Show Tooele Ordnance Depot Also Storage Center Genter By Dy O. O N. N MALMQUIST The Tooele Ordnance Depot a vast in- in installation of the tho army ordnance depart depart- department In-I In ment meat spread over thousands of acres of or rolling lands south of at Tooele is com com- commonly commonly commonly thought of or as Just an Immense storage facility for explosives But re- re representatives es of or the Utah press learned that it is much moro mono than that on a a. recent tour sponsored by the Ninth Ser Ser- Service Service vice Command The project is a whale of a storage depot but it is 15 also an important sal sai- salago vago ago center center m and when the necessary equipment is received and installed it will be one of or the West's major tank and artillery repair centers From the tho standpoint of or personnel in Intact fact tact the tho salvage and repair activities are more more Important than the storage phase The depot currently employs about 1000 persons person but when the tank and artillery repair section s are arc fully 1 activated employment will be in the neighborhood of or One single concrete building by feet teet has been erected at a cost of or more than as a tank repair Tools and equipment will add hundreds of or thousands of dollars to the Investment In that unit The salvage section offers an effective refutation of or the popular notion that the Army Just uses materials but doesn t bother to reclaim them On the con con- contrary contrary contrary the millions of or rounds of am am- ammunition ammunition ammunition fired tired In training camps and andon andon andon on battle fronts parts of or smashed tanks and automotive equipment packing I cases and scores of or other items are gathered up and shipped back to such such j I places as the Tooele ordnance depot for use re-use or as scrap wrap I Carloads of t fired shells ranging in I size from 30 calibre to mm are rolling dally daily into the Tooele depot The small shells are arc run through a B popping furnace to explode any live ones and then shipped to the nearest smelter in la need of at that type of at scrap Larger shell cases are arc carefully inspected for tor live ones one and then sorted The undamaged or slightly damaged are reshipped directly to arsenals for reloading and the dam dam- damaged damaged damaged I aged ones to the smelters go as scrap I IA iA A large part of ot this work dirty and disagreeable is done by women In fact tact I women are arc doing a big share thare of the work at virtually all of or the military In- In installations I in the area and the commanding com com- commanding commandIng manding officers have nothing but praise for their morale sense of or duty and will will- willingness willingness to perform tasks which are nor nor- normally normally normally mally regarded as a mans work To the average mind accustomed to thinking in terms of or past experiences tho the storage facilities at the depot are I Ion on a scale difficult to comprehend There are arc approximately 1000 partly bUbmer submerged submerged ged magazines or Igloos for the storage of ot high explosives and several large largo ground above-ground magazines for the storage of at small ammunition One foot 80 igloo they range range- In size from 40 to 80 feet teet has a capacity of or approximately worth of or 1000 I pound bombs If all the Igloos were filled tilled with this particular explosive the value I would two billion dollars or or I Imore Imore more than three times the assessed val val- valuation valuation of or the entire state of or Utah val val-I The Igloos are constructed In a barrel- barrel shape of or nine inch reinforced concrete i and covered with two feet of or dirt and I gravel The front end is Intentionally I made weaker than the remainder of the structure so that in case of or an explosion 1 the tho force torce would be expended forward lessening the danger of or nearby Igloos igloos i being exploded They are arc staggered on the to end-to-end line so as to increase the I distance between them on that plane A few years ago the acre re reservation rev re- occupied d by the depot was one I of the states state's worst dust bowls There is I still plenty of dust there when the I wind blows and It does much of or the I time but real progress is being made i in tying the soil soll down with plantings of or I rye re and a resistant drouth grass brought from tram the steppes of or Russia The igloos I and spaces unoccupied by buildings are i already covered by a sparse growth and the hope is that this will seed re-seed and and thicken the covering This dust-control dust program is being carried out under the supervision of or the Utah State Agricultural Agricultural I tural college at Logan I Housing for has been one I of the major problems of or the depot but buta I Ia a housing project to care for tor about 1000 I families is currently underway Some i of t the units are arc already completed and I the tho remainder will be ready for i pancy For single workers and troops stationed at the depot there are bar bar- barracks barracks barracks racks with a capacity of or approximately 1400 The future of ot the depot of or course is uncertain Whether it will operate after the war is dependent upon factors which no one can forsee with certainty But much of or the construction is of ot the permanent per per- permanent permanent manent and semi-permanent semi type and would be usable for tor an indefinite period with proper maintenance The igloos for tor all practical purposes are permanent in the broadest sense of or that term r i Colonel Henry E E. Minton is the com com- commanding commanding commanding manding officer of or the thA th depot and Major M M. R. R Gillette Gilletto is the executive officer o |