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1957 Map of Grapevine Peak

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Grapevine Peak
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1959
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1959

About this map

Grapevine Mountains dominate this high-desert terrain, straddling the border between California and Nevada during the mid-1950s. The landscape is defined by dramatic elevation changes, dropping from the summit of Grapevine Peak down into the northern reaches of the Death Valley basin at Mesquite Flat. This era captures the remote infrastructure of the region, featuring a network of primitive routes like the Leadfield Road and various unnamed jeep trails that provided access to isolated resource sites.

Historical extraction and settlement patterns are evident at the Leadfield site, where tunnels mark the remnants of mining ambitions, and at the Phinney Mines near Phinney Canyon. Water sources were critical to survival in this arid environment, recorded here through named points such as Klare Spring and Brier Spring. The boundary itself is a point of historical interest, following the Von Schmidt Line, which reflects early surveying efforts to demarcate the state line through the high desert.