Published in 1943 from survey data gathered in 1939, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Clarksdale” presents a finely measured portrait of one of the Mississippi Delta’s most evocative towns at the threshold of wartime America. At a scale of 1:62,500, the map balances regional scope with local precision, placing Clarksdale within its surrounding network of roads, railways, waterways, farms, and small settlements. The original title is spare, but the geography it names is richly suggestive: Clarksdale was already a commercial and cultural hub of the Delta, a place where cotton agriculture, riverine landscapes, and African American musical traditions converged. The map captures that landscape before later transformations in transportation, mechanized farming, and urban expansion altered the rhythms of the region.

The U.S. Geological Survey brought to this map the disciplined visual language that made its topographic sheets indispensable to engineers, planners, travelers, and scholars. Contour lines, color distinctions, gridded references, and a clear hierarchy of roads and water features create a precise yet elegant representation of the terrain. In the Delta, where elevation changes are often subtle rather than dramatic, such cartographic detail is especially revealing. Slight rises, drainage patterns, lowlands, and the relationships between fields and waterways become legible through careful linework. The result is not merely a diagram of place, but a measured interpretation of landscape—one that allows the viewer to read settlement, movement, agriculture, and hydrology together in a single, coherent geographic composition.

Clarksdale itself appears as the organizing center of the sheet, surrounded by the agricultural countryside that shaped its economy and identity. Roadways and railways radiate across the map, underscoring the town’s role as a gathering point for cotton, commerce, and regional travel. The surrounding settlements, farms, forested patches, and cultivated tracts speak to a working landscape formed by plantation histories, tenant farming, and market exchange. This was a region of deep cultural complexity: the same roads and rail lines that carried crops and goods also connected musicians, laborers, churches, juke joints, and communities. In that sense, the map quietly traces the infrastructure behind the Delta blues, locating Clarksdale within the wider geography that nourished one of America’s defining musical traditions.

Water is central to the character of the mapped region. Rivers, creeks, drainage channels, and low-lying areas structure the surrounding countryside, reflecting the Delta’s dependence on both fertile alluvial soils and constant negotiation with water. The map’s topographic treatment helps reveal how settlement and agriculture followed the imperatives of drainage, access, and elevation. Even minor variations in terrain could shape where roads were laid, where farms flourished, and where wooded or wetter ground remained less developed. The interplay between waterways and transportation routes is particularly telling, presenting Clarksdale not as an isolated town but as part of a wider environmental system. The map records a landscape made productive through human labor, yet still governed by the enduring presence of riverine geography.

As a historical document, the 1943 “Clarksdale” sheet offers a compelling snapshot of the Mississippi Delta as it stood in the late 1930s. It shows a region on the cusp of profound change: before the full impact of postwar highway development, large-scale agricultural mechanization, and population shifts that would reshape Delta towns and rural communities. Its roads, rail corridors, land patterns, and settlement names preserve evidence of an earlier economic order, while its careful topography records the natural conditions underlying that order. For collectors drawn to maps with cultural resonance, this sheet is especially powerful. It unites scientific mapping with the geography of blues history, cotton agriculture, and Southern urban development, rendering Clarksdale as both a precise place and a storied landscape.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Clarksdale
• Towns surrounding Clarksdale
• Roadways
• Railways
• Water bodies and rivers
• Contour lines indicating elevations
• Valleys and elevated regions
• Nearby agricultural areas
• Forested regions

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey
• Data from 1939, published in 1943
• Scale: 1:62,500
• Historical topographical map of Clarksdale, Mississippi, and its surrounding areas
• Highlights Clarksdale as a significant Mississippi Delta location known for its cultural heritage, especially blues music
• Features a grid system and contour lines representing elevation
• Uses clear visual hierarchy for roadways and water bodies
• Uses color to indicate topographic elevations
• Portrays terrain, hills, and water features typical of the Mississippi region
• Captures Clarksdale in the late 1930s, showing land use, infrastructure, and urban development of the period
• Useful for history, urban studies, and environmental analysis

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.