1951 Map of Mount Katmai D-3

About this map

Kulik Lake dominates this mid-century topographic survey of the Alaska Range, stretching diagonally across the terrain within the Katmai region. Surveyed using aerial photographs from 1951, the map captures a landscape defined by dramatic elevation changes and alpine glacial features before more modern climate shifts or expanded park infrastructure. To the northeast, the waters of Pirate Lake and the headwaters of the McNeil River emerge from high-altitude basins, illustrating the complex hydrology of the southwestern Alaska interior. The absence of roads or established settlements on this sheet highlights the wilderness character of the area during the early 1950s, emphasizing the natural drainage patterns and landforms that would later become focal points for conservation and environmental study in the Lake and Peninsula Borough.