A California Titan Missile Base
By Jonathan Haeber
Looking down into the 159-foot high, 40-foot wide Silo #1 of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile base in California. Experiencing this is nothing short of religious (photo copyright Jon Haeber)
Lately, I’ve committed myself to a number of professional projects, and am in the midst of writing a few theses, so please forgive the lack of posts lately. But, I had to pull myself away from prior obligations to bring you breaking news. I recently was one of a privileged few to see the interior of a Titan 1 ICBM complex. We at Bearings have written about these governmental behemoths borne of the Cold War. But it’s worth noting that our previous entry on a Titan 1 ICBM covered the bare bones stats — the fact that they travel at 5-6 times the speed of sound, carried a 4-megaton nuclear payload, and that there were 54 such missile bases dotting the Continental U.S. (I don’t believe there were ever any in Alaska or Hawaii, but please do correct me if I’m wrong).
Missile Silo Junction on Kodak T-Max 4×5 Large Format (photo copyright Jon Haeber)
This time, I’m going to give you the experience. I’m going to tell you what it’s like to be walking in the interior of a Cold War-era, underground complex that includes over a half-mile of underground tunnels and access portals, where tanks of liquid oxygen and RP-1, Diesel, and Water Glycerol were sent through a snake-like web of pipes and apparti, from tunnel to tunnel, silo to silo (there were three for each base).On a previous trip to the Titan silo outside of Denver (this one’s in California), I was with a group. On the first trip in California, I was alone. For the sake of saving my own toosh from being sued from here to Timbuktu, I do not — under any circumstances — recommend going alone. However, if one should find oneself, in their yearning for a moment of solitude, sitting in front of a 150-foot high, 50-foot wide tube constructed to house an intercontinental ballistic missile, one should not underappreciate such a moment, a moment which few people are privileged to have.
Silo Number 1 on Kodak T-Max 4×5 Large Format (photo copyright Jon Haeber)
For those of you who wish to know what such an experience feels like let me describe, in as best a manner as I possibly could using the highly imperfect lexicon of the English language in describing an experience that ostensibly transcends words:
You walk 1,500 feet through a corrugated, quonset-hut-like tube constructed entirely of steel. Asbestos litters the ground, and steel trestles traverse the junctions and blast doors where stainless-steel walkways once resided (but were since removed). Wearing a respirator to protect your precious lungs you soon come to realize that the smell is not a factor in the experience. The few moments you are required to remove the mask due to space constraints or for photographic composition purposes, you recognize a pervasive smell akin to paint thinner, black mold, and feces all at once. Schlitz beer cans (no longer an offering in your local market) litter the sides of the tunnels — eerie reminders that people toured these tunnels over 30 years ago, much in the same manner in which you are today. When you reach the T-junction, you are faced with two choices: Straight ahead, or to the left. The left passage takes you 30 feet to the an opening that looks directly down into the dark abyss of a hardened nuclear missile silo. You peer down — your feet inches away from 16,000 cubic feet of air, enclosed in a cylinder, sealed off from the outside world, dripping water, full of VOCs, alone, quiet. If you are a soul who knows the proper way to appreciate such moments, you know that it would be an advantageous time to remove all extraneous (and foreign) influences on your senses. At such a moment, you decide to switch off your flashlight, sit on the edge of the access tunnel that leads straight into the deadly abyss with no safeguards or caution signs, and take in the moment. Surface sounds seem to seep in from the launch door despite it being closed. You hear what seems to be the echoes of ghosts, but may very well be the reverberation of passing 747s acting much like the skin of a drumhead inside of a drum.
It is a moment that I can’t say I’ve ever had in my life. It is a moment that I will probably never have again. I wondered if this was the same experience that recent recruits had over 40 years ago. What did they feel and think of the world? How did they feel about holding the fate of a Nation in their fingertips? Did they ever consider the possibility of sending the entire city of Moscow into a nuclear winter?
It’s a mere place, but it tells so much…
Popularity: 4% [?]
Reddit!
Del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Blinklist
Furl
December 17th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Titan 1 locations:
LARSON AFB – MOSES LAKE, WASHINGTON
BEALE AFB – MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA
ELLSWORTH AFB – RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
MT. HOME AFB – MT. HOME, IDAHO
LOWRY AFB – DENVER, COLORADO
VANDENBERG AFB -LOMPOC, CALIFORNIA
Try http://www.siloworld.com as a great source for vast quantities of ICBM information.
December 17th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Wow, Jon…you did an excellent job of capturing the essence of being 50-feet underground in a dark, moist, hostile environment that very few people are able (fortunate?) to witness for themselves. It is an unmatched experience as you reveal.
One thing you didn’t mention is the wide variance in temperature depending on how close you are to an air intake / exhaust silos. This was especially noticeable on my second trip when the ambient air temperature outside was in the 40s. Photographing near the exhaust silo, I was freezing, but away from the opening where the air circulation / exchange is reduced, it was warm enough to walk around in a T-shirt comfortably.
