During the Cold War, plans to provide nuclear shelters for the public were rapidly shelved after the atomic bomb gave way to the multi-megaton hydrogen bomb. But, as NJ McCamey’s *Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers *recounts, there were deep and hardened shelters to protect essential military and government assets and help with national reconstruction afterwards. One of 'em held billions of dollars in cash.
That’s where the Mount Pony Federal Reserve Bunkercomes in, described by the Federation of American Scientists:
...a 140,000 square foot radiation hardened facility in Culpeper, Virginia. Dedicated on 10 December 1969, the 400 foot long bunker is built of steel-reinforced concrete a foot thick. Lead-lined shutters can be dropped to cover the windows of the semi-recessed facility, which is covered by 2 to 4 feet of dirt and surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guard posts.
Until 1988, Mount Pony's main 23,500 square foot hall held enough cash - shrink-wrapped, and stacked nine feet high on wooden pallets- to replace all the circulating currency north of the Mississippi. (It even included a quantity of rare $2 bills.) This would be essential in the aftermath of any war; as previous experience showed, hard cash is vital for any rebuilding plans. Bizarre as it may seem, cities might burn but the heaps of greenbacks would sit out any conflict securely in air-conditioned comfort.
But that was only until 1988. The worry is that if there’s a major conflagration now, is the cash still being kept somewhere safe?