1899 Map of Ishawooa

About this map

The Shoshone Range and Absaroka Range dominate this late-nineteenth-century landscape, characterized by towering peaks and deep river drainages just east of the Yellowstone National Park boundary. To the south, the Stinkingwater Mining Region highlights the era’s prospecting activity, situated near Needle Mt. and the headwaters of Needle Creek. This rugged terrain was surveyed by Frank Tweedy in 1893, documenting a wilderness of massive tablelands like Sheep Mesa and Ishawooa Mesa. The drainage patterns are defined by the North Fork Stinkingwater River in the north and the complex network of Thorofare Creek to the southwest. These high-altitude corridors, including Ishawooa Pass, provided critical transit points through the mountains before the establishment of modern infrastructure.