The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-17

! New York, Jan. Efficiently the
/ Cuban junta, located in this city,
placed a large order for dynamite,
variouslv estimated at from $4,000 TO
500, GOO pounds 1t was probably nearer
! the former than the latter figure, but
even if it was the minimum amount.
/ it would be sufficient to tear some
pretty big holes in the Spanish ranks
if properly applied.
The concern that secured this order
has made lots of dynamite for the Gu
bans in the past 20 months; it also
supplies the needs of Uncle Sam when
ever he is in need OF anything in this
line. For long time it was kept busy
turning out 200 coo pounds of the stuff
a day for the contractors at work on
the Chicago canal. In a year it turns
out enough of the explosive TO almost
blow the earth into smithereenS.
II would seem that q concern which
does all this would be an imposing af-
fair. with a factory or series of fac
tories, with numberless acres of floor
space But il is just the reverse. and
a stranger could stand in the very
center of the dynamite factory and not
recognize it as such.
Dynamite is a peculiar commodity
and il is manufactured under peculiar
conditions. Uncertainty is the ruling
thing about dynamite. and this dom
mating feature permeates the whole
establishment. The factory is located
at Gibbstown. y. j.. place SO small,
and in a section of the state so sparse
" settled that the outside world would
never have heard of its existence, per-
hans were it not for the dynamite.
It's remoteness from everything was
the reason of the factory being located
there A branch railroad runs into
the property connecting with the prin
cipal railroads and the Delaware river.
BY these means the commodity is
shipped through the country and to
the seaDOrts.
The factory spreads over a mile of
swamp land and is nothing more than
three-scOre Of wooden buildings. one
story in height and not very securely
built For the most part they look
for all the world like the rundown
negro cabins of the south. and are just
about as handsome. They have one
modern appliance, however, and that
is an attachment for depriving light
ming of it's powers.
WHY IT LOOKS CHEAP
None of these shanties are very
close to the other. Plenty of open
J
sands of pounds of dynamite are al
ways lying around. Commercial pru-
dence accounts for the cheap and scat
tering look of the factory. Experience
has taught the owners that a single
big building would be a rash enter
prise Explosions occur once in awhile,
no matter how carefully they are
guarded against, and IL is an easy
matter to replace the Shanty.
A
ton it affords the work people. Were
all the business concentrated in one
building, and an explosion occur in
any one department the shock
would cause instantaneous upheavalS
throughout the building, killing or
manning every one in the place.
Several hundred people are employed
in the factory, including d dozen
women. Each and every one of them
fully realizes the danger of thier call
ing and they exercise the greatest eau
ton in performing their work. There
are certain rules formulated by the
company which they must obey and
this they are only too glad TO do. One
is that no matches. firearms or ex-
plosives of any kind must be carried
on the person. Another is that no iron
or steel pegs can be worn in the shoes.
Wooden pegs are permissible, because
they are safe.
Phis latter rule was formulated some
years ago, after one of the workmen
had stepped on a tiny niece of dyna-
mite. the nails of his shoe causing it
TO explode. The shock caused quite
a quantity Of the stun on one of the
work tables to go off, the shanty was
blown UP and there were some fatali-
ties among the wOrkmen.
There is no need of employing special
men to see that the precautionary
rules are observed, as every workman
is a spy upon his neighbors, for he
knows that his safety depends quite
as much upon the others as upon him
self.
NO PLACE FOR MACHINE WORK.
Dynamite is principally mixture of
sulphuric acid. chilli saltpetre and box
wood sawdust. There are good many
other things which enter into its COM
position, and before it takes the shape