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1996 Map of Red House Spring

Name: 1996 Topographic Map of Red House Spring
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 2002
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 2002

About this map

Red House Cliffs and the Clay Hills define the high desert topography of this San Juan County landscape, based on photography from the mid-1990s. The area is dominated by deep drainage systems and high mesas, where the path of Grand Gulch and Collins Canyon reveals the intricate erosion patterns characteristic of the region. A notable geographic bottleneck occurs at The Narrows, where the canyon floor constricts between high walls.

Water sources are vital landmarks in this arid environment, with Red House Spring, Collins Spring, and Fry Spring providing critical points of interest for those tracing historical backcountry routes. The presence of Polly Mesa and the winding course of Water Canyon further illustrate the difficult terrain that defined movement through this part of Utah. This provisional data captures the territory just before the turn of the century, documenting a wilderness largely shaped by its natural hydrology and sheer sandstone escarpments.