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1957 Map of Lake Decade

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of Lake Decade
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1957
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1957

About this map

Point Au Fer Island and the expansive waters of Fourleague Bay dominate this mid-century look at the coastal marshes of Terrebonne Parish. The landscape is a complex network of tidewater passes and bayous, where the transition from salt marsh to fresh marsh remains an undefined boundary. The economy of the late 1950s is clearly visible in the development of the Bayou Penchant Oil and Gas Field and the Deer Island Gas Field, alongside the traditional coastal industry represented by a Shrimp Platform in the southern reaches.

Waterways like Mosquito Pass and Oyster Bayou provide the primary means of navigation through the wetlands. Notable features include the seasonally shifting Lake Decade (Lost Lake) and remote landmarks such as Blue Hammock and Rice Island. This survey, compiled from aerial photography and fieldwork by the Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission, documents the intricate shoreline before significant late-20th-century coastal erosion altered these boundaries.