The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-01-22
Had Sold to America Secret
Of Making Explosive
From Air.
BIG NITRATE PLANT RESULTS.
Built in Eight Months 1t Con-
vinces Kaiser of His Defeat.
BY GARRETT SMITH.

I'm the secret history OF the World War
is the story OF how the Ordnance De-
partment OF the United States Army
made 1t possible for Amerlcn. until
then utterly lacking In ammunition
and in facilities for making it, to man.
ufacture unlimited quantities of pow
erful explosives out OF air and rock.
1t was largely the knowledge of this
fact that forced Germany to surrender
when she did
The secret was secured from Ger.
many herself. 1t was an open busi
ness transaction between business
men. whereby we apparently acquired
nothing more military than u process
for making n high grade fertilizer
known as cyannmld.
Frank Sherman Washburn, head of
the group of business men who bought
this process. conceived the germ of
>the idea in the early ninetes while In
South America as consulting engineer
in connection with the production and
shipping of Chilean nitrate of soda.
Nitrogen compounds are an essential
part OF all commercial fertilizers The
only available natural nitrate deposits
in large quantities are In Chile. This
supply was diminishing. Germany,
which had been taking about one
third OF the Chilean nitrates. was al
ready experimenting with processes
for their artificial production. In 1907
Mr. Washburn secured in Germany
the American rights Of the cyanamid
process which had been invented In
that country.
Turning Air Into 4 Weapon.
BY this process air. which Is q mix
ture of about four-ffths nitrogen gas
and one-fifth oxygen, is placed in con-
taIners and subjected to pressure and
cold until 1t turns to 4 liquid. Then
the nitrogen Is distilled In much the
same manner a. alcohol II separated
: from water But before this nitrogen
can be used ~ 4 fertilizer It must be
combined with q chemical combination
Of lime and carbon known ~ calcium
carbide, produced By burning ordinary
limestone In big rotary kilns and COM
bining II In the electric furnace with
carbon supplied b the form q ordi.
nary coke.
Cyasamid thus produced eoatains
the elements Of ammoosum nitrate. one
~ she nsnas powerful Of modern explo-
AveA ~ one process ammooia u ex-
tracted frv.m the cyanamid. By IN.
other pro~e~s nitric acid II extracted
from smother hatch Of this same sya-
namid Then the aun,onia and nitric
acid are combined and thsra you have
ammoAiun nitrate ready fDr packing
into shelia with TINT. tf 2-I
There are three kinds Of explosives
used for bursting shells In modern
MUM nitrate. The United States was
equally deficient in raw materials and
plants for manufacturing all three Of
these explosives. Under the hest of
conditions the cost Of either INT or
nitric acid II about two and one-hah
the cost Of ammonium nitrnte. But
the United States was wholly depend
ent upon Chilean nitrate Of Hptia a.
raw material for ammonium nitrate.
with the exception of smalI protuc.
tiOn Of nitrogen frOm the coking Of
coal The Chilean supply was $500
miles away from New York City BY
way of the Panama Canal, and the
route by way Of the Straits Of Mngei-
Ian II nearly twice ~ long.
A Record 0viia,ne Operation.
Shortly after the war began In Eu-
rope the German government entered
into the fixation Of air nitrogen for
military explosives on q VAST scale. II
was not, however. until the fail Of 1917
that the United States government
took Il up.
The Ordnsnce Department asked Mr.
Washburn's company to organize .
subsidiary corporation, known ~ the
Air Nitratss Corporation. with Mr.
Washburn as presldents to act as
agent of the government for the con-
struction and operation Of the nir nj
trates plant at Muscle Shoals, Ala.
bama. This corporation provided the
designs, erected the equipment in the
chemical plants and supervised all the
other work. 1t also operated the
camp, the town and the plant. Other
work II sublet to several of the best
known organizations in the United
States. Westinghouse Church Kerr
Company built the plant buildings, the
camp. the permanent city and utilities
The J. g. White Engineering Corpora
ton designed and built the. nitrate
acid plant. The n. w. Kellogg Com
pany furnished the piping and built
the chimneys. On February l6. 1918,
ground was broken. and eight months
and eight days later the $6O,OOOOO0
Muscle Shoals plant began producing
ammonium nitrate. In that brief pc
riod $1,000 men had completed the
plan! and around it. where not o
house stood before. had arisen city
of 81. 900 Inhabitants.
This plant when In full operation
was ready TO provide 13 per cent of all