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1959 Map of Buckeye

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of Buckeye
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1962
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1962

About this map

Catahoula Lake dominates the northern landscape of this late 1950s survey, marking a complex watery environment where the borders of LaSalle, Grant, and Rapides parishes meet. The area is characterized by an intricate network of waterways like Big Bayou and French Fork, which once supported the local river economy before the proliferation of the petroleum industry. Evidence of this shift is visible in the North Saline Lake Oil Field and scattered oil wells that punctuate the traditional agricultural prairie lands.

Settlement patterns follow the higher ground, with clusters of rural life found at Buckeye, Deville, and Holloway. Genealogists will find significant detail in the placement of country churches and family-named landmarks, such as Marthas Chapel, New Hope Ch, and Guillory Cem. The presence of an Old Railroad Grade cutting across the swampy terrain near Saline Point provides a clear trace of former timber or transport routes that shaped the region's development during the early twentieth century.