Cram's rail road & township map of Washington. (1883)

Cram's rail road & township map of Washington. (1883)

Washington (State) -- Maps.<br>Railroads -- Washington (State) -- Maps.

1 map : col. ; 39 x 49 cm. <br>Relief shown by hachures. <br>"Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1880, by G.F. Cram in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington." <br> From: Cram's standard American atlas (p. 195-198). <br>Prime meridian: Greenwich. <br>On verso: Index to Cram's map of Washington territory; and Index to Cram's map of Oregon.<br> George F. Cram, a Union soldier who fought in Sherman's Army during the Civil War, returned home in 1867 to Evanston, Illinois to begin a map and atlas company with his uncle, Rufus Blanchard. By 1875, Cram owned his own publishing company in Chicago and soon rose to success by using a wax engraving process (such as perfected by the Rand McNally Company, his greatest competitor). Invented in 1834 by Richard Cary Morse and Henry A. Munson, the wax engraving process--also known as "cerography"--was not patented until 1848. This allowed for many engravers to perfect their own version of the method. Among them was the Rand McNally Co., which began printing maps in 1872, using a combination of Morse's wax process and electrotyping. <br>Invented in Russia, 1839 by a German named Jacobi, electrotyping took wax engraving one step further by coating the surface with a substance such as graphite (electrically conductive) and then submerging it all into an electrolytic bath and copper coating. When ready, the wax was then removed and the copper plate became the template for printing. While of less quality than lithography, it also cost less. By the 1890s most American publishing houses used this wax process. <br>Cram retired in 1921, selling out to the National Map Company. In 1928, the company returned to the Cram name and it has continued in business to this day.

George F. Cram Company.

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, WSU Libraries

Chicago, Ill. : Geo. F. Cram

1883

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

Contact Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, for copyright information 509 335-6691

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English

Maps

wsu 336<br>G4281.P3 1883 .G46x

United States--Washington (State)