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1957 Map of Girta

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Girta
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1973
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1973

About this map

Oil Wells and drilling sites pepper the hillsides of Wirt and Ritchie counties in the late 1950s, particularly within the historic Burning Springs oil field. The landscape is defined by a dense network of ridges and hollows, where local life centers on crossroads like Girta and riverbank settlements such as Enterprise and Cherry. This survey highlights a rural infrastructure of one-room schoolhouses and country churches, including the Rising Sun Sch and Wesleyan Chapel, many tucked away on secondary roads and trails.

The Hughes River and its North and South forks dominate the northern section, while the western edge follows the winding course of the Little Kanawha River. Significant local landmarks like Oil Rock and Ruble Knob overlook a terrain increasingly modified by industrial progress, evidenced by the prominent Pipeline corridor cutting across the eastern hills. Genealogists can find numerous family and community sites, such as Saratoga Cem and the Shiloh Ch, preserved at a time when traditional agricultural and extraction industries still shaped the West Virginia interior.