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1918 Map of Reagan Canyon

Name: 1918 Topographic Map of Reagan Canyon
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1946
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1946

About this map

The Rio Grande carves a winding path through this desolate stretch of Brewster County, defining the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. Surveyed in 1917, the map captures a landscape defined by extreme relief and isolated outposts of industry and habitation. Horn's Ranch sits on a small flat above the river, while further north, the presence of the Wax Factory suggests the early 20th-century harvesting of candelilla wax from native desert shrubs.

Steep canyon walls and narrow floodplains, such as Las Vegas De Los Ladrones, dominate the terrain. A simple Trail provides the only recorded overland passage through the sharp turns of Reagan Canyon and Big Canyon. This era represents a time when the borderlands were largely unreachable except by river or rugged paths, long before modern infrastructure would alter the accessibility of these limestone corridors.