Titled “Jasper,” this 1967 United States Geological Survey topographic map, published with a 1968 imprint, captures a dramatic corner of northwestern Arkansas at a moment when the Ozark landscape was becoming increasingly valued for recreation, conservation, and scenic travel. Centered on Jasper, a small Newton County community set amid steep hills and wooded hollows, the map presents the surrounding terrain with the clarity and authority for which USGS quadrangles are renowned. Roads, waterways, valleys, ridgelines, and settlement patterns are carefully organized into a precise visual record of the late-1960s landscape, making the map both a practical geographic document and a compelling historical portrait of the Ozarks before many later changes in tourism infrastructure and land management.

The map’s traditional USGS style is especially well suited to the rugged Ozark Plateau. Fine contour lines reveal the region’s broken relief: narrow valleys, abrupt slopes, high ridges, and winding drainage channels that define the country around Jasper. The color language is classic and legible, distinguishing water, vegetation, roads, built features, and elevation with disciplined economy. Rather than dramatizing the terrain through pictorial embellishment, the map lets the land speak through measurement and form. The result is a quietly elegant cartographic composition in which every curve of a creek bed and every bend in a road conveys the physical demands of moving through this mountainous Arkansas landscape.

Jasper’s setting near the Buffalo River gives the map particular resonance. The Buffalo, one of the great natural corridors of the Ozarks, threads through a landscape of bluffs, forests, gravel bars, and secluded valleys. In the years after this map was made, the river would become nationally celebrated for its wild character and recreational importance, eventually protected as a national river. Here, the surrounding hydrology is shown in its preeminent role: the Buffalo River and Little Buffalo River organize settlement, travel routes, and terrain. The map preserves the relationship between water and community, showing how towns, roads, and trails clustered around the few navigable passages through a steep and wooded region.

Beyond Jasper, the map situates the viewer within a broader Ozark world of small communities, forested uplands, and rural routes. Places such as Mount Judea and Gilbert evoke the region’s dispersed settlement pattern, where towns and hamlets are separated by ridges, hollows, and river crossings rather than by mere distance. Highways and local roads trace practical paths through the terrain, while marked trails hint at recreational use and older ways of traversing the hills. Nearby parks, forest lands, lakes, unnamed peaks, and valleys deepen the sense of a landscape defined as much by natural form as by human presence, where habitation remains closely tied to topography.

Produced by the US Geological Survey, the map reflects the agency’s mid-twentieth-century mission to provide rigorous, standardized geographic knowledge for public use. At 1:24,000 scale, it records landforms, transportation networks, watercourses, and cultural features with a level of detail prized by hikers, planners, engineers, and historians alike. Today, its historical interest lies partly in comparison: it shows the Jasper area as understood and mapped in the late 1960s, before subsequent shifts in conservation policy, outdoor tourism, road improvement, and regional development. As a document of both science and place, it offers a richly textured view of the Ozarks—measured, exacting, and quietly evocative.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Jasper, Arkansas
• Buffalo River
• Ozark National Forest
• Mount Judea
• Gilbert
• Little Buffalo River
• Lakes
• Several unnamed valleys and peaks
• Highways and local roads
• Trails
• Nearby parks and recreational areas

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey as a historical 1:24,000 topographical map.
• Created in 1967 and published in 1968.
• Shows Jasper, Arkansas, and the surrounding area.
• Jasper is notable for its outdoor attractions and is often considered a gateway to the Ozark National Forest.
• Uses traditional USGS topographic styling, with relief shown through contour lines.
• Uses varied colors to illustrate terrain, vegetation, and other map features.
• Shows detailed elevation changes, indicating the hilly and mountainous terrain typical of the Ozark region.
• Reflects late-1960s land use and topographical understanding of the area.
• Offers insight into later changes in land use, conservation efforts, and infrastructure development.

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.