1955 Map of Bakersfield

About this map

The Bakersfield region in the mid-1950s was a landscape of massive water engineering and industrial extraction, where the southern San Joaquin Valley's natural basins were being transformed by the Lerdo Canal and Beardsley Canal. The map captures a transitional hydrological moment, showing the footprints of Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake alongside complex networks like the Buena Vista Slough and Goose Lake Slough. These features illustrate the intense agricultural development that relied on diverting the Kern River across the valley floor.