A congressional communication on exploring the Colorado River system
A Twenty-Page Legislative Communication
Report of the exploration of the Colorado River of the west and its tributaries is a short, twenty-page English-language communication attributed to Captain Samuel Adams. It was printed in Washington, D.C., without a named publisher. Its caption title presents it as a communication from Captain Samuel Adams relative to the exploration of the Colorado River and its tributaries, and the headnote connects it to House bill H.R. no. 260. The bibliographic record also notes that the item was ordered to be printed, and the final page bears Samuel Adams’s signature.
The Colorado River as the Subject of Exploration
The work’s stated subject is the exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its tributaries. Its catalog subject headings—discoveries in geography, navigation, and travel—place it within the fields of geographical discovery and practical movement through the river system. The title and caption both keep the Colorado River and its tributaries at the center of the document, while the headings identify exploration, navigation, and travel as the themes through which that subject is framed.
A Document Tied to H.R. No. 260
The reference to bill H.R. no. 260 and the printing note give the item a clear legislative context: it is a communication printed to accompany a specific House bill. That documentary setting is the most concrete indication of the work’s purpose in the surviving record. It presents Captain Samuel Adams’s report as part of congressional paperwork concerning exploration of the Colorado River system, rather than as a free-standing narrative of travel or discovery.
The catalog metadata gives 1864 as the first publication year and records the imprint as [Washington, D.C.: s.n., 1864]. It describes the item as an Electronic eBook and places it in the series “Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO): Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780–1925.” The record lists online access as “Full Text (via Gale)” and notes that the item is a reproduction of the original from the Library of Congress.
The 1871 Printing Order
The record dates the printing order to April 15, 1871. A separate Open Library entry notes that the work does not yet have a description and has no community comments.
