After spending a day geocaching with Aaron in Northfield, we were driving back to my place in Apple Valley along MN-3 when I spotted the well known Gopher Munitions Plant, located on the University of Minnesota‘s UMore Park research lands, off in the distance. I quickly explained to Aaron what the location was and some of the history behind it and he decided it would make for great photos and a way for him to complete an SF0 task.
The now defunct Gopher Ordnance Plant was originally one of 77 munition facilities built to support the efforts during WWII. The plant’s grounds were originally located on 12,120 acres of farmland that was acquired using eminent domain. This land was originally owned by eighty independent farms. The plant was to produce smokeless gunpowder as well as nitric and sulfuric acid for the war effort.
During the 1940s, the 12,000+ acres housed 16,000 workers and nearly 860 buildings but it is now home to numerous toxic metals and waste, overgrown ruins, public outreach programs, and research facilities.
The University of Minnesota now owns approximately 8,500 of the 12,100 acres originally used during WWII for the plant. Of that 8,500 acres many are unusable due to heavy levels of toxic chemicals and metals that still permeate the soil. It has been reported (this has now conveniently been removed from Dakota County’s site but I have a backup copy here — interesting how development is about to begin and you remove the very interesting information we need to see) that high levels of chromium, arsenic, mercury, lead, and various other chemicals exceed the acceptable levels for the soil. It’s of little wonder why they do so much agricultural and livestock research in the area.
The ruins have attracted visitors from all over the metro area. Some have done what I have and just spent their time taking numerous photos while exploring the heavily patrolled grounds. Others, such as the Action Squad have taken a different approach and spent a lot of time exploring the ruins at length and going so far as to enter the tunnels and abandoned buildings on site.
On our visit today, Aaron and I only spent a few minutes snapping pictures of nature reclaiming what it rightfully owns. Proof that even the most dangerous chemicals and toxins can be overcome in sixty years time… I especially enjoyed looking at the concrete walls that line CR-46 and how the trees, vines, and other plants have grown up, around, and through the structures. To see just how much has been reclaimed since the original destruction, check out pages six and eleven in this presentation (they have removed this PDF apparently and I can’t find my copy). A completely different area from the busy days of WWII!
UMore Park has been slowly opening up parts of their land to the public for various recreational ventures and outreach programs including:
- Dakota County Master Gardeners’ Research and Display Garden which offers the public educational opportunities and a place for the Master Gardeners to display their breathtaking work.
- The Lone Rock Trail, an 11 mile loop for use by hikers, horseback riders, snoeshoers, and cross country skiiers.
- Tours for groups that are interested in the research, history, and ongoing work at UMore Park
While I had known quite a bit about the vast history of the area surrounding the Gopher Ordnance Plant, I was thrilled to learn more as well as look at it from the perspective of how nature is reclaiming what it once controlled.
Overall, a great day for geocaching and helping Aaron out with yet another SF0 task.
See all the pictures from today here (mobile) and here (camera).
Related posts:
Dakota Complaints Map
Dakota Inmate Dashboard
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April 21st, 2007 at 10:14 am
Welcome RoadGuy readers.
I just went through the links from Dakota County and they have removed a PDF based presentation (I have marked it as such above) but the important PDF that lists the specific contamination levels is safe and I have archived it permanently if they decide to remove that one in the future as well.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I’ve been to these ruins many times, it’s a beautiful place. On the site there is a large concrete structure that has 2 football field size areas with 14′ walls around it. Do you have any idea what a structure like this would be used for?
Also, have you heard about the U of M plan to develop part if this area into a sustainable community for some thousands of people? Do you know if they plan to level any of the ruins to do this?
-H.Underground
November 29th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I have heard of the plans to do development in the area but with all the documented heavy metals contamination, I would hope it wouldn’t be centered where any of the ruins exist. I would assume that at some point they would level them, especially if it will be residential development, but I would prefer to see at least some of the ruins kept as a part of our local history. 60 years is a lot of time to just trash because we need more townhouses in the South Metro.
