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1911 Map of Slater

Name: 1911 Topographic Map of Slater
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1960
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1960

About this map

The agricultural plains of central Iowa, where the borders of Boone, Story, and Polk counties meet, are defined here by a dense grid of rural schoolhouses and the expansion of the regional rail network. Early twentieth-century life centered on small, decentralized education, with dozens of local schools such as Eureka School, Nip-and-tuck School, and Fieldberg School spaced at regular intervals across the townships of Palestine and Garden.

Transit and commerce in this era followed the lines of the Fort Dodge Des Moines and Southern RR and the Chicago Milwaukee and St Paul RR, which intersected at the hub of Slater. The map details how these tracks shaped the growth of communities like Huxley, Sheldahl, and Cambridge, while the eastern portion of the quadrangle is dominated by the course of the Skunk River. This survey captures a specific moment when the steam and electric rail lines were the primary lifeblood for grain transport and passenger travel between these tight-knit Iowa settlements.