The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1907-02-16

mist holes" ''thawing by the forge
hre.' and other of the well-known Incl
dents that sooner or later lead to destruc-
tion and death.
The uncertainty of dynamite. or giant
powder, because Of the varied conditions
under which it will explode. makes it no
ehild's plaything. Yet | have seen
sinners carry sticks of it around in their
oootiegs, or tuck it under their jackets
to warm IT up" and make it ready for
setting. One old miner out in southern
Oregon dropped dead with heart disease
one day while at work in placer digging.
When they carried HIM across the
slippery bedrock his comrades lost their
footing and fell with the corpse In
stant.y thee was terrific explosion and
two of them were blown into eternity.
A stick OF giant powder the old man had
carried in his bootleg to thaw, exploded
when the body was dropped. Heart
failure had come just little premature
for the old liner, that was all.
Some miners have a playful habit of
lighting sticks of giant powder Just to
see It burn" In truth, if all conditions
are favorable, it will burn quietly with
bright flame and slight sputter. If it
Is allowed to burn thus quietly no harm
will result. provided all conditions are
favorable; but when the miner attempts
to pinch OUT the blaze, as many min
ers do, he is making himself very IL
able candidate for the graveyard. after
all as one mine "super" exprest It,
after he had dismissed an employe who
had the habit above mentioned, 'can-
dies make just as good light as dyna-
mite and are dam sight cheaper"
As nearly all miners know, dynamite
consists of a mixture Of nitro glycern
and some absorbent. In the manufac-
ture of the giant po ~der commonly used
in III ming this absorbent is insuforial
earth. The nitro glycerin supplies the
explosive quality of the powder; the si
licious eartu simply absorbs and holds
the liquid, and also dim n,shes its sensi-
uveness. Pure nitro glycerin explodes
with very slight sh ock. aud is altogeth
er too explosive and dangerous to be
used alone. Tho iufusorial earth reduces
the seus.tiveness OF ni,ro-gly cerin and
allows of its being manufactured inlo
convenient icks, 1t does not impair its
explosive quality. When manufactured
in this form, its descriptive force or power
is from eight to ten times that of the
best gunpowder.
p While it is possible to light stick of
giant powder with match, it is not al
ways safe thing to do, as the long list
Of accidents caused by thawing the stuff
near a fire adequately prove. Just what
| Causes dynamite to ignite when held near
a fire is difficult to explain, as a concus-
sion is presumed to be the only means of
exploding it, After all the real safe me-
thod of warming it up, is to have room
located near the powder house that can
be warmed to temperature of SO de-
grees, in which box of powder can be
set to "thaw" an hour before it is carried
to the slopes and drifts for use. Some
mines locate their powder magazines on
a lower level, but this has, on several oc
casions. proved disastrous and resulted
| in the destruction of the entire mine
/ The powder house is best located when
set on hillside, some little distance from
the main adt, and still be within easy
reach. 1t is the claim of the manufac-
turers that dynamite will explode with
PERCUSSION fuse containing Illuminating
mercury. And yet there is the ms,
hole" that did not fire when the cap
vas set, but which exploded with GER
tainty when struck three hours later
Nth the point of a drill This is another
II lance of the 'freakish" nature of dy
nanite, and gives additional cause for
= rene care. The STOPPER or drill man
who examines the face of The drift or
stope bv running his hand and candle
over it just before beginning work on
his shift will never meet death because
oI rriking ''mist hole" If there is
mist hole" he will discover it in
time.
Again, the "freakish" nature of dyna-
utc is apparent when it fails to explode
waen dropt distance of twenty or more
feet, and at other times goes off when
onl slightly wedged or pinched between
the cracks of box cover. At Grants
p SIS, Oregon, last year, two cars Of
giant powder were completely denol-
isl ID in tail-end collision; not only the
cars but the powder boxes were broken
into splinters and the sticks of dynamite
were bruised and mashed lat and yet no
explosion occurred. The best powder
e> perts fail to adequately explain why