Northwest Wisconsin's Best-Kept Secret for Decades: The Barksdale Explosives Plant

Thanks for the information. My grandfather, Conrad Holman, was one of the two men who died in the explosion in 1928. He was only 43 years of age. My dad, Glenn Holman, also worked his entire adult life at "the plant" putting in more than 33 years there. He was probably the last employee there when it was being closed down and did much work in the process of shutting it down. I remember his telling me that in 1952 he was supposed to go and relieve one of the guys in what was called the mix house. He said he wanted to have something to eat first. He sat down and took a bite out of his sandwiche and the mixing house blew up. His job the next day was finding the remains of the blast victims. He recounted how he found a spinal column hanging in a tree. I can only guess how this affected him since his dad died in the same way. Even with such trauma he loved working there. New procedures were instituted also which made the process of making tnt safer for the workers. I recall the making of metal clads and also using explosives to produce industrial diamonds. When I drive up home to visit and go by the entry gate I often wonder how many times my dad went through that gate. Also I was always told the site was in part selected because it has many ravines which would help isolate a blast. Thanks again.

My father died unexpectedly in 1997. He was quite a story teller and recounted many interesting tales of his work days at DuPont. He loved his work as a machinist and learned many new technologies over the years. I recall his excitement when learning about pneumatic logic control which was used with some scales, I believe. There was, understandably, a concern with electricity and potential sparks etc. Pneumatic control minimized this worry.

The plant was eventually dismantled with buildings being demolished, equipment burned, and much of the paper work and records also burned. I remember him telling me that the personnell record cards were burned. He felt they were such a valuable record of all the men who worked there over so many years and should be saved. He was ordered, however, to burn them. Aspects of the plant closure seemed somewhat strange and secretive at the time. My dad also returned to the plant site a number of times for "cleanup" of tnt contamination and other chemical issues. I recall, when the plant was operating, the plume of nitric acid vapors that would emanate from one plant stack. When we were out in our boat on the lake you could see this yellowish vapor extending all along the horizon. I would say to my dad that DuPont should clean that up along with the dye that went into the creek that flowed through the plant and into the lake. My dad and I would get into some vigorous "discussions" about this pollution. He felt it was not a serious problem. My perception was that questioning the way DuPont did business was not seen as being very wise. You do not bite the hand that feeds you. DuPont, however, has provided for my mother via my dad's pension and other benefits for many years. She is now 90 and still doing ok and lives at our home in Washburn. When I was in high school I assumed I would also be working at Barksdale. If your dad had seniority you could usually get a job or possibly start an apprenticeship, which is what he had done. During World War II he remained working at the plant. I believe he received a deferment due to the plants military importance. He was actually ready to leave for military service with his buddies and was disappointed not to ship out also. His best friend was killed during the invasion of Europe.

I think that Northland College may possibly have some information about the Barksdale plant. Northland was a thorn in DuPonts side due to their protests over the pollution issues. Some in town blamed the college for the plant closing, saying that DuPont did not want the bad publicity. This may have hastened the inevitable, but DuPont was mostly out of the explosives business by 1971. As I said in my earlier posting, I often think about the thousands of men who went through those gates, my dad and grandfather being only two. I wish there was a concise history of the Barksdale Works also. If I come upon any "mother lode" of information, I will let you know.

Thanks again,

John Holman

  

Dear Eric,

I am writing my autobiography and part of it includes that my parents moved as newlyweds to Barksdale in 1937 when my father was sent by the DuPont Company from DuPont, Washington, to Barksdale to work in the explosives plant.  My father had just graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Chemical Engineering.  I was born in the Washburn hospital (which seems not to exist now) in 1939.  My father's memoirs state that he was the TNT supervisor at Barksdale during World War II and the shift supervisor before that.  In about 1946 he was transferred to DuPont's Seneca plant in Illinois.

Also what is most interesting in another article I found entitled "Northwest Wisconsin's Best-Kept Secret for Decades: The Barksdale Explosive Plant" is a comment that in the 1950's and into the 1960's the plant made efforts to "perfect the manufacture of clad or 'sandwich' coins.  The early sandwich coin blanks were created by using explosives to blast layers of metal together."  This fact completely concurs with information given to me at my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, when two of my father's co-workers in the higher echelons of the DuPont Company told me that my father was responsible for the modern day quarter coin.  I was surprised, but then my dad had never been one to tell about his work life.  During that period he was still with the Explosives Department but now at the Louviers office in Wilmington, Delaware.

As my parents died in the early 1990's, I was thrilled in trying to discover some of the history of Barksdale to find your website.  Hooray for the internet!!!

Thank you so much for the information you have posted.  Incidentally my father's name was Francis (Frank) Kenton.

Janet Kenton Booker