Ford Motors Mining Tunnels

5window

5window

Well-known member
In the Model A years, Ford had a glass plant in St Paul, MN and tunnels to mine sand under the plant. Here's a link to an interesting look at what's there today:
http://www.actionsquad.org/ford.htm

Disclaimer: I am not condoning the trespassing by this group onto private property-but it is pretty cool.
 
Mining silica without any respiratory protection is a sure way to die a horrible death.

Ford illegally dumped paint residue from it's assembly plant in Mahwah N.J. and contaminated at least 900 acres of public land in New Jersey with chromium,lead and other harmful chemicals most of which are still in the ground today even after a "super fund" cleanup was conducted. Some of the things Ford and other companies did for profit back in the day would have landed them in jail today.Before closing in 1980, the behemoth plant spat out 6 million vehicles and an ocean of contaminants - including enough paint sludge to fill two of the three tubes of the Lincoln Tunnel.



Read all about this disaster that is still ongoing....

http://www.northjersey.com/news/env...Making_a_wasteland_Ford_the_feds_the_mob.html

And more,


http://www.northjersey.com/specialreports/ringwood5yearslater.html
 
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wow did not even know that exhisted! did they have permission from ford, or did they just go in? and was that really a guy burried there?:eek:
 
John Duden said:
wow did not even know that exhisted! did they have permission from ford, or did they just go in? and was that really a guy burried there?:eek:
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They never seem to have asked, let alone gotten, permission from Ford and I don't think anyone died down there.see the update for 2008.
 
Hey that's a pretty interesting adventure these kids got up to.
The "revisit" at the end has some great photos too.
 
That's cool. I love looking at old pictures and seeing how somethings were done in the past. We have learned a lot over the years.
 
As an old spelunker of 40 years ago I can under stand their excitement. While all of our adventures were with permission,I can understand the need to explore!!
Bruce Davis a400usa@nccn.net
 
Ford certainly liked tunnels. I worked for 31 years in the former Willow Run Bomber plant (GM Hydramatic), and there was a large network of tunnels underneath the entire complex, plus underground transformer rooms,and bomb shelters. It was possible to walk the entire 1-mile length of the plant underground, and end up over at the hangars at the airport next door.
 
jeep44 said:
Ford certainly liked tunnels. I worked for 31 years in the former Willow Run Bomber plant (GM Hydramatic), and there was a large network of tunnels underneath the entire complex, plus underground transformer rooms,and bomb shelters. It was possible to walk the entire 1-mile length of the plant underground, and end up over at the hangars at the airport next door.
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Cool! Do you have any pictures?
 
5window said:
Cool! Do you have any pictures?
Click to expand...

No, cameras were a violation of the shop rules (as was being down in these tunnels without authorization), so In my little lunch-time expeditions, I never had a camera with me- now, with all the cellphone cameras, I don't know how GM handles that. I wish I did have some photos,though. Some of those transformer rooms were like Egyptian tombs. While I was still working there, they filled all of them up, and capped them with concrete. Now the plant is closed.
 
The Dodge Chicago plant built WWII Pratt-Whitney radial engines for bombers and had a similar arrangement of underground utilities and facilities. Locker rooms, cafeterias, and general stores were all located u/g. After the war Preston Tucker leased a portion of the sprawling facility for his ill-fated venture, and even later Ford built jet engines there for the Korean effort. Today the shopping center there is named Ford City, it's just south of Midway Airport.
It's been rumored that tunnels lead the mile and a half to the airport but I don't believe that is the case here. I think it was the War Department that required the tunnels and u/g rooms as they were paying for the structures to be built.
 
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