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1962 Map of Groom Mine SW

Name: 1962 Topographic Map of Groom Mine SW
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1963
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1963

About this map

Nellis Air Force Range and the Nevada Test Site dominate this Cold War-era landscape, where the high desert terrain of the Emigrant Valley was repurposed for national security and atomic research. Published in cooperation with the Atomic Energy Commission, the map documents a strictly controlled environment marked by a Military Test Reservation Site Boundary and an Alpha Contaminated Area.

Evidence of specialized operations is found in the network of technical infrastructure, including the Calibration Strip Road and various underground cables. While the Rhyolite Hills provide a natural western anchor, the valley floor reveals human activity through a lonely water tank and an abandoned airstrip, illustrating the rapid evolution and shifting needs of military testing during the early 1960s.