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1948 Map of San Vicente

Name: 1948 Topographic Map of San Vicente
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1948
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1948

About this map

The Papago Indian Reservation dominates this 1938 surveying effort, showing a landscape defined by isolated ranching outposts and traditional Tohono O'odham settlements. Small clusters of habitation like Schuchk, Havana Nakya, and San Vicente appear alongside specialized landmarks such as Wattle Hut and Coyote Field. The desert terrain is anchored by the Coyote Mountains to the southeast and the North Comobabi Mountains to the west, with the Ajo-Tucson Highway providing the primary corridor through the southern reaches of the quadrangle.

Water management is the central theme of the settlement pattern, as evidenced by the dense distribution of scattered tanks and wells that sustain the Cornell Ranch and San Ignacio Ranch. Near the eastern edge, the Roadside Mine indicates the localized mineral extraction common in the Pima County backcountry during this era. This survey captures a moment when travel through the Sonoran desert relied on a network of improved and unimproved dirt roads connecting these remote points of interest.