This brochure is about the same size as yesterday’s and is still oriented more to potential settlers than to tourists. However, a hint of future tourism is indicated by the statement that this is the “National Education Association Edition.” The NEA held its 1907 convention in Los Angeles, giving many of its members a chance to learn about and enjoy the delights of California living.
Click image to download a 12.2-MB PDF of this brochure, which was made from scans from the David Rumsey Map Collection.
The brochure is arranged differently from yesterday’s. While yesterday’s said it told of “resources, attractions, topography, [and] climate,” yesterday’s map gave no hint of these things. Today’s is different. A large map shows the topography. A smaller map shows average temperatures. Another small map shows California’s area is greater than that of New York, Ohio, Maine, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined. Information about resources and attractions still depends on text on the back of the map.
The former Carson and California Railroad, now listed as the Nevada and California Railway, is now shown with a direct connection to Southern Pacific’s main east-west line, thus bypassing the Virginia and Truckee. Otherwise the differences in railroad routes on the two maps are small.
A line from Weed to Grass Lake is on the 1907 map along with a projection of line north from Grass Lake to Klamath Falls that would not be completed for another two decades. The future Northwestern Pacific, which is shown as far as Ukiah on the 1901 map, appears to have progressed another 30 miles to a place called Sherwood, which doesn’t appear on modern maps.
There are a few other minor additions, but by 1901 the period of major railroad construction was about over except for the Western Pacific, Milwaukee Road, and a few extensions of the Burlington. None of these would appear on this map, though a predecessor of the Western Pacific, the Sierra Valley & Mohawk, is shown on both the 1901 and 1907 maps. WP bought this railroad and built its line on some of its right-of-way.