1977 Map of Tower City

About this map

The ridge-and-valley landscape of western Schuylkill County is captured here in striking detail through a late 1970s orthophotoquad. The narrow corridor of settlement follows the base of Big Lick Mountain, where the community of Tower City anchors a string of small towns including Orwin and Muir. This development pattern is dictated by the dramatic parallel ridges of the Appalachians, with the valley floors supporting both industry and residential growth along the banks of Wiconisco Creek. To the south, the terrain becomes increasingly complex as it rises into the steep, wooded slopes of Sharp Mountain, Stony Mountain, and Second Mountain. The aerial imagery clearly shows the footprint of coal-related land use and the grid patterns of established settlements like Wiconisco as they existed during the late twentieth century.