1951 Map of Wingate Pass

About this map

Sandora Mine and the Virginia Ann Mine are just two of the numerous mining claims dotting the high ridges of the Slate Range in the early 1950s. This survey records a desert landscape defined by the search for minerals, with industrial sites like the Colorado Mine and Deans Mill accessed via the winding Randsburg Road. A significant portion of the territory is marked as a Naval Reservation, indicating the shift toward military use that would eventually reshape much of the Mojave. Survival in this arid environment is tied to precarious water sources such as Layton Spr, Early Spring, and the cautionary Lone Willow Spring (undrinkable). From the high point of Brown Mountain down to the floor of the Panamint Valley, the map details a world of remote prospectors and nascent defense installations.