LOE- Trinity Site Warren Harhay
A black stone obelisk rises out of the beige desert. This smallish pyramid of rock a monument at once to the best and the worst of mankind. Here on July 16, 1945 the vision, industriousness, genius, skill and resourcefulness of man culminated in the test of a device that quickly, efficiently and economically would kill more of humankind than any other single weapon yet devised.
There is no such monument to the lowly rock, the bow and arrow, the pistol or cannon. Yet here in the desert plain of central New Mexico sits the twelve foot high monolith commemorating man's first unleashing of the destructive forces of nature from deep within the atom.
It was a physics experiment. It was a weapons effects test. It was the beginning of a whole new age. It was Trinity. It is Trinity site.
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer coined the name. His classical education provided a philosophical insight that was married to his genius in physics and mathematics. It is unknown the actual reason for his choice of the name Trinity.
The need for this location is more reasoned and documented. There were two types of atomic bombs developed. The Uranium bomb, "Little Boy", was a gun device and there was little question that it would work. It did. Its' first "test" was at Hiroshima. What was unknown then was whether and
how well the Plutonium device, "Fat Man" would function. A test was needed. As the physics problems and the detonation methods were resolved it also became apparent that data needed to be collected to determine the bomb's yield so that the most effective detonation altitude could be
selected. Hence Trinity.
The Trinity Test Site is open to the public twice a year. The first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October. It is a scheduled "mission" for the White Sands Proving Grounds, deep within whose confines the site is located. After World War II White Sands was the playground of Werner von Braun, Ernst Stuhlinger and the other German scientists who from here launched "reflagged" V2 rockets.
It was a wonderful early fall day with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low eighties. Unlike every other time I have been in New Mexico the wind was not blowing. I’ve kidded my friend Ira Agins that the state motto really should be the “Land of Disenchantment”. On this day the state lived up to its motto as the Land of Enchantment (LOE). I had just completed my duties assisting in the LOE1K long distance motorcycle rally in Los Lunas and made my way south to Socorro and then east over
route 380 to the Stallion Gate at the northern border of the White Sands Proving Grounds. The only tip off that something was different were the warning signs along route 380 advising Amateur Radio operators that certain frequencies were off limits for usage in the area immediately ahead.
New Mexico maintains a two lane chip seal road, route 525, south to the Stallion Gate. It is about three miles to the range border checkpoint. The range facilities have "The Look". Anyone that has had experience with the Department of Energy field operations would immediately recognize "The
Look". The complex here appears much like those in Hanford Washington, Mercury Nevada and the other isolated DOE outposts. Bare, utilitarian structures devoid of even the slightest deference to architectural flair or style. A row of empty flagpoles the only concession to window dressing.
I assume that flags fly upon these poles during infrequent congressional visitations to confirm that the peoples' money thus expended has indeed been well spent. Most congressmen wouldn't be able to fathom the technicalities of what transpires here. But the flags would be pretty.
At the checkpoint gate a large red on white sign to the right lists a series of "don'ts". The message is reinforced with a handout and a booklet on the history of Trinity given by the guard who casually mentions "It's seventeen miles further ahead" without even asking our destination. We proceed ahead while passing through Stallion range station. A dozen small buildings dot the hill to the right. Each is topped by an aluminum dome of the type that shields astronomical telescopes. At the hilltop an even
larger building is topped by a white radome. Antennae bristle from the roofs of the dozen or so beige single story buildings within the complex.
And then we quickly reenter the flat desolate starkness of the desert plain. This is the Jornada del Muerto, the Journey of Death, the Dead Man's Trail. A name given by the original Spaniards traversing this area. A name aptly deserved even more so today. Only occasionally does a structure pop into view looking oddly like some lonely outhouses in this greenish beige wilderness. Fifteen minutes later a large flashing yellow illuminated and animated arrow comes into view atop a military police vehicle. It blocks the road ahead and the armed MP in full camo attire waves us to take a left turn. At the junction a sign merrily greets us with "Welcome to PHETS". As we turn left, the acronym is revealed to us as
military-govspeak for Permanent High Explosive Test Site. Welcome indeed.
