1948 Map of Wolf Lake

About this map

The Mississippi River creates a dynamic western boundary for this Illinois-Missouri borderlands survey, where industrial rail lines and intricate flood-control structures define the valley floor. The Illinois Central and Missouri Pacific railroads parallel the river, serving a string of small settlements like Aldridge, La Rue, and Wolf Lake. Land use is sharply divided by topography; the flat alluvial plains are protected by an extensive levee system and dotted with stagnant water bodies such as Otter Pond and Running Lake, while the eastern terrain rises abruptly into the Shawnee National Forest. This transition is marked by prominent landmarks like Government Rock and Pine Hills. Numerous small country schools, including Macedonia Sch and Beech Grove School, are scattered across the landscape, reflecting the distributed rural population of the late 1940s.