1956 Map of Cottonwood Creek SW

About this map

Black Horse Creek and Meadow Creek wind through this corner of Corson County, shaping a landscape defined by isolated rural outposts in the mid-1950s. The area demonstrates the sparse but organized settlement patterns of the South Dakota plains, where small schoolhouses served as the primary social and civic hubs. Traces of early 20th-century life are visible in the locations of Gopher Sch and Progress Sch, while a small mining footprint is preserved at the Stop Mine. The inclusion of the Homestead label and the Berry Dam reservoir suggests the persistent efforts of local families to manage water resources and maintain cattle or farming operations in this open terrain. Produced as part of a Department of the Interior program for the development of the Missouri River Basin, the map records the specific topographic character of the region following aerial photography in 1950.