1955 Map of Baird Mountains C-3

About this map

Sapum Creek and its numerous unnamed tributaries carve through this high Arctic landscape in the mid-1950s, representing a region defined by its complex drainage systems and lack of permanent settlements. Mapped by the Army Map Service and later published by the Geological Survey, the area shows a pattern of high-elevation terrain where seasonal waterways like Nakolikurok Creek and Anaktok Creek descend from unnamed peaks. The 1955 photogrammetric methods used here reveal a transition from the southern waters of Takpahlearik Creek to the northern drainages of Sapum Creek. This sheet documents a moment in time when the Bureau of Land Management had predetermined land lines for unsurveyed and unmarked locations, indicating a wilderness on the cusp of formal administrative definition but still devoid of any established infrastructure or named human landmarks.