Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Sometimes the
Speaker 1: very thing we're looking for turns out to be right
Speaker 1: in front of us. Other times we have to work
Speaker 1: at it. We might find that lost item or learn
Speaker 1: the answer to a difficult problem. It just requires a
Speaker 1: bit of effort. In Byron Price published the book The Secret.
Speaker 1: If you haven't heard of it, It's a puzzle book
Speaker 1: containing twelve illustrations and twelve verses. The reader has to
Speaker 1: line up verse and illustration to create a clue to
Speaker 1: the puzzle, and that puzzle the location of twelve treasure
Speaker 1: boxes buried across North America. But the your hunt doesn't
Speaker 1: stop there. Inside each box is a key that can
Speaker 1: be turned in for a precious gem valued around a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars at least back in two The book spurred
Speaker 1: treasure hunters across America to start solving the riddles and
Speaker 1: finding the hidden keys. The only person who knew the
Speaker 1: location of all twelve boxes was Byron Price himself. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: he was killed in a car accident in two thousand five.
Speaker 1: Two of the boxes decorative and encased in plexiglass, were
Speaker 1: found before his death. In three four, men found the
Speaker 1: first box in Chicago, in a wooded corner of Grant Park,
Speaker 1: just across from the Art Institute of Chicago. In two
Speaker 1: thousand four, a group focused on the Greek Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio.
Speaker 1: The long clues contained hints of stone steps, columns, plants,
Speaker 1: and a reference to Socrates. It was no easy task.
Speaker 1: The Greek Gardens are one of thirty themed gardens within
Speaker 1: Rockefeller Park, and recently a third treasure hunter followed the
Speaker 1: clues within another Great American city, Boston. The treasures specific
Speaker 1: location Boston's lang Owned Park, waterfront property historically believed to
Speaker 1: be where Paul Revere got into a boat and slipped
Speaker 1: past the h MS Somerset to cross the harbor and
Speaker 1: begin his famous ride. But there's another marker near lang
Speaker 1: Owned Park, and it's sort of a secret too, you see,
Speaker 1: not many people know the unusual story behind a tiny
Speaker 1: plaque nearby, memorializing something odd, one of the most unusual
Speaker 1: disasters in Boston's history. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows.
Speaker 1: It was and the United States was at war. It
Speaker 1: was the Great War, now known as World War One
Speaker 1: and the Purity distill income been along with its parent company,
Speaker 1: the United States Industrial Alcohol Company or u s i A.
Speaker 1: We're busy converting molasses into ethanol for planes, tanks, and
Speaker 1: other military vehicles. Purity could hardly keep up with the demand.
Speaker 1: Ships delivered their sweet sticky cargo to Commercial Street off
Speaker 1: Boston Harbor every two to three days. More shipments meant
Speaker 1: longer hours for employees like Isaac Gonzalez. During the spring
Speaker 1: and summer of he worked practically NonStop. The fifty foot
Speaker 1: tall steel tank had a behemoth circumference of ninety ft.
Speaker 1: Climbing to the top to add molasses to the tank
Speaker 1: with heavy hoses was hard physical labor, and with the
Speaker 1: long hours, Isaac was exhausted. Adding to his stress, he
Speaker 1: discovered that the tank had started to sprout a few leaks.
Speaker 1: He knew the tank's walls were thin, just under a
Speaker 1: third of an inch thick at the top that's a
Speaker 1: little under half a centimeter. The bottom wasn't much better,
Speaker 1: coming in at two thirds of an inch. And now
Speaker 1: he might not have been an engineer, but Isaac could
Speaker 1: see a problem brewing that much weight pressing on thin
Speaker 1: walls prone to rust wasn't good. Throw in the facts
Speaker 1: that the molasses built up gases, and the weather patterns
Speaker 1: were ever changing, and well, it wasn't hard to see
Speaker 1: what he was thinking. That hot summer, he spent his
Speaker 1: nights tossing and turning in his cramped tenement home. She
Speaker 1: repeatedly dreamed of running through the streets taking Paul Revere's
Speaker 1: path to warn everyone the tank could come loose from
Speaker 1: its foundations and was collapsing, and sure, dreaming about the
Speaker 1: streets being flooded with molasses was strange, almost comical. He
Speaker 1: had a point, though, If the tank burst, the thick,
Speaker 1: heavy molasses could cause some serious damage. Every day Isaac
Speaker 1: hoped there would be a lull and deliveries, but the
Speaker 1: ships kept rolling into the harbor with thousands of gallons
Speaker 1: of molasses us and every day he filled the tank
Speaker 1: while trying to ignore the groans and creeks coming from
Speaker 1: the structure, and that the leaks had grown in size
Speaker 1: and number. He reported the leaks and noises to his supervisor.
