Abandoned USA Military Base. Adventure #44 

I was an artilleryman in the US Army. Artillery is the oldest form of military in the US. Back during the Civil War these gun emplacement would have been coastal artillery, the precursor to air defense artillery. The tracks on the ceiling were used to transport artillery rounds back and forth between the ammo depot to the guns

Half a wooden disc with cork was most likely a coaster. Just subscribed today. I love exploring abandoned places. From my sofa. lol. I like your approach. Very respectful.

Cool video. Couple of things, though: the difference in bricks is because when the fort was first built, the supporting buildings were all made of wood and were updated to brick after the end of the Civil War. And 1863 wasn't "near the end of the Civil War." It actually was right in the middle of it. The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, two years later.

As an Australian I found this video so educational & entertaining. Just love American History. We used to tear all our history down, not now though. Thanks so much OH B&W great

Back in the day, Steam room's were used in 2 way's ; 1 for use in steam powered electric generating system's, and 2 For providing steam to outlying buildings for heat, and to also power gun turrett's

Thanks again for sharing your adventures with us Dustin. That Plotting Room is where they would have calculated the bearing and range then the charges they needed for a particular payload shot, lots of math going on. The deeper tunnels were probably for storage of made up charges. They would try to keep them separated to an extent so if there was a enemy hit or accident it would minimize the destruction. Those many rooms with the round tables appear to be charging room. Usually a team of two would be assigned to a room where they would pack and compress powder into paper, cardboard tubes. Those tables were where they would pack charges. There were many rooms to minimize results from one accident. That is also why there is all those slotted areas around the top and the lid was made of wood. If there was an accident the blast would be contained to just that room and not set off all the rooms. The bulk of the blast would go threw the wood roof and the slots and kill the two guys only. Plus some of the powders they used were not that great for your lungs and the vented area would help. The weird building with the wood floor was probably a powder blending room. You don't want any static building up in the and setting of some delicate mix. The poor construction, again was to minimize collateral damage from an accident. The reason the gun emplacements were set back from the shore and on flat ground was to make it harder for the enemy to range their target or even find them. For them to sneak up off shore in a destroyer and get off the first shot was likely but to be accurate was not. Cheers, Billy in Ladysmith.

The wood with cork might be a beverage coaster.

Old military bases are cool to explore. I’ve been to some that we’re de-activated then brought back to active status. It’s amazing what is left behind in those cases. I once went into an office in a motor pool that was locked just with a pad lock that we had to break with a bolt cutter to find one wall stacked floor to ceiling with flame throwers, brand new, with wrappings and instruction manuals. We were a medical battalion and the previous occupants had been an infantry battalion.

I live about an hour away from here and we visit annually to camp. Loved the tour. During summer you can take driving tours on old military rigs and they open an underground bunker for tours. If I remember correctly, the grounds are maintained by the park but the guns and ammo and other stuff on display is done through a non profit “ Friends of Fort Stevens”. The fort is always busy during the summer.

STOPE room = STORE room...nice tour!!

We are doing a Fustin Porter marathon lol.and found this gem in our own backyard! Do excited to find this kiddo! We visit this place a lot. So much history!! And my boys enjoy climbing around it as kids ! Awesome! Yayyyyyy🖤

The plotting room is where they would "plot", or figure out the firing solutions, for the guns.

