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1947 Map of Guadalupe

Name: 1947 Topographic Map of Guadalupe
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1947
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1947

About this map

The agricultural and industrial transition of the Santa Maria Valley is vividly captured shortly after the war. The town of Guadalupe serves as a hub, situated along the Southern Pacific railroad and bounded by the wandering course of the Santa Maria River. This map reveals a landscape defined by its dual identity as a fertile farming region and an emerging petroleum field, evidenced by the numerous Oil Wells concentrated east of the tracks.

South of the valley floor, the terrain rises into the Casmalia Hills and Point Sal Ridge, where the northern edge of the Camp Cooke military reservation dominates. Local history is preserved in the location of rural schoolhouses like Bonita School and Betteravia School, alongside the industrial site of Betteravia near the shores of Guadalupe Lake. A notable military detail includes an Abandoned Firing Range north of the river, suggesting the area's strategic use during the preceding years.