The Abandoned Nuclear Jet Bunkers In The Quehanna Wild Area

 

One of the two bunkers left in the Quehanna Wilds. Jet engines would be strapped to nearby cement structures, while Curtiss Wright Employees watched them from the bunkers.  The engines would be observed until they burnt up, or blew apart.

Also Nearby:

• Elk Viewing In Benezette
• Kunes Camp Ruins

A short distance into the woods in the Quehanna Wilds sit two separate bunkers, relics of 1953 Eisenhower's "Atom's For Peace" initiative. Two years after announcing his policy, the Curtiss-Wright Corporation (Formed when Orville & Wilbur Wright's Company merged with Curtiss' aircraft development company, in 1929), purchased & leased a combination of 54,000 acres for nuclear research, development, and testing facility. The corporation had received a contract to build nuclear powered jet plane motors for the Air Force.

Millions of dollars were spent building roads, buildings, even a new town with a school, in the area, where more than 200 hunting camps had had their leases terminated with short notice.  

But within just a few years time, the Air Force decided not to use nuclear engines, the government contracts were cancelled, and all of the other Curtiss-Wright Operations in the area were abandoned.    Today, all that is left are some overgrown roads, crumbling cement structures, and two bunkers - one above ground, and one that has been covered up with ground.  There's not a lot to see, but it's interesting, and the walk is short and easy. 

The Kune's Camp Ruins

The Kune's Camp Ruins, in the Quehanna Wilds Area

This unique hunting camp was built using two large stone boulders as the side walls.  Stone walls were added at each end, and at one time, the structure had a wooden roof.

Today the Kunes Hiking Trail goes directly through the remains of the camp building.  If you hike the trail, you cannot miss the structure, as you will walk right through it.

The Arch Tree At Sinnemahoning State Park - An Old Indian Trail Marker

The Arch Tree At Sinnemahoning State Park

GPS Coords: 41.471953, -78.056247

Thought to be a very old, surviving relic of the days when Native American Indians traveled these lands.  They would sometimes "bend" trees.  According to Appalachian History, some trees were weighted down with rocks or dirt while others were tied down with rawhide, bark, or vine, depending on the materials the tree shaper had access to.  The tree at Sinnemahoning appears to have scars at the bends, showing where the tree was lashed.