Warehouse Row

Though used as a commuter train for Atlas employees, the Copper Range trains also delivered the wide range of exotic supplies that an explosives plant required. These supplies included a wide range of chemicals used to make the nitroglycerine along with a series of pulp materials used to make the filler for the dynamite. All of these materials arrived to the plant along warehouse row - an area of the plant along the Copper Range spur that was home to warehouses and other storage buildings. Above you can see a photo of the row as it looked while in operation along with some labels of what the buildings were.

The production of nitroglycerine - the explosive component of dynamite - required three primary chemicals: sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and glycerine. For most of the plant’s life these were all brought in from chemical plants to the east in tanker cars. In the old photo which opens this post you can see a line of these tanker cars sitting along warehouse row. The content of those tanks were pumped out and stored in various storage tanks spread out about the complex. To do that this tower was used, which allowed workers to get to the top of the tanks. This photo was taken by Bill Haller (thanks Bill!) while this structure still stood upright, when I arrived it had fallen to the ground and was barely recognizable. Thats why I used Bill’s picture instead of mine.

Unlike nitro - which could explode from the slightest shock - dynamite could be handled easily without the worry of premature detonation. This was due largely to the absorption of the nitro in a inert saw-dust like filler (known as “dope”), which greatly improved the nitro’s shock resistance. This building was used to dry the pulp used to make the dope. The cupola at the building’s peak was used to vent the steam used in the process.

Here’s a close look at the loading doors to the pulp drying house pictures previously. Rail lines ran along both sides of the building, one line for offloading from Copper Range cars and a second for loading the dried material onto the plant’s narrow-gauge track system for delivery to the dope house for mixing with other materials.

This interesting sign sits just outside of the door, and I think it reads “Please Wipe Your Feet”, which seems somewhat odd.

Here’s a second view of the pul drying house, this time from the nearby road. Interesting to me is how even this building still features some beautiful architectural features such as the sandstone sills and stepped brickwork along the roof line.

Sitting north of the pulp drying house is a another warehouse, though I’m not sure what it was used for. Here’s is one of its loading doors. I love the look of these old doors, and the toil of weather and time just makes them look better in my opinion.

One of the more interesting ingredients the Atlas Powder Plant required was large amounts of sodium nitrate - which I believe was also used in the production of the packing dope. The nitrate was in the form of bird guano imported from Chile. It was stored in that large building seen to the right in the photo. To the left was a building used to dry the guano and check it for metallic particles using magnets.

Today all that remains of either of these buildings is the unmistakable octagonal concrete foundation here. Check out the BIG PICTURE to see exactly how large this structure actually was. I guess in later years after the building was demolished it was used as a skating rink. (Thus the hose sitting in the middle of it seen in the panoramic) We move on….

Thanks to Bill Haller for the use of a few of his excellent photos from his Atlas Gallery.

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