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1948 Map of Nevada City

Name: 1948 Topographic Map of Nevada City
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1953
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1953

About this map

Nevada City and the deep canyons of the Yuba River system define this post-war landscape of gold-country California. The map documents the complex water and power infrastructure of the late 1940s, featuring the Colgate Powerhouse and Colgate Tunnel alongside the Bullards Bar Reservoir and Englebright Reservoir. These modern industrial features contrast with a dense network of family-named ranches and historic mining sites like the Mother Lode Mine and Red Cross Mine.

Settlement patterns show the transition from traditional mining hubs to small agricultural and logging communities, including Challenge, Camptonville, and Oak Valley. The presence of the Nevada City Rancheria and several isolated schools, such as Pleasant Valley Sch, provides valuable data for genealogists and local historians. The varied terrain, from Grizzly Ridge to Cement Hill, is crisscrossed by old trails like the Garden Valley Trail, revealing the persistent footprints of 19th-century gold rush activity in the Plumas National Forest and Tahoe National Forest.