Underground Base - Dawsonville GA

a reply to: Bedlam

My thinking is probably flawed but was there ever really plans for nuclear fission powered aircraft where the point was to not have to refuel? How much rations could be stored on a plane where a reactor was going to already seriously impeded the power to weight ration. Could have been some kind of speed test. Like how the SR71 has to move the engine intake cone around at different speeds.


Just theorizing because I am far from an expert on anything like that!...lol

I just know my kid surprised me and expressed an interest in abandoned facilities that why I was searching. He found on with a couple of teenagers going in a building and finding an old skee ball game and claw game. He wants to explore but I'm in upstate SC and have no idea where to start. I think a 3 hour drive from Greenville SC would be my limit.

originally posted by: todthebod
a reply to: Bedlam

My thinking is probably flawed but was there ever really plans for nuclear fission powered aircraft where the point was to not have to refuel?

Yes, I'm pretty sure they wanted huge loiter times. It just wasn't going to happen.

Resurrecting this post because I've recently been doing a ton of research on the Dawson Forest facility.

First off, Dawson Forest is an extremely sketchy place. I'm not one to call many places haunted, but Dawson Forest is haunted. My friends and I know this now...

The nuclear site is very cool. The hot cell building is the only thing kept inside the fence. Very small area and everything can be seen from outside the fence, so no reason to cross it. This is good because sometime between 2012 and 2016 cameras/sensors have been installed in the fenced in area. The hot cell building is permanently sealed. The only 2 ways in are to get on the roof and rappel down through one of the two holes that can be seen from Google Earth. The other way is gain access to the tunnel that leads up to it. The only entrance to this tunnel that I know of is about a mile northeast of the hot cell, but it's been filled in with concrete sometime in the past 3 or 4 years. It's very easy to get to. There is a large parking area and horseback riding trail that begins at the hot cell building. Walk down this trail about a mile and you will see a clearing on the right, and a circle of brush in the middle of the field. Walk around to the back of the brush and you will see the openings in the ground. I have a friend who has been down the hatch and he said the tunnel gets kinda small, but it does go in the direction of the hot cell.

The main tunnel entrance is at the very end of Dawson Forest road at the culdesac. This is the tunnel that people have rafted through, as it is flooded. A corner of a doorway can be seen through a small hole on the side of the building facing the culdesac, and (when facing the building from the road) there is an entrance on the left side of the building. A small recess can be seen in the dirt that now covers it. Behind this building about 20 yards or so are more concrete slabs where buildings used to be, and there is a small 4 or 5 inch hole in the ground that you can look into and see the bottom (I should say the water that has it flooded) of what I believe is the tunnel.

There is a gate to the left that leads to a large field. If you go in the field and go to the left, there is a secondary entrance just off the field in the woods, the small trail to it is pretty easy to see once you walk to the left side of the field. This entrance is buried under a huge dirt pile. On the opposite side (right side) of the field is the rebar hole. There is a hole for entry at the bottom of it. It's just an empty room, not much to look at. Another hot spot is the pumphouse, also easy to get to but again, not much but poor graffiti to look at.

Anything I'm missing?

a reply to: amateurexplorer

Very cool, and thanks! I may never have seen this great thread if you had not resurrected it just now

a reply to: amateurexplorer

Is this sight still radioactively hot?

originally posted by: SolAquarius
a reply to: amateurexplorer

Is this sight still radioactively hot?

No, Dawson Forest is open to the public for hunting, bicycling, hiking, horseback riding, etc. Hasn't been any radiation for a while. I personally still wouldn't drink the water or eat any berries in there though, and as far as I know, no one knows radiation levels inside the structures, although #1 there's no way in anymore (if someone knows of a way in I'd love to know) and #2 people have gone in a lot 20-30 years ago and are perfectly healthy nowadays.

a reply to: amateurexplorer

I am too extremely interested and was there this past weekend. I saw a video where some people found a field with a marker and then six smaller markers around it in a circle. Where is this and how do you get to it? I saw most of the structures but did not see ways to get inside them.

originally posted by: amateurexplorer
Resurrecting this post because I've recently been doing a ton of research on the Dawson Forest facility.

