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1899 Map of Charleston

Name: 1899 Topographic Map of Charleston
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1910
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1910

About this map

Charleston and its surrounding river valleys define this late nineteenth-century landscape, where industrial progress follows the winding course of the Kanawha River. The map captures a critical period of development before modern urbanization, showing a network of river locks including Lock Seven and Lock 6 that facilitated heavy transport. To the east, the extraction economy is evident at the Graham Mines, while the Chesapeake and Ohio R. R. and Kanawha and Michigan R. R. anchor the region's connectivity.

Away from the industrial river corridor, the topography rises into numerous named peaks such as Hughes Knob and Workman Knob. Smaller settlements like Winifrede and Saint Albans are firmly established, while the southern reaches near the Little Coal River remain more sparsely populated. This survey provides a look at the transition between the established state capital and the rugged coal and timber lands of the surrounding counties.