1972 / 1977 U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map of Death Valley National Park

This is a 1972/1977 U.S. Geological Survey topographic map of Death Valley National Monument, at the border of California and Nevada. Depicting from Scottys Junction and the Nellis Air Force Range in the north to the Fort Irwin Military reservation in the south, contour lines present the region's forbidding topography in striking detail.

A Closer Look

Mountains throughout are identified and their elevations given. The regions scant, intermittent lakes and streams and rivers are indicated, including Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in the United States. Towns and villages are labeled as well and dashed lines illustrate county and reservation borders, and the boundary of the National Monument are prominently indicated. Settlements along the few roads spanning the monument are marked along with wells, and hotels along the routes. Roads include CA SR 190, formerly the Eichbaum Toll Road - the first established road to cross Death Valley. In the area surrounding the park are many mines - borate, lead, gold, silver, copper, and lead have all been extracted here. Many features have colorful names, such as the 'Devil's Golf Course,' which is not a golf course at all, but a desolate field of jagged little hills made of salt that have been eroded over centuries to look like a landscape from an alien world.

Death Valley National Park

On February 11, 1933, President Herbert Hoover created a nearly two-million-acre national monument in Death Valley. The Civilian Conservation Corps was responsible for the earliest improvements to the park, grading 500 miles of roads, installing telegraph and water lines, and constructing seventy-six buildings. Designated a biosphere reserve in 1994, Death Valley National Monument was expanded by 1.3 million acres on October 31, 1994, and redesignated as Death Valley National Park - the largest national park in the contiguous United States.

Publication History and Census

This map was published in 1978 by the U.S. Geological Survey; it was surveyed in 1972, and revised in 1977. The map is well represented in institutional collections.