1960 Map of Phelps

About this map

The Sam Houston National Forest blankets much of this 1960 landscape in Walker County, where small timber-country settlements are connected by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The village of Phelps serves as a central junction, where the rail line intersects a network of rural routes like the Notch Road. To the northeast, the community of Dodge sits near the Old Railroad Grade, reflecting the area's historical reliance on timber extraction and transport. Further south, Pine Valley is established along the rail corridor, surrounded by a dense system of creeks including Winteres Bayou and San Jacinto River tributaries. This survey captures a moment when the deep piney woods of East Texas remained defined by small-scale rail hubs and isolated homesteads before the further modernization of the state highway system.