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Wendover
Elko County, Nevada
Tooele
County, Utah
On
May 14, 2002, I took a few hours and traveled about Wendover. The
town is a publicist's dream come true. The town is like none
other. It is on the edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert. The first
stop on the tour should be to the Wendover Visitors Center. There Linda
Brown will make your head spin with all there is to see in town.
She will tell you about the casinos, the parks, libraries, schools and
pools. Then there is the Wendover airbase (where the Air Force trained
to drop the first atomic bombs). There's the Great Salt Lake Desert and
if you look on the mountain sides around Wendover you can see Pleistocene
ancient lake levels hundreds of feet above the valley floor. Looking
over the Salt Flats you can see the earth's curvature. Here you will
find the Bonneville Salt Flats - just east of town - where many of the first
land speed records were set. Just north of Wendover are the caves where the first inhabitants of Wendover
resided 11,000 years ago - Danger
Cave (Salt
Lake City Tribune) and Juke Box cave ( a cave big enough that the Military
once held dances in it). It isn't shown here yet, but yes, just west of
town you can see the wagon trails of the pioneers headed west. And this
is where the huge spacecraft was brought down in the movie 'Independence
Day'. Maybe I will go in the surrounding mountains and look for
pieces of the alien ship (there again, maybe not ....). There is
no other town in America like Wendover - I hope you come and experience it,
too.
| Wendover
Visitors Center |
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USGS
Topographic Map of Wendover (1972)
USGS
Aerial Photograph of Wendover (1993)
| During
World War II, Wendover Nevada was a training base for Air Force
Bombers. Most notably the base was under the command of the
509th Composite Group that consisted of 1,500 non-commissioned men and
over 220 commissioned officers. The base was under the command
of Col Paul W. Tibbetts.
The base was where the 509th trained in the US, prior to moving to the
Island of Tinian, in the Marianas Island group. Trained in the
deployment of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima (August
6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945). Japan surrendered on
August 11, 1945. |
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| On
the mountains around Wendover are still some of the insignias of the
soldiers who trained here. |
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| Remember
the movie, "It's a Mad Mad Mad World" It was under da
big "W". |
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| Old
railroad water tower |
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| Ancient
lake level marked on the surrounding mountains. |
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| Standing
on the rock point above the Wendover cemetery - looking over the
salt flats you can easily see the curvature of the earth. This
photo doesn't do justice. It is actually quite impressive. |
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| Old
Barracks at Wendover Airfield |
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| Wendover
Airfield |
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| In
this building is a museum of the Wendover Air base |
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| Wendover
- looking west |
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| State
Line and Silver Smith Casinos |
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| Wendover
Airbase |
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First
transcontinental telephone line
"On June
17, 1914, the first transcontinental telephone line was completed on
the border of Nevada and Utah at Wendover. Construction forces
of the Bell Telephone Company of Nevada and the Mountain States
Telephone and Telegraph Company met here, making the last splices in
the wires which joined East and West in voice communications for the
first time."
taken from road
sign at rest stop east of Wendover |
| Bonneville
Salt Flats
This sign is located at a rest area a
few miles east of Wendover on I-80 |
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| "Utah's
famed measured mile is located approximately seven miles beyond this
marker, well in front of the mountains you see on the horizon.
The elevation along the course is approximately 4,218 feet above sea
level. ***The total length of the course that included the measured
mile varies from year to year, but for recent runs it has been laid
out in a path 80 feet wide and approximately ten miles long, with a
black reference stripe down the middle. Due to the curvature of
the earth, it is impossible to see the one end from the other. ***
Timing of the world land-speed record runs under the jurisdiction of
the United States Automobile Club. World land-speed record times
represent an electronically-timed average of two runs over the
measured mile, within a one hour time period - one run in each
direction. *** The first world land speed record on the
Bonneville Salt Flats was set on September 3, 1935, by Sir Malcolm
Campbell. His speed was 301.13 miles per hour. *** Craig
Breedlove holds the honor of being the first man to go faster than
400, 00, and 600 miles per hour. His record of 600.601 miles per
hour, set on November 15, 1965, was finally broken on October 23,
1970, by Gary Gabelich. *** Gabelich's new record is 622.407 miles per
hour.
Both Gabelich's rocket engine 'Blue
Flame' and Breedlove's jet-powered 'Spirit of America' were equipped
with specially designed inflatable tires, pre-tested to speeds in
excess of 800 miles per hour."
Sign erected by the Goodyear
Tire and Rubber Company June, 1972 |
| Bonneville
salt flats are between Harry and the distant mountain range. The
white surface is ... no kidding ... Salt. |
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| Looking
west toward Wendover (at base of mountains). I-80 freeway is on
the left of the photo. |
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References:
Additional Information: Northeastern
Nevada Museum
If you know or would like to add anything about this page,
please let me know.
© 2002 - Elko Rose Garden Association
Recent Photos by Dan Turner 4/14/02
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