Gun Powder

Thats what they manufactured here. HUGE is a good word for this place. Abandoned, dilapidated buildings spaced evenly, so as to avoid the spread of gun-powder fueled fire, as far as the eye could see.

Fresh tire tracks served as a sign of regular security patrols while the fresh bulldozer tracks and torn ground denoted the facility’s fast approaching destruction. Around every corner small groups of deer scattered into the brush, weaving between buildings and conveyors. Surprisingly the transparent fiberglass roofs were still watertight enough to provide a welcome shelter from the cold drizzling rain that had soaked us on our approach onto the grounds. We took a path to one of the two megalithic powerhouses through as many buildings as we could in an attempt to maintain any dryness we still had.

The plant produced more gunpowder during the second world war than had been used during the first one. Part of the demolition plans include a massive cleanup of explosive residue. Needless to say I didn’t smoke much that day, despite the rain. The powerhouse never had any contact with such substances though and was surprisingly clean, save for bird shit. All the turbines and coal furnaces were still there and it looked as if it could be up and running the next day. But the decay visible on the outside of the building and in the complex as a whole belied that it hadn’t done so in decades.