As far as the large expanse with concrete walls goes, I don’t have any solid answers for you at this time but it was hypothesized by the Action Squad that it might possibly be a cooling pond.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
all that i know is that in order to make certain gun powders is that it requires the boiling of a lot of water, so the idea that they are cooling grounds is a good one, but one of the buildings has an area like that attached and in obviously had a roof that was burned down, very interesting site. you could spend days there and still not finish exploring, it sucks that its so busy around it; its hard to sneak around
February 7th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
i live around there and always go there, there is underground tunnels that are very hard to find but they are there. Some of these building are ripped down because of the redevelopments. It is very sad, i love this place because it is so interesting and fun to sneek around and find things. If you get caught out there you have to pay a big fine and some jail time. So be careful
February 7th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I don’t recommend that anyone trespass on the grounds but they are beautiful to photograph from the safety of the road.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
They are in the process right now of taking hundreds of soil samples of the area because the U had to sell part of the area to pay for the new football stadium. The area is being turned into a large gravel pit.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
John,
Do you know which section they are doing that in? I’d love to take a look at the areas that are known to have high levels of heavy metals and check out the proximity to the ares that they are using to bankroll the TCF Stadium (or whatever they are going to call it).
February 14th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
From Biscayne to Blaine and from Hwy. 42 to Hwy. 46.
February 14th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
John,
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I’ll look into it further this weekend.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Well if you look at the 5 year report the EPA did in july of 07 they showed that for the most part the chemicals are at safe levels except for the ones that are fenced off. The U of M was forced to do some serious cleanup including back filling literally tons of dirt and moving it to a dump site in Indiana.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Brendan,
I’ll take a look at the data when I get a chance, thanks for the info. You can check out the reports here:
2002 (PDF)
2007 (PDF)
May 18th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I was wondering what the concrete walls were along hwy 46 and the rest of the ruins were this Sunday the 18th. So I drove around and found many areas that reminded me of old abandoned buildings at some old mining sites I have seen in the Colorado Rockies on my vacations. I also wonder how the old ammunition plant in Arden Hills rates as far as contamination is concerned. thanks for the info in your article.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am
The concrete walls along CR46 are what is left of presses used to force the water out of the powder. The powder was manufactured with water to prevent it from exploding, at the end of the process they forced the water out using the presses. The powder was used primarily for naval guns.
A few other interesting things:
There are actually two identical plants on the Rosemount site. The second plant never came on line, the war was winding down by then.
The road that led from Rosemount to the plant was inadequate for the traffic load so it ran both lanes one-way during shift change.
You had to change into company supplied uniforms before each shift. If you were caught with a match, lighter or cigarettes you were fired on the spot.
The Dakota County Historical Society did a presentation on the Gopher munitions plant a few years ago.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
[...] etc, etc, etc. What I’m not all about is taking a piece of property that was once used to create, house and store harmful chemicals and munitions for the government and convert it into a place where 25 to 30 thousand people will live. I [...]
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
There is a movie at the Dakota County Library that tells the story of the Gopher Ordnance plant. The land was stolen (practically) from the Farmers that owned it, they were given 6 weeks to get off the land.
Other plants like this have lost law suits and had to reimburse the families that were driven off.
The U of M will make Millions off of this land that was suppose to be used for education etc.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Russ, thanks for the heads up on the movie. I am going to have to view that some time.
As far as the rest of what you said — yup. Anything to pay for that stadium.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
[...] 1. US Army Corps of Engineers have completed their preliminary inspection of UMore and have determined they need to spend more time there. They go on to say that they found nothing unexpected. I’m not quite sure that this is news but I figured I’d pass it along because I have covered UMore quite a lot in the past. [...]
August 4th, 2008 at 2:16 am
my friends and i visited this place today, at night, not knowing what the hell it was. just lookin for an adventure. we figured it was some bomb shelter or some military plant from WWII. we spent most of our time at the 5 stack. obviously that isnt the only thing there, we are planning on going back sometime in the near future, what other buildings would you suggest are worth trying to find?
October 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
john if you go further south east about a mile or so there is another 5 stack but this one is missing a top section in one of the stacks. there are plenty of ruins of the various buildings that once stood, including these 2 large rectangular shaped structures which appear to be some sort of holding tanks for something. there are all sorts of plumbing pipes and debris to examine inside these structures. you could make an all day adventure out of the sights to see. enjoy
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
a day late and a dollar short, thats my motto, for me. i just read the article and posts so here’s my addition.
the vhs from the dakota co library is narrated by a local guy by the name of aaron davies. i’m sure he won’t mind dropping his name. if you locals have been around 30 or so years you may recognize his voice. it’s only 15 or 20 minutes long but i thought very good.
the power plants, the two structures with the stacks were supposed to get their cooling from the mississippi river.
the original intent was to get four lines of product going simultaneously, line a,b,c and d. they got two of them going but the war ended before getting the other two on line.
it also explains what some of the other concrete ‘things’ are.
bb
January 15th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I live in Apple Valley and REALLY want to go Metal detecting at this site. Need advice? will I get caught? Is it worth it? Any adice would be appreciated.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Will you get caught? I don’t know.
