Loading map...

1965 Map of Murtaugh

Name: 1965 Topographic Map of Murtaugh
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1966
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1966

About this map

Murtaugh and the surrounding Snake River Plain appear here as a highly engineered agricultural landscape in the mid-1960s. The region is defined by an intricate network of irrigation infrastructure, including the Twin Falls Canal, the Low Lift Main Canal, and numerous gaging stations and pumping stations that manage water flow from the Snake River and Murtaugh Lake. This system turned the arid high desert near Hansen Butte into productive farmland, supported by the Union Pacific railroad corridor.

Further south, the terrain shifts into the rising hills where Artesian City and the Bower Cem sit at the edge of the irrigation limits. The presence of numerous artesian wells, including the Artesian Substation, highlights the importance of groundwater where surface canals did not reach. This survey documents the mid-century peak of this reclaimed landscape, showing the distribution of schools like the High Sch and local family landmarks amidst a grid of section lines and fence boundaries.