Michigan and Wisconsin in 1883 - Detroit, Milwaukee, Madison

This is the New Rail Road and County Map of Michigan & Wisconsin, a map from Cram's Unrivaled Family Atlas of the World, copyrighted 1883 by George Franklin Cram and published in Chicago by A.C. Shewey and Co. It's part of the first edition of what's considered Cram's first "mass production" world atlas, sixty-five maps produced to bring detailed state and county geography to a broad American audience.

The sheet is a colored lithograph at a scale of 1:2,240,000, roughly thirty miles to the inch, with red outlining state borders and green marking county lines, relief shown through hachures. Its stated focus is the railroad network crisscrossing Michigan and Wisconsin, and it labels the Great Lakes bordering both states, including Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Erie. Michigan's Upper Peninsula, its copper mines already decades into production by 1883, sits at the top of the sheet, while Wisconsin's own economy leaned more on lumber and dairy farming than the mineral wealth its eastern neighbor enjoyed. A decorative cartouche in the upper right carries the map's title.

This print suits anyone with Michigan or Wisconsin roots, a family that worked the rail lines or farmland shown here, a transplant who left the Great Lakes region, or a collector working through Cram's 1883 series one map at a time. It also makes a fitting housewarming, birthday, or anniversary gift. Every print ships unframed and comes in multiple sizes.