1939 Map of Boneyard Canyon

About this map

The San Gabriel Mountains dominate this 1930s landscape, where the northern slopes of the Angeles National Forest meet the southern edge of the Antelope Valley. This era shows a transition from high-altitude drainages like Jesus Canyon and Puzzle Canyon to the flatter desert roads of the valley floor. The Jubilee Ranch sits as a lonely outpost at the base of the mountains, illustrating the early ranching footprint in the high desert before extensive modern development. Surveyed in 1934 with cultural updates from 1948, the map documents a network of historic thoroughfares, including the Palmdale Victorville Road and Fort Tejon Road. These routes provided critical connections between the desert basins and mountain passes. Small-scale water features like the Reservoir and seasonal flows of Canyon Creek reveal the constant effort to manage water in this arid Los Angeles and San Bernardino county border region.