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1939 Map of Acton

Name: 1939 Topographic Map of Acton
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1939
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1939

About this map

Soledad Canyon forms the primary corridor through this high desert landscape, carrying the Southern Pacific tracks and the Soledad Highway past a series of early twentieth-century homesteads and ranching outposts. This 1934 survey, published by Alfred Jones and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, captures Acton as a vital railroad stop and community hub surrounded by family-named properties like the Strong Ranch, Maine Smith Ranch, and Blum Ranch.

South of the canyon floor, the terrain rises sharply into the San Gabriel Mountains and the Angeles National Forest. Here, the map documents the Depression-era presence of a CCC Camp and a network of fire roads and footpaths like the Acton Front Trail. In the more remote southern canyons, researchers will find established camps and springs such as Werner Camp and Kentucky Springs, providing a detailed look at the water sources and small-scale cattle operations that sustained the region before modern suburban expansion.