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1955 Map of Appalachia

Name: 1955 Topographic Map of Appalachia
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1956
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1956

About this map

Coal mining operations and company towns dominate this mid-century portrait of the Kentucky-Virginia state line. The landscape is defined by industrial extraction, with strip mines and Exeter Mine scarring the slopes of Black Mountain and Little Stone Mountain. The network of the L & N and Southern railroads serves a string of narrow mountain settlements including Appalachia, Stonega, and Roda, while a dismantled railroad north of Osaka indicates the changing footprint of the region's timber and mineral transport.

Within the Jefferson National Forest, local infrastructure like the Osaka Sch, Exeter School, and the Kilbourn Cem anchor the social geography of the valleys. The map captures the area just before the full expansion of Big Stone Gap at the confluence of the Powell River and Callahan Creek, offering a look at the dense cluster of mining camps such as Inman, Derby, and Arno during their period of high production.