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1964 Map of Horse Mesa Dam

Name: 1964 Topographic Map of Horse Mesa Dam
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1986
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1986

About this map

Apache Lake dominates this mid-1960s survey of the Salt River canyon, where the massive concrete structure of Horse Mesa Dam holds back the waters against the sheer walls of the Painted Cliffs. The landscape is a complex network of high desert plateaus and deep drainages within the Tonto National Forest, characterized by the prominent Horse Mesa and the wide expanse of Coronado Mesa. Local human activity is concentrated along the historic Apache Trail, which winds through the rugged terrain toward the Highway Dept Maintenance Yard and various designated picnic areas.

Evidence of early ranching and wilderness travel remains visible through labels like Adams Camp, Horse Pasture Spring, and Browns Cave. To the south, the deep incision of Fish Creek Canyon and the heights of Fish Creek Mtn provide a stark contrast to the aquatic recreation sites like the Resort and Campground near the lake’s eastern reach. The map captures the infrastructure of the Salt River Project at a time when these remote canyon reservoirs were becoming central to regional water management.