BOB MCCRACKEN Nye County History Department of Energy / Special to the PVT Area 12 is the camp where miners and other workers, who did not wish to commute from Beatty or Las Vegas, could stay while working the tunnels described in this article. Advertisement

Two groups are largely responsible for the rise of our modern civilization -- scientists and engineers. Without them, we would soon be back in the Stone Age. Scientists determine how the world works; engineers translate scientific principles to practical use.

Scientists receive some public attention for their contributions, though in my opinion not nearly enough. The achievements of engineers, however, are virtually ignored, yet they are the unsung heroes of our world.

Look around and you'll find almost nothing outside the natural realm that an engineer did not have a hand in creating -- including in Nye County, where engineers have played a huge role.

Some of the first Euroamericans to explore Nevada were engineers.

John C. Fremont taught mathematics for the U.S. Navy and was offered a position as professor of mathematics with the navy. He turned the offer down to become an assistant engineer with the U.S. Topographical Corps. Fremont and his men crossed Nye County three different times -- moving across Pahrump Valley and on to Las Vegas Valley in 1844, down Smoky Valley and on to Walker Lake in 1845, and across Railroad Valley and then Highway 95 in the Stonewall Mountain area in 1854.

Surveys headed by Lt. George M. Wheeler, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, between 1869 and 1879 included Nye County. Among them was Lt. Daniel W. Lockwood's 1871 entry into the Tonopah area and Pahrump Valley. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey established stations in Nevada during the 1880s atop Troy Peak (11,298 feet) in the Grant Range east of Tonopah and Arc Dome (11,775 feet) in the Toiyabe Range north of Tonopah.

In 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey was created to be responsible for "classification of public lands, and examination of the geologic structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain."

Geologists/engineers from that great agency, including S.F. Emmons and F.L. Ransome, were active in Nye County in the years after 1900. The two men practically invented the field of economic geology, which combines the study of economics with the analysis of mineral deposits and their mining.

The profession of mining engineer grew out of such thinking.

The mining engineer's job was to help mine owners estimate the extent and value of their mineral deposits and advise on the most profitable plans for extraction. All the big mines in Nye County after about 1900 employed mining engineers. Such was the mining engineer's authority that an owner had difficulty selling or raising money on his mine without a credible engineer's report. There were still independent mining engineers working out of Tonopah as late as the 1950s.

Not long after mining had faded as a major economic activity in Nye County -- although Round Mountain remains a huge producer, to say the least -- President Truman established the Nevada Test Site in 1949. The first test of a nuclear weapon at the site took place in early 1950.

The Nevada Test Site went on to become one of the largest and, I dare say, greatest engineering projects in history. The Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site is located entirely within Nye County.

Between 1950 and 1992, when testing came to an end, a total of 100 atmospheric and 828 underground tests were conducted there. In 1962, atmospheric testing ended but tests continued underground.

Dale Fraser, an engineer and former general manager of REECo, the Test Site's largest contractor, told me recently that at its peak in the 1960s, 15,000 people were employed at the Nevada Test Site. REECo employed half the Test Site's workforce at that time. Fraser estimated that over a period of 40 years, REECo averaged 4,000 employees. Of these, several hundred were engineers.

The Nevada Test Site was essentially a huge scientific project, with a tremendous number of engineers supporting the work. There humanity in large measure learned to control the power of the atom. And, make no mistake about it, it is in the secrets of the atom's power that the future of humanity lies, Harry Reid and his like-minded Luddites to the contrary.

What went on at the Test Site is not unlike the way engineers and builders of automobile and jet engines learned to control the energy locked in petroleum.

Preparations for moving all testing underground at the Test Site began several years before the official end of atmospheric testing in 1962. The first underground test at the Nevada Test Site took place September 19, 1957, some 1,900 feet below the top of Rainier Mesa at the end of a 1,325-foot tunnel. It had a yield of 1.7 kilotons.

In mid-1958, officials began gearing up for more underground tests. That summer, work began on digging a large-diameter tunnel into the base of Paiute Mesa, known as E Tunnel, and a second one with a smaller diameter, B Tunnel, located up the hill. It became clear early on that both mining engineers and miners would be needed if the effort were to succeed. A call went out for mining engineers.

REECo officials got in touch with a young mining engineer working for Kennecott Copper Corp. in Ruth, near Ely, named Bill Flangas. Bill had been born in Ely and was a graduate of the Mackay School of Mines in Reno. When asked if he would like a job at the Test Site, he declined. After a couple more calls Bill agreed to come down for three days and look the situation over.

When Bill arrived, E Tunnel was about 500 feet into the mountain, and it was a mess. Forty or 50 men were working in the tunnel when 15 or 20, properly managed, would have been ample. Moreover, except for a couple of experienced miners working on the bull gang, most were construction workers, not miners, and knew little about underground work. And there were no mining engineers with underground management experience on the job.

After three days, Bill Flangas agreed to stay on -- and, as he told me recently, remained at the Test Site for the next 40 years.

The first thing Bill did was call the district attorney in Lincoln County and tell him he needed Nevada miners at the Test Site.

The Castleton Mine, a large lead and zinc mine in Pioche, had just shut down. Lincoln County sent him about 30. Then he called Nye County District Attorney Bill Beko, who also sent down 30 or so. Included among those sent by Beko were my dad, Robert G. McCracken, me and a good miner named Hank Pelugaga, who was part Basque and part Shoshone. My dad stayed about 18 years and Hank stayed 30. I earned enough money that summer for another year of college.

Bill Flangas went on to become operations division manager and vice president of REECo and, like Dale Fraser, is now on the board of directors of the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas.

A total of 250,000 feet (more than 47 miles) of tunnels were constructed at the Test Site, including installation of power and instrument cabling and vacuum systems, while Bill was there. The site included more than 565 buildings, 400 miles of paved road, and 13 water wells pumping 15 million gallons per week with 97 miles of distribution pipe.

Yucca Mountain is another major engineering project in Nye County that provided employment for large numbers of engineers over more than a generation. The idea that Yucca Mountain was not properly engineered is ludicrous.

For the Benefit of All

As we can see, Nye County definitely has strong credentials when it comes to the role engineers have played in its history, right up to the present day.

In fact, I propose that Nye County establish an engineering hall of fame where those who have made outstanding contributions in the various engineering fields throughout world history -- civil, mining, chemical, space, atomic, oceanic, transportation, electrical, etc. -- be honored and their contributions explained to the public.

My admittedly quick survey of possible competitors for such a hall of fame suggests there is very little competition throughout the country. (If Nye County doesn't do this soon, I guarantee someone else will.)

The facility could be located in Pahrump or perhaps Amargosa Valley or Beatty. Perhaps the engineering hall of fame could partner with Steve Bradhurst's idea for a science museum, for which there once were such high hopes.

The engineering hall of fame could start small, perhaps with its first home near the Pahrump Valley Museum or near the site of the old Manse Ranch.

An engineering hall of fame would:

* Attract visitors.

* Help Nye County present a progressive face to the world as a place where good things are happening.

* Help attract high-technology-based economic activity to the area.

* Put the spotlight on engineers and help educate the public on the important role engineers play in society.

* Increase appreciation for engineering and, by implication, science in young people, encouraging them to consider engineering as a possible career.

* Help reverse the current dangerous situation nationally, where 63 percent of doctoral degrees awarded in engineering in the U.S. are earned by foreign-born students, some of whom remain in this country following graduation and tend to work for lower wages.

A recent (2008) survey by the Congressional Research Service states, "not enough native-born students [are] pursuing scientific and technical disciplines."

America can't remain wealthy and powerful if the values of engineering and science are not properly appreciated.