Trementina Base
Encyclopedia
Church of Spiritual Technology
The Church of Spiritual Technology, also known as CST, is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation, incorporated in 1982, which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. The CST is doing business as L. Ron Hubbard Library...
(CST) near Trementina, New Mexico
Trementina, New Mexico
Trementina is an unincorporated community in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Its name is Spanish for turpentine, so named for the pine oil once harvested there....
.
Overview
According to the CST, an entity formed to manage the Church of ScientologyChurch of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
's copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
affairs, the purpose of the base is to provide storage space for an archiving project to preserve Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
's writings
Scientology bibliography
This is an incomplete bibliography of Scientology and Scientology-related books produced within the Church of Scientology and its related organizations.All entries are by L. Ron Hubbard or "Based on the Works of L...
, films
Scientology filmography
This is an incomplete filmography of Scientology and Scientology-related films, videos, and audiovisual materials produced within the Church of Scientology and its related organizations.-1981:* The Case He Couldn't Crack-1987:...
and recordings for future generations. Hubbard's texts have been engraved on stainless steel tablets and encased in titanium capsules underground. The project began in the late 1980s.
The base includes a number of dwellings and the archives themselves, the latter in a network of underground tunnels. The base also has its own private, concrete airstrip, the San Miguel Ranch Airport (NM53).
History
The property history of Trementina Base is complex. The Federal Register shows that CST has owned two properties in the same area at different times. The one they originally built the underground vault on, between 1986 to 1992, was traded to the U.S. government on 24 August 1992:- Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Number: G-910-G3-0006-4210-04; NMNM 83264
- The United States issued an exchange conveyance document to the Church of Spiritual Technology, a California corporation, on August 24, 1992, for the surface estate in the following described land in San Miguel County, New Mexico, pursuant to section 206 of the Act of October 21, 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716).
- New Mexico Principal Meridian T. 15 N., R. 22 E. ...Containing 400 acres (1.6 km²).
- In exchange for the land described above, the Church of Spiritual Technology conveyed to the United States the surface estate in the following described land located in San Miguel County, New Mexico:
- New Mexico Principal Meridian T. 17 N., R. 23 E. ...Containing 400 acres (1.6 km²).
- The values of the Federal public land and the non-Federal land in the exchange were appraised at $28,000.00. The public interest was served through the completion of this exchange.
This image shows the two parcels of land in New Mexico:
According to a June 1992 Claims Court ruling CST had purchased the original site in 1986 for $250,976, then had invested millions in building an underground vault on the property. But the Federal Register record says both properties were valued at only $28,000 at the time of the land swap in August 1992. However footage from KRQE TV shows the presence of a vault built into the mountainside between the runway and the CST logo.
Aerial symbols
The church tried to persuade station KRQE not to air its report last week about the aerial signposts marking a Scientology compound that includes a huge vault "built into a mountainside," the station said on its Web site. ... Based in Los Angeles, the corporation dispatched an official named Jane McNairn and an attorney to visit the TV station in an effort to squelch the story, KRQE news director Michelle Donaldson said.
The church offered a tour of the underground facility if KRQE would kill the piece, the station said in its newscast. Scientology also called KRQE’s owner, Emmis Communications, and “sought the help of a powerful New Mexican lawmaker” to lobby against airing the piece, the station reported on its Web site.
The huge symbols on the base, distinguishable only from an aerial view ( 35°31'28.56"N 104°34'20.20"W), are specifically those of Scientology's Church of Spiritual Technology
Church of Spiritual Technology
The Church of Spiritual Technology, also known as CST, is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation, incorporated in 1982, which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. The CST is doing business as L. Ron Hubbard Library...
. Former members of the Church have said that the symbol marks a "return point" for Scientologists to help find Hubbard's works when they travel here in the future from other places in the universe.
Other locations
Reportedly, two similar bases maintained by the Church of Spiritual Technology are located in Petrolia, CaliforniaPetrolia, California
Petrolia is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California. It is located southeast of Cape Mendocino, at an elevation of 121 feet . The ZIP Code is 95558....
(40°22'11.53"N 124°19'57.16"W), and Creston, California
Creston, California
Creston is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It is located about 15 miles southeast of the City of Paso Robles.-History:Creston Creston is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It is located about 15 miles...
(35°27'12.29"N 120°29'59.20"W)., both for archiving permanent backups of Hubbard's every written and spoken word. Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
records show that Scientologists spent $13 million in 1992 to preserve Hubbard's fiction and non-fiction writings on 1.8 million stainless steel discs, and recorded his lectures on 187,000 nickel records. The Church of Spiritual Technology symbol also appears at the Petrolia location and in the middle of a track at the ranch in Creston, California
Creston, California
Creston is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It is located about 15 miles southeast of the City of Paso Robles.-History:Creston Creston is a census-designated place in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It is located about 15 miles...
where L. Ron Hubbard died.