military head of the Manhattan Project. When General Groves
discovered that in order to use the California location he would need
the permission of its commander, General George Patton, Groves quickly
decided on the second choice, the Jornada del Muerto. This was
because General Groves did not want anything to do with the flamboyant
Patton, who Groves had once described as "the most disagreeable man I
had ever met."[1] Despite being second choice the remote Jornada was
a good location for the test, because it provided isolation for
secrecy and safety, was only 230 miles south of Los Alamos, and was
already under military control. Plus, the Jornada enjoyed relatively
good weather.

The history of the Jornada is in itself quite fascinating, since it
was given its name by the Spanish conquerors of New Mexico. The
Jornada was a short cut on the Camino Real, the King's Highway that
linked old Mexico to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. The Camino
Real went north from Mexico City till it joined the Rio Grande near
present day El Paso, Texas. Then the trail followed the river valley
further north to a point where the river curved to the west, and its
valley narrowed and became impassable for the supply wagons. To avoid
this obstacle, the wagons took the dubious detour north across the
Jornada del Muerto. Sixty miles of desert, very little water, and
numerous hostile Apaches. Hence the name Jornada del Muerto, which is
often translated as the journey of death or as the route of the dead
man. It is also interesting to note that in the late 16th century,
the Spanish considered their province of New Mexico to include most of
North America west of the Mississippi!

The origin of the code name Trinity for the test site is also
interesting, but the true source is unknown. One popular account