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1957 Map of West Monroe South

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of West Monroe South
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1964
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1964

About this map

Cheniere Brake dominates the western portion of this 1957 survey, a complex wetland environment where land and water blur into a series of named islands like Pine Island and Joes Island. This distinctive landscape of cypress-rich brakes and bayous defined the rural economy and geography south of West Monroe, where the Illinois Central and Tremont and Gulf railroads provided vital industrial links.

Southward through Bawcomville and Wilds, the terrain shifts toward the winding Ouachita River, marked by levees and floodgates that protected the developing settlements. For the family historian, the map preserves the exact locations of several country institutions and burial grounds, including the Old Sardis and New Sardis cemeteries near Lapine, as well as several rural schools and churches such as Woodlawn Sch and Pleasant Hill Ch.