1948 Map of Box Butte Reservoir West

About this map

The Niobrara River winds through this high plains landscape on the border of Dawes and Box Butte counties, appearing here shortly after the completion of the dam that created the Box Butte Reservoir. This postwar era survey shows a rural infrastructure defined by scattered education and heavy rail, where small outposts like Sch No 62 and Sch No 50 served the local ranching or farming families. To the south, the Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroad cuts a diagonal path across the terrain, crossing Sand Canyon as it moves toward the northwestern corner of the state. The map captures a transition in water management and land use, documenting the early years of the reservoir alongside established drainage patterns like Willow Creek and the township divisions of Leonard and Lawson.