Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-12-28
aHistsllaneuus 8saain9,
WORKING IN A POWDER MILL.
Where Men Live In Constant Fear Of
Death.


Within ten miles of Kansas City is
village whose people live in contin-
ual dread of terrible death. 1t Is
Holmes Park. three miles south OF
Swope Park.
Near this village Is powder mill In
In which are made each day 1000 kegs
Of the most powerful blasting powder.
| Within a few rods of the little white
schoolhouse around which the children
Of the village romp and play is great
magazine In which are stored 10000
kegs Of powder. II this should explode
1t would wreck every house in the lit
tie village and would cause the build
ings in Kansas City to tremble as II an
earthquake shook them.
In this powder plant twenty-four
men work. Death, stark and fearful.
stares them In the face every moment.
The tiniest spark struck from bit OF
iron anywhere would cause the explo-
sion that every one breads.
These men who work eye to eye
with death have faces sober and
drawn with anxiety, and fear and con-
tinual brooding over what might hap
pen. No man ever becomes accustom-
ed to 1t, says the Kansas City Star, so
that he forgets and Is care 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. They come and
go. Some stav for a year; more stay
for six months but the majority quit
after few weeks Of It. There are al
ways new men to take the places of
those who go. The high wages tempt
them. Men who do common labor are
paid 50 a day. Others who work In
the 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 and he might begin work
In the powder mill without fear in his
heart But everywhere he would see
the utmost precautions against the
dreaded explosion. and soon this would
| tegin to tell upon him. He would see
the rules before his nose at every turn:
mo matches allowed anywhere upon
the place. no smoking, no striking OF
IRON against iron. no drinking Of intox-
icants." He would see men moving
slowly. lifting things gingerly and lay
ing them down with care. even putting
der 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 look 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
point where he could stand 1t no lon
ger and he would quit the job.
| They tell a story of man who had
worked in the powder mill until he was
almost nervous wreck. He had
dreamed hundreds Of times Of being
torn to atoms by the explosion of the
mill. One day at his work beneath
huge cylinders in which tons Of pow
der were revolving he turned and saw
a parcel in a red bandana handker-
chief which a fellowworkman had laid
in O corner To his imagination II
looked like the red blood splotches of
torn and mangled body and he turned
and ran and did not stop until he was
Sevond sight of the powder mill.
The wives Of the powder makers suf-
fer with the nervous strain fully as
much rs their husbands. They know
that II the explosion comes 1t Will be
without a moments warning or time
for thought.
But the children play around the
schoolhOuse as cheerily as children
anywhere. They are the only ones who
10 not feel the burden and the gloon
In the powder village.
Not long ago a spark some way
touched the clothing Of a man VINO
worked in the powder mill. His cloth
ing was saturated with powder There
was no explosion, but every thread
upon him went up in a flash and ht
died from the burns. Luckily for the
others in the mill he was not where ar
explosion might happen.
There are sixty acres in the powder
mill grounds. 1t Is very hilly. The
mill has twenty different houses, each
Il them small and built Of sheet iron
Each Is built into an excavation dug II
the side Of the hill and each Is fal
enough from the other so that II one
explodes it might not cause any OF the
ther nineteen to explode too.
A man who was quitting the jot
| asst week said: THE thing that KEEP
me worried was the fact that the lit
lie sheet iron building in which l work
ed was set into hole In the hillside
so that II 1t exploded II would all &c
straight up In the air. That kept the
dread Of an explosion before me al
the time and I imagined myself going
up in the air in sheet of flame.
lust had to quit or I'd gone crazy.
TO minimize the danger Of hot box
es all the journal bearings Of the ma
chinery are OF brass. the tools or the
workmen are of brass, so that no spark
may be struck There are twenty tons
( brass upon the plant.
The powder Is made OF sodium nj
trate. which comes from Peru, sui
phur from Louisiana, and charcoa
from Missouri. The charcoal and sui
Dhur are put into great iron drums
and chunks Of steel are put In with
them. They revolve all night and by
morning the steel balls have reduced
the charcoal and sulphur to an impal-
pable black powder. This is put ir
bags and goes up the hillside to the
four incorporating mills.
Each mill has pan" nine fee'
across, shaped exactly like milk pan
with a floor of steel plate. In this