Black and white photo of the Ground Zero tower, displayed along the north fence.
Photo by Jim Reed
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Day One of the Atomic Age, I imagine during the eighty mile drive from Alamogordo to Trinity Site, New Mexico, was much like today except for the early morning rain postponing the experiment from 4:00 to 5:30 a.m. Darkness filled the elongated valley bordered by mountains of hard granite, solidified lava flows and eroded mesas.
The rain was undoubtedly welcomed by the sparse yet hardy vegetation decorating the valley floor. The rare summer moisture provided relief from the searing, relentless desert heat – a brief chance to rejoice and replenish moments before disappearring in an unnatural and previously unknown manner. Except for the sound of our 200 vehicle convoy headed to Ground Zero, Day One was sunny, windless and serene, just like today.
In a valley twenty or so million years of age, change comes slowly. A picture taken sixteen million years ago would look very much like a picture taken a million years later. On Day One, July 16, 1945, at Trinity Site’s Ground Zero, change came quickly.
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Church ruins at Gran Quivera Photo by Phyllis Eileen Banks.
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The Spanish gave this Anasazi village the name of Pueblo de Las Humanas (a thriving pueblo) when Oñate first approached it in 1598 to accept the oath of allegiance to Spain. Largest of the Salinas pueblos, it was occupied for nearly nine centuries, 800 A.D. to 1672 A.D. Later, Spaniards called it Gran Quivira, the object of Coronado’s and Oñate’s futile search for gold.
Coronado had taken his search for gold, rumored to be possessed by the Quiviras, almost to present-day Kansas City. According to “The Land of Poco Tiempo” by Charles F. Lummis, a classic written in 1893, the Quivira was a Teton nomad, a cousin of the Sioux, moving wherever there were buffalo, planting a little corn, and moving on, an aboriginal Gypsy. Lummis says, “it was not the end of the chimera” (wild or fantastic conception), because Oñate also chased the “Seven Cities of Cibola” story of gold. Lummis insists Gran Quivira was the pueblo of Tabira, one of the larger pueblos with about 1,500 inhabitants, and one of the three pueblo ruins in the Salinas National Monument. The other two, Abo and Quarai, are northwest of Gran Quivira.
The Gran Quivira was an important trade center before and after the Spanish entrada. Although the people resisted the newcomers representing Spain, they reconciled and borrowed freely from their culture. However, documents of the 1600s indicate strife between the Franciscan missionaries and the encomenderos. The latter were ranking citizens appointed by the Governor to provide protection, aid and education to Indians and military support for the government in return for collecting tribute. As is often the case, the system was abused.
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