Later I would learn that this facility is now being used to test new construction materials and methods. For U.S. embassies.
Now ahead a large circular area more beige than the surrounding green is apparent in the distance. Even further to the east the Oscura range rises four thousand feet above the dry alkaline basin. As we approach the site I notice that the circle is enclosed with chain link fencing topped by three rows of barbed wire. A much faded and bleached yellow-orange radiation hazard is affixed to the fence. To the right is the remains of an instrumentation bunker used during the Trinity test. It's solid concrete roof arched from the ground up to deflect the blast wave of fifty four years ago. To the right around the fenced perimeter is the parking area. Hundreds of cars are parked here. I notice the congregation of
motorcycles at the west end but avoid them and proceed directly to the front entrance of the test site. This is a bonus location for the LOE1k rally.
Ground zero is accessed through a fenced quarter mile corridor. At the entrance a green wood booth houses White Sands public information personnel willing, even anxious to answer questions. Next to the shack a open tent like canopy covers books, tee shirts and other memorabilia offered by the National Park Service. The Trinity Site is a National Historic Landmark and as such it falls under the jurisdiction of the NPS. A NPS rubber stamp and pad is available to validate the Park Service
passports. Folks doing the Iron Butt Association's National Park Tour would get a rare impression and validation.
A food vendor separates the NPS tent from another vendor of tee shirts, baseball hats and other trinkets. A row of porta-potties lines up against the perimeter fence. In front of the NPS tent a ten foot diameter pipe with steel walls fourteen inches thick sits in the sand. It is open on each end. This is "Jumbo". Never used, the two hundred ton plus vessel was built to contain the precious Plutonium if the bomb turned out to be a dud. It wasn't
I began down the quarter mile fenced corridor to Ground Zero as part of the throng of curious visitors. At one hundred yard intervals faded "Keep Out" placards were affixed to the fencing. The corridor opened into the central Ground Zero area. A tent was set up to the left of the entrance manned by
White Sands personnel eagerly demonstrating radioactive watch faces, instrument panels and Trinitite, the greenish glassy substance formed by the blast. Nothing too exotic, just fused silica with trace Plutonium.
The ground zero area is circular about 100 yards across and depressed much like the pitch of a coffee saucer. Straight ahead a flatbed truck from the Atomic Bomb Museum at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque was parked with a dummy "Fat Man" bomb casing strapped to the bed. To the left was an area
covered much like an agricultural building but only a foot high. Underneath, undisturbed and preserved as it was found fifty four years ago, lay the Trinitite fused material.
To the right was the black stone memorial with two bronze placards attached. It sat squarely in the midst of the remains of the four concrete footings for the original hundred foot tower that was vaporized by the explosion.
I stood here for about an hour. Many times the same scene was repeated. Different faces. Different accents. Dads trotted the kids in front of the monument. Grandpa asked Grandma to stand in front. Couples asked others to snap their picture. One word kept ringing out again and again.
"Smile".
Later, two Japanese tourists made there way to the obelisk.
"Smile" was not heard.
To the north of the monument almost near the fence I noticed a small mound with a rise of perhaps 3 foot at its peak. I made my way over to the radiation information tent and asked the range officer Jim Huffmyer what it was. He mentioned that I had a good question as they would like to know as well as the mound exhibits higher background radiation than the other area here. He mentioned that it very well could be an extinct gopher hole. Since the area is a National Historic Site, they were not able to just rush in with pick and shovel to find out for sure. They are in the permit application process now to determine the true source of this mystery mound.
I made my way back down the fenced corridor to the concession area. I purchased a few books and the obligatory tee shirt and set about my return to Los Lunas. And as I passed through the Jornada once again I thought about this plain filled with grayish green mesquite, pointy yucca, scorpions,
jack rabbits, rattlesnakes and centipedes and the industrious, smart and skillful men who still toil here. I wondered, if at the end of the next millennium, would they all still be here?
