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1934 Map of Van Buren

Name: 1934 Topographic Map of Van Buren
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1934
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1934

About this map

The St John River forms the defining international boundary of northern Maine in this early 1930s survey, separating the settlements of Van Buren and Keegan from St Leonard in New Brunswick. The landscape is dominated by a complex network of brooks and lakes, including Hammond Brook Lake, Big Black Brook Lake, and Mud Lake, which sustained the timber and agricultural economy of the era. Evidence of early 20th-century rural infrastructure is widespread, with the Bangor and Aroostook railroad corridor paralleling the river, providing vital transport for the region's produce.

Local education and community life are marked by the presence of numerous small rural institutions such as the Cyr Plantation Sch, Bernier Sch, and several numbered schools scattered throughout Cyr and Hamlin. The terrain rises from the riverbanks toward inland features like Reservoir Hill and Doyle Ridge, while the extensive Orchard Bog and Martin Lake illustrate the transition from cultivated valley land to the dense northern woods. This map captures a borderland region where transportation routes like Route 2 and the Bangor and Aroostook Highway No 1 tied these northern outposts to the rest of the state.