Fremont, John C.; Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842 and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-1844. Washington, SED, 174, 1845. Quarto, pp. 694, 22 plates, 5 maps including the folding 1845 “Map of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842 and to Oregon and California in the years 1843-4" by Charles Preuss. and Stockton, John; Report of the Secretary of War communicating a Report of John Stockton, Superintendent of the Mineral Lands on Lake Superior. Washington, Senate Ex. Doc., No. 175. 1845. pp. 22, folded map (21 inches by 11 inches) titled: Map of the Mineral Lands upon Lake Superior ceded to the United States Government by the Treaty of 1842 with the Chippeway Indians”.

The two works are complete and bound as a set in a modern full calf with gilt titles. The binding is tight and very clean. The text is clean and bright, plates and maps are clean and bright. The large folded Fremont/Preuss map is rolled and in a separate archival case with map re-backed with archival tissue with minor wear at folds. The Stockton map is bright and very clean with short tear at spine gutter. A very good set of two important works on the exploration of the American west and Michigan’s mineral regions.
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Fremont (1813-1890); an American military officer with the Topographical Engineers, was a mapmaker and explorer. His expeditions to the American West resulted in some of the original observations of its geology and paleontology and more importantly some of the most important maps in the history the cartography of the western United States. His maps changed our perception of the west. This is the first edition, Senate issue, of "one of the most important accounts in the history of the exploration of the Rockies," illustrated with 22 lithographic plates and five maps, including the monumental large folding 1845 map of the unexplored wilderness which lies between the Missouri and the shores of the Pacific by Charles Preuss. The large map is titled "Map of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842 and to Oregon and California in the years 1843-4". The work is a cornerstone of early western exploration, documenting Fremont's two great expeditions. The first, of 1842, explored the country between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, following the Kansas and Great Platte Rivers; the second, of 1843-44, to Oregon and Northern California, traveling from the Great Salt Lake to Vancouver, then south to San Francisco, and finally east over the California desert. Fremont confined his descriptions to the features which were actually seen and described what was needed to give the observer a true picture of the character of the country. The noted topography Charles Preuss whose skill in mapmaking and sketching topography in the field and then representing it on a map was unsurpassed and he is responsible for the maps amazing detail. Thus this map is referred to as the Fremont/Preuss map. The report was one of the most studied works prior to the gold rush, and the text and maps had a powerful effect on the routes chosen by emigrants to the west.
Stockton. Douglas Houghton had explored the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1840 and reported the presence of large deposits of copper. Houghton had known of vast iron ore deposits but had not reported on them prior to his death in 1845. Houghton’s work and appeals to Congress were used to promote Federal support for further geological studies and also the process of annexation and sale of the Chippewa lands. David Dale Owen made a survey of 11,000 square miles in a little more than 2 months and this led the Commissioner of the General Land Office to propose that "an officer skilled in the sciences of geology and mineralogy" be appointed to explore all the public lands and thus enable the Commissioner to discriminate between agricultural and mineral lands before putting them on the market. The Federal Government for the first time called on a geologist to classify public lands as Congress made plans to authorize the sale of the mineral lands in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Congress authorized the sale of mineral lands in the Lake Superior Land District in Michigan and the Chippewa Land District in the Territory of Wisconsin, it specified that geological examinations be made prior to the sale. General John Stockton was order by the Secretary of War W. L. Marcy to complete the survey and submit his map and reports by J. B. Cambell, G. N. Sanders and Asa B. Gray. The group started in Copper Harbor and mapped the various mineral veins and deposits. Gray finishes his report in declaring that “this is one of the most Valuable mineral regions in the world for the production of silver, copper, and other metals”.  He notes that the map accompanying the report will show the extent of the mineral lands and should be used as a base map for a map which will show future leases. The report is quite rare as is the map which measures 21 inches by 11 inches and was to be used for future studies.