Loading map...

1946 Map of Monte Guilarte

Name: 1946 Topographic Map of Monte Guilarte
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1946
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1946

About this map

The Cordillera Central mountain range dominates this 1946 survey, defining a landscape of steep ridges and deep river valleys in the central highlands of Puerto Rico. The map documents an agrarian economy organized around numerous named haciendas, such as Hacienda Buena Vista, Hacienda La Esperanza, and Hacienda Santa Maria, which served as the primary social and economic hubs for rural families. These estates are distributed along the headwaters of major rivers including the Rio Yauco and Rio Guayo.

Local civic life is centered on landmarks like the Iglesia de la Virgen del Carmen and the Escuela Segunda Unidad de Yahueca. The difficult terrain is navigated by a network of trails and early roads, connecting isolated peaks like Monte Guilarte and Cerro La Torre. This record captures the traditional coffee and agriculture-based settlement patterns before modern industrialization changed the interior municipios of Adjuntas, Lares, and Guayanilla.