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1931 Map of Driggs Lake NW

Name: 1931 Topographic Map of Driggs Lake NW
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1931
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1931

About this map

Waterways and marshlands dominate the landscape across the boundary of Alger and Schoolcraft counties in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Surveyed in 1931, this advance sheet reveals a wilderness characterized by an intricate drainage system feeding into the Driggs River and the Little Fox River. The terrain is punctuated by numerous small bodies of water, from the northern Nevins Lake and Wharf Lake to the central cluster including Driggs Lake, Cranberry Lake, and Pine Lake.

Loggers and early conservationists would find the drainage patterns of Otter Creek, Mahoney Creek, and Ross Creek significant, as they dictate the movement of water through this low-lying region. Unlike settled areas, the map is devoid of structures or roads, focusing instead on the natural hydrology and the early 20th-century effort by the Department of Conservation to document these vast wetland systems before modern development or restoration efforts changed the Michigan interior.