1974 Map of Spoon Butte

About this map

Spoon Butte dominates this high plains landscape at the border of Wyoming and Nebraska in the mid-1970s. The map illustrates a sparsely settled ranching or grazing territory where water resources are the primary landmarks. Intermittent drainages like Sheep Creek and George Draw cut through the terrain, punctuated by the essential infrastructure of rural livestock operations such as several Tank sites and a natural Spring. The survey meticulously records the state line dividing Goshen and Sioux counties, showing how political boundaries bisect this geographically continuous landform. The presence of numerous wells and water storage tanks suggests a landscape managed for cattle and agriculture, where the scarcity of permanent water sources dictated the patterns of human improvement and land use.