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1965 Map of Combs Ranch

Name: 1965 Topographic Map of Combs Ranch
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1968
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1968

About this map

Combs Ranch sits as a lonely hub of habitation in this 1960s survey of eastern Montana. The landscape is defined by a dendritic drainage pattern where intermittent waterways like Ash Creek, Cherry Creek, and Whites Creek carve through the high prairie. This map captures the area just as aerial photogrammetry was refining the depiction of its complex breaks and coulees, including the presence of several isolated water wells.

Modern infrastructure appears sparingly, noted by a Radio Tower and Sheep Tower on the higher elevations, and a managed drainage point marked at Spillway Elev 2823 near Hay Creek. The land is meticulously partitioned by the Public Land Survey System, showing the junction of Townships 13 and 14 North. The map reveals the stark, utilitarian nature of mid-century ranching life, where survival and industry are tied directly to the management of scarce water resources.