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1940 Map of Iris

Name: 1940 Topographic Map of Iris
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1961
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1961

About this map

The Southern Pacific railroad corridor serves as the backbone of this arid Imperial County landscape, connecting isolated sidings like Iris and Flowing Well Siding during the early 1940s. To the west, the desert gives way to a highly organized network of irrigation canals and lateral roads, where settlements such as Wiest and Munyon support local agriculture. The Mulberry Sch stands as a focal point for the rural community near the Alamo River and Gieselmann Lake.

The eastern half of the map reveals a starkly different environment, dominated by the Sand Hills and the Chocolate Mountains. This region is largely defined by military activity, as seen in the expansive US Naval Reservation (Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range). Water management is central to the era's development, with the Coachella Canal and East Highline Canal carving through the East Mesa to reclaim the desert floor.