2011
11.01

An echo of the Cold War, right up the road

Category: Photography / Tag: , , ,  / Add Comment
Exhaust vents
These are not on my maps of the site. They're clearly some kind of exhaust tubes, I assume for the Power House, even though that's shown elsewhere on the map.

Like my foray’s to the old bunkers at what used to be Mather AFB, I finally got access to the old Titan 1 missile base outside of Lincoln, Ca.

I got to accompany a reporter from The Sacramento Bee on a tour of the abandoned base for a story and while the base is completely flooded due to ground water, wandering around in the weeds has become something of a norm on trips like these and to me is still kinda fun.

Silo doors, launcher #2
The doors of launcher #2, top view. The metal plate in the near view covers the huge hinge mechanism, which is basically a giant metal pipe or rod. Simple and effective. And did I mention huge?

We met two representatives from Placer County — the property the base is on is owned by the county — and it became quickly evident that among the four of us I was the subject matter expert, brandishing my own printout of a base layout I’d printed from a 21M-HGM25A manual off Silo World.

We wandered around and I pointed out what I thought things were while reciting the specs of the Titan 1 missile. The idea of thermonuclear ICBMs streaking across the Sacramento skyline on their way to, oh I don’t know, Cuba maybe? was a weird thought.

LOX vent shaft, launcher #2
Looking down the LOX vent shaft next to launcher #2. You can see how much water is in there. Unfortunatly the entire complex is under water.

As I mentioned, the base is flooded and impossible to enter so we were limited to tromping around on top of it. I chuckled to myself as I was the only one wearing boots and blue jeans. Growing up in the foothills and this not being the first Cold War site I’ve visited, I was prepared. My Dockers sporting friends probably got enough star thistles to last them a while.

Other than being flooded, the base is in decent condition. There was some physical damage in places — I’m guessing someone tried to pry open the cargo hatch with something like a fork-lift or loader, they failed — but generally speaking it’s hard to mess up concrete blast doors.

Silo door
The metal lip on the launcher doors. The little balls are shot, apparently this was a popular placve to shoot trap at one point.

I could have spent more time there, tromping through the weeds and wondering what this railing was or where that concrete hatch went, but stickers bushes and history don’t quite have the appeal to everyone that they do for me so we packed it up and split.

There’s some question as to the need to pump the water out of the complex as there is some ground water contamination in the area. I have no idea what the situation is around that (hint: read the Bee) but if they do pump the complex out, I’ll definitely be back.

Comments are closed.