Big Mountain RRS was constructed in 1956 as part of the White Alice Communication System (WACS), a defense communication network and aircraft warning system established across Alaska during the Cold War. Advances in technology made the Big Mountain installation obsolete and it was abandoned in 1979. The United States Air Force still owns 440 acres (1.8 km2) at the site, which consists of a Lower Camp alongside the airstrip and an Upper Camp on the top of Big Mountain.