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1969 Map of Circular Butte

Name: 1969 Topographic Map of Circular Butte
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1973
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1973

About this map

National Reactor Testing Station dominates the central landscape of this Idaho high desert survey, illustrating a period of significant atomic research and federal land use. The terrain is defined by complex hydrological and volcanic features, including the Birch Creek Sinks and the Big Lost River, where water intermittently flows into several large depressions. The presence of the Owsley Canal in the southeast corner points to early regional attempts at irrigation and water management in an otherwise arid environment.

Industrial and infrastructure elements are sparse but prominent, with a Stack, several Wells, and a Mast clustered near the northwestern corner. The namesake Circular Butte rises in the northeast, surrounded by numerous borrow pits and gravel pits that suggest nearby road building or construction activity during the late 1960s. These markers, along with the Sand Dunes, reveal a landscape shaped both by ancient geological forces and mid-century technical advancement.