1976 Map of Porters Falls

About this map

Fishing Creek carves a winding, serpentine path through the deeply dissected terrain of Wetzel County, shaping the location of the area's primary settlements. This orthophoto map, created from aerial imagery captured in the mid-1970s, reveals how the narrow valley floors dictated the placement of communities like Porters Falls and Minnie. While the upland ridges are heavily forested, the creek bottoms show the clearings of small farmsteads and transport corridors that follow the water's natural course. The map provides a unique visual record of the West Virginia landscape before modern development, showing the exact footprint of these small hamlets and the intense texture of the surrounding hillsides as they appeared in 1976.