Urban Exploration - Welcome to Atomic City, Idaho

When venturing into a city named Atomic City, you expect some pizzazz.  You expect some flair.  Or maybe at least a tongue-in-cheek satire of radioactive man...

The goggles... they do NOTHING...

Not a one. But what I did find was interesting nonetheless.

I found a city that looked abandoned.  Like everyone in the town simply disappeared, leaving buildings, farmland and crops behind.

According to 2000 census data, Atomic City Idaho has a population of 25.  Honestly, that was about 20 more than I would have guessed.  The only thing that showed any signs of life was the fire department.  New asphalt, newish building, but that was it.

So many abandoned buildings, so many homes that looked as if they were left behind in a moment's notice...

A nearby farm had dozens of bales of hay.  Stacked in piles and pyramids, that slowly began to rot and dissolve over the years.  Some were still formed in a bale, melting and dying.  Others were in a heap of rot and twine.

Wikipedia and news stories don't have any mention of a mass exodus, but the town tells a different story.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the reactor meltdown of the nearby nuclear plant, back in 1955?  That was 56 years ago...  this abandonment looks more recent.

Establishments like the Twin Buttes Bar look almost frozen in time.  While the doors were completely sealed shut, peeking in make me think the bar has only been abandoned for 10-20 years.  Not 56.  There isn't that thick layer of dust or cobwebs.  Granted, the elements can get inside, but the furniture and decorations look merely old.  Not ancient.

Homes.  Bars.  Businesses.  All emptied out.  A lot of items were left behind, as if the people left in a hurry.  This makes no sense at all.

{insert massive government cover-up conspiracy here, because I can't think of anything else}

Maybe one day this will all be considered historic land?  Like a museum of sorts?  Maybe that's why the fire building looks less than 5 years old.  Maybe that's why the asphalt looks recent.  Like 'this year' recent...

One interesting thing about Atomic City is their raceway, which is still used from time to time.  It even has a website, a facebook (with 198 likes, that's 173 more people than the population of the town...), and an upcoming race this weekend.  I'm tempted to go, to see this town of 25 hustling and bustling.

While the city was mostly abandoned, there were a few people out and about.  One older lady was mowing her lawn.  One gentleman was down a 100 yard road, riddled with "No trespassing" signs.  He was staring at me, almost daring me to cross his line in the sand.

I know better than to mess with boondock-townies with trespassing signs.  That's like asking for a shotgun sammich...

If you're ever in Southeast Idaho, and want to see a trippy abandoned town, I recommend Atomic City.  Take the I-15 to Blackfoot, and take US Highway 26 toward hell.  Drive to the middle of nowhere, take a left at the shoddy bar, and drive for about a mile.

And there you are.  The atomic ghost town of Eastern Idaho.

Welcome to Atomic City.  Where nobody can hear you scream...

Urban Exploration - Welcome to Arco, Idaho

I am fascinated by blogs like Ghost Hunting Theories and Above the Norm who do Urban Exploration (or Urbex).  When the opportunity presented itself, I wanted to try this on my own...

Traveling to Boise for work, I decided to take the backroad and bypass the interstate.  I drove along route 20, which cuts a path through south-central Idaho, and takes you a lot of the older towns that have populations in the hundreds (or less).  One town I passed was Arco.

Arco was founded in 1901, and currently has a population sitting around 900.  In its prime, the city brimmed with over 1,500 people!  Sadly, there are more abandoned buildings and run-down businesses in Arco than there are people. 

One highlight of this town is the fact it was the first city ever powered by atomic energy, back in 1955.  It is also close to the Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear testing site home to the only fatal reactor-meltdown in the US (back in 1961).  The INL is the main hub of employment in Southeast Idaho, and many Arco residents work at the site.

One interesting sight in Arco is number hill.  The local high school has a tradition of painting the graduating class' number on the hill, a tradition carried on since 1920.  As far as senior pranks go, this is pretty tame, but a 91 year old tradition is still pretty cool.

Sadly when driving through Arco, you're in and out of the town faster than you can sing Mambo #5.  With all the run-down businesses and houses nearby, I was hoping on doing some true Urbex, but all of the properties were fenced off and monitored.

Even something as simple as taking a picture of this abandoned house drew a patrol car, asking if I was planning to tresspass.  I told the officer "no, just taking pictures from the public road" and he left with a sneer.

Maybe I'll try the urbex thing again later, when I can find a place that isn't so heavily policed.  For a town of less than 1,000, there sure were a lot of law enforcement around....

10 miles east is a smaller town called Atomic City.  Maybe I'll go there next?