Minden NE flyin

[flyer]

I took a little x country last weekend to Minden, NE for a antique fly in. It was a nice little flyin with lots of antique planes and other modern planes. Wx was perfect once there, but there was a lot of turbulence going and coming. Anyone know what all the little white structures are in the photo? They are by the hundreds in central NE.

 

[Everskyward]

I took a little x country last weekend to Minden, NE for a antique fly in. It was a nice little flyin with lots of antique planes and other modern planes. Wx was perfect once there, but there was a lot of turbulence going and coming. Anyone know what all the little white structures are in the photo? They are by the hundreds in central NE.

That sounds like fun, Mike. Years ago I went to the Pioneer Town or whatever it's called in Minden. My guess is that those little white structures are natural gas wells.

 

[l8evator]

I believe the structures are ammunition bunkers. Both Grand Island and Sydney had WWII ammunition depots.

 

[gkainz]

Yep, ammo storage bunkers. There's remnants of a big WWII depot in SW SD, near Edgemont, SD, called Igloo. I believe the official name was Black Hills Ordinance Depot, then changed to Black Hills Army Depot. I explored a lot of that place as a kid, between building power line in and around there, and hunting.

just found info on the old airstrip that was there - http://www.airfields-freeman.com/SD/Airfields_SD_W.html#blackhills

 

[One Short]

Yep, ammo storage bunkers. There's remnants of a big WWII depot in SW SD, near Edgemont, SD, called Igloo. I believe the official name was Black Hills Ordinance Depot, then changed to Black Hills Army Depot. I explored a lot of that place as a kid, between building power line in and around there, and hunting.

just found info on the old airstrip that was there - http://www.airfields-freeman.com/SD/Airfields_SD_W.html#blackhills

Here is a picture of possibly that bunker. I was looking for antelope and ran across it. Somewhere near the South Dakota/Wyoming line south of the Black Hills.

Barb

 

[Everskyward]

Here is a picture of possibly that bunker. I was looking for antelope and ran across it. Somewhere near the South Dakota/Wyoming line south of the Black Hills.

Now that I can see that they are little hills I agree that they are bunkers and not wells.

 

[gkainz]

Here is a picture of possibly that bunker. I was looking for antelope and ran across it. Somewhere near the South Dakota/Wyoming line south of the Black Hills.

Barb

Yep, that's Igloo, just south of Edgemont, and a few miles NE of the SD/WY border... and there's plenty of antelope around there, too.

A few interesting business experiments I knew about back in the '70s were raising hogs and mushrooms in the bunkers. I don't know if either of those attempts succeeded. With the hogs, they built raised floors and sluiced the waste out from under the floor. They then used it for fertilizer for the mushroom bunkers.

The concrete was 18-24" thick and the dirt covering over the tops was 3-5' thick, and the bunkers stayed a pretty constant temperature, winter or summer. I don't recall the temps, but they sure were cool and refreshing in the summers when outside temps were over 100ºF.

Very interesting graffiti found inside, too. Lots of "Kilroy was here" with the associated cartoon character.