1957 Map of Plaster City

About this map

Plaster City serves as the industrial anchor for this corner of the Imperial Valley, defined by the large Gypsum Plant and its surrounding infrastructure. The landscape reveals a transition from the arid Yuha Desert to the engineered irrigation networks of the Westside. A network of water management features, including the Foxglove Canal and the Forget-Me-Not Canal, highlights the intensive effort to reclaim this desert terrain for agriculture. Transportation history is deeply layered here, featuring the Old Overland Stage Route alongside the San Diego and Arizona Eastern railroad. To the north, the Naval Reservation and a Parachute Testing Unit indicate the mid-century military presence in the region, while the Mining Railroad leading away from the gypsum works underscores the area's primary economic engine.