Hard to Believe, But True

[W. Gray]

Watching the returns from North Carolina this evening, I was reminded of one of North Carolina's almost claims to fame.

During the project to develop the atomic bomb, scientists needed a place to test their first bomb.

Looking around they decided on New Mexico.

Only one test was made after which it was decided to go live on Japan.

After World War II, the US needed a place to test atomic bombs on a regular basis and set up a list of suitable sites in candidate states.

Nevada was subsequently selected with the result New Mexico remains the only state other than Nevada in which an atomic bomb has been exploded. Today, twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall, ordinary citizens can walk over the still radioactive site at Trinity.

Nevada won the "contest," but three other states were considered as the permanent place for atomic bomb testing:

New Mexico
Utah
Nevada
North Carolina

North Carolina was considered a safer place for testing than Nevada because it was believed prevailing winds would carry fallout out over the Atlantic Ocean.

The final decision came because the US did not own enough land in North Carolina and it would take too long to buy the land.