Report Intended to Illustrate a Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River.

Senate issue, 1 of 300. Bound in modern green cloth. Gilt titling on spine. Foxing throughout. Light crease in center of text. Contains": "Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River From Astronomical and Barometrical Observations Surveys and Information." Large fold out map, 92 x 76 cm. Map in poor condition, chipped and torn along many folds in several pieces. Scale 1:1,200,000. This map was the first detailed modern depiction of the Great Lakes region and the primary source for the area at that time. Goetzmann states that Nicollet's "Map of the Hydrographic Basin of the Upper Mississippi River" was "based on some 90,000 instrument readings and 326 distinctly determined astronomical points. With its overall regional concept of a 'hydrographic basin,' Nicollet's map and the accompanying report were years ahead of their time. Had he lived one more decade, Nicollet would undoubtedly have become the official government cartographer of the whole trans-Mississippi West". Significantly, text contains the first description of early St. Louis. Explorers Club blind stamp on title. Provenance: Explorers Club (NYC) book plate. Signed on book plate by James B. Ford. Ford was the President of the Club, the Club's library is named after him. References abound: Goetzmann, Exploration and Empire, 1993, p.313; Howes N-152; Sabin 55257; Streeter III:1808; Wagner-Camp-Becker 98; Schwartz and Ehrenberg, pages 267-8, plate 165; Graff 3022; Wheat, Transmississippi West II, p. 180. …