Miami Powder Company operated a

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

manufacturing complex on the

Little Miami River The Little Miami River () is a Class I tributary of the Ohio River that flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 26, 2011 through five counties in southwestern Ohio ...

at Goes Station, Ohio from 1855 to 1925.

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

s growing along the banks of the Little Miami River provided the

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

required for gunpowder. Production was approximately 75 percent rifle powder and 25 percent blasting powder.

History

Brothers by the name of Chapman built a

mill pond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the co ...

dam on the Little Miami River about 1825 to power a mill manufacturing

scythe A scythe (, rhyming with ''writhe'') is an agriculture, agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or Harvest, harvesting Crop, crops. It was historically used to cut down or reaping, reap edible grain, grains before they underwent the process of ...

s. About 1846 Benjamin Carlton and the Austin brothers of the Austin Powder Company formed the Austin & Carlton Powder Company to convert the mill to the manufacture of gunpowder. Joseph W. King purchased the Austin & Carleton

powder mill A powder mill was a mill where gunpowder is made from sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal. Milling steps Crude grinding and mixing operations such as the Frankford Powder-Mill of Philadelphia were a cottage industry until the Industrial Revolution ...

in 1855 and expanded it as the Miami Powder Company including a steam power plant and employee residences for the

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

of Goes Station. In 1872 Miami Powder Company formed the United States Gunpowder Trade Association, popularly known as the powder trust, with American Powder Mills, Austin Powder Company,

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

Hazard Powder Company The Hazard Powder Company is a former American manufacturer of gunpowder and explosives. It was located in Hazardville within the town of Enfield, Connecticut. History The company was founded on the Scantic River in 1835 by Allen Loomis in ...

Laflin & Rand Powder Company Laflin & Rand Powder Company was a gunpowder and early smokeless powder manufacturer notable for producing the smokeless powder used by United States Army infantry rifles from 1896 to 1908, which included the period of development of the M1903 Spri ...

, and

Oriental Powder Company Oriental Powder Company was a gunpowder manufacturer with mills located on the Presumpscot River in Gorham and Windham, Maine. The company was one of the four largest suppliers to Union forces through the American Civil War. History The Presumps ...

. In 1877 Joseph King built the King's Great Western Powder Company at

Kings Mills, Ohio Kings Mills is a census-designated place in the northeastern corner of Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio, Deerfield Township of Warren County, Ohio, Warren County, Ohio, United States, on the western shore of the Little Miami River. The pop ...

which later became the

Peters Cartridge Company The Peters Cartridge Company was a company located along the Little Miami River in Kings Mills, Ohio, which specialized in gunpowder and ammunition production. Founded in 1887 by Gershom Moore Peters, the company supplied military ammunition to v ...

. A boiler explosion on 1 March 1886 ignited 2500 kegs of powder in a storehouse which disintegrated killing three men, leaving a crater deep and causing an "earthquake" felt in

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Two men were killed in a 1920 explosion, and the company closed after a 1925 explosion destroyed several buildings.

References

{{Reflist Ammunition manufacturers Explosives manufacturers Gunpowder mills