1907 Map of Rangely

About this map

The White River and Yampa River define the hydraulic character of this western Colorado landscape as it appeared during the 1907 survey. Near the southern edge, the settlement of Rangely sits at the base of Raven Park, surrounded by a complex system of drainage and relief including Raven Ridge and the prominent Cathedral Bluffs. This early reconnaissance mapping by Hoyt S. Gale captures the high desert topography before the arrival of modern infrastructure, noting several isolated frontier outposts like Angora, Boxelder, and Three Springs. To the north, the terrain rises toward the Blue Mountain upland, which straddles the Moffat Co Rio Blanco Co Boundary Line. The presence of ephemeral drainages such as Stinking Creek, Skull Creek, and Red Wash illustrates the arid nature of the region's geography at the turn of the century.