Sierra Nevada (1983: Doomsday)

Sierra Nevada, also known as the Sierra Nevada Union (SNU), is a nation located in the western region of the former United States. Encompassing large areas of desert, it consists of the northern region of the former US state of Nevada running south to approximately Route Six and a portion of the former US state of California, including the Lake Tahoe area and parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. With the profound effect of Doomsday and the shattering consequence on life overall, present day Sierra Nevada has evolved into a nation which can be described as the late 19th Century American West with portions of the 20th Century mixed in. The citizens evoking the same pioneer and frontier spirit which inspired those of earlier times. However, it tends to be a closed and cautious nation in dealing with others, affected in large part by battles over the years with raiders, slavers, rogue military units, and bandits. This has led it to cast a watchful eye towards such powers as Utah and the MSP.

Pre-Doomsday
Prior to Doomsday, Nevada had been the 36th state, gaining statehood in 1864 during the Civil War in order to throw support behind the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Originally part of the larger Utah Territory, Nevada had separated in three years of animosity between non-Mormons and the Mormons who controlled the rest of the region. From statehood and well into the 20th Century, Nevada’s history was shaped and dominated by mining, especially of silver, and would become known for one of the largest silver strikes in American history, the Comstock Lode. With the 1930s, Nevada began to undergo a series of changes which would transform its future, with the legalization of gambling; the establishment of easy marriage and divorce laws; and the construction of Hoover Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. The decades following World War II, would also see the transformation of the city of Las Vegas, located in the southern Nevada, into the state’s population center as it became the premier destination for entertainment and gambling. Although the seventh largest US state, 80% of the land was directly controlled by the US government.

The state has had a long relationship with the US military dating back to before World War II. Large sections of the desert have been utilized for aerial bombing practice and the testing of nuclear weapons, both above and below ground explosions, had been carried out at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Nevada was home to several key military installations, including Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Hawthorne Army Depot, the largest US Army ammunition storage site, in Hawthorne; and Fallon Naval Air Station in Fallon.

Doomsday
Like the rest of the US, Nevada became aware of the impending Soviet attack through radio and television at about 5:52 PM in the afternoon of September 25, 1983. With news of the imminent disaster, Governor Richard Hudson Bryan, who had just taken office nine months earlier, quickly issued a series of directives declaring a state of emergency; imposing martial law and a dusk to dawn curfew for everyone not involved in emergency operations; and activated the states National Guard. He called for the evacuation of major cities such as Las Vegas and Reno. At 6:14 PM, electricity and most communications, including computers, televisions, radios, and telephones abruptly failed severing internal and external links.

Beginning at about 6:30 PM, Soviet weapons began to detonate over the southern part of the state. At least two one megaton Soviet warheads detonated over the Las VegasValley, which was home to not only Nellis AFB, but the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson, and several smaller communities. The twin explosions, amplified by the surrounding mountains which helped to contain the resulting detonations, along with subsequent firestorms, completely destroyed the area. To this day, it is still unknown why the Soviets heavily targeted the Las Vegas metropolitan region given it was not as major an urban center as Los Angeles or Salt Lake City and the sole target was Nellis AFB. Although several thousand people were able to escape via Routes 15, 93, and 95, most were still trapped within the valley due to traffic jams and congestion, and as a result perished. It was later determined a smaller weapon exploded over the USAF testing site, also known as Area 51, about 45 miles away in Groom Lake. It is now believed there may have been other unknown strikes as well.

To the northwest a 550-kiloton warhead, was targeted at the Hawthorne Army Depot. Although a large portion of the population from the town and depot managed to escape before the strike, fleeing north along Route 95, at least 1000 perished when the warhead exploded over the depot. It was later determined a second device aimed at the site missed and detonated in the desert.

As of Doomsday, the total population of Nevada stood at just over 800,000 people, with more than half, approximately 463,000 people, concentrated in and around the city of Las Vegas. It would later be estimated, that nearly 60% of the state’s population, or just over 500,000 people, perished in the initial attacks and within the week from injuries and radiation exposure. By early October 1983, the total population, concentrated mainly in the northern part of the state, would stand at approximately 300,000.

Post Doomsday
By dawn on September 26, 1983, when it became apparent that no strikes had taken place, many people who initially evacuated Reno and Carson City, made the decision to return to their homes. Unable to communicate with the rest of the state, Governor Bryan made the decision to equip and send out small expeditions of state police and National Guardsmen to travel as far north and south as they could to determine the state of affairs and let the people know the state government existed. It would take well over a week before the governor could begin to assemble an accurate picture of conditions across the state. The expeditions were able to confirm with the exception of the loss of electricity and the near destruction of most electronic equipment, the northern part of the state appeared for the time being intact.

However, units who had pushed as far south as they safely could before turning back, provided horror stories of the various nuclear strikes. They related accounts off skies black with smoke; the presence of heavy fallout; badly injured groups of refugees suffering from flash burns and radiation sickness and a breakdown of civil order in some areas. These accounts added to the other stories filtering into Carson Cityvia refugees from California, Idaho, Utah, and Oregon, confirming the destruction of such cities as SaltLakeand Sacramento.

On October 12, Governor Bryan convened a meeting with surviving key legislators as well as the mayors of several cities, such as Renoand Carson Cityas well as those from Californiain the Lake Tahoeregion. He stated bluntly, there was no evidence help was coming from anyone, least of all the federal government even if it still existed, and as such they would have to take whatever steps were necessary steps to ensure their survival. He proposed a union of the surviving areas of Nevada and those of adjacent California. To promote unity, it was dubbed the Sierra Nevada Union (SNU).

To be Continued