1893 Map of Bastrop

About this map

The Colorado River winds through the heart of this Central Texas landscape, anchoring the county seat of Bastrop and the surrounding agricultural bottomlands. Surveyed in 1884, the map documents a region in the midst of its railroad-driven expansion, with the Houston and Texas Central Railroad cutting a diagonal path through the northern half of the territory. This steel corridor gave rise to and sustained critical shipping points like Elgin, McDade, and Paige, which served as vital links for the cotton and timber economies of the era. To the northeast, the distinct high ground of the Yegua Knobs rises above the drainage basins of Second Yegua Creek and Third Yegua Creek. Smaller communities and rural landmarks such as Fedor, Alum Creek, and the riverside settlement of Hills Prairie provide specific points of interest for genealogists tracing family landholdings in the late nineteenth century.