1953 Map of Elma

About this map

The Satsop River and its multiple forks dominate this mid-century view of the borderlands between Grays Harbor and Mason Counties. In the early 1950s, the landscape was a complex mosaic of industrial timber operations and small rural outposts. The network of the Northern Pacific railroad and numerous logging routes, such as the Bingham Creek Truck Trail and the Dayton Truck Trail, illustrate the heavy reliance on timber extraction. Notable settlements like Elma and McCleary serve as the primary hubs, while smaller locales like Deckerville, Frisken Wye, and Sine appear alongside rural community centers like the Mary M Knight School and Cloquallum Grange. The presence of several distinct prairies, including Carstairs Prairie and Goose Prairie, suggests a varied topography where open grasslands met the dense reaches of the Capitol State Forest. Leisure and conservation are also evident at Schafer State Park and the Oaks Ridge Golf Course.