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1942 Map of Barrel Spring

Name: 1942 Topographic Map of Barrel Spring
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1942
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1942

About this map

Anza State Park and the rugged basins of the Colorado Desert dominate this 1942 landscape during a period of expanding infrastructure. The settlement of Ocotillo serves as a central junction where Split Mountain Road meets the highway, while the smaller outpost of Little Borrego sits further south along the Old Kane Springs Road. This era reveals a desert economy driven by industrial extraction, evidenced by the Gypsum Mine in the south and the dedicated Pacific Portland Cement Railroad line used to transport raw materials across the arid flats.

Water features are ephemeral but critical, characterized by the prominent Bensons Dry Lake and Halfhill Dry Lake and the intermittent flows of San Felipe Creek. Steep elevation changes are marked by Borrego Mountain and the Fish Creek Mountains, providing a detailed look at the basin-and-range topography before mid-century development. The map also delineates the precise boundary line between San Diego County and Imperial County as it crosses through the Borrego Valley.