Atomic test building in Columbus, NE
Living in Nebraska we were not at ground zero for the Atomic testing but we were ground zero when it came to USSR atomic missile targets. Not only was Omaha the site of the bunker for the Strategic Air Command (nuclear missiles) but we also had nuclear missile silos spread across the state as well as another remote underground communications bunker near Silver Creek, Nebraska. Today's generation know practically nothing of living with the threat of complete nuclear destruction of the world.

In the picture above is the nuclear test building built at Behlin Mfg. in Columbus, NE (my childhood home town). I remember driving up to the building with my family to look at it (that would have been in the 1970's). For years it sat outside the fence of the Behlin factory for all to see. In hind site I wonder how much radiation we were all exposed to in Columbus and for that matter the rest of Nebraska. The Nebraska Historical Society says that the building was on exhibit at the Nebraska State Fair and was a top attraction to see. Lord, what were government officials thinking? The Behlin factory is no small complex either. Hundreds of Columbus' residents worked there including my grandfather. Less than a year after retiring he developed mysterious health issues and he died very suddenly. Makes a person wonder.

I remember "disaster drills" still being conducted when I was in grade school. Since I attended Catholic school we were forbidden by the Bishop to participate as a protest against the idea that anyone would survive such a scenario. I also remember at day at our Catholic High School when my history teacher put up on the overhead a map showing where the nuclear fallout would drift in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. The map showed no fallout reaching Columbus. The map assumed the the wind would be blowing across the state from the southwest. Of course everyone know that the wind in Nebraska is mostly from the south in the summer and mostly from the northwest in the winter. In reality the fallout would have been everywhere. He also commented that Columbus was just outside the blast zone for Omaha, 70 miles away. I clearly remember questioning the teacher about the validity of the map and its assumption that Columbus was not a target. We had a three turbine hydro-electric dam 2 miles from the east side of town and an identical hydro-electric dam 10 miles west of town. Interestingly, I did not give any consideration to the fact that Columbus was an unusually industrialize town with a factory that was churning out "atomic blast" resistant buildings. The teacher dismissed my assumptions that power generating facilities were targets. Today I can look back and see that this particular teacher was not all that bright.

grandiose museum that shows us pictures of what is all around us for real

While driving back from Denver to Omaha, I was tempted to take a picture out my front window while driving by this modern monstrosity. I keep telling my friends that the place will go broke and some old farmer will buy it at an auction and fill it with hay. This is actually a tourist trap build over the interstate at Kearney that tells those that stop the history of Nebraska. The story is told by video and photos. The irony of it all is that, just miles away you can find all the things in the videos. The first transcontinental rail road, a Pony Express stop, Buffalo Bill's Ranch, wagon wheel ruts created in the 1800's by covered wagons, Fort Kearney, I can go on. To bad we couldn't have used some of the millions it took to build this place and actually use the money to preserve the real historic places we have in Nebraska before they are gone.