The painting is entitled, "Katahdin, bearing about south 30 degrees East and Sohuduahunk, bearing about South 20 degrees East-as seen from the Eastern shore of Lake Chamberlain."

It was made by artists who accompanied Capt. Andrew Talcott in an 1839 survey done to help resolve disagreements over the boundary between Canada and the United States.

Artists used a camera lucida in which a prism projected an outline of the area onto paper. The artists traced the outline, then completed the drawings.

The original painting is held at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.