| Folks said Uncle Athanatious didn't have enough sense | | | | for white, Sal ammoniac for green, lamp black for red, |
| to come in out of the rain. However, neither would you | | | | and ordinary sand for "golden shower."Uncle Athan |
| if you were in his business.Uncle Athan - no one dared | | | | didn't mess around with garden variety fireworks. The |
| call him by his full handle - operated a gunpowder | | | | construction of little paper tubes, and stuffing them with |
| mill.Dynamite was safer, but three times more | | | | tiny amounts of powder, was too tedious. Such things |
| expensive than black powder and harder to set off. | | | | as penny crackers, sparklers, Roman candles, cherry |
| Farmers of Boot Heel preferred the local "stump lifter" | | | | bombs, devil spitters, fire snakes and other "kid stuff" |
| so ably concocted by Uncle Athan.Back then, | | | | were imported from China.* * *My uncle cured his |
| explosives were in great demand for clearing land. | | | | powder in his house because it was clean, dry and |
| Black powder was ideal because it exploded at a | | | | handy. Trays were scattered about on tables, chairs, |
| slower rate than dynamite and thereby exerted | | | | dressers, sideboard and beds. This kept Aunt Dilley in a |
| unremitting pressure on tree roots.Black powder also | | | | nervous snit, but Athan was a stickler for quality |
| made great firecrackers - particularly rockets and | | | | control."There isn't any cause for worry," he assured |
| salutes. The latter were fist- size bombs whose only | | | | her, "so long as you don't open the damper on the |
| purpose was to burst the eardrums of anyone | | | | stove or scuff your feet on the rug." This did not seem |
| standing close by when it was set off.Traditionally | | | | reassuring.Aunt Dilley knew the problem and didn't |
| salutes were the first to be set off on the Fourth of | | | | appreciate safety tips. When trays of powder were |
| July and Christmas morning.Ingredients for black | | | | drying, she served cold pork and beans straight from |
| powder consist of common materials that were easily | | | | the can and walked dainty.One night, when the living |
| obtained in country stores. Individually the ingredients | | | | and dining rooms sheltered several trays of |
| were useful for many household purposes.Two are | | | | gunpowder, a thunderstorm came up suddenly. |
| charcoal and sulfur. I dare not reveal the third lest a | | | | Apparently it was accompanied by static accumulation. |
| young reader undertake a dangerous experiment.The | | | | In any case, the powder ignited.It went off with a loud |
| best charcoal for gunpowder was made from willow | | | | POOF -- and sufficient concussion to blow out a |
| and alder trees. Uncle Athan had a piece of | | | | couple of windows, smash chinaware and singe old |
| bottomland that supported a stand of the trees and | | | | Fritz sleeping under the dining table.Aunt Dilley moved |
| needed clearing. The powder mill enabled him to turn a | | | | out the next day and went to live with her sister down |
| profit from unwanted trees.His sideline venture was so | | | | the road. Uncle Athan stayed on at the mill and visited |
| successful he continued manufacturing explosive after | | | | Aunt Dilley and her sister for Sunday dinners.However, |
| his own need was met.* * *Uncle Athan's process of | | | | when a storm brewed, and gunpowder was drying, |
| making black powder was deceptively simple but a | | | | Uncle Athan hung around outside until the weather |
| mite touchy.First, charcoal and sulfur were crushed to | | | | cleared. It was right pitiful to see him standing out in the |
| powder in a "ball mill." It was a rotating barrel containing | | | | rain in his yellow slicker and under a Purina Feed |
| recycled automobile bearings. The mill was turned by | | | | umbrella.* * *The event everyone had predicted for |
| Uncle Athan's faithful hound Fritz trudging inside an | | | | years finally occurred. Uncle Athan bought a one-way |
| over-size hamster exercise wheel. .After a while, the | | | | ticket to that Great Powder Mill in the Sky.It was never |
| mixture was dampened and ingredient X added. | | | | determined what set off the explosion. The day was |
| Water aided chemical bonding and reduced the danger | | | | warm and overcast, but these conditions were not |
| of accidental detonation.This black "mud" was pressed | | | | deemed adverse enough to cause the blast. Perhaps |
| through a "wheel mill" comprised of two worn gears | | | | Uncle Athan combed his hair too briskly that day.Old |
| from a cotton gin. The meshed gears were turned by | | | | Fritz was not hurt, but he ran off - never to be seen |
| Jack -- a mule of limited ancestry but docile | | | | again. Life in a powder mill for mans' best friend was |
| temperament -- by pulling around a long sweep | | | | to unsettling - what with the over-size hamster wheel, |
| attached to the gear wheels. A similar arrangement | | | | singed fur, sudden loud noises and a diet leaning |
| was common for grinding sugar cane.On visits, I was | | | | excessively to cold beans.A large crowd came to |
| allowed to ride Jack while "it" earned its keep. My | | | | Uncle Athan's funeral. He was well liked, but a goodly |
| mother kept the visits short. Uncle Athan's casual | | | | number of strangers showed up. Word got around |
| attitude toward his product made her nervous.The | | | | that Aunt Dilley was going to dispose of her late |
| wheel mill pressed out excess water and mashed the | | | | husband's unexploded inventory after the burial |
| half-dry mud into granules. These were spread on | | | | ceremony.As Uncle Athan was lowered into his |
| wood trays to dry.Finally, dry granules were crushed | | | | eternal resting place, the Volunteer Fire Brigade set off |
| into "corns" by an ordinary kitchen-type rolling pin and | | | | 25 salutes, two cannon blasts, 15 stump lifters and 30 |
| sifted through various screens for size.This was the | | | | assorted rockets.It was the end of an era, but Uncle |
| most dangerous operation -- performed solely by | | | | Athan went out in style.Every Decoration Day |
| Uncle Athan. Though gainful employment was hard to | | | | thereafter, Aunt Dilley visited Uncle Athan's grave. She |
| come by, no one ever applied for a job with him. A | | | | would set off a string of penny crackers - prudently |
| stray spark, high heat or static electricity could set off | | | | disdaining stump lifters - and proclaim that Uncle Athan |
| the powder.Size of the corns, and any color additives, | | | | would rest easy for another year.Lindsey Williams is a |
| determined the ultimate use of the gunpowder.Large | | | | Sun columnist who can be contacted at:Website: with |
| grains were best for removing stumps. It also was | | | | several hundred of Lin's Editorial & At Large articles |
| preferred for charging the Civil War cannon fired on | | | | written over 40 years.Also featured in its entirety is |
| Decoration Day - the south's name for the north's | | | | Lin's groundbreaking book "Boldly Onward," that |
| Memorial Day.Fine-grain powder went into rockets. A | | | | critically analyzes and develops theories about the |
| little graphite gave the powder extra decibels. Rocket | | | | original Spanish explorers of America. |
| color was controlled by secret additives -- camphor | | | | |