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1915 Map of Brilliant

Name: 1915 Topographic Map of Brilliant
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1915
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1915

About this map

The Maxwell Grant dominates this early twentieth-century landscape, where coal mining and railroads define the narrow canyon floors. Industrial activity is concentrated in the east, centered around the mining town of Brilliant in Dillon Canyon and the settlement of Gardiner. These centers were linked by the Stl R M and P RR, while further south, the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railroad serves the community of Van Houten and Preston along Willow Creek.

The topography is defined by a dense network of drainages, including the winding Canadian River, which cuts through high tablelands and deep recesses like Long Canyon and Spencer Canyon. At the northern edge, the Colorado New Mexico boundary is precisely marked by the Carpenter Line 1902, reflecting the era's surveying precision. Local landmarks such as Smiths Ranch and the Tin Pan Mine highlight a rugged economy of ranching and extraction situated among hundreds of named gulches and canyons.