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1954 Map of Billings

Name: 1954 Topographic Map of Billings
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1963
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1963

About this map

The Yellowstone River corridor serves as the primary artery for settlement and commerce across this mid-century landscape. The city of Billings appears as a burgeoning regional hub, flanked by the Northern Pacific RR and Great Northern RR lines that defined the era's transport. To the south and west, the terrain rises sharply toward the Beartooth Mountains, reaching its apex at Granite Peak.

Tracing the waterways reveals a network of valley towns like Red Lodge, Columbus, and Laurel that supported the local ranching and mining economies. Notable landmarks such as Pompeys Pillar stand as sentinels along the river, while the sprawling Custer National Forest and Gallatin National Forest provide a sharp contrast to the irrigated plains. This 1950s survey documents the region before the full expansion of the modern interstate system, showing the original alignments of U.S. 10 and U.S. 310 as they navigated the breaks and high plateaus.