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1967 Map of Seventynine Coulee

Name: 1967 Topographic Map of Seventynine Coulee
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1971
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1971

About this map

Mecaha and the Seven W Ranch mark the sparse human footprint across this Garfield County landscape, where the drainage patterns of the Missouri River breaks define the local geography. The area is characterized by a dense network of coulees, most notably Seventynine Coulee and Sherman Coulee, which carve through the high plains. Vital water sources like Herron Springs and Finley Spring provided essential anchors for ranching operations in this arid environment during the late 1960s.

A primitive Landing Strip located north of Finley Butte highlights the reliance on small aircraft for navigating these expansive ranch lands. The map details the transition from high ridges down to the Lodgepole Creek drainage, showing the complex topography that governed land use and travel before modern road networks were established. This survey captures a moment when traditional ranching life relied on isolated outposts and seasonal water sources like Barker Coulee and Jack Lane Coulee.