Sunrise Mountain is located east of Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 in Clark County, Nevada

Clark County, Nevada

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...

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Even though Sunrise mountain is over 3.3 miles (5.3 km) NNW of higher peak Frenchman Mountain

Frenchman Mountain

Frenchman Mountain is located east of Las Vegas in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is not part of any mountain range. Made up of rocks similar to those found on the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Frenchman Mountain formed when faulting elevated it, giving it its sharp triangulated slope. It is the site...

 many people in the Las Vegas area refer to Frenchman Mountain as Sunrise Mountain since the sun rises from behind it. This confusion dates back many years and the National Geodetic Survey

U.S. National Geodetic Survey

National Geodetic Survey, formerly called the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey , is a United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a large number of applications of science...

 bench mark

Benchmark (surveying)

The term bench mark, or benchmark, originates from the chiseled horizontal marks that surveyors made in stone structures, into which an angle-iron could be placed to form a "bench" for a leveling rod, thus ensuring that a leveling rod could be accurately repositioned in the same place in the future...

 placed in 1947 on the summit of Frenchman Mountain is designated "Sunrise". During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the U.S. Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

maintained an airway beacon on the summit and as of 2007, remains of the tower could still be found.