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1910 Map of Clay

Name: 1910 Topographic Map of Clay
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1940
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1940

About this map

Elk River winds in a tight, serpentine path across this landscape, defining the industrial and social life of the region during the early twentieth century. The Coal and Coke Ry follows the river's northern banks, connecting isolated timber and mining communities such as Elkhurst, Dorfee, and Dundon. The topography is dominated by steep ridges and narrow hollows, where small settlements like Big Sycamore and Eldorado PO appear as tiny outposts in the deep valleys.

Evidence of a dispersed rural economy is found in the scattered schoolhouses, including Rosetta School and Turkey School, which served the families living along the many forks of the Buffalo Creek. The complex river bends, such as Jack Bend and Eagle Bend, highlight the difficulty of travel before modern road networks, when the railroad and the river were the primary corridors for West Virginia's interior. To the south, the Chesapeake and Ohio RR cuts through the territory near Greendale and Dixie, reflecting the encroaching rail lines into the southern coalfields.