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1937 Map of Kettleman City

Name: 1937 Topographic Map of Kettleman City
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1948
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1948

About this map

Kettleman City and the surrounding Kings County landscape appear here in the early 1930s, defined by the stark transition from the elevated Kettleman Hills to the flat expanse of the Tulare Lake Bed. This era of development is marked by an emerging network of water management and landholdings, with the Blakeley Canal and Paso Robles Canal cutting through the terrain. The map reveals the early footprint of Milham City and organized agricultural interests like the West Tulare Land Co.

Evidence of the region's oil and gas potential is visible in the numerous labels for a Well, scattered across the hills and valley floor. Drainage from the higher ground is etched into the landscape via the Arroyo Degollado and Arroyo Robador, which lead toward the irrigation works and ranches such as Blakeley Ranch and Goodfellow Ranch. The grid of the Central Valley is already taking shape along Omaha Avenue and Hanford Road.