111 Years Ago
The March 26, 1914 Colorado Transcript featured a story titled “Students Have Close Call When Powder Explodes.” The Lariat Loop Road was under construction at that time, and two freshmen from the School of Mines were out exploring the project on a Saturday. It was a chilly day, and when they reached an empty blacksmith shop, they lit a fire in the forge, to warm up.
Once the fire was going, they decided to heat a piece of iron to white hot, then whack it over the anvil. The white hot end of the iron bar flew off and landed on a can of black powder.
Recognizing the disaster about to happen, they plunged out the door, but hadn’t gone far when the explosion occurred. One boy had burns “along his full length.” The other “plunged headfirst into a snowbank, and the exposed part of his anatomy was blistered. The boys at his fraternity house have rigged up a shelf for him, as he will have to eat his meals standing up for a time.”
