George A. Crofutt
George Crofutt was the publisher of William Adams Hickman's book Brigham's Destroying Angel. He obviously wasn't a member of the Hickman family, but you may be interested to see what type of work he did. He published a series of very successful and lavishly illustrated guides to the routes of the Central Pacific Railroad. The railroad made western travel possible for those that just a few years earlier were too timid to venture west by wagon. The joining of the rails caused the American West to be overrun with such creatures, and available lands quickly were taken.
This guide, published in 1872, utilized nearly every woodcut in his office. In addition to the illustrations, the book contained abundant fold-out maps printed on both sides with western illustrations from other books. Reading these books we are allowed to visit the west vicariously and see what those in the first CPRR passenger cars saw out their windows as Crofutt pointed them out. We will now accompany him on a tour of Utah. Illustrations are mentioned in red, section headings in black. Our tour begins in Wyoming. Though thousands of copies of this book were distributed, most of them were either read to death, or discarded when the traveler reached his or her destination. This book is obviously very rare, and was copied from an original at the LDS Church Historian's Office in Salt Lake City. Click on the blue underlined type to view each pair of pages:
Page
Title Missouri River Railroad Bridge, between Omaha and Council Bluffs, Title Page.
82-83 Black Fork, Granger's Station, Ham's Fork, Church Buttes, Hampton, Carter's Station, Fort Bridger.
84-85 Memories of Bridger during the Mormon War of 1857-58.
86-87 Bridger Station, Leroy, Piedmont Station, Aspen, Bear River City, Bear River City Riot, Bear River..
88-89 Interior View of Snow Sheds on the Sierra Nevada Mountains, C.P.R.R., Millis, Evanston, Wahsatch Station.
90-91 Echo Canyon, Castle Rock, Hanging Rock, Pulpit Rock (foot of Echo Canyon), Mormon Fortifications.
92-93 Paddy Miles' Ride, Weber River, Parley Park (Park City), Echo City.
94-95 Weber Canyon, One Thousand Mile Tree, Serrated Rocks or Devil's Slide, Weber Station, Devil's Gate Station.
96-97 Uintah Station, Ogden Station, Ogden City, Bill Hickman, The Danite Chief of Utah
98-99 Brigham Young, President of the Utah Central Railroad, The Utah Central Railroad, Utah Territory.
100-101 Salt Lake City (Wahsatch Mountains in the distance), Settlement of the Territory, Salt Lake City, The Tabernacle.
102-103 Zion's Co-Operative Mercantile Institution sign, "Gentile Sign", New Mining Map of Utah.
104-105 Hot Springs, Jordan River, Camp Douglas, Sketch of Brigham Young, Brigham Young's Residence.
106-107 Remainder of Brigham Young biography, ad for Post & Co.
To read John H. Beadle's magazine article, "The Silver Mountains of Utah", click here.
To view the entire text of a similar book, The Pacific Tourist, published in 1876, click here.
To return to the Hickman Index page, click here.
