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1902 Map of San Gorgonio

Name: 1902 Topographic Map of San Gorgonio
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1944
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1944

About this map

San Gorgonio Mt. dominates the high alpine landscape of this turn-of-the-century survey, standing as a pivotal landmark between the arid Mohave Desert and the river valleys to the south. The mapping reveals a transitional economy where high-altitude mining at the Rose Mine and Gold Mt. coincided with early mountain resort life near Bear Lake and Pine Lake. Settlement is sparse and largely vocational, defined by remote outposts such as Doble, Smarts Ranch, and the Lakeview Mill.

Water sources dictate the movement of people across this rugged terrain, from the Old Woman Springs in the north to the headwaters of the Ana River. This era of documentation shows the intricate web of canyons like Wild Rose Canyon and Blackhawk Canyon before modern development, marking the boundary of the Morongo Indian Reservation and the edge of the Joshua Tree National Monument at a time when mountain camps like Seven Oaks and Akers Camp served as the primary hubs of human activity.