Brooklyn Bridge Houses '50s Survival Stash

[geoffs]

March 21, 2006
Brooklyn Bridge Houses '50s Survival Stash
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:21 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Workers inspecting the structural foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge uncovered a Cold War-era trove of basic provisions that were stockpiled amid fears of a nuclear attack.

The stash, discovered in a vault under an entrance ramp, includes water drums, canisters of calorie-packed crackers, paper blankets, medical supplies and drugs that were used to treat shock.

The estimated 352,000 Civil Defense All-Purpose Survival Crackers are apparently still intact, said Joseph Vaccaro, a supervisor at the city Transportation Department. The metal water drums, each labeled ''reuse as a commode,'' did not fare as well -- they're now empty.

''We find stuff all the time, but what's sort of eerie about this is that this is a bridge that thousands of people go over each day,'' Transportation commissioner Iris Weinshall said Monday. ''They walk over it, cars go over it, and this stuff was just sitting there.''

Fallout shelters were common during the 1950's, but most were dismantled.

''The crackers got moldy a very long time ago,'' said John Lewis Gaddis, a historian at Yale and a scholar of the Cold War. ''It's kind of unusual to find one fully intact -- one that is rediscovered, almost in an archaeological sense.''

Many of the cardboard boxes discovered last week in the bridge vault were ink-stamped with two especially significant years in cold-war history: 1957, when the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite, and 1962, when the Cuban missile crisis seemed to bring the world to the precipice of nuclear destruction.

Some boxes bear labels from the Office of Civil Defense, a unit of the Pentagon that coordinated domestic preparedness in the early 1960's.

The provisions were probably comforting but would likely have been useless in the case of a nuclear attack, said Graham Allison, a former assistant secretary of defense who teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

''At least people would think they were doing something, even if it didn't have any effect,'' he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Cold-War-Trove.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

[A.T.Hagan]

<strong>The stash, discovered in a vault under an entrance ramp,...</strong>

Way back when the thinking was to put such shelters in the overpasses of major highways the way this one was. I don't think they ever did put very many in, but that was the thinking then anyway.

<strong>The provisions were probably comforting but would likely have been useless in the case of a nuclear attack, said Graham Allison, a former assistant secretary of defense who teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

''At least people would think they were doing something, even if it didn't have any effect,'' he said.</strong>

It's people like Mr. Allison who are a part of the problem.

Some hope beats hell out of no hope.

We spend billions upon billions on weapons of mass destruction, but do squat for civil defense. Even in the fifties and sixties the programs were minimal at best.

.....Alan.

 

[gillmanNSF]

Minimal like the "duck and cover" drills in elementary school.

 

[north runner]

A nuke fired by a Russian sub off the coast 15 or 20 minutes to impact. This sounds more like a last minute Presidential retreat than a shelter for the masses. If this is in the foundation of the bridge as a vault it must have massive protection. Probably included radiation meters, radios, food/water for 100 and possibly an escape tunnel. I'd love to see it.

 

[shane]

<strong>The provisions were probably comforting but would likely have been useless in the case of a nuclear attack, said Graham Allison, a former assistant secretary of defense who teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

''At least people would think they were doing something, even if it didn't have any effect,'' he said.</strong>

It's people like Mr. Allison who are a part of the problem.

Alan, 100% agree, these folks are all wrapped up in their "myths of nuclear un-survivability" and are thus not open to exploring any alternative solutions or encouraging others to.

Fully 90% of the casualties from a nuclear explosion/fallout will be avoidable IF ONLY the public had gotten a little Civil Defense education first.

We've personally met and spoken over the last few months to Senators and Congressmen about the need for Civil Defense, not billions for shelters, simply public education, and have come to the conclusion that Homeland Security is all and only about #1 - Interdiction of wmd's coming into USA and, when that fails, then #2 - Continuity of the Government.

But, #3 - Continuity of the general public, via effective Civil Defense, is not there nor is it coming anytime soon, beyond some window dressing. They don't believe, as much of the public does not , nor this Graham Allison guy above either, that many could survive a nuke in a city, anyways, so they are focused instead on trying to not have one go off to begin with.

Noble, but shortsighted as, again, 90% of the casualties could be avoidable IF the general public was educated on what they can do on their own. But, they are not, and shamefully millions of fellow American families are then at grave risk to perish needlessly for lack of simple/basic nuke prep knowledge that all 5th graders in the Soviet Union were taught.

- Shane

 

[CarolynA]

How cool! Cold War collectibles are pretty popular. What a neat time capsule to find.

About 20 years ago I visited the Grand Canyon Caverns and way down in the cave they had a stash like this. Apparently they had planned on going deep underground in case of a nuke attack. One problem, they didn't think about the fact that caves "breath" & would not been a good shelter at all. Still, it was really cool to see these pallets & pallets of water drums and cracker boxes. Yep, back in the 50s we were clueless. I sure hope people from 2040 don't look back at us and think the same thing!

PS - I have a vintage fallout shelter sign on the side of my desk as a joke. Some of the younger folks don't get it.......

 

[Bubba Zanetti]

I know of two of these.

One is under the old admin building at Ferris State Univeristy. To get into there are two entrances:

1 is easy... its in the basement mens room. There's a small door. I have a key (still), but if you bring a crow bar..... the damn thing is even marked with a CD sign. A lot of people know about this. You go in and there is a steam room of sorts. Follow down through the tunnels and you will find the back up for the state capital of Michigan, beds and all. It is very large and well stocked, even to this day. I wouldn't eat any of the stuff though.

