The Powder Keg Map of Texas

You are looking at a powder keg about to explode. 

At the time this map was published in early 1836, the keg was smoldering.

Texians had already dared Mexican troops to take the old cannon at Gonzales and had run General Cos out of Bexar.

But a long, slow fuse had also been lit in the form of an army on the march. Santa Anna had left Mexico City the previous November with 6,000 troops.

Spark would meet powder at the Alamo on March 6. The resulting blast sent families to flight on the Runaway Scrape, propelled armies toward their rendezvous at San Jacinto and gave birth to a republic.

The 1836 Mitchell-Young map of Texas was actually meant as an emigrant's map, providing would-be Texians with hard to find information about the province and its settlements. 

• It shows the empresario grants, towns and roads between them.
• Shows rivers and creeks, and details their navigability by steamboat.
• Displays the ranges of various Indian tribes. 
• Explains the political climate of Mexican Texas.
• Gives the requirements for receiving a grant or purchasing land in Texas.

It even folded up between two covers to fit in the vest pocket of the traveler.

If your ancestors came to Texas during the Republic period...and if they carried a map with them...it was most likely the Mitchell-Young map, which was kept updated and in print until statehood.

TEXAS ON THE CUSP

Decent copies of the original sell for $12,000 to $15,000.

• It is a high quality giclee print measuring 24 by 20.25 inches.
• The paper is acid free, cold press cotton watercolor with an elegant lightly textured finish.
• This surface allows the inks to 'bite', reproducing the shading and tonality of the original map vividly, beautifully, and exactly.
• Guaranteed color-fast for 80 years, which means you won't need to lay out the extra money for UV glass.

You can hang your map in direct sun and it will be just as bright when it is passed on to the next generation as the day your receive it.