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1894 Map of Catawissa

Name: 1894 Topographic Map of Catawissa
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1920
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1920

About this map

The Susquehanna River bends sharply at Catawissa, a vital transportation junction where the Catawissa Bridge and Bloomsburg Ferry connected the region before the full dominance of the automobile. This survey captures the intensive industrial landscape of the late nineteenth century, dominated by a dense web of competing rail lines including the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Catawissa Div. and the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

To the south, the topography is defined by the sharp ridges of Locust Mountain and Big Mount Carmel Mountain, which hem in coal-era settlements such as Centralia, Mount Carmel, and Ashland. The map documents a landscape of transitions, from the agricultural plains near Mifflin X Roads and Mainville to the steep, ridge-bound mining corridors where hamlets like Locust Gap and Alaska sit perched along the rail spurs. This record preserves the location of vanished crossings and early crossroads communities like Mill Grove and Numidia before modern highway development bypassed these mountain gaps.