Construction on the site started on December 13, 1965, and the first traverse team (named SPQML II) arrived in early 1966.

The base was in continuous use until January 29, 1969, when it was closed but mothballed for future use,[3] and was the most remote and coldest of any United States stations on the continent.

A select team of four scientists and four navy personnel were on constant duty at the station, which was under the command of a naval medical doctor.

The effective altitude, due to polar circulation vortex was in excess of 4,000 metres (13,123 ft), making the base a useful location for high-altitude research.

The buildings on the base were assembled from five pre-fabricated units flown in by Hercules C-130 aircraft with ski landing gear.

A 32 metres (105 ft) meteorological tower was erected with instruments at varying heights to monitor the persistent thermal air inversion layer above the Antarctic snow.

One primary purpose of the base was solar observations, given the high altitude, clear air, and relative shorter distance to the Sun during the austral summer.

On 22 December 2007, the Norwegian-U.S. Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica visited the base and entered the buildings, finding that it was mostly intact.