1951 Map of Circle C-6

About this map

The White Mountains dominate this 1951 photogrammetric study, reflecting a remote subarctic landscape before the formalization of major federal protections. The area is defined by a dense network of drainages, where Beaver Creek and its tributaries, such as Mascot Creek and Yellow Creek, carve through the high terrain. While the topography was captured in the early 1950s, the map's later revision includes boundaries for the Steese National Conservation Area and the White Mountains National Recreation Area, established by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Rising significantly above the surrounding creeks, Rocky Mountain serves as a central landmark in this wilderness. The map captures an era of unsurveyed land lines under the Fairbanks Seward Meridian, where only the wettest swamps and primary watercourses like Quartz Creek and Bear Creek break the complex contour intervals.