Terrific Explosion

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 19, 1882

Terrific Explosion.

THERE have been four or five powder explosions in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay within the time of our sojourn upon this coast. But the last, on Wednesday, January 11, a few minutes before 12 o'clock, was the severest of all. We were in the street, and the sharpness of the report induced the belief that it was a heavy gun within the city, not far off; and great was our surprise to learn that it was at Pinole Station, on the C. P. Railroad, eighteen miles north of this city. It was at the Hercules Powder Works. From the reports we have not been able to learn the exact cause. It was at first supposed to have originated in the explosion of a steam boiler in one of the buildings, reported under a pressure of thirty-five pounds. If this were true we can but say that the idea of working in a powder mill connected with a boiler which could explode at that pressure cannot be particularly pleasing. A number of buildings were demolished, of one of which it was said not a timber remained. As the hands had just gone to dinner the loss of life was small. Two Chinamen killed, and a few persons injured.

The damage to buildings not connected with the works was considerable. Many people in Oakland were much frightened, supposing it to be a heavy earthquake. San Rafael, across the bay, was well shaken.