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1920 Map of Moonshine Hill

Name: 1920 Topographic Map of Moonshine Hill
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1920
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1920

About this map

Moonshine Hill sits at the southwestern corner of this survey, representing a significant period in the early 20th-century Texas oil boom. The map, produced in cooperation with Harris County, reveals a landscape defined by the confluence of the San Jacinto River and its East Fork. The river system’s intricate network of oxbows and backwaters is evident in named features like Horseshoe Lake, Blue Lake, and Bosman Lake.

Beyond the water, the settlement patterns of the 1920s are marked by the Huffman School and the dense clustering at Moonshine Hill. The topography illustrates the natural drainage patterns into Lost Creek and various named gullies, such as Cobb Gully and Blackland Gully, which shaped the early development of this region before the modern urbanization of the greater Houston area. It is a rare look at the basin's hydrology and small-scale land divisions during the transition from a river-focused economy to an industrial one.