Blueprint of a Nation

A Capitol, a railroad, an early airplane and a moon rocket share this sheet, drawn like a draftsman's study. Three of the four began as public projects, voted and paid for by the country.

The Capitol's cast-iron dome was designed by Thomas U. Walter and built between 1855 and 1866, which means it went up through the Civil War. The Statue of Freedom was set on top by December 2, 1863.

The transcontinental railroad, authorized by Congress in 1862, was joined at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869; a caption on the sheet names it. Ninety-eight years later, on November 9, 1967, the first Saturn V flew on Apollo 4, five F-1 engines lifting it on about 7.5 million pounds of thrust.

At the center the Capitol is drawn in pale sepia, construction lines fanning out behind its dome. At left the locomotive and its passenger cars run along the lower edge, with an early biplane tilting across the corner above them. At right a Saturn V stands against its launch tower with USA down its side. Everything is in the brown ink and yellowed tone of old drafting paper, with a relief map of the West spreading underneath.