Loading map...

1955 Map of White Sands SE

Name: 1955 Topographic Map of White Sands SE
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1986
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1986

About this map

Fort Bliss Military Reservation dominates this mid-century landscape in the heart of the Tularosa Valley. This area, mapped shortly after the war, reflects the extensive military expansion into the New Mexico desert. The sheet delineates the White Sands Proving Ground Military Reservation Boundary, a critical dividing line during the height of Cold War weapons testing.

Evidence of earlier habitation or ranching remains scattered across the arid terrain, including isolated ruins and the Mcnew Feeder Tank. A solitary telephone line cuts through the desert, tracing a path of infrastructure through an otherwise sparse environment. The map provides a look at the interplay between remote New Mexico ranching remnants and the sprawling defense installations that came to define the region's 20th-century history.