Tooele, UT 601a

Something very far from the normal understandings of Utah emerges when you are in the area around Tooele. The first time I was there, I was driving at night on Utah 36, which is a very empty road. At 9PM it was possible to drive for a half hour or more without seeing another car. As I was rounding a long curve that turns the highway west for several miles, I saw off in the distance what looked like a very large area that was enclosed by orange lights but otherwise surrounded by darkness. As I got closer, it became clear that there was an area of several miles square that was outlined by bright vapor lights. I also began to notice very tall posts along the highway, with oddly shaped cylinders at the top that looked like some sort of sensor. Considering that I encountered no traffic and there was no activity visible in the area of the lights, it was quite eerie and suggested something from a sci-fi movie. Luckily I knew that I was getting somewhere near Tooele and Dugway, both of which have played large roles in the development, maintenance, and destruction of chemical and biological weapons, and both of which have very large areas of highly-classified access.

The military and related activities (both past and present) at Tooele and Dugway are loosely described on various websites, and a web search will turn up lots of interesting information and speculation about the two sites. Both sites were originally started at the beginning of WWII and remained quite active through the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War there was some decommissioning of sites and the military's presence at both sites has reduced tremendously. Both, however, do continue to have large, secret, operations. The site that I mentioned above is the Deseret Chemical Depot, which apparently is charged with destroying 'weapons of mass destruction' held by both the U.S. and some foreign governments.

The adjacent pictures only give a glimpse of the facilities from the ground level, pictures from the air are available from various web sites. My reasons for discussing these sites and posting these rather boring pictures are that I feel that awareness of the existence of these sites should be disseminated. Whether or not the U.S. should have, or should have had, 'weapons of mass destruction' is a matter of debate -- but I do feel that visual reminders of the size of our involvement and the implications of our weapons development are important in debates about the use of our military powers.

This picture is of the Tooele Army Depot, which is next to the city of Tooele, Utah. Though you can't easily tell from this, the ammunition storage area stretches to the edge of the mountains in the distance.