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1961 Map of Hazel

Name: 1961 Topographic Map of Hazel
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1982
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1982

About this map

The Red Lake River carves a winding course through the glacial plains of Pennington County, defining the agricultural landscape of Smiley and Silverton. This 1961 topography reveals a rural society structured by historical property lines and drainage engineering, most notably the prominent diagonal of the Old Indian Treaty Boundary that cuts across the township grids. This boundary represents a significant cartographic legacy of 19th-century land cessions, persisting as a physical and legal marker in the mid-20th century.

Local life centers around the settlement of Hazel and the Soo Line railroad, which parallels the southern boundary. The map documents the importance of local religious and funerary sites for genealogists, including St Pauli Ch and Bethania Ch, alongside the Emanuel Cem. The heavy reliance on man-made waterways is evident through named infrastructure like County Ditch No 33 and County Ditch No 21, which facilitated the conversion of prairie into productive farmland.