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2013 Map of Manzanola

Name: 2013 Topographic Map of Manzanola
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 2013
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 2013

About this map

Arkansas River water rights and agricultural engineering define this landscape on the border of Otero and Crowley counties. The town of Manzanola serves as a primary hub along the Us-50 corridor, flanked by the smaller settlements of Vroman and Fayette. The map documents an incredibly dense network of irrigation infrastructure essential to High Plains farming, including the Rocky Ford Highline Canal, Catlin Canal, and Otero Canal. These man-made waterways snake across the terrain, tracing elevation contours to distribute river water far from the primary channel.

Evidence of early 21st-century rural development is visible in the grid of county roads, such as Co Road 12 and Co Road 15, which segment the plains into manageable tracts. The northern portion of the map shows the complex drainage systems near Patterson Hollow and the Lake Meredith Outlet, where the Lake Canal and Fort Lyon Storage Canal manage local water resources. This survey provides a technical look at how the Arkansas River valley was partitioned for transport and irrigation.