2005 04 26 Tonopah
Most of this morning was spent in an old B-24 hangar at the Tonopah airport. I was here last year but not completely happy with what I got. This time I think I got what I wanted.
There are 3 of these hangars that survive, although all are in terrible shape. They are all wood and are weathering badly. The one I photographed has a roof that is quite porous now, and is so dry that a single match would take it in minutes. In fact one of these hangars burned a few years ago and was gone before the fire department could do much.
These hangars were all built during World War II and supported training until they were closed in 1946.
Here are a few shots of the hangar.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
After that I drove east and north on US6. I wanted to see the "Project Faultless" atomic test site, if there was anything there to see. This really is in the middle of nowhere. I think it is the only atomic test that did not take place inside the Nellis Test Range. And it was an enormous explosion, one megaton. It's amazing that in the 50s and 60s the US government "just did" stuff like this in Nevada. Nevada was and still is almost entirely Federal land (mostly BLM and US Forest Service) so they "just did it". Here is a short history of this atomic test. Here is another history. You can see the results of this test all around the site. About the only manmade artifact visible is the top of the metal tube that sat atop the 3200 foto deep hole. And this is only visible because the earth dropped 8 to 10 feet, revealing it. I suppose I could have used one of these while here, but I didn't have one.
A couple of snaps of the wildy inappropriately named "Project Faultless".
 |
 |
 |
The last of those three snaps is of one of many steel signs that are all over. You should be able to make out that the sign gives an altitude above sea level to two decimal places. Someone is still very interested in elevations in this area.
A sign indicating all the drilling activity. This is out on US6, about 15 miles from the site.
 |
It is interesting that there is now an extensive series of monitoring wells being drilled at this site. I talked to one of the workers there and he said they would be there all summer.
After that I drove a little further east to the "Lunar Crater" volcanic area, which is just off US 6 and quite cool. The largest crater is about the same size as Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley, except even fewer people are here. Today I didn't see anyone at all out here.
 |
There were a lot of cool rain showers and clouds while I was here. I shot some film of all that but not really any digital. There is also a very beautiful dry lake here that I would like to come back and shoot. There is black volcanic rock all over, in some places right up to the lake bed, and maybe under it.
Tomorrow I am headed back to the old courthouse in Belmont, about 60 miles north of here. I have arranged to get inside again, and I hope it's a sunny morning so the interior is lit.