1956 Map of Coleen A-5

About this map

Yukon Flats dominates this portion of interior Alaska, characterized by a complex network of wetlands and seasonal water bodies. The expansive Graphite Lake serves as a major landmark in the western half of the sheet, while the Porcupine River cuts through the extreme southeast corner near Deacons Rock. This mid-century survey, based on 1955 aerial photography, illustrates the remote character of the territory before the formalization of major conservation boundaries. The map marks a traditional Winter Trail snaking across the landscape, providing a rare trace of human transit through the alluvial basin. Survey markers like VABM Nancy provide fixed points of reference in an otherwise fluid terrain of shifting swamps and low-relief flats, now protected within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge.