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1890 Map of Moberly

Name: 1890 Topographic Map of Moberly
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1943
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1943

About this map

The rail junction at Moberly serves as a primary hub for this late nineteenth-century Missouri landscape, where the iron tracks of the Wabash Railroad and the Missouri Pacific Railroad intersect. This survey, conducted shortly before the turn of the century, details a transition from the rugged drainage systems of the Middle Fork Salt River and Elk Fork Salt River to the emerging agricultural settlements of the prairie.

Evidence of early rural life is found in small communities like Middle Grove, Renick, and Dripping Spring. The geography is defined by a dense network of family-named watercourses, such as Hardin Creek and Reese's Creek, which carved the terrain before the major rail lines like the Chicago and Alton Railroad spurred the growth of towns like Sturgeon and Centralia. This record preserves the location of many smaller settlements such as Stephen and Larrabee that anchored the local economy of the late 1880s.