First off, Dawson Forest is an extremely sketchy place. I'm not one to call many places haunted, but Dawson Forest is haunted. My friends and I know this now...

The nuclear site is very cool. The hot cell building is the only thing kept inside the fence. Very small area and everything can be seen from outside the fence, so no reason to cross it. This is good because sometime between 2012 and 2016 cameras/sensors have been installed in the fenced in area. The hot cell building is permanently sealed. The only 2 ways in are to get on the roof and rappel down through one of the two holes that can be seen from Google Earth. The other way is gain access to the tunnel that leads up to it. The only entrance to this tunnel that I know of is about a mile northeast of the hot cell, but it's been filled in with concrete sometime in the past 3 or 4 years. It's very easy to get to. There is a large parking area and horseback riding trail that begins at the hot cell building. Walk down this trail about a mile and you will see a clearing on the right, and a circle of brush in the middle of the field. Walk around to the back of the brush and you will see the openings in the ground. I have a friend who has been down the hatch and he said the tunnel gets kinda small, but it does go in the direction of the hot cell.

The main tunnel entrance is at the very end of Dawson Forest road at the culdesac. This is the tunnel that people have rafted through, as it is flooded. A corner of a doorway can be seen through a small hole on the side of the building facing the culdesac, and (when facing the building from the road) there is an entrance on the left side of the building. A small recess can be seen in the dirt that now covers it. Behind this building about 20 yards or so are more concrete slabs where buildings used to be, and there is a small 4 or 5 inch hole in the ground that you can look into and see the bottom (I should say the water that has it flooded) of what I believe is the tunnel.

There is a gate to the left that leads to a large field. If you go in the field and go to the left, there is a secondary entrance just off the field in the woods, the small trail to it is pretty easy to see once you walk to the left side of the field. This entrance is buried under a huge dirt pile. On the opposite side (right side) of the field is the rebar hole. There is a hole for entry at the bottom of it. It's just an empty room, not much to look at. Another hot spot is the pumphouse, also easy to get to but again, not much but poor graffiti to look at.

Anything I'm missing?

I think you got it all, I live on property connected to Dawson Forest and consider myself a pretty detailed log of everything about the acres. There's a few things that have been filled in and what-not sense your post, but thats mostly all true.

originally posted by: amateurexplorer

originally posted by: SolAquarius
a reply to: amateurexplorer

Is this sight still radioactively hot?

No, Dawson Forest is open to the public for hunting, bicycling, hiking, horseback riding, etc. Hasn't been any radiation for a while. I personally still wouldn't drink the water or eat any berries in there though, and as far as I know, no one knows radiation levels inside the structures, although #1 there's no way in anymore (if someone knows of a way in I'd love to know) and #2 people have gone in a lot 20-30 years ago and are perfectly healthy nowadays.

The way in isn't easily accessible unless you can lift full sized trees out of the way nowadays. I go in all the time still though. I know the place like the front and back of my hands.

Here is your mystery perhaps.... long time lurker .. not sure if someone posted this video in here so I took it upon myself to sign up and post link ... now back to lurking

youtu.be...

a reply to: grubz

Well that video sure inspires confidence. ;-) I haven't seen one of those Weller guns used on electronics since..well never.