There is no such monument to the lowly rock, the bow and arrow, the pistol or cannon. Yet here in the desert plain of central New Mexico sits the twelve foot high monolith commemorating man's first unleashing of the destructive forces of nature from deep within the atom.
It was a physics experiment. It was a weapons effects test. It was the beginning of a whole new age. It was Trinity. It is Trinity site.
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer coined the name. His classical education provided a philosophical insight that was married to his genius in physics and mathematics. It is unknown the actual reason for his choice of the name Trinity.
The need for this location is more reasoned and documented. There were two types of atomic bombs developed. The Uranium bomb, "Little Boy", was a gun device and there was little question that it would work. It did. Its' first "test" was at Hiroshima. What was unknown then was whether and
how well the Plutonium device, "Fat Man" would function. A test was needed. As the physics problems and the detonation methods were resolved it also became apparent that data needed to be collected to determine the bomb's yield so that the most effective detonation altitude could be
selected. Hence Trinity.
The Trinity Test Site is open to the public twice a year. The first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October. It is a scheduled "mission" for the White Sands Proving Grounds, deep within whose confines the site is located. After World War II White Sands was the playground of Werner von Braun, Ernst Stuhlinger and the other German scientists who from here launched "reflagged" V2 rockets.
It was a wonderful early fall day with clear blue skies and temperatures in the low eighties. Unlike every other time I have been in New Mexico the wind was not blowing. I’ve kidded my friend Ira Agins that the state motto really should be the “Land of Disenchantment”. On this day the state lived up to its motto as the Land of Enchantment (LOE). I had just completed my duties assisting in the LOE1K long distance motorcycle rally in Los Lunas and made my way south to Socorro and then east over
route 380 to the Stallion Gate at the northern border of the White Sands Proving Grounds. The only tip off that something was different were the warning signs along route 380 advising Amateur Radio operators that certain frequencies were off limits for usage in the area immediately ahead.
New Mexico maintains a two lane chip seal road, route 525, south to the Stallion Gate. It is about three miles to the range border checkpoint. The range facilities have "The Look". Anyone that has had experience with the Department of Energy field operations would immediately recognize "The
Look". The complex here appears much like those in Hanford Washington, Mercury Nevada and the other isolated DOE outposts. Bare, utilitarian structures devoid of even the slightest deference to architectural flair or style. A row of empty flagpoles the only concession to window dressing.
I assume that flags fly upon these poles during infrequent congressional visitations to confirm that the peoples' money thus expended has indeed been well spent. Most congressmen wouldn't be able to fathom the technicalities of what transpires here. But the flags would be pretty.
At the checkpoint gate a large red on white sign to the right lists a series of "don'ts". The message is reinforced with a handout and a booklet on the history of Trinity given by the guard who casually mentions "It's seventeen miles further ahead" without even asking our destination. We proceed ahead while passing through Stallion range station. A dozen small buildings dot the hill to the right. Each is topped by an aluminum dome of the type that shields astronomical telescopes. At the hilltop an even
larger building is topped by a white radome. Antennae bristle from the roofs of the dozen or so beige single story buildings within the complex.
And then we quickly reenter the flat desolate starkness of the desert plain. This is the Jornada del Muerto, the Journey of Death, the Dead Man's Trail. A name given by the original Spaniards traversing this area. A name aptly deserved even more so today. Only occasionally does a structure pop into view looking oddly like some lonely outhouses in this greenish beige wilderness. Fifteen minutes later a large flashing yellow illuminated and animated arrow comes into view atop a military police vehicle. It blocks the road ahead and the armed MP in full camo attire waves us to take a left turn. At the junction a sign merrily greets us with "Welcome to PHETS". As we turn left, the acronym is revealed to us as
military-govspeak for Permanent High Explosive Test Site. Welcome indeed.
