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1947 Map of Barrel Spring

Name: 1947 Topographic Map of Barrel Spring
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1952
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1952

About this map

The Lower Borego Valley desert landscape, captured here in a 1947 survey, reveals a remote region defined by ephemeral hydrology and early industrial efforts. San Felipe Creek winds through the center of the sheet, feeding into arid features like Benson Dry Lake and Hatchill Dry Lake. The settlement of Ocotillo serves as a small waypoint along the highway, while Little Borego sits further south near the base of the Vallecito Mtns.

Evidence of early 20th-century resource extraction is visible in the southeast, where a Gypsum Mine is connected by the Pacific Portland Cement road. These features, alongside the Old Kane Spring Road, trace the historical movement of people and materials through the Borrego desert before the era of modern development. The map also records the precise San Diego County and Imperial County line as it crosses this arid terrain.