Kirk, Caleb [Columbia Wrightsville Bridge & River showing Proposed Route of Railway] Columbia, PA. “Surveyed October A.D. 1830,...”

Caleb Kirk.  [Columbia Wrightsville Bridge and River showing Proposed Route of Railway].  Columbia, PA.  “Surveyed October A.D. 1830, by Jonas P. Fairlamb, Civil Engineer, Delaware State. Lithograph by C.G. Childs.”   

Lithographic facsimile printed on faux parchment paper late 19^th or early 20th century.  22 3/8 x 30 (paper).  Map was acquired dissected into 6 sections and has been expertly joined using archival tape.  Some holes in map expertly filled.  Large ink stain in bottom of map margin and image.  Else, fine condition.

This map is a lithographic facsimile from the late 19^th or early 20^th century when one compares a two section example of this map in the Pennsylvania State Archives.  The inking is not as deep as the map found in the state archives which suggests a facsimile and also the type of paper used in the facsimile.      

The lithographer of this map was Cephas G. Childs who was born in Bucks County in 1793.  Childs apprenticed as an engraver and in the 1820s published a series of small engravings of Philadelphia Views in Philadelphia, and Its Vicinity.  In 1829 he formed the lithographic firm of Pendleton, Kearny & Childs in 1829.  A year later Childs started his own lithographic firm and one year later went into partnership with Henry Inman, a New York artist.  Childs left the lithographic business in 1834 to go into newspaper publishing.