1925 Map of Orla 2-b

About this map

The Pecos River carves a serpentine path through this arid borderland where the Texas and New Mexico state line meets the boundary between Loving and Reeves counties. Surveyed just as the region began to modernize, the map shows the transition from ranching lifestyles to a more connected interior through the Panhandle and Santa Fe railroad line. Settlement remains sparse, anchored by the community of Angeles and the localized Olds Ranch. The presence of the Orla School suggests a centralized education hub for the widely dispersed families and ranch hands living along the river's winding banks in the mid-1920s. This survey, utilizing early aerial photographs by the Air Service, U.S. Army, provides an unusually precise view of the drainage patterns and topography surrounding the river valley before more intensive development altered the local water table.