Loading map...

1963 Map of Bedford

Name: 1963 Topographic Map of Bedford
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1964
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1964

About this map

Mississippi River hydraulics and oxbow geology dominate this 1963 survey of the borderlands between Madison Parish, Louisiana, and Warren County, Mississippi. The landscape is a complex of former river channels and heavy engineering, featuring the massive Levee system protecting inland areas from the Roundaway Bayou and the main river corridor. Large landmasses like Diamond Island, Davis Island, and Togo Island illustrate how the shifting river has created a mosaic of jurisdictions, with numerous indefinite boundaries snaking through the bottomlands.

Local navigation and transport are represented by several isolated landing strips, including the Diamond Point Landing Strip and Dale Landing Strip, situated near the small settlements of Bedford and King. The presence of Crystal Springs Cem and Hodges Cem near the river's edge suggests the locations of earlier homesteads that persisted despite the volatile nature of the floodplain. Numerous oxbows like Palmyra Lake and Long Lake mark the former path of the river, now utilized for local drainage and likely providing the primary landmarks for residents in this alluvial environment.