At one time Pittsburgh was the 3rd largest corporate headquarters in America.
and when the Cuban Missile Crisis set off a frenzy of people building underground bomb shelters
It was rumored that many corporations set up secret headquarters in the old lime stone mines in Wampum and Worthington Pa. where they raise mushrooms .
Yes corporations do store records and such there and they can set up a temporary emergency headquarters there thats very possible the facility are designed for just such a purpose supposedly US Steel has one such location according to a late friend of mine who told me they had such a place and it makes sense they would but it would by know means as lavish as some people make these so called bunkers out to be often its nothing more than storage space that could be quickly converted into a temporary headquarters with meeting rooms etc.designed to serve as temporary recovery center . Not to say its spartan some spaces are very nice but some of what you here is just plain out there.
One customer I take care of does have a bunker that goes underground on there property but its not for the end of the world but instead if there would be a chemical leak due to hazard of product they handle.
But lets face it how many buildings we go in and we wonder whats behind that door anyways.
In most cases its miles and miles of wires and pipes for telecommunication and utility service to structures. Verizon recently showed off part of one of there hidden switch centers where technicians keep the cell network going 24/7 365
But most of these facility are not underground however they are in special reinforced structures right in plain view and you would never know. I have worked in several such places I can not speak of they look just like any other building in an office park except no signs point to or direct you to them.
But if you believe all the rumors there are these elaborate secret military bunkers etc all under Pittsburgh connected by tunnels with there own trains. Which is more fantasy than truth.
One such fantasy place is the Federal Bureau of Mines in Library Pa. which conducts research into protecting miners and conducts all kind of tests and is supposedly more than just old mine shafts.
But thats all it is an old mining complex . Yet some people who work there love to make up elaborate stories how Government is conducting secret work because the old phone system lights for that section even thou abandoned are still powered on and working. Just like those who supposedly have done work in Wampum and Worthington storage mines speak of a secret military installations and armed military guards etc etc. most of it all talk and nothing to it. Why would the government be doing secret things where civilian eyes could run across it. Its more like government keeping records and supply's for emergency's there which is known public information. . But secret projects no way. But it does make for a good story and I have heard plenty of them and while I have been under plenty of buildings under the ground and got to see all kind of neat old infrastructure never ran across anything secret the government was doing. How ever I have run across plenty of old civil defense drums which once held water and crackers and such. Some times you find old treasures as well in old tools and parts and such and a lot of junk as well as plenty of bugs and rats . But since it is under the ground and hidden there must be something more to it which people think just like all the masonic rumors.
While on the other hand The Iron Mountain Storage Complex in Wampum Pa. is one of the most secure and complex underground data storage facility in the world where servers keep and store our corporations critical data from above ground catastrophes as well as store and care for many historical records ,films and prints in other parts of there operations.
There is also the rumor of a complete train with supplies buried some where under Pittsburgh in an old railroad tunnel which it was backed into during the 50's as well ready to be taken out and used in an emergency as well as rumors of secret stuff going on in the old Missile silos at the old Nike sites
one of which I got to explore at the Allegheny County Fire Academy the missiles are long gone and sites sold to developers so nothing going on in them as much as people want to believe there is.
some have been turned into personnel emergency bunkers by the owners. most where just filed in for liability concerns.
Also since 9-11 many of the underground passages etc have been blocked off for security reasons or filled in to prevent terrorist activity in many areas including downtown Pittsburgh so it just helps add to story's of secret things going on. But the truth is many of the old abandoned steam tunnels you could once walk thru have been filled in because they where in a state of collapse from no longer being used.
Of course there are all the story's of whats down inside the old coal mines in the Pittsburgh region as well persistent story's of kids going into the old mine shafts and finding old tools and lanterns and even whole underground trains and carts. Most of the mines where sealed off years ago so again just story's for most part but some stuff may have been left behind but to say you walked all thru the mines etc. not possible many quickly filled with water after no longer being mined so you could only go back few hundred feet if that and after a group of 4 kids got trapped underground in in some old mine shafts in 70's and luckily where rescued .The bureau of mines started going around and making sure mine operators permanently sealed mines entrances off.
However yes at one time you could ride a underground coal train all the way from community of Carrick to Library Pa. aprox. 20 miles thru old coal mine tunnels but that was back in the late 1800's before the mines where all closed off and sealed. The ride was not totally underground tough as you would come in and out of shafts like in carrick where it came across Wagner street via an open air bridge between shafts . In fact the now long gone Castle Shanon Inclines On Mt Washington where built to transport people and vehicles over Mt Washington after it became dangerous for people to ride the trains thru the old coal shafts due to choking fumes .
http://www.brooklineconnection.com/history/Facts/Inclines.html
So again lots of good story's with a little truth to them greatly exaggerated just like with the green man everyone loves a good story .
