Distant Drums

All week long a cold wind hurled grey clouds out of the Northwest and across the bleak Atomic Proving Grounds in Nevada. The Atomic Energy Commission, well aware of public concern about radioactive fallout (TIME, Feb. 28), kept on postponing the big blast. But at 5:45 one morning, it touched off a small one.

Newsmen huddled on cold (10DEG), windy (40 m.p.h.) Mt. Charleston, nearly 50 miles away, muttered with frustration. The blast was a disappointment: the sky lit up with a dull red glow for a second; the mushroom cloud was hidden in the dark overcast; the sound bounced over Mt. Charleston completely.

But for less jaded observers the explosion had authority. Small though it was, the blast lit up predawn Los Angeles 250 air miles away. It rattled through Las Vegas, Nev. 75 miles away, rumbled on through St. George, Utah 135 miles to the East, and sounded like distant war drums in Cedar City, Utah 175 miles from the blast. Some in Los Angeles claimed to hear the distant drums 20 minutes after the flash.

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