The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1898-11-12
rlEaf ArIak etsse Powder.

nave II heAM M0Fe5HDOu SLnOketeSS
powder since the beginning of hostil-
tiles between Spain and gtle United
States than they ever knew since its
existence as q factor in warfare or as
aSsource OF great satisfaction to the
sportsman. Smokeless or nitro pow
der is far more extensively manufac-
sturedgin this country than n would,
suppose, since the army and navy
were very short on the supply neces-
a r to the requirements of the big
guns. LII fact, very little of the smoke
less powder was used by the navy or
the field batteries of our army.
Notwithstanding the fact that for
eign manufacturers of smokeless pow
der were better supplied at the time
we began to lay in supplies of it than
The American makers, there are dozens
of smokeless powder mills in Amer
ica,sH says George FL. Rawlings, who
has handled the nitro powder ever
since it was introduced for shot guns
and rifles. american makers of
smokelcss powders had not paid u
great deal of attention to the manu-
facture of it for use in guns of larger
caliber, like the armament of the navy
or the cannon of the land forces, but
America leads the world i'll the MAX
ing Of nitro powder for sporting pur-
poses.
The first attempt in this country Mt
experimenting in the compromising OF
chemicals for the manufacture Of
wood powder was made here in st.
Louis by an old German named Doldc,
who at one time kept the Sheridan
house at the junction of Franklin and
Easton avenues, and afterward the
road house at the old Walsh home
stead. Dolde put in much of his spare
time in experimenting with smokeless
powder, and lost several fingers in his
efforts to solve the problem.
Son five different occasions the per-
sistent old inventor went away to his
improvised laboratory, and after sew
eral hours work would return minus
a finger. During the years he labored
to perfect the %smokeless powder he
managed to have five fingers blown
off, but he did not seem discouraged,
and finally made u powder that was
light procession to ignite the stuff
when in a gun or in shells. What be-
came eventually of Dolde and his
smokeless powder | don't know, but
his experiments set others thinking.
About twenty years ago q man
named Ditmar succeeded in getting Il
smokeless powder on the market, and
a great deal of it was sold to sports
men, but it was not n bowling success
at first. All shells had to be primed
with black powder in order to ignite
the Ditmar quickly. The Ditmar fac
tory merged into the American Wood
Powder company, and there was great
improvement in the output, both in
quantity and quality.
"The Schultz powder, which was
made in Europe. found its way to this
country, and it gave such universal
satisfaction and the demand became
so great that the Company came with
it's plant to this country. The Schultz
was a very strong shooting powder
and as quick as the black article.
'"The S. S. and some other makes of
smokeless powders have passed out of
the market, but plenty other brands
took their places. The old black pow
der companies are nearly all making
smokeless powder now. 1t is hard to
tell which powder is the best of the
smokeless. 1t is a matter Of individual
opinion to, q great extent.
NO up to date sportsman at the
trap or in the field thinks of using
black powder any more, and most all
of them use the carefully hand loaded
shells. Tons of nitro powder are
burned up every week over the traps
alone, and when the game season is
fairly opened the amount consumed
will be nearly ten times as great as
now