The 2nd I just discovered here in Eugene. There is a large 'play area' fenced at the top of this hill on the south side of town. One evening I noticed the door into the underground area was open. I went it and found the CD era stash, all picked over.

 

[summerthyme]

It's people like Mr. Allison who are a part of the problem.

Yep.... and wanna bet, if HIS "space" in an official "protect the continuity of useless government" shelter somehow isn't available, he'd be the first to attempt to force some poor prepper to give up his "ineffectual" shelter and supplies?!

Summerthyme (just preparing the best we can, leaving the rest up to the Lord)

 

[BREWER]

BREWER

Shane is correct again. Here we have your TYPICAL clueless bureaucrat who finds this 'relic of the past' amusing. The DVD pack on Civil Defense available from Shane is something every American elementary school should be teaching just like they do in Russia. Since they don't teach it here order them from Shane ...watch them and then do something for your children and grandchildren...like bring them up-to-date, and then act. Remember "We Are On OUR Own".
http://www.KI4U.com

 

[RC]

<strong>The provisions were probably comforting but would likely have been useless in the case of a nuclear attack, said Graham Allison, a former assistant secretary of defense who teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

''At least people would think they were doing something, even if it didn't have any effect,'' he said.</strong>

It's people like Mr. Allison who are a part of the problem.

Some hope beats hell out of no hope.

.

But he's a professor at Harvard, so he must know what he's talking about!!

Actually, his underlying problem seems to be very prevalent. For some reason, when the subject of disaster preparedness comes up, people feel the need to think in terms of absolutes. If the disaster supplies do not carry a guarantee that they will save his life, then they are worthless. This fails to recognize the value inherent in increasing ones chances of survival, even if an absolute guarantee is unavailable.

Unfortunately, I've noticed that this attitude seems to be rather prevalent among preppers as well. It's not uncommon to see someone post regarding, for example, the bird flu, and report that they are prepping because they know that there will be a pandemic. The implication seems to be that preparations are only necessary because there will be a pandemic.

Personally, I believe one needs to think in terms of probabilities, and how "cost-effective" a certain level of preparation will be, based upon those probabilities. In my case for example, I believe that all of the following events are unlikely over the coming year--in other words, for each of these events, there is a 49% or less chance of it taking place:

--A pandemic
--A nuclear war
--Riots in my city
--My house burning down
--My getting into a car crash
--My being hospitalized
--My becoming unemployed

Even though I believe that these events are unlikely, I have nonetheless done some preparation for all of them. And even though the probability is unlikely, the benefit I will derive from my preparation is very great.

There is, of course, the possibility that my preparations will be totally ineffective. I drive my car wearing a seatbelt, even though I probably won't get into a crash. And if a truck hits me at 100 MPH, the effort of wearing a seatbelt was probably wasted. But it nonetheless increases by odds of survival, and I believe there is inherent value in increasing my odds.

Obviously, the civil defense biscuits under the bridge were not used. And if the Brooklyn Bridge had suffered a direct nuclear hit, they wouldn't have done any good either. But there were possible scenarios in which they would have saved lives (for example, a hit on a city upwind from New York, but not a direct hit). IMHO, they served their purpose by increasing the odds of survival for a certain number of people.

 

[Bubba Zanetti]

Personally, I believe one needs to think in terms of probabilities, and how "cost-effective" a certain level of preparation will be, based upon those probabilities.

Perfectly stated. This is how I have operated. Just yesterday, for example, I bought 2 more LED flashlights for my 2 older kids, 2 sets of heavy duty rubber gloves, 2 safety goggles (eye protection that would be used in conjunction with my N95 masks), a tarp and some nylon twine, mini bungie cords (8 count pack) to be used to make shelter out of army ponchos.

None of these are exclusively for pandemics, but could be used in everyday life.

Other things on my to do list:

- Oil change for both vehicles
- Better spare tire for the truck
- Tetnis shots for wife and me
- Shots for the whole family for diseases not common in the US (yet) but would be needed if we were traveling to the 3rd world regions
- More food supplies, of course
- Hiking boots for my 2 older kids
- US Military ponchos for my 2 older kids

 

[Perpetuity]

It would be so much fun to map out locations of where shelters used to be, and potentially, very useful. I think we would be amazed at where some shelters were stashed in, like the Brooklyn Bridge. Having a nationwide map of where those locations were would be a godsend if you were travelling outside of your area and TSHTF. I know that probably alot of the buildings that were used in the '50s and '60s may not be around anymore, but most were in buildings and both natural/manmade areas that were going to be around for awhile, and definitely provided more protection then most homes without a potential shelter area.

Speaking of local areas, how many here know where these areas are around where they live, now that alot of the old CD signs are missing? What other locations could you find to use as a shelter in a crisis situation that's located in public/semi-public areas? I feel being able to eyeball an area that your traveling in to locate a potential shelter is an important survival attribute to hone up on. Even having a bugout location may not mean much, if you can't get to it, facilitating the need to find emergency shelter NOW, just in case. Always pay attention to what your surroundings can provide for you...just in case.

 

[CountryboyinGA]

Minimal like the "duck and cover" drills in elementary school.

Which are better known as the "bow up and take it!" drill

CBinGA

 

[Airborne Falcon]

These kind of finds are always interesting. There is one here in Columbia under The University of South Carolina.

We were living in Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis and I remember the rush to built fallout shelters at the time. People were using all kinds of stuff and packing away all kinds of things. I imagine there are more than a few time capsules burried here and there if we looked a little harder.

In the meantime, I am with Alan that Mr. Allison is part of the problem. A major part of the problem. Allison is obviusly a defeatist.

Russ