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1966 Map of Baltzer

Name: 1966 Topographic Map of Baltzer
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1967
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1967

About this map

The State Penal Farm dominates the central landscape of this Sunflower County survey, defined by a massive circular arrangement of field lines and a series of numbered outposts ranging from Camp No 2 to Camp No 12. This distinctive land-use pattern, encircled by a Penal Farm Boundary, reflects the specialized agricultural economy of the mid-20th-century Mississippi Delta. Beyond the farm perimeter, the map documents small communities like Baltzer and Lombardy, alongside the extensive Goldfield Plantation to the south.

Water and transport networks shape the surrounding terrain, with the Big Sunflower River and Black Bayou meandering through the floodplains. The Illinois Central railroad corridor passes through Fitzhugh, providing a critical link for moving local crops. Local life is anchored by numerous rural congregations and burial grounds, including New Jerusalem Ch, North Mt Olive Ch, and the Shady Grove Cem, while an ancient Indian Mound near Baltzer points to a much deeper history of the land.