Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

Mention South Dakota to someone and they’ll likely respond with something about Mt. Rushmore or the Badlands. Or prairie. That’s all I knew about South Dakota. But, as you know, I discovered caves, mountains, and wildlife on my roadtrip. I had intended for the Badlands to be my final stop and the capstone of my trip. Then I read about another National Park site less than five miles outside of the northeast entrance to the Badlands – Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

Missile. You read that right. A National Park site dedicated to missiles. In fact, it’s the only National Park site dedicated to the Cold War.

In the 1960s discreet launch facilities dotted the northern midwest. To the passerby it looked like a typical ranch house, with the exception of an eight foot high fence. Eight foot fences were also found surrounding what looked to be near barren plots of land in the middle of agriculture fields. These small plots were barren with the exception of a few small antennas and an 80 ton silo door that when retracted revealed a nuclear weapon.

In 1991 George Bush signed the START treaty with the Soviets and both sides began to demilitarize. Part of deal stated that both the Soviets and the US could preserve one launch facility and one missile silo as a museum. Today, the United State’s museum sits just off Interstate 90 in South Dakota.

The Interstate system was originally installed as a way of military transport – not vacationing, roadtrippers like me. Every 5 miles there is an emergency landing strip built into the roadway. The original plan also included having roadside bunkers and bomb shelters. Thankfully, things never escalated that far.

Interstate 90, Exit 127 is home to Delta-01 the Launch Facility or Topside of the Delta flight. Delta-01 was decommissioned on February 22, 1993 and all of the personnel left work that day leaving everything exactly how it was. Down to the memos on the wall:

The ground level of Topside was home 8 military personnel: 1 facility manager, 1 cook, and 6 security. All 8 people would work 3 day shifts – 3 days on, 3 days off.

The cook was a very busy person making breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a midnight meal everyday to support the round the clock operation. The refrigerator was padlocked with only the cook having access. I assumed this was a rationing measure: lots of people had to eat lots of meals in this space and to run out of food would compromise their mission. Indeed, the padlocks were a security measure but they were there to protect from poisoning. A poisoned crew could allow for someone unauthorized to breach the launch bunker. It was a very real and dangerous threat.

One of my favorite stops of the Topside tour was the women’s bathroom. When the facility first opened it was manned by only men. The first woman was stationed at Delta-01 in 1987. Part of the cook’s bedroom was remodeled as a tiny women’s bathroom.

Our final stop on the ground level was the security office.  The whole above ground operation could be summarized in this room. Everyone was there to make sure only the Commander and Deputy Commander were admitted into the bunker. The personnel in this room also were notified when a motion sensor at one of the 10 missile sites was activated. This was before the prevalence of security cameras so they dispatched staff to go investigate even though many times it was a bird or another animal that had activated the sensor. They were supposed to take the Peacekeeper vehicle that remains on site.

Then it was time for us to descend into the bunker.

The bunker was protected by a blast door.

The missiliers were allowed to decorate their space however they wished. So they invented Blast Door Art.

This tiny room was awe inspiring. The power to start a nuclear war was right there. But as you saw in the video, everything was failsafe. No one person could start a nuclear war on their own. Two codes were needed for the padlocks on the box that held the keys. Even once the keys were access, they had to be turned at the same time and they were too far apart of any one person to do it. Even if they somehow managed to get that far, a double confirmation was needed from another launch facility in the squadron.

The outside of the launch facility also remains how it stood in 1993.

In the front yard there is what looks like a bingo or sweepstakes bin. Or maybe a strange barbecue. In fact, it’s a code burner. Everything came to the facility on paper – electronic communication was not the norm – and many pieces of paper included classified information – information you shouldn’t have laying around or just drop into the trash. So the facility manager loaded it into the code burner with a few rocks and lit it on fire. As the paper became ash he spun the barrel and the ashes scattered in the South Dakota wind.

After the guided tour of Delta-01, I drove out to Delta-09 at Exit 116 where I came face to face with a Minuteman Missile.

The missile silo is covered by an 80 ton door which is partially retracted for a clear view of the unarmed warhead.

There were 10 missiles in a flight. For the Delta flight the missiles were located between 3 and 11 miles away from the Topside facility.

I asked a ranger why South Dakota? Why have nuclear weapons here? She told me that there were facilities all through the upper midwest and the main reason was location. The most direct route to the USSR was up and over the North Pole. It would only take about 30 minutes from the missiles to travel from the midwest to their intended target.

I admittedly don’t know much about the Cold War. I was a child as it was concluding, and in some ways its history is still being written. But I loved visiting this NationalPark site, because I got to experience a part of Cold War history. I didn’t read about nuclear escalation in a book, I stood in room that housed the power to change the course of history.

I love exploring parks because they challenge me and teach me. They show me how much I don’t know and how much I still have to learn.

What site has taught you the most about a piece of history you lived through? Let me know in the comments below.

Go. Live.