An interesting piece of history about gunpowder manufacturing

[Looking4new]

Wow, that was brutal! Nearly a century later still send a Christmas tree to Boston every year thanking them for their support. :thumbsup:

I surely hope they are not going to do a re-enactment for the 100 year celebration. Halifax is a lot bigger now.

I know that there are people in these forums that do not like wikipedia, so what. I do but like anything else on the 'net, you need to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Another link about the Boston Christmas tree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston%E2%80%93Halifax_relations

 

[Garandman]

I've been to the tree lighting. Unfortunately it's become a tourism event for Boston and NS so the event that triggered it, and the response are buried under a bunch of speeches. But it's a large tree, on the Commons and not far from Frog Pond skating, which is fun.

 

[RobertN]

This reminds me of the Roseville Rail Yard explosions in 1973. I was 10, and we lived 20 miles away maybe as a crow flies. We had to evacuate my grandparents who lived much closer. Cousin lived nearby; house had no windows left, and had shrapnel in the yard. Train wheels were blown long distances away. Unexploded bombs 1.5 miles away

It was a munitions train on it's way to the San Francisco Bay area; bombs on their way to Vietnam. 40+ years later, an occasional bomb is found, while residents dig for swimming pools and such.

40 years later, witnesses recall dramatic railyard explosions | The Sacramento Bee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx_UATGP2Qk
Detonations Upset Rail Yard Neighbors / More bombs found north of Sacramento - SFGate
Roseville rail yard explosion revisited | The Press Tribune Newspaper

 

[RandyT]

I used to make lots of black powder as a kid. It usually took quite a while to get the right formula. I used to mix it in a large pie plate, take a little off to the side and try and ignite it with a Ford T spark coil. One time, the formula was just about right when a spark landed in the dish! That was in the basment of my parents house, and the flames were licking the ceiling as I ran to the laundry area for water. Nothing bad happened but the house did fill up with a lot of smoke! Only my sister was home and not too impressed.

When I was in high school, my chemistry class made some ran a strip of it across the floor, forced a pile under the jr high science class door and then lit it. the science teacher was not too happy. Lucky for us the chemistry teacher was also the principal, and thought it was funny. He did shut us down when we started to experiment on making nitroglycerin.

 

[Jstpssng]

When I was in high school, my chemistry class made some ran a strip of it across the floor, forced a pile under the jr high science class door and then lit it. the science teacher was not too happy. Lucky for us the chemistry teacher was also the principal, and thought it was funny. He did shut us down when we started to experiment on making nitroglycerin.

Now you would be branded a "domestic terrorist", they'd also find some way of calling it a hate crime.

 

[oosik]

When I was a kid - before most of your times - I would take my dad's shotgun shells apart and try to blow up tin cans with the powder. Never worked to well because it was smokeless powder & we didn't know how to confine it.

And we made moonshine with apples in our high school chemistry class. The sweet smell gave us away before we got too far. We sure had high hopes though.