Map of the railroads and canals, finished, unfinished, and in contemplation, in the United States

Image file

United States railroads and canals map

Caption

Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Catalog notes

This map captures American transportation while canals and railways were still competing visions of the future. Completed routes share the sheet with unfinished and proposed works, making it a map of ambition as well as infrastructure. Fourteen route profiles add a surveyor’s perspective: hills and grades mattered just as much as lines on a plan. It invites readers to distinguish what existed from what investors and engineers hoped to build.

Original catalog record, source and attribution