1934 Map of Morley

About this map

Benton serves as a focal point for this 1934 study of Scott County, Missouri, situated at a junction of regional roads and rails just as the landscape was being profoundly altered by civil engineering. The map reveals an extensive and complex drainage network, including the Headwater Diversion Channel and numerous numbered ditches like Cape Girardeau No 17 Ditch, reflecting a period of major land reclamation that transformed the swampy lowlands of the Sylvania and Moreland districts into productive agricultural territory. The rail infrastructure is particularly dense, with the Missouri Pacific RR, St Louis San Francisco RR, and St Louis Southwestern RR all intersecting near industrial hubs like Chaffee and Rockview. Local genealogists will find several rural schools preserved in these records, such as Pleasant Hill Sch and Debol Sch, which anchored the small farming communities of the early 20th century.