Map of Kodiak, Alaska by USGS, 1987 – Chiniak, Monashka Bay & St. Paul Harbor

Published in 1988 from 1987 survey data, the United States Geological Survey’s “Kodiak D-2 SE” presents a finely detailed topographical portrait of one of Alaska’s most storied maritime landscapes. At a 1:25,000 scale, the map narrows its focus to the Kodiak area, where settlement, harbor life, military infrastructure, and dramatic coastal terrain meet. Kodiak itself appears not as an isolated outpost, but as the center of a complex island environment shaped by bays, straits, roads, docks, air facilities, and rising ground. The close scale allows the viewer to read the land with unusual intimacy, tracing the relationship between human occupation and the physical forces that have long defined life on Kodiak Island.

The map’s design is characteristic of late twentieth-century USGS topographic mapping: precise, systematic, and rich in practical geographic intelligence. Contour lines articulate the steepness and rhythm of the terrain, revealing ridges, valleys, and uplands that descend toward a deeply indented coast. Color separates land and water with clarity, making Monashka Bay, St. Paul Harbor, Narrow Strait, and the surrounding unnamed waters instantly legible. Roads, trails, shorelines, and developed areas are integrated into the topographic framework, giving the map both scientific rigor and visual elegance. It is a document made for navigation, planning, and field use, yet it also possesses the austere beauty of a landscape reduced to measured form.

Kodiak occupies a place of unusual importance in Alaskan history, and this map captures that significance in geographic terms. The town’s position along sheltered waters reflects the centrality of fishing, transport, and harbor activity to the region’s economy and identity. St. Paul Harbor and adjacent waterfront areas evoke Kodiak’s role as a working port, while the presence of Kodiak Airport points to the essential importance of air connections in a state where distance, weather, and terrain complicate travel. Nearby Chiniak and the surrounding coastal routes suggest a broader network of settlement and movement across the island. The map shows a place where maritime livelihoods and modern infrastructure are inseparable from the surrounding wilderness.

The topographical character of the sheet is especially compelling, emphasizing Kodiak’s rugged coastal geometry and mountainous interior. Peaks and elevated ground are rendered through dense contouring, while shorelines curve around bays, passages, and inlets that have shaped travel and settlement for generations. Narrow Strait conveys the navigational complexity of the area, where protected channels and open water meet amid abrupt landforms. The map’s unnamed bodies of water and lesser-marked natural features lend it a sense of frontier precision: not empty space, but terrain carefully observed and recorded. For collectors, this balance between mapped certainty and wild remoteness is one of the enduring attractions of Alaskan topographic sheets.

As a historical document, “Kodiak D-2 SE” preserves the geography of the Kodiak region at a particular late Cold War moment, when Alaska’s strategic, commercial, and cultural significance remained deeply intertwined. The USGS, long respected for its authoritative surveying and national mapping programs, created such sheets to standardize geographic knowledge across even the most remote American landscapes. Here, that mission produced a meticulous record of Kodiak’s roads, trails, harbor facilities, airport, settlements, coastlines, and elevations as they stood in the late 1980s. The result is more than a utilitarian map: it is a measured snapshot of an island community shaped by sea, mountain, industry, defense, and enduring Alutiiq homeland.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Kodiak
• Chiniak
• Narrow Strait
• Monashka Bay
• St. Paul Harbor
• Kodiak Airport
• Kodiak Island
• Several unnamed bodies of water
• Various peaks and mountain ranges
• Notable trails and roads
• Possible fishing areas and docks

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical 1:25,000 topographical map focused on Kodiak, Alaska and the surrounding area.
• Based on survey data from 1987 and published in 1988.
• Produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), known for detailed geological mapping and geographic data collection across the United States.
• Emphasizes the Kodiak region, a significant Alaskan locale associated with fishing, military presence, and cultural heritage.
• Uses contour lines to show elevation changes and terrain features.
• Uses color to distinguish land and water bodies for clearer visual interpretation.
• Shows diverse topographical features, including rugged coastal and mountainous environments.
• Serves as a late 20th-century historical document showing Kodiak’s geography, settlement patterns, and infrastructure development.

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.

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

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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.