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1956 Map of Wister

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of Wister
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1957
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1957

About this map

The Salton Sea dominates the southwestern corner of this mid-century survey, sitting at an elevation recorded at 235 feet below sea level in 1955. The map illustrates a highly engineered landscape defined by the Coachella Canal and East Highline Canal, which feed an intricate grid of irrigation channels including Niland Lateral 5 and Lateral Z. These waterworks supported the agricultural development of the East Mesa, while the Wister Waterfowl Management Area was established as a protected habitat along the shoreline.

Transportation and military activity shape the eastern and northern reaches, where the Southern Pacific railroad runs through the small sidings of Wister and Mundo. In the northeast, the terrain rises sharply into the Chocolate Mountains, much of which is designated as a Naval Gunnery Range. Notable infrastructure includes a series of specific water control points, such as Siphon 15 and Siphon 11, and the presence of a Rock Quarry near the mountain foothills.