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1952 Map of Karluk B-2

Name: 1952 Topographic Map of Karluk B-2
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1978
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1978

About this map

The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge dominates this 1952 landscape, showcasing a period of pristine coastal wilderness on the western side of Kodiak Island. The map records the complex hydrological system between the Shelikof Strait and the Pacific Ocean, where the Sturgeon River and the meandering Ayakulik River cut through the terrain. Evidence of human presence is minimal, limited to isolated Cabins near Red Lake and the coastal edges of Grant Lagoon.

As part of a survey not field-checked at the time of mapping, the sheet relies on 1951-1952 aerial photography to document the island's topography. Notable landmarks such as Anvil Mountain and the survey point at VABM Ridge 1508 provide fixed navigational markers in an area otherwise defined by sprawling wetlands and tidal inlets. The cartography emphasizes the natural transition from high ridges to the low-lying marshes of the interior, preserving the state of this remote ecological sanctuary before later 20th-century developments.