Military

Granite Peak Range

Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) has extensive firing ranges equipped with velocity radar, smear and tracking cameras, and survey instrument observation points. Full recovery of projectiles and metal parts is possible on all ranges except the Granite Peak Artillery range.

In October 1943, Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) established biological warfare facilities at an isolated area within DPG (Granite Peak). In view of the limitations of Horn Island, the principal BW test station became Granite Peak, activated in June 1944, with test operations commencing shortly thereafter. The isolated terrain at Granite Peak, thirty-five miles formthe military post at dugway Proving Ground, make it a relatively safe area for testing living biological agents, and there all the major field studies were carried out.

The biological warfare installation known as Granite Peak, a 250-square mile area at Tooele, Utah, was activated in June 1944 as the principal large-scale test field. Administratively, Granite Peak was a subinstallation of Dugway Proving Ground, to which it was adjacent, and many of the administrative duties of the post were operated or supervised by the Dugway Proving Ground post commander. The biological warfare and chemical warfare field installations achieved a high degree of co-operation in their test activities. For example, the proving ground detachment flew all airplane missions required by Granite Peak operations, and existing Dugway facilities provided the meteorological forecasting service required at the Peak.80 Nevertheless, Granite Peak retained full autonomy over all its technical operations. Its test operations reached their height in July 1945, when 10 Army officers and 97 enlisted men, and 5 Navy officers and 55 Navy enlisted men were engaged in conducting tests.