Map

This map was included in the July 6, 1911 proclamation establishing the Devils Postpile National Monument. The map was drawn by Walter Huber, then a district engineer with the United States Forest Service. In 1910, after receiving a permit application for the construction of a dam and reservoir on the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River using the blasted remains of the Postpile formation, Huber met with Sierra Club officials and lobbied successfully for the protection of this unique geologic feature and the creation of the national monument. When the map was drawn, the area was otherwise unsurveyed.


No effort was made to draw an updated map based on Huber’s survey until 1934 after jurisdiction for the monument was passed to the National Park Service. That year, a party led by Theodore Cronyn from the Yosemite Engineer’s Office spent a month setting boundary lines based on Huber’s three surveyed corners. This resulted in several discrepancies. Huber's original map included the San Joaquin River through the monument while Cronyn's map excluding a river meander halfway through the monument. The shape of the monument was also changed from a rectangle to a parallelogram. In the monument's current General Management Plan, an adjustment to include the entire stretch of river and trail between the Postpile and Rainbow Falls is recommended.