W.H. PUMPHREY'S MAP OF WESTERN WASHINGTON

[Seattle: W.H. Pumphrey & Co., 1892].. Handcolored lithographic two-sheet folding map, matted to 30½ x 50½ inches. Original folds. Small abrasion to copyright notice at bottom left, obscuring the date. Very good. Attractively matted and framed, with the original cloth binding in a pocket on the back of the frame. An impressive and uncommon map of northwest Washington state and southwestern British Columbia, and the largest obtainable map of this period for the Pacific Northwest. The map was drawn by F.M. Dehly, a draftsman for the Seattle civil engineering firm of Thomson & White, credited in the title as compiling the map from "Official Records and Personal Reconnaissance." The area of the map extends from Bowen Island (across the Gulf of Georgia from Vancouver Island) in the north, south to Tilamook County in far-north Oregon, with the Columbia River as the effective southern boundary line. The map is bounded in the east by a north-south line running just east of Glacier Peak in Snohomish County and on the west by western Vancouver Island and the Pacific Ocean.

The map is a cornucopia of detail for the development of Washington state in the last decade of the 19th century, depicting county boundaries, elevations, cities and townships, various plat grids, rivers, gulfs, bays, harbors, canals, shipping lanes, islands, mountains, railroad lines, Native American reservations, and the international boundary line between the United States and Canada. Notable landmarks include the cities of Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia, along with Mount Rainier, Vancouver Island, the Columbia River, and the Quinaiult Indian Reservation.

One of the owners of the firm who produced the map, Reginald Heber Thomson, was among the most important early surveyors and engineers in Washington state, specifically Seattle. After coming to Washington in search of coal and working on regional railroads, Thomson served as Seattle city engineer for two decades, and actually developed some of the features seen on the present map. These include the railroad line that runs through Snoqualmie Pass and the Lake Washington Ship Canal. His deep involvement with Washington extended to his service with the Seattle Port Authority, the University of Washington's board of managers, the Seattle City Council, and the water authorities in Bellingham and Wenatchee (where he helped plan the water supply).

The publisher of the map, William Henry Pumphrey, was a leading pioneer, bookseller, stationery shop owner, and one-time railroad man of Seattle. As early as 1885, Pumphrey was a private in the Seattle Home Guards, an early form of police in the city. After he sold out a partnership in a stationery shop venture in 1882, Pumphrey opened his own book and stationery store. He later served as a trustee for the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington. Though published by Pumphrey, the map was printed in Philadelphia by E.P. Noll & Company.

A large and detailed map of the Pacific Northwest during a time of tremendous growth in the region. Not in Rumsey, and with only ten total copies in OCLC, over three records. OCLC 15728148, 84008979, 79160462.