I’ve often heard and read that the selection of Rocky Flats as the location where a new nuclear weapons production facility code named “Project Apple” would be constructed was flawed because those doing the selection used wind direction at what was then the Stapleton Field, which led them to believe the wind would frequently blow towards the mountains instead of toward Denver. I recently found a copy of the report prepared by the Austin Company titled “Engineering Survey and Report for Santa Fe Operations Office of the Atomic Energy Commission on the Location and Site for Project Apple” in the archives of the Rocky Flats Museum.  The report, which was submitted on March 27, 1951, says in the cover letter, “As we advised representatives of…the Atomic Energy Commission, the Site Review Committee and representatives of the Dow Chemical Company …on March 14 and 15, we have recommended site 4, at Rocky Flats northwest of Denver, as best satisfying the Site Selection Criteria…” The report states that the location was to be “West of the Mississippi River, North of Texas, but include Panhandle Area, South of the northern boundary of Colorado; East of Utah.” There were nine cities that met the preliminary criteria of being 5 to 25 miles from a city of at or near 25,000 people (from which to recruit a work force). The cities were Oklahoma City, Omaha, Lincoln, Amarillo, Springfield, Topeka, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. There were 35 sites investigated in the vicinity of those nine cities. Six additional cities with populations fewer than 25,000 were added to the consideration, but none were judged to provide any advantage that would overcome the smaller population.

The site area was required to “…be a square, two miles on a side. Land presently owned or controlled by the Government is preferable.”  The plant area had to meet some basic suitability requirements for building construction and require a minimum displacement of homes and people. It was desired that the region have living conditions, community facilities, and recreational opportunities that would be attractive to workers. A low humidity climate was a primary consideration, since the plant would require significant air conditioning that was expected to be provided by evaporative cooling. Rail, highway, and air transportation factored into the evaluation as well as availability of power, water, and fuel. It was determined that the three Colorado cities were the only ones to meet the crucial climatic criteria. “Pueblo is less suitable than Denver in being less attractive to workers and in being home of Colorado Fuel and Iron’s vital industrial operations (a possible military target). Colorado Springs has the fundamental disadvantage of being served by a relatively small local electrical utility which has no interconnections with other utilities as emergency sources.”

It was determined that a site near Denver would be selected, and dozens of potential sites were evaluated. It is frequently asked why anyone would build a plant manufacturing plutonium components near a major metropolitan area. The report makes it clear that proximity to Denver was a positive consideration to those doing the evaluation. “The field survey reduced (the number of sites) to seven sites which lie nearest to the City of Denver and could be economically served with power, water, railroads, and highways.” (Emphasis added) The seven sites were:

North of and adjacent to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Six and a half miles northeast of Brighton

Gunbarrel Hill seven miles northeast of Boulder

Rocky Flats

South of the Federal Center

South of Marston Lake, two miles from Littleton, by the South Platte River

Two miles south of Littleton by the South Platte River

The selected site was Rocky Flats and the alternate was the one by the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. It is interesting that an “advantage” of the Arsenal location was it was nearer to present residential areas and considerably nearer to Stapleton Field. The advantages were overcome by “…the undesirable reaction of the public to having this additional ‘secret’ project close to the civilian installations northeast of Denver and in the South Platte Valley.” One mention of wind direction was in a table that lists “Unfavorable Factors” for the sites south of Marston Lake and the one south of Littleton that the prevailing wind was toward Denver.

I wrote in my book “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban myths debunked,” that I found arguments that Rocky Flats shouldn’t have been selected because wind directions were misinterpreted to be “tedious.” The Stapleton Field wind rose shows the wind blowing in all directions, including to the north just under a fourth of the time and to the south a tenth of the time. I predict no one who thought or thinks Rocky Flats was a poor place to build a nuclear weapons plant would have endorsed any of the seven Denver locations or the 35 original sites near other cities.

