Admirals C. C. Bloch and
L. E. Gregory made a personal inspection of the prospective
sites in each state. It was finally limited down to three
possibilities:
Hawthorne or Flannigan
Nevada (60 miles north of
Reno), and
Secret
Valley in
Eastern California.
The Admirals made their joint
recommendation to the Secretary of the Navy on Dec. 13, 1926
that
Hawthorne be
selected as the location for the Naval Ammunition Depot. The
aggregated cost of such a project was estimated at
$3,500,000.
Senator John Miller of
Mineral
County, part owner of the Lucky Boy Mining Company,
was instrumental in encouraging the Department of the Navy
to select
Hawthorne as the
future site for such an ammunition depot.
The new Depot was ideally
located 320 miles from the Naval Weapons Station,
Concord, a major out loading
port, and 450 miles from the Naval Weapons Station,
Seal Beach. The
climate in
Western Nevada was ideal
for ammunition storage. The average humidity is about 27
percent, and there is less than 6 inches of rainfall per
year.
Under the first contract for
construction work at
Hawthorne only 17 buildings were erected in the
magazine area. Twelve of these were magazines. There was one
filing house, one final assembly building and one empty mine
storage building. There were also two buildings for the
storage of detonators.
Construction was formally
launched on July 24, 1928 when Governor Fred Balzar, and
many other prominent Nevadans, assembled in Hawthorne with
representatives of the Navy Department, Admirals Gregory and
Leahy, and LCDR Cotter (the Public Works Officer-in-Charge
of Construction). Ground was broken at a point on the
northern edge of the town of
Hawthorne, for
the exact plans on the location of the new buildings were
not yet ready.
The Depot was formally
commissioned on Sept. 15, 1930, and 72 officers and enlisted
personnel reported for duty on October 1 of that year. When
the main gates opened for business 90 civilian employees
joined the military personnel making a total work force of
162. The first shipment of high explosives arrived on Oct.
19, 1930.
In December 1930, bids were
received for the proposed Mine Filling Plant, with the
exception of two buildings constructed under the original
contract. Shortly after this, contracts were let totaling
$333,000.
In March 1931 the bids were
received for Cat Creek Dam, a 50-million gallon capacity
reservoir. The total cost of the original work at Cat Creek
was $100,000. Water started collecting in the dam in March
of 1932, and work was completed in April of that year.
During 1934-35 there was a
great deal of work done on the reservation by the Civilian
Conservation Corps. This group of individuals' chief purpose
at the Depot was to aid in the reforestation of
Mt.
Grant. But, they engaged in several other
projects for the Depot. They completed most of the mountain
roads on the Depot's property and built a second 50-million
gallon reservoir,
Rose
Creek.
_Gradual expansion during the
1930's in terms of facilities and personnel was followed by
a tremendous increase during World War II. In October 1940
the facilities at
Hawthorne, where
space was practically unlimited, were increased by the
construction of 23 high explosive, 22 smokeless powder, 7
fixed-ammunition and 26 projectile storage magazines.
At the same time the station was
further improved by the building of 15 miles of railroad
tracks within its boundaries. (The Depot now has over 200
miles of railroad tracks.) Nearly all of
Hawthorne's
wartime buildings were erected as permanent structures.
During this time frame, the
Depot's mission was expanded beyond various types of
ammunition, such as rockets, mines, depth charges,
torpedoes, to include cast loading facilities. At the end of
wartime expansion, magazines, storehouses, production and
other buildings covered over 80 square miles.
Hawthorne's semi-isolation location caused
numerous obstacles during the early construction years of
the Depot. Efficient construction labor was scarce, and
material deliveries were uncertain.
The one branch-line railroad
serving the station was overtaxed by the freighting of both
construction and ammunition materials. Moreover,
long-distance truck hauling was handicapped by the
conditions of mountain driving.
As practically no accommodations
for construction laborers were available in the territory,
except the limited facilities of an old CCC
