who was responsible for the great molasses flood

Sugar prices dropped markedly after the First World War, and sugar replaced molasses as a sweetener. Factories, such as the one in Boston run by the Purity Distilling Company in the early 1900s, distilled molasses to create ethanol. 22 Surreal Photos From The Great Boston Molasses Flood And Its Sticky Aftermath. As a result, it was too weak to hold the amount of molasses stored in it. The culprit. Twenty-one people died from the molasses flood, and 150 were injured either from being swept up in the flood or buried in the debris of collapsing structures. The cause. CCRA.L.3, CCRA.L.6, CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.4, CCRA.R.10, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.2, CCRA.W.2, CCRA.W.4, CCRA.W.9, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2. Some say that, on certain days, they can still smell molasses in the North End. At 12:40 p.m., on January 15, the added stress literally blew out the sides of the tank and molasses spewed in all directions. Ever heard the saying slower than molasses? Colonel Hugh Ogden, a decorated World War I veteran was appointed auditor by the Massachusetts Superior Court to oversee the lawsuit. Cleanup efforts took more than 80,000 man-hours, and it was four months before the last body attributed to the flood was found lodged underneath the pier. LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:. Kingsley who worked in an office near the tank said he heard a rumble that he thought was the elevated train. Within years of the accident, advancing war technology made the process of distilling molasses for alcohol outdated, and the industry faded away. A Deadly Tsunami Of Molasses In Boston's North End : NPR A weekly update on music, movies, cultural trends, and education solutions. (plural) a person who believes that government and laws are not necessary, not certain to continue or be successful for a long time. An overhead view of the flood aftermath from the elevated train tracks. Within years of the accident, advancing war technology made the process of distilling molasses for alcohol outdated, and the industry faded away. The Bay State Street Railway freight depot and several motorized boxcars were destroyed. "Where the tank stood there was no tank," Kingsley recalled. Great Molasses Flood at 100: How Boston Disaster Made Us Safer - TIME As a teenager in 1990, he was convicted of a crime he didnt commit and spent nearly seven years in jail. Written by native Bostonian Edwards Park, a longtime contributor to Smithsonian, this chronicle of the deadly disaster details the lasting effects that the tragedy had on the city. Hear about special editorial projects, new product information, and upcoming events. Molasses is a tasty substance popular among many people, and it can be used as a flavoring or as an ingredient in baked goods and candy. A new shipment of hot molasses had been added to the tank just two days before the explosion, which mixed with the cold contents already inside. Many other states followed suit. If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. The molasses burst from a huge tank. Dont believe us? After 100 Years, A Look Back At Boston's Great Molasses Flood Of 1919 - NPR Youve matched all of the definitions correctly. It was, it seemed, a clear message that the era of public trust in, and unquestioning acceptance of the actions of corporations had come to an end. Eventually, the Nobel Prize was established in 1895 based on Nobels desire to honor advances of academic, cultural, and scientific significance with his fortune. improve functionality and performance. The ruins of tanks containing 2 1/2 million gallons of molasses lie in a heap after the dramatic collapse that hurled trucks against buildings and crumpled houses in the North End of Boston on Jan. 15, 1919. Caught, human being and animal alike could not flee. The black tide of sweetener raced through the North Ends populated neighborhoods at 35 miles per hour, building up enough momentum to tear buildings from their foundations, smash homes apart, and snap the supports off elevated train tracks. It was like someone was on the inside hammering to get out, said one witness. What caused this terrible disaster? Start your journey into the world of distilled spirits with this beginner friendly wash perfect for liqueurs or high proof spirits. The Great Molasses Flood: A Crisis of Fermentation? Historian Stephen Puleo discusses his book "Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919" on the centennial of the flood, January 15, at 6 p.m. at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. The trial lasted for six years and heard thousands of witness testimonies in an attempt to trace the incident back to its root cause. Then, go inside six other strange food disasters. All told, the Boston molasses disaster left 21 dead and 150 injured while causing over $7 million in property damage (which would equal more than $100 million today). It provided a temporary holding space for the syrup before it could be sent across the river to an ethanol distillation facility, where it was eventually used to feed the insatiable wartime demand for dynamite, bombs, and other munitions. Molassess high sugar content gives it a natural propensity to ferment, creating carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Flawed rivet designs compounded the problem, and this was where the first cracks formed. Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. Inside The Notorious Death Of The Roman Dictator, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. How does the founder of one of the most well-known international honors connect back to the Great Molasses Flood? Previous installments of How Regulation came to be: Daily Kos moves in solidarity with the Black community. Following the event, Massachusetts made it mandatory for construction projects to pass inspections from architects and engineers before moving forward. There had been warning signs from the very beginning about the 90-foot-diameter, 52-foot-tall tank that allegedly creaked and groaned under load. And, as a conservative businessman, he more than likely shared USIA's concern about excessive government regulations and interference. When you think "molasses," you probably think "slow, sticky," or "totally boring," but in January, 1919, a tsunami wave of molasses destroyed Boston's North End, killing 21 people and leaving. If you have questions about your account, please Tomorrow's Wonder of the Day is a MOUNTAIN of new information! The isolation it had practiced up to that point came to an end. The wave of molasses moved so quickly and so forcefully that anyone who was unlucky enough to be in its way didnt stand much of a chance. Nash as he explores the wide world of microbes in his interactive, thought-provoking exhibitions. In 1919, a tank holding about 2 million gallons of molasses collapsed in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. 1:00pm. The molasses poured in and everything in the office, including myself and the clerks, was toppled over like nine-pins under the weight of the wave.". USIA soon found itself named as the defendant in 125 lawsuits, which led to a legal battle that nearly matched the floods scale. Eventually they realized that saltwater would cut the hardened molasses and enable them to hose it down the streets into gutters. Construction of the tank had been overseen, or more accurately gazed stupidly at, by Arthur Jell, a bean counter with no technical background who was unable even to read blueprints. A river of hot, sugary molasses flooded part of a Boston neighborhood 100 years ago, killing 21 people and injuring dozens. Suddenly, 26 million pounds of molasses were tearing down Commercial Street in a 15-foot wave. The setting. Those who found themselves in the floods path were carried away, crushed, or drowned. This message will appear once per week Snared in its flood was to be stifled. 19802023 The Christian Science Monitor. When it didn't stop, however, he looked out of his window. U.S. Industrial Alcohol, Purity Distillings parent company, was quickly taken to court over the disaster. How would you clean up 2.3 million gallons of molasses? continue to use the site without a Molasses, which had played such a key role in the American Revolution, the slave trade, the rum business and in munitions production, slowly disappeared as a staple product in America and as a critical part of the New England economy. A new shipment of hot molasses had been added to the tank just two days before the explosion, which mixed with the cold contents already inside. Another theory explained that the molasses had fermented inside the tank, which led to an explosion. November 29, 2016 After nearly one hundred years, scientists have come up with an explanation for one of history's strangest disasters: the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. But more so than that ethanol, it was carbon dioxide, another fermentation byproduct, that played a pivotal role in the Boston molasses disaster, along with unseasonable weather. After the Great Molasses Flood, people first surmised that the molasses in the tank had been fermenting, and since the ferments carbon dioxide and heat had nowhere to go, the result was a pressure cooker that exploded through the North End. Stay informed about the latest scientific discoveries & breakthroughs. Soon, however, it was revealed that residents had been reporting leaks in the tank since its construction. Have you ever tasted molasses? Help spread the wonder of families learning together. How Did Julius Caesar Die? However, his earlier work wont be forgotten. Sum that the Purity Distilling Company paid in damages to the 125 people who filed suit: Over $1 million Homemade vinegar is one of the simplest ferments you can attempt. You can find her at First Roots Farm. Everything Bostonians touched was sticky. It plugged nostrils almost air-tight.". Running in it was impossible. In the dark, repressed recesses of the human mind, those regions where only the likes of a Jung or Freud dare venture, there are few nightmares capable of generating more abject, cold-sweating, jerking-bolt-upright-in-bed, shrieking-in-the-night terror than the vision of a fifteen-foot-tall wall of molasses crashing through the streets toward you. How Did the British Save Children From the Nazis? My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. We change lives. The wave of molasses crested as high as three meters (10 feet) and moved as quickly as 56 kilometers per hour (35 miles per hour). Though it was standard practice to test a molasses tanks strength by first filling it with water, Jell never had the tank filled above the bottom 6 inches before giving his approval for its use. 125 lawsuits against the company led to it being ordered to pay for damages and loss of human life. The testimony of over 3,000 witnesses was taken, and over 45,000 pages of testimony and arguments recorded. In the early afternoon of January 15 th, 1919, a large storage tank filled with 2.3 million (US) gallons of molasses, burst, sending a two-story flood into the streets of Boston. While most of us probably think of molasses as a tasty ingredient in treats like