Speaker 1: The tank was culked twice, yet more leaks began to
Speaker 1: spring up. Isaac remained persistent when his supervisor ignored his
Speaker 1: requests for more substantial repairs than simple culk. He traveled
Speaker 1: to Purity's headquarters in New York to speak to his
Speaker 1: boss's manager, Arthur gel. In a time when there weren't
Speaker 1: any labor protection laws and no union, Isaac was on
Speaker 1: shaky ground, but still he went for proof. He brought
Speaker 1: pieces of metal that had come off of the tank.
Speaker 1: He explained how much damage the molasses could do if
Speaker 1: the tank ruptured. His explanation and concerns were instantly met
Speaker 1: with ridicule. Mr Gell accused Isaac of overreacting and exaggerating
Speaker 1: for good measure. He added that if he complained again,
Speaker 1: he'd fire him. Instead of telling management about the potential
Speaker 1: safety hazards, Isaac probably would have been better off spinning
Speaker 1: it is how much money they might lose in product.
Speaker 1: In the middle of a sweltering night in July of
Speaker 1: Isaac awoke, sweating from both the oppressive heat and another
Speaker 1: nightmare about the tank. Returning to sleep proved elusive. He
Speaker 1: dressed and headed to the waterfront area where the tank stood.
Speaker 1: Something had to be done. He flashed his work badge
Speaker 1: to the night watchman. In the cover of darkness, he
Speaker 1: twisted open a valve and released molasses into the harbor,
Speaker 1: relieving the gases building up inside the tank. The night
Speaker 1: watchman stood a good distance away, but that didn't mean
Speaker 1: he was alone. Though the kids who filched molasses usually
Speaker 1: only came during the day, they weren't the only ones.
Speaker 1: If someone saw him, they might report it to his boss.
Speaker 1: The tank groaned and chugged. Isaac felt sure the watchman
Speaker 1: would come to see what the noise was all about.
Speaker 1: While the thick liquid poured into the harbor, Isaac thought
Speaker 1: about the consequences if the molasses was spotted in the harbor,
Speaker 1: or if he had released too much, he'd lose his job.
Speaker 1: For now, though, he felt safer with some pressure off
Speaker 1: the tank. He capped off the valve and left, bidding
Speaker 1: the watchman a good night. With a deep sigh of relief,
Speaker 1: he walked the empty streets back home. For the first
Speaker 1: time in a long while, he slept, but the problem
Speaker 1: wasn't solved. Day after day, Isaac watched the leaks get worse.
Speaker 1: More neighborhood children came cups, buckets, and ladles in hand
Speaker 1: to catch a tasty treat before he or one of
Speaker 1: the other plant workers chased them off. The kids always returned,
Speaker 1: though almost daily, Isaac chased away little Maria, her brother Tony,
Speaker 1: and their friend Pasqualino. While purities management thought, Isaac chased
Speaker 1: the kids that to prevent them from stealing molasses, Isaac
Speaker 1: was more concerned about their safety. Isaac worried about the
Speaker 1: tank exploding at night while people slept. They'd be unprepared,
Speaker 1: but what might happen if the tank exploded while the
Speaker 1: children were nearby. That thought caused even more sleepless nights,
Speaker 1: along with some of the worst nightmares had ever had.
Speaker 1: All that summer, Isaac repeated his nightly visits. He considered
Speaker 1: it critical to open the valve on the tank to
Speaker 1: let off the excess gas. Meanwhile, with the ever increasing
Speaker 1: amount of molasses being loaded into the tank, the leaks
Speaker 1: continued to worsen. Children began to bring pails instead of cups.
Speaker 1: The smell of the molasses grew thick and heavy in
Speaker 1: the summer heat, and with every new shipment, the tank
Speaker 1: groaned more and more. Even the residents commented how the
Speaker 1: tank seemed loud here than usual. Isaac grew hopeful that
Speaker 1: something would be done. When a neighboring business complained to
Speaker 1: Parity's management. To them, the number of leaks just didn't
Speaker 1: seem normal, more safe. The sounds seemed too frequent, too loud.
