DYNAMITE STORAGE MAGAZINES 61 
Stray shots from firearms are another source of danger to poorly 
stored explosives. 
Aside from the dangers, considerable time is often spent by the 
shooter in finding someone willing to allow him to use some old barn 
or house as a magazine. Sometimes he is forced to hide it in the 
woods or leave it in an open field. 
Let’s pause to consider how we stored our dynamite in the past, 
or for that matter, how a large quantity of it is stored today. 
My first assignment in geophysics placed me on a party shooting 
on water. We lived on a houseboat. Tied to the houseboat at all times 
was an ordinary uncovered barge. On this barge was carried up to 
five tons of dynamite together with about ten drums of gasoline, a 
drum of cylinder oil, coal for a cook stove, batteries, and a lot of un- 
assorted junk. The caps were kept inside the houseboat. 
This was during the winter. One day after the first thunderstorm, 
someone in authority had the happy thought to have the barge moved 
about a quarter of a mile away. 
Some water crews left their powder in the marsh. There, of course, 
it was exposed to all these hazards, but the consequences of an ex- 
plosion would not have been so serious. 
Nowadays the crew’s explosives are frequently stored in an old 
house, cabin, or barn, and very often quite close to one or more homes. 
Usually the caps are on one side of the room and the dynamite on the 
other, but of course some shooters are not that particular. Now and 
then the door is locked, usually with a cheap padlock. 
I have seen explosives left in peculiar places, even under a railway 
bridge; but if you think that odd I should like to ask any man in charge 
of a seismograph party if he knows exactly where his powder is stored. 
Let us hope it is in a specially prepared magazine. 
While the idea of portable dynamite magazines is not at all new, 
all credit for being the first to adopt them as standard equipment 
should go to Mr. Stewart Sherar and the Humble Company. This 
company now has one with every crew, as has the Independent Ex- 
ploration Company. The Western Geophysical Corporation has at 
least one and is reported to be building others. The Texas Body and 
Trailer Company of Houston has built twenty-six magazines to date 
and others have been or are being built from photographs of the first 
ones. 
The portable magazine successfully solves most problems of 
storage. Permission is easily obtained to leave it in an open field. 
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