1959 Map of Diamond A Ranch

About this map

Diamond A Ranch and the nearby White Ranch define the ranching character of this Chaves County landscape, where water management is central to life in the arid high plains. The intermittent course of the Rio Hondo is flanked by an extensive network of ditches and levees, alongside a Gaging Sta for monitoring flow. A striking concentration of windmills and pump sites, identified here as mills, are scattered across the draws and arroyos. These include the Highway Mill, Eighteenmile Mill, Diamond A Mill, Center Mill, and River Mill. These features, alongside named drainages like Thirteenmile Draw and Rocky Arroyo, reveal a system of livestock support and water diversion typical of mid-century New Mexico land use. The map also traces Johnson Draw and Buchanan Draw, illustrating how the terrain was partitioned and utilized for large-scale ranching operations.