2020 Map of Maxwell

About this map

The High Plains of Colfax County meet a complex network of early 20th-century irrigation engineering in this survey of Maxwell, New Mexico. The landscape is defined by the Canadian River and Vermejo River, though the human imprint is most visible in the intricate system of water management. A series of numbered reservoirs, including Number Eleven Lake and Lake Number Fourteen, are interconnected by an extensive grid of channels such as the Laguna Eagle Tail Lateral, Siphon Ditch, and Middle Drain Ditch. This infrastructure highlights the area's agricultural foundations, where water diversion was essential for survival in the arid high desert. The town of Maxwell itself is positioned as a transit hub, situated where the BNSF Railway parallels the interstate corridor, featuring a local Po and a residential grid including Maxwell Ave and Vermejo Ave.