A captivating marriage of art and geography, The romantic epochs of Utah and Nevada distills the Intermountain West at a singular 1940 moment—optimistic, on the move, and rich in story. Created by Robert T. Aitchison and issued by The Mentholatum Company, it pairs colorful pictorial vignettes with precise cartographic detail, celebrating the states’ natural drama and human endeavor. State seals and blossoms—the sego lily for Utah, the sagebrush for Nevada—lend heraldic flair, while tidy county boundaries give the composition civic structure. Across the sheet, graceful legends and inset texts recount key chapters in settlement, exploration, and industry, making the map both guide and chronicle—a time capsule of how Utah and Nevada wished to be seen as the mid-century dawned.

Relief rendered in lively hachures and spot heights makes the terrain itself a protagonist. The Wasatch Front rises above Salt Lake City, Provo, and Ogden, while Nevada’s Ruby Mountains stand like an alpine island amid sagebrush seas. Rivers and lakes—Lake Tahoe’s cool blue, Bear Lake astride the border, the Virgin River threading Zion—anchor the desert’s oases. The map nods to the legacy of ancient Lake Bonneville with Antelope Island and the Bonneville Salt Flats, whose shining expanse had already become a modern icon of speed. Parks and reserves, from Zion National Park to the Great Basin region (today protected as Great Basin National Park), are illustrated as destinations where geology meets grandeur.

Transportation lines knit this vastness into an accessible landscape, echoing the 1940 travel boom. Roads radiate toward Las Vegas—newly energized by Hoover Dam—while railroads converge at Ogden, the classic junction of transcontinental lines. Reno and Carson City face westward along storied routes, Ely stands sentinel over the interior, and St. George and Cedar City mark the gateway to redrock country. The map’s attention to Indian settlements adds essential context, acknowledging Ute, Paiute, Shoshone, Goshute, and Washoe homelands and revealing how traditional pathways overlay new highways and rails. This interplay of Indigenous presence, pioneer corridors, and modern infrastructure creates a layered portrait of movement, exchange, and encounter.

Economic opportunity is celebrated through vignettes and annotated notes that sweep from orchard to ore. Fertile agricultural areas of Utah Valley and the “Dixie” around St. George are shown alongside Nevada’s ranchlands and irrigated basins, while mining scenes recall the Comstock legacy near Carson City-Reno and the great copper operations around Ely. Text panels evoke the Domínguez–Escalante expedition, the Overland Stage and Pony Express, and the 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad near Ogden—episodes that set the stage for twentieth-century enterprise. Even the salt-crusted brilliance of the Bonneville Flats appears as both marvel and modern proving ground, symbolizing the region’s fusion of deep time, ingenuity, and speed.

What makes this map historically compelling is its narrative confidence: it frames Utah and Nevada as places where epic landscapes and modern promise converge. Decorative flourishes—state flowers, scenic cartouches, and landmark cameos of Zion, Lake Tahoe, the Uintah Valley, and the Ruby Mountains—act as visual essays on identity. Clear county delineations and border markers at the Utah and Nevada state lines underscore civic order amid wilderness scale. Issued on the eve of America’s wartime transformation, the map captures a pre-war West poised between frontier memory and streamlined modernity. It invites the viewer to trace journeys—Salt Lake City to Zion, Reno to Tahoe, Las Vegas along the Virgin River—and to read the land as both archive and invitation.

Places on this map

• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Reno, Nevada
• Provo, Utah
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Ogden, Utah
• Ely, Nevada
• St. George, Utah
• Cedar City, Utah
• Carson City, Nevada
• Lake Tahoe
• Zion National Park
• Great Basin National Park
• Uintah Valley
• Antelope Island
• Bonneville Salt Flats
• Nevada state line
• Utah state line
• Virgin River
• Bear Lake
• Ruby Mountains

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Decorative vignettes depicting historical events and landscapes.
• State seals and state flowers represented for both Utah and Nevada.
• Major rivers and lakes labeled, indicating local resources.
• Hachuring used to represent topography and relief.
• Roads and railroads highlighted for navigation.
• Indian settlements marked to reflect cultural history.
• Agricultural areas shown to depict economic resources.
• Text history detailing notable historical events related to the regions.
• Landmarks such as national parks and historical sites illustrated.
• County boundaries clearly delineated.

Historical and design context

• Created by Robert T. Aitchison and published by The Mentholatum Company in 1940.
• Serves as a promotional tool showcasing the beauty and opportunities in Utah and Nevada during the mid-20th century.
• A colorful pictorial promotional map blending artistic illustration with informative cartography.
• Represents a time capsule of the cultural significance and geographical features of Utah and Nevada during the 1940s.
• Depicts Utah and Nevada with a detailed geographical overview.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 70in (180cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.