The Facts Behind Painted Rocks

In the 1960's, units painted the concrete donkey at the park near the officers club before they deployed to Vietnam.

The 36th Engineers, who made the donkey, didn't want to deface their creation, so they decided to paint the unit crest of the 36th on a rock near the front gate. (inset photo)

Today units completing a rotation at the NTC can request to paint a rock and add it to the Painted Rocks

And the donkey, well he went with the engineers to Vietnam.

To learn more about Fort Irwin, check out my book:
 https://www.amazon.com/National-Training-Center-Images-America/dp/1467127957

The Wheeler Survey

In the 1870’s a US Army officer, Lt. George Wheeler began a 15-year long project – to map the entire Western United States at a scale of eight miles to one inch.

Officially called the US Geological Survey West of the 100^th Meridian, Wheeler’s team created the first high quality topographical maps of the American West, to include the area now occupied by the National Training Center.

One of the earliest expeditions examined Death Valley, searching for a passage across the deadly expanse and mapping vital water sources in the area. As they passed through, the team experienced night time temperatures in the Furnace Creek area of 109 degrees. 

Timothy O’Sullivan was one member of the expedition. O’Sullivan was an established photographer, having tutored under Mathew Brady prior to the Civil War. O’Sullivan and Brady would both gain fame from their gritty photographs of the aftermath of Civil War battles.

During the expedition, O’Sullivan took hundreds of photographs to document the areas covered by the expedition. Only one exists of the Death Valley part of the expedition, and no known images of what is now Fort Irwin can be found.

It is likely that O’Sullivan would have taken photographs in Death Valley and the surrounding areas, but unfortunately one of the expedition’s boats overturned in the Colorado River, and hundreds of glass plate negatives were never recovered.

The Wheeler was one of four extensive surveys being conducted simultaneously by the US Army. The US Congress felt that the surveys were duplicating efforts and combined them into one organization, the US Geological Survey.

It's unclear if Fred Loring, pictured here, ever set foot on Fort Irwin, but the expedition would have come within miles of the current installation boundary. After leaving Death Valley, they headed to Fort Mojave and Loring left the expedition near Prescott, AZ. The original caption from the Library of Congress:

"Fred W. Loring, in his campaign costume, with his mule `Evil Merodach.' Taken about 48 hours before he was brutally murdered by Yapavi Indians, while en route from Prescott, A. T. [Ariz. Terr.] to San Bernadino, Cal., by stage. Loring had been with the [Wheeler] expedition as general assistant and correspondent, and was returning to the East with a mind stored with rare adventure and scenic wonders." By Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1871. 

To learn more about Fort Irwin, check out my book:

 https://www.amazon.com/National-Training-Center-Images-America/dp/1467127957

In the Beginning, the Story of Fort Irwin

This is the story of Fort Irwin, California.

It's not told in any particular order, it's mostly a collection of facts and pictures of the evolution of the installation from small encampment in the High Mojave Desert, to the "Crown Jewel" of US Army Training Centers.

Photograph of two Mojave braves standing along the Colorado River, taken by Timothy O'Sullivan as part of the Wheeler Expedition of 1871. The Wheeler Expedition created the first high quality topographical maps of the Fort Irwin area.  The Mojave tribe was active in the Fort Irwin area. 

To learn more about Fort Irwin, check out my book:
 https://www.amazon.com/National-Training-Center-Images-America/dp/1467127957