1965 Map of Mud Buttes NW

About this map

Geiger Ranch and McClure Ranch highlight the cattle-ranching layout of Butte County in the mid-1960s. This western South Dakota landscape is defined by a dendritic network of seasonal drainages, including South Indian Creek, Owl Creek, and Short Creek, which provided essential water sources for livestock in an arid environment. The map shows the infrastructure of remote range management, from the isolated Antelope Sch to the industrial presence of a Pumping Station and an extensive pipeline cutting across the southern sections near Ruben Creek. Genealogists and local historians will find the named homesteads, such as the Mary Larson Ranch, valuable for placing family legacies within the vast public and private land tracts of the Great Plains.