US Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District History (1992)
Site Name: Mount Owen Rifle Range. Also known as Hammer Field Rifle Range.
Location: The site is located in Fresno County, approximately six miles northeast of Clovis, California.
Site History: Between 1942 and 1944, the U.S. Army acquired six leaseholds of 1,654.43 acres and two licenses for water pipeline right-of-way for use as a rifle range. Site improvements included: a deep water well and interconnecting water pipeline embedded under a county roadway; a rifle range including five earth berms and a concrete retaining wall; and former barracks including a mess hall, showers, latrines, a sewage system, and two concrete 1,000-gallon underground storage tanks.
The site was declared surplus by the War Department in 1946 and all leaseholds and licenses terminated in 1947. Records indicate that the barracks were closed and partially dismantled after termination of the lease.
The rifle range consists of five linear, parallel earthen berms approximately 300 feet apart. Each berm is about 600 feet long, 7 feet high, and 7 feet wide. The northernmost berm has an approximately 7-f00t high concrete retaining wall on the north side of the berm. The retaining wall contains five rooms: three rooms are approximately 6 feet by 20 feet, and 2 rooms are approximately 6 feet by 10 feet. The concrete footing on the north side of the wall is about 3 feet thick and 3 feet wide. A concrete trench, about 10 feet wide and 3 feet thick, runs the length of the structure north of the footing. The entire concrete structure is sturdy, although several hairline fractures appear throughout the structure.