Read Online 100 Places You Will Never Visit by Daniel Smith - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Daniel Smith
Ads: Link
companies, and its most famous high-security storage facility lies more than 60 meters (200 ft) underground in the former mining town of Boyers, Pennsylvania. Among the priceless materials stored in the former mine is the Corbis photographic collection, now owned by Bill Gates.
The Iron Mountain company was founded by Herman Knaust, a businessman who had made his fortune in mushroom farming and marketing. In 1936, he forked out US$9,000 to purchase a defunct iron ore mine and 40 hectares (100 acres) of surrounding land in Livingstone, New York. It was, Knaust was convinced, the ideal setting for mushroom cultivation on an industrial scale. But by 1950 the bottom had fallen out of the mushroom market and Knaust spotted a new opportunity. The Second World War and the Cold War had focused attention on the need to preserve official records in locations secure from military attack or other disasters. The one-time “Mushroom King” renamed his mine and founded Iron Mountain Atomic Storage, Inc.
Meanwhile, the town of Boyers in Butler County, Pennsylvania, was a once-thriving mining community that had dug all it could out of the ground. From 1954 onward, various organizations began to use its former limestone mines as storage facilities. After Iron Mountain went through a rapid phase of expansion in the 1980s and 1990s, the company bought one of these sites in 1998 from National Underground Storage for a little short of US$40 million. It is in many respects the company’s flagship branch.
About 53 hectares (130 acres) of the mine are now devoted to climate-controlled storage, with clients ranging from the Corbis photographic library to US government departments, and from film companies to the National Archives. The facility is entirely protected from the elements, geologically stable and resistant to bombing.
On the approach to Iron Mountain, visitors are greeted by armed guards, who check their credentials and give their vehicles a thorough inspection. Entry to the complex is via large, steel gates, and guests must be accompanied by an official escort at all times. Security systems, including extensive surveillance, are in operation throughout the facility—not even Bill Gates gets into Iron Mountain on a nod and a wink!
1 ICONIC IMAGES The Corbis archive contains original images of many famous events such as the destruction of the German airship Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937.
2 FILED AWAY The Iron Mountain Corporation is just one of several organizations who use Boyer’s abandoned mines as ready-made storage facilities. For instance, the US Office of Personnel Management and the US Patent and Trademark Office both run their own facilities.
22 Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center
LOCATION Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, USA
NEAREST POPULATION HUB Washington, DC
SECRECY OVERVIEW Existence unacknowledged: secret installation to house US government officials in the event of a disaster.
Straddling the Loudon and Clarke counties of Virginia, the facility at Mount Weather comprises two main parts—one above ground, concerned with the management of national disasters, and a more mysterious subterranean section. This hidden, unacknowledged complex is widely believed to serve as a “continuity of government” base, a home for key Washington personnel in times of crisis.
The Mount Weather site was historically used for launching weather balloons, and later came under the aegis of the US Bureau of Mines. During the 1950s, an extensive program of drilling into the mountain was undertaken with a view to the military building a subterranean complex of tunnels and bunkers.
Today the complex, covering several acres, is believed to include high-tech ventilation systems, computer rooms, a broadcasting studio, a hospital, reservoirs and accommodation quarters. It is widely speculated that Mount Weather would be used as an alternative command center by the President and other senior government officials as well
The Iron Mountain company was founded by Herman Knaust, a businessman who had made his fortune in mushroom farming and marketing. In 1936, he forked out US$9,000 to purchase a defunct iron ore mine and 40 hectares (100 acres) of surrounding land in Livingstone, New York. It was, Knaust was convinced, the ideal setting for mushroom cultivation on an industrial scale. But by 1950 the bottom had fallen out of the mushroom market and Knaust spotted a new opportunity. The Second World War and the Cold War had focused attention on the need to preserve official records in locations secure from military attack or other disasters. The one-time “Mushroom King” renamed his mine and founded Iron Mountain Atomic Storage, Inc.
Meanwhile, the town of Boyers in Butler County, Pennsylvania, was a once-thriving mining community that had dug all it could out of the ground. From 1954 onward, various organizations began to use its former limestone mines as storage facilities. After Iron Mountain went through a rapid phase of expansion in the 1980s and 1990s, the company bought one of these sites in 1998 from National Underground Storage for a little short of US$40 million. It is in many respects the company’s flagship branch.
About 53 hectares (130 acres) of the mine are now devoted to climate-controlled storage, with clients ranging from the Corbis photographic library to US government departments, and from film companies to the National Archives. The facility is entirely protected from the elements, geologically stable and resistant to bombing.
On the approach to Iron Mountain, visitors are greeted by armed guards, who check their credentials and give their vehicles a thorough inspection. Entry to the complex is via large, steel gates, and guests must be accompanied by an official escort at all times. Security systems, including extensive surveillance, are in operation throughout the facility—not even Bill Gates gets into Iron Mountain on a nod and a wink!
1 ICONIC IMAGES The Corbis archive contains original images of many famous events such as the destruction of the German airship Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937.
2 FILED AWAY The Iron Mountain Corporation is just one of several organizations who use Boyer’s abandoned mines as ready-made storage facilities. For instance, the US Office of Personnel Management and the US Patent and Trademark Office both run their own facilities.
22 Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center
LOCATION Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, USA
NEAREST POPULATION HUB Washington, DC
SECRECY OVERVIEW Existence unacknowledged: secret installation to house US government officials in the event of a disaster.
Straddling the Loudon and Clarke counties of Virginia, the facility at Mount Weather comprises two main parts—one above ground, concerned with the management of national disasters, and a more mysterious subterranean section. This hidden, unacknowledged complex is widely believed to serve as a “continuity of government” base, a home for key Washington personnel in times of crisis.
The Mount Weather site was historically used for launching weather balloons, and later came under the aegis of the US Bureau of Mines. During the 1950s, an extensive program of drilling into the mountain was undertaken with a view to the military building a subterranean complex of tunnels and bunkers.
Today the complex, covering several acres, is believed to include high-tech ventilation systems, computer rooms, a broadcasting studio, a hospital, reservoirs and accommodation quarters. It is widely speculated that Mount Weather would be used as an alternative command center by the President and other senior government officials as well
Similar Books
