210. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY. Guide to the Union Pacific Railroad Lands 12,000,000 Acres 3,000,000 Acres in Central and Eastern Nebraska Now for Sale . Omaha, Nebraska: Published by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, European Offices of the Company, 22, Moorgate Street, London, E.C. W. C. Thompson, General Agent for Europe. Union Pacific Railroad Company, J. W. Middleton, Printer, Chicago [wrapper title and imprint].  N.p., n.d. [1875 or after]. 24 pp. (without title page, as issued), 2 folded lithograph maps:  (1) Karte der Mittelstaaten. [upper center] Map of the Union Pacific Railroad, Its Connections and Land Grant. Strobridge & Co., Lith. Cincinnati [lower center]; neat line to neat line: 18.1 x 45.3 cm; (2) Map of the Land Grant of the Union Pacific Railroad in Nebraska 4,250,000 Acres [upper center] Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1873 by G. W. & C. B. Colton & Co. in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. [lower left above neat line] Prepared by G. W. & C. B. Colton & Co. 172 William Street New York . [center below neat line]; neat line to neat line: 19.3 x 64.2 cm, land grants tinted in pink. 8vo, original maize pictorial wrappers, upper wrapper with illustration of train; lower wrapper with map: Map of the Union Pacific Railroad and Its Connections [cartouche at lower center] Fisk, Russell, N.Y. [lower center above neat line in image area]; neat line to neat line: 10.9 x 19 cm. Removed from bound volume (with old stab holes not affecting image or text; lacking spine).  Several small early rubber ink stamps of Trinity College Library in Cambridge .  A very good, fresh copy, the map exceptionally fine.

     Later edition of a work apparently first issued in 1870 and frequently republished; for several editions printed in Omaha, see AII (Nebraska) 192, 193, 194, 239, 240, 283, 300, 330, 388, 445.  All editions are rare.  This edition is unusual in that it is aimed at the British and European markets, unlike most of the others, which targeted potential emigrants already in the U.S.  For instance, prices have been converted to English pounds.  Cf. Adams, Herd 2351 (listing an 1872 edition with 48 pp. and noting an 1873 edition without specifics). Cf. Graff 4238 (listing an edition of 1872 with 48 pp. with two maps, one of which is the same as the larger map here).

     This pamphlet promotes settlement on three million acres of Union Pacific lands, dividing the available lands along the line into three classes: agricultural lands (the first 350 miles west of the Missouri River), grazing lands (from the forks of the Platte through the Laramie Plains in Wyoming), and mineral lands (between the Black Hills and the Wasatch Mountains). The text notes, “No section of the United States furnishes facilities for grazing and stock raising, superior to Nebraska and the lands on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad.  The rich bottom lands of the valleys of the Platte, Elkhorn, Loup Fork, Papillion, Maple, Shell, Logan and Pebble Creeks, Wood River, Wahoo and Big Blue, are included within these limits, and present extensive tracts of the finest meadow land in America”; “Nebraska is destined to become one of the finest stock countries in the world.” On the topic of “Fencing” the editors comment: “Efficient herd laws have been enacted, rendering fencing unnecessary. The herd law of Nebraska provides that each farmer who shall turn out his stock to grass, shall have a herdsman.”  As always with such productions, the area is made to seem a recreated Eden : “Equal facilities for obtaining pleasant homes, and acquiring competence and independence, have never before been presented to the immigrant and settler.” ($300-600)

Auction 19 Short Title List | Auction 19 Prices Realized