Is it worth it? Getting caught? Depends on what you find and take off the site before you do I suppose. Unfortunately that would not only be trespassing but stealing and with the harmful levels of the various contaminants still in the ground there, I’d guess you wouldn’t want to be tracking that shit home.
My suggestion? Ask for permission. They’ll tell you no but at least you tried.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I wonder if the level of metal in the soil would freak out my metal detector.
February 18th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I’ve been wondering why there aren’t more pictures of this fascinating relic floating around. I found Aaron Landry’s shots on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/s4xton/sets/72157594244582006/
and that led me here. Sounds like it’s patrolled, and they toss your butt out of there if they catch you off the road? I’ve seen the NO TRASPASSING signs, and have obeyed, but I’d really like to spend a day there taking pictures.
Who do you contact to get permission to be there, unlikely as they are to grant it?
Thanks.
February 18th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Rich DM, http://www.umorepark.umn.edu/Contact.html will get you started.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Thanks, Bill.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Rich, good luck and be sure to report back if you have any success/photos :)
February 19th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I used to mess around in there back in my high school days. Apparently there was some military training that went on back there. Hiking around through those concrete structures that are now next to CTY46, I tripped over a bunch of M16 blanks on a big “chain”. I of course picked them up and put them in the trunk of my car. I was pulled over in AV a couple days later and the officer searched the car and found them. The officer was a bit disturbed to find a bunch of machine gun rounds in a 16 year olds car.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I had a day off and was up in Minneapolis, so on my way back to Rochester, I stopped at the UMore visitor center and talked to Dawn. I asked if there was any way I could get closer than the road to the GOW structures. I was told “no” and warned of asbestos and unnamed chemicals. I asked if there were ever events or tours or times when people were allowed in, like with a chaperon, and was told no to that as well. I had my little point’n'shoot with me, so I took some shots from the road, and tried to find some interesting angles so I can come back with some better equipment. I’ll post a few to my flickr account, and try to come back before the spring growth obscures everything.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:00 am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richdm/
March 13th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Great pics Rich: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richdm/sets/72157615169750234/
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
My husband and I were there today to get a couple shots. We were parked on the side of the road next to the highway where there is a large number of “blast walls” lined up just a few feet from the ditch. My husband got out and went up to the walls and was getting a couple shots when a Dakota County Sheriff Deputy pulled up and went down to talk to him. He said that it was ok for him to be taking a couple of shots where he was, but really nowhere else. And that they have been getting alot of calls about people trying to take photos at night around there, and that it is patrolled heavily at night and they confiscate cameras too. He was nice about it and let my husband finish taking his photos since he could see we were going to do no harm.
April 4th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
We were exploring the site about 25 years ago and we came across a small fenced area that contained three 55 gallon drums that were labeled radioactive. One of the three was leaning and a substance was leaking to the ground. We returned two or three days later and the drums were no longer there. We took photos and will try to dig them out.
In ’03, my brother and cousin were back to explore and near the same area the drums were they came across a weird substance on the ground. He tells me it was about the size of a large pizza, round and mounded up kind of like as if you were to pour thick oatmeal on the ground. The weird part was that it was giving off a red smoke. Then my brother dropped a plastic grocery bag on this “stuff” to see if it was hot and it wasn’t, the bag did not melt at all. They came back 2-3 days later and the pile/blob had shrunk to to a diameter of roughly 6-8″. Two days later they returned for a third visit and it was completely gone with no sign left in the dirt at all. This was right outside of the building that had at one time stored 55 gallon drums at one time (round rust stains on the concrete).
May 20th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
This is all very interesting to me. I have lived in Rosemount for my whole life, even though it is short. I am currently a student at rosemount and I am trying to write a paper and i am gathering info on this land, attempting to get enough info to formulate enough substance to form a 10-15 page paper. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated, these photos and testimonies are very helpful.
