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1945 Map of Crystal Lake

Name: 1945 Topographic Map of Crystal Lake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1960
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1960

About this map

The Washington Co Bay Co boundary cuts directly through this 1944 survey, a landscape defined by an extraordinary concentration of karst solution lakes and ponds in the Florida Panhandle. At the center of this network lies the settlement of Crystal Lake, situated near its namesake water body and the larger White Western Lake. The terrain is marked by a complex system of internal drainage, where water bodies like Blue Pond, Compass Lake, and Court Martial Lake occupy distinct basins within the pine-covered topography.

Evidence of New Deal-era infrastructure is visible in the presence of the C C C Road, reflecting the influence of the Civilian Conservation Corps on regional accessibility. The map preserves curious local nomenclature, from the small Shirt Tail Lake and Rattlesnake Lake to the more expansive Big Island Lake. This survey captures the area at a mid-century moment before significant modern development, showing a wilderness of water and sand hills organized around the terrestrial Base Line.