Description
World War II changed New Mexico in many ways. One story not often told is how 3,200 square miles of south-central New Mexico went from being cattle and goat country to a cutting-edge rocket technology site. Jim Eckles talks about the cattle and goat industries around the Tularosa Basin and how they disappeared and the missile range emerged. Interestingly, the ranchers and rocket scientists, with their self-reliance and inventiveness, had a lot in common.
Jim Eckles worked for White Sands Missile Range for 30 years and has been a volunteer there since he retired in 2007. When he retired, he is informally known as the “WSMR’s historian.” While at the range, he wrote and spoke extensively about the missile range mission and area history. Eckles arrived early enough at WSMR to meet the pioneers who invented the idea of a missile range.