David Spilman Fine Books

Three Litho Prints from the Colorado Exploring Expedition 1857-58; Report upon the Colorado River of the West, Explored in 1857 and 1858 by Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, Corp. of Topographical Engineers [36th Congress, 1st Session, Senate, Ex. Doc. unnumbrered]

Mollhausen, Balduin (J. Young Illustrator)

Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1861. Near Fine. First Edition. [8.5x11in], Three illustrated plates, one hand colored, from the report [see below for descriptions]. Minimal age-toning and a few small spots in margins. Item #14429

These plates are from the 1861 Report of Lt. Ives on his survey of the Colorado River. The plates are: Frontispiece of Chimney Peak (with the steam boat built for the expedition); Plate IV Dead Mountain, Mohave Valley; Plate IV Indian Portraits of Mohaves. All of the plates are by Mollhausen and assisted by J. J. Young.

Heinrich Balduin Mollhausen )1825-1905) was a German writer, traveler and artist. He participated in three western expeditions. He served at the artist and naturalist with the Wipple Pacific Railroad Survey expedition and with Ives in 1857 on the Colorado expedition. Mollhausen's sketches were some of the first published views of the Grand Canyon.

Joseph Christmas Ives (1829-1868) was a U.S. Army Officer in the Corp. of Topographical Engineers. In 1853-54 he assisted Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple in the Pacific Railroad survey along the 35th parallel.
From 1857 to 1858, Ives commanded an expedition to explore up the Colorado River from its mouth. He designed, built and tested his own stern-wheel steamboat, then shipped it to the Colorado River Delta. At Robinson's Landing, he reassembled then used the 54-foot steamboat Explorer to map and survey the river. His party included Smithsonian associate John Strong Newberry as geologist and German artist Balduin Mollhausen. He led his party up the Colorado to a point just above the head of Black Canyon of the Colorado and beyond to the vicinity of Fortification Rock. Next day, they went two miles farther to Las Vegas Wash, which Ives thought might be the Virgin River, but had doubts because it seemed too small.[2]: Part 1, 85–87 The difficulties of the rapids above Fortification Rock convinced Ives that the river at Fortification Rock was the practical head of navigation 550 miles above the mouth of the river:.

Price: $60.00