Loading map...

1950 Map of Chico

Name: 1950 Topographic Map of Chico
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1950
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1950

About this map

The agricultural and academic landscape of Butte County comes into focus in this late-1940s survey of the northern Sacramento Valley. The city of Chico serves as the central hub, defined by the growing campus of State College and the extensive recreational grounds of Bidwell Park, which follows the course of Big Chico Creek. Industrial activity is concentrated south of the city center at the sprawling Diamond Match Factory near the worker-centered neighborhoods of Barber and Chapmantown.

Beyond the urban center, the map reveals a sophisticated irrigation and drainage network vital to the valley's orchards and fields, featuring Humbug Ditch, Edgar Slough, and Crouch Ditch. The Southern Pacific railroad line links the outlying farming communities of Durham and Stirling Junction to the regional economy. Notable landmarks like the U.S. Dept of Agriculture Plant Introduction Garden and Patrick Airport illustrate the intersection of government research and private aviation in this productive landscape.