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1943 Map of Parker Lake

Name: 1943 Topographic Map of Parker Lake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1943
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1943

About this map

Water management dominates this arid basin where the Tularosa Valley meets the San Andres Mountains. Surveyed by Max J. Gleissner and his team in the early 1940s, the map illustrates a network of essential desert resources, ranging from Alamo Spr and Texas Canyon Spr in the western highlands to man-made structures like Parker Lake and Drift Fence Well on the flats. The terrain transitions from the heights of Black Mountain and Antelope Hill down into the broad valley, where the county line separates Dona Ana and Otero.

Remote ranching life is anchored by family-named landmarks such as Hat Ranch and Globe Spring Ranch. For genealogists and local historians, the specific naming of infrastructure like Goodin Well, Borden Tank, and Hood Tank provides a rare record of the 1940s cattle-range economy before later military and government expansions changed access to much of this landscape. The presence of several prospect sites and a gravel pit suggests the small-scale extractive efforts common to the era.