Ray,
Thanks for that. Maybe I'll shrink it down after I find a suitable bulkhead door to apply it to The San Juans and the Four Corners region are a little distant to actually be part of this, but I have a number of such subtle inside jokes transplanted from else where in the nuke complex that are part of the scenery and industry on the layout. It's a way of blowing off a little steam in a productive manner when relaxing.
Yeah, this is most likely related to past testing and the interpretation of signals from it. Otherwise, the US Geological Survey does most seismology for the government through the National Earthquake Information Center (the USGS is the successor to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which handled this before 1973.)
So ask yourself why a nuke lab is so interested in rocks and [ahem] "earthquakes" (which I'm sure is true, as far as the statement goes, but there's much more they're interested in)?
And the U of C is the longtime operator of the national laboratories like LL and Los Alamos, as well as worked closely on the testing program.
Why still the interest? Every time a new quake happens, it provides additional insight into local geology and allows refinement of various models used for what was formerly called "long range detection." The rest is a long story, but this fits right in, thus the diss and my interest in what you found.
Thanks!
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanNoticed the New Boston Mine has seismic gear inside it. Any idea how long that's been there? Any signage as to the purported ownership/operator? The sat-link is obviously of relatively recent vintage, but makes me wonder if the instruments were there before the early 90s, when the last of underground nuclear testing took place at the Nevada Test Site.
Could be. The sign said it belongs to the University of CA and the US Government. Here's the sign:
Great photos, Ray, and it looks like it was an enjoyable trip (except for the bumper incident).Thanks for letting us ride along in pictures.
Wayne
Nice truck and I bet the rockets help keep traffic moving
Noticed the New Boston Mine has seismic gear inside it. Any idea how long that's been there? Any signage as to the purported ownership/operator? The sat-link is obviously of relatively recent vintage, but makes me wonder if the instruments were there before the early 90s, when the last of underground nuclear testing took place at the Nevada Test Site.
My research involves the early history of the US nuclear intelligence program. Among the very first test shots in Nevada in late 1951 were several used to calibrate the seismic detection network. The signals were picked up by various earthquake monitoring systems typically associated with university research, but also by the initial research and training stations used for developing the seismic network, which were located in Wyoming.
Later in the Cold War, the assumption that geology in Nevada was comparable to that around Soviet test sites came into question as more was learned about such local geology, so more effort was put into studying these differences to refine the intelligence derived from such monitoring. Makes me wonder if the New Boston instruments were originally placed as part of those Cold War efforts or is more recent vintage? The fact that a door off a ship was used to secure it makes me suspect more than the usual sort of security involved may point to that.
If you want to dig through my dissertation for more on such Cold War history, it's available as a free PDF download at: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90554
I may just have to model such a station at one of the several out of production mines on the layout, although the active mining that goes on may compromise the signals with lots of extraneous noise (part of the fun of distinguishing nuclear shots from ordinary underground explosions.)
I always enjoy these. Thanks for sharing!
Rob Spangler
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your trip. I have always enjoyed the photos of your In-Ko-Pah Railroad as well as modeling skills. Your website also is a wealth of information for people like me who enjoy the history of western mining and can sure create a thirst for some On30 mine modeling as it is loaded with information and makes for very enjoyable reading. Again thanks for sharing!
Ralph
Wonderful photos. Thanks so much for sharing!
I've just finished posting the full report on my recent Nevada/Mojave ghost town trip, starting here:
http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/Nevada_Trip_2016_Part_One.html
Lots of great reference photos of mines, old buildings, machinery and some vintage railroad equipment!
These are the places I visited on the trip:
Jasper Queen Mine, CA
Corona Mine, CA
Minnietta-Keystone Mine, CA
Lookout Mine, NV
Black Butte Mine, NV
Nevada Rand Mine, NV
Nevada Scheelite Mine, NV
Red Top Mine, NV
Nevada Quicksilver Mine, NV
Pershing Mine, NV
Beacon Hill Mine, NV
Boyer Ranch, NV
Chalk Mountain Mines, NV
Westgate Mill, NV
Ellsworth, NV
Vindicator Mine, NV
Ames Camp, NV
Cloverdale, NV
Goldfield, NV
Gold Point, NV
Minnietta, CA
Lead (aka Hughes) Mine, CA
Lookout City, CA
Ballarat, CA
Goler Canyon and Newman's Cabin, CA
Lotus Mine, CA
In Goldfield, they now have a vintage train on display. It's an 0-6-0 tank engine (missing cab and other parts) and two wooden box cars. Plus some other RR equipment.
In addition to all these historic places, I also photographed some wildlife including hawks, antelope, burros, and a Great Basin rattlesnake (got some video of the snake).
Enjoy!