Colorado in 1879 - Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Trinidad, Denver

This second impression of Rand, McNally & Company's 1879 map of Colorado comes from the same Business Atlas sheet as the firm's better-known edition, the fourth printing of Rand McNally's first great national atlas, built for a business and shipping audience tracking the country's fast-expanding rail network. Colorado was only three years into statehood when this sheet appeared, its silver strikes drawing capital and settlers west at a striking pace, and the map renders every county in outline color with relief marked by hachures and spot elevations, alongside the state's named railroad lines. This copy is presented with an emphasis on Colorado's southern reach along the Arkansas River corridor. Rand McNally's Business Atlas, first issued in 1876, had by this fourth edition become an essential commercial reference for shippers and merchants tracking the state's rapidly multiplying rail lines.

Pueblo, the state's growing steel and rail junction on the Arkansas River, and Colorado Springs, the young resort town at the base of Pikes Peak, anchor this southern view of the state. Trinidad, further south near the New Mexico border, served the coalfields that were becoming an increasingly important part of Colorado's economy alongside its silver mines. Denver remains visible to the north as the state capital, tying the southern towns back to Colorado's political and commercial center. Railroad lines trace the routes linking these communities to the mining camps of the central Rockies.

A companion copy of this same 1879 Rand McNally edition, also in this collection, is presented instead with Denver and Boulder as its leading northern cities, letting a buyer choose the regional emphasis that best matches their own connection to Colorado. Whether displayed on its own or paired with that companion sheet, this print suits a Pueblo or southern Colorado family, or a collector of Rand McNally's early state atlases. It ships unframed and is available in multiple sizes.