Originally published as a chromolithograph in 1910, this illustration by E.S. Yates depicts a map of the United States and various modes of transportation and communication throughout the country.

The Federal Government has been linked to railroads since the first charters were issued in the United States during the 1810’s and 1820’s. Army surveyors from the Corps of Engineers were involved in the surveying and construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first operational railroad in the United States. Although no records remain of this work in the Cartographic Branch of the National Archives, many survey maps do remain of other early railroads. These include records created by the Corps of Engineers, Record Group 77, as part of internal improvements carried out by the Federal Government during the 1830’s.