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1955 Map of Seven Islands

Name: 1955 Topographic Map of Seven Islands
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1962
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1962

About this map

The Seven Islands St John River area of northern Maine is captured here as a remote wilderness landscape defined by water and woods during the mid-1950s. This survey, conducted along the international border between Quebec and Maine, reveals a region almost entirely devoid of permanent settlements but heavily shaped by the logging industry. A network of Private roads and Jeep Trails, including the California Road, provides the only access into the backcountry.

Waterways dominate the geography, from the winding Big Black River and its Ninemile Deadwater to the namesake cluster of islands in the St. John. The presence of the Forest Service Airfield and a lonely Cem near the riverbanks suggests the transient but vital human activity in these woods. For the researcher, the map preserves the exact alignment of timber-access routes like the Jeep trails and named landmarks such as Priestly Rapids and Blood Lake before modern logging infrastructure evolved.