David Hugh Burr (August 18, 1803 - December 25, 1875) of one of the first and most important truly American cartographers and map publishers. Burr was born in Bridgeport Connecticut in August of 1803. In 1822 Burr moved to Kingsboro, New York to study law. A year and a half later he was admitted to the New York Bar association. Burr must have questioned his choice of careers because shortly after being admitted to the Bar, he joined the New York State Militia. Though largely untrained in the art of surveying, Burr was assigned to work under Surveyor General of New York, Simeon De Witt, to survey several New York Roadways. Seeing a window of opportunity, Burr was able to negotiate with the governor of New York at the time, De Witt Clinton, to obtain copies of other New York survey work in order to compile a map and Atlas of the state of New York. Recognizing the need for quality survey work of its territory, the government of New York heartily endorsed and financed Burr's efforts. The resulting 1829 Atlas of the State of New York was the second atlas of an individual U.S. state and one of the most important state atlases ever produced. Burr went on to issue other maps both of New York and of the United States in general. In cooperation with publishing firm of Illman & Pillbrow, he produced an important New Universal Atlas and, with J.H. Colton, several very important maps of New York City. In recognition of this work, Burr was appointed both "Topographer to the Post office" and "Geographer to the House of Representatives of the United States". Later, in 1855, Burr was assigned to the newly created position of Surveyor General to the State of Utah. Burr retired from the position and from cartographic work in general in 1857 when light of some of his financial misdeeds and frauds came to light. He was accused of submitting false expense reports and underpaying employees, among other indiscretions. More by this mapmaker...

Jedediah Smith (January 6, 1799 or June 24, 1798 — May 27, 1831) was an American born trapper, hunter, explorer, fur trader, and trail lazer active in the early part of the 19th century. Smith is an incredibly important but little known figure who, in the years between the Lewis and Clark expedition and Fremont's explorations, explored and trailblazed much of the American West. Smith began his travels in the American west when he responded to an advertisement placed by Missourian William H. Ashley looking for strong men willing to earn their fortune living and trading furs in the western regions recently opened by Lewis and Clark. The result was a nine year odyssey in which Smith, in the words of Maurice Sullivan,

was the first white man to cross the future state of Nevada, the first to traverse Utah from north to south and from west to east; the first American to enter California by the overland route, and so herald its change of masters; the first white man to scale the High Sierras, and the first to explore the Pacific hinterland from San Diego to the banks of the Columbia River.

Unlike many of the trappers and fur traders active in this region, Smith not only had a lust for exploration, but also an extraordinary ability to piece together his own observations with previous work to form a cohesive whole. It was Smith who ultimately reconciled the work of Lewis and Clark with the cartography of Humboldt and Miera, and in the process filled in many of the blanks in between. Unfortunately, on his final journey, just nine years after his first, Smith was killed by a band of Mojave Indians. Smith intended to publish a book and map based upon his travels, but his death ended all such efforts. The manuscript map he did produce disappeared shortly after his own death. However, it comes down to us today via an 1839 map published by David H. Burr - who consulted an original manuscript of Smith's map while composing his important wall map of the United States. The map historian Carl Wheat considers Smith's work a "tour-de-force unprecedented and never equaled in the annals of Western exploration" and dedicates an entire chapter to his accomplishments in the seminal work, The Mapping of the Transmississippi West. Learn More...

Aaron Arrowsmith (1750-1823), John Arrowsmith (1790-1873), and Samuel Arrowsmith. The Arrowsmith family were noted map engravers, publishers, geographers, and cartographers active in the late 18th and early 19th century. The Arrowsmith firm was founded by Aaron Arrowsmith, who was trained in surveying and engraving under John Cary and William Faden. Arrowsmith founded the Arrowsmith firm as a side business while employed by Cary. The firm specialized in large format individual issue maps containing the most up to date and sophisticated information available. Arrowsmith's work drew the attention of the Prince of Wales who, in 1810, named him Hydrographer to the Prince of Wales, and subsequently, in 1820, Hydrographer to the King. Aaron Arrowsmith was succeeded by two sons, Aaron and Samuel, who followed him in the map publication business. The Arrowsmith firm eventually fell to John Arrowsmith (1790-1873), nephew of the elder Aaron. John was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society. The firm is best known for their phenomenal large format mappings of North America. Mount Arrowsmith, situated east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is named for Aaron Arrowsmith and his nephew John Arrowsmith. Learn More...