1960 Map of Anchorage A-1

About this map

Columbia Glacier dominates this mid-century Alaskan landscape, its massive ice field marked by deep crevasses as it moves toward the coast. The map illustrates a dramatic wilderness where the glacial ice meets the sea at Columbia Bay, a region largely contained within the Chugach National Forest. The geography is defined by sharp elevation changes, from the towering Columbia Peak in the north to the coastal inlets of Long Bay in the south. An interesting detail is the National Forest Boundary (Indefinite), reflecting the unsurveyed nature of this territory at the time. Billys Hole Lake sits as a significant interior water body, surrounded by the ice-carved terrain of the Pedro Glacier and numerous unnamed peaks, illustrating the isolation of the Prince William Sound region before modern development reached these reaches.