Fall River County Historical Society Papers

In 1982, the Fall River County Historical Society sponsored a series of programs on the history of towns in the county. One of these programs, “Memories of Igloo,” took place in June. This meeting about the story of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot sparked the greatest interest and best attendance of the series.

Established in 1942, the Black Hills Ordnance Depot was a major base for the storage, maintenance, function testing, renovation, and demilitarizing of ammunition, including chemical ammunition. The Black Hills Ordnance Depot was known by several official and unofficial names, including Provo, Igloo, and Black Hills Army Depot. The site for the Black Hills Ordinance Depot was chosen late in 1941. The Depot was to provide 1,500,000 square feet of space for long-time general reserve storage of ammunition including storage of ammunition containing lethal gas.

Construction began in the spring of 1942, and in spite of the fact that progress was virtually at a standstill in April and May because of excessive rain the last igloo magazine was poured on 6 September and all were completed by 10 October 1942. During the peak of activity 5400 construction workers were employed.

On 6 May 1942 the Ordnance Department assumed control of the Depot. The peak of activity in shipping and receiving was reached during the quarterly period January, February, and March 1945 when a total of 3,184 carloads were handled. Reduction in force of civilian workers began late in 1945 and continued through 1946 and 1947, when employment became stabilized at approximately 650 to 700 workers.

During the Korean emergency shipping activities increased to the point where it was necessary to go on two and three shift operations. The number of personnel employed increased to about 1300 for the years 1951 and 1952. After this time there was a general reduction of personnel and in 1958 there were 650 workers, with a total population of 1800 for the community.

The primary mission of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot is to serve as a reserve depot for the receipt, storage and issue of ammunition including propellants and components of guided missiles, and Chemical Corps Toxic ammunition. The ammunition is stored in 801 igloo-type magazines, with open storage sites between igloos and 12 standard magazines. These storage facilities are located in the 19,000 acre restricted area.

The depot closed in 1967.