Within a few years, however, much of the subdivision was acquired by George D. Temple and Gibson purchased the northern extremity of Rancho San Pedro in 1865 just as a devastating drought and economic depression was ending.Ĭenterville was an obvious name (as was another moniker, Gibsonville) because it was, indeed, just about halfway from Los Angeles to the sea. Temple, son-in-law of the Homestead’s owners, William and Nicolasa Workman, and his partner, El Monte resident Fielding W. This was actually the first name, Centerville, for a subdivision carried out by F.P.F. In the middle, however, is what’s labeled as “Centre V.” For example, there is the straight line, denoting both an old road and the brand new Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad (opened in late 1869, probably not yet known to the map makers) from Los Angeles south to Wilmington and San Pedro, where the rudimentary harbors were located. Similarly, San Diego County was much larger, because Riverside County was not created until 1893.Īs for place names in Los Angeles County, there is a mix of the easily recognizable and the totally unfamiliar. In fact, Kern County was only six years old when this map was made and portions of northern Los Angeles County were absorbed by Kern. Note that Orange County did not exist yet, it being carved out of the southeastern section of Los Angeles County nearly two decades later, in 1889.
This led to an 1872 vote, in which Los Angeles County voters approved a plan to yield its existing Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad and cough up well over a half million dollars to the SP.ĭetailed images shown here focus on greater Los Angeles with the County of Los Angeles shown in blue, contrasting with the adjacent counties of Ventura, Kern, San Bernardino and San Diego. Yet, despite the impressive political and economic power of the Southern Pacific, legislation by Congress forced the SP to run its line to Los Angeles and then east, where it was rerouted to go through Yuma. One of the railroad lines shown north of Los Angeles County was the projected line of the Southern Pacific intended to run southeast from Bakersfield through Tehachapi Pass and through the Mojave Desert and past where modern Barstow is to the Arizona territory line. The clarity of place names, natural features (mountains, rivers, lakes), railroad lines and roads, are also quite notable. All of these traits are definitely present in this fine specimen.įor example, note the extremely bright red lines that mark the land-based borders of California as well as the several colors denoting the various counties in the state. Among the reasons these maps were so popular and remain so with collectors is because the steel engraving process yielded rich, vibrant color, an unparalleled degree of clarity, and a significant level of detail about the places depicted. Today’s post in the “All Over the Map” series highlights an 1870 edition of a “County Map of the State of California” published by Mitchell. Augustus Mitchell, Jr., who followed his father into the business of producing colorful, clear, detailed maps from about 1830 to the early 1890s. The images here are from an 1870 edition in the Homestead’s collection of “County Map of the State of California,” issued as part of an atlas published by S. At its peak, the company had 250 employees and sold 400,000 publications each year. The senior Mitchell died in 1868, but his son continued on, issuing several series of atlases until 1893. That publication was replaced in 1860, as the business was turned over to Mitchell, Jr., by Mitchell’s New General Atlas.
Maps and travel guides were the forte of the firm until the mid-1840s, when Mitchell secured the rights to an existing atlas, issuing The New Universal Atlas until the end of the 1850s. Young, who was a draftsman and engraver and who compiled the original maps, Mitchell was an innovator in using steel plates for engraving at least fifteen years before others. So, he turned to writing and publishing and established his headquarters in Philadelphia and issued his first atlas in 1831 from pre-existing plates. The elder Mitchell (1792-1868), a native of Connecticut, worked as a teacher, but found the quality of textbooks to be poor.
and Jr., whose work spanned much of the century.
Map nerds interested in depictions of the various states of the Union during the 19th century particularly geek out over the work of the father and son combo of S.