1951 Map of Oconto NW

About this map

Educational outposts like Hillside Sch and Hog Hollow Sch define the rural landscape of Custer County in the early 1950s. This survey, conducted as part of the Department of the Interior program for the development of the Missouri River Basin, reveals a landscape organized into distinct legal townships including Delight, Grant, and Red Fern. The terrain is characterized by a dense network of intermittent drainage feeding into Cottonwood Creek and Spring Creek, punctuated by numerous windmills essential for agricultural life in this region. The Union Pacific railroad corridor cuts across the northeastern corner of the map, providing a vital link for the scattered farmsteads and schools such as Cottonwood Sch and Redfern Sch. The presence of Happy Hollow Sch in the southwest further illustrates the distributed nature of community infrastructure before the consolidation of rural school districts.