An enthralling topic. Remember it when it was first raised, and has some new links. Watched the official video as somewhere I read there was a rail connection between the reactor bit and where the irradiated items where examined, being a rail buff, looked on Google earth to see if any traces left.
Looking around the area, and highway 19 in particular I found a place called Roswell! Is that the place where a supposed UFO crashed?
Is there any possible connection, or have I missed something in the past posts?
Also, looking at that official film, the reactor building looks to be made out metal, like a typical US type of barn. Can that truly be so?

originally posted by: dowot
An enthralling topic. Remember it when it was first raised, and has some new links. Watched the official video as somewhere I read there was a rail connection between the reactor bit and where the irradiated items where examined, being a rail buff, looked on Google earth to see if any traces left.
Looking around the area, and highway 19 in particular I found a place called Roswell! Is that the place where a supposed UFO crashed?
Is there any possible connection, or have I missed something in the past posts?
Also, looking at that official film, the reactor building looks to be made out metal, like a typical US type of barn. Can that truly be so?

The alleged UFO crash was in Roswell New Mexico.

A research reactor doesn't have all the infrastructure that you associate with a nuclear power reactor. Many universities have reactors on campus. If you didn't know what building contained the reactor, I don't think you could spot it from the outside. So you could have a research reactor in a tin shack.

I'm way out of my league on nuclear reactors, though when you study thermodynamics, nuclear reactors are glossed over. andvit has been decades since I took thermoD. But basically a research reactor has enough nuclear material to go, as they say in the video, critical. All that means is fission is taking place.

You can irradiate materials without a full blown reactor, but perhaps not to the degree they needed for this project. Quite a number of food items are irradiated to kill germs, organisms, etc. Spices for example. In the case of this aircraft project, I guess they were trying to see how radiation weakens materials.

They had a nuclear plane project at the Nevada Test Site. A nuclear rocket project too. Obviously both projects were cancelled.

a reply to: gariac

Thanks for that. Looking at the map it did not seem to be the same place.

I suppose the lightweight building explains the amount of radioactivity that stunted trees and killed wildlife, and why the workers had to use deep shelters when it was in operation. Then there was the railway, moving the irradiated stuff from place to place. How long would it have remained irradiated? Would it have been taken away by train or buried?

I am still interested in that railway though.

a reply to: gariac

Been looking at the "Fast Mover" posts, maybe they did get one airborne...ok convention ruled that out.

Your comment re, " In the case of this aircraft project, I guess they were trying to see how radiation weakens materials." made me look at Lockheed and, yes indeed, they did use the equipment to produce stronger pine wood, which they retailed.

Strange times.

originally posted by: dowot
a reply to: gariac

Been looking at the "Fast Mover" posts, maybe they did get one airborne...ok convention ruled that out.

Your comment re, " In the case of this aircraft project, I guess they were trying to see how radiation weakens materials." made me look at Lockheed and, yes indeed, they did use the equipment to produce stronger pine wood, which they retailed.

Strange times.

Note that "fast mover" is just s generic term for a high performance aircraft. Groom Lake has large cargo, small cargo, and fast mover as generic notations.

Anyway, I wouldn't expect a nuclear powered plane to be a fast mover. For one thing, there is the weight of the shielding. IIRC the goal of the nuclear plane was loiter time. If you think about it, that is what they accomplish with nuclear subs and ships.

Might have missed the link, but in case it has not added before, a link to some info, which is basically as is already known, but does include a map of the whole site and a photo of the nuclear "shed", taken when first built.
www.williamlstuart.com...
Interesting tracing the various locations on google earth, but can not find any trace of the railway. Must have been very temporarily laid. Usually old railway routes can still be seen many years after they were torn up. Expect it has become one of the trails through the forest.

a reply to: behindthescenes

Project Pluto

Project Pluto might be the USAF nuclear plane.

originally posted by: gariac
a reply to: grubz
Well that video sure inspires confidence. ;-) I haven't seen one of those Weller guns used on electronics since..well never.

Weller soldering gun. That brings back memories. Seeing someone even coming near electronics with one of those things, the thought still makes me cringe. Good for... soldering wires together, or wood burning.

I have been to the forest many times and weird things have happened. I am pretty sure it's haunted. I am actually planning a trip very soon to see if it is once and for all. If y'all have any information on paranormal experiences out there please explain.