Igloo ... SD

[gkainz]

maybe I've posted about this before ... can't recall. But every time I fly "home" to Custer, SD I pass over Igloo, just south of Edgemont and it brings back memories.

back in the early '70s, we built power line into a number of sections of these ammo bunkers, when they were trying to convert to commercial use. Some folks tried mushroom farming, another tried raising hogs in them - building a raised floor and sluicing out the waste underneath it.

None of those endeavors were viable, and the land has mostly reverted to cattle grazing.

It was interesting to me to poke my nose into a number of those bunkers, looking at the graffiti (lots of "Kilroy was here"), especially since I joined the Navy a few years later and those became more relevant.

They were also a great place to eat lunch and escape the South Dakota prairie heat.

https://plan.foreflight.com/tracklogs#/1499862235-9057C3DE-D295-4D85-ACAB-3D5D3D5828C0?_k=35dx7x

not sure if foreflight track logs are publicly visible?

http://coldwartourist.com/black_hills_ordnance_depot

http://bhodian.com/airfield.html

zoom-in pics follow...

 

[Zeldman]

Interesting. Thanks.

The bunkers look just like the ones near here at Fort Wingate.

About 5 or 6 years ago a giant flying metal detector worked there finding all kinds of small arms ammunition that had been unceremoniously dumped instead of being deposed of properly.

There is still a triangular shaped restricted area above the bunkers, but we ignore it. The restricted airspace is there because every now and then a rocket or missile is launched to White Sands. Then after it is found it is analyzed to see if it is of any danger to the US.

The government has been trying to give the land to either the Navajo reservation or the Zuni reservation. Apparently neither tribe wants it but more importantly both tribes do not want the other to have it. The Zuni and Navajo tribes were traditionally unfriendly to each other and pretty much are political against each other in present times.

https://www.ftwingate.org/history.html

 

[labbadabba]

There's a defunct munitions plant just outside of KIXD. If you fly a little NW of the pattern you're over very similar terrain. It still has a working powerplant and 4 working water towers. It's fully fenced off with cattle grazing on the land now.

I figure it's a perfect place to go during the zombie apocalypse... I happen to know the guy who manages the cattle herd so I can get keys to the place in that event. Every post-apocalyptic community is going to need a pilot right?