1961 Map of Mud Lake

About this map

Mud Bayou winds through a complex coastal marshland on this 1961 survey, revealing the shifting boundary between the Texas mainland and the open Gulf of Mexico. This low-lying landscape is defined by its water management and maritime transit, most notably the Intracoastal Waterway cutting straight across the northern marsh. The transition from the inland Mud Lake and the North Prong to the sandy shoreline is marked by subtle human interventions, including a lone Gate, a navigational Turn, and a location noted simply as Shell. These features, along with a stretch of Highway 87, illustrate the era's sparse coastal development along the border of Jefferson and Chambers counties before later environmental shifts and modern infrastructure reshaped the shoreline.