White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1928-03-02
EXPLOSIVES IN VAN
OF HUMAN PROGRESS
Mans Most Powerful Slave
Used in Many Ways.

Notwithstanding detonations
That century ago could have meant
only the thunders Of war, are heard
almost every day now by the inhab-
itants of any stable city. They are
the sounds Of mans most powerful
slaves, explosives" says q bulletin
from the Washington headquarters Of
the National Geographic society,
carrying on their daily labors Of
peace for civilization; tearing loose
materials for lime and cement, dig
ging out stone for structures and
roads, piercing hills, excavating that
dams, railways and factories may
grow. The pioneer slowly and labori-
Ously slashed his way through ma
lures superficial barriers with his
ak; with much less effort the modern
engineer blasts his way through
mountains, tumbles hills into valleys,
and recasts the face of the earth to
his liking and his need.
An Age Of Explosives.
"Civilization has had it's ages of
stone and bronze and steel; of wind
and water and steam power. 1t re.
quires taking no great liberties with
terms to call this an age of explo
sives. Man blasts out the route for a
highway; makes it smooth with stone
and cement blown out elsewhere; and
all that it may be traversed by mil
lions of vehicles propelled by explo-
sions of gases. Overhead airplanes
whir, driven by explosive engines
Man has conquered the air only since
the Harvesting Of explosions for pow
er, and has never made practical
flying machine driven by any other
form of energy. By the roadside
farmers pillow their fields with trac-
tors driven by similar engines, and
blast powders and stumps from their
fields with charges of high explosives
"In cities, our water supplies come
through aqueducts and tunnels that
explosives have helped to build. Dies
sci engines driven by exploding pc
troleum are replacing steam engines
in factories and ships; and some
light and power plants are operated
by these highly concentrated and eco
nomical mechanisms. Even steam
plants and railways are dependent on
explosives, for the coal which drives
them is torn by powder and dyna-
mite from the bowels of the earth.
"Never since man developed his
o1c nj, ho 80
hammers, and the rest-has he come
upon device or substance compar-
able in force to explosives. They give
him the powers of demigod With
them he can come closer to initiating
natures forces than in any other way
Explosives depend for their great
power on the fact that while occupy
ing a relatively small space an in
slant before explosion, their gases
occupy emendously greater space
the instant after. Gunpowder, the
first and the 'tamest' of the we'll
known explosives, exerts, when it ex-
plodes in confined space, 5000 times
the pressure of the atmosphere or
nearly so tons per square inch. The
high explosives dynamite, gun-cot.
ton, nitroglycerin, and INT, exert
several times the force of powder;
and mercury illuminate, the most VIC
lent of all, produces pressure of 2OC
tons per square inch. The latter finds
Its chief use in very small quantities
In the form of caps used to detonate
less violent explosives.
Most Sensitive Explosive.
"All explosives are dangerous and
must be handled with caution; but
there are definite degrees of danger
BUSINESS. Gunpowder and dynamite
will not explode unless subjected to
more or less violent jolt. Nitro
glycerin and INT are detonated much
more easily. The most sensitive of all
explosives is nitrogen-iodide. This sub
stance is so unstable that it is said
that the tap of q feather will set 1t
off.
Given in peace time the United
States manufactures large quantities
Of explosives. In 1925 the total, not
considering explosives for ammuni-
ton, was more than half a billion
pounds. Of this, approximately two.
thirds was made up Of high explo-
sives and one-third OF black powder.
A quarter Of the high explosives and
SO per cent of the black powder was
used in coal mining. Nearly half of
all the high explosives were used in
metal mining and quarrying, and the
remaining quarter was divided about
equally between construction work
and miscellaneous uses.
"Many absorbingly interesting serv.
Ices to man are hidden behind the
miscellaneous classification. Explo-
sives are used among other ways in
channel deepening, to produce echo
waves, in the scientific 'divining rods
of the oil prOspector, to aid in drain.
ing swamps, to blow up levees for
emergency flood protection, to fight
great fires, to destroy the bodies of
dead animals, to shoot Oil wells, to
send up signal rockets and fireworks,
to cast life lines to ships in distress.
to break up ice jams, log jams, and
icebergs, and to prepare holes for the
planting of trees.
MANS discovery of explosives is