1915 Rhea Map of the San Francisco Bay Area

This is a 1915 tourist map of central California by James J. Rhea (1876-1934). It was printed on behalf of the Tourist Association of Central California, and it highlights the routes, by road and rail, for reaching San Francisco in order to visit the he Panama–Pacific International Exposition that year. The exposition was a world's fair, ostensibly celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal, but seen by San Franciscans as an opportunity to showcase the city's recovery from the 1906 earthquake.

The Map

The map covers a broad area of California centered on San Francisco Bay, spanning from Monterey an San Benito counties in the south to Sonoma and Lake counties in the north. The map reaches east as far as Stockton. The map is printed in color, showing roads in orange, railroads as black-and-white dotted lines, and showing rivers in blue. Relief is shown pictorially, with shaded mountains, the peaks of the larger ones marked with altitude noted. The location of the Exposition is marked on the map 'P.P.I.E.'

Publication History and Census

This map is apparently rare. On example is catalogued in OCLC at the California Historical Society. We see none in dealer's catalogues or auction records.