Speaker 1: Purity assured them all was fine, but reported the concerns
Speaker 1: up the company ladder. Nonetheless, shortly afterward, Gel arrived with
Speaker 1: a crew from the corporate office. Isaac's relief was short lived. However,
Speaker 1: the crew hadn't come to install a second tank, or
Speaker 1: repair the existing one, or even reinforce it. No to
Speaker 1: Isaac's horror, they were there to repaint the tank from
Speaker 1: silver to a rusty color to camouflage the leaks. He
Speaker 1: knew he had to do something. He couldn't keep sneaking
Speaker 1: in every night to relieve the pressure, nor could he complain.
Speaker 1: It was clear that management would never do anything to
Speaker 1: resolve the issue, so it's probably no surprise that Isaac
Speaker 1: considered what options he had elsewhere. If Purity in the
Speaker 1: United States Industrial Alcohol Company wouldn't take safety concerns seriously,
Speaker 1: he wasn't about to be around when the inevitable happened.
Speaker 1: Jobs were scarce, but it wasn't like Purity paid him
Speaker 1: well enough to stay and hope for the best. He
Speaker 1: didn't have a family, and he owned little more than
Speaker 1: the clothes on his back. With nothing to lose, Isaac
Speaker 1: joined the army in September of nineteen eighteen. He told
Speaker 1: his boss he was quitting because he couldn't sit around
Speaker 1: and be a part of what was going on. But
Speaker 1: the Germans surrendered just two months later, which meant Isaac's
Speaker 1: time in the army came to an abrupt halt. Servicemen
Speaker 1: were already being shipped home after the way he had quit.
Speaker 1: He couldn't return to Purity either, not that he wanted
Speaker 1: to anyway. He wasn't the only one in a tight spot, though.
Speaker 1: Without military vehicles to supply ethanol to Purity's revenue plummeted,
Speaker 1: and they had a tank filled to near capacity with molasses. Normally,
Speaker 1: they'd have switched gears from military fuel to making alcohol,
Speaker 1: except Purity had a problem. With the Prohibition Amendment going
Speaker 1: into effect on January one, time was running out as
Speaker 1: for alternatives. There's only so much molasses they could sell
Speaker 1: for baking cookies. Gell wasn't done yet, though he applied
Speaker 1: for an extension. The government agreed, allowing Purity to sell
Speaker 1: any shipments they had received before and sure, while that
Speaker 1: sounds like the company would unload their current inventory. That's
Speaker 1: not what happened. If they had, we wouldn't have a
Speaker 1: story to tell. Gell. Had the tank culped and ordered
Speaker 1: more molasses. Like Purity, brewers could make all the alcohol
Speaker 1: they wanted as long as it was before January of
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty. At the start of the year. They would
Speaker 1: also have a grace period to sell off current stock.
Speaker 1: Profit for them, bigger profit for Purity and the U
Speaker 1: s i A. When January of nineteen nineteen rolled around,
Speaker 1: the tank was filled to capacity, and though it might
Speaker 1: be easy to guess what happened next, it was so
Speaker 1: much worse than anyone even Isaac had imagined. A bitterly
Speaker 1: cold day greeted ship Captain Frank van Gelder when he
Speaker 1: steered into port on January twelve. His ship carried six
Speaker 1: hundred thousand gallons of molasses destined for Purity Distilling. By
Speaker 1: the early hours of the cargo had been transferred from
Speaker 1: ship to tank. As the captain finished his job, Bostonians
Speaker 1: started There's residents hung out, laundry Engine thirty one sat
Speaker 1: idle while the firefighters prepared for the day. The elevated
Speaker 1: trains wound through the tenements, where Maria and Pasqualinos knuck
Speaker 1: off toward Commercial Street to collect molasses instead of the
Speaker 1: firewood that had been sent for That's why, and the
Speaker 1: groans and creeks started louder than anyone had heard before.
Speaker 1: They chalked it up to the weather and the warm
Speaker 1: shipment of molasses mixing with the cold. They didn't know
Speaker 1: that the tank was filled to its two million gallon
Speaker 1: capacity and now weighed over twenty six million pounds. For
Speaker 1: two days, the tank ground and everyone went on just
Speaker 1: like they always did, sparing the occasional glance at the
Speaker 1: tower now and then. William White, one of Purity's employees,
Speaker 1: expected an easy day no shipments. At noon, he headed
Speaker 1: downtown to have a leisurely lunch with his wife, Pascualino.
Speaker 1: Tony and Maria took advantage of White's absence and snuck
Speaker 1: in to get a lunchtime treat of molasses. While on
Speaker 1: recess from school, Tony left with his sister, but Pascoulino
Speaker 1: stayed behind to get just a little more from the tank.
