Taking a closer look at Garden City shows the expansion in area the city experienced since 1972. They also show the proximity of the city to those center-pivot irrigation circles. Four of these circles take up almost 1 square mile, or one section, of land.

Southwest of Garden City is an area absent of irrigated crops. This marks the location of the Sandsage Bison Range Wildlife Area, a reserve for many Plains natives, including an American bison herd.

Another gap in irrigated cropland is a bit to the west of the game refuge. Marked by light spots is Holcomb Station, a coal-fired power plant operated by the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation. The plant opened in 1983, so it does not appear in the 1972 Landsat image. The 362-megawatt station uses coal mined in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.