SCOUTING YESTERDAY | Three killed in Black Hills munitions bunker explosion 75 years ago
This week in South Dakota history: March 28 - April 3
A fatal blast at a military complex shook western South Dakota 75 years ago this week.
A munitions bunker on the site of the Black Hills Ordnance Depot that once sat 35 miles southwest of Hot Springs blew up, killing three of the workers inside the facility at the time of the accident, according to the March 31, 1950, edition of the Rapid City Journal.
Lt. Colonel Newhall, commander at the 21,000-acre facility that housed more than 800 munitions storage buildings, didn’t mince words when informing the public about the accident, saying, “The explosion was purely a hazard encountered in connection with operating an ammunition depot.”
Reporters were also informed that details of the blast at the restricted site would be withheld until an investigating board could complete its survey.
