Loading map...

1907 Map of Elk Point

Name: 1907 Topographic Map of Elk Point
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1907
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1907

About this map

The Missouri River and Big Sioux River converge in this 1907 survey, marking the intersection of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. The landscape is defined by the shifting waters and bottomlands of the Missouri, where river crossings like Vermilion Ferry, Ionia Ferry, and Ponca Ferry provided essential transport before widespread bridge construction. Elk Point serves as a significant rail hub, situated where the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Ry. cuts across the fertile flats.

Further inland, the terrain rises toward Spirit Mound and the bluffs overlooking Pleasant Valley. The map detail reveals a dense network of early rural centers, including Burbank, Akron, and Newcastle. The presence of oxbow formations like Mc Cook Lake and Lake Goodenough indicates the river's historical migration through the Jefferson region, offering a clear record of the Missouri's course before twentieth-century channelization.