Sincerely, B
May 20th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
B,
I suggest contacting the Dakota County Historical Society, the local libraries, and UMore park itself. If they don’t have (m)any resources available to help you with your paper, they’ll at least be able to point you in the right direction. Here’s the e-mail address for the Dakota County Historical Society: dakotahistory@co.dakota.mn.us
Good luck.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
B,
If you use the MnLink library search search
https://www.mnlinkgateway.org/zportal/zengine?VDXaction=ZSearchSimple
you’ll come up with a lot of info that’s available through the libraries and the Historical Society that Bill Bill mentioned. You’ll also come across a long article by Patricia L. Dooley with much history. Good luck!
Rich DM
May 20th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Really, we’re just online acquaintances – I don’t actually call him “Bill Bill”. Typo ;-(
May 21st, 2009 at 7:46 am
b, the other b, check the dakota co library. there’s a short :15 minutes or so vhs tape produced by a local guy. can’t remember the title.
bb
May 21st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
That 15min documentary is on Farmington-Rosemount-A.V. Charter cable evey Thursday evening! very awesome info. those T walls on the South side of CR46 were solvent recovery houses
August 9th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
hi
i just heard today that alot of the ruins on 46 were going to be taken down by ames construction. i love to go there and look at them. i think they hold so much history an i think they should be preserved to some extent. do you know who we would contact to have this looked onto. thanks for the site.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Sarah you might want to start here: http://www.mnhs.org/shpo/
August 25th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I was a contractor with the county back in 2006, and we did a lot of work up on this area. One project we did was to construct a digital fly through of the plant from back in the war and of the ruins now. Check it out
http://www.co.dakota.mn.us/PublicWeb/Templates/PrintFriendly.aspx?%7B4C40CE4D-8554-4DDC-AE31-624F1AF666FD%7D
August 25th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Ryan, thanks for posting this. Are you aware of anywhere where the structures are shown and their associated functions? For example I would like to know what the famous concrete T structures are that often are seen in pairs. I have heard that these were used to hold / store the larger bomb products of the plant but have never been able to validate any of these statements.
August 25th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
these are called Solvent Recovery houses. Basically 2 railroad cars full of nitrocellulose would pull into a house, one on each side of the T, and large fans would blow across the tops of them. You can see the holes in the pictures for where the fans would be hooked up They’re built so sturdy because if one of them exploded, it was designed to blow straight up instead of laterally.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Those are really cool.. Thanks for the interesting work.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Anybody have any tips or tricks on how/where the best place to “enter” is? Any ideas on the best places to go and the best places to avoid (as far as cops go)? I want to make an expedition out there to check it out.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
very interesting and in-depth history of “The U-Lands”, UMore Park, and ordnance plant here:
http://www.umorepark.umn.edu/sites/c9e0e563-70e4-43e4-8a5e-b620e3ae848e/uploads/Chapter2.pdf
September 8th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Steve, there are a couple of comments throughout this thread about taking photos there, here’s a quick recap:
1. Stay on the road and take photos from there.
2. Even if you ask for permission to take photos on the grounds you will be told, “no”.
3. The grounds are heavily polluted and it’s not recommended that you step off the road (this is from my own research, this isn’t just the county/UMN saying it).
February 15th, 2010 at 9:36 am
A good number of years ago the 336 MP Det (CF) out of Rochester
(US Army Reserve Unit – Deactivated) conducted a weekend military
exercise in that exact area. I remember the stacks, all of the concrete
structures and even some small railroad tracks. I always look at the
scene from the highway when I go to the Twin Cities.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Any tips on getting in? I understand the pollutants aspect, and really want to have a go at getting some good pics.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Nick, let me be more clear since you apparently ignored much of what you’ve read:
May 4th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
hey thanks for the reply. and thanks for the condescension.
May 4th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Anytime.
May 5th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
For some decent enough aerial views of the site you can use maps.bing.com and enter Rosemount, MN. 160th Ave starting around Akron Ave and going east. Pick the birds eye view.
May 18th, 2010 at 1:21 am
Fascinating. What started as simple curiosity regarding a bunch of concrete structures and abandoned smoke stacks I saw today driving down 160th st. turned into a study of the history of governmental bureaucratic stupidity.
