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1954 Map of Iliad

Name: 1954 Topographic Map of Iliad
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1955
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1955

About this map

Iliad and its surrounding prairie landscape are documented here during the mid-1950s as part of a development program for the Missouri River Basin. The topography is defined by a network of drainage channels including Chip Coulee, Sandstone Coulee, and Sage Coulee, which carve through the high plains toward the river system. The small settlement of Iliad is centered near the Iliad Sch, reflecting the sparse, school-district-based social structure of rural Chouteau County at the time.

Evidence of the agrarian economy is visible in the placement of the Windmill and several water sources such as an Artesian Well and various spillways. The southern portion of the map is dominated by the dramatic rise of Eightmile Bench, where the terrain transitions into complex breaks and draws like Eightmile Coulee and Clinard Coulee. This survey provides a precise look at the land before modern intensive irrigation changed many of these high-bench drainage patterns.