Report Upon the Colorado River of the West, Explored in 1857-1858

Washington, D. C: Superintendent of Documents, 1861. 5 parts in one volume.. 2 large folding lithographic maps (clean/no tears), 8 fine folding lithographic views, 8 chromolithographic (beautiful color) plates showing dress of various Indian tribes along river and 16 lithographic plates of views (and fossils) from sketches by Baldwin Mollhausen (all clean and in excellent condition). Original decorated black cloth gilt with spine cloth missing. Overall tight and clean. Minimal foxing. Frst edition, This is the Senate and preferred issue. Probably best known as the engineer and architect of the Washington Monument (1859-1860), in 1857 Ives was "promoted to first lieutenant and was named to lead an expedition up the Colorado River in order to develop potential routes of supply in the event of a war between the national government and the Mormon settlements in Deseret (Utah). Ives's expedition included John Strong Newberry as naturalist, the Prussian Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen as artist and unofficial diarist, and F. W. Egloffstein as topographer. Ives purchased a steamboat in Philadelphia. The vessel was taken apart and shipped via the Isthmus of Panama to California and thence to the mouth of the Colorado River, where Ives and the members of his expedition rendezvoused late in 1857. Ives and his men reassembled the steamboat and christened it the Explorer. They launched the ship on 31 December 1857 and set out on their journey of reconnaissance. Overall with exception of spine covering missing an exceptional copy. Clean. 1st Edition. Decorative Cloth. Very Good+/No Jacket - Issued. Illus. by Möllhausen, Heinrich Baldwin. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.