The University Chemist’s Low-Cost Dynamite
A University of Washington professor proposes a state-manufactured explosive to slash land-clearing costs for farmers.
Farmers of this state may soon reap the benefits of a new and inexpensive explosive invented on the campus of the University of Washington by Prof. William M. Dehn of the department of chemistry. If a bill currently under consideration is passed, this powder, manufactured from sawdust and ammonium nitrate, could retail for 5.5 to 6 cents a pound—considerably less than half the price of existing commercial powders. Dr. Dehn is offering to turn the production over to the state if $100,000 is appropriated for the construction of state-owned factories at strategic locations. This would bypass high rail transportation costs, with each facility costing under $10,000. Dehn estimates that with 15,000 acres of land being cleared in the state annually, this plan would save Washington farmers over $500,000 a year. The new explosive is reportedly unaffected by low temperatures, free from the headache-inducing fumes of nitroglycerine, and so stable that no mechanical jar will set it off, requiring specific regulation caps for detonation.
“The explosive would be sold to farmers at cost.”
This proposal for state-subsidized agricultural infrastructure echoes long-standing regional debates over the role of government in reducing costs for small farmers. While the specific chemistry of this 'sawdust explosive' is a relic of the era's land-clearing boom, the impulse to find public-sector solutions to monopolistic private commodity pricing remains a core tension in Washington politics.
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