The Oregon Central Military Wagon Road was built by a private corporation, the Oregon Central Military Road Company (Eugene, Oregon) through federal land grants to the State of Oregon for the purpose of constructing a military wagon road from Eugene, Oregon, to Boise, Idaho. Initial surveying and construction began in 1864, however, most of the surveying for the road was conducted in the summer of 1865.
The Oregon Central Military Road Map depicts a portion of the Oregon Central Military Road as surveyed in July-September 1865. The hand-drawn manuscript map depicts the daily progress of the survey party, which was accompanied by a U.S. Army cavalry escort. Major geographic and natural features along the route are shown on the map, including the Middle Fork of the Willamette, Deschutes, and Williamson Rivers; Klamath Marsh, Fort Klamath, Klamath Lake, and Lower Klamath Lake; the Lakes Basin including Goose, Summer, and Abert Lakes; and Diamond Peak, Beatys Butte, and Steens Mountain. The route of the wagon road crossed through the Klamath Reservation. The map has an approximate scale of 1 inch = 15 miles or about 1:1,000,000. The map is approximately 17 x 22 inches and is backed with linen.
The creator of the map is not identified.
Collection is open for research.
Oregon Central Military Road Map (MAPS MilitaryRoad), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
This map was transferred from the Oregon State University Libraries' map collection to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2014.
The Oregon State University Libaries' microfilm collections include a