This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: eandmthorn1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.jasper/4898.2.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: There have been several what we would call minor explosions at Hercules . Some have destroyed a building etc. None have compared to the major explosion in 1966. It sent a mushroom cloud so high in the afternoon sky that it shaded the town oc Carthage Mo. It looked like an atom bomb had been dropped. It was national news back then. My wife and her family were on vaction in Ca and on the beach when the news hit Ca. Her aunt ran down the beach to try and reach her parents back heree in Carthage. Her father needless to say was a reck as he was out there and couldn't get news about his parents or his co-workers at the plant. That was his shift that was working that day. Only one died as a result of going back into the shower room to get his wallet. Men were running from the plant and the explosions was blowing them over the tops of trees. What had happened was a truck that was being unloaded caught fire . Some college students that were working there for the summer we! re asked to extinguish the fire but got scared and ran. The fire got out of control. Another explosion in 1970 destryed the Nitro house. It happened abt 7 am in the morning. It shook our house and I called to see if my father in law had left for work yet. He didn't even hear the blast in town. A man fell in the mixer tank and it exploded. They found a fragment of him . So lots of smaller explosions over the years but none that wiped out the plant like the one in 1966. Atals and Hercules is about 2-3 miles apart. They thought that Atlas might explode from Hercules that day so everyone was encouraged to leave their homes and get out of town. If thw main magazine would have exploded that day it would have flattened parts of Carthage. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.