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1960 Map of Cannon City

Name: 1960 Topographic Map of Cannon City
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1961
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1961

About this map

Cannon City sits at the heart of this landscape, surrounded by the fertile agricultural terrain of Rice County at the dawn of the 1960s. The map illustrates a rural society organized by township boundaries like Wheeling and Walcott, where local education was still anchored by small country institutions such as Wide Awake Sch and Wheeling Sch. The eastern edge of Faribault is visible, marked by the State Hospital and a concentration of industrial activity including several Quarries and Gravel Pits along the Straight River.

Transportation networks define the southern half of the sheet, where the Chicago Milwaukee St Paul and Pacific railroad tracks parallel the North Branch Zumbro River near the small settlement of Ruskin. Waterways such as Prairie Creek and the Cannon River wind through the township, providing natural drainage for the numerous farms and the area surrounding Crystal Lake. This survey captures the transition of a mid-century Minnesota farming community as it maintained its traditional rural character while supporting growing regional industry.