| MSM’s Cold War cave |
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| Written by Todd Germeroth | |
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The Cold War era was a chaotic time in the world. With U.S. and Soviet governments attempting to be so in tune with each other’s movements, both governments went to extreme lengths to monitor the other one’s every move. This was done with the hope of maintaining first strike capabilities should matters escalate from cold war to an actual war. Of course, one of the greatest fears during the Cold War era was the fact that the Soviets had their nuclear missiles aimed at us and ours at them.
Since the start of the thermonuclear era in the late 1940s, following the successful development of the atomic bomb by the Soviet Union, something the United States had achieved a few years earlier, the world was now a much more dangerous place. For the first time in human history, world leaders actually had a weapon available to them so powerful that full scale, worldwide use of it basically would have meant the end of the world. Having seen the destruction that atomic bombs inflicted on the Japanese, and knowing that newly developed thermonuclear weapons like the hydrogen bombs were exponentially more powerful and deadly, the United States government attempted every possible method to monitor Soviet nuclear programs and possible attacks. One such method used was the government funded project “Vela Uniform.” Vela’s purpose was to detect nuclear explosions through the use of seismograph arrays as these nuclear detonations produce a notable different seismic signature when compared to a natural earthquake. By setting up seismological stations around the United States and the world, the government could detect and triangulate the position of nuclear explosions, especially “hidden explosions” conducted underground by the Soviets when testing their nuclear arsenal. One of these seismological stations built for “Vela Uniform” was the Missouri School of Mines Seismological Station, located in the entrance of McCormick Cave near Newburg.  Entrance to McCormick Cave which once housed the MSM Seismological Station and served as a fallout shelter during the Cold War. Still situated in the entrance of McCormick Cave today, the MSM Seismological Station is essentially a piece of Cold War history frozen in time. Due to its abandonment after cancellation of the program most of the tools, supplies, and, at one time, “state of the art equipment” are all still left in place. The dehumidifiers once used inside the station were shut off. Corrosion, mold and even a few small animals have taken over, but, overall, the station still looks eerily similar to the way it did when operations began over forty years ago. One of the most noticeable “Cold War” characteristics about the MSM station is that absolutely everything in the station was United States manufactured. From the one time “advanced” technology equipment and seismograph tools made by Westinghouse to the unused bottles of fountain pen ink, everything has a label assuring you that it was made in the good old USA, something you would never see in a high-tech facility today. The station was also designated as a fallout shelter by the government in the event that nuclear war should break out. Despite its designation as this, in actuality the station would have been a very questionable fallout shelter at best due to its location in the cave and thickness of the concrete walls in the station itself. The designation is, once again, another tribute to the hopelessness that existed in the face of nuclear conflict during the Cold War. One final interesting part of this cave is its connection to the Missouri S&T Geology Department rock and mineral collection. This collection of MSM/UMR rock and mineral samples, once stored in Norwood Hall by the Geology Department, is now located right beside the MSM Seismological Station in McCormick Cave. During the 80’s, when the Geology Department moved from Norwood to McNutt, it was decided that these samples, which include some rock and mineral samples displayed by the Missouri School of Mines at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, were to be “temporarily” displayed in McCormick Cave and would be retrieved later on. Still there today, these samples have decayed, some of them quite a bit, and are another interesting part of University history located in the cave. So next time you say to yourself there’s nothing interesting about this University or the surrounding areas, just take a short trip down to Newburg and visit McCormick Cave. A place rich in Missouri School of Mines history spanning from the start of the twentieth century to the end of the Cold War. |
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