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1957 Map of Palm Springs

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Palm Springs
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1960
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1960

About this map

The San Jacinto Mountains rise sharply above the desert floor, providing a dramatic vertical backdrop for the expanding city of Palm Springs and the nearby Desert Hot Springs. This survey documents the region during a period of mid-century growth, visible in the emerging street grids and schools like Stevens Sch and Smoke Tree Sch. The landscape is defined by the sharp transition from the arid sands of the Whitewater River and San Gorgonio Pass to the high-altitude forests of San Jacinto State Park.

In the higher elevations, a network of summer retreats and group camps including the Riverside YMCA Camp and Pine Cove dot the terrain near Idyllwild. The map captures the vital role of water management in the desert, noting the Whitewater Trout Farm, various Diversion Dikes, and the engineering of the Metropolitan Water District aqueduct system. Transportation is anchored by the Southern Pacific railroad and the Twentynine Palms Highway, facilitating the era's tourism and transit.