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Doomsday
In 1961, we wait with a Park Ranger and a reporter inside Carlsbad Cavern, as a nuclear bomb is set off 34 miles away.
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TRANSCRIPT:
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Doomsday
[Radio scanning stations, crackles into doowop rendition of the hymn “Rock of Ages,” and continues to play in the background.]
INTRO: Hello, everyone! Welcome to this episode of Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages will take on a different form as we all adapt to the challenges of this year. This project has been made possible by the diligent work, research, time, and vocal talents of the interpretive staff at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. In our episode today, we wait with bated breath inside the cave . . . in 1961, to see what effect setting off a nuclear bomb 34 miles away might have on the cave. Sit back, do your best to relax, and listen to our park’s history.
[Music fades to silence.]
NARRATOR: The time is 11:45 a.m. on the morning of December 11, 1961. John Broadbent, chief ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Melinda Raven, news reporter for the Carlsbad Current-Argus, stand near Crystal Spring Dome in the Big Room. They watch as water drips from the ceiling into the cave pool at their feet. Except for park rangers Paul Spangler and Walter O’Neal, who are posted at Green Lake and Mirror Lake, they are the only people in Carlsbad Cavern on this tension-filled day. The cavern is eerily silent as a seismograph rhythmically records data in the Underground Lunchroom. Everyone is deeply engrossed in their assignments to monitor the cavern for unusual activity, waiting for the big event at 12 o’clock noon.
[Steady ticking of a stopwatch and dripping water]
[Voices echo slightly in the cavern.]
MELINDA: This is not your typical Sunday at Carlsbad Caverns, is it, Ranger Broadbent?
JOHN: [Amused] I expected this to happen: our usual Sunday deluge of visitors driving their cars up the corkscrew road to the Visitor Center and Cavern slowed to a trickle. They must be holed up in their bunkers at home! Of course, we scheduled a break in cave tours for the Project Gnome blast. We still have some brave visitors up at the surface, watching the basin below and waiting for the explosion.
MELINDA: Why did you pursue this special assignment—to be in the cave when the bomb goes off—and how did Park Superintendent Oscar Carlson react?
JOHN: I grabbed the opportunity to be part of history, to watch the cave pools for vibrations when the nuclear test happened. We easily obtained a permit, and we are happy that we could include you, Ms. Raven.
MELINDA: My watch says 11:50 a.m. Let’s review some basic facts about Project Gnome.
JOHN: I recall Dr. Edward Teller on the Atomic Energy Commission’s Nuclear Test Film. . . .
[Musical chimes, film reel playing in the background]
TELLER: The great violent power of nuclear explosions can be used for peaceful purposes. We call this Project Plowshare. The reason for the name is obvious. For quite a few years, in the Livermore Laboratory, we have tried to find ways to bend this power to useful purposes—geographical engineering—move great amounts of earth, build canals and harbors, use nuclear explosives as high explosives have been used, for the purpose of man . . . and to make new kinds of chemicals. Here I have with me a piece of salt from a mine in New Mexico. We make an explosion to find out the power of nuclear explosions in this new medium: salt.
[Film reel slowly winds down]
MELINDA: As I was saying, about Project Gnome, which is part of Project Plowshare: 34 miles southeast of here, as the crow flies, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission is about to ignite a five-kiloton nuclear bomb twelve hundred feet underground in rock salt.
JOHN: I bet that they will iodize the salt! [Chuckles]
MELINDA: Some local citizens are distressed about this experiment. Potash miners fear that it will wreck their mines; farmers worry that it will contaminate their soil. They say that the Atomic Energy Commission regards their homeland as expendable. Does the AEC regard the caverns as expendable? What are your thoughts on the subject, Ranger Broadbent?
JOHN: There has been outstanding cooperation among all the federal agencies involved in this project—the Atomic Energy Commission, the U.S. Public Health Service, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the National Park Service. While I am inside the cave, Superintendent Carlson is at the Project Gnome blast site with a front row seat to the spectacle! We have full confidence that the impact on the cave and the community will be minimal. Our colleagues at the Atomic Energy Commission have assured us that they apply atomic bombs like a master carpenter applies a saw: with precision.
