1996 Map of Vaya Chin

About this map

Vaya Chin serves as a central point of reference in this arid region of the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation during the late 1990s. The landscape is defined by the broad Quijotoa Valley, a desert expanse where water management is critical for survival and land use, as evidenced by several remote outposts like Window Mountain Well and various unnamed wells and a Water Tank. The drainage of San Simon Wash cuts across the basin, oriented between the high elevations of the Castle Mountains to the north and the Sierra Blanca to the southeast. A small Cem near the settlement and scattered corrals indicate a continued pattern of small-scale ranching and community life within the reservation boundaries. This period of mapping follows the Gila and Salt River Meridian, highlighting how colonial survey grids were overlaid upon ancestral lands.