Loading map...

1979 Map of Thompson Peak

Name: 1979 Topographic Map of Thompson Peak
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1979
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1979

About this map

Summerville sits along the winding course of the Salmon River, serving as a focal point for this high-altitude wilderness on the Siskiyou and Trinity county line. The landscape is defined by the sharp elevations of the Salmon Trinity Alps, where glacial features like Grizzly Lake and Sapphire Lake rest below the granite spires of Thompson Peak and Caesar Peak. Resource extraction and early mountain settlement are evident in the presence of the Moliter Mine and numerous unnamed prospects scattered through the steep gulches.

Transportation through this difficult terrain relied on a network of trails rather than roads, including the Stage Gulch Trail and the Garden Gulch Trail. These routes connected remote outposts like Schoolhouse Flat and Glacierview Ranch to the river valley. The inclusion of the Salmon Trinity Alps Primitive Area highlights the transition toward conservation in the late 1970s, preserving a region where human activity was largely limited to small-scale mining and seasonal camps like Hunters Camp.