The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-08-10
HANDLING DYNAMITE.
How the Dangerous Explosive is
Used in Quarry Blasting.
Springfield C8Iass) Republican,

va may come nome at night TO your i
sOrrOWlng family in a basket. There /
are men in this city who face death six
days out O. seven and think nothing Of /
IT, ana IL IS a death of the most horrible !
kind. These men handle the dynamite
ana nltroglycerine which is used in
blasting rock in the different quarries, J
ana they pay but little heed to a hand
tul OF the dim beyond in the shape Of a
SUCK OF nigh explosive done up in yell
low wrapping paper These men are
experts IN their trade and hold the
position OF toremen of the various
gangs Who do the drilling and blast
ing IN East LOngmeadOW and Wilbra-
nam. They are young men mostly, the
trade not being conducive to old age.
4hey BEGIN as assistant fOremen and
remain such until premature crush
causes vacancy. At first the fear Of
nigh explosives is drilled into them IN
III they regard the SaWdust-lned boxes
with horror. But in a few months they
become accustomed to their trade and
handle big sticks of dynamite as a boy
handles a big drecraczer. They claim
that dynamite is not such a terrible
thing after all, unless you eat it, and
then it viii give you a violent head
ache. Men have often done this. and
il makes them very i'll for a short time.
A new assistant foreman is almost al
ways broken in in this manner. Dyna-
mite is an uncertain quantity however,
1t burns without an explosion and can
even he dropped on the ground with
out going off, but this is not a safe ex-
pertinent to try. Let stick be strOGed
with a bit of metal and if the man
who does il wishes to communicate
with his friends he will have to use a
/ long distance telephone. NitrOglycerine
= is almost an unknown quantity, and
/ even the most hardened quarryman
handles it with the utmost care Any
! thing viii explode it, and many men
have been strewn over the landscape
( through its kindly Offices
/ @ q .
/ A WiIbraham quarry gang is an in
/ teresung study in humanity. The fore
man Is usually an American of more
J than average intelligence and courage.
/ and the men under him Italians. These
! latter men drill holes in the rocks and
make all ready for the blast and then
/ the foreman puts in the charge and
! fuse and lights it of. The Italians fear
/ the high explosives as they fear the
! pope, vet they are extremely careless
/ in handling it, and the death rate
I nOng them is cOrrespOndIngly large
/ They do not receive a great deal more
pay than the average workman, and
. are apt to take each blast as a small
! Celebra ton unless they take it in Their
person How the dynamite gets &c
I this city is a mystery, and one thai
will not be divulged. The fOremen say
that when they want it they notify the
people they work for. and the mex
morning a box of dynamite, or Jelly
as the nitrOgeiatine is termed, is fOnC
beside the tool box. It is against the
law to carry such explosives on trains
for dynamite ranks so and 'jelly' 81
per cent. Both come in what are
termed sticks, and weigh about one
half pound each. They are packed II
boxes, holding perhaps twenty sticks
each stick being carefully packed II
loose saWduSt. The. sticks are aDOu
eight inches long and one inch in diam
eter, covered with yellow paper Iht
dynamite is yellow, and looks like
mixture of vaseHne and SaWduSt, anC
the Jelly looks like a thick Vaseline
/ Before using dynamite II is crumble(
No in the hand into a powder, rOllet
and placed tenderly in the hole which
IL is to blast. OF course the quantity
used depends on the size of the rock tC
/ be blasted, and it is necessary Z
.'tamp" or pack either down so that tn
t fun force Of the explosion will not e
v out and Up. When 1t is tamped IN
. force will 20 down to a great extent
% / In loading a rock with dynamite var
). iOuS methods are used, but the mos
h { popular one is to put the explosive IN L
o. the hole quietly and then press II j
! even more gently with Suck w ne
o ! the hole is almost filed the percussion
cap attached TO a thirty-secOnd Iuse
! is nut in on TOP of it. The whole charg
, is then covered tendenrly wit nth
[ sand and a match touched 10 the russ
4 While this is being done the lnnocen
- sons of sunny Italy have been seekln
n the long grass and tall trees Tor SdIeIy
F. Each one wells fire" lat the top OF nj
= Lungs as he runs and just before IN
~ blast goes off there IS nOIhlnS 10
seen but the fleeing foreman. AIJe
! the crash and when the shower or roc
errneF7c1 extent the Sol
rowing foreman goes in search of nj
10 Italians.
The local foremen are very Garrett
. of their high explosives, yet strang
things are apt to happen to the Httl
- tin box in which the sticks are KEEP
n This box is placed carefully in the bi
le tool box each night. and the keys c
both boxes are placed in the dee
p pocket OF the foreman during the nigh
e Wild adventures often take place nea
y the boxes. and one of the WilbrahaI
z foremen told of a narrow escape Whlc
II a gang of men under him had thl
e spring The dynamite was used treel
e during the day, and some sticks OF
% were left in the bottom of the Dig JO'
n box. When the o'clock whistle bic
e the Italians fiOcked to the tool box Tx
Il hOming pigeons. One good thlng aDot
$, an Italian is that he VIII never look De
o fore he leaps on this particular Occa
sion the men began to throw their plcf
and crowbars INTO the box at Ion
}. range. Just then the foreman came o
the scene and yelled them to stop as Z
j. dove behind the nearest tree. No or
knows why the whole gang was ns
blown into bits. 1t was just one OF n
s. strange freaks of dynamite This san
foreman had rather a blOOd-curdllu
- escape last fall while at Work IN u
. hills to the east. AS he came up to II
n tool box at night he found an italla
-e Guiding = stick OF dynamite 10
a manly chest. The foreman gave Nei
y 10 his feelings more emphatcaliy Lnd
politely. and it injured the tender zee
IL ings of the disguised noOlemah-
p show that his wrath was reused
= lifted the stick of dynamite ABOVE Il
20 head and let il drive at the forema
re If in had hit the mark there would no
IS. be another assistant drawing more pa
Fortunately the stick went wide al
fell in some soft grass. Ihe ne1t II
minutes were probably the Nle
Re esting that the irate son or spas gu
o. land has ever. passed. When ne ehleCs
b. from the fray he passed a unallilo
es vote that he would rather be blown
es bx the dynamite than by the IOreIila
Of Only a short time ago man W
he slrewn over the south end WINE y
on ing to thaw out a STICK Ayilailll
in freezes. lust like anything else. Al
he when il is frozen it VIII not eApioO
les To thaw il out the stick IS placeo
n warm water and handled with eNtIet
n care. But il often eXplodes WINE
X ing thawe6.
The italian in the south end
thawing out the stick, but there