Bisbee daily review., 1909-02-20
NEW POWDER
 LIFTS 45,OOO
 TONS IF ROCK
Powerful Explosive Used at Fl PaSo Quarry is Witnessed From a ehar View Point By Many

FL PASO, Feb. 1S.--with 8 runDse like distant thunder. and cloud oi f'eecy smoke. underlined with a vel low cluster CF powder fumes, 45.Vy0 tons of earth and rock were torn from the earthen affin Jy, and tumb'ed over on the roadway below Ike the rock from one of the dump carts when Tne ta1 gate is pulled. The greatest ex- plosion ever fired in Fl Paso. anu sa to be one of the largest in the world. was fred at the new Ccur- chesne rock quarry just south of the site of the new cement plant.
 A crowd of Workmen from tue C. ment plant. tAc smelter. and a nuns- Der q people from the city, including a ph0tcgraphsr, EC wspapSr men, ana interested s.Eitsce-s viewed the b's blast from Jb, safe distance of near by hill top. Thg work ol preparatios- for the blast w4s CgersCen by Mir. Courchesne. Ehne C. R. Hanson, rep resentng the Pacific High Explosive company of Oakland, Cal. superin- tended the placing of The powder and the arranging Of the electric fuses.
 5i5o Pounds of Powder.
 A total of 5450 pounds of Trojan powder was used in the blasts. being disiT buted in Ii holes along 320 feet of the ledge of rock. This powder is estimated to be just twice as power full as the ordinary black powder and is the equivalent Of almost 11,00O pounds of the old-fashioned explosive. The new powder was tried out for the first time in Fl Paso at the Cour- chesne quarry when the ledge was blown away, and it proved most sas- isfactory to Mir. Courchesne.
 The holes were set g feet back from the face of the ledge and when 1t was measured, the blast was found to have extended another 20 feet back of this, making a ledge of rock 59 by 320 feet that was torn loose from the side of the mountain and broken inLo small pieces The blast holes eX- tended down 3G feet from the top oi the ledge and the awful force of the new powder caused the ledge to be split with 8 giants knife to a depth q several feet below the bottom of the holes.
 concussion Heard Short Distance.
 There was little of the spectacular
 
 charge of powder, and the concussion was not heard as far as the sme'ter. a short distance away. The blasts were fired simultaneously by means of electric wires, which were connected with tHe quarry power plant.
 When everything was ready and all of the workmen had sought safety in the neighboring hills, Mir. Courcaesne gave the s'gual 10 the engineer at the power plant, the switch connecting the power to tEe w.res vas thrown. there was a moment of labor during which the s'de Cf the mountain seemed to strain at its holding, then with a burst Of smoke and vapor, the smaller rocks and clusters Of Spanish daggers shot into the air and q rain Of small stones Eell around the blast for several acres.
 No large stones were carried any great distance by the force of the rA- plOsior, although rocks as biz as au adobe house were torn loose ana rolled down on the temporary rOau. way below Nothing could be seen or the ledge after the smoke had stan d to roll out from the crevices until the wind had caught the white cloud and blown it over towards the smeIc-,. Then the entire ledge was seen to have been shattered and thrown down with such violence that large stones were rolled into the roadway and immense bOuIders displaced.
 The blast was considered by Mir. Hanson. the powder expert. and Nr. Courchesng's foreman as being an ideal one. The face Of the hill was blown away as clean as if it hau been chanEeled away by a quarrylng machine and left it in perfect couui- ton for another large blast
 10000 Tons cf Rock.
 Tho rock will be broken into small pieces. hauled 10 the crushing plant near the quarry and ground into fine fluNug stone for tie smelter and also for making roads. It is estimated that at least 40.000 tons of rock were ioosened by the giant blast and the method of blasting by sections is con sidered much more economical than thc unit system of exploding enc hole at a fine