The Dangerous Business of Storing Explosives
After a close call with a keg of nitro-glycerine on a city street, Seattle officials scramble to regulate the volatile cargo moving through the docks.
The story, cleaned up
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The recent discussion among the dangers attending the present methods of storing and hauling explosives has resulted in the mayor sending a communication to the city council advising immediate legislation. Alderman Miller related that not long ago in the busiest part of the city, an iron rod projecting from a wagon was thrust right into the head of a keg of nitro-glycerine, and its failure to explode was little short of a miracle. The schooner F. S. Redfield, which had twenty tons of giant powder aboard for Tacoma, was ordered away from Union dock. No tug could be induced to tow the schooner, so the fireboat Snoqualmie towed the schooner to the west side of the harbor. The mayor suggested the appointment of a fire marshal whose exclusive duty shall be the enforcement of the fire laws and the investigation of the causes of all fires.
“An iron rod projecting from a wagon was thrust right into the head of a keg of nitro-glycerine, and its failure to explode with destructive effects was little short of a miracle.”
This reflects a time when Seattle’s waterfront was an industrial powder keg, literally and figuratively. It highlights the city's early struggle to balance massive industrial growth and dangerous transport with the safety of a rapidly densifying residential population.
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