{"product_id":"old-map-of-lake-havasu-city-arizona-by-usgs-1943-colorado-river-whipple-mountains","title":"Old Map of Lake Havasu City, Arizona by USGS, 1943 – Colorado River \u0026 Whipple Mountains","description":"\u003cp\u003ePublished and imprinted in 1943, the US Geological Survey’s provisional topographical map titled “Whipple Mts.” presents a striking wartime portrait of the desert borderlands along the Colorado River. At a scale of 1:62,500, it captures the country around the Whipple Mountains with the disciplined precision for which USGS mapping became renowned. The sheet records the landscape before the later rise of Lake Havasu City, showing instead a spare, rugged geography of river corridor, valleys, isolated hills, roads, paths, and elevation points. Its provisional status gives it particular historical interest: this was a practical working map, made to document a remote and topographically complex region at a moment when accurate geographic knowledge was nationally important.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe US Geological Survey, founded in 1879, became one of the great scientific mapping institutions of the modern world, translating terrain into a visual language of contours, benchmarks, drainage lines, and surveyed routes. This map belongs to that tradition of public science, where cartography served exploration, land management, natural-resource study, and hazard awareness. In the “Whipple Mts.” sheet, the USGS’s restrained design is especially effective: muted tones, careful hachuring, and contour lines combine to make the desert relief legible without ornament. The map does not simply name places; it measures them. Each ridge, wash, valley floor, and mountain shoulder is described through elevation, slope, and form, offering a richly analytical view of the American Southwest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dominant presence is the Whipple Mountains themselves, rendered through 50-foot contour intervals that reveal a jagged and dramatic topographic character. The contours tighten across steep slopes and loosen across valley floors, allowing the eye to read the rise and fall of the land almost sculpturally. Nearby, the Little Horn Mountains, Spring Valley, and Chemehuevi Valley form part of a broader desert system shaped by aridity, erosion, and the long geological work of water moving through dry country. Isolated hills, washes, and elevation points punctuate the sheet, giving a sense of a landscape where navigation depended on subtle relief as much as on named settlements. The result is both scientific and atmospheric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Colorado River provides the map’s great linear anchor, marking the meeting ground of California and Arizona and tying the surrounding desert to a larger regional history of water, settlement, and transformation. The area associated today with Lake Havasu City appears here before the city’s modern identity took shape in the late 1960s. That later development, famously associated with the relocation of London Bridge in 1968, turned this stretch of desert and river into a major tourist destination. On the 1943 map, however, the scene is quieter and more elemental: terrain, river, reservation lands, roads, and scattered routes precede the urban and recreational landscape that would later redefine the area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the historically resonant features are the Chemehuevi Valley and Indian Reservation, reminders that this river corridor has long been a cultural as well as geographic boundaryland. Roads and paths thread through the map with understated importance, showing the practical arteries of movement across difficult country. Compared with contemporary maps, the “Whipple Mts.” sheet offers a valuable record of land use before extensive urbanization, resort development, and modern infrastructure around Lake Havasu. Its appeal lies in that tension between exactitude and change: a meticulously measured desert landscape at a particular historical moment, preserving the forms of mountains, valleys, and river country just before the region entered a new era of transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCities, towns and places on this map\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLake Havasu City\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCalifornia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eArizona\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eColorado River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChemehuevi Valley\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndian Reservation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLittle Horn Mountains\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSpring Valley\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGila River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVarious contour lines indicating topographical features\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIsolated hills and terrain features as depicted by hachuring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElevation points, notably denoted with numbers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoads and paths highlighted on the map\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistorical context \u0026amp; cartographic details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProduced by the US Geological Survey.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical 1:62,500 topographical map titled \u003cstrong\u003e“Whipple Mts.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDated and imprinted in 1943.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCategorized as a provisional map.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShows Lake Havasu City and its surrounding area in Arizona.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe USGS has been instrumental in providing scientific data about natural resources and natural hazards.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical USGS maps serve as important records of land use and geography over time.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLake Havasu City was established in the late 1960s and later became a popular tourist destination.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLake Havasu City is especially known for the London Bridge, relocated there in 1968.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFeatures contour lines to represent elevation changes, typical of topographical maps.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUses a muted color palette and detailed hachuring to help visualize the terrain.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDisplays contour intervals of 50 feet, emphasizing the rugged terrain of the Whipple Mountains.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReflects the geography of the area before significant modern development.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProvides a useful comparison point for observing later changes in land use and urbanization.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLooking for a particular place?\u003c\/strong\u003e Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/it\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eask our workshop to check before you order\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDetailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/it\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/it\/pages\/map-personalisation\"\u003eSee personalised map examples\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/it\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003erare old and vintage maps\u003c\/a\u003e to discover another place, period or style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Map","offer_id":58763635032448,"sku":null,"price":365.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58763635065216,"sku":null,"price":982.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":58763635097984,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":58763635130752,"sku":null,"price":365.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58763635163520,"sku":null,"price":982.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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