Demographic growth in Maine slowed in the mid-nineteenth century; the state's population even declined slightly in the 1860s. This map depicted the state and its counties (including Knox County, created in 1860) during this period of relative stagnation. Nevertheless, industry and transportation advanced.

The map showed the Canada Road, which connected the Beauce region of Quebec and Maine's coast, as well as a growing network of railways. In the 1860s, the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, in particular, brought French Canadian migrants to an expanding textile industry. Biddeford, Lewiston, and other mill cities experienced considerable growth in the last third of the century.

The map appeared in Mitchell's New General Atlas, published in Philadelphia in 1861.