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1956 Map of Elk City

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of Elk City
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1983
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1983

About this map

Elk City and the remote mining outposts of the Bitterroot Range anchor this mid-century look at the Central Idaho backcountry. The landscape is defined by massive federal holdings, including the Nezperce National Forest and Payette National Forest, where deep river canyons and mountain ridges dictated the paths of early travel. The Magruder Road and the Lolo Motorway trace high-elevation routes through these protected lands, connecting isolated settlements like Dixie and Warren to the outside world.

The confluence of the Salmon River and its various forks creates a network of steep terrain that historically isolated towns such as Stibnite and Yellow Pine. This survey captures the region as it transitioned from an active mining frontier toward a landscape focused on wilderness preservation, evidenced by the establishment of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and the Gospel Hump Wilderness. For researchers, the map provides a clear record of family-named peaks like Vance Mtn and Wylies Peak alongside the infrastructure of the Nez Perce and Salmon river systems.