Report of an Examination of the Upper Columbia River - September - October 1881 - Presentation Copy

(Washington Territory - Columbia River) Symons, Lieut Thomas W. REPORT OF AN EXAMINATION OF THE UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER AND THE TERRITORY IN ITS VICINITY IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 1881, TO DETERMINE ITS NAVIGABILITY, AND ADAPTABILITY TO STEAMBOAT TRANSPORTATION. MADE BY DIRECTION OF TEH COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE COLUMBIA BY LIEUT THOMAS W. SYMONS, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, U.S.ARMY, CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE COLUMBIA. GPO. 1882.Folio. [2], 135, [1] pp. Numerous plates, text illustrations, maps, 25 numbered maps at rear, 1 large folding index map (minor paper repairs to gutter margin, edges). Three-quarter simulated burgundy calf over marbled boards, decorated endpapers, expected minor wear, overall in vg cond. Presentation slip from Thomas W. Symons pasted onto verso of 2nd flyeaf.  First edition, presentation copy, of this work detailing the Symons survey work while leading a company of the 21st Infantry up the Columbia River in the Washington Territory in 1881, detailing the efforts above the Grand Rapids, through the Colville Indian Reservation, facing off with a large group of Native Americans near old Fort Okinakane who were decidedly unimpressed and managed to negotiate a truce so he could proceed with the survey. Much of the work was conducted in a small boat carrying Symons, two soldiers, and several Northwest Native Americans, detailing the region’s geology and history, mapping the area in a manner similar to the work he had executed for the Wheeler Expedition under George Wheeler a few years earlier. Following this work he carried out surveys for the Mississippi River commission, the border survey with Mexico, city projects in Washington D.C., and finally returned to the Pacific Northwest where he became a prominent engineer and businessman, erecting the Symons Building in Spokane, WA.