1909 Map of Clay

About this map

The Southern Pacific railroad cuts a diagonal path through this agricultural landscape at the northern edge of the Central Valley, anchoring small settlements like Clay and Cicero. Surveyed in 1907, the map illustrates a rural society organized around its waterways and local school districts. The meandering paths of Laguna Creek and Badger Creek define the natural drainage of the Cosumnes region, while the southern border is marked by Dry Creek at the Sacramento Co San Joaquin Co line. Local education is anchored by the Colony School, Laguna School, and Alabama School, providing clear geographic markers for genealogists tracing early twentieth-century families in this portion of the Sanjon De Los Moquelumnes land grant. The transition from the flat plains to the rising terrain of the Amador Branch rail line reveals the area's topographical shift toward the Sierra foothills.