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1918 Map of Heart Butte

Name: 1918 Topographic Map of Heart Butte
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1918
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1918

About this map

The Blackfeet Indian Reservation dominates the northern half of this landscape, where the plains meet the rising front of the Rockies. To the south, the Lewis and Clark National Forest encompasses the high country of the Continental Divide, including peaks such as Feather Woman Mtn and Mt Patrick Gass. This 1918 edition captures a transition from mountain wilderness to the early agricultural and ranching infrastructure of the eastern plains.

Evidence of early 20th-century settlement is found in small communities like Piegan and Dupuyer, alongside a network of rural education sites including the Fish Lake School and Terryman School. The importance of water management is highlighted by the Swift Reservoir and the Conrad Canal, which diverted the many streams flowing east from the mountains, such as Birch Creek and the Dry Fork Marias River, toward the developing agricultural flats.