Wow where do I begin: First great job videoing the fort !!! You are correct it is in great shape the State has gone through exceptional lengths to preserve and maintain this fort. The first part of the fort you visited is was an Endicott period structure and it was very common to be upgraded after WWII. The 1st bunker you were in was used for 12” Mortars usually they came in sets of 4 or 8. It looks like that particular Mortar pit had 4, 2 sets of 2, they were fazed out of service shortly after the 1890’s. However some where left in caretaking status during WWI and the bunkers were used for excess ammo and powder storage usually for mines. Speaking of mines when you saw the mine station it wasn’t for land mines 😂 you did give me a chuckle!!! They are sea mines that would eventually be placed out in the harbor to protect the harbor from an enemy sub trying to go up river. The mine station would control the detonation of the mines that were deployed as well as its storage. Some of the other things in the fort you may have noticed was the many carved out small alcoves that were about shoulder height. These were phone switches (telephones) that would communicate to a few places on the base (plotting rooms, ammo rooms, powder rooms, look outs, command rooms, power room). One of the other things was the big chain ring this would have been just one of many accompanying large chains attached to the guns. This was another safety feature in case the bolts the gun pedestals are on do not share off from the violent shaking when the gun fires. When you went to the second fort the gun mounts are smaller my guess 3” to 6” guns designed for what was call motor-boat and small ship defense. (Anti-minesweepers; small craft; subs) even the first fort was designed more for the same and anti-personal. Perhaps at an early time say in the 1890’s there may have been a 10” disappearing rifle but it was definitely replaced by the 6” disappearing rifle. At any rate these forts started to become obsolete by the end of WWI with the invention of the airplane. The last thing I wanted to mention to you was the small bunkers you found some with wooden roofs and some with cement roofs are called Fire Control Plotting Centers. Their jobs would be to track and plot targets at sea, that big cement round object in the middle of all of them would hold a pedestal plotting device. When they had a target tracked properly they would call the information into the command plotting room. The command plotting room would take that information about that target and information based on other plotting control

Growing up as a child my grandparents would take us camping at Fort Warden State Park, in Port Townsend Washington. Had the most wonderful adventures there, so much so that I take me children from time to time for the same experience. So much fun exploring the old base and lighthouse (which is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of the Keeper who hung himself there). Also, it was in the movie An Officer And A Gentleman. Love your videos.

I want to watch you try and open up that slide bolt on that door some more - you know, the one that's welded in place......

Great video! Thank you for sharing. I hope to visit many places like this some day, but until then your video is fantastic! Loved your point at 1:00 minute in - may these sites remain so that we may remember.

The geared bases had 6" guns mounted there. Just prior to getting on that wall you were in the magazine and those round cylinders were empty powder charges. The high explosive projectile would go in first then the powder charge. The steam plant provided heat to the buildings and hot water.

Fort Stevens is pretty cool. There are two other gun batteries on the Washington side of the Columbia: Fort Canby and Fort Columbia. All three were set up to protect the mouth of the Columbia River.

Nice video Dustin. You're adventures are nice Ive watched two and so they've made me feel good

By the way just discovered your channel tonight. Love the video so far probably going to watch about all of them.

Reminds me of the decommissioned US Army base Fort Tilden, here in NYC along the coast in the borough of Queens. It opened in 1917 and has a lot of the same features as this fort. Thanks for the cool videos! I really enjoyed the one about Ocean Falls, B.C. - such a fascinating little place tucked far away.

That's an Endicott period Fort constructed in the early 1900's for coastal protection. It was fitted with 10 inch rifles on disappearing carriages. They used Rosemont cement before they discovered Portland cement, that's why the concrete is so deteriorated. Good video though.

The tracks did support a crane system, often to move munitions

Very fascination. Thanks for posting.

The design of this is very similar to a place on the East Coast in NH called Fort Stark and it's sister fort Fort Foster. There are a bunch of places like this along the New England coastline to explore. Those pedestals were for gun mounts in those pill boxes and the tracks on the ceiling were to move ammunition to the lifts that brought the ammo up to the guns so it could be transported over and loaded. The steam engine was likely for power which looks like it was later replaced by a diesel generator to either run the facility or for backup power.

Fort Stevens is one of my favorite places to explore! Battery Russell is one of my favorites, since it is part of the fort, but more isolated from the main area. Taking the path up past Battery Russell totally adds to the experience and is definitely an interesting trek.

The tracks in the ceiling are I-beams for I-beam trolleys. Looks to be 4 inch standard I-beams. An I-beam trolley is a wheeled device that fits on to the I-beam and can be used to carry heavy items down a hallway. I was the Boeing engineer on the MX missile in Minuteman silos project who sweet talked Beebe, a manufacturer of I-beam trolleys, into specially designing their 6 inch I-beam trolleys so that they can be safely side loaded (Safety signs everywhere these things are used warn not to do that because the trolley could slip off the I-beam and it and several hundred pounds of whatever comes crashing down on your feet). Beebe sold us two of the units for the MX project, enough for the maintenance of the 50 silos eventually built. I believe they wanted to offer the modification for their regular sales. Quite a sales point if you can say your trolley is less likely to fall off the I-beam!

