1964 Map of Kettle Butte NW

About this map

National Reactor Testing Station occupies a significant portion of this high-desert landscape in southeastern Idaho as it appeared in the mid-1960s. The terrain is defined by undulating basalt flows and scattered buttes, primarily within the secure boundaries of this federal atomic research installation. The map documents the jurisdictional divide between Jefferson Co and Bonneville Co, illustrating how these administrative lines intersect with the vast, undeveloped expanses used for nuclear reactor development. Aside from the occasional unimproved dirt track and bench marks such as BM 5075 and BM 4894, the sheet remains largely devoid of residential or agricultural development, preserving a specific era of cold-war era scientific land use and its topographical isolation.