1961 Map of Skull Mountain

About this map

Nevada Test Site operations define this 1961 landscape in Nye County, showing the intersection of Cold War atomic research and the desert environment. The map details Area 400 and Area 401 within the sprawling Jackass Flats, where a Radioactive Waste Dump is specifically noted near the Cane Spring Road. A network of utility infrastructure, including an Underground Telephone Line, traverses the terrain between Skull Mountain and the high point of Lookout Peak. For historians, the inclusion of Wahmonie (Site) provides a look at a former silver mining camp that had briefly flourished decades earlier. The contrast between this pioneer history and the mid-century infrastructure, such as the Radio Tower and Horn Cutoff, illustrates the region's rapid transition into a restricted federal zone.