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1959 Map of Santa Ynez

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of Santa Ynez
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1991
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1991

About this map

Santa Ynez serves as the hub of this Central Coast landscape, which transitions from the agricultural Santa Ynez Valley into the steep rises of the Santa Ynez Mountains. The 1959 survey, updated with mid-1970s suburban growth shown in purple, captures a period when the town core around Santa Ynez Union High School was beginning to expand. To the south and east, the map details the vast cattle and horse ranching heritage of the region, naming several substantial holdings including Juan y Lolita Ranch and Rancho Piocha.

The southern half of the quadrangle is dominated by the Los Padres National Forest, where the terrain climbs toward Bald Mtn and the strategic Refugio Pass. Notable for its intricate drainage network, the map traces Santa Ynez River and its many tributaries, such as Alamo Pintado Creek and Happy Canyon Creek. Along the mountain crest, the high-elevation Camino Cielo follows the ridgeline, overlooking deep canyons like Cañada del Refugio.