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1938 Map of Gay

Name: 1938 Topographic Map of Gay
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1938
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1938

About this map

Gay stands as the primary hub along the eastern shoreline of the Keweenaw Peninsula in this late 1930s survey. The landscape is defined by the convergence of the Tobacco River and Traverse River into the cold waters of Lake Superior. As an advance sheet compiled from aerial photographs, it captures the critical transportation routes of the copper era, including the Copper Range Highway No 562 and the County Trunk road.

The map details the transition from the interior forests of Sherman township to the jagged coastline of Grand Traverse Bay. Genealogists and local historians can trace the early footprints of coastal settlements like Traverse Bay and the isolated locale of Snowshoe. Landforms such as Traverse Pt and Louis Pt frame a maritime economy that was still very much tied to the natural inlets and the demanding Great Lakes environment during the mid-twentieth century.