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1964 Map of Chicken Mountain

Name: 1964 Topographic Map of Chicken Mountain
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1967
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1967

About this map

Chicken Mountain and the high plateaus of Mesa De L Oro define this mid-century New Mexico landscape. The territory is a high-altitude expanse where survival and land use revolved around water management, evidenced by numerous man-made and natural catchments like Chicken Mtn Tank, Mule Tank, and Cerro Alesna Tanks. The presence of Pie Ranch and several windmills, including Virgils Windmill and Davy Windmill, points to the cattle ranching operations that utilized these isolated tracts in the 1960s.

Transportation across the broken terrain of Sierra Lucero and Mesa Cimarron was limited to a network of Jeep Trails and a designated Landing Area, indicating the reliance on rugged vehicles or small aircraft to reach remote outposts. Named geological features such as Cañada Ancha and Rock Tank Canyon reveal a deeply eroded environment where seasonal drainages carved into the volcanic and sedimentary strata. This survey provides a precise look at the rural infrastructure of Valencia County before its modern subdivision.