1982 Map of Sunshine Well

About this map

Long Valley dominates the central landscape of this White Pine County region, where water sources were the critical anchors for survival and land use in the early 1980s. The topographic detail highlights a series of essential water points, including the centrally located J and J Well and the curiously named Maple Syrup Well. These wells, along with Sunshine Well and Moore Well further north, suggest a landscape organized around livestock ranching or resource extraction in an otherwise arid environment. To the south, the terrain rises sharply into the Butte Mountains, contrasting with the expansive, low-lying Alkali Flats that characterize the valley floor. The map records a specific moment of land management, documenting the network of unimproved roads and trails that connected these remote outposts before modern developments altered the high desert floor.