I think you definitely made a wise choice when you decided to bring us along with you for your second trip (rather than going it alone)…for your own sake and mine too
January 4th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Glad we could help break you in on the Titans…I’m supremely jealous you have one in such pristine order. I’m hoping to be down your way sometime in February though…
March 9th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
When I was a teenager in Chico Ca. we would go out to “the silos” our abandoned titan missile base.From time to time I’ll tell people about our adventures.The silo doors were open and you could look down to the water 150′ down.Walking down the metal steps around the main elevator shaft with that musty smell that you never forget .Going through the blast doors more than a foot thick that still swing just fine.There was a forklift sitting at the bottom level,your tax dollars at work.Two huge domes,control rooms, filled with debris.The tunnels branched out to the silos, more blast doors along the way,massive tanks that used to contain the fuel for the rockets were off to one side. If you were’nt careful you could pass through an open door and plunge down 50′ or so to the watery bottom of one of the silos, apparently that happened to two unfortunate visitors.The sounds of fluttering pidgons living above by the open silo doors echoed throughout.You could see where they stopped painting like every one suddenly left.Trash, debris, decay and an abandoned nuclear missile base a perfect setting for memories I’ll never forget.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Thank you so much for the recollections, David.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
[...] Posts Inside Neverland RanchBreaking News: SS Independence Leaving San FranciscoSo Alang SS IndyA California Titan Missile BaseColorado Sugar Beet History & ArchitectureTreatise on TrespassingHighway 101 in a Post-Industrial [...]
August 13th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I served in the USAF in the three Titan sites, Buttes, Chico, and Lincoln in the early sixties. I was a guidance and flight control technician, Propellent Loading and Pressure tech, Corrosion Control Technician, and other assignments during my tour in California. Thanks for the postings, interesting to run across the reports. I had already located the site locations on Google Earth, and wondered about the site’s conditions. I was locked down in the Sutter Buttes site during the Cuban Milssile Crisis. What an experience, quite un-nerving… Thanks again.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Thank You, too, Herb. I love all these memories. They make for incredible stories.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Hello i wanted to say my father used to be a techinician on the titan missles up and around the denver area he used to tell me all kinds of stories of being there and for years i always wanted to go to see a silo until i moved to Roswell,NM there are a few still intact Atlas-c silos everywhere. These are much smaller than the titan silos and have an elevator to raise the missle to ground level to launch but its verry neat to see its an experience.
November 15th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Great to hear that story, Ralph. I believe there were three titan silos around northern california, but I’ve heard there are scores more in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.
November 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 am
Hi Jon reading your experiences and how you felt as you explored that Titan silo, remind me of how I felt when I explored a decommisioned Nuclear Command Post here in the UK. It had only recently been decomissioned and although the lights were on I was the only person down in the bunker. It stood in a field surrounded by tree’s and the entrance into the bunker was a door inside an indiscreate looking house. On entering the house I entered a room which had a steel door located in the corner, opening this door revealed a 200 foot long concrete lined corridor that descended down into the ground, the temparture immediatly on entering dropped to around 30 degrees, goose bumps immediatly appeared on my arms! As I descended the corridor towards 2 six foot thick blast doors at the end An Air Raid siren went off. Talk about my heart rate jump! Was this for real or was somebody playing with me? I entered the bunker to be confornted by telex machinery chattering away to themsleves and churning out reports of Nuclear Attacks on London, describing the casualties and fallout etc. This was real time and since I was the only one down there The thought suddenly crossed my mind that I could be the only one alive very quickly!!! All of a sudden the emergency red phones on the wall started ringing!! What do I do answer it or let it ring? I eventually decided to leave it, I did not want to know, this was getting to real for my liking. To cut a long story short I explored that bunker for about 3 hours eventually surfacing through an emergency exit, only to be confronted by a couple of guys who had been following my moves on CCTV from a control room. They had been arsing around with the equipment control and had set the siren off on test along with the fake telex test controls for simulation training. I could have killed them both, if had not the experience I endured down in that bunker been so thought provoking and indeed so moving at what might have been.
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
Incredible story, Terry. Did you take any photos?
November 24th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Hi Jon I have some photo’s that I took at the time and also I just remembered I put down on mini tape my feelings at the time also and I still have them! Although I have never wrote them up. The visit to the bunker was some 8-9 years ago, but it still haunts me to this day. It was a very terifying yet moving experience of suddenly realising what destruction we as human beings can reek on one another, and for what purpose? The one thing that stood out for me was the fact that the people who would have manned this bunker seriously believed that they would be able to control things after a nuclear war!
I would gladly translate the tapes to you in a blog or story if you like along with the pictures. Its about time that I exorsized the ghosts of that bunker!
If you let me know how to go about it?
I must admit ever since that visit I have been to numerous de-commisioned cold war sites not only here in the UK but also Europe, to try and fully understand the bigger picture. Although we never had any silo’s here in the UK the nearest we got to US missiles on UK soil was when they were based at Greenham Common in mobile launchers. That base is now de-commisioned and closed around 7 years ago. Its worth an explore especially around the hardened shelters where the nukes were stored.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:48 am
1961-1964 I was assigned to the 395 Missile Sqdn, Vandenburg AFB CA, as a missile Maint. Tech. We did research and development and had a war time assignment. The 395 had responsibilities for both the titan 1 and II. Vandenburg was the place Titan crews came to do live launches.
