Location: Dupont Powder Co., Senter, MI

The Dupont Powder Company was located on the Portage Lake Canal to Torch Lake, north of Point Mills. The Company was reached by five mile long Copper Range branch line from Dupont Junction. [DSSM]

Notes

Time Line

1910. November. A visit to the new powder plant of the DuPont Powder company which is being erected at Senter and which probably will begin operations about January 1 (1911) is not without interest. It is located on the Copper Range railroad about 10 miles from Houghton near the village of Dollar Bay.

The railroad approaches the plant in a long curve and encloses the plant in a large circle. Different buildings in which the process of making dynamite appear like forts, each separated from the others by a distance of at least 100 yards and enclosed by embankments of sand and timber so that all that can be seen of the buildings themselves is the peak of the roof. The military aspect of the place is the most significant feature of the works.

The first building is one which the paper shells are made to hold the dynamite. The numerous change houses for the men are employed here at the works.

The shell machine makes them at about 200 a minute. They come out of this machine 8" in length, 1.5" in diameter, one end closed and the other open. They are packed in crates and carried by a belt into the paraffining room where paraffine is sprayed over them.

Another machine packs the shells with dynamite. Work here is very dangerous for if a shell became entangled in the machinery an explosion would surely occur. All the windows are made to open outward, and are built down to the floor. Should the men fear an explosion at any time it is intended that they shall hurl themselves through these windows and make a dash to the outside of the embankment. There are three machines with a safe distance between each, and they can turn out 50,000 shells or 25,000 pounds of dynamite a day. Capacity of the whole plant is estimated at 18 million pounds a year.

Next are the packing plants where the dynamite sticks are packed into the familiar wooden boxes.

Dynamite, as it is known the world over, is nitroglycerine combined with wood pulp to make the explosive safer to be handled. The nitro-glycerining is a compound of pure glycerin and an acid composed of 1/4 nitric to 3/4 sulphonic. All these in ingredients are manufactured at the plant. 

At the top of one building is the mixer where the glycerin and the acids are combined to form nitroglycerine. The excessive heat generated by the chemical reaction when these two substances are combined is reduced to 50 degrees by coils of cooling pipes enclosing the leaden bowl in which the main action takes place.

Brine is kept circulating in these coils at a temperature of 15 degrees below zero.  Should the temperature of the compound exceed 50 degrees, an explosion would be imminent and to guard against an explosion, the attendant may increase the circulation of the brine, and add more glycerin or as a last resort, the tents of the bowl may be emptied into a large tank which is always filled with water.

Paddles continually stir the mixture and these paddles are operated by a steam engine, this form of power being considered safer than electricity. When the compound leaves the bowl it is crude nitroglycerine and must be refined and neutralized. The refuse acid which still remains in the mixture is drained off by allowing the whole to stand for some time and settle. 

The acid which has not combined with the glycerin to form nitroglycerine goes to the surface and when drained off is refined and used over. When this mechanical process of separating the refuse acid from the explosive is completed the compound is raised to the next building some distance away by compressed air which is the usual method of raising the acids and fluids at the plant.

Here is located the neutralizing plant where the compound is further refined by a chemical process of adding silver nitrate and agitating the mixture by compressed air.

This building is the most dangerous of the whole plant. The vats and cylinders are made of lead, which is the only substance which will withstand the action of the acids. The most prominent feature of the equipment is a little car, called the "angel car", which is the only receptacle for carrying the refined nitroglycerine from this building to the next.

The treacherous fluid flows back and forth in the large vats where the slight change in temperature might easily blow the whole building to atoms. The "angel car" carries the compound to the next fort-like building where the nitroglycerin is combined with the wood pulp.

These mills resemble the ancient stone mills of South America with the difference that they do not grind but simply mix the dynamite to the right consistency for the next process - that of filling the paper shells.

A wonderful elevated railroad system brings the ingredients to their mixer. The cars are automatically controlled and are very accurate. After the process of mixing the nitroglycerine with the wood pulp is completed the dynamite is all ready for packing.

Throughout the plant the most modern and up-to-date methods of manufacturing are used. The acids, glycerin and nitroglycerin are sent from one building to another by compressed air. Electric power is used except in instances where steam is considered more consistent and safer.

Hydraulic wells which furnish water for the whole plant. Great precautions are taken against danger of fire and hoses are always connected with the hydrants. Electric lights are enclosed in double glass globes and in glass cases in walls. Wires are enclosed in lead pipes to protect them from the fumes. 

The plant has its own electric plant, makes its own steam and compressed air, has several large concrete buildings where the company makes its own acids and has its own railroad equipment. The materials used in the manufacturer of the acids are secured from all parts of the world and this manufacture is a very important part of the works. [CN-1910-1102]

1910. December 12. Production of nitroglycerine begins. [CRR]

1911. January 6. Blasting power production begins. This first shipment was sent to the Champion Mining Company at Painesdale. [CRR]