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).
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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.