Speaker 1: That's when the workers on top of the tank began screaming.
Speaker 1: Tony turned to see a dark shadow that walk to
Speaker 1: the sunlight. One that was headed right for him and
Speaker 1: his sister, and it moved faster than he could run.
Speaker 1: Everyone felt it down the street. Farmer with a wagon
Speaker 1: full of hogs sat at the railroad station when the
Speaker 1: earth shook and he heard a roar louder than any train.
Speaker 1: He turned to see one of the trains on the
Speaker 1: elevated tracks plunge onto the street below. The fireman at
Speaker 1: Engine Company thirty one were discussing baseball when they heard
Speaker 1: the roar. One of the men looked outside and shouted
Speaker 1: to the others run. Rivets and shrapnel from the tank
Speaker 1: flew in all directions. The metal sliced through trains, the
Speaker 1: rivets became deadly projectiles. Those in the direct path were
Speaker 1: either killed by the flying debris were crushed under the
Speaker 1: weight of the molasses tsunami. Pasqualino's father looked out his
Speaker 1: window and saw the giant waves sweep away his son.
Speaker 1: The tank had burst the ft tall, a hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty foot wide wave of molasses moving at thirty five
Speaker 1: miles an hour, flooding Boston's North End. Local resident Martin
Speaker 1: Clarity heard the commotion outside and his sister screaming something
Speaker 1: about the tank. Next thing he knew had been swept
Speaker 1: outside and carried down the street. He saw a hand
Speaker 1: sticking up from the mess and pulled his sister to
Speaker 1: her feet. Standing in sticky molasses waist high, they screamed
Speaker 1: for their mother and their other brother, but there was
Speaker 1: no answer. The fire engine was swept away. Houses and
Speaker 1: freight cars were crushed under the weight. The wave took
Speaker 1: everyone and everything in its path, men, women, children, horses.
Speaker 1: Swimming proved impossible. Those who struggled drowned. The Boston Paper
Speaker 1: later wrote, the shouts and screams of the dying and
Speaker 1: injured rent the air. Those who tried to rescue victims
Speaker 1: risked becoming trapped in the sticky pools themselves, much like
Speaker 1: a tar pit. Those who were pulled out often died later.
Speaker 1: Clearing water from the lungs was one thing, molasses was another.
Speaker 1: The rescue mission turned into a recovery mission. Little Maria
Speaker 1: was one of the casualties. Tony managed to survive, suffering
Speaker 1: a fractured skull among other injuries. Pasqualino's body was recovered
Speaker 1: four days later, crushed underneath the train. His father identified
Speaker 1: his son by the red sweater his mother had put
Speaker 1: on him. The morning of the flood, the firefighters remained
Speaker 1: trapped under the collapsed firehouse. People attempted to rescue the horses,
Speaker 1: but the sludge was too thick to pull them out,
Speaker 1: and one by one they shot the horses in the
Speaker 1: head to prevent them from dying a slow death by exphyxiation.
Speaker 1: Boston's mayor called for an immediate investigation, stating that such
Speaker 1: an accident should not have happened and those responsible would
Speaker 1: face the consequences. Rumors started that the tank hadn't failed,
Speaker 1: but that the explosion had been the work of Italian anarchists.
Speaker 1: The tank was solid, purity distilling assured the mayor. Gel
Speaker 1: arrived to assess the situation. The destruction and death shook him.
Speaker 1: The instruction had gotten from the corporate office had been
Speaker 1: to not say a single word about the issues with
Speaker 1: the tank, nor to mention any of the prior complaints
Speaker 1: to anyone. The police turned him away. Gel instructed the
Speaker 1: plant's engineers to take over and told them to collect
Speaker 1: any pieces of the tank. The police had gathered quietly.
Speaker 1: Of course, he'd be back to work with them regarding
Speaker 1: the tank's failures shortly, with a last look at the chaos,
Speaker 1: he was glad to leave. He only hoped the smell
Speaker 1: of the molasses faded from his hair and clothes before
Speaker 1: his meeting back at corporate the next day. Gel returned
Speaker 1: on the seventeenth with more engineers and the vice president
Speaker 1: to strong arm Boston officials to surrender pieces of the tank.
Speaker 1: Days later, the firefighters from Engine thirty one were rescued.
Speaker 1: The hospital reeked of molasses covered the floors and walls.
Speaker 1: Despite the mess, nurses and doctors worked tirelessly to save
Speaker 1: as many of the victims as possible. Clean Up of
Speaker 1: the two fifty foot disaster radius began, though it took months.
