John McClintock | Chart of West Coast of North America from Mt. St. Elias to Columbia River, 1889

John Tilton McClintock

Chart of West Coast of North America from Mt. St. Elias to Columbia River. Concord, New Hampshore or Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1889

(4080 x 915mm.), ink and watercolour wash on laid paper, backed with canvas, mounted on rollers, brightly coloured, surface almost entirely intact, slight creasing, minor chipping along rollers

A UNIQUE AND IMPRESSIVE MANUSCRIPT CHART DEPICTING THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA, portraying the northwest coast from the Alaska panhandle to Tillamook County, Oregon. McClintock, a future architect, was already an accomplished draftsman by his late teens; this map shows the complex coastal outline and the many islands and mountains of the region, whilst also naming major geographical features and towns, and outlining county boundaries.

The intent of the map appears to have been to illustrate a round-trip journey from Puget Sound to Glacier Bay, supposedly for the benefit of McClintock's friends or family. The route is shown in red ink, with a few July dates indicated in Alaska. Just east of Queen Charlotte Sound, McClintock outlines New Hampshire, conveying a sense of the region’s massive scale.