1951 Map of Gulkana B-4

About this map

Ewan Lake dominates this 1951 landscape, surrounded by an intricate network of muskeg and smaller water bodies such as Middle Lake and Birch Lake. Though the topography was mapped from 1950 aerial photographs, later revisions in 1983 trace the path of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as it cuts north-to-south through the eastern edge of the quadrangle. Human presence is sparse, indicated only by scattered Cabins located near the shorelines of the larger lakes. This terrain is defined by a low-lying, water-heavy character where drainages like Dog Creek connect isolated basins. The map illustrates a transitional period in the Alaskan interior, where the traditional isolation represented by Crosswind Lake began to intersect with the major infrastructure projects of the late twentieth century.