The Granite Peak Installation (GPI) — also known as Granite Peak Range — was a U.S. biological weapons testing facility located on of

Dugway Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a U.S. Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, and south of the Utah Test and Training Range. Location Dugway P ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. The GPI was a sub-installation of Dugway but had its own facilities, including utilities. Established in 1943, GPI was deactivated with the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

History

In October 1943, because of the limitations of a site at Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi a

biological weapon A biological agent (also called bio-agent, biological threat agent, biological warfare agent, biological weapon, or bioweapon) is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterroris ...

s testing site was established at

in Utah. Pike, John E. (webmaster).
Granite Peak Range
, ''Globalsecurity.org'', April 26, 2005, accessed January 13, 2009. Known as the Granite Peak Installation, the site was activated as the U.S. military's principal bio-weapons testing site beginning in June 1944.Whitby, Simon M. ''Biological Warfare Against Crops'',
Google Books
, Macmillan, 2002, pp. 73-74, (). Construction on the massive facilities required by GPI began on July 10, 1944, and continued for seven months, finally ending on January 30, 1945. The total cost for the development and construction of GPI was around $1.3 million (equivalent to $ million in ).

Regis, Ed Edward Regis, Jr (born 1944) — known as Ed Regis — is an American philosopher, educator and author. He specializes in books and articles about science, philosophy and intelligence. His topics have included nanotechnology, transhumanism and b ...

. ''The Biology of Doom'', p. 95. When World War II ended in 1945 GPI was deactivated and closed.

Mission

Overview

GPI was the U.S. bio-weapons program's main testing site. Granite Peak was a sub-installation of Dugway Proving Ground and many of GPI's administrative task were overseen by the post commander at Dugway. Personnel stationed at the main Dugway grounds cooperated with tests at GPI. For example, air missions were flown by Dugway detachments, and weather forecast data was also provided by personnel at Dugway. Despite the assistance from Dugway, GPI maintained control over all technical aspects of its operations and testing. GPI was overseen by the Special Projects Division,

Guillemin, Jeanne Jeanne Harley Guillemin (March 6, 1943 - November 15, 2019) was an American medical anthropologist and author, who for 25 years taught at Boston College as a Professor of Sociology and for over ten years was a senior fellow in the Security Studie ...

. ''Biological Weapons: From the Invention of State-sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism'',
Google Books
, Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 63-65, (). part of the

U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories The U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) were a suite of research laboratories and pilot plant centers operating at Camp (later Fort) Detrick, Maryland, United States beginning in 1943 under the control of the U.S. Army Chemical Co ...

Testing

One weapon tested was a 91-pound bomb containing "vegetable killer acid", known as VKA ( 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid), now commonly sold as an ingredient in household "weed n' feed" products.Smart, Jeffery K.
Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
'': Chapter 2 - History of Chemical and Biological Warfare: An American Perspective,
PDF
: p. 44 - p. 36 in PDF), ''

Borden Institute The Borden Institute is a U.S. Army “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education”. In 1987, U.S. Army Colonel Russ Zajtchuk conceived the idea for a “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education,” u ...

'', Textbooks of Military Medicine, PDF via

Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. ...

, accessed December 28, 2008.

. ''The Biology of Doom'', pp. 140-41. Testing of other munitions continued from 1943–1945, including tests using ''

Bacillus anthracis ''Bacillus anthracis'' is a gram-positive and rod-shaped bacterium that causes anthrax, a deadly disease to livestock and, occasionally, to humans. It is the only permanent ( obligate) pathogen within the genus '' Bacillus''. Its infection is a ...

,'' the causative agent of

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The s ...

, and ''

Brucella suis ''Brucella suis'' is a bacterium that causes swine brucellosis, a zoonosis that affects pigs. The disease typically causes chronic inflammatory lesions in the reproductive organs of susceptible animals or orchitis, and may even affect joints and ...

'', the causitive agent of

Brucellosis Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk or undercooked meat from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever. The ...

.Isla, Nicolas.
Transparency in past offensive biological weapon programmes: An analysis of Confidence Building Measure Form F 1992-2003
", ''Hamburg Center for Biological Arms Control'', Occasional Paper No. 1, June 2006, p. 26, accessed January 13, 2009. The

M33 cluster bomb M33, M-33, or M.33 may refer to: * M-33 (Michigan highway), a state highway in Michigan * M33 cluster bomb, a Cold War-era U.S. biological cluster bomb * HMS ''M33'', an ''M29''-class monitor warship of the Royal Navy * M33 helmet, used by the I ...

was used in a series of tests from August–October 1952 at GPI, with the

Army Chemical Corps The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. The Chemical Warfare Service was established on 28 June 1918, combining activities that unti ...

exposing over 11,000

guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ...

s to ''

''.

. ''The Biology of Doom'', pp. 143-56. The guinea pig trials caused one Chemical Corps general to remark, "Now we know what to do if we ever go to war against guinea pigs"

Facilities

GPI was a area of Dugway that was located west from the nearest active area, known as "Dog Area". Because of this isolation the installation developed many of its own facilities, separate from the main facilities at Dugway. GPI had its own utilities, laboratories, living quarters and medical facility. By 1985 only two surviving structures remained at GPI: a

pump house Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, ...

and an underground "igloo storage building".Buchanan, David G. and Johnson John P.
Dugway Proving Ground - Written and Historical Narrative
", ''

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

'', Library of Congress, HAER #: UT-35, 1984, accessed January 13, 2009. Transportation resources at GPI included an airplane landing strip and of surfaced roads. Utilities at the site included, sewer and septic systems, power plants, and delivery systems for electricity, water and steam. The base was much larger than the BW site at Horn Island. Harris, Sheldon H. ''Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up'',
Google Books
, Routledge, 1994, pp. 155-56, ().

Notes

References

. ''The Biology of Doom: The History of America's Secret Germ Warfare Project'',
Google Books
, Macmillan, 2000, (). {{U.S. biological weapons Military installations in Utah Biological warfare facilities Research installations of the United States Army Buildings and structures in Tooele County, Utah Formerly Used Defense Sites in Utah 1943 establishments in Utah United States biological weapons program Military installations closed in the 1940s