A map about an unrealized future, drawn to indicate where the Texas & Pacific Railroad would pass once it was built west of Shreveport.

The Index Line stretched all the way from Logansport north to the Red River.

An undated photograph depicts "a busy Saturday in Durant, Bryan County, Oklahoma."

This French map from 1783 combines European claims and native America.

In 1929, the U.S. legislature wanted to eliminate toll bridges across the Red River (and other places) due to scandalous behavior.

This 1824 German map of Arkansas Territory is a lot more illuminating than many others from the same period I've encountered.

Zebulon Pike's journey to the Red River was beset with problems and intrigue.

The Red River is a shifty river, but that's not meant as an insult.

Sanborn Maps from the 1880s tell me that the burning building was the Crockett Hotel in Bonham, Texas.

Wegefarth County was platted and promoted in 1873 to white homesteaders to push out native people.

The Cossatot River derives from a French word meaning"crushed head," and in 1833, it was to be spanned by a toll bridge.

The Cross Timbers is well defined on this 1844 map by Josiah Gregg.

The Central National Road connected Dallas, Texas to Washington, Arkansas.

Mercer's Colony in northeast Texas received permission in January of 1844 to form a separate land grant process from Peters Colony.

One of my favorite maps of the Red River is Nicolas de Fer's illustrated map published in France in 1718.

A map from 1872 details some original cattle trails that ran through Texas after the Civil War.

I was pleasantly surprised to recognize that the Jefferson to Shreveport Waterway still exists as Twelve Mile Bayou.

Fort Lynn was a lumber town in southwest Arkansas surrounded by several logging camps.

Two maps of the rapids at Alexandria during the Civil War reside in the Library of Congress.

Why was there an outrage about this map that landed in the newspapers?