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1985 Map of Austin

Name: 1985 Topographic Map of Austin
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1989
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1989

About this map

Austin and Rochester anchor the northwestern and western edges of this mid-1980s landscape, where the agricultural plains of southern Minnesota meet the increasingly complex topography of the Driftless Area. The transition is marked by the Richard J Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest, covering the rugged drainage basins of the North Fork Root River and Middle Fork Root River. This era shows the region's transportation network in a state of change, with active lines like the Chicago and North Western operating alongside an Old RR Grade that hints at former corridors.

Water systems define the local geography, from the Cedar River in the west to the deeply carved valleys near Preston and Harmony. The map details numerous small farming communities like Grand Meadow, Sargeant, and Le Roy near the Minnesota-Iowa border. Numerous quarries scattered across the sheet indicate the importance of local limestone and aggregate production to the regional economy during this period.