I was in the FAR south west corner of South Dakota. And when I say far, I mean literally 1 mile east of the Wyoming border and about 5 miles north of the Nebraska border. There is absolutely NOTHING out there (bar some crystals and what not which I did find). No paved roads, no telephone wires, no traffic, no town, no buildings, no farms. True wilderness. Regardless, I come around a dirt road corner and in the distance I see this (you'll have to click on it to see the detail).
Way off in the distance are these buildings.
Now I looked at a map and there is no town nearby. The closest town is a town called Igloo, South Dakota, but these buildings are not part of it.
I then did a google satellite image search and found the exact same thing I had seen from the ground.
Miles of the stuff. I just saw the edge. The geometric patterns is what I noticed the most.
Now I have no idea what these buildings are. Housing for cattle? Didn't see any cattle or livestock and there were so many buildings. Storage of some kind? In any case, see if you can solve the mystery.
This is just a guess, but those buildings look very similar to the buildings the military uses to store chemical weapons. I know the government stores its stockpile of the stuff somewhere in the Dakotas.
ReplyDeleteWell, according to this there aren't anymore chemical weapons storage facilities in the dakotas.
ReplyDeleteSo, either it's an abandoned military facility or something else.
A simple Google search tells me that is "Historic Fort Igloo".
ReplyDeletehttp://members.aol.com/IglooSD/Igloosite/housing.htm
Mystery Solved
ReplyDeleteBlack Hills Ordnance Depot
The reason the closest town is called Igloo is because the storage sheds are shaped like and look like igloos.
It was started in WWII and abandoned in 1967.
Huh. Wikipedia actually redirects "Igloo, South Dakota" to "Black Hills Ordnance Depot".
ReplyDeleteKudos to Eric and Marty ;)
ReplyDeleteYup, ordinance depots it is. I've seen a few of them up close here in Western NE.
ReplyDelete--JB
There's a place like that in New Jersey. You google along, - miles and miles of 'burbs - and suddenly there's this green zone with those discreet regularly spaced buried buildings and excellent access to rail and highways.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Bottum of First Things Blog posted about his visit to Igloo, SD a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.firstthings.com/blog/2008/07/16/the-vanity-of-human-wishes/
What you saw was indeed the underground magazine (called igloos)storage area of BHOD or Black Hills Ordnance Depot. It was built in 1942 and abandoned in 1967. I grew up at Igloo and have a web site www.Igloo-SD.org with some of the information I have gathered the last 10 years. There were 800+ igloos.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and her family were stationed there from 1943 to 1960.
ReplyDeleteIt was formerly a military weapons depot. They transferred to Umatilla, Oregon to the weapons depot that is currently destroying its old stored weapons as I write this.
You may be interested to know that close to 9000 acres of the "Igloos" are FOR SALE. Check them out at www.dakotadave.com I very interesting piece of property and history. Dave Peterson, Martin Jurisch and Associates, Participating with Cabela's Trophy Properties www.dakotaproperties.com
ReplyDeleteYou may all be interested to know that the Igloos are FOR SALE. www.dakotadave.com A very interesting piece of property and history. I wish that someone would think of something usefull for all of the buildings. Please spread the word and bring any ideas that you may have. Dave Peterson, Martin Jurisch and Associates, Participating with Cabela's Trophy Properties. www.dakotaproperties.com
ReplyDeleteI have worked for the gentleman that owns most of the property now. A very nice guy but people try to get on his land without permission. It was an ammo depot my dad used to haul coal to the school nearby. Some of the igloos are used for cattle housing but most are empty. To buy one and removed it would be hard it is concrete covered by dirt I dont think that transport is an option.
ReplyDeleteMy family lived In Igloo for two years right after WWII. My dad, Captain Richard J. Gladman MD, was the the Post Doctor.
ReplyDeleteShortly after we arrived there a mustard gas cannister blew up in one of the igloos severely burning several men.
Howard Gladman SVspartan@msn.com
so i was having a conver. with a co-worker that lived i Custer, SD for a bit, told me some crazy stuff about old mltry base here in SD didnt belve him at first because living here and all never heard of it, then he told me theres a chuch on the grounds of this place and behine there we saw a house and in up on the second floor looking out the window stood and ooold lady with those cat like eye glasses looking done at them they were going to stop there to ask to hunt around there and the old lady shook her head no like not to come any closer, freaked out my co-work left and never returned...thats why im on here to see for my self what this place is ...anyone seen the movie Wolf Creek?
ReplyDeleteThe old woman looking out the second story window would have been my mother....now deceased.....hunting on igloo is not permitted unless you talk to the main land owner named Brunson...
ReplyDeleteCould you put me in touch with the owner?
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