Colonel Carlos Butterfield
Johnson and Browning Publishers
December 1859 (reproduction)

There was a lot of state formation activity in the 1850’s as the land acquired from Mexico in 1848 was divided first into territories and then into States.
This map, which is in the collection in Arizona, shows one of the methods used by politicians, businessmen and speculators to influence the process.
Publish a map that shows the result you desire. The claim printed on a map might just create a fact on the ground.
View a High resolution version of the Butterfield map courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

This is a new map in the collection and I added it for Arizona. It raises more questions than it answers. But it is very interesting. Carlos Butterfield may have been related to John Butterfield of the Butterfield Stage Company that had the mail contract for the southern route in the 1850’s
So the proposed division of New Mexico and Arizona horizontally might have originally been for commercial purposes.

The excellent book How the States got their Shapes by Mark Stein suggests that the first proposal of the horizontal split was by in 1862 by secessionists. This map suggests otherwise.