Drop the ole Pegman on a few of these Photospheres to check out some ancient abandoned explosives storage bunkers. You might need to drag Mr. Peg over the wooded area to see where they are. Not my pics, sadly.

There are a handful of these sites scattered around the Montreal area, as there's been an explosives / gunpowder / ammo plant just upriver from here in Valleyfield ever since World War II. It seems their policy is to get the finished products off-site ASAP. Which is totally understandable.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.6917407,-73.8633859,479m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

They don't advertise this, but it looks like one of the replacement sites is a little bit east of this one.

These funny-looking railway sidings, not far from the plant, also have a history of being used for explosives storage:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.3601603,-74.124107,1443m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

And here's an aerial view of the (generously-dimensioned) plant itself:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.2683804,-74.0908233,2833a,35y,12.27h,39.76t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

Some years back I had mad designs on trying to check this spot out in person, moron that I am. Then I came to my senses, thank fuck.

yeah expro (general dynamics) in valleyfield used to have a tendancy to blow up,
Their plant in repentigny is considered dangerous enough, when they added the commuter train out there it runs in a tunnel on the side of the plant.

there was also CIL in beloeil

from what i gather the munitions depot at mirabel was closed when they built the test center, notice the access roads are cut by the main track

im trying to find more history of both general dynamics plants, i do know general dynamics bought them in the 80s and both were owned by the federal government at one point, valleyfield still has signs on the fence saying that and repentigny the main building looks like an army building

interesting article on the privatisation of the arsenals:

https://www.theglo...ly-our-ammunition/

I came across another one of these explosives bunker sites, south of the island somewhere, back in the days when I used to ride my bicycle ridiculous distances.

Any ideas as to where that was? My memory sucks ass.

Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! from what i gather the munitions depot at mirabel was closed when they built the test center, notice the access roads are cut by the main track

Not sure when the test track went in, but Streetview 2016 imagery shows a company called Orica Canada operating here.

It's a "mining services" company and one of the things they do is supply explosives. So maybe some of the bunkers are still in use, just not by General Dynamics?

Some years back I had mad designs on trying to check this spot out in person, moron that I am. Then I came to my senses, thank fuck.

Wise choice. Good God kids are dumb. It is mind numbing to me to look back at my many foolish risks when I was a wreck-less youth. I am pretty fortunate to never have gotten caught being places I shouldn't that certainly would have had serious penalties. I thought I was so smart/stealthy and those I avoided/evaded were dumb/slow. As a near 50 year old now, I look back and am certain my stealth and their stupidity had nothing to do with it and both were probably even non existent - it was much more likely plain old dumb luck...

a company called Orica Canada

Orica is an absolute MONSTER in the explosives industry. Perhaps the largest. Based in Australia, but they operate to supply mines and quarries globally....

Interesting. There's a bunch of old explosive storage bunkers here where I live (I'm in the US), but they've long been empty of any explosives. Mostly they're filled with random old junk.

Posted by fr00tCake Orica is an absolute MONSTER in the explosives industry. Perhaps the largest. Based in Australia, but they operate to supply mines and quarries globally....

Thanks. To my knowledge there's no mining activity on or near the island of Montreal. I'm guessing these guys supply the construction industry. Bedrock's pretty close to the surface in a lot of places. It seems every other construction site has one of those "this is how we blow the whistle before things go boom" signs on it.

Posted by Emperor Wang Not sure when the test track went in, but Streetview 2016 imagery shows a company called Orica Canada operating here. It's a "mining services" company and one of the things they do is supply explosives. So maybe some of the bunkers are still in use, just not by General Dynamics?

the test track has been there since the 70s,

by the way did you see there was an explosion at the GD plant in repentigny last week

There's a ton of them near Mather in Sacramento. A lot of them seem to just be scattered about, while others are in neat little rows. Because Mather was a SAC base, there's even a nuke weapon storage area, that hasn't seen use in at least 20 years. I had an interesting encounter there a couple of years ago.

The area is mostly empty buildings surrounded by a double 16 foot fence. the old gate no longer functions, but a county owned gate, which you can step over, but could not drive over, is in use. While I was wandering around I heard a loud , HD motorcycle drive up, watched as a greasy looking biker get off his ride, unlocked the gate, drove through, then lock it behind him. I didn't try to hide, since bikers are about as far from LEO as you can get, and I was just standing in front of a building near the gate. The biker drove up to me and asked, "What the fuck was I doing!"

I said just looking around. He replied I couldn't be there and to leave...NOW! What do you say to a scary looking biker, but C-ya!

Walking up to my car, about a 1/4 mile down the road, I saw a cop waiting for me. There was really nothing else within walking distance but the weapon storage area, so he figured I'd come out eventually. He was cool, and just told me the area was dangerous. When I asked him about the biker, he sort of laughed and said he had no idea what "that" group was up to. Seems the MC club rented the area (didn't know you could do that) and that LEO had stopped by a few times expecting to find meth labs or stolen bike storage, but only ever find guys wrenching on their bikes.

Just weird.