Area 51 F-117 became operational in 1983, operations at Groom Lake have continued. The base and its associated runway system were expanded, including expansion of housing and support facilities. In 1995, the federal government expanded the exclusionary area around the base to include nearby mountains that had hitherto afforded the only decent overlook of the base, prohibiting access to of land formerly administered by the Bureau of Land Management. On 22 October 2015 a federal judge signed an order giving land that belonged to a Nevada family since the 1870s to the United States Air Force for expanding Area 51. According to
Kickapoo State Recreation Area was located at the junction of the Middle Fork and Salt Fork Rivers. The village was home to Kennekuk, a Native American known as the "Kickapoo Prophet," who brokered many treaties between the European settlers and Native Americans. Kennekuk was a proponent of a new form of Christianity that had elements of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The Native Americans lived in the area which is now Kickapoo State Park until sometime during the 16th century. Europeans were drawn to what is now the Kickapoo State Recreation Area with the discovery of salt springs in 1819. Most of the immigrants to