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1951 Map of Butte NW

Name: 1951 Topographic Map of Butte NW
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1951
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1951

About this map

The Niobrara River and its confluence with the Keya Paha River anchor this mid-century survey of the Nebraska-South Dakota borderlands. Published as part of the Department of the Interior program for the development of the Missouri River Basin, the topography reveals a landscape of high prairie plateaus and deeply carved drainages. The rural settlement pattern of the early 1950s is defined by a dense network of numbered school districts, which were the primary civic anchors for families farming in Pleasant Valley and the McCully area.

Small-scale agriculture and ranching dictate the placement of roads and farmsteads along the winding course of Ponca Creek and the southern bluffs near Dizzy Creek. Genealogists will find particular value in the specific locations of rural schoolhouses such as School No 2 and Ponca Valley Sch, which represent the localized educational structure before the widespread consolidation of rural districts.