TRINITY SITE
Photos
View of White Sands Missile Range From NM Hwy 525 (exiting southward from US Hwy 380, near Mile Marker 12), which turns into Range Rd 7.
The Trinity Site is usually opened to the public on the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.
April 2000
A line forms at the Stallion Range Center Gate, where information is handed out, 3 1/2 miles south from US Hwy 380 and 17 miles from the Trinity Site.
This is what remains of Jumbo, a 214-ton, 25-foot long steel container which hung in a tower 800 yards from ground zero on July 16, 1945. The blast did not damage Jumbo. The rounded ends were blown off after the war when eight 500-pound bombs were placed in one end and exploded. Jumbo was designed to contain the TNT explosion of the atomic bomb if the test fizzled. It was not used. If it had been, the giant thermos would have been vaporized along with its tower by the star-like fireball.
Oscura Mountains covered by clouds
The path to the site from the parking area.
One of the many visitors to the site.
The remainder of the tower.
Crater Shelter: This structure was built to replace a deteriorating wooden shelter which protected a part of the blast crater. The crater was a shallow depression lined with the glass-like Trinitite to reduce the radiation hazard. The Trinitite was graded and most of it removed. The grading raised the floor of the crater two to three feet and all but eliminated any evidence of the depression.
Inside the Crater Shelter.
The Trinity Site is enclosed by a fence.
The Fat Man Atomic Bomb casing (which was temporarily on loan at the time of the photos) is similar to the one used for the "Fat Man" bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. The bomb was carried by a B-29 strike plane called "Bock's Car." A similar plutonium device was exploded here on July 16, 1945. The atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was called "Little Boy" and was a different design using uranium. A 1989 movie titled, "Fat Man and Little Boy," starring Paul Newman covers the story of building the bomb which was exploded here. At least 200,000 people died as a result of the bombings in Japan. Japan surrendered unconditionally in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
This monument, erected in 1965, is where the world's first nuclear device was exploded on July 16, 1945. The site was designated a national historic landmark in 1975.
Trinitite is glasslike substance formed by extreme heat and pressure from the first atomic bomb explosion on 16 July 1945 and consists of melted and fused sand from the vicinity of ground zero.
These are called Trinitite Pearls because of they are round and smooth.
Piece of Uranium
This plate, Fiestaware, was popular in the 1940's-1950's. Because the glaze had lead, it was pulled off the market. It is radioactive because the soil used to get the orange color has uranium in it.
The world's first nuclear device was assembled in the McDonald Ranch House on 13 July 1945. The device was then taken to the Trinity Site, two miles away, where it was placed into a test bomb and detonated at dawn on 16 July 1945. The McDonald Ranch House has since been restored.
The north water reservoir was used as a swimming pool during the long hot summer of 1945.
History of the McDonald House: Franz Schmidt immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island at the age of 17. The young German moved west where he eventually met Esther Holmes of Pearsall, Texas. They were married in 1906. The Schmidt family moved into New Mexico, which was still a territory, and established a ranch here near the Oscura Mountains. To build the ranch, some of the land was homesteaded while some was purchased. The family's original home was about a mile from this house. The original house burned down when Esther was in town having her second child. While this house was being built in 1913, the family lived in the barn at the original homesite. They moved in here in the fall -- the oldest daughter, Frances, thinks it was September of 1913. Wood for heating and cooking was cut in the mountains and hauled back to the ranch by wagon. The woodpile was next to the water tanks. According to the family, this was a working ranch with over 12,000 sheep and about 1,000 cattle. The sheep were divided into six small herds, each with a herder and a dog. The ranch was eventually sold to a Mr. Synder because of the failing health of Franz Schmidt. The history of the ranch is not very clear after this. Sometime in the 1930's the ranch was apparently purchased by George McDonald, the last owner of the place before the government took over the land.
The Plutonium Assembly Room.
The bunkhouse which was occupied by Esther's brother, Frank Holmes, and a Norwegian stonemason, John Finago, who did the stone work around the ranch. Part of the bunkhouse was also used to store groceries and supplies. Supplies were brought to the ranch twice a year by wagon.
For more information and photos, see the White Sands Military Range Web Site.
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