1955 Map of Utukok River B-5

About this map

The Kokolik River winds through the North Slope of Alaska, providing a central drainage for this section of the Arctic tundra. The landscape is defined by the Kiklupiklak Hills, which rise in the southwestern quadrant, and a dense network of braided streams and small thermokarst lakes. A significant geopolitical marker on this sheet is the Naval Petroleum Reserve No 4 Boundary (Indefinite), which runs north-to-south across the western portion of the map. Surveyed by the Army Map Service in the mid-1950s using photogrammetric methods from aerial photographs, the map documents a largely unpeopled wilderness during a period of strategic military and resource exploration. The lack of roads or established trails highlights the isolation of this terrain, where movement was dictated by the river valleys and the seasonal conditions of the permafrost landscape.