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1973 Map of Portageville

Name: 1973 Topographic Map of Portageville
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1973
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1973

About this map

Portageville and the surrounding alluvial plains of the Missouri Bootheel are defined here by a massive system of drainage canals, such as Main Ditch 18 and Ditch 52, which reclaimed the lowlands for agriculture. The Mississippi River dominates the eastern edge, carving deep loops like Little Cypress Bend and Merriwether Bend, while complex chutes like Pecan Chute and Tiptonville Chute illustrate the river's shifting nature near the Tennessee border.

Settlement patterns follow the St Louis San Francisco railroad line, connecting small communities like Conran, Hayward, and Stanley. For genealogists, the map is particularly dense with small family and community burial grounds, including Kimes Cem, Adams Cem, and the Arbuckle Cem. Rural social life is anchored by numerous small congregations such as New Salem Ch and Clover Hill Ch, reflecting the close-knit farming communities that thrived before the modernization of the late 20th century.