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1956 Map of Moses Lake

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of Moses Lake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1966
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1966

About this map

Larson Air Force Base dominates the central landscape of this 1950s survey, illustrating the significant military presence in Grant County during the Cold War. The town of Moses Lake is shown in its mid-century expansion, with distinct neighborhoods like Westlake and Cascade Valley and institutional markers such as Knolls Vista Sch and Lakeview Sch. The intricate shoreline of the lake itself is detailed through features like Parker Horn and Pelican Lake, showing the complex hydrology that defines the region.

Further south, the vast Sand Dunes and The Potholes give way to the rising waters of the Potholes Reservoir, a central component of the Columbia Basin Project. This era of transformation is captured through the alignment of the Chicago Milwaukee St Paul and Pacific railroad and the network of irrigation infrastructure, including several siphons and canals, which were actively reshaping the desert into a productive agricultural basin.