1964 Map of Day School

About this map

The drainage network of Twelvemile Coulee and Sixmile Coulee defines the landscape of this Montana territory during the mid-1960s. This survey, mapped as part of the Missouri River Basin development program, captures a rural area where social life centered around localized schoolhouses like Day Sch and Nelson Southside Sch. The presence of Watson in the southwest corner indicates the small-scale settlement patterns typical of Chouteau County ranching country at the time. The map's detail, including the West Fork Sixmile Coulee and Fisher Coulee, reveals how the topography of these deep coulees dictated the placement of roads and homesteads, following the natural contours of the land rather than a strict grid.