1983 Map of Soda Lake North

About this map

The unique desert settlement of Zzyzx and its eponymous Zzyzx Spring anchor this 1983 survey of the Mojave's arid heart. Located at the western edge of the expansive Soda Lake (Dry), this location transitioned from its mid-century role as a health spa into a center for desert research by the early 1980s. Traces of human passage and industry are etched across the basin, from the Old Government Historic Trail cutting across the lake bed to scattered evidence of mining at Prospect and a Mine Shaft. The map records a landscape shaped by water management and ranching, evidenced by a Levee, a Pipeline, and a Corral near the base of the Soda Mountains. To the east, the stark elevations of Cowhole Mtn and Rocky Mountain rise above the flat white expanse of the dry lake and its southern Marsh.