9781422277584

gunpowder was still virtually the only explosive in use after 500 years. The only significant change had been in how the ingredients were mixed. From early in the fifteenth century, these were mixed wet instead of dry; apart from being safer, this “corned” powder was a more uniform and satisfactory material. This, in brief, is the story of explosives up to the time of Alfred Nobel. In barely a quarter of a century, he was to transform an industry which had

result of these surveying efforts between January and March 1852. The work was not completed until after the end of the Civil War in 1865. Over 30,000 cubic feet of rock were removed at Pot Rock and its depth was increased from six feet to twenty feet. Other obstructions were removed during blasting, making Hell Gate safer for vessels traveling between the Hudson River and Long Island Sound.

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