| | 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 |
|
Bower, N. E. |
|
| 1902 |
| LOC:130 |
| $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>With the frontier gone and the cavalry mission fading, the fort shifted toward a new role as artillery units arrived, including the formation of the 39th Field Artillery Battery in 1902. This transition ultimately saved the fort from closure, and with the last cavalry regiment departing in May 1907, Fort Sill was firmly on the path to becoming 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.<br><br> |