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1949 Map of Mount Pittsburg

Name: 1949 Topographic Map of Mount Pittsburg
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1949
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1949

About this map

Mount Pittsburg anchors a high-altitude landscape defined by deep canyons and the convergence of three Colorado counties: Fremont, El Paso, and Pueblo. The late 1940s settlement pattern is characterized by remote pastoral operations, with Fords Mountaindale Ranch and Pinehurst Ranch situated along the drainage of Red Creek. The presence of the Red Creek School suggests a small but established community of ranching families in this frontier-like setting before modern consolidation changed the rural education landscape.

Water serves as the primary surveyor of this terrain, carving deep features like Red Creek Canyon and Turkey Canyon. Broad plateaus such as Table Mountain and Wild Mountain stand above the drainage basins of Turkey Creek and Beaver Creek. The detailed mapping of various canyons, including Salt Canyon and Patton Canyon, reveals the complex hydrology that dictated where the early ranchers built their homesteads.