Early members of the Titan team will recall the day Test Site I blew with a missle in the hole, any of the old warriors out there ?.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I used to explore the Larson AFB silo at Batun. We went down the stairs to the most eerie thing I ever saw.
It was spooky. Rats and Pigeons were all over along with dung and a smell I never want to sense again.
It was totally dark, We each had 2 lights in case of loss or damage to one and no way out without them.
After 3x in it, I quit going as they closed it off.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:34 am
[...] A California Titan Missile Base [...]
February 18th, 2009 at 10:47 am
I worked at the Lincoln site until the acceptance test were complete.I was in the powerhouse as an electrician for RCA Service Co. I got to go into the Live Oak site after it was closed.Spooky! I have a photo of the powerhouse made just before the movie with Rock Hudson was made. As a bit of trivia, the Air Force guys had to repaint all the equipment to Air Force colors before the movie company could film.If you would like a copy of the powerhouse photo,just email me.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
What amazing photographs.
I used to live in Lompoc; when they launched the Titans, our house used to shake and shake stronger than I’ve ever felt any earthquake. Actually, I’ve mistaken a couple earthquakes for “a rocket launching,” I guess because of how close we lived to the launch site.
February 26th, 2009 at 11:20 am
James Lynch: I want a copy of the powerhouse photo and to dialogue with you.
Peteemail@aol.com Thanks
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
As late as 1990 we were still exploring the site north of Chico, CA. My experiences were very similar to david’s, post #4 above. Small groups would venture up and find our way into the complex. We would frequently bring a CD player and sit in the large control rooms, leaving the music at one end and sitting at the other. The acoustics were amazing.
Really exploring is hard to describe. Scary and exciting at the same time. Without the benefit of a layout diagram we never really knew where we were going and it seemed like much more of a maze than I know can see from existing diagrams. The missile silos were partially flooded with water and all of us would imagine what it would be like to slip and fall in. A truly horrifying thought! It would take hours to get help.
We never dared go in daylight, so strangely enough some of the day-time pictures that have turned up were actually quite revealing for me. Here are some of the best I’ve found:
http://news.webshots.com/album/557872339cfnyzB
And here are some aerial views as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott_r_holmes/347176182/
Comparing those with a current view from Google Maps satellite view shows the significant clean up that has taken place.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
My father and uncle worked on liquidating the equipment out of the Lincoln Ca. site after it was decommissioned. My uncle actually lived down there for months answering and making phone calls all day selling and soliciting buyers for the usable items. My father was already in the equipment liquidation business liquidating heavy equipment from the also decommissioned Auburn Dam project and he and his brother worked together sharing leads and resources to liquidate equipment from both projects. I grew up in Auburn Ca. and have always found the site fascinating as I would often drive past and my imagination was piqued by the stories of my uncle living down there wheeling and dealing “death parts” as it were.
July 18th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
I would love to talk with anyone who had experience working on any of the Beale bases, especially 851-B (the Sutter Buttes) and Lincoln sites. Peteemail@aol.com is where to reply. Has anyone been inside the 851-B site? Pictures, information on what’s been salvaged? My son is doing a report for school and would really like up to date information.
Thanks.
July 18th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Herb Sissom…can you email me, please….see above.
Thanks,
Peter
October 7th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I too had taken many trips out to “the silo’s” in the mid to late 80′s. we would go down in groups with home made rappelling equipment. What a great and scary time we had. The first few times we went in was through the main elevator shaft with spiral stairs. Shortly after, the sealed the shaft with concrete. We got in through various ways. Every time they sealed one up, we would always find a new way in. It was very intense when we would shut off all of our flashlights & walk down the “tube” hearing the clang clang of the steel plates as we walked. We would start to lose our sense of balance in the complete blackness. Once we were down there & we heard another group of kids, who weren’t with us, coming down one of the tubes in the distance. So we all climbed up into one of the ventilation shafts & waited for them to pass under us. We jumped down yelling & screaming. Scared the crap out of all of them, as they ran screaming down the halls. One night while coming out, and crossing the field going back to our hidden cars, we got chased by a couple of quads & 4×4′s. It was easy to hide in the dark though. Wish we would have gotten pictures, though. Gooooood times!!
November 4th, 2009 at 8:24 am
[...] A California Titan Missile Base [...]
February 10th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Does anyone know who I would contact to get permission to visit the Beale site near Chico CA? I’m involved with a national security project where we are using a deep penetrating radar to locate various underground structures. Any information would be helpful.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Outstanding comments on these old “cold war” era sites. I too, like some others, would like very much to see these sites and explore them for myself. If anyone has info about how to “get in”, please email me.
Thank you
Robert Blanchard
February 18th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Robert Blanchard is at Fishinsolitude@aol.com
Thank you
August 24th, 2010 at 12:42 am
is this the same rob (sister of jaime?). remember me? Bitter Salvation, the band? Rich Beatty, Mark Groshong, etc…..Hanging out on Lassen Ave. with Jamey, Michael in Chico back in 1989, 1990?