MELINDA: Do you predict that rocks will fall from the ceiling? Or that stalactites will break?
JOHN: No. The dynamiting construction workers have been doing on the road leading up to the Visitor Center has probably caused more noise and vibration in the park than Project Gnome will. In five minutes, I will be excited if I can even see a vibration in the pool.
MELINDA: You seem awfully self-assured for a man who would be speaking about the fragility of the caverns on a typical workday! If a mere touch from a visitor can damage the cave—
JOHN: Distance and millions of tons of rock will shield us from the bomb.
MELINDA: I presume that if this blast succeeds, there will be more atomic bombs deployed in southeast New Mexico, perhaps to excavate oil wells or potash mines. Can you still protect the cave while using this potent technology?
JOHN: If future blasts are proposed, we will evaluate them on a case by case basis. My agency is committed to protecting the cave. I have great rapport and trust with our colleagues in the Atomic Energy Commission. They are committed to building an atomic age economy. I look forward to working with them again.
MELINDA: In the event of an atomic war with the Soviet Union, how would you feel about using Carlsbad Caverns as a fallout shelter?
JOHN: This is the “Peaceful Atom” we’re talking about here, Ms. Raven.
MELINDA: If World War III suddenly happened, would you personally take shelter in the cave?
JOHN: If that happened, I would have a lot of work to do rounding up park visitors. A park ranger’s job never ends. However, I might send my wife and children into the cave.
MELINDA: You are very sure that the rocks that surround us would protect us from the initial shock of a nuclear blast sent by Russia, but what about the radioactive fallout?
JOHN: [Thoughtfully] That question . . . merits further study.
MELINDA: It’s 11:57 a.m. by my watch.
JOHN: I’ll watch the pool. Ranger Spangler and Ranger O’Neal are watching their pools.
[Steady ticking of a stopwatch fades into the background, continues in the background]
JOHN: And the seismograph is running in the Underground Lunchroom.
MELINDA: The Doomsday Clock reads two minutes to midnight.
[Steady ticking of a stopwatch and dripping water continues, then fades into silence.]
NARRATOR: Not a ripple of water. Not a jump of the needle. Not a whisper of air. When the second hand ticked its final course to that momentous hour, life inside of Carlsbad Cavern continued without fanfare. Project Gnome proved what all the rangers already knew: in the event of a nuclear attack, Carlsbad Cavern would be the ideal location to protect the citizens from the resulting shockwaves. Preparations to turn Carlsbad Cavern into a fallout shelter were quickly set in motion. Barrels full of supplies of food and water were brought down into the cavern and placed in Pickle Alley. Large freezers were constructed for cold storage. Tightly sealed cartons contained blankets and other items necessary to combat the chilly cavern environment were quietly tucked away in discrete corners. However, Melinda Raven’s apprehension about nuclear fallout making its way into the cavern was a valid concern. Carlsbad Cavern would be able to house every person living in the City of Carlsbad. The cavern’s natural breathing could very well trap the poisonous, radioactive material citizens would want to escape. Thankfully, its true merit as a natural fallout shelter was never tested.
[Doowop rendition of the hymn “Rock of Ages” begins and continues to play in the background.]
OUTRO: We hope you had as much fun listening to this episode as we did making it. This episode featured the voices of rangers Grace Housman as Melinda Raven, Ross Studlar as John Broadbent, and Aubrey Brown as the Narrator. This episode was researched and written by Ross Studlar with additional research by Colin Walfield. Recording production was done by James Gunn and Anthony Mazzucco, music and audio engineering by Gabe Montemayor, with Abby Burlingame and Aubrey Brown at the creative helm. Join us for our next episode, coming soon! Thanks for listening. . . . See ya next time . . . and happy trails!
[Music fades to silence.]
