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1957 Map of Plaster City

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Plaster City
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1958
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1958

About this map

Industrial development and desert infrastructure define this 1950s landscape in Imperial County. The company town of Plaster City serves as a focal point, dominated by a large Gypsum Plant and its supporting Mining Railroad that stretches northward into the desert. To the east, the settlement of Dixieland marks the transition into an irrigated agricultural zone, where a network of water features including the Foxglove Canal, Dixie Drain, and the poetically named Forget-Me-Not Canal bring life to the arid terrain.

Historical transportation routes and military footprints are prominent, with the Old Overland Stage Route and Coyote Wash cutting across the central flats. The northern reaches show a specialized landscape with an Observation Tower and a Parachute Testing Unit situated within a Naval Reservation. This map captures the region's mid-century identity, balancing heavy industry, military utility, and the vital expansion of the canal system into the Yuha Desert.