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1906 Map of Bayou Sara

Name: 1906 Topographic Map of Bayou Sara
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1906
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1906

About this map

St Francisville and the high bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River anchor this 1904 survey of the central Louisiana lowlands. The geography is defined by the river’s dynamic movement, most notably the prominent oxbow of the False River which isolates False Island and the expansive Grand Swamp to the west. Eastward, the landscape transitions into the rolling terrain of the Felicianas, where the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley RR and its Woodville Branch connect a network of agricultural settlements like Wakefield and Jackson.

The map reveals an era of rail-dependent commerce before the widespread channelization of the river, showing delicate details such as the Indian Mound near Alsen and the complex bayous including Bayou Grosse Tete and Bayou Poydras. The intricate creek systems, such as Thompson Creek and Sandy Creek, weave through the parishes, illustrating the drainage patterns that governed settlement placement in West Feliciana Parish and Pointe Coupee Parish at the turn of the century.