View all episodes
By National Park ServiceIn 1961, we wait with a Park Ranger and a reporter inside Carlsbad Cavern, as a nuclear bomb is set off 34 miles away.
---
TRANSCRIPT:
---
Doomsday
[Radio scanning stations, crackles into doowop rendition of the hymn “Rock of Ages,” and continues to play in the background.]
INTRO: Hello, everyone! Welcome to this episode of Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages will take on a different form as we all adapt to the challenges of this year. This project has been made possible by the diligent work, research, time, and vocal talents of the interpretive staff at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. In our episode today, we wait with bated breath inside the cave . . . in 1961, to see what effect setting off a nuclear bomb 34 miles away might have on the cave. Sit back, do your best to relax, and listen to our park’s history.
[Music fades to silence.]
NARRATOR: The time is 11:45 a.m. on the morning of December 11, 1961. John Broadbent, chief ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Melinda Raven, news reporter for the Carlsbad Current-Argus, stand near Crystal Spring Dome in the Big Room. They watch as water drips from the ceiling into the cave pool at their feet. Except for park rangers Paul Spangler and Walter O’Neal, who are posted at Green Lake and Mirror Lake, they are the only people in Carlsbad Cavern on this tension-filled day. The cavern is eerily silent as a seismograph rhythmically records data in the Underground Lunchroom. Everyone is deeply engrossed in their assignments to monitor the cavern for unusual activity, waiting for the big event at 12 o’clock noon.
[Steady ticking of a stopwatch and dripping water]
[Voices echo slightly in the cavern.]
MELINDA: This is not your typical Sunday at Carlsbad Caverns, is it, Ranger Broadbent?
JOHN: [Amused] I expected this to happen: our usual Sunday deluge of visitors driving their cars up the corkscrew road to the Visitor Center and Cavern slowed to a trickle. They must be holed up in their bunkers at home! Of course, we scheduled a break in cave tours for the Project Gnome blast. We still have some brave visitors up at the surface, watching the basin below and waiting for the explosion.
MELINDA: Why did you pursue this special assignment—to be in the cave when the bomb goes off—and how did Park Superintendent Oscar Carlson react?
JOHN: I grabbed the opportunity to be part of history, to watch the cave pools for vibrations when the nuclear test happened. We easily obtained a permit, and we are happy that we could include you, Ms. Raven.
MELINDA: My watch says 11:50 a.m. Let’s review some basic facts about Project Gnome.
JOHN: I recall Dr. Edward Teller on the Atomic Energy Commission’s Nuclear Test Film. . . .
[Musical chimes, film reel playing in the background]
TELLER: The great violent power of nuclear explosions can be used for peaceful purposes. We call this Project Plowshare. The reason for the name is obvious. For quite a few years, in the Livermore Laboratory, we have tried to find ways to bend this power to useful purposes—geographical engineering—move great amounts of earth, build canals and harbors, use nuclear explosives as high explosives have been used, for the purpose of man . . . and to make new kinds of chemicals. Here I have with me a piece of salt from a mine in New Mexico. We make an explosion to find out the power of nuclear explosions in this new medium: salt.
[Film reel slowly winds down]
MELINDA: As I was saying, about Project Gnome, which is part of Project Plowshare: 34 miles southeast of here, as the crow flies, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission is about to ignite a five-kiloton nuclear bomb twelve hundred feet underground in rock salt.
JOHN: I bet that they will iodize the salt! [Chuckles]
MELINDA: Some local citizens are distressed about this experiment. Potash miners fear that it will wreck their mines; farmers worry that it will contaminate their soil. They say that the Atomic Energy Commission regards their homeland as expendable. Does the AEC regard the caverns as expendable? What are your thoughts on the subject, Ranger Broadbent?
JOHN: There has been outstanding cooperation among all the federal agencies involved in this project—the Atomic Energy Commission, the U.S. Public Health Service, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the National Park Service. While I am inside the cave, Superintendent Carlson is at the Project Gnome blast site with a front row seat to the spectacle! We have full confidence that the impact on the cave and the community will be minimal. Our colleagues at the Atomic Energy Commission have assured us that they apply atomic bombs like a master carpenter applies a saw: with precision.
