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1931 Map of Wheatville

Name: 1931 Topographic Map of Wheatville
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1931
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1931

About this map

Wheatville stands at the heart of an intricate irrigation network in Fresno County, where a grid of rural avenues and water diversions defined the early 20th-century landscape. Surveyed in 1928, this map illustrates the systematic conversion of the Central Valley into highly organized agricultural units. The movement of water is the primary theme, managed through features like the Stinson Canal, Madera Canal, and the Elkhorn Ditch. The presence of the Fresno Slough in the northeast corner serves as a reminder of the region's natural hydrology before it was further constrained by the expanding canal system.

Transportation is dominated by a strict sectional road grid, including family-named and state-themed thoroughfares such as Mt Whitney Avenue, Lassen Avenue, and Siskiyou Avenue. This layout, paired with early arterial routes like Coalinga Road, reflects the transition toward motor-driven logistics for the area's orchards and fields. For the local historian, the map preserves the exact alignment of these early ditch systems and named avenues before late-century consolidation.