I recently met with Charles (Charlie) Church McKay to discuss his family’s history and  relationship with Rocky Flats. He was quite candid in discussing some of the past conflicts between his family and the Rocky Flats bureaucrats. He told me that Len Ackand’s book, “Making a Real Killing” is an excellent source of information, and he traded me a copy of that for a copy of my book, “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats, Urban Myths Debunked” (free on this web site or at Amazon as either a paperback or Kindle).  He also gave me a compendium titled, “Snapshots of History, Church Ranch and the Church Ranch Family.” That compendium and the summary history of his family on the Church Ranch web site on the heritage link were the sources for this posting. I intend to focus on the family history in this posting, and will detail some of the conflicts with Rocky Flats in Part II.

George Henry Church and Sarah Henderson Miller were married in 1861 in Iowa and departed for Colorado in what they called their honeymoon in a wagon pulled by an ox team. They began this venture despite the fact that most people who had attempted to make the trip with signs such as “Pikes Peak or Bust” had eventually turned around after making a new sign that said something such as “Busted.” Some Indians offered to buy Sarah for nine ponies and $100, and Sarah told George, “You will never have a better offer and better close the sale.” (To give an idea of what $100 was worth in those days, there is mention of buying half a bushel of potatoes and five dozen eggs for fifteen cents.)  A man arrived who told them the Indians weren’t joking, and the discussions ended. The Churches made it to Denver in nine weeks, and Sarah estimated the population at 3,000 to 4,000. They travelled on into the mountains to buy several mining claims. The mining didn’t work out, so they returned to Iowa, bought 50 head of cattle, and made the return trip to homestead. They eventually homesteaded in Jefferson County three and a half miles from the nearest neighbor, and eventually owned land where Rocky Flats was built after the Atomic Energy Commission offered the Church family a low price “under the threat of condemnation.”

The first mention of “Rocky Flat” or “Rocky Flats” I located was in an article titled “Snow Storm of 1913 at Church’s Ranch” by Marcus Church. The storm must have been one of those epic upslope storms where all the moisture is the air is dropped as snow on the Front Range. There was 3 1/2 to 4 feet of snow at the Church ranch, and up to 7 feet in Golden. Snow and wind continued off and on until a “Chinook” warm wind finally began melting some of the drifts on January 3rd. The ranchers battled to keep the horses and cattle dug out of the drifts, watered, and fed.

The Churches were ardent entrepreneurs, and had several firsts in the settlement and development of Colorado. George was the first farmer in to successfully harvest a crop of winter wheat, although he recognized early that farming would be much more successful with irrigation. He constructed a ditch from the mouth of Coal Creek Canyon and built the first irrigation reservoir, Church’s Upper Lake,  in 1870-1871 and Church’s Lower Lake a bit later. A contract was made with Golden and Ralston Creek Ditch Company to acquire rights of way and extend the ditch to cover the Church lands. The ditch takes water from Clear Creek and continues to operate today. Water rights were of premium importance when the system was being built and began to operate. An article in the compendium titled “George Henry Church” describes how his decision to build the first irrigation ditches and lakes “…brought enmity of neighbors on Coal Creek, from which he drew the water supply. So high ran the felling that it resulted in threats on his life and it seemed at times that serious trouble would ensue.”

The innovation and ventures didn’t end there. The Churches were the first to bring Hereford cattle to Colorado, built and operated a stage coach stop, and mined gravel. (The gravel business would eventually create significant conflict with Rocky Flats, but that will be covered in Part II.) As is the case for most families, there were also tragedies and failures. Perry Church, younger brother of Marcus, died at the age of 29. The Great Depression hit the family hard, and they were forced to sell 3,000 acres of Front Range properties, including much of the irrigated land. They were able to hold on to about 4,000 acres, which included part of what would become the site of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. The Churches were hard working and independent people, and they were forced to begin dealing with a bureaucracy that strives to make certain all the rules imposed by the bureaucracy are followed. As a self-described “part time libertarian,” it isn’t difficult to judge which side I would take.