MELINDA: Do you predict that rocks will fall from the ceiling? Or that stalactites will break?
JOHN: No. The dynamiting construction workers have been doing on the road leading up to the Visitor Center has probably caused more noise and vibration in the park than Project Gnome will. In five minutes, I will be excited if I can even see a vibration in the pool.
MELINDA: You seem awfully self-assured for a man who would be speaking about the fragility of the caverns on a typical workday! If a mere touch from a visitor can damage the cave—
JOHN: Distance and millions of tons of rock will shield us from the bomb.
MELINDA: I presume that if this blast succeeds, there will be more atomic bombs deployed in southeast New Mexico, perhaps to excavate oil wells or potash mines. Can you still protect the cave while using this potent technology?
JOHN: If future blasts are proposed, we will evaluate them on a case by case basis. My agency is committed to protecting the cave. I have great rapport and trust with our colleagues in the Atomic Energy Commission. They are committed to building an atomic age economy. I look forward to working with them again.
MELINDA: In the event of an atomic war with the Soviet Union, how would you feel about using Carlsbad Caverns as a fallout shelter?
JOHN: This is the “Peaceful Atom” we’re talking about here, Ms. Raven.
MELINDA: If World War III suddenly happened, would you personally take shelter in the cave?
JOHN: If that happened, I would have a lot of work to do rounding up park visitors. A park ranger’s job never ends. However, I might send my wife and children into the cave.
MELINDA: You are very sure that the rocks that surround us would protect us from the initial shock of a nuclear blast sent by Russia, but what about the radioactive fallout?
JOHN: [Thoughtfully] That question . . . merits further study.
MELINDA: It’s 11:57 a.m. by my watch.
JOHN: I’ll watch the pool. Ranger Spangler and Ranger O’Neal are watching their pools.
[Steady ticking of a stopwatch fades into the background, continues in the background]
JOHN: And the seismograph is running in the Underground Lunchroom.
MELINDA: The Doomsday Clock reads two minutes to midnight.
[Steady ticking of a stopwatch and dripping water continues, then fades into silence.]
NARRATOR: Not a ripple of water. Not a jump of the needle. Not a whisper of air. When the second hand ticked its final course to that momentous hour, life inside of Carlsbad Cavern continued without fanfare. Project Gnome proved what all the rangers already knew: in the event of a nuclear attack, Carlsbad Cavern would be the ideal location to protect the citizens from the resulting shockwaves. Preparations to turn Carlsbad Cavern into a fallout shelter were quickly set in motion. Barrels full of supplies of food and water were brought down into the cavern and placed in Pickle Alley. Large freezers were constructed for cold storage. Tightly sealed cartons contained blankets and other items necessary to combat the chilly cavern environment were quietly tucked away in discrete corners. However, Melinda Raven’s apprehension about nuclear fallout making its way into the cavern was a valid concern. Carlsbad Cavern would be able to house every person living in the City of Carlsbad. The cavern’s natural breathing could very well trap the poisonous, radioactive material citizens would want to escape. Thankfully, its true merit as a natural fallout shelter was never tested.
[Doowop rendition of the hymn “Rock of Ages” begins and continues to play in the background.]
OUTRO: We hope you had as much fun listening to this episode as we did making it. This episode featured the voices of rangers Grace Housman as Melinda Raven, Ross Studlar as John Broadbent, and Aubrey Brown as the Narrator. This episode was researched and written by Ross Studlar with additional research by Colin Walfield. Recording production was done by James Gunn and Anthony Mazzucco, music and audio engineering by Gabe Montemayor, with Abby Burlingame and Aubrey Brown at the creative helm. Join us for our next episode, coming soon! Thanks for listening. . . . See ya next time . . . and happy trails!
[Music fades to silence.]