Urban Exploring at ISU

[IcSyU]

My roommate and I drove by the "Sun Park" this afternoon to take a look at it in real life. Seeing it in person is even scarier than I thought it would be. It's like you're in some kind of scary movie. Even scarier was the fact that the old man was right in his driveway working on his old brown car as we drove slowly past.

I screwed up by not bringing a camera though. I will some day.

Walk through there at night pansy :wideeyed::wink:

 

[cstrunk]

Walk through there at night pansy :wideeyed::wink:

Haha. :wideeyed:

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Great thread.

For my Industrial Hygiene class i got to crawl through some of the older parts of Beardsher and some of the older buildings on campus. I was told that the underground tunnel system on campus is much more extensive and for a much great purpose than a steam system. They wouldn't elaborate, but with all the talk here of the Manhattan project stuff it isn't hard to make the connection.

 

[IcSyU]

They wouldn't elaborate, but with all the talk here of the Manhattan project stuff it isn't hard to make the connection.

The thing that confuses me about that is that a lot of these buildings were around before the Manhatten project (Beardshear, Curtiss, Marston, Physics, Gilman)

 

[snowcraig2.0]

The thing that confuses me about that is that a lot of these buildings were around before the Manhatten project (Beardshear, Curtiss, Marston)

Very true, but nothing says the tunnels had to be there before the buildings.

 

[IcSyU]

Very true, but nothing says the tunnels had to be there before the buildings.

Then wouldn't more people have known about all the tunnels? I don't think you can just spring up a system of tunnels as complicated as the ones under campus in a year or two without it being dreadfully obvious. If they didn't want the information released, the digging would have had to been done underground and that's not a quick and easy process.

(this thread is awesome!)

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Then wouldn't more people have known about all the tunnels? I don't think you can just spring up a system of tunnels as complicated as the ones under campus in a year or two without it being dreadfully obvious. If they didn't want the information released, the digging would have had to been done underground and that's not a quick and easy process.

(this thread is awesome!)

Very true, who knows. Just relaying what I was told, I don't have any hard evidence what the tunnels were for. However, I would think that a project with as much money behind it as the Manhattan deal would have the resources to build tunnels secretly, or maybe they took what was there and expanded it? Who knows.

 

[IcSyU]

Very true, who knows. Just relaying what I was told, I don't have any hard evidence what the tunnels were for. However, I would think that a project with as much money behind it as the Manhattan deal would have the resources to build tunnels secretly, or maybe they took what was there and expanded it? Who knows.

Somebody that is in the know (government person or Iowa State higher up) is probably reading this thread laughing at all of our conspiracy theories.:mask:

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Somebody that is in the know (government person or Iowa State higher up) is probably reading this thread laughing at all of our conspiracy theories.:mask:

Or they are deciding whether or not to activate the memory disruption chips we all had implanted during orientation!

 

[IcSyU]

Or they are deciding whether or not to activate the memory disruption chips we all had implanted during orientation!

Just call the Men in Black and ask for the neuralizer :wink:

Hell, we probably helped invent that too :yes:

 

[clones_jer]

Or they are deciding whether or not to activate the memory disruption chips we all had implanted during orientation!

Yeah, is someone keeping track in case certain posters are disappearing?

 

[majorcyfan]

Kind of cool old train bridge next to riverside park. on 6th street, just south of the skate park and the current train bridge. if you walk on the bike path that is just south of 6th street, you'll come to the old rr bed that keeps going straight. walk about 100 feet down that and there's the train bridge. I don't know that it's strange or anything special, but just kinda cool.

I am thinking that is the old Dinky line to downtown Ames.

Since I am older than dirt, I can remember the AMMO dump(meaning earthen storage sites, 2 of them as I recall) at the Northeast corner of 13th and Stange road in the early 50's to mid 60's as I recall. If you dig around there for shells or bullets, let me or your next of kin know what you found.... from the other side of course

 

[majorcyfan]

Then wouldn't more people have known about all the tunnels? I don't think you can just spring up a system of tunnels as complicated as the ones under campus in a year or two without it being dreadfully obvious. If they didn't want the information released, the digging would have had to been done underground and that's not a quick and easy process.

(this thread is awesome!)

Are they old steam tunnels from when buildings were heated by steam generated by ISU power plant as I recall? And maybe still are with different lines?

 

[IcSyU]

I am thinking that is the old Dinky line to downtown Ames.

Since I am older than dirt, I can remember the AMMO dump(meaning earthen storage sites, 2 of them as I recall) at the Northeast corner of 13th and Stange road in the early 50's to mid 60's as I recall. If you dig around there for shells or bullets, let me or your next of kin know what you found.... from the other side of course

I'd go start digging...but it's a parking lot now :no:

 

[maui6651]

My guess would be that the tunnel system started off for steam pipes, and was later envisioned as an emergency way to move people in the event of a Cold War attack. People were paranoid back then...

I don't really think that there is any sinister purpose behind the tunnels. It's not like their existance is a huge secret. Osborne has been closed for the last two months next to Coover while they extend a tunnel (with a huge water pipe in it) underneath. Any enterprising individual could have jumped the fence and gotten in easily.

 

[majorcyfan]

Anyone remember the ACK-ACK guns mounted north side of the NROTC, next to the old WOI building in 50's and 60's We shot down every plane we saw fly over with those guns ....the turning parts still worked up and down and around when I was a kid......Does anyone remember those?

 

[jaretac]

The tunnels were not built for the Manhattan project. Whether they were used or not is probably not known by anyone still employed at ISU.

The only exception might be the tunnel between Speeding and Metals lab.

The building I have questions about is Physics. Has anyone else been in the basement? There has got to be allot more space down there somewhere.

 

[Aaron Jacobs]

Just another tidbit of info not covered earlier. The reason for the classes time switch at noon (on the hour - ten till to ten after - on the hour) was because it would take 20 minutes to get the uranium from gillman to the train station.

 

[jaretac]

Just another tidbit of info not covered earlier. The reason for the classes time switch at noon (on the hour - ten till to ten after - on the hour) was because it would take 20 minutes to get the uranium from gillman to the train station.

I assume that is pure speculation on your part. That just doesn't make since. For one, the train used to stop at the power plant so it would not have been that long of a trip. Second, why would they move uranium for a top secret project in the middle of the day while all the students are out of class? Third, doesn't it seem more likely that they did that so students and teachers would have a lunch break?

 

[4VR4CY]

I assume that is pure speculation on your part. That just doesn't make since. For one, the train used to stop at the power plant so it would not have been that long of a trip. Second, why would they move uranium for a top secret project in the middle of the day while all the students are out of class? Third, doesn't it seem more likely that they did that so students and teachers would have a lunch break?

It is for lunch break purposes.