Existing comment:
The Role of Explosives in America:
Gunpowder was an essential item in the opening of the frontier and the settlement of the nation. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, gunpowder was used not only for hunting, protection, and military purposes, but also for mining and canal construction. It was gunpowder that cleared the way for the building of the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825.
In the middle of the century, gunpowder was used in railroad building. Between 1851 and 1860, more than 20,000 miles of new track was built, opening up the West to new development. Gunpowder also had extensive military usage. During the Civil War, almost all of DuPont's production of gunpowder was purchased for the Union army and navy.
When dynamite became available, it facilitated America's rapid industrial and economic growth. Dynamite was so powerful that it made it practical to move mountains. The building of cities, railroads, highways, dams, and aqueducts all used immense quantities of dynamite. The Panama Canal alone used nearly 61 million pounds of dynamite. One important use of dynamite was in the mining of stone. Crushed stone was used to make the concrete that built roads and cities. The use of dynamite changed our landscape and helped to build our nation's infrastructure. |