A few years ago I met local writer Pat Camalliere at Sand Ridge Nature Center’s Settlers Day. I bought her first two books and this year read The Mystery at Sag Bridge. This passage caught my eye:

In the center of the clearing was a large stone slab, a cube of about four feet. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, in miniature. The rock appeared to be a monument, and the clearing man-made. Fascinated, she approached the granite monolith and read the words carved on it: CAUTION—DO NOT DIG. BURIED IN THIS AREA IS RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL FROM NUCLEAR RESEARCH CONDUCTED HERE IN 1943–1949.

A memory of something she read, somewhere, sometime: Cora put it together. The old road led to Argonne Laboratory, a large national research facility that was hidden in the woods in these Forest Preserves during the Manhattan Project. It was an ideal location, for then, as now, one could walk for miles in these woods and remain unseen. She pictured Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein walking this very ground, although she was only guessing.

This, then, was the secret hidden behind the trees that Cora had come looking for. She had no idea anything was left of the Manhattan Project and was surprised the waste was buried near the old site, as the present location of Argonne was across the valley two miles away—in fact, she would have been able to see it, were it not for the trees. She felt the same sense of history and being in another time and place as she had when she visited Saint James, just a short distance from here.

The Mystery at Sag Bridge by Pat Camalliere

Because other places Camalliere uses are real, for example, St. James at Sag Bridge Catholic Church, I assumed there may be a marker over buried radioactive waste in the forest preserves. On Sunday, J. and I went to Sagawau Canyon to watch the birds. Afterward, we had a little time, so I did some quick research and found what’s known as “Site A/Plot M” located at Red Gate Woods, just a few minutes away.

When we arrived at Red Gate Woods, I knew we were headed in the right direction when I saw this sign by a rough trailhead.

DAWN OF THE ATOMIC AGE

On December 2, 1942, scientists at the University of Chicago produced the first. controlled nuclear chain reaction in human history. Soon after, the reactor was relocated to “Site A” in the Palos Park Forest Preserve where scientists performed experiments and built an additional reactor as part of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. nuclear development program during World War II.

When Site A closed in 1954, the two reactors were buried and a decades-long environmental cleanup and monitoring effort began. In 1991, after extensive clean-up by the Department of Energy, the area was re-opened for safe public recreation. Today, Red Gate Woods remains the burial site of the world’s first nuclear reactors – marvels of science that ushered America into the Atomic Age.

The point where we started is densely wooded, with an eroded trail marked by bike tire tracks and horseshoe prints. Soon it opened up onto what may have been a paved road at one time. I had to follow my location on Google Maps because there were several branch trails and a few splits in the paved road.

it was quiet along the way, with little traffic noise except for the occasional motorcycle or truck engine being revved.

Google Maps says this trail is “mostly flat”; my eyeballs and legs say it’s mostly uphill. We saw some bikers in the woods and on the paved road, along with a few people walking.

After another sign . . .

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING SITE A

Looking for a remote location to conduct top secret nuclear experiments, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the “Site A” research facility on land leased from the Cook County Forest Preserve in Red Gate Woods.

In addition to research labs and reactor control rooms, the complex included a guard house, dog shelter, library, cafeteria, dormitory, and recreational spaces. The scientists who lived and worked there throughout World War Il maintained a strict code of silence, as their discoveries were critical for the success of the U.S. military’s atomic program. After extensive clean-up, the site is safe for public recreation.

. . . and a few bends in the road we came to the Site A marker. The text wasn’t what Camalliere quoted in her book. Later I found out she quoted the Plot M marker, where nuclear waste is buried (“DO NOT DIG”). Site A is where the two nuclear piles (reactors), part of the Manhattan Project, are buried (I wouldn’t dig there, either). According to the Forest Preserves of Cook County website, “The area surrounding Site A and Plot M continue [sic] to undergo annual monitoring and remain [sic] safe by all measurements.”

For now.

THE CHICAGO PILES

Built at the University of Chicago and called Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), the world’s first nuclear reactor was moved to Site A in the Red Gate Woods in 1943 and renamed CP-2. The pile boasted 10 tons of uranium metal, 42 tons of uranium oxide, and 472 tons of graphite. Shielding the reactor core were six inches of lead and four feet of wood.

Under the leadership of physicist Walter Zinn, scientists at Site A performed experiments in the small laboratory atop CP-2 in addition to constructing CP-3, the first water-cooled nuclear reactor. When the Atomic Energy Commission closed Site A in 1954, the two reactors were dismantled and buried in a forty foot deep trench on the site. Beginning in the 1980s, the Commission and the Department of Energy responded to public concern by monitoring the area and working to neutralize toxic radioactive materials. This site is now safe for public recreation.

THE WORLD’S FIRST NUCLEAR REACTOR WAS REBUILT AT THIS SITE IN 1943 AFTER INITIAL OPERATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. THIS REACTOR (CP-2) AND THE FIRST HEAVY WATER MODERATED REACTOR (CP-3) WERE MAJOR FACILITIES AROUND WHICH DEVELOPED THE ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY. THIS SITE WAS RELEASED BY THE LABORATORY IN 1956 AND THE U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION THEN BURIED THE REACTORS HERE.

Here’s I hoping I can make it someday to Plot M. Assuming I can find it.

Time for another look at Doctor Atomic.

Added June 5, 2022: PDF from the Department of Energy about Plot A/Site M.