Antique Map of Colorado 1878 — Colton Map Print, Framed

The story of this map

Colorado joined the Union in 1876, and two years later the Colton firm of New York issued this large sectional map of the brand-new state. “Sectional” means it shows the public land survey: the townships and sections that turned open country into something a homesteader or a mining company could buy and record.

What makes it beautiful is the collision of that tidy grid with the mountains. Across the east the sections march in neat squares over the plains, and then the Rockies rise in dense hachured shading, with spot heights marking the peaks and the rivers threading down out of the parks. The counties are washed in hand colour, Denver sits at the meeting of plains and foothills, and the mining country of the 1870s is drawn in the year the silver boom took off.

It is a map for mountain homes and ski cabins, for Denver lofts and Boulder offices, and for anyone who likes to find their county the way it was when the state was two years old. It is the mountain piece in our Antique Maps of US States collection and pairs well with the 1851 gold-rush map of California.

Printed to order on archival matte paper and framed in the country of delivery.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Antique Map of Colorado, 1878: archive scan compared with the restored print

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration plan: crop scan margins, balance colour cast and levels while keeping the paper tone, remove library stamps and scanner artefacts if present, gentle sharpening. No repainting of original content.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.

Questions

Is this an original antique map?

No. It is a new archival print of a restored high-resolution scan of the 1878 map held by the Library of Congress. We never sell originals.

What is actually printed on this map?

The State of Colorado two years after statehood, at roughly ten miles to the inch: the public land survey sections, counties in hand colour, the Front Range and the Rockies drawn with hachures and spot heights, rivers, towns and the routes into the mountains.

How big is the map on the sheet?

The original sheet is about 74 x 102 cm (29 x 40 in), landscape. Our prints run from 12 x 18 in to 24 x 36 in; at 24 x 36 the township numbers are still readable.

Does it come framed?

Choose it. Every map comes as an archival matte paper print, a stretched canvas, or framed in black, white or natural oak. Framed prints are made and framed in the country of delivery, ready to hang.

Colours vary between screens and paper. The tone you see here is a close match to the archival matte print; framed prints have no glass glare in these previews.

Pairs well with

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print

Antique Map of California, 1851

Tassin · Library of Congress

$129 18×24 in framed · paper from $35

Antique Map of Florida, 1883

G.W. & C.B. Colton · Boston Public Library, Leventhal Map Center

$129 24×18 in framed · paper from $35

The discount is applied automatically at checkout when two or more framed prints are in the cart.

Size	Metric	Best for
16×12 in	41×30 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
18×12 in	46×30 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
20×16 in	51×41 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
24×16 in	61×41 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
24×18 in	61×46 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
30×20 in	76×51 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
30×24 in	76×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
32×24 in	81×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
36×24 in	91×61 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
40×30 in	102×76 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
48×32 in	122×81 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office

Antique Map of Colorado, 1878

Before and after

Restoration notes

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print