Antique Safe Opening Update
"TOXIC CANISTERS FOUND IN THE 1920's - 1930's SAFE?"
On Tuesday, October 24, 2006, when the West Sacramento Historical Society had their 1920's-1930's safe opened to see what was in it, they discovered a California Dehydrating Company comparative balance sheet (unaudited) dated April 30, 1977 and then later found six canisters behind a panel on the door. Rick Vanina, of J & J Locksmiths, was the actual person to unlock the safe, discovered the six canisters. Vanina had to drill the door and just missed the canisters by inches and later researched the canisters and learned they contained toxic material and were used as a security feature since payrolls were kept in such safes. He contacted the City of West Sacramento Police Department and both the police department and fire department got involved in the removal of the canisters. Nick Concolino of Homeland Security, Yolo County Bomb Squad and a police officer with the West Sacramento Police Department was involved with the removal of the canisters. The canisters were sent to a laboratory to determine their contents. An attachment is provided giving contact information re. those involved with the safe opening and the removal of the toxic canisters. Both Vanina and Concolino are writing articles for national publications on their involvement with the safe opening or removal of the canisters.The opening of the safe took place at 817 Jefferson Blvd. (inside Liberty Safes of Sacramento) located in West Sacramento on Jefferson Blvd. between West Capitol Avenue and Merkley Avenue next to the Walgreens store. The historical society received the 2 ton cast iron steel safe from Dave Westin of Arkad Management Group and Arkad Income Properties based in Southern California. The name of the safe (AM Steam Safe Company) is imprinted in the casters supporting the safe. Westin stated "Arkad and our family of companies wanted to reaffirm our long standing commitment to not only West Sacramento's present and future but also the community's past. This donation was a good was a gesture to give something back to the community we work in." The safe originally came from the California Dehydration Company in West Sacramento which was the largest rice drying facility in the United States and was in one of the largest all wood structures west of the Mississippi.
Determining the combination of the safe was a comprehensive process which involved a auto dialer to determine the combination plus there were difficulties because the lock was tripping and jamming. Vanina had to do extensive research on the Sargeant and Greenleaf lock and was able to determine the approximate age of the safe by this lock. Vanina has been in the locksmith business for over 30 years and he could not find any information on the safe during his research. Over thirty hours were devoted to the safe in transporting it, cleaning it, researching it and finally getting it unlocked. He learned more about the safe from someone who has been in the locksmith business for 50 years.
