1957 Map of McCook SW

About this map

Driftwood Cr and its tributaries carve a complex drainage pattern across this high-plains landscape on the Nebraska-Kansas border. Published in the late 1950s as part of the Missouri River Basin development program, the map captures a rural transition zone where the Richland and Grant precincts meet the state line. The settlement pattern is defined by isolated rural schoolhouses, such as Banksville Sch and the evocatively named Devils Gap Sch, which served as vital community hubs for the surrounding farmsteads. Deep incisions like Cottonwood Canyon and the Valley Range break the plateau, while numerous ephemeral waterways including Plum Creek, Spring Creek, and Dry Creek suggest a terrain heavily influenced by seasonal runoff and local erosion patterns in the Finley and Driftwood areas.