1980 Map of Cole Spring

About this map

Cole Spring serves as a lone water source in this high-desert basin where the borders of Nye, Mineral, and Esmeralda counties converge. The landscape is dominated by the massive ridge of the Cedar Mountains and the elevated terrain of the Royston Hills, which together frame the sweeping drainage of Cirac Valley. Evidence of the region's mineral interests is visible through scattered prospects and a quarry located in the northern reaches, connected only by a network of unimproved tracks and a Jeep Trail. To the southwest, the terrain descends into the Monte Cristo (Depression) Valley, illustrating the classic basin-and-range geography of Nevada. This survey documents the area just as modern photogrammetric mapping was refining the boundary lines between the three counties in the mid-1970s.