California Powder Works

California Powder Works (1861–1914) was the first American explosive powder manufacturing company west of the Rocky Mountains. When the outbreak of the Civil War cut off supplies of gunpowder to California's mining and road-building industries, a local manufacturer was needed. Originally located near Santa Cruz, California, the company was incorporated in 1861 and began manufacturing gunpowder in May 1864. For 50 years, it was a major employer in the county, employing between 150 and 275 men. The powder works was located on a flat adjacent to the San Lorenzo River, three miles upstream of Santa Cruz,[1] which is now the Masonic residential community of Paradise Park, California.

Facilities at Santa Cruz

A dam was built on the San Lorenzo River upstream of the powder works on what is now Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. A 4 x tunnel 1200 ft long was dug in 1863 to bring water from the dam through the powder works. Water powered powder mill machinery and was used to dissolve and purify the crude potassium nitrate from Chile. Water was distributed through the powder works by a system of flumes later dismantled when electricity became available to power the wheel mills. Charcoal was manufactured locally using redwood fuel to char willow, madrone and alder. To facilitate transport and shipping, the company built a bridge across the river (the first bridge can be seen in an early panoramic lithograph, viewable online)[2] and purchased a wharf off the main Santa Cruz beach.[3]

The first bridge collapsed in 1871 and was replaced the following year by the covered bridge (now a National Historic Landmark) still in use today built by the Pacific Bridge Company.[1]

Manufacture of dynamite at Hercules

Shortly after the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel in 1867, the newly-formed Giant Powder Company of San Francisco acquired the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell it in the U.S.

A special formulation of dynamite was patented in 1874 by J. W. Willard, superintendent of the California Powder Works in Santa Cruz. He called his invention "Hercules powder", a competitive jab at rival Giant Powder Company, as the mythological Hercules was known as a giant slayer.

The California Powder Works thereafter became the only manufacturer of Hercules powder. In 1877, J.W. Willard moved to Cleveland, Ohio to oversee the opening of a new California Powder Works plant there, dedicated to the manufacture of Hercules powder. In 1881, the California Powder Works moved its Hercules powder manufacturing in California to a new site along the northeast shore of San Francisco Bay. The company town that grew up around the facility became known as "Hercules", later (1900) incorporated as Hercules, California.

After initial purchases in 1868, DuPont had obtained 43% interest in California Powder Works by 1876.[5] In 1882, thanks to their interlocking ownership interests with the California Powder Works by that time, the DuPont corporation and Laflin & Rand Powder Company acquired the rights to manufacture Hercules powder and incorporated the Hercules Powder Company for that purpose. In 1904, Du Pont dissolved this first Hercules Powder Company as part of its ongoing effort to consolidate the many explosives manufacturers that it controlled.

End of Santa Cruz operations

The great explosion of 1898 started in the smokeless powder plant at 5:15 PM on April 26.[10] Santa Cruz was rocked by a series of heavy explosions which killed 13 men at the powder works and injured 25 more. Windows were broken in Santa Cruz, and flaming debris fell on Mission Hill. Many buildings used to house company employees were set afire and a community effort was required by residents of Santa Cruz to prevent fires from reaching powder magazines closer to the city. The explosion caused apprehension among Santa Cruz residents about the safety of operating the powder works so close to the city. Santa Cruz County closed the powder works school and required powder works employee housing facilities to be vacated.[1]

California Powder Works became a DuPont subsidiary in 1903,[11] and operated under the DuPont name after 1906. Powder works wharf demolition begun in 1883 was completed before construction of the Neptune Casino at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in 1904.[1]Upon the breakup of DuPont's control of explosives manufacturing in the United States, the manufacture of blasting explosives was assigned to Atlas Powder Company, while California Powder Works double-base smokeless powder patents were assigned to Hercules Powder Company's smokeless powder manufacturing facility at