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1953 Map of Ritzville

Name: 1953 Topographic Map of Ritzville
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1978
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1978

About this map

Grand Coulee Dam anchors the northern reaches of this landscape, where the Columbia River feeds into the expansive Franklin D Roosevelt Lake. The mid-century era is defined here by massive infrastructure projects, including the complex irrigation network of the West Canal and East Low Canal, which transformed the arid Sagebrush Flat and Bachelor Prairie. Military and industrial presence is prominent with the Ephrata Air Base and Larson Air Force Base situated near the growing hub of Ephrata.

Railroad connectivity via the Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines links agricultural settlements like Ritzville, Davenport, and Quincy. In the northeast, the Spokane Indian Reservation and Colville Indian Reservation border the rugged Okanogan Highlands, where the Spokane Molybdenum Mine operated near Pitney Butte. From the Sand Dunes near Potholes Reservoir to the basalt coulees holding Banks Lake, the map documents a region undergoing radical change through water management and postwar development.