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1972 Map of Wedding Cake Butte

Name: 1972 Topographic Map of Wedding Cake Butte
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1974
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1974

About this map

Wedding Cake Butte rises as a distinctive landmark above the high plains of the Union County panhandle, where the New Mexico border meets Colorado. This arid landscape is defined by the winding course of the Dry Cimarron River and its accompanying irrigation systems, including the North Beheimer Ditch and Roberts Ditch, which supported ranching operations in this isolated corner of the territory. Small ranching nodes like Sloan, Bontz, and Cochrane are visible, alongside a cemetery and Prospect site, hinting at the modest human footprint in this terrain of mesas and canyons.

The northern edge of the map features the imposing Black Mesa, while to the south, Pinon Ridge and Sloan Canyon carve through the earth. A rugged Pack Trail winds through the hills, illustrating the difficult transit routes through the broken country of Steamboat Butte and Shiprock. This map records a landscape of cattle-country endurance before modern consolidation altered many of these old rangeland outposts.