1955 Map of Chicot Lake

About this map

The Atchafalaya Basin Floodway dominates this mid-century landscape, revealing a complex network of bayous and wetlands at the intersection of Iberville, St. Martin, and Iberia Parishes. The survey captures the industrial and community life of the swamp, marked by the Chicot Lake Oil Field and Bayou Pigeon Oil Field. Settlement is concentrated along the waterways, where sites like Jack Miller Store and St Ann Church served residents living deep within the basin. The infrastructure of the era is evident in the Bayou Sorrel Lock and the numerous logging canals that cut through Big Island and the surrounding timberland. This document reflects a transitional period when river-based life and the burgeoning oil industry coexisted, with the Texas and Pacific RR skirting the northeastern edge near Crescent. From the Bayou Sorrel Baptist Hospital to the Bayou Pigeon Sch, the map provides a unique look at the social and economic nodes of this remote region before modern drainage and flood control projects further altered the basin's topography.