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1898 Map of Fort Payne

Name: 1898 Topographic Map of Fort Payne
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1964
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1964

About this map

Fort Payne serves as the focal point of this late nineteenth-century survey, situated at the base of Lookout Mountain along the Alabama Great Southern RR. The landscape is defined by the steep, parallel ridges of Shinbone Ridge and Sand Mountain, with a network of gaps such as Winston Gap and Portersville Gap providing vital passage for early roads.

A robust river-and-rail economy is evident along the Coosa River, where numerous river crossings like Hardwick Ferry, Sewell Ferry, and Lawrence Ferry connected rural communities before modern bridges were common. Industrial and social life is marked by local landmarks including Sloan Mill, Abernathy Mill, and the Pine Grove church. In the southern reaches, the Rome and Attala RR winds toward Gadsden, illustrating the era's expanding transportation infrastructure through Cherokee Co and Etowah Co.