or start at the top left and work your way down

But seriously.... google the place name to find it's coordinates, plug that into an online map and then use that map as a reference to finding it on the USGS site. You can set extra display options in the "Display" block on the right of the interface. I use these to display common border, roads and topography to find my way around.
- National Atlas Interstate Labels
- National Atlas and BTS Roads
- National Atlas States
- National Atlas Counties 2001
- GTOPO60 Color Shaded Relief
- or NED shaded relief (1 arc second)
- or NED shaded relief (1/3 arc second)
You can draw a rectangle to choose the area you want to view or download, or just find the coordinates of your feature and systematically get the surrounding data by plugging in numbers.