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1920 Map of Heceta Head

Name: 1920 Topographic Map of Heceta Head
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1944
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1944

About this map

Heceta Head L H and the adjacent Coast Guard Station anchor this coastal survey, where the Pacific shoreline meets the dense timber of the Siuslaw National Forest. Surveyed in 1918, the landscape is defined by its series of interconnected freshwater bodies near the coast, including Sutton Lake, Mercer Lake, and Munsel Lake. These lakes are separated from the ocean by dunes and ridges, such as Heceta Head and Sea Lion Point, which created a complex maritime navigation environment before modern development.

Further inland, the map captures a rural educational network including Big Creek School and Mercer School, serving scattered homesteads in the steep drainage basins of Big Creek and Cape Creek. Transport is concentrated at the southern edge where the Southern Pacific RR follows the Siuslaw River near the Florence City Boundary. This era shows the region just as the timber industry and rail connections were beginning to integrate these isolated coastal valleys.