1922 Map of Chaney Ranch

About this map

Panoche Creek winds through this arid expanse of western Fresno County, providing a critical hydrological marker in a landscape defined by its topographic undulations. In this early twentieth-century survey, the isolated Chaney Ranch stands as a primary point of human settlement, situated at the intersection of early secondary routes and range lines. The map's high-detail contour work by Kiger and Fankhauser reveals the intricate drainage patterns feeding into the creek bed, illustrating the natural terrain that local ranchers navigated before more intensive irrigation reshaped the region. This document captures the transition between the open range and more formalized land divisions during the Stephens administration, providing an essential look at the geography of the Panoche valley prior to modern agricultural developments.