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1928 Map of Rankin

Name: 1928 Topographic Map of Rankin
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1928
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1928

About this map

N. H. Darton prepared this 1920s topography of West Texas, capturing a landscape in the midst of a radical transition from cattle country to a major petroleum producer. The development of the Permian Basin is evident in the cluster of company towns and camps, including Texon and the nearby Oil Field, which served as the hub for the Santa Rita No. 1 discovery. The settlement of Santa Rita itself is mapped alongside Best, a town that grew rapidly during the boom era.

Beyond the industrial sites, the map details the older ranching and stage infrastructure. Small outposts and stations such as Upton Station, Stiles, and Ingram are interspersed across the draws, including Pasture Draw and Big Lake Draw. The topography shifts from the flat mesa tops near Rankin to the deeply eroded drainages of Noltke Creek and Live Oak Creek in the south, where the terrain becomes more complex near the Crockett County line.