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1908 Map of Lancaster

Name: 1908 Topographic Map of Lancaster
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1918
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1918

About this map

The Mississippi River valley dominates this early twentieth-century survey of Grant County, defining the border between Wisconsin and Iowa. Riverside communities like Cassville, Potosi, and North Buena Vista highlight the era's reliance on the water for transport and commerce. Inland, the seat at Lancaster serves as a hub for a landscape defined by deep valleys and high ridges, including Panther Hollow and Eagle Point.

Rail transport was crucial to the regional economy, with the Chicago and Northwestern RR and the Chicago Milwaukee and St Paul RR winding through the terrain to connect towns such as Fennimore, Stitzer, and Mount Ida. The map preserves the locations of numerous small nineteenth-century settlements and post offices like Buena Vista (British Hollow), Diamond Grove, and Beetown, providing a look at the rural social geography of the Driftless Area before modern highway development.