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1968 Map of Wharton

Name: 1968 Topographic Map of Wharton
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1977
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1977

About this map

Pond Fork and the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad corridor serve as the primary industrial artery through this section of Boone County during the late 1960s and 1970s. The landscape is defined by the extensive footprint of the coal and gas industries, with numerous gas wells, mine portals, and tailings ponds concentrated along the narrow hollows and steep ridges of Crook Mountain. Small coal-mining settlements like Wharton, Van, and Bob White are connected by the rail line and river, showing a dense pattern of company-era growth and localized infrastructure.

Local social life is visible through the placement of landmarks such as Wharton Jr High Sch and Elizabeth Ch. The map provides detailed data for genealogists, documenting family-named locations and burial sites like the Mid Ferrell Cem. From the tipples at Bim to the remote gas wells on Big Jarrells Creek, the sheet captures a high-resolution view of the extraction economy and the communities built around it.