Torpedo Works..??
I got this little write up about Knightstown out of the 1919 edition of the “Encyclopedia Americana”. In the description of the business concerns in K-town at the time it mentions a “Torpedo Works”. What on earth is that..??? I don’t think it means the ka-boom kind of torpedo. They surely didn’t make those in K-town, did they..??? What else could it be…??
If anyone knows please share it with us…..!!!
Yes, there was a Torpedo Works…!!!
And it was the ka-boom kind.. I got to looking on the web and found two references. (I am constantly amazed at all the obscure information that’s out there. Who bothers to put all that stuff there…???) Anyway, there was a Nitro-Glycerine factory/Torpedo Works west of Knightstown at about where the Hall’s Chevy place was and a few hundred yards north of Hwy 40. According to Ed Fort a big hole in the ground can still be found where it blew up in 1904.
Here’s an article from the New York Times about the explosion.
I still don’t quite understand what kind of torpedos they made. We weren’t at war in 1904 so I don’t think they were the military type. They must have been some kind of device used for construction excavation or in mines. It is clear it was a pretty dangerous business…!!!
Here’s another reference to the nitro plant. This one from 1901 which tells about an explosion of nitro from K-town that occured north of Anderson.
