Atomic Testing in Mississippi: Project Dribble and the Quest for Nuclear Weapons Treaty Verification in the Cold War Era

6. Salmon Run

87 6. Salmon Run While the salt under the Dribble site was contested in the courts, Hattiesburg began feeling the effects of the impending test program. Well drillers, necessary for site surveying and sampling, had been active since late 1960, sinking shafts into the caprock, salt, and surrounding soil to chart the location of aquifers and sedimentary strata. The Dribble program’s schedule had set the first nuclear shot for May 1963. This gave the contractor, Camay/Patrick Harrison, barely five months from awarding the contract to complete the job of excavating the ninety-five-foot-diameter decoupling chamber. The wells drilled through the caprock and deep into the salt dome had to penetrate numerous layers of sand, clay, and gravel. Within some of these layers were aquifers, some containing fresh water and some containing brine. Like underground rivers, the aquifers generally flowed at constant rates. Farmers and residents of the region knew the aquifers well; they had tapped them for fresh water for themselves and their livestock for many years. Eventually , water would lead to a reappraisal of the whole Dribble site; for a time it appeared that the AEC might have to leave Mississippi prematurely. The flip side of this dilemma was a benefit to Hattiesburg, because the longer the crews worked at the site the longer they would stay in the city and contribute to its economy. Despite the hubbub raised by Tatum over the condemnation of the mineral rights, the city was eager to do business with the federal government. Hattiesburg had long been an intersection of road and rail lines, and it had a commercial airport. Southern Airways and Delta Airlines operated regularly out of Hattiesburg; with the need to transport equipment and personnel to and from the test site, the air force anticipated operating from there as well. To do this, the air force needed to fly its mainstay transport aircraft, the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, from the Hattiesburg airport. The Hercules was 88 • Atomic Testing in Mississippi designed for relatively short takeoffs and landings. Its six-wheel undercarriage maximized the aircraft’s “footprint” or weight distribution. Still, the Hattiesburg public-works commissioner, C. B. “Pat” Patterson,1 and air force personnel were concerned about whether the city’s existing strip could handle the large transports. The aircraft were attached to the Air Force Technical Applications Command (AFTAC), which had been created long before Vela as the primary military department dedicated to atomic-test detection. In addition to transporting equipment and personnel, AFTAC aircraft would observe the Dribble tests from the air; the Hercules’s long range and endurance were a benefit for extended loiter-time observation. In mid-May 1963, AFTAC notified Patterson of its desire to operate from the Hattiesburg airport. AFTAC sent a packet of information, including a pilot’s manual for the C-130A, to provide operational and technical specifications, as well as loading tables that showed the Hercules ’s weight distribution was similar to the older, more familiar C-47. Patterson replied that consultation with airport engineers led to some concerns that would be diminished by drier weather, because wet soil beneath the runway could lead to damage from heavily laden airplanes.2 AFTAC was certainly welcome to operate from the Hattiesburg airport, wrote Patterson, but, “[W]e would grant our permission for landing your aircraft on the condition that if any damage is done to the runways, we would expect your agency to reimburse the City for the cost of repairs.” Wishing to simplify operations and keep expenses down, AFTAC opened an operations office in Hattiesburg on May 27. On June 3, AFTAC notified Patterson that it would stage its aircraft from Brookley Field in Mobile, Alabama. This removed any possibility that AFTAC could be held liable for damage to the Hattiesburg airport, including normal wear and tear on the facilities.3 The dates of the airport correspondence reveal the official decision to push the date for the first test, the five-kiloton Salmon, from May to the week of July 8, 1963. That was still within the one-year window, and the extra two months gave the excavation crews precious additional time considering the fickle spring and summer weather in the South. Other important work had already been conducted in relation to the Dribble tests. Between April 1 and 10, some twenty chemical high-explosive tests Salmon Run • 89 had been conducted within a one...