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1954 Map of Antelope Plain

Name: 1954 Topographic Map of Antelope Plain
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1976
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1976

About this map

Antelope Plain defines this expanse of the San Joaquin Valley, captured here as it appeared in the mid-1950s with updates through the early 1970s. The landscape is characterized by a sprawling industrial infrastructure dedicated to petroleum extraction, particularly along the eastern edge where the Lost Hills rise. Dense clusters of Oil Wells, supported by Oil Tanks and an Oil Sump, dominate the terrain in a pattern of systematic resource development.

Water management is the secondary narrative of this sheet. The massive California Aqueduct carves through the eastern portion of the plain, while older infrastructure like a Windmill, various Water Tanks, and a long Ditch trace the earlier efforts to manage this arid environment. This 1954 survey, photorevised in 1973, provides a clear view of the industrial scale of California's energy and water networks at the height of their expansion.