This reminds me of a abandoned military fort in Washington State called Fort Casey on Whidbey Island. Constructed in the late 1800s Fort Casey was equipped for defense and used as a training facility up to the mid- 1940s. It was one of three strategically placed fortifications defending the entrance to the Puget Sound. The fort houses a pair of rare 10-inch disappearing guns. Along with the romantic 1903-vintage lighthouse its a must see adverture.

Great trip! Thanks

Thanks for this. 🇨🇦 You're right about Canadian bases, most are destroyed, and its hard to find information on them. My dad was Canadian Armed forces, and we lived on many bases. The older, wartime buildings were made out of wood. The cold war era-1950-90's, is when the concrete ones were built. Some bases were like mini towns, with stores, medical, schools. All the buildings were painted army green, except the houses where families lived on the base in PMQs- private married quarters.

Love your coverage xploring to the Max

Thank you so much for the tour

Amazing. Thank you!

Nice bit of history, Dustin!

awesome videos. i love stuff like this.

nice tour!

Dan from Alberta here. I haven't watched past this date yet, but I sure hope you got yourself a good light already. Never use IR to make these videos, it's really bad quality and detracts from the experience. even a small light bar with ATV battery or a lithium booster pack would work great. Anyway, thanks for exploring all these places!

Gidday from OZ, your videos are very good with in depth information, keep it up, oh, maybe that room you thought the sign was "stope room" could have been "STORE ROOM" ay Cheers

This fort is a really cool visit, my friend knew a lot about the history so it was cool to both hike around the beach and forest nearby and check out the amazing structures

I lived in Oregon. Not far from here. This is on my bucket list! Thank you. Neat history

My family visited Fort Stevens back in 1978. Other than the forest reclaiming the ground between the batteries and the sea it is good to see so little has changed.

I've patiently waited over 2 yrs to be the 508th commenter, and today's the day! I'm not gonna lie, it feels good!

I love that place ! Been there a few times myself.

Very good video. Thank you

We've got a couple at the coast here in NH and another in Maine. One of them was still being used when my dad was young in the 50's, which is now Odiorne Point State Park in Rye.

Fort Stevens is the name of the state park, there are many Batteries the make up the park. The battery with the gun still there is Battery Pratt, which was the main post. Another of the larger batteries was Battery Russel.

Steam would’ve been used for multiple things. Heat, for one. They also ran generators off the steam. The engine in the steam room has a generator attached, and would’ve been used as a backup generator to power the steam pumps

Last time I was there was 41 years ago and it looked identical. I remember there was a Veteran that was visiting the park the day I was there saying that they could reload and fire the main guns every 35 seconds if they had to.

I think those raised bases were for the rang finder or stereo scope to be attached to.

Your right about the upside down rails, are overhead crane . Nice video.

We visited in 2019 and it was a nice change from the Ft Stevens shipwreck/beach walks.

This place is cool. I went there last year and have a ton of pictures on a solo day trip

Battery Russell used a disappearing gun system. The gun would move up to fire, then drop back down after to help avoid detection by the ships or subs it was firing on. The gun area at the Battery did not need to see the coast. The smaller bunkers you found along the trail with concrete roofs are observation points that would give fire commands and co-ordinates to the main battery. The small buildings w/o concrete roofs were most likely storage and sleep areas for the observers on duty. Only machine guns and 'big eyes' stations there, no artillery. The raised octagons were most likely for observation and sighting devices, not gun mounts. gun mounts would be on stanchions or posts, if they existed there.

Loved to see ur video, depending where ya live you should checkout Fort Casey by Port town Sen in Skagit county...it looks almost exactly the same as ur fort Stevens place ..when i first seen it thats what i thought the video was ...lol !😎

This is an hr away from my house! We go almost every year since I was a young child now I take my children here it's such a wonderful fun place to explore!

I’ve been to Fort Stevens , neat history I really enjoyed it there !

