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1957 Map of Grand Island

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Grand Island
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1957
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1957

About this map

The Platte River valley defines the northern landscape of this mid-century survey, its braiding waters flanked by a complex network of irrigation works like the Phelps County Canal and the Dawson County Canal. This era highlights the heavy industrial and military footprint in the region, dominated by the sprawling U S Naval Ammunition Depot east of Hastings and the Cornhusker Ordnance Plant near Grand Island.

To the south, the Republican River basin is anchored by the Harlan County Reservoir, a massive water management project completed just years prior to this compilation. The map records the intersection of transcontinental transportation, where the Union Pacific RR and Chicago Burlington & Quincy RR connect agricultural hubs like Kearney, Lexington, and Holdrege. From the Sand Hills in the northwest to the Kansas border towns of Red Cloud and Superior, the sheet documents a post-war Nebraska transitioning through large-scale engineering and defense infrastructure.