The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-11
WORKING IN A POWDER MILL
WHERE MEN LIVE IN CONSTANT
FEAR OF DEATH.
Precautions Taken Against Explosion Mar
row Escapes From sparks Enec on
w0vkmen of Their Hazardous Occu.
patton How the Powder Is Made.

wovkmen of Their Hazardous Occu.
patton How the Powder Is Made.
Within ten miles OF Kansas City is 4 vii
lage whose people live in continual dread
OF a terrible death. IL is Holmes Park,
three miles south Of Swope Park.
Near this village is a powder mill in which
are made a c day 1000 kegs Of the most
powerful blasting powder
Within a few rods Of the little white
sohoolhouse around which the children of
the VILLAGE romp and play is a great mara
zine in which are stored 10000 kegs Of pow
der. II this should explode il would wreck
every house in the little village n would
cause the buildings in Kansas City to trem-
bile az II an earthquake shook them
In this powder plant twenty-four men
work Death. stark and fearful. stares
them in the face every ONE The
tiniest spark struck from a bit Of iron any
where would cause the explosion that every
one breads
These men who work eye to eye with
death have faces sober and drawn with
anxiety. and fear and continual brooding
over what nigh t happen No man ever
becomes accustomed 10 il, says the Kansas
Guy otUT 81 LtuI ITO lOikooo ouN ~ OoAo
free as workmen in other trades are. In
or around this powder mill Is never heard
a snatch OF song or a merry laugh. The
men work in silence.
The mental strain is hard and the men
do not stay long. hey come and go.
Some stay for a year; more stay for six
months; but the majority quit after a few
weeks OF il. There are always new men
to take the places Of those who go. The
high wages tempt them. Men who do
common labor are paid 81 a day. Others
who work in thu corning mill where the
liability Of explosion is ever present. are
paid $3.50 a day.
A man may be a daredevil. he might
have the courage to fight his weight in
wildcats inc he might begin work in the
powder mill without fear in his heart But
everywhere he would see the utmos pre-
cautions against the dreaded explosion,
and soon this would begin 10 tell upon him.
He would see the rules before his nose at
every turn: mo matches allowed any
where upon the place, no smoking, no strik-
ing Of iron against iron, no drinking Of in
toxioants." He would see men moving
slowly, lifting things gingerly and laying
them down with care, even putting their
feet down tenderly upon the powder strewn
floors. always fearful Of the spark that
might strike. But more than all else he
would be impressed unconsciously with the
strained look upon the mems faces. and
soon the same haggard Dol would come
into his face, he would dream of the awful
thing at night, he would brood over it
by day and then he would come to a
point where he could stand it no longer
and he would quit the job
They tell a story of a man who had worked
in the powder mill until he was almost a
nervous wreck. He had dreamed hundreds
Of times of being torn to atoms by the ex-
plosion of the mill. One day at his work
beneath huge cy finders in which tons Of
powder were revolving he turned and saw
a parcel in a red bandana handkerchief
which a fellow workman had laid in a cor
ner. To his Imagination it looked like the
red blood splotches Of a torn n mangled
body and he turned and ran and did not
stop until he was beyond sight Of the powder
mill.
The wives OF the powder makers suffer
with the nervous strain fully as much as
their husbands. They know That if the ex-
plosi on Ccnes it will lie without a moments
VIII ] HR CI ttHNr u bO'BINs
But the children play around the school,
house as cheerily as children anywhere.
They are the only ones who do not feel
the burden and the gloom in the powder
village.
Not long ago a spark some way touched
the clothing of a man who worked in the
powder mill. His clothing was saturated
with powder. There was no explosion
but every thread upon him went up in g.
m IL = - -
for the others in the mill he WAS not where
explosion might happen.
There are sixty acres in the powder mill
grounds. 1t is very lilly. The mill has
twenty different houses, each of them small
and built Of sheet iron. Each is built into
and each is far enough from the other 50
that il one cxplodes il might not oluse any
OF the other nineteen to explode TOO.
A man who was quitting the job last
week said; The thing that kept nc wor-
ried was the fact that the little sheet iron
building in which I worked was set into a
hole N the hillside 50 that II il exploded il
would all go straight up in the air. That
kept the dread OF an explosion before me
al the time and | IMAGINED myself going up
IN the air N j sheet of fame. ! Just had To
quit or I'd Gona crazy"
To rlnimize the danger of hot boxes
all the Journal bearings Of the machinery
of brass, the tools OF 'he workmen are
Ot brass, 80 inst no spark may De STRUCK.
There are twenty tons Of brass upon the
plant.
The powder i, made 81 sodium nitrate.
which comes from Teru. 81 lphlr from
7 Louisiana. and charcoal from Missouri.
The charcoal and sulphur gre put Into
,rc@t iron runs and chunks II stcCl ere
put in with them. They ~revclve all night
and by morning the steel abs nave re-
duccd the chGrcoal and sulphur TO an i'm
palpable lack powder. This is put in bags
ard goes ~ he hillside to the four inccr-
por' ting mills.
Each mill has a pan rinc feet across,
shaped oKactl' like n milk pan, with a
nOcr 4 steel plate. IT. this pan two Great
g,eol roller, Fix feet in diameter. each v it'll
y ~ inch f1ce and wei hing thirteen tons
apiece, roll around and around upon the
bed pLa to. Tho charcoal, sulphur and ritrrte
Of sodium are dumped IT, to the pan. For two
hours the rollers r~evolve md thoroughly
mix and -incorporj tC" them.
The mkt re goes next to the press. where
10 IL poured into a long box set fol- Of alum
mum plates two inches ap-rt. Hydraulic
prnss'ire s1ueezes IL tito cakes "a inches
snuare and an inch thick.
Then the cakes RotO thecorninR mill, where
thav are ground into grains Of different
di lmeter, t~helCrrestn' out the size of kernels
of corn. These are shOvelnd irto Rags and