1950 Map of Interior

About this map

Interior stands at the northern edge of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the prairie landscape transitions into the distinctive formations of the Badlands National Monument. This 1950 survey, updated with 1970s photodata, records the essential infrastructure of Jackson and Washabaugh Counties before regional reorganization. The Chicago Milwaukee St Paul and Pacific rail line cuts across the northern terrain, serving the local economy near the Monument Hdqrs. To the south, the meandering White River serves as a critical geographic boundary, flanked by tributary drainage from Sixteenmile and Lost Dog Creek. The map documents a period when the Pine Ridge upland and the surrounding badlands were being managed for conservation and tribal use, preserving the 20th-century footprint of this South Dakota landscape.