Old Map of Prescott, Arizona by USGS, 1973 – Prescott National Forest & Granite Mountain

Published in 1977 from survey work completed in 1973, the USGS topographic map titled “Prescott” captures one of Arizona’s most storied highland cities with scientific precision and quiet elegance. At a scale of 1:24,000, it presents Prescott not merely as an urban settlement, but as a place shaped by elevation, water, roads, forests, and mineral-rich mountains. Once the capital of the Arizona Territory, Prescott occupies a singular position in the history of the American Southwest, associated with frontier government, mining enterprise, ranching culture, and the enduring romance of the cowboy era. This map records the city during the 1970s, a moment when historic neighborhoods, expanding residential grids, and surrounding wild landscapes still stood in close and revealing proximity.

The cartographic language is unmistakably that of the United States Geological Survey: clean, disciplined, and deeply informative. Fine contour lines articulate every rise, basin, slope, and ridge, allowing the viewer to read the terrain almost as a sculptural surface. Subtle variations in shading and symbolization distinguish vegetation, open land, water, roads, trails, and developed areas, creating a layered portrait of both natural and human geography. Prescott’s street network appears with particular clarity, including the urban geometry around Gurley Street and the residential grids spreading outward from the historic core. Mountain Club Road and other routes trace the relationship between town and upland, suggesting how settlement adapted itself to the folds and constraints of Arizona’s central high country.

Beyond the city, the map opens into the rugged beauty of Prescott National Forest, where hills, drainages, and wooded elevations frame the urban basin. Granite Mountain rises as one of the defining landmarks of the region, its presence marked through dense contouring that conveys both mass and altitude. Willow Creek threads through the landscape, while the Agua Fria River system hints at the hydrological complexity of this semi-arid terrain. The map also identifies open water areas and recreational landscapes, revealing the importance of lakes, creeks, and reservoirs in a region where water has always shaped patterns of habitation, travel, and leisure. In its topographic detail, the sheet becomes a study in how Prescott exists between forest, desert edge, and mountain.

Lynx Lake and Watson Lake add striking geographical and cultural interest to the mapped area, representing places where recreation, water management, and scenery converge. These lakes became beloved local destinations, set amid rock formations, wooded slopes, and open spaces that contrast with the denser urban fabric of Prescott itself. Roads and trails radiate through the surrounding terrain, marking pathways into national forest lands and recreational zones. The map’s treatment of these features offers a vivid sense of mid-twentieth-century outdoor life in Arizona: camping, fishing, hiking, and scenic driving all embedded within a carefully surveyed landscape. The balance between built environment and natural setting is especially compelling, showing a city whose identity remained inseparable from the mountains and forests around it.

As a historical document, “Prescott” is particularly valuable for understanding the area during a period of growth and transition. The 1973 survey data preserves the arrangement of neighborhoods, roads, waterways, and undeveloped lands before later decades of expansion altered the city’s footprint. For historians, collectors, planners, and admirers of the Southwest, it offers a precise benchmark against which modern change can be measured. Yet its appeal is not only analytical. The map evokes the layered identity of Prescott: territorial capital, mining town, ranching hub, forest gateway, and mountain community. Through the refined visual grammar of USGS cartography, it transforms a specific Arizona landscape into a richly readable record of place, memory, and terrain.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Prescott
• Prescott National Forest
• Willow Creek
• Granite Mountain
• Lynx Lake
• Watson Lake
• Gurley Street
• Mountain Club Road
• Agua Fria River
• Open water areas
• Recreational areas
• Various roads and trails
• Smaller neighborhoods and residential areas in Prescott marked by grid patterns

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
• Created in 1973 and published in 1977
• Historical topographic map of Prescott, Arizona, at a scale of 1:24,000
• Derived from 1973 survey data
• Prescott was once the capital of the Arizona Territory
• The area is known for its mining and cowboy heritage
• Features contour lines showing elevation changes
• Uses shading and map symbols to depict vegetation types, land use, water, roads, trails, and developed areas
• Shows a mix of urban areas and natural landscapes, including forests and hills
• Serves as a historical record of the Prescott area in the 1970s, useful for comparing later development and environmental change

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.