1955 Map of Beechey Point A-4

About this map

The Kuparuk River dominates this mid-1950s landscape of Alaska's North Slope, winding through a complex network of thaw lakes and braided channels. This photogrammetric survey, based on 1955 aerial photography, reveals the natural hydrology of the coastal plain before the massive infrastructure of the oil era transformed the region. The meandering Putuligayuk River drains the eastern portion of the sheet, while the Sakonowyak River appears in the northwest. The map captures a wilderness state where land lines were predetermined by the Bureau of Land Management but remained unsurveyed and unmarked on the ground, illustrating the administrative frontier of the mid-twentieth century.