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1960 Map of Bakersfield

Name: 1960 Topographic Map of Bakersfield
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1960
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1960

About this map

Bakersfield serves as the central hub of this mid-century landscape, situated where the Kern River meets a complex network of agricultural irrigation and rail infrastructure. To the north and west, the vast basin floor is defined by the ephemeral footprints of Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake, surrounded by drainage features like the Kern Island Canal and Homeland Canal. This era shows a heavily managed valley floor with established agricultural towns like Delano, Wasco, and Shafter flanking the Southern Pacific Railroad.

The eastern portion of the survey rises sharply into the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains, where the Sequoia National Forest and the Tule River Indian Reservation dominate the high ground. Transportation routes, including the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, are seen navigating the critical bottleneck of Tehachapi Pass, linking the Central Valley to the Mojave Desert. This geography illustrates the stark contrast between the intensive petroleum and agricultural development at Oil City and the protected wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest to the south.