{"product_id":"old-map-of-santa-fe-new-mexico-by-usgs-1952-atalaya-mountain-santa-fe-national-forest-pecos-river","title":"Old Map of Santa Fe, New Mexico by USGS, 1952 – Atalaya Mountain, Santa Fe National Forest \u0026 Pecos River","description":"\u003cp\u003ePublished in 1953 from survey data gathered in 1952, the United States Geological Survey’s “Santa Fe” presents the New Mexican capital and its dramatic mountain setting with exceptional clarity. At a scale of 1:24,000, the map belongs to the USGS’s most detailed topographic tradition, intended to render roads, streams, contours, settlements, and public lands with practical precision. Yet it is more than a technical document: the shaded relief gives the sheet an unusually vivid sense of depth, allowing the Sangre de Cristo foothills and surrounding high country to rise visually from the page. Santa Fe appears not as an isolated city, but as a historic settlement held within a richly contoured landscape of arroyos, ridges, forested slopes, and mountain approaches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSanta Fe itself occupies a singular place in American geography and history, and this map captures the city at a fascinating mid-century moment. Long before the automobile roads and postwar development recorded here, Santa Fe had been a Pueblo world, a Spanish colonial capital, a Mexican provincial center, and finally the territorial and state capital of New Mexico. By the early 1950s, its distinctive urban form—shaped by ancient routes, adobe architecture, and the enduring pull of the Plaza—was increasingly accompanied by modern streets, civic expansion, and growing tourism. The USGS treatment makes it possible to read this transition spatially: the city’s built fabric is set against an older terrain, where settlement follows watercourses, valleys, and routes leading outward into the mountains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe surrounding topography is one of the map’s great pleasures. Atalaya Mountain, rising southeast of Santa Fe, anchors the nearby high ground and hints at the larger Sangre de Cristo Range beyond. Contour lines and shaded slopes reveal the steep gradients that define northern New Mexico, where piñon-juniper foothills give way to ponderosa forests, alpine ridges, and cool mountain drainages. The shaded relief is especially effective in this terrain, turning abstract elevation data into an immediately legible landscape of shoulders, basins, and escarpments. Roads and trails thread through this rugged setting, showing how access to the mountains was organized in the early 1950s, before later recreational and residential growth further transformed the city’s eastern and northern margins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe map also evokes Santa Fe’s relationship with public lands and outdoor recreation. The Santa Fe National Forest, established in the early twentieth century, frames much of the region’s mountainous character, preserving watersheds, timberlands, trails, and high-elevation country close to the city. The route toward the ski basin—today associated with Ski Santa Fe—reflects the postwar rise of mountain recreation in the American West, when skiing, hiking, and scenic motoring increasingly shaped how residents and visitors experienced the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Rivers and drainages, including the Pecos system in the wider regional setting, remind the viewer that water has always governed settlement here. In an arid landscape, every creek, arroyo, and canyon carries geographical as well as historical significance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a historical artifact, this 1953 USGS “Santa Fe” map offers a precise snapshot of a beloved Southwestern landscape before decades of subsequent urban expansion, highway improvement, ecological change, and recreational development. Comparing its roads, parks, trails, and built-up areas with modern maps reveals how Santa Fe has grown while remaining constrained and defined by its surrounding terrain. The map’s combination of scientific surveying and graceful shaded relief makes it particularly compelling: it records measurable facts, but also conveys the romance of place. For collectors drawn to the American Southwest, it is a portrait of Santa Fe at the meeting point of ancient settlement, mid-century modernization, and the enduring grandeur of the New Mexico mountains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eCities, towns and places on this map\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSanta Fe, NM\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAtalaya Mountain\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMountains surrounding Santa Fe\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSanta Fe National Forest\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSki Santa Fe\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePecos River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVarious roads marked for navigation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eParks and trails in the vicinity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHistorical context \u0026amp; cartographic details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProduced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCreated using survey data from 1952 and published in 1953.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIncludes shaded relief, enhancing the three-dimensional representation of the terrain.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eScale of 1:24,000, allowing for detailed topographical representation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDetailed shading techniques represent elevation and topography, giving the map a vivid and dynamic appearance.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIllustrates significant elevation changes characteristic of the mountainous landscape of northern New Mexico.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOffers a historical snapshot of the Santa Fe area in the early 1950s, useful for comparison with contemporary maps to understand urban and ecological change over time.\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":58780935979392,"sku":null,"price":83.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58780936012160,"sku":null,"price":224.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":58780936044928,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":58780936077696,"sku":null,"price":83.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58780936110464,"sku":null,"price":224.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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