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1951 Map of Valdez C-3

Name: 1951 Topographic Map of Valdez C-3
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1964
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1964

About this map

Kenney Lake sits at the northern edge of this Alaskan survey, marking a small pocket of settlement along the route toward Copper Center. The landscape is dominated by the massive drainage of the Copper River and its powerful tributary, the Tonsina River, which cuts a deep path across the northern terrain. The infrastructure of the early 1950s is defined by the Copper River Highway, a critical lifeline for this interior region during the post-war era.

Further south, the map documents the transition from river valleys into steep alpine elevations, including Kimball Pass. Numerous glacial-fed streams such as Dust Creek, Willow Creek, and Bernard Creek carve through the topography. This survey, based on 1950 aerial photography, captures the territory just before the mid-century revisions, showing a landscape where geography dictated the path of human movement and settlement.