Loading map...

1936 Map of Laguna Atascosa

Name: 1936 Topographic Map of Laguna Atascosa
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1945
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1945

About this map

The coastal brushland and marsh of Cameron County are dominated by the expansive Laguna Atascosa and the winding, serpentine oxbows of the Resaca de los Fresnos. This landscape, surveyed in the early 1930s, reveals a network of established family-named cattle holdings such as El Alazan Ranch, San Pedro Ranch, and La Tina Ranch, which define the region's rural economy. The presence of these ranches alongside the Cross Lake Bed suggests a terrain that was intensely managed around the seasonal availability of water.

Transportation corridors are anchored by the Missouri Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads, which clip the southern and western edges of the sheet near settlements like Lacoma. Roads like the Paredes Line Road and Old Alice Road cut straight lines through the undulating topography, connecting the isolated ranch houses to larger markets beyond the quadrangle. The intricate loops of the Resaca de los Cuates further illustrate the unique alluvial drainage patterns of the Rio Grande Delta prior to mid-century development.