Loading map...

1983 Map of Lightning Hills

Name: 1983 Topographic Map of Lightning Hills
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1984
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1984

About this map

San Francisco Creek carves a path through this high-desert ranching landscape in Brewster County, where the infrastructure of the Southern Pacific railroad dictates the layout of remote outposts. The small settlements of Warwick and Haymond serve as primary anchors along the rail line, surrounded by the distinctive elevations of the Warwick Hills and the Lightning Hills.

A network of family-named windmills, such as Kriebaum Windmill and the Donnell Shipping Pens Windmill, reveals a landscape managed for cattle and transit. These features, along with Peña Blanca Spring, highlight the critical importance of water access in the Big Bend region. The map preserves a moment when the railroad remained the lifeblood of this expansive Texas terrain, connecting isolated ranching operations to the wider world.