1852
Country (if not USA):
State: Utah
City:
Provenance: