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1918 Map of Beardsley

Name: 1918 Topographic Map of Beardsley
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1918
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1918

About this map

The Great Northern (Browns Valley Line) cuts across the southern portion of this landscape, anchoring the settlements of Beardsley and Barry within a rural prairie environment defined by a remarkable density of early country schools. The northwest corner is dominated by the sprawling waters of Lake Traverse, where the South Dakota Minnesota boundary line follows the center of the lake.

This 1916 survey reveals a highly organized township system, including Browns Valley and Arthur, where the placement of institutions like Round Mound School, Theake School, and Twingrove School suggests a well-distributed agrarian population before the era of school consolidation. Smaller water features such as Flood Slough and Fogarty Lake break up the sectioned farmland, illustrating the natural drainage patterns that shaped local land use and transportation during the early twentieth century.