Gibbes, Charles Drayton (1813 - May 25, 1893)

Charles Drayton Gibbes (1813 – May 25, 1893) was an American civil engineer, publisher, surveyor, and cartographer active in California during the latter part of the 19th century. The son of a wealthy South Carolina plantation owner and the cousin of Mrs. John Jacob Actor. Gibbes relocated to California with the first wave following the 1848 discovery of Gold at Sutter's Mill. His goal was not to mine gold, but to follow the miners and survey gold discoveries in the region. He published a number of important maps relating to the Gold Rush, including the 1851 New Map of the Gold Region in California and Map of the Southern Mines. He later partnered with publisher Warren Holt to produce an important sequence of large format maps of California issued between 1869 and 1878. After a long and distinguished career as a California surveyor and civil engineer, Gibbes took a position as curator of mineralogy at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.