1986 Map of West of Drinkwater Lake

About this map

The Granite Mountains dominate the northern terrain of this high desert region in San Bernardino County, where dramatic elevation changes define the landscape. This mid-1980s provisional survey focuses heavily on the eastern reaches of the Fort Irwin Military Reservation, a site central to the era's desert training operations. The map provides a detailed view of the rugged topography, including several high peaks such as Nelson in the southern portion of the sheet. Surveyed through aerial photography and field checking in the early 1980s, the map reveals a landscape largely devoid of civilian infrastructure, emphasizing instead the vastness of the federal military reservation and the natural barriers formed by the arid mountain ranges of the Mojave.