Currier & Ives lithographed the West for the railroad. The coastal scene above presents a California that is both abundant and simple. A magnificent mountain peaks above clouds. Ships harbor in the distance and a man walks with his burros towards the village along the coast road.
Idyllic. Edenic. An untouched world available to possibility.
Other lithographs of the West by Currier & Ives.
Sharper colors displayed at David Rumsey.
Someone paid $5,175 for one at Christie’s.
This post written by Anneliese Agren
The Coast Road 
I own a print of the coast of california really old any buyers
Artistic license, indeed. The “snowy mountains to swim in the sea in one day” theme was sold in many images of California.
Bananas and palms and oaks with Whitney in the near distance–that is truely “artistic license”!