Speaker 1: Twenty one people had died and another a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty were missing. One victim's body was found floating in
Speaker 1: the harbor four months later. Over time, more deaths stemmed
Speaker 1: from injuries and from medical issues from the molasses that
Speaker 1: had collected in their lungs. Meanwhile, Purity and the United
Speaker 1: States Industrial Alcohol Company began to push the theory that
Speaker 1: the Italian community had been behind the explosion. As the
Speaker 1: inquiry moved along, papers reported that Boston's Chief Justice was
Speaker 1: chiding the city's building department for approving the USIA's plans
Speaker 1: for the tank. The Chief Justice also let into Purity
Speaker 1: and the U. S i A for failure to verify
Speaker 1: the tank's safety, but most surprisingly, he blamed the citizens
Speaker 1: of Boston for not funding a proper building department. In
Speaker 1: the end, they had enough evidence to determine that there
Speaker 1: had been negligence, but decided that the fault lay with
Speaker 1: the people of Boston. Purity and the United States Industrial
Speaker 1: Alcohol Company went unscathed. In true Bostonian spirit, the citizens rebelled.
Speaker 1: They refused to accept the blame for an accident they
Speaker 1: didn't cause, determined stand up for themselves. They filed class
Speaker 1: action law suits against the United States Industrial Alcohol Company,
Speaker 1: nineteen of them, and not surprisingly, the U. S i A.
Speaker 1: Stuck to the theory that Italian terrorists had caused the explosion.
Speaker 1: They played off the general public's fear and dislike of
Speaker 1: Italian immigrants and pointed to the large population of them
Speaker 1: in Boston's North End. Low Sure, but the U. S
Speaker 1: i A went lower. The company used stall tactics to
Speaker 1: delay paying the victims, hoping they'd run out of money
Speaker 1: or otherwise dropped their suits. The Bostonians weren't swayed though,
Speaker 1: and eventually the lawsuits combined into one large legal proceeding.
Speaker 1: Their lawyers proved just as relentless, introducing over a thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred exhibits, a thousand witnesses, explosive experts, and former U.
Speaker 1: S i A employees. One of those witnesses, Isaac Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: He told the court about the pay job, the complaints
Speaker 1: he had had about the tank sounds, and the leaks.
Speaker 1: The court listened as he told them his fears, the nightmares,
Speaker 1: how he repeatedly informed his superiors about his safety concerns,
Speaker 1: and how they not only ignored him, but at bretned
Speaker 1: to fire him. With that, the lawyers rested their case.
Speaker 1: Then all they could do was wait. Suing and winning
Speaker 1: against such large companies was David versus Goliath. Workers rights
Speaker 1: in safety wasn't exactly a thing in most industries. In
Speaker 1: two the odds were against them. In April that year,
Speaker 1: Auditor Hi w Ogden weighed in, ruling in favor of
Speaker 1: the people of Boston. His order sent shock waves across
Speaker 1: the nation. Not only were the U. S i A
Speaker 1: and Purity deemed negligent, but they were also ordered to
Speaker 1: pay the victims in their families, some of six hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty eight thousand dollars. That's a cool eight million today.
Speaker 1: Those who know the city's history sometimes joke that on
Speaker 1: a warm summer's day they can still smell the molasses
Speaker 1: in Boston's North End, and a tour bus sports the
Speaker 1: name Molly Molasses. But otherwise the story and the victims
Speaker 1: have been largely forgotten. But that flood that few have
Speaker 1: ever heard of helped reform labor and safety practices. The
Speaker 1: disaster spurred requirements for licensed architects and civil engineers to
Speaker 1: oversee building projects. Blueprints must be presented and signed off
Speaker 1: on the disaster ended corporations do as you will mentality.
Speaker 1: When it came to building codes, Boston's requirements became standard
Speaker 1: practice nationwide. It also set the stage that corporations could
Speaker 1: be held liable for unsafe structures. Sadly, it often takes
Speaker 1: a disaster before we pay attention to the warning signs
Speaker 1: that were right in front of us all along. It
Speaker 1: seemed human nature is capable of solving problems and finding
Speaker 1: lost or hidden things, but we sometimes struggle when it
Speaker 1: comes to building things like empathy and humanity. There's more
Speaker 1: to this story stick around after this brief sponsor break
Speaker 1: to hear all about it. Originally, the land off the
Speaker 1: banks of the Mississippi River where it joins the Minnesota
Speaker 1: River was home to the Dakota Sioux tribes. Lush forests
Speaker 1: and stunning waterfalls, creeks, and proximity to thirteen Lakes made
Speaker 1: Minneapolis a great place for the tribes to live and hunt.
