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2017 Map of Jewel Cave

Name: 2017 Topographic Map of Jewel Cave
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 2017
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 2017

About this map

Jewel Cave National Monument anchors this 2017 survey of the western Black Hills, a landscape defined by an intricate network of limestone canyons and highland plateaus. The subterranean complexity of the monument is mirrored on the surface by deeply etched drainages like Hell Canyon and Lithograph Canyon, where reliable water sources such as Lithograph Spring and McKenna Spring provided essential resources in an otherwise arid environment. The map details the transition from the protected monument lands into the broader Black Hills National Forest, showing a modern landscape managed for both preservation and utility.

A dense web of Forest Service roads, including the Y-4 Divide Br 1i and Schenk Canyon Br 1d systems, provides access to high-elevation features like Green Mountain and Gurney Flats. For the local historian, the map preserves specific localized nomenclature for the draws and canyons that have likely shaped land use in Custer County for generations, from the namesake Water Draw to the industrial markers of the Richardson Well Br 1j area.