Battery russel is so cool! I love fort stevens, my fiancé and I explorers there not long ago around midnight. Super freaky but cool

The structures with concrete roofs actually were basements, they went up with wood and metal structures on the "roof" the rails hanging from the ceiling were how they moved artillery shells from the magazine to the artillery piece, the vertical shafts were how they staged ammo before loading after transport from the magazine, and the small alcoves were probably some kind of chemical lamp that could light up the dark tunnels, but if they were oil lamps, they were recessed so they couldnt be knocked off the wall onto the powder charges, the steam generator room was so they could power the heavy artillery they did not use hand cranks on the large naval guns, and steam also provided radiant heat for the facility and hot showers for the men as well as heat for cooking. The generator in the steam room provided electricity for the base communications lights, and power for the fan that stoked the coal fired boiled to build pressure for the heavy guns. Hmu if you want to know anything else. They built those naval structures like they built boats. If it had naval artillery they used alot of steam, its powerful and water was plentiful

Visited here during one of the local Civil war reenactments that they hold in the area. Good times.

Been there. So beautiful ❤️

Most US Military bases of the era had Central power houses to generate electricity and provide steam heat to all the buildings. This was a US Army Coastal Artillery fort and had battleship size guns to defend the river estuary leading to Portland, Ore. The row of chimneys were wooden barracks. After WW1 many Army posts had brick buildings added, but some may date to the civil war. The tracks were to transport shells and powder bags from the magazines. The last flat buildings you were I were spotting stations with rangefinders for the big guns mounted on the octaganol bases. The building with the wood floor was probably a guard room for sentries and general administration.

The overhead rails are very similar to the system still used today on warships to move large weapons and ammo. A hoist on a trolley operated by a single man can lift the weapons, and a crew (typically a very few men) roll the device (or materiel) to its destination. Usually a gun, aircraft, or launcher The rectangular recess at the end, where the rail curves back around, was probably a "SHELL LIFT"

Go there quite often. A real gem on the Oregon coast.

That's was a cup coaster

That place is incredibly haunted. I've been there multiple times, very cool! What's up from Seattle!!!

I've been all through that location check time to see it all

The round cement platform in the look out bunkers may have held binoculors or spotting scope mounts to keep them steady and stable, old scopes were pretty heavy back then.

If your ever on the East Coast, there are some really cool ones like that. I recently went to Ft.Washington in MD just to take a peak and I fully expecting to be disappointed because its small but there was a good bit still there, a lot of similar construction to Ft. Stevens.

The tunnels in the first part of the video were ammunition bunkers. The rails on the ceiling were used for hoists to move said ammo from place to place. Also at around 31 minutes those round pads would have had a gun mounted to them.

Hope you had a great time in my Home state. 👍👍

Your correct on the overhead track set up. Probably for moving artillery shells. The wood and cork deal was half a cup coaster. Just run some electrical and plumbing and that base is up and goin again

Reminds me of Fort Casey near Coupville on Whidney Island. Spent alot of time there when I was younger. I recognize everything there. You have the same disapearing guns as at Casey. Sa for the steam it ran some of the equipment because it didn't produce sparke which were a problem when working with powder bags..

hi I "m from Canada and I enjojoyed your video a lot I cant think why you didn't have a flashlight with you. it's great to see the past not damged like up hear a lot of the time.

I was in the Nam 69-70 Army. Like your video.

wood/cork = drink coaster. fort stevens is pretty historic its only 1 of 2 places shelled by the japanes on the us mainland during ww2. 9:50 dude, its been welded. maybe if you hulk out lol. thats amazing it still has a gun! the larger mount was for one of the bigger guns "disappearing" gun mount. it would pop up to fire and then drop back down below the wall to afford the crew some protection. yeah, the brick would predate the concrete. they used to build entire forts out of brick. the concrete pedestal in the small bunkers would be for either a machine gun mount or smaller caliber cannon. maybe 20mm, or 37mm. i was wondering with the wood rooves on the smaller bunkers if it was hurriedly completed and never properly finished. awesome adventure. thanks for taking us along.

Y'all rock

like your video . thank you .

In GA we had Fort Screven not far from Savannah out at the beach. It was abandoned already when I was a kid, today much of it has been built into parts of condos. I have family photos when it was operational with the cannons and a family member training with their issues trapdoor rifles.