I’ve lived in the TC’s for almost 25 years but never knew anything about this site as today’s journey was the first occasion to take me down that road. Just seeing the massive concrete “T” structures to the south of the road, I knew it had to be tied to the federal gov’t and appeared to me to be some sort of blast wall. I guess I was correct on both accounts.
What I found most interesting was the 50+ page pdf history of the site that thoroughly details how the 5 sq. miles of pristine farm land went from being occupied peacefully by the native Dakota to being a useless toxic super fund site and no clear future. Twice the government stole this land (the Dakotas then the homesteaders), then dumped MILLIONS (billions in today’s $) into an unnecessary production facility that probably produced more toxins than gunpowder, and finally gave it to the U of M who had pipe dreams of their own.
Now it sounds as though the U has been spinning their wheels and spending millions more over the past 30+ years hiring “world class” consultants, putting together task teams and “executive faculty committees” to come up with some utopian use for the site “befitting the vision of its future.” And they come up with “UMore Park” and “Research Village” and “The Vermillion Institute”. What a bunch of bs!
How about just return it to the people? I would suggest giving it back to the ancestors of the ORIGINAL Dakota residents, but they probably wouldn’t want it now, toxic as it is. (And we would probably just end up with another useless casino there anyway). But what about the suggestion posed clear back in 1974 by Alice Anderson, before all those millions were spent on studying the matter to death: Just make it into a park as-is (assuming they DO ever get around to detoxing the place) – put up a snack shop where the stacks are, trails through the ruins, guided tours for the Cub Scouts. Sounds like there’s plenty of interest just on this blog to go explore the place. It could be a monument to the moronic frivolity of military and university bureaucracy!
I’m not much of a “mother earther”, but she’s gotta be crying over this travesty…… I’m done with my tirade.
Thanks, though, for the blog and all the interesting info and pictures to all that supplied them. The bing maps bird eye view is good, but I think mapquest aerial view is the most recent. Specifically, the area with all the “T” structures just to the south of 46 has all been cleared out of brush and trees which is the way it looked today.
July 19th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
[...] Works. I got intrigued by it first by driving by and then by reading at Roehl’s website, Lazy Lighting, which focuses on south-Metro happenings. Among the links of interest from his [...]
November 22nd, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I just found this thread somehow (not even sure what I was searching) but after reading through this I thought I would comment.
When I was in High School we rented a home not more than 2 miles from these structures. As for the pollutants…we were required to use bottled water (supplied from Culligan delivery – BUT paid for by Uof M) Because it was not safe to drink the water from our well (it was a farmhouse)
Not more than 3 weeks into living at this house…(no longer standing because land was bought and it was tore down) we had a dog that got deathly ill. She got pancreatitus, Liver disease and Kidney disease all at once. We fely horrible because we never thought of haing the dog need to drink the bottled water.
After speaking with the owners of the home/land that we were renting from ; they explained that the UofM lost a lawsuit to them because of the chemicals that polluted the ground water and their entire family was having stomach and internal medical issues from drinking the water BEFORE they started drinking the bottled water. Once drinking the bottled water…problems went away (as much as they could if they hadn’t had permenant damage).
My heart still hurts today because we lost our dog.
So, whatever reports or whatever the UofM or anyone else does that says there are no longer dangerous levels; even 25yrs later….I wont ever believe. I bet I could go ask the fmaily if they are still drinking bottled water today and they’d say yes. And that’s probably because they would never trust the ground water again.
just my two cents on this subject.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
My great grandfather worked at this site in the 1940s and had some interesting stories about it. They weren’t told what they were producing, but there were whispers/rumors that it was much more than “smokeless gun powder.” I don’t mean to proliferate conspiracy theories, but there seems to be a connection between the sparse historical information published on the UMore site and the potential toxicity of the land.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
HeyIt’sMe’s post made my mind flash to the opening scene in The Pineapple Express when they make Bill Hader smoke pot to see what it will do to him at a top secret underground facility.
Maybe the U used to be a top secret pot smoking test place and HeyIt’sMe’s great grandfather is the only one left alive that knows the truth!
Pile that on your conspiracy theory!
September 15th, 2011 at 6:30 am
2 H.Underground:
That area is known by locals as “Area 51″. I’m not sure what it was used for but local hooligans have decorated it with all sorts of graffiti art. It’s kind of cool to check out.