Chemical Weapons
In 2007, a Boy Scout digging for crystals uncovered a collection of 7.5-inch vials containing chemicals such as mustard gas, lewisite, chloropicrin, and phosgene. The vials were part of World War II era military Chemical Agent Identification Sets. The burial of vials was standard procedure for removing them from service at that time. There was no record of a disposal site at the salt plains. Crystal digging was suspended from April 2007 until April 2009, while the risk of allowing digging again was evaluated. 171 vials and at least a dozen incendiary devices were removed from the location. The salt plains were also used as a bombing and strafing range during World War II. There are still remnants of this use left on the plains.
Read more about this topic: Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge
Famous quotes containing the words chemical and/or weapons:
“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.”
—Lewis Thomas (b. 1913)
“Boys should not play with weapons more dangerous than they understand.”
—E.T.A.W. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Wilhelm)