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1945 Map of Alamorio

Name: 1945 Topographic Map of Alamorio
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1945
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1945

About this map

Holtville serves as the primary hub in this highly engineered landscape, where the Alamo River snakes through an intricate grid of irrigation infrastructure. This 1945 survey by the War Department reveals the intensive transformation of the Imperial Valley, defined by a dense network of canals and drains such as the Rubber Canal, Rose Canal, and the Holtville Main Drain. The presence of numerous rural schoolhouses, including Union Sch, Sunset Springs Sch, and Alamitos Sch, indicates a robust agricultural community supported by these water systems.

Rail transport is central to the area's mid-century economy, evidenced by the Holtville Interurban RR and stops like Meloland Siding. Small settlements such as Alamorio, Orita, and Sandia are situated within this geometric lattice of lateral canals, which abruptly ends at the rising terrain of the East Mesa. Below sea level, benchmark locations like BM -123 emphasize the unique bowl-like topography that allowed for the systematic gravity-fed irrigation of this desert environment.