1929 Map of Sawyer

About this map

The Souris River carves a deep valley through the high prairie of Ward and McHenry Counties, defining the geographic and economic life of this region during the mid-1920s. Two major rail systems, the Great Northern and the Minneapolis St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie, dictate the placement of settlements like Sawyer and Logan along the river's path. The map reveals a highly structured rural society organized into numbered school districts, such as School No 2 and School No 5, which served the farming townships of Newman, Willis, and Enrose. Early infrastructure is documented through crossing points like the Saugstad Bridge and Schilling Bridge, which provided vital links across the meandering river and its tributaries, including Wintering Creek and Oaks Creek. This survey captures the North Dakota landscape just as the rural schoolhouse system and rail-dependent grain economy reached their peak development.