The Reconnaissance of the Western Coast of the United States Nautical Charts consist of three sheets depicting the Pacific coastline from San Diego to the Canadian border. These engraved nautical charts have relief shown by hachures and soundings in fathoms. The sheets include views and profiles of headlands and other points of interest on the coast as well as general sailing directions and information about tides. The scale for all the sheets is 1:1,200,000.
The southern sheet, "San Francisco to San Diego", was produced in 1853. The middle sheet, "San Franciso to Umpquah River" (in Oregon) was produced in 1854 and "corrected to" 1864. The northern sheet, "Umpquah River to the Boundary", was produced in 1855 and also "corrected to" 1864. The maps are affixed to linen backing.
Profile views of Cape Gregory, Cape Blanco, Cape Perpetua, Cape Lookout, and Tillamook Head in Oregon are included.
Collection is open for research.
Reconnaissance of the Western Coast of the United States Nautical Charts (MAPS WestCoast), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Two of the sheets (middle and northern) are stamped "Released Harvard College Library".
The middle and northern sheets were acquired by the Oregon State University Library in 1966. All sheets were transferred from the Oregon State University Libraries Historic Maps Collection to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2013.