Old School Maps!

[Tools R Us]

This maybe old news to some, but new to me. The Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott has a big collection of historic maps and they sell reproductions in printed and digital format. Maybe invest in some for the library?

http://sharlot.org/archives/maps/index.html

http://sharlot.org/archives/maps/azmapdata.html

Maps like this would make exploring trips a bunch more fun.

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/map36.html

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/map878.html

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/map29.html

http://sharlot.org/archives/maps/map2.html

Downloadable Prescott trail maps.

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/trailmaps/index.html

 

[BMAN]

I might have to check out that museum next time I'm up visiting with my mom.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

This maybe old news to some, but new to me. The Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott has a big collection of historic maps and they sell reproductions in printed and digital format. Maybe invest in some for the library?

http://sharlot.org/archives/maps/index.html

http://sharlot.org/archives/maps/azmapdata.html

Maps like this would make exploring trips a bunch more fun.

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/map36.html

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/map878.html

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/map29.html

http://sharlot.org/archives/maps/map2.html

Downloadable Prescott trail maps.

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/maps/trailmaps/index.html

They might make good art for your wall but past experience has shown that you dont know how to read a map.

 

[DSRTRDR]

last time he claimed it was because he had just lost his glasses

 

[Tools R Us]

 

[DBAX]

I received as a gift a copy of a handdrawn map from a grizzled old miner type friend of mine. His (the original) was parchment paper and kind of oldish looking. Says he got it from the guy who drew it while in the Cleator town center (bar). It's basically a map of the Bradshaws. It shows Prescott and whatnot at the northern end (top), and runs clear down to Lake pleasant at the bottom, w/ I-17 running along the right side border. It's really very cool and shows hundreds of 4wd trails and mining paths in pretty good detail. The whole thing's maybe 24"x32" , and I had one shrunk to 16x22 and laminated to keep onboard and color in w/ a dry erase as I go along. It might in fact be one of the maps from the museum up there, I haven't been in to see. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Happy trails

 

[sjpitts]

Any of those maps show a road crossing the Verde River at Childs?

Jared

 

[lx450landcruiser]

also if any one is intrested these can be seen in person with appointment as well as all kinds of information about the state of AZ. i went there about 3 years ago by appointment to look around in there archives. i was there looking for info about a plane crash on yankee doodle peak. there is all kinds of intresting info in there that any one can dig through.

mike

 

[DSRTRDR]

Any of those maps show a road crossing the Verde River at Childs?

Jared

Even the DeLorme Topomap shows that. Whether you can cross is really dependent on water level. I have seen 2 minitrucks do it when the Camp Verde gauge was 80-100 cfs. I have never driven Dugas Ranch Road myself (which is on the west side of Childs), but it's on my list of things to explore, and from the traffic we heard (saw lights at night) when we once camped just downriver of Childs, it seems to be quite doable........

 

[RHINO]

ive got a few of those maps, and several from different makers around the turn of the century. including one made by a famous fellow

 

[inkpot]

Howdy! I stumbled:whoops: onto several of those old hand drawn maps with all the local points of interest on them. Seem to be fairly accurate, too. Authored by some fella named J Shotts?:shotts: Damn good work in my book!! Old maps show stuff that the younguns don't know about. John

 

[sjpitts]

Even the DeLorme Topomap shows that. Whether you can cross is really dependent on water level. I have seen 2 minitrucks do it when the Camp Verde gauge was 80-100 cfs. I have never driven Dugas Ranch Road myself (which is on the west side of Childs), but it's on my list of things to explore, and from the traffic we heard (saw lights at night) when we once camped just downriver of Childs, it seems to be quite doable........

I have crossed it there.

The reason I asked is that the Forest Service, when they were going through a planning processing to decide how they were going to manage the Verde River area, had decided the close the crossing in all their of their considered alternative plans. They did not even consider the option of keeping the river crossing open.

They claimed that there was never an established crossing there and hence they didn't need to consider leaving it open.

I still think they were full of it.

Jared

 

[RHINO]

all one has to do is go look, it was obviously a crossing or else the roads wouldnt line up right??

 

[sjpitts]

That is what I thought. In the original plan, the FS claimed it wasn't so. But it looks like in the revised plan they are at least going to keep one crossing open. Although they still claim that the roads end on opposite sides of the river.

Here is the final decision:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/verde_crmp/decision-notice.pdf
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/verde_crmp/verde-final.html

In the end, it looks like they are still closing the 502/16 crossing, which goes to Bloody Basin, but they are leaving the 57/502 crossing open, although they still say the road terminates on both sides, so they will probably close that one as well some day.

Here is what it says about these road closures:

As described in Chapter 4 of the EA, a roads analysis was conducted to evaluate access needs and environmental impacts. The following changes based on that analysis will be made to each forest’s transportation plan. The first road access to the Childs area was via FR 57 and a river ford to the power plant site. Forest Road 502 was constructed at a later date and provided more reliable access because it did not require fording the river. Crossings undoubtedly occurred at the FR 16 site, but the road was not constructed until Western Area Power Authority (WAPA) constructed the Pinnacle Peak – Flagstaff 345 kV power lines in the 1960s. Although the crossings are not part of the road systems and are not maintained, many people cross the river at these locations. Those using the crossings have included WAPA and their contractors, owners of private property on the west side of the river, various agencies’ personnel, and off-road recreation users. As summarized in Chapter 3 of the EA, the need to address road and travel management was because of the detrimental effects some roads and unauthorized cross-country travel were having on wildlife and fish habitat, and scenery. Specifically, vehicles have been creating new river crossings and have been driving up and down the riverbanks, impacting riparian vegetation, streambank stability, wildlife habitat, and water quality. This activity at the FR 16 crossing has led to motorized intrusions into Mazatzal Wilderness. Alternative 3 would have resulted in the construction of barriers to prevent access to the FR 16/FR 9206Y crossing and closure to public use of the FR 57/FR 502 crossing. Many of the comments we received supported these closures. However, we also received many comments that expressed concern on how these actions would negatively affect recreational access to the river, limit use of historic and traditional off-highway vehicle (OHV) routes, affect access in emergency situations, and favor permittees over public users. Several of those who favored leaving the crossings open suggested an alternative of constructing bridges or concrete fords. We have considered this alternative and decided that construction, and reconstruction or maintenance needs following the frequent flood events, would result in a significant increase in effects to ORVs over the level occurring with the current numbers of crossings. This alternative would also affect the free-flowing characteristics of the river. In an attempt to balance ORV protection, recreation access demands, and permittee or administrative access needs, we decided to provide for public accessacross the river from FR 57 to FR 502. Each of these roads will terminate outside the flood plain. Turnarounds and signing will be provided. Special orders prohibiting travel off designated roads will be worded to exempt cross-country travel from the terminus of one road to the terminus of the other. We have supplemented the environmental analysis and have determined that vehicular use of this crossing will not result in significant impacts to the environment or substantially affect the ORVs. However, we will monitor the effects from use of this crossing and will take further action if substantial detrimental effects to ORVs result. We will construct barriers to prevent access to the FR 16/FR 9206Y crossing, as described in Alternative 3, since that is where most of the damage to ORVs from off-road vehicular travel is occurring. OHV users wanting to complete a loop route can use FR 1676 on the west side of the river to travel between FR 16 and FR 57.