Cimarron County occupies the far western end of the Oklahoma Panhandle, with Boise City at the center and Keyes and Felt separated by large stretches of open High Plains country. U.S. 287, 385, 412, 56, and 64 converge around Boise City, while State Highways 3, 171, 325, and the western Highway 18 add the county’s longer regional connections. The Cimarron River cuts through the rugged northwest, and the Black Mesa side rises to Oklahoma’s highest terrain. This page separates road and settlement context, city distribution, waterways, and elevation, and high-resolution JPG originals of all four supplied maps are available in the download ZIP.
The county’s location is unusually distinctive. Boise City’s official website notes that Cimarron County is the only U.S. county bordered by four states other than its own: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. The western and northwestern edge is rugged and high, while the landscape falls steadily toward the broad eastern plains. The supplied elevation map captures that change with an actual range of about 1,091 to 1,516 meters.
Table of Contents
Five U.S. highways meet around Boise City
The general county map places Boise City almost at the center, where the highway pattern becomes the strongest visual feature. The city’s official site identifies U.S. 412, 287, 385, 56, and 64 as the five U.S. highways that converge there. On the map, U.S. 385 approaches from the north, U.S. 287 leaves toward the southeast, and the 412, 64, and 56 routes connect the city with the southwest and west. Oklahoma’s District 1 district attorney office also identifies Boise City as the Cimarron County seat and lists the county courthouse there.
Keyes lies northeast of Boise City near State Highway 171, with Highway 3 continuing east toward Texas County. The space between the two communities is mostly open rural country crossed by straight roads and shallow drainage lines. Toward the northern edge, the surface becomes more dissected and roads respond more noticeably to the creek valleys.
Felt provides a southwestern settlement reference along the U.S. 412 side of the county. State Highway 325 reaches into the high northwestern country toward the Black Mesa area, while Highway 18 follows the far western side. The farther west the route goes, the more the broad plain is interrupted by eroded valleys, mesa edges, and rougher relief.
The Oklahoma Historical Society notes that Cimarron County was created at statehood in 1907 and Boise City was founded in 1908 before emerging from a county-seat contest among several early communities. Modern Boise City remains the administrative and transportation center between the Black Mesa uplands and the lower eastern Panhandle. The supplied road map is designed for geographic orientation rather than live construction, closure, or travel-time information.
Boise City and Keyes show how sparse the settlement pattern is
The city-distribution map highlights only Boise City and Keyes. Boise City sits near the center and Keyes northeast, leaving most of the large county area without a highlighted urban center. Felt and the northwestern Black Mesa country remain visible only on the broader county map, so the simplified city view is most useful for understanding just how widely spaced the primary settlements are.
The CITY INDEX prints values beside the two place names, but those figures belong to the supplied map and are not reused here as current official population estimates. Reference dates can differ. The lasting geographic relationship is straightforward: Boise City is the central administrative and highway hub, while Keyes provides the main northeastern town reference.
When the city view is compared with the road map, the county’s scale becomes more obvious. The Boise City–Keyes side lies across the broad eastern High Plains, while routes west and northwest lead into a much more rugged landscape dominated by drainage cuts and high ground. In Cimarron County, distance and terrain matter as much as the locations of the towns themselves.
Cimarron River and Cold Springs Creek carve the western plateau
The northwest contains the strongest water-and-relief pattern. The Cimarron River bends across high terrain near the western side, with North Carrizo Creek and other tributaries cutting deeply into the plateau. Willow Creek and South Carrizo Creek add parallel drainage valleys nearby, making this corner visually much more dissected than the open eastern plains.
Cold Springs Creek forms a long western-interior valley, with multiple short tributaries descending from the surrounding high ground. Flag Springs Creek appears farther north and east across gentler terrain. Golf Creek on the eastern side crosses a much lower and smoother landscape, showing how drainage valleys become less deeply incised as elevation falls toward Texas County.
Currumpa Creek and Aqua Fria Creek cut long paths across the southwest, while Sand Creek drains part of the southeastern plain. A larger North Canadian–Beaver River corridor appears near the southeast corner. The important point is that drainage does not converge on one single dominant river inside the county; the northwest, southwest, and southeast contain distinct valley systems.
The water layer is useful for locating streams and understanding the direction of the valleys, but it is not a flood-hazard map, legal water-boundary record, current depth or discharge chart, or navigation product. In this dry High Plains environment, surface-flow conditions can also vary greatly with season and rainfall.
