Published in 1971 from 1968 mapping, the US Geological Survey’s “Gavins Point Dam” presents the Yankton, South Dakota, region at a moment when the Missouri River landscape was being newly defined by modern engineering. The title itself centers the great dam west of Yankton, but the map is equally a portrait of river, town, road, and terrain. At 1:24,000 scale, it records the inhabited fabric of Yankton alongside the sweeping course of the Missouri, with Eastern Point and nearby lowlands set within a carefully measured topographic framework. The result is a precise late-1960s view of a borderland shaped by water, settlement, and federal infrastructure.

The US Geological Survey brought to this map the disciplined visual language that made its quadrangles indispensable to planners, engineers, scientists, and travelers. Founded in the nineteenth century to classify and understand the nation’s lands and resources, the USGS had, by the 1960s, refined a style of mapping that balanced scientific accuracy with remarkable legibility. Here, roads, trails, drainage, built-up areas, and elevation are rendered with the quiet authority of institutional cartography. The map’s conventional topographic design—crisp linework, coded color, and dense but orderly detail—reflects an era when geographic information was gathered through field survey, aerial photography, and painstaking compilation.

Yankton appears as the principal urban presence, its streets and approaches set against the broader geometry of river valley and upland. The Missouri River dominates the composition, not merely as a natural feature but as a political and economic axis, defining movement, settlement, and regional identity. Roads and trails radiating to and from Yankton show the town’s role as a local hub, while smaller features and elevation marks reveal the subtler structure of the surrounding countryside. The contour lines give the landscape an almost sculptural clarity, tracing slopes, terraces, and breaks that would otherwise be invisible from a simple road or political map.

Gavins Point Dam is the historical anchor of the sheet, one of the major Missouri River projects associated with flood control, navigation, irrigation, recreation, and hydroelectric power. Completed in the mid-twentieth century, the dam helped transform the river corridor near Yankton, creating new relationships between shorelines, infrastructure, and settlement. This map captures the area after that transformation had become part of the region’s working geography. In the broader context of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, Gavins Point represents the era’s confidence in large-scale water management, while the surrounding topography reminds the viewer that even monumental engineering had to answer to the land’s enduring forms.

The map’s clear color scheme, with red and green elements working alongside close contouring, gives the terrain a pronounced relief effect and makes the Yankton landscape immediately intelligible. Its visual appeal lies in this combination of technical restraint and geographic richness: the river’s curves, the measured lift of the land, the ordered traces of roads, and the named places all coexist within a calm cartographic grid. As a historical document, it preserves the late-1960s arrangement of a place since altered by development, recreation, shifting infrastructure, and natural change. It is both a scientific record and an evocative image of the Missouri River country at a particular modern moment.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Yankton
• Gavins Point Dam
• Missouri River
• Eastern Point
• Roads and trails leading to and from Yankton
• Other smaller geographical features not explicitly named in the provided context

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map
• Dated 1968 with a 1971 imprint
• Shows Yankton, South Dakota, and the surrounding area
• Uses a clear color scheme with elevation contours indicated in red and green
• Detailed contour lines show variations in elevation and terrain relief
• Follows conventional topographic representation of the period
• Reflects the geographical layout of Yankton and the surrounding Missouri River area in the late 1960s
• Records an area that may have changed over time due to infrastructure development, urban growth, and natural alterations

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed 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.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every 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.

With 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 rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.