Places that you may have never heard of
As I was driving south on US-95 from Beatty, NV back to Las Vegas I saw this sign.
The name of the place was interesting so I took the exit.
Driving a few hundred yards down the exit road, I encountered this sign.
To comply with the terms of this sign I turned my car around, got back on the highway and made my way back towards Las Vegas.
The sign had already peeked my interest so when I got back to the hotel I did a little research about this place. Here is what I learned.
It’s suspected that mercury was discovered in the surroundings in the mid 1800s and the miners used a road through the area to reach the mines, thus the name. Characterized as a wasteland it went unsettled for a hundred years. The town sits just 5 miles from Hwy US95.
In 1950 the Atomic Energy Commission decided to develop Base Camp Mercury for atomic testing. Initially the AEC built office spaces and living accommodations for employees. Soon many more employees were needed requiring additional temporary facilities including housing, storage, schools, eating , church, banking, recreational and entertainment facilities. In 1954 Base Camp Mercury became Mercury, NV.
By the early 1960s there were more than 10,000 employees in Mercury. To accommodate the workforce the AEC undertook construction of more permanent facilities. The task of the AEC was to study and develop peaceful uses for nuclear energy. These activities continued for years but by the mid-1990s the nuclear testing was discontinued. As a result the town lost most of its population. Since then most of the facilities constructed for the workers have been demolished.
Mercury continues to be part of the larger Nevada National Security Site. Its mission is to operate multiple “facilities delivering technical and service solutions in support of national security”. The NNSS is overseen by the Department of Energy.
For reference this map shows Mercury (towards bottom) in relation to other military installations in southern Nevada. You can see that the map also shows the iconic and secretive Area 51 at Groom Lake.
Credit for this map:
By Finlay McWalter – USGS Topo mapsGIS data in NASA World WindNationalAtlasDreamland resortGroom Lake Desert RatGlenn CampbellFAA Aeronautical chartWikipedia maps of Nevada and the western USANevada DOT air transportation map The following will be corrected in a future version of this map:Indian Springs Air Force Auxilliary Field was renamed Creech Air Force Base in 2005The designation for Nevada State Route 374 should be drawn on the Nevada side of the border. The road’s equivalent on the California side, Daylight Pass Road, is unnumbered., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=310530
Other References:
NNSS – Nevada National Security Site
Still Interested?
Here are a few more places that you may never have heard of –
Argenta, Nevada
Aragonite, Utah
Dunphy, Nevada
Jackpot, Nevada
Rhyolite, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming
Written by:
Arnie Lee
