1979 Map of Russ

About this map

The Osage Fork Gasconade River meanders across this rural Laclede County landscape, defining the topography of central Missouri in the late 1970s. This survey records a region characterized by small rural settlements like Russ and Orla, alongside a dense network of country churches and family burial grounds including New Hope Ch and Whitson Cem. The terrain is famously subterranean, featuring several notable karst formations such as Saltpeter Cave, Bat Cave, and the significant Big Spring near the southern boundary. Much of the northeast is protected within the Osage Fork State Forest, while the rest of the quadrangle is divided into the civil townships of Lebanon, Osage, Washington, and Franklin. The map provides a precise view of the road network and property boundaries just before modern development altered these traditional Ozark communities.