Speaker 1: European colonists also found the area desirable and developed the
Speaker 1: land near Saint Anthony Falls, pushing out the Native Americans
Speaker 1: who refused assimilation. The colonists found the abundance of forest
Speaker 1: profitable for the lumber trade. The rivers allowed ships to
Speaker 1: transport boots, and what didn't go by water went by rail. Soon,
Speaker 1: sawmills sprang up, along with iron works. With the waterfalls
Speaker 1: as power, other mills flourished, including flour mills, and the
Speaker 1: fastest growing flour mill was the Washburn Mill, which turned
Speaker 1: out an impressive two thousand barrels a day. General Washburn
Speaker 1: had built the mill in eighteen seventy four with two
Speaker 1: hundred employees. The mill was the largest in the world
Speaker 1: at the time. But mills weren't the safest places to work.
Speaker 1: The fan belts snapped, breaking bones or causing severe lacerations.
Speaker 1: Gears crushed hands and arms. Larger wheels and gears crushed
Speaker 1: anything trapped between them. Fires and explosions were possible to
Speaker 1: It might sound odd, but flour is highly flammable. Mill
Speaker 1: workers came cheap, and most owners didn't feel compelled old
Speaker 1: to spend extra money to keep them safe. Without safety
Speaker 1: or worker protection laws and effect, the employees themselves had
Speaker 1: to be vigilant. On May second of eighteen seventy eight,
Speaker 1: a skeleton crew of fourteen took over the night shift.
Speaker 1: Their job was more to maintain the machinery than make flour.
Speaker 1: Among them was Dutch immigrant Ernest Grundman, who had worked
Speaker 1: in the mills most of his life. He understood the risks,
Speaker 1: having lost a promising baseball career after a mill accident
Speaker 1: that took two of his fingers. Workers used lard to
Speaker 1: grease the mill wheels and prevent them from overheating. The
Speaker 1: section flues pulled flower dust from the air, reducing the
Speaker 1: risk of sparks. Ernest was probably the closest when two
Speaker 1: of the wheels ran dry, sending off sparks. The dust
Speaker 1: inside the flues ignited at seven pm. Three massive explosions
Speaker 1: shook not only the mill but the city itself. Walls
Speaker 1: burst out ward and windows shattered. The blast was so
Speaker 1: loud that residents in St. Paul reported hearing it. Fourteen workers,
Speaker 1: including Ernest, died instantly. The explosion sent up a fireball
Speaker 1: so large that two other mills were engulfed in flames,
Speaker 1: killing four more workers. The heat became so intense that
Speaker 1: rescuers and firemen couldn't get close enough to fight the flames.
Speaker 1: As a result, the fire spread, taking five more mills,
Speaker 1: each causing more explosions and massive fireballs. By the time
Speaker 1: the firefighters got the blaze under control, most of the
Speaker 1: mill district had been destroyed. All that remained of the
Speaker 1: Washburn mill was a pile of limestone, rocks, and bits
Speaker 1: of machinery. Rumors started that Minneapolis had been hit by
Speaker 1: an earthquake. Other rumors suggested that a train car carrying
Speaker 1: nitroglycerin had exploded near the district. An inquisition turned up
Speaker 1: the real cause. Those overheated wheels sent off sparks that
Speaker 1: caused flower dust to ignite. Two university professors confirmed this
Speaker 1: through a series of controlled experiments. General Washburn arrived to
Speaker 1: assess the damage, and, perhaps strangely, instead of sweeping the
Speaker 1: disaster under the rug, he promptly compensated the victims families
Speaker 1: and vowed to build a larger and safer mill. And
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty he made good on that promise. The
Speaker 1: new mill had state of the art machinery, the stricter
Speaker 1: safety procedures were implemented. He spent extra money on dust
Speaker 1: traps and cast iron rollers that wouldn't cause sparks. It
Speaker 1: was a costly endeavor, for sure, but it paid off.
Speaker 1: With better equipment than safer workers, the mill produced twelve
Speaker 1: thousand barrels of flour a day. His mill continued to
Speaker 1: thrive long after others failed. He was so successful that
Speaker 1: in night he merged his company with two dozen others,
Speaker 1: creating a name that most of may Amricans today have
Speaker 1: heard of, General Mills. American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed,
Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn
Speaker 1: more about the show, visit grim and Mild dot com.
Speaker 1: From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.