| | Thumbnail | | Creator | Date | Title / Author / Date / Location | Price | | | Description |
| 8016 |  | Details | Bower, N. E. | 1902 |
| Map of the U.S. Military Reservation, Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory |
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Bower, N. E. |
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| 1902 |
| LOC: |
| $2,400.00 | Bower--N--E- | Map-of-the-U-S--Military-Reservation--Fort-Sill--Oklahoma-Territory | Unrecorded and important 1902 blueprint map documents the entire U.S. Military Reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma Territory, just five years before Oklahoma statehood and one year after the last Indian lands in Oklahoma opened for settlement. Compiled and drawn under the supervision of 2nd Lt. N. E. Bower, Corps of Engineers, the map was prepared for a Board of Officers convened on November 6, 1902 to review and verify the reservation’s boundaries, fences, roads, streams, and terrain. It presents the reservation in three components -- the Original Reservation, the Western Addition, and the Eastern Addition -- with detailed Public Land Survey System grids, contour lines, drainage, and the developed cantonment near Medicine Bluff Creek.<br><br>The first artillery battery arrived at Fort Sill in 1902, marking the beginning of a major shift in the fort's mission. During the 1890s, the post had actually been declining in importance and there was even talk of closing it and giving the land to the Chiricahua Apaches. The arrival of artillery units in 1902 saved the fort from closure and set it on the path to becoming what it's known for today - the home of U.S. Army Field Artillery.
<br><br>This map captures that transition with precision, drawing on General Land Office surveys, U.S. Engineer triangulations, earlier post maps, and contemporary field notes. Today the blueprint stands as an important visual record of the boundaries and landscape of one of the nation’s most significant western military posts, known as the later home of the Field Artillery School and the final residence of the Apache prisoners of war, including Geronimo. |