Published in 1977 from data collected in 1974, the “Carson City Quadrangle” presents Nevada’s capital and its immediate surroundings through the disciplined lens of the U.S. Geological Survey. At the 1:24,000 scale, it offers a close, highly practical view of streets, drainage, slopes, open land, and built-up districts, while its orthophoto character gives the terrain a particularly vivid documentary quality. Rather than relying solely on conventional linework, the map integrates aerial photographic information with topographic detail, creating a textured portrait of Carson City in the mid-1970s. The result is both technically precise and historically evocative: a record of a western capital at a moment when urban expansion, road networks, agricultural land, and surrounding foothills still met in sharply legible patterns.

The U.S. Geological Survey, founded in 1879, became the authoritative cartographic institution for mapping the physical geography of the United States, and this quadrangle reflects the agency’s mature twentieth-century style. USGS maps were designed for engineers, planners, geologists, hikers, land managers, and civic authorities, yet their restrained visual language has an elegance of its own. Here, the muted palette and photographic base emphasize evidence over ornament, giving the viewer a sense of looking directly down onto the landscape as it existed when surveyed. Contours, roads, water features, and cultural details are carefully organized, allowing Carson City’s urban grid to be read alongside the more irregular forms of foothills, washes, agricultural parcels, and open desert-margin terrain.

Carson City occupies a setting of unusual geographic drama, positioned near the transition between the Sierra Nevada to the west and the basin-and-range landscapes of western Nevada. The map captures this meeting of civic and natural forms: residential neighborhoods, public roads, and developed corridors are set against hills, valleys, and geological features that define the capital’s surroundings. Nearby Washoe Lake and the broader route toward Lake Tahoe help situate the city within a region shaped by water, mountains, and passageways across difficult terrain. Highways and local roads show the connective tissue of the area, linking urban development with recreation, agriculture, and the mineral-rich landscapes that long influenced Nevada’s settlement and economy.

The orthophoto format is one of the map’s most compelling features. By incorporating aerial imagery corrected for scale and distortion, the map conveys a subtle three-dimensional impression of landforms while preserving the measured clarity expected of a topographic sheet. Hillsides, drainage lines, field boundaries, and urban blocks emerge with a visual immediacy that conventional symbols alone cannot provide. This makes the map especially valuable as a portrait of land use: agricultural areas, parks, roads, open lots, and residential developments can be distinguished within their larger physical setting. The technique bridges scientific mapping and photographic documentation, turning the quadrangle into a precise snapshot of Carson City’s landscape during a period of modern growth.

Historically, the map records Carson City after more than a century of importance as Nevada’s political center, but before many later patterns of expansion and infrastructural change transformed the region. Founded in the nineteenth century during the era of the Comstock Lode and western migration, Carson City retained a distinctive relationship to mining history, state government, ranching, and mountain travel. In this 1970s view, the city appears as both capital and crossroads, framed by highways, recreational landscapes, and open lands that hint at pressures to come. For collectors, the “Carson City Quadrangle” is not merely a technical survey; it is a carefully observed historical document, preserving the geometry, terrain, and evolving identity of Nevada’s capital region.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Carson City
• Lake Tahoe
• Washoe Lake
• Various highways and roads surrounding Carson City
• Residential areas and urban developments within Carson City
• Geological features of surrounding mountain ranges
• Agricultural land areas
• Parks and recreational areas in the vicinity

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Carson City, Nevada, and the surrounding area.
• Data collected in 1974 and published in 1977.
• Includes orthophoto features, combining aerial photography with topographical mapping.
• Uses a muted color palette focused on accurate terrain representation.
• Shows precise elevation changes, landforms, hills, valleys, and urban areas.
• Reflects land use and urban development in the Carson City area during the 1970s.
• Provides insight into infrastructure and land-use patterns before later regional changes.

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.