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1940 Map of Mt. Powell

Name: 1940 Topographic Map of Mt. Powell
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1940
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1940

About this map

Mt Powell and the Gore Range dominate this high-altitude landscape surveyed in the early 1930s at the intersection of Eagle, Grand, and Summit counties. Remote homesteads and agricultural outposts like Noonan Ranch, Abbet Place, and Smith Ranch appear as isolated clearings in the Arapaho National Forest. Education in these rugged drainages was localized at the Hillerest Sch and Upper Sheephorn Sch, serving the scattered families near Sheephorn Creek.

A complex network of glacial basins feeds the high country's water system, including the Upper Cataract Lake and Lower Cataract Lake system, along with Surprise Lake and Mirror Lake. These waters descend through steep gulches like Bear Gulch and Cottonwood Gulch toward the Piney River. The map also identifies Lakeside Hall and Soda Springs, suggesting early recreational or communal nodes within the wilderness before modern development reached this section of the Rockies.