Here’s something you may find surprising about the Mountain State… Our beloved Canadian-like wilderness area, Dolly Sods, may have some (as in a lot of) live mortar shells from the WWII era above, or just below the surface.
If you've visited this unusual plateau (the highest east of the Mississippi River), then you may have encountered a few signs warning you to stay on the trails. Now you know why. Here's how those live mortar shells ended up way up here during WWII...
It all began in the late 1800s when someone made the brainy decision to log the entire plateau. Huge forests filled with spruce, hemlock and black cherry trees that were up to 12 feet in diameter were cut, leveling the forest down to the bare bones.
Afterward, without the trees to protest it from the elements, the soil dried up and fires commonly raged on top of the plateau. It was considered an unfortunate wasteland.
After the start of WWII, the military decided to place a training camp near Elkins, and you guessed it, they put the artillery training right on top of Dolly Sods.
From 1943 to 1944, as part of the West Virginia Maneuver Area, the military used it as an artillery and mortar range for troops to get practice before heading off to Europe. During this period, more than 100,000 troops were trained at the WVMA.
One of the main mortar targets was Blackbird Mountain, now a popular hiking spot. In 1997, a crew of disposal experts highly trained in locating and detonating the live rounds was assigned to clean up the Dolly Sods area.
In total, they found 16 mortar shells; 14 were safely exploded on site and two were inert. With 100,000 troops firing mortars at various targets all around the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area in the 1940s, it stands to reason there may be many more live rounds that have not been discovered.
