1952 Map of Mancos Mesa

About this map

The Colorado River carves a deep boundary along the western edge of this remote high-desert landscape in San Juan and Garfield counties. Surveyed in the early 1950s using aerial photography, the map reveals a wilderness of massive landforms including the expansive Mancos Mesa and the distinctively named Chocolate Drop. Along the river's path, navigators faced the Ticaboo No 1 Rapids and Ticaboo No 2 Rapids, while the presence of a Landing Strip and Good Hope Bar suggests the era's scattered mining and exploration activity. Massive drainage systems like Red Canyon, Blue Canyon, and Moki Canyon dominate the topography, illustrating the complex erosion patterns that define this stretch of the Utah canyonlands before the significant changes brought by later regional developments.