During the Civil War, George Franklin Cram, First Sargent to Company F,[1] was also noted to be a cartographer for General Ulysses S. Grant, and later to General William T. Sherman.[2] In 1854, prior to the War, Rufus Blanchard, George's Uncle, opened his Map Store.[3] Thirteen years later, in 1867 as George returned from the War and Rufas took him in as a partner. Then after two years Rufas turned the business over to George who renamed it the George F. Cram Company.[4] It was in the midst of the largest railroad expansion in history,[5] that the Board Of Railroad Commissioners across this country, would choose George F. Cram to make more accurate and up to date maps. Examples like Railroad Commissions of Iowa,[6] Maine,[7] and Minnesota[8] are easy as easy to show, as they were well established. However Nevada's Railroad Commission had not been formed at the time of the commissioning of Cram's Nevada Map.[9] So which Railroad or which Commission paid to have the Nevada Map made, is thus likely a subject for future research. It might also have even been Borax Smith, Judge L.O. Ray, George Wingfield, or many other men who made their wealth here; they certainly had the money and the incentive to have such a map drawn.
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