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1973 Map of Bitter Well Mountain NW

Name: 1973 Topographic Map of Bitter Well Mountain NW
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1976
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1976

About this map

Hydrological survival in the arid high desert of West Texas defines the landscape of the Hudspeth and Culberson County border. This survey reveals a terrain dominated by a massive, unnamed depression that stretches across the quadrangle, serving as a catchment area for the region's sparse rainfall. The human presence is almost entirely tethered to these water sources, marked by family-named or descriptively titled locations such as Soda Wells, Black John Well, and the evocatively named Hardluck Well.

A remote Landing Strip in the northeast and a lone Gravel Pit represent the few signs of industrial or transport infrastructure. The map includes an Indefinite Boundary running through the central basin, highlighting the challenges of surveying this shifting, salt-flat environment where the distinction between land and ephemeral water is often blurred. For researchers, the presence of the Hogue Well (Dry) provides a stark record of the tenuous nature of water rights and ranching viability in the 1970s.