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1972 Map of Wendover SE

Name: 1972 Topographic Map of Wendover SE
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1977
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1977

About this map

The Wendover Force Range dominates this landscape along the border of Nevada and Utah, where the high desert terrain transitions into the desolate flats of the Great Salt Lake Desert. In the early 1970s, this area served as a critical corridor for military aviation and training, anchored by the Air Auxiliary Field and a defined Military Reservation Boundary. The orthophotomap imagery reveals the stark reality of the terrain, from shifting Sand Dunes and seasonal washes to the vast, treacherous stretches of Alkali or Mud that characterize the basin floor.

Water remains a sparse but vital feature in this arid environment, evidenced by the presence of Blue Lake and a Spring (Salt) near the edge of the range. Signs of human activity outside of the military presence are minimal, limited to a lone Corral and a network of a Jeep Trail and a Trail that navigate the Elko and Tooele county lines. This survey provides a precise record of the remote borderlands before further modernization altered the isolation of the salt flats.