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1952 Map of Big Dune

Name: 1952 Topographic Map of Big Dune
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1968
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1968

About this map

The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad cuts a diagonal path across the arid Amargosa Desert, serving as a ghost of the region's industrial past. This 1952 survey documents a landscape of vanished outposts, noting the former locations of Ashton, Leeland, and Lees Camp. The topographic data highlights the dramatic transition from the flat expanse of Crater Flat and the iconic Big Dune to the rising peaks of the Funeral Mountains.

Along the western edge, the Death Valley National Monument Boundary follows the historic Von Schmidt Line, a remnant of early border surveying. The intermittent drainage of the Amargosa River and various dry features like Roses Well illustrate the harsh hydrology of the Nevada-California borderlands. For historians, the map preserves the precise footprints of the T & T Ranch and several nameless prospects during the mid-century era.