This is a very nice, rarer, double page map showing the extent of the railroad network throughout the United States. The first transcontinental railroad had only been completed five years earlier with the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads. This railroad paved the way for western expansion that is illustrated here with several new spur lines already connecting the mining districts in Colorado and the agricultural and cattle regions in Nebraska and Kansas. The next transcontinental routes are shown with the northern route completed to Bismarck, North Dakota, and the southern route reaching Ft. Chadbourne, Texas. The western territories are still relatively undeveloped outside of a few forts and towns along the wagon roads.