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1959 Map of Eunice

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of Eunice
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1972
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1972

About this map

The prairie landscape of St Landry Parish and Acadia Parish comes alive in this mid-century portrait, defined by its extensive network of irrigation canals and bayous. The city of Eunice serves as the regional hub, with the Southern Pacific railroad cutting a diagonal path through the southwestern Louisiana wetlands. The map reveals a rural economy transitioning from agriculture to heavy industrial extraction, evidenced by numerous oil and gas operations like the Maxie Oil and Gas Field and North Riche Oil and Gas Field.

Beyond the larger settlements of Iota and Mowata, the landscape is dotted with family-named landmarks and country institutions such as Acadia Academy and the Harmon Brigman Cem. A complex drainage system consisting of Bayou Mallet, Gully Plaquemine, and the Grand Coulee crisscrosses the territory, supporting both the local rice farming culture and the burgeoning petroleum industry of the late 1950s.