1951 Map of Blythe

About this map

The Colorado River defines the eastern boundary of this mid-century landscape, separating Blythe and East Blythe in California from the small riverside community of Ehrenberg in Arizona. In this desert valley, a complex network of man-made waterways including the A Canal, C Canal, and the East Side Drain supports an intensive grid of agricultural fields. The 1970 revisions, indicated in purple, reveal the expansion of the urban footprint around Palo Verde College and Palo Verde Hospital, alongside the emergence of checking stations at the state border. To the west, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railroad line parallels the valley floor, while to the east, the terrain rises into the washes of the Trigo Mountains, where Cinnabar and Cinnabar Wash mark the arid landscape beyond the floodplain.