Loading map...

1952 Map of Seward C-6

Name: 1952 Topographic Map of Seward C-6
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1954
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1954

About this map

The Alaska Railroad serves as the central artery through this portion of the Chugach National Forest, navigating the steep climbs and narrow corridors of the Placer River Valley. This 1952 survey documents a landscape dominated by massive ice fields, including the Spencer Glacier, Bartlett Glacier, and Trail Glacier, which are shown with intricate detail including their extensive systems of crevasses. Small trackside stops and clearings such as Spencer, Grandview, and Hunter mark the path of the rail line as it ascends toward the Johnson Creek Summit.

One of the most characteristic features of this alpine terrain is the engineering required to transit the mountains, exemplified by the Tunnel located near the headwaters of the Placer River. Scattered benchmarks and triangulation stations like VABM 3716 Grand and VABM 4110 Spencer illustrate the difficulty of mapping this high country. The presence of the uniquely named Snoring Inn along Bertha Creek provides a rare hint of the human presence in this wilderness during the mid-century era.