1938 Map of Salem

Surface water management is a defining feature of the era, visible in the Salem Reservoir, C and E I Reservoir, and Centralia Reservoir. These bodies of water, along with named creeks like Skillet Fork and Davidson Creek, carved through the prairie to support steam-era transit and local agriculture. The map also preserves the locations of dozens of country schools, including Apple Ridge Sch and Shriver Sch, which anchored the small farming communities of Alma, Brubaker, and Iuka during the late 1930s.