Shell Packing

After being mixed into a Playdo-like consistency at the Mix House, the nitroglycerine was then loaded onto small rail cars and pushed by hand to the nearby Hall House. Here a series of machines would use the nitro mix to fill the empty paper tubes from the shell house to create the finished dynamite sticks. At Atlas there were two Hall Houses, set one after the other in a line. This insured once again that if an accident should occur at one of the buildings, production could still continue at the second.

Here’s a photo of one of those Hall Houses (this is the No. 1). Like all buildings along the powder line, it was surrounded by a series of earth-filled berms to help contain any explosions. Running alongside the building was the narrow-gauge rail line over which the nitro mix would enter the building and the finished dynamite sticks would leave - pushed on the cart seen in the photo. The machines used within this building were the known as Hall Packing machines (thus the name of the building), which had replaced the more dangerous hand-packing method used previously. These machines would use long wooden “tamps” that would be used to squeeze the nitro through a nipple plate which filled several shells at once. The machine was mounted vertically, which made necessary the second floor in the building.

Since this building was burned to destroy any residual nitro, very little is left of it today. About all that does remain are the earth berms and wood retaining walls that support them. Above you can see the rather large (and long) retaining wall that once flanked the narrow-gauge rail line used to bring the nitro and shells to the building. (Check out the BIG PICTURE to get a better perspective of just how impressive this wall is.)

Paralleling that long wood retaining wall was a second wall that created an open-top tunnel. Running along the ground within that tunnel were a series of moss-covered timbers - the remains of the railroad ties which once supported the rails here. Though the rails themselves had been removed, the spikes that once held them to the ties were still there, as you can see above.

Still attached to the retaining wall near the hole were the building itself would of once stood were these interesting items. They look to be plastic, and my best guess as to what they were is some type of electrical switch. For what I have no idea.

As far as the actually building itself, today only an opening in the retaining wall and an open space surrounded by earth berms remain. Here you can see the line of fasteners which mark the outer earth berm that surrounds the building. (in the background you can see the rail-line “tunnel”)

Here’s the remains of the Hall House as the looked after being burnt to the ground. It looks about the same today, just extremely overgrown.

Before leaving we noticed this familiar face sitting up on one of those earth berms. We saw this before at the Neutralizer House, its the wood frame that once supported the exhaust ducting for the building. (you can see this ductwork still intact in the archive photo of the building at the beginning of this post - coming out of the second floor). Attached to the other end would be an exhaust fan. The metal looping would of held the ductwork in place.

Moving on…

Thanks to Bill Haller for providing from his collection these great archive photos of the plant during demolition, photographed by Ted Sved.

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