posted on Oct, 29 2017 @ 12:38 PM
a reply to:
Byff70
Arrrrggghh! Please stop perpetuating this myth. There never was any sort of old military grid map with the number 51 near Groom Lake.
The numbered areas in Nevada originated with the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear proving ground in 1950, which came to be
known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS, now renamed the Nevada National Security Site). Various testing, administrative, and buffer areas were given
numbers between 1 and 30 in no particular geographic order. It was not based on any sort of map grid. These areas come in different shapes and sizes.
Several areas were added adjacent to the original NTS boundary including Area 13 (site of the Project 57 safety experiment in April 1957), Area 31 (a
buffer zone adjacent to the western edge of Area 25 near Yucca Mountain), and Area 51 (the boundary of which was established in 1955 when the CIA
built Watertown Airstrip at Groom Lake, but which was not added to the NTS as a numbered area until 1958).
The name "Area 51" was not even assigned until 1959, when a radar signature measurement range was built at Groom Lake under the designation Project
51. That project number was chosen by an accountant who simply needed a designator when filling out the paperwork for the construction project.
Tonopah Test Range has been listed in official documents as Area 52. The Central Nevada Test Area (CNTA) in Hot Creek Valley was designated Area 58.
Some area numbers have been changed over the years. Area 25 of the NTS used to be split into Area 400 and Area 401. To add confusion, Tonopah Test
Range is also subdivided into areas with some numbers duplicating those at the NTS (Area 2, Area 10, etc.). Also, some people confuse Air Force range
numbers (such as Range 61, etc.) for area numbers but there is no correspondence. The geographical placement of the assigned areas has no basis in
logic, common sense, chronological order, or geography. It appears to be entirely random.