Elevation from about 1,091 to 1,516 meters falls sharply from west to east
The elevation legend reports an actual county range of about 1,091 to 1,516 meters, with a mean near 1,261 meters. Brown high ground dominates the west and especially the northwest, while green colors spread across the east and southeast. Although the entire county is part of the elevated Panhandle, the internal relief is substantial: roughly 425 meters separate the lower and higher parts of the supplied surface.
TravelOK’s Black Mesa State Park and Nature Preserve information identifies the Black Mesa summit as Oklahoma’s highest point at about 4,973 feet. That is approximately 1,516 meters, closely matching the maximum shown on the supplied county elevation map. Around the northwestern corner, the mesa surface is broken by steep drainage valleys and sharply shaded edges.
Elevation decreases toward Boise City, where yellows and lighter greens replace the darkest western browns. East toward Keyes and the Texas County line, broad green terrain becomes dominant. The broad color transition reinforces the same pattern visible in the shaded relief: the county is highest in the northwest and progressively lower toward the eastern Panhandle.
Brown represents the high end of Cimarron County’s local elevation scale, with the supplied map reaching about 1,516 meters. This layer is appropriate for county-scale comparison of mesas, uplands, and drainage valleys, not engineering. Exact parcel elevations, road grades, drainage design, and construction measurements should come from original USGS elevation data or a professional survey.
From Black Mesa to Keyes, the landscape changes across the entire Panhandle width
The western edge provides the strongest high-country reference. Around Black Mesa and the New Mexico side, the county reaches its highest elevations and the plateau is repeatedly cut by creek valleys. Traveling toward Boise City on Highway 325 and the western rural roads gradually replaces mesa edges and deeply incised terrain with a broader rolling plain.
Boise City occupies an intermediate position between those high western surfaces and the lower eastern High Plains. Its five-highway junction makes it easy to compare directions: Felt leads southwest into higher western country, while Keyes lies northeast across lower and more open terrain. The same road network therefore crosses very different elevations even though development remains sparse in both directions.
Cimarron County is better understood through distance and physical geography than through a long list of towns. The four-state boundary, Boise City’s highway convergence, the Black Mesa high point, and the Cimarron River valleys combine to give the western Oklahoma Panhandle a landscape unlike the counties farther east.
Choose the Cimarron County map for highways, drainage, or elevation
Use the general county map when you need Boise City, Keyes, Felt, U.S. 287, 385, 412, 56, and 64, or State Highways 3, 171, and 325 together. The city-distribution view is cleaner for comparing Boise City and Keyes. Choose the water map for the Cimarron River, Cold Springs Creek, Flag Springs Creek, and the county’s separated drainage valleys.
The elevation map is the clearest choice for comparing the Black Mesa high country with Boise City and the lower eastern plains. The WebP previews on the page are convenient for quick viewing, while the high-resolution JPG originals in the ZIP below are better for printing and zooming into small highway and creek labels. These maps are regional reference products and should not replace legal parcel records, live navigation, flood determinations, or survey-grade elevation data.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which major highways meet around Boise City?
U.S. 412, 287, 385, 56, and 64 meet or separate around Boise City. The city’s official website identifies this five-highway convergence as one of Boise City’s defining location features.
Where is the highest terrain in Cimarron County?
The highest terrain is in the west and especially the Black Mesa area of the northwest. The supplied elevation map reaches about 1,516 meters there and falls steadily toward Keyes and the eastern county.
Does the Cimarron River map show current flow or flood risk?
No. The water layer is a geographic reference for the river and creek valleys. Current flow, flood hazards, legal water boundaries, and safe access conditions require current hydrologic or management information.
Map File Information
The download ZIP contains high-resolution JPG originals of the Cimarron County general map, city distribution map, water map, and elevation map.
- File Type: JPG
Related Maps
Sources and references
- City of Boise City – five U.S. highways and Cimarron County’s four-state boundary context
- Oklahoma District Attorney District 1 – Cimarron County seat and courthouse information in Boise City
- TravelOK · Black Mesa State Park & Nature Preserve – Black Mesa, Oklahoma’s highest point, and official park map resources
- Oklahoma Historical Society · Cimarron County – county formation and Boise City history
- USGS National Hydrography – river and creek reference data
- USGS 3D Elevation Program – elevation and terrain reference data
Green Map creates custom-edited map images using open geographic data sources such as geoBoundaries, Natural Earth, OpenStreetMap, and government open data. These maps are edited visual materials, not raw data files, and are provided for education, documents, presentations, and graphic reference.
