Map of the Ceded Part of Dakota Territory
Cartographer:
Smith, Byron M. & Hill, Alfred James
Date of Creation:
1861
“Issued in the hope that it may be found a valuable traveling companion for immigrants, U. S. Deputy Surveyor, military officers and others” (‘Prospectus’).
One of the earliest maps of Dakota Territory, showing military reservations and outposts, Native American reservations and treaty boundary lines, existing trails and wagon roads, the exploration routes of Nicollet, Warren and others are shown by dashed lines, the “proposed road to the South Pass”, railroads, cities, existing and proposed towns. The inset map of Dakota Territory, showing it bounded on the west by Washington Territory, “must be one of the earliest of the Dakota Territory, which was organized only in 1861” (Streeter, 1968).
The inset ‘Outline Map of Dakota Territory’ is the first printed map of the Territory: encompassing all of present-day North and South Dakota as well as much of Montana, Wyoming and a small proportion of Nebraska.