1972 Map of Beaty Canyon

About this map

The Purgatoire River carves through the northwestern corner of this Colorado landscape, where a specific Rock Crossing provided a vital passage through the canyon floor. The terrain transition from the deep incisions of Beaty Canyon and Clark Canyon to the broader expanse of Round Prairie reveals a landscape heavily adapted for ranching. Numerous small-scale water management features, such as Goat Ranch Dam, Northwest Dam, and the West Red Bench Windmill, demonstrate how local inhabitants utilized every drainage to sustain livestock. In the southern reaches, the Villegreen Road skirts past Piñon Park Hill and Stinking Hole, connecting these remote ranching sites. The density of named windmills like Padilla Windmill and Sixteen Windmill highlights the importance of groundwater in this high-desert environment during the early 1970s.