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1948 Map of Kismet

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

USGS Topo · Published 1948

About this map

The agricultural and transit corridor of Madera County takes center stage in this late 1940s survey, defined by the convergence of major rail lines and seasonal waterways. The industrial landscape is anchored by the Southern Pacific and the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railroads, which cut diagonally across the terrain toward small shipping points like Kismet and Notarb. These settlements, while modest, served as vital nodes for the region's ranching and early petroleum interests, evidenced by the presence of a mapped Oil Well and numerous Windmill sites used for water management.

Water distribution is dominated by the winding paths of Berenda Creek and Dry Creek, which meander toward the Fresno River in the southeast corner. The grid of rural transit, including Jefferson Road and Buchanan Road, illustrates a landscape transitioning from open range to organized agricultural production. This edition, based on 1916 mapping with culture revised in 1946, captures the Central Valley's rural infrastructure just as postwar development began to intensify.