Later I would learn that this facility is now being used to test new construction materials and methods. For U.S. embassies.
Now ahead a large circular area more beige than the surrounding green is apparent in the distance. Even further to the east the Oscura range rises four thousand feet above the dry alkaline basin. As we approach the site I notice that the circle is enclosed with chain link fencing topped by three rows of barbed wire. A much faded and bleached yellow-orange radiation hazard is affixed to the fence. To the right is the remains of an instrumentation bunker used during the Trinity test. It's solid concrete roof arched from the ground up to deflect the blast wave of fifty four years ago. To the right around the fenced perimeter is the parking area. Hundreds of cars are parked here. I notice the congregation of
motorcycles at the west end but avoid them and proceed directly to the front entrance of the test site. This is a bonus location for the LOE1k rally.
Ground zero is accessed through a fenced quarter mile corridor. At the entrance a green wood booth houses White Sands public information personnel willing, even anxious to answer questions. Next to the shack a open tent like canopy covers books, tee shirts and other memorabilia offered by the National Park Service. The Trinity Site is a National Historic Landmark and as such it falls under the jurisdiction of the NPS. A NPS rubber stamp and pad is available to validate the Park Service
passports. Folks doing the Iron Butt Association's National Park Tour would get a rare impression and validation.
A food vendor separates the NPS tent from another vendor of tee shirts, baseball hats and other trinkets. A row of porta-potties lines up against the perimeter fence. In front of the NPS tent a ten foot diameter pipe with steel walls fourteen inches thick sits in the sand. It is open on each end. This is "Jumbo". Never used, the two hundred ton plus vessel was built to contain the precious Plutonium if the bomb turned out to be a dud. It wasn't
I began down the quarter mile fenced corridor to Ground Zero as part of the throng of curious visitors. At one hundred yard intervals faded "Keep Out" placards were affixed to the fencing. The corridor opened into the central Ground Zero area. A tent was set up to the left of the entrance manned by
White Sands personnel eagerly demonstrating radioactive watch faces, instrument panels and Trinitite, the greenish glassy substance formed by the blast. Nothing too exotic, just fused silica with trace Plutonium.
The ground zero area is circular about 100 yards across and depressed much like the pitch of a coffee saucer. Straight ahead a flatbed truck from the Atomic Bomb Museum at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque was parked with a dummy "Fat Man" bomb casing strapped to the bed. To the left was an area
covered much like an agricultural building but only a foot high. Underneath, undisturbed and preserved as it was found fifty four years ago, lay the Trinitite fused material.
To the right was the black stone memorial with two bronze placards attached. It sat squarely in the midst of the remains of the four concrete footings for the original hundred foot tower that was vaporized by the explosion.
I stood here for about an hour. Many times the same scene was repeated. Different faces. Different accents. Dads trotted the kids in front of the monument. Grandpa asked Grandma to stand in front. Couples asked others to snap their picture. One word kept ringing out again and again.
"Smile".
Later, two Japanese tourists made there way to the obelisk.
"Smile" was not heard.
To the north of the monument almost near the fence I noticed a small mound with a rise of perhaps 3 foot at its peak. I made my way over to the radiation information tent and asked the range officer Jim Huffmyer what it was. He mentioned that I had a good question as they would like to know as well as the mound exhibits higher background radiation than the other area here. He mentioned that it very well could be an extinct gopher hole. Since the area is a National Historic Site, they were not able to just rush in with pick and shovel to find out for sure. They are in the permit application process now to determine the true source of this mystery mound.
I made my way back down the fenced corridor to the concession area. I purchased a few books and the obligatory tee shirt and set about my return to Los Lunas. And as I passed through the Jornada once again I thought about this plain filled with grayish green mesquite, pointy yucca, scorpions,
jack rabbits, rattlesnakes and centipedes and the industrious, smart and skillful men who still toil here. I wondered, if at the end of the next millennium, would they all still be here?