1961 Map of Gunst Reservoir

About this map

Medicine Bow National Forest dominates the southern landscape of this 1960s-era survey, where the foothills meet a complex network of ranching and irrigation infrastructure. The map documents a rugged high-country economy dependent on water management, evidenced by the numerous ditches and reservoirs named for local families and landmarks. The Cherokee Trail winds through the central terrain, passing near the Indian Creek Ranch and Cherokee Trail Reservoir. To the north, the Wagoner Enlarged Cherokee Ditch and Sixteen Gulch define the drainage patterns of the high plains. This record preserves the location of isolated homesteads like the Anderson Ranch and Sierra Madre Ranch, providing a valuable window into Carbon County land use and water rights before later 20th-century developments altered these rural tracts.