Gorgeous 1863 map of Mariposa Estate — indicates Frémont’s estate!
Las Mariposas Estate, Mariposas County, California
Out of stock
Description
This is a detailed map of a proposed mining operation in Mariposa County, California. It shows topography, towns, mines, and even John C. Frémont’s residence.
The map was originally published in The Mariposa Company, 34 Wall Street, New York. James Hoy, President… Organized 25th June, 1863, an elaborate prospectus for the mining property known as the Mariposa Estate. The Mariposas scheme was the brainchild of Frémont, who saw it as the making of his fortune, but who was ultimately bankrupted by it. In January 1863, Frémont, then a Major-General in the Union Army, sold Rancho Las Mariposas with its mines and infrastructure to Morris Ketchum, a New York City banker, who formed a public corporation, the Mariposa Company, and sold stock. In 1863, Frederick Law Olmsted, noted New York landscape architect, came to Mariposa as superintendent for the Mariposa Company. Olmsted was not a mining expert. Investments were made in stamp mills, tunnels, shafts, and the other infrastructure related to the mining towns. By 1865, the Mariposa Company was bankrupt, Olmsted returned to New York, and mines were sold at a sheriff’s sale.
Cartographer(s):
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, politician, and soldier who, in 1856, became the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, when he led five expeditions into the American West, that era’s penny press and admiring historians accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder.
During the Mexican–American War, Frémont, a major in the U.S. Army, took control of California from the California Republic in 1846.
Wm. C. Bryant & Co.Condition Description
Folding map with some wear along folds. Bright and clean.
References
Cowan, p 414; Peters, California on Stone, p 187. Rocq, 5117.
