New Mexico boasts of great beauty and history, and for a variety of reasons proved the perfect place for a top-secret weapons laboratory. The Los Alamos Site Selection was a relatively quick process. In November 1942, the Manhattan District authorized the Albuquerque Engineer District to conduct a site investigation in the vicinity of the Los Alamos Ranch School in Otowi, New Mexico. In 1918, entrepreneur Ashley Pond began an "outdoor school" at Los Alamos to provide boys a chance to gain health, strength and self-confidence. The Los Alamos Ranch School combined a rigorous outdoor experience with a college preparatory education. The Los Alamos Ranch School comprised 54 buildings: 27 houses, dormitories, and living quarters totaling 46,626 sq. ft., and 27 miscellaneous buildings: a public school, an arts & crafts building, a carpentry shop, a small sawmill, barns, garages, sheds, and an ice house totaling 29,560 sq. ft. There were also 4 houses, with approximately 20 rooms, and a small barn at the Anchor Ranch site.