Exceptional Chromolithographic Promotional Maps

Rare promotional maps of California the Columbia River Basin one verso, promoting the shipping business of pioneer California Businessman William Tell Coleman.

The California map locates several domestic industries, including Borax, Salmon, Orange, Fruit & Raisin, and Wine & Brandy Districts. On the verso, the map shows a list of 24 Canneries operating on the Columbia River near Astoria, with about another 10 also located on the map.

Each side is embellished with a striking graphic, Yosemite on the California side, and Mount Hood on the Columbia River side.

William Tell Coleman

William Tell Coleman (1824–1893) was an American pioneer in California.

Coleman came to California in 1849 and settled in San Francisco, where he engaged in the shipping and commission business. Coleman was a leading figure in both the 1851 and 1856 Committees of Vigilance, which usurped civic power to drive out the Democratic Party machine and ostensibly establish law and order. Under Coleman, these committees ignored habeas corpus, conducted secret trials, lynchings, deportations, and raised a militia. The 1856 Committee of Vigilance disbanded, but after transferring power to the new People's Party, which soon merged with the Republican Party and controlled San Francisco until 1867

After opening a New York City branch, Coleman established a steamship line between that city and San Francisco in 1856. In 1857 he moved to New York and conducted his business from that city until 1864.

After a protest in sympathy with the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 turned into an anti-Asian riot, Coleman again mobilized troops to quell the unrest. Coleman formed the Committee of Safety as a supplementary force to the city police. Coleman's concern was less for the local Chinese community's well-being than the fear that a working-class party would take power in San Francisco.

During the 1880s, Coleman was the owner of the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley, operating famous twenty-mule teams to carry the product from 1883 to 1889. The borax works in Death Valley were subsequently acquired by Francis Marion Smith to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The mineral Colemanite was named in his honor.

Rarity

While Coleman's Clipper Ship promotional maps occasionally appear on the market, it is extremely rare.

OCLC locates a single example at Yale.