1958 Map of Tepee Buttes

About this map

The northern reaches of Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park anchor the southern boundary of this McKenzie County landscape in the late 1950s. The topography is defined by significant elevations, including Tepee Buttes, Clay Butte, and the interestingly named Stony Johnny Butte. These heights overlook a drainage network carved by Cherry Creek, Spring Creek, and Squaw Creek. Settlement in this era remains sparse, centered on small social and educational hubs such as Cherry Sch and Pleasant Hill Sch. This survey, conducted as part of the Missouri River Basin development program, captures the rural infrastructure of the North Dakota badlands before significant modern expansion. Local history is preserved in the presence of the Tepee Buttes Cem and Salem Cem, which serve as quiet markers of the families who established homesteads in this isolated terrain.