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1962 Map of Mellwood

Name: 1962 Topographic Map of Mellwood
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1962
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1962

About this map

The Mississippi River dominates this early 1960s survey, revealing a landscape defined by its historical flood control and river engineering. The map documents significant hydrological changes through the Jackson Cut-Off (1941) and Sunflower Cut-Off (1942), which bypass the older meanders of Sunflower Bend. Evidence of the river's power remains etched in the terrain at the Laconia Crevasse (1913) and the Knowlton Crevasse (1916) (Knowlton Blue Hole).

Settlements like Mellwood and Ferguson are connected by the Illinois Central railroad and river transport hubs like Cessions TH. For genealogists, the map is a dense record of early community life, particularly in the numerous rural churches and cemeteries such as Zion Traveler Ch, Jerusalem Cem, and Strangers Home Ch. The complex border between Phillips County and Coahoma County follows the erratic, shifting path of the river, leaving former islands and peninsulas like Island No 65 isolated by new channels.