This reminds me of exploring Ft Casey as a kid on Whidbey Island. So much fun.

Looks a LOT like the military installations I'm used to in the San Francisco area. You said that the installation dated to the civil war, so those brick foundations were probably some form of housing. Depending on the size (those LOOKED smaller), it was PROBABLY senior enlisted/CPO, warrant officer, or commissioned officer housing, depending on how many people were stationed there. And the "pill box" buildings at the end looked like Base End Stations. Those raised platforms would use an azimuth telescope to take a reading of heading and approximate distance. Every gun should have two of these stations along a base line, and would transmit the data to the plotting room, who would use basic trigonometry to determine a firing solution for the guns. Quite fascinating, actually. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_end_station)

I love it down there super nice campground and can't remember where its at but I think its towards the end of the park going toward orehon a old jailhouse you can visit

I got to see Fort Canby, which is another coastal artillery site on the other side of the Columbia river from this place. One of the coolest places I got to see in Washington/Oregon

Hey there! I'm answering your ponder about the wooden circle. My best description would be one of a set of coasters. Now why it ended up there, I haven't even a guess, but there it was.

Camp Hale in Colorado is the original home of 10th mountain. Definitely cool to look at

This is why I love living in Oregon. Because we have these small but meaningful historical sites

Your view of the Coast was actually the Columbia River! There is more to that base further South along the beach. From there you get better view of the Ocean, but they removed the guns and is much smaller compound

You should visit some of the bases in Washington. Fort Casey and Fort Warden are fun to explore.

The holes in the walls and ceilings are for electrical & water conduits, as well as ventilation. Some of the lines on the ceiling were indeed for overhead tracks, but many were also electrical conduit mounts & pipes. They didn't run through the concrete because they knew they'd have to add to them, and also retrofit with rapidly advancing comms tech.. re: some of those indentations in the walls? Comm boxes.

If you explore more around the steam generator building you may find access to steam tunnels which would go to other buildings, primarily for the purpose of heating them I believe. I used to locate utilities around the city and noticed steam tunnels in the utility map prints around the university which all came from one location and spread around campus. After inquiring what they were, I was told they were abandoned steam tunnels from when the university was heated with them.

Instantly recognized Fort Stevens from the thumbnail from 40 years ago. Hasn't changed much except there are trees in the way of the coast view now. Used to be just grass. "Store Room" iirc :) And clearly the cement bases with bolt holes in the middle of the bunkers were where the guns were placed.

If you ever make it to Washington state. Visit Fort Warden. Similar to this, it is also the filming location for An Officer and a Gentlemen back in the 80s. It's a very impressive state park now.

We are from San Jose, Ca. Thank you

Looks a lot like Fort Casey in Washington State before you take the ferry over to Port Townsend. Those gun ports would have been gun emplacements. Some of the guns may have been scissor guns that rise up and down. They are hidden in the emplacement to load and then when loaded would rise up out to the top to fire its rounds. I believe any of the foundations with fireplaces would have been wooden housing for the officers as soldiers would have been billeted in barracks. Officers would have houses. There are complete officers houses at Fort Worden by Port Townsend and they are rented out as summer houses. Great adventure....cannot wait for the next one.

FUN STUFF LOVE MY HOME TOWN AND TO RAILS ARE Ammunition RAIL TO MOVE THE SHELS

Just checked out Oregon State, umm, just below WA. The whole story now make sense

@ 31:05 the small platform is for a spotting scope/range finder. They had instruments mounted there to aim the guns.

Fort Rodd Hill in Colwood, an outer suburb of Victoria BC looks very similar...that's a national park too.

Steam was used for a variety of tasks: from heating living and working spaces, cooking with steam appliances, cleaning grime off of equipment and moving/aiming guns into firing position! I know this from being stationed on board a ship in the Navy; it's also very economical (at least back then) to use steam in many ways!

I have never seen you have an exploring partner, that was on camera, you had a friend with you exploring that company town fancy hotel but they weren't on Camera when you were exploring. Brave young lady...😉

I have always wanted to visit that fort when I travel with my folks, but they never have the desire. It does look like Fort Casey in Washington state that I have visited a number of times when I was a kid and in my mid 20s.