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ith the start of Spring, there’s a lot to do, both inside and out, in CNY.
Gardening celebrity to speak at seminar in Cazenovia.
Living! PRIME
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MARCH 2018
A supplement to Eagle News
‘Year of the Rock’ Author to speak on Split Rock Explosion, 100 years later By Natalie A. Williams-Dardaris Town of Onondaga Historian As Rich Miller remembers, it was sometime around 1984 that a colleague of his at the bank where both were employed first mentioned Split Rock. This was not the first time that Miller’s in-
Natalie A Willliams-Dardaris
Pictured above is Rich Miller recording a podcast for the Town of Onondaga Historical Society.
terest was piqued by the Split Rock Explosion of July 2, 1918. He had read former newspaper columnist Dick Case’s columns on that event, but this was the first time someone offered to take Miller up to explore Split Rock. More than 30 years later, all of his research has lead
to the writing of a four-volume series all about Split Rock, before, during and after the explosion that changed the lives of not only the people who worked there but the communities surrounding it. When Miller and his friend James MacLachlan first decided to
further their Split Rock knowledge, they expected to find all sorts of information. What they found was that there was no information readily available. So they went in search of documents, photos, newspaper articles, anything and everything Author l Page 4
It was a typical day in CNY...
T
hat particular summer’s day, July 2, 1918, began, or more like continued, like all the days before it as the munitions manufacturing facility at Split Rock was an around-the-clock operation. The owners of the site, Semet-Solvay (better known to most as Solvay Process) knew the importance of this plant as it supported WWI efforts, at first filling the demands of the European powers – England, France and Italy – before the entrance of the United States into the war and its need for the products manufactured at Split Rock. This plant produced a variety of products important to the fight against Germany, such as TNT, picric acid, poison gas and smokeless powder (gunpowder for shells.) The evening of July 2, 1918, ended differently. Around 8:30 p.m. (Daylight Savings Time as not everyone was on that particular time schedule,) a fire erupted and the alarm sounded. Workers from all around the site rushed forward to extinguish it. Some of them reported a change in the water pressure that slowed the fight with the flames. An hour later, at 9:30 p.m., an explosion shattered the air, followed by smoke and fire billowing skyward. Reverberations shook the community – Onondaga Hill, Camillus, every inch of Split Rock through to downtown Syracuse. People poured from homes, businesses, movie theaters and restaurants to look to the west and see what was happening. Many headed to the hills surrounding Syracuse for a better view. The “Rock” had exploded. Newspaper accounts from that day and days to follow Split Rock
l
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that ended like this.
Photos courtesy Town of Onondaga Historical Society
Photos of the munitions manufacturing facility at Split Rock before and after the explosion.