The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-16
THE HOME or EXPLOSIVES.
Large Quantities OF Them Made ana
Shipped in New Jersey.


New York Letter Chicago Inter Ocean.
Enough gunpowder and high explosives
Of various kinds are made in the state of
New Jersey every week to blow a large
piece of that state off the map If 1t should
go up at once. There are no statistics OF
much value attainable, because manufac-
turers of such stuff try to keep their af-
fairs TO themselves, and there Is nobody
especially charged with the task Of finding
out about the quantities of explosives
made. The bureau of labor and statistics
has failed to publish anything of the kind
since it was established twenty years ago.
except that 1t once cited the number OK
persons employed and the wages paid i'm
two powder mills.
The fact cannot be concealed, however,
that from twenty to twenty-five large and
small establishments exist in New Jersey
for the manufacture of nitro glycerin, dy-
Mantle, and other high explosives, and both
black and smol1eless powder There are
three mills in Passaic county In which
smokeless powder is made, and at Wayne.
in the same county, the great works OF
the Latin & Rand Company are scattered
over square mile of ground. This COM
pany makes gunpOwder chiefly, but high
explosives as we'll Not far from its works
Is an establishment in which "two-corn-
pound" explosive is made. IL is safe until
the two parts are mixed together, and then
II Is supposed to be one OF the wickedesd
rippers known to science.
In Morris county there are two high ex.
plosive works one is the eastern branch
of the Atlantic Dynamite Works, and it Isl
among the largest producers in the coun-
try. 1t Is situated on the Succasunnv
plains at Kenvil, and the isolated buildings
are distributed over a wide area, thickly
grown with young willows to break tha
iorce OF explosions, and traversed by mar
row-gauge railroads. Some of the most
dangerous work Is carried on in pits cut
in the granite sides of the hill at the edge
OF the plain. Four miles from the Atlantic
works, and on the shore OF Lake Hopat-
cong, Is the extensive plant Of the Forcite
company which makes a form of dyna-
mite In great quantities and has its acid
works near by.
Then there are dozen or more smaller
manufactures scattered through the va
rious counties, and in South Jersey the
Duponts have large plant opposite their
Delaware works, near Wilmington.
Recently a foreign syndicate bought 400
acres at Spotswood in Middlesex county.
ana began the erection of an enormous
dynamite plant. The projectors of this con-
Germ are said to be the Inconsistencies
phalian Explosives Company Of Cologne.
and IL was said in the start that the No
bel Company, which has it's great works
at Arden, Scotland, and the Troisdorph
Company were interested.
The product of New jerseys dynamite
and powder mills Is transported to mar
ket IN innocent-looking freight cars, us
ually containing nothing else. and filed
to their utmost capacity. These cars pass
through a thickly settled portion of the
state, rumbling through towns, villages. and
passing thousands Of dwellings. Sometimes
canal boat load of dynamite or gun
powder is lowed through one or the other
OF the big bitches which traverse the state
and is tied up at night in some city or viz
lage on the route. Country freight houses
adjoining passenger stations In the locality
Of the powder or dynamite mills are often
filled with cases and packages Of danger
Gus material awaiting the arrival OF a
freight car to take Il away.
The fact that so much Of these explosives
has beer moved about the country for
years with SO few explosions In transit ~
a comforting proof that those who baclx
them for Transportation know their tBiisil
ness