1954 Map of Buckskin Gulch

About this map

The remote high desert of southern Utah and northern Arizona is revealed in this mid-century topographic survey, focused on the dramatic transition from White Cliffs down to the Paria River drainage. Cattle ranching defines the scattered human presence in this arid landscape, evidenced by isolated outposts such as Clark Ranch, Jepson Ranch, and the School Section Ranch. The terrain is characterized by massive geographic features like Five Mile Mountain and the jagged uplift of The Cockscomb, with a complex network of seasonal washes including Petrified Hollow Wash and Seaman Wash carving through the plateaus. Transportation in the mid-1950s was limited to primitive roads and a Jeep Trail, illustrating the region's continued isolation even as modern surveying methods began to document its deep canyons and named landmarks like Buckskin Gulch and Fin Little Point.