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1961 Map of Carrier Mills

Name: 1961 Topographic Map of Carrier Mills
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1990
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1990

About this map

Strip mines dominate this landscape in southern Illinois, revealing a mid-century terrain heavily shaped by industrial extraction between Carrier Mills and Stonefort. The map captures a moment of transition where active excavations like the Sahara Mine No 6 and Carmac Mine exist alongside purple-tinted areas designated as reclaimed strip mines. This industrial footprint overlays an older rural fabric of family cemeteries and country churches, such as South America Ch and Jenny Ridge Cem.

Water features like the South Fork Saline River and Cottonwood Pond navigate through the altered topography, while the presence of dismantled railroad beds indicates the receding infrastructure of the coal era. Smaller settlements like Delta and Newcastle appear amidst the mining tracts, alongside local landmarks like the Dykersburg Sch and Indian Camp Ch, providing a detailed record for genealogists and local historians studying the Saline County coal fields.