Doom Town

By Ted Soqui

Seventy-five miles northwest of Las Vegas, the foreclosure epicenter of the United States, sits yet another abandoned desert neighborhood. This one was forsaken by fallout from a different era—atomic rather than financial. Actually, to call Doom Town a neighborhood is a stretch: the former Nevada Test Site is home to one wooden colonial. The mannequin families that lived there and suffered radiation exposure during atom-bomb testing in the 1950s have long since moved on. The house and other structures on the test site still stand. They don’t build them like they used to.

A range that used to be strictly off-limits to the public is now a modest tourist destination. Craters created by bomb tests that were sometimes visible from Southern California dot the landscape, as do structures and bridges in various states of atomic ruination. But not all of the tests were for military purposes; government scientists tinkered with the idea of using nukes as engineering tools on large-scale excavation projects. And there’s even a museum devoted to these dark, heady times—just a few safe blocks off the Strip back in Vegas.

“Sedan” crater, formed during tests to use nuclear bombs as engineering tools Media and officials would view explosions from here.

The pride of Doom Town: wood colonial used to model A-bomb effects on human environments Bridge destroyed by a nuclear test at Doom Town

A bunker structure, postblast

This is an excerpt of an article originally published in Slake No. 3. To read the entire story, purchase or subscribe at shop.slake.la.