1954 Map of Little Lake

About this map

Red Hill and the dark volcanic expanse of the Lava Mountains dominate this high-desert landscape in the mid-1950s. The settlement of Little Lake serves as a critical junction where the Southern Pacific railroad and Highway 395 parallel the vital Los Angeles Aqueduct through the Rose Valley. This corridor of infrastructure is bracketed by the sheer eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada to the west and the restricted grounds of the Naval Ordnance Test Station to the east. Evidence of ancient and modern utility is visible side-by-side, from the Indian Petroglyphs near Airport Lake to the industrial Cinder Pit and various prospect excavations. Steep drainage systems like Fivemile Canyon and Deadfoot Canyon carve into the TULARE and INYO county lines, while the southern reach of the map opens into the Indian Wells Valley near the small communities of Linnie and Brown.