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1900 Map of Silver Peak

Name: 1900 Topographic Map of Silver Peak
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1947
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1947

About this map

Silver Peak Range dominates this late-19th-century survey of the high desert along the Nevada California Boundary Line. The landscape is defined by the resource extraction economy of the era, centered on the mining operations at Mineral Ridge and the Drinkwater Mine. The industrial footprint is further anchored by the Pacific Borax Co. Mill in Fish Lake Valley, connected to the wider world via the Silver Peak R. R. which terminates near the salt flats of Clayton Valley.

Water sources are the primary landmarks for travel, with numerous named springs such as Tarantula Spring and Minnesota Spring providing essential waypoints across the arid terrain. The map also records early settlements like Silver Peak and Blair, situated near the shoreline of a playa that includes curiously named features like Goat Island and Alcatraz Island. This document captures the transition from a remote frontier to an organized mining district at the turn of the century.