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1986 Map of Porcupine Wash

Name: 1986 Topographic Map of Porcupine Wash
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1987
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1987

About this map

Hexie Mountains and the Pinto Basin dominate this mid-1980s topographic study of the High Desert interior. The landscape is defined by its arid drainage network, characterized by extensive dry beds like Porcupine Wash and Smoke Tree Wash that cut through the surrounding ranges. This era of mapping documents the desert as a managed wilderness, showing the boundaries between the Joshua Tree National Monument and the Joshua Tree Wilderness.

Resource extraction and water access are central themes, with isolated features such as the Black Eagle Mine and several historic water points, including Pinkham Well, Ruby Lee Well, and Smoke Tree Well, providing evidence of human attempts to settle or work this environment. A network of 4wd routes connects these remote sites, illustrating the primitive infrastructure that existed before modern desert preservation efforts tightened access to the interior of the Cottonwood Mountains and Eagle Mountains.