American Potash and Chemical Company (sometimes abbreviated as AMPOT) was a large chemical manufacturer in the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. It produced various chemicals for US industry and the US military. It was bought by

Kerr-McGee The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an American energy company involved in oil exploration, production of crude oil, natural gas, perchlorate and uranium mining and milling in various countries. On June 23, 2006, Anadarko Petroleu ...

in 1967, which reformed it into the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation (KMCC) around 1970.American Potash and Chemical Company with corporate offices in Los Angeles at W. 6th St. & South Virgil AVE were closed 15 July 1969 and moved to Oklahoma City. 551 F.2d 790

History

The company started by producing

borax The BORAX Experiments were a series of safety experiments on boiling water nuclear reactors conducted by Argonne National Laboratory in the 1950s and 1960s at the National Reactor Testing Station in eastern Idaho.

and

potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.

from

Searles Lake Searles Lake is an Endorheic basin, endorheic dry lake in the Searles Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, California. The lake in the past was also called Slate Range Lake and Borax Lake. The mining community of ...

, at

Trona Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3·NaHCO3·2H2O) is a non- marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced ...

, California. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it diversified to other chemicals. In 1948, the company was

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

's second-largest employer, with 1,600 of Trona's 5,000 residents on the payroll. In the 1950s it bought Eston Chemicals, Western Electrochemical, and the Lindsay Chemical Company and further diversified its product line. During the Cold war era it produced

ammonium perchlorate Ammonium perchlorate ("AP") is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a colorless or white solid that is soluble in water. It is a powerful oxidizer. Combined with a fuel, it can be used as a rocket propellant called ammonium perchlorat ...

for U.S. missile industry, particularly for

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

Minuteman Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Min ...

Nike Zeus Nike Zeus was an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system developed by the United States Army during the late 1950s and early 1960s that was designed to destroy incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile warheads before they could hit their ...

, Pershing,

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinisation of names, Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an ...

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

, Tartar missiles.Ammonium Perchlorate Has Been Qualified in Performance by Every Manufacturer and Program in Solid Propellant Technology
// ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', Mid-December, 1960, v. 73, no. 27, p. 330. In the 1960s it bought a large interest in ''Compagnie des Potasses du Congo''. In 1967 AMPOT was bought by Kerr-McGee. Around 1970 Kerr-McGee reorganized and AMPOT became the KMCC which in 2006 was spun off as

Tronox Tronox Limited is an American worldwide chemical company involved in the titanium products industry with approximately 6,500 employees. Following its acquisition of the mineral sands business formerly belonging to South Africa's Exxaro Resources, ...

. When AMPOT bought the Lindsay Chemical Company it also got the Rare Earths Facility in

West Chicago, Illinois West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,614 at the 2020 census. It was formerly named Junction and later Turner Junction, after its founder, John Bice Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Un ...

References

External links

Alprazolam PowderSSD Chemical Solution
Chemical companies of the United States Mining companies of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in California Mining in California Searles Valley Kerr-McGee {{Chemical-company-stub