The Atomic Ranch Story in a Nutshell

[@bryanmontgomery996]

We excavated it, then we buried it. (repeat X 3) Why didn't you construct a secure entrance to the decon room or find a way to secure blast door #9? Seems like a lot of wasted effort.

[@jackshittle]

HITACHI; Number 1 when it comes to televisions and excavators.

[@chriswise9996]

I just happened across this channel when my parents asked if I knew about the missle site. Being a native of Mescal I had been there a copy times and even explored it in my teenage years. I thought it was so neat and was sad I could not explore more than the control room and living quarters. Over the past 5 or so years, every time I drive by, which is pretty much daily, I wondered what was happening there. Now I know! That's so neat!

[@guiltyone3]

I have been to your site many times before your ownership, I'm glad it was purchased by someone who has an actual interest vs the Church in Catalina.. But today on my way to Mescal, I stopped by to see you're sign on the main gate and this is how I found your channel here! Congrats on ownership, I'm envious!!

[@minisareus]

Reinstall the long cable way

[@daverich267]

Atomic Ranch! So thankful to have visited the site with you guys. Seeing the sponges in the kitchen where they had sat for 30 plus years was mind bending!

[@huddy32]

I’m a underground shoring expert, all i can say is thank you for trying and understanding the dangers there.

[@bajablazin]

Just curious, your excavation seems to have required a ton of effort and cost. Why didn't you just put that towards excavating the access portal?

[@kennener8446]

Would love another episode on the inside of the actual silo. How far down did you finally explore? The water was pretty far down as recall...

[@peterhodgkins6985]

Fascinating stuff... My wife and I live not far from the 18 sites surrounding Davis Monthan, and had been considering the good/bad/ugly of purchasing one of those things for some time. After watching many different owners' experiences, I realize that it would have been a monumental mistake! With enough time, effort and money, anyone could make rocks fly! But going into something like this takes a clear vision, a LOT of planning, expertise and financing. Not a game for an old man or a poor one! ;) I look forward to seeing more of this site! BTW - I think excavating makes perfect sense here in the Az desert. The vertical dig was likely a bit safer here in the desert with our arid conditions and thick caliche than it would be in another area with groundwater considerations. But in any event, a 35 foot hole in the earth for human occupancy is never a good idea, even in the best of conditions.

[@93617]

Wow! How much has changed from then and now!

[@joshjenkins3815]

Id like to know more details, why are you digging it up instead of going in through the entry portal, what did the inside look like, etc.

[@k2mslskier]

I wanted to buy this place so bad. Were you able to get it for less than the asking price?

[@defiantheroes6275]

Really awesome video! Are there any plans in the Future to make a permanent Silo entrance?

[@ArizonaTitan]

Can you use the excavator to clear out the entrance shaft now? It looks like it might have the reach...

[@chrisgrier33]

LOL That's me on the left in the picture @ kzbin.info/www/bejne/baaYqXx_o9-Bqqc Glad you are doing this, it was fun looking around before it went up for sale!

[@ThompsonAtomicRanch]

No way?! That's awesome! Now I finally have a name behind the face. Do ya happen to have any other pics when you visited? I'd love to see. Thx!

[@chrisgrier33]

@@ThompsonAtomicRanch I'll dig around for more pictures, We visited a few of the sites back in the early 2000's. Not sure if you have seen this(map of all the sites in S Az): www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1ZYaMhFJqpTcCrLX_HFyZ39ZdNW8&ll=31.965070536885385%2C-110.4815797824213&z=14

[@gecal556]

Any reason why you didn't excavate the access portal instead? Was it just too deep and narrow to reach down into?

[@ThompsonAtomicRanch]

That was an option we considered. It would have taken less time and effort to do that but we wanted to have a horizontal access into our control center and we wanted to make access to the silo entrance and the only way of doing that was to dig down to it. Also, the access portal has about 10' of rubble left in it as well as two concrete discs 10' in diameter and 3' thick, each weighing nearly 40,000 lbs each. We'll get them out sometime but that's gonna be a chore!

[@gecal556]

@@ThompsonAtomicRanch thanks for the explanation and that makes perfect sense. I can see how it would be a lot easier to excavate that way since you had plenty of horizontal room to spread out the grading and make it safe, versus working in the relatively narrow vertical shaft of the access portal. I think it's really cool that you are including access to the silo proper in your plans!

[@GarySiloManBaker]

I came in from Roswell to help David, Josh and Eric... open her up, including my daughter Lauren, I think she was 12. There were also a couple others...after opening on day one and two, I ran the extended backhoe on the access portal and removed nealy all the debris but the old UHF antenna bases they dropped in the bottom. I should have those photos somewhere. I don't recall putting them on SiloWorld.

[@Brycefox]

@@GarySiloManBaker that would be awesome to see! If I recall correctly, the only interior photos of Titan II sites on Siloworld were from Vandenberg

[@tfhmobil]

Looking as the way to go 👍 I wondered why I haven’t seen someone do like this before. I can’t be sure, but I believe, a crane, a small excavator, and one or more small dumpers, then you can clean out anything.

[@FeelOfWartune]

previous owner was part gopher.

[@Bbendfender]

Tell us more about what you found on the "silo" end of the entrance. I always thought one might be able to get into that area of the silo.

[@andrewenglish3810]

Is it the plan to install your own cable way? It would be pretty cool if you do, but since if you have any water getting in to the building area you want to think about digging down to the foundation and re-coating the walls and put in a weeping tile system to keep the water from getting in. As for the original method their are videos on YT for that, basically they dug the entire area down to 45' making it look like a bathtub then build the builds and the start of the silo which they dug down another 100' or so. Once concrete structures were built they filled it in until they got the cableway level and put that in and filled in the rest.

[@pete3897]

You know, the title says "The Atomic Ranch Story in a Nutshell", but after 5 minutes I'm left with one big question... WHY? (could do a better job of explaining that part)

[@LastWatchHorology]

How epic!

[@Rocketman88002]

You could be a miner! Lol

[@peterbampton2574]

Please keep us posted.

[@trisrush9155]

Just out of interest, Do you require any kind of permits to carry out this work? Nice job!

[@jonribbing3115]

I really think it would be awesome to have one of those.. I just don't understand why you would dig up and fill the same areas over and over again. That's like sh*tting your underwear and changing over and over again. Why not just secure it.. also what are your end goals? Are you making a shelter or just historic type thing?

[@jefflovejoy2997]

Why didn't you take all that money you spent on digging and excavating equipment and just moving a lot of dirt around to restore the entryway portal? Just saying. Liked the video.

[@donraptor6156]

I will bet it it would cost half million to clear the silo!

[@MrSzachMatt]

AFAIR GT estimated it to be around 250-300k and that's for AR site where you have to deal with high water table...

[@honkeytonk]

why did u excavate then fill it back in thats just a tremendous waste of time and money

[@ThompsonAtomicRanch]

We never filled it all the way back in just covered the entry point so trespassers wouldn't get in. Since we had to do it I'm stages, that was the only way to ensure the property was safe while we weren't there. Waste of time, perhaps, but if someone went in and got hurt, sued us, that would have cost alot more money. Haha

[@johnwren3976]

Why? 🤷‍♂️ A lot of repetitive, nonproductive effort like you didn't have a plan first.

[@ThompsonAtomicRanch]

We definitely had a plan from the beginning but due to our limited amount of heavy equipment and what their capabilities were, this was the way we had to do it to keep the site secure. The property for many years had people trespassing on a regular basis to "explore" the control center, so we wanted to ensure no one was hurt if they did trespass. We did take a few steps forward and one step back but we feel it was a necessary thing to do.