The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-11-01

grain. Immense machines thoroughly in. corporate the mixtures, after which 1t is sent along another tramway to the press house.
 At the press house the pulp Is pressed Into immense solid blocks twenty Inches square. These square blocks are then sent to what Is known as the coininE mill. It Is in the colning mill that explo- sions most often occur.
 Like Sausage MllIs.
 Here the large square blocks are put into machines which resemble gigantic sausage mills. These crush 1t up Into grains of four sizes The dust which results from the crushing process Is sent back to the press house to be moistened and repressed.
 From the coining mill the powder in grains of four sizes goes to the glaze house. Here 1t is put Into machines which coat 1t with plumbago and give the grains a bright polish. Next 1t goes to the separating house where screens separate the four sized grains These grains are then known as IF, 2F, SF and AT powder.
 From the separating house the powder in It's finished form Is taken to the weigh house, where It Is weighed out Into lots of twenty-five pounds each. Next, 1t Is placed in the metallic kegs and sealed, and is then ready for the market. Each of these kegs contains twenty-five pounds of powedr. which at the present time. sell for 1.45 each. The plant at Boyles Gap has a daily capacity of more than 5000 pounds.
 The chief point of difference between blasting powder and sporting powder. which is the name applied to powder used in fire arms, is that instead of nitrate of soda, saltpetre Is substituted in the man. ufacture of the latter.
 While journey through the mill which has been in operation for several years is interesting 1t Is still more interesting to go through Boyles Gap, across Five Mile creek and over the grounds of the immense new powder mills and dynamite factory which are being built just north of Sand Mountain, at Gardiner's station
 Large Capital. It Is estimated that there Is million dollars worth of work in progress with in two miles of Boyles Gap in each direc- tion.
 The powder mill, which will be com pleted by next April, represents an ex- penditure of $125 900. The dynamite fae- tory which it is expected will be turning out a very superior quality of that ex- plosive by Christmas of this year, has cost between $75OO0 and $l0O,0O0. Both the Louisville and Nashville and the Alabama Consolidated Mary Lee road have built an extensive switch system near Gardiner's at an immense outlay At East Boyles, as is well known, the Louisville and Nashville has under con struction switch yards, hoisting chutes and a roundhouse which will cost more than half a million dollars.
 The new powder mill and dynamite factory are separated by Five Mile creek, and the powder mill alone covers an area of land four miles long and three and one-half miles wide There will be at least fifty buildings used by the pow der mill while the dynamite factory re- quires thirty more, and most of the latter are completed.
 Modern Devices.
 At the powder mill every modern appli- ance in the manufacture of blasting p"w- der is being employed. Coal Mine Il be opened on the grounds, and Five .ie creek will supply all the water necessary. A central power house will be built so that all the machinery will be run by electricity and the grounds and build ings will be perfectly lighted. There is already a complete system of water works throughout the grounds, with hy- drants at convenient points.
 Five wheel mills are being built which will give an idea of the magnitude of the plant. ht
 Daily Capacity.
 fIo p,t1t xx-tn I, o daily capacity of between 2O00 and 250O kegs of powder which means about 62- 900 pounds of blasting powder daily.
 The dynamite factory is on an equally extensive scale. Many of the chemicals used in the manufacture of dynamite are in liquid form, and there is an extensive pipe system from one building to another. There are 2200O feet of pipe in position at the present time, LOGO feet of which is Up on trestles and Il, ,000 feet under ground.
 The thirty buildings composing the fac- tory are for the most part strung along spur of the railroad for nearly two miles. As in the powder mills they have to be widely separated to minimize the loss in case of explosions, which are sure to occur sooner or later
 This District.
 All this work is being done by the Pow der trust, and. it is said, is only the be- ginning of what that concern intends to do in this district. It is the ultimate in- tention to make Birmingham the distrib- uting point for the entire south and southwest
 At present, all the material used by the Birmingham Powder mills in the manu- facture of powder are shipped into Bir- mngham in the form of charcoal, brim- stone and nitrate of soda. The nitrate of soda comes from Brazil, the birthstone from different parts of the United States and tho charcoal is contracted for where