1900 Map of Cherry Creek

About this map

Forestville and Cherry Creek anchor this survey of the western New York plateau at the turn of the century, where the steep hillsides of Arkwright and Villenova give way to the broad valley of Johnson Creek. The landscape is defined by the heavy infrastructure of the Erie R R, with its Allegheny Division and Buffalo and Southwestern Branch threading through the lowlands to connect remote rural hamlets like Smiths Mills Sta. and South Dayton. Small settlements such as Hamlet and Charlotte Center are perched along the tributaries of Walnut Creek, illustrating a classic pattern of upland agriculture and valley-floor rail transit. A prominent Drainage Ditch in the southeast suggests early efforts to reclaim the marshy bottomlands of the Conewango and Leon borderlands for farming.