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1959 Map of Casmalia

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of Casmalia
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1968
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1968

About this map

Vandenberg Air Force Base occupies a significant portion of this coastal landscape, illustrating the military's mid-century footprint on the Central Coast. The topography is defined by the San Antonio Dunes and the Casmalia Hills, where the Casmalia Oil Field and the Airox Mine highlight the era's industrial activity. Along the Southern Pacific rail line, small settlements and sidings like Casmalia, Schumann, and Devon served the local economy before the expansion of military infrastructure.

Evidence of the region's Spanish colonial heritage persists through ranch boundaries such as Rancho Jesus Maria and Rancho San Antonio. The transition from agrarian land use, represented by Marshallia Ranch, to federal military reservation is clearly marked by the Todos Santos Military Reservation Boundary. This survey captures the coast from Lions Head to Purisima Point, documenting a landscape where old California ranching traditions met the burgeoning aerospace and defense needs of the Cold War.