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1941 Map of Gardner Lake

Name: 1941 Topographic Map of Gardner Lake
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1958
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1958

About this map

Cathance Lake and the surrounding timberlands of Washington County define this 1941 landscape, a region where life followed the flow of water and the reach of the Maine Central railroad. The map depicts a network of small, rural outposts like Marion, Jacksonville, and Halls Mills that served as hubs for local agriculture and logging. The presence of numerous schools, including East Ridge Sch and West Ridge Sch, indicates a dispersed but established community structure at the onset of the 1940s.

The terrain is a complex of bogs, heaths, and waterways, from Hadley Lake to the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern edge. Industrial and recreational markers such as the Gilman Dam on the Dennys River and the MIT Camp near the southern shore of Gardner Lake suggest a landscape valued for both its resources and its isolation. This survey preserves the placement of family-named landmarks like Smith Ridge Sch and Pine Corner before later 20th-century developments altered the rural character of the Maine woods.