gingerbread, the sticky stuff has quite a few other uses. To see more photos of the strange but deadly molasses flood, visit the, Lydia Noyes is a freelance writer and hobby farmer on a 33-acre property in southwest Michigan. Local residents claim that on a steamy summer night you can still smell the sweet aroma of molasses. The customary tests of the finished product for leaks and structural integrity had been skipped purely for reasons of cost and time. In 1915, the Purity Distilling Company built a tank in Bostons North End to store molasses imported from the Caribbean. All you need to do is burp ferments by either loosening the lid every few days, or install an airlock to let the gas escape without risking contamination. The massive tank was nearly full on January 15, thanks to a recent infusion of 2.3 million gallons of molasses from Puerto Rico. We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. The incident is commonly referred to as the Great Molasses Flood. When the molasses settled, it coated the streets. The flood began shortly after 12:40 pm local time on Jan. 15, 1919, whena giant storage tank 50 feet tall and 90 feet wide collapsed on Boston's waterfront at the Purity Distilling Co., releasingmore than 2.3 million gallons of molasses into Boston's North End. Any flood would have been disastrous, but the viscous nature of molasses made rescue attempts even trickier. In the end, the sugary tsunami killed 21 people, including 17 . Then, as the story goes, Nobel read an obituary in 1888 that mistakenly announced his death instead of his brothers. On January 15, 1919, Boston suffered one of history 's strangest disasters: a devastating flood of molasses. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. The man who oversaw the construction wasnt an engineer or an architect; in fact, he couldnt even read a blueprint. Were about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, You are bigger and more capable than you realize. It provided a temporary holding space for the syrup before it could be sent across the river to an ethanol distillation facility, where it was eventually used to feed the insatiable wartime demand for dynamite, bombs, and other munitions. Hat tip to Clytemnestra who called my attention to the Great Boston Molasses Flood in her comment in my diary on another Boston disaster, How Regulation came to be: The Cocoanut Grove; and to shpilk, who mentioned it in the comments of Devilstower's front page post How Freedom Was Lost. Welders carefully began cutting up the molasses tank with torches in the search for bodies on Jan. 20, 1919, five days after the Great Molasses Flood in Boston's North End. By early 1919 the United States Industrial Alcohol Company, and its subsidiary, the Purity Distilling Company in Boston, had had a pretty good run. U.S. Industrial Alcohol, Purity Distillings parent company, was quickly taken to court over the disaster. Kos Media, LLC. That's how regulation come to be. Read about Kansas City-based artist S.E. On the waterfront, Boston Fireboat #31 was sunk at its dock with loss of life. Thanks to all the foot traffic of rescue workers, cleanup crews, and rubberneckers, the sticky mess quickly moved around the city via people's shoes. January 15, 1919, started unseasonably warm, around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. the molasses flood and the court decisions that followed marked a symbolic turning point in the country's attitudes toward Big Business, which for most of the first quarter of the twentieth century had been subjected to few regulations to safeguard the public. The city paving department office and stable were erased within seconds, killing five men and a number of horses. This series explores efforts around the world to seek justice and restitution for communities subjected to historical harms. Within minutes, the syrup had overwhelmed two city blocks and caused what would be more than $100 million today in property damage. Youll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com. Cleanup efforts took more than 80,000 man-hours, and it was four months before the last body attributed to the flood was found lodged underneath the pier. Initially, the USIA claimed to be the victim of a crime. Although the neighborhood in which the tank was constructed was one of the most densely-populated in Boston, the population was almost exclusively poor Italian immigrants who had maintained a close-knit community that largely eschewed involvement in the larger affairs of Boston and the North End. The inner harbor was brown as hoses washed the gunk into the bay. ", He continued, "A second later, it seemed, there was a crash. The cleanup. The Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization offering calm, thoughtful, award-winning coverage for independent thinkers. The Great Boston Molasses Flood: why the strange - The Guardian On Jan. 15, 1919, a 2-million-gallon tank of molasses ruptured in Boston, killing 21 people. 1919 Great Boston Molasses Flood Fiery hot molasses floods the streets of Boston on January 15, 1919, killing 21 people and injuring scores of others. On January 15, 1919, a giant molasses tank in Bostons North End exploded, resulting in the Great Molasses Flood., Section of tank after Great Molasses Flood explosion. The three most recent Christian Science articles with a spiritual perspective. 20142023 National Center for Families Learning, http://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Was-the-Great-Molasses-Flood, National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), https://www.npr.org/2019/01/15/685154620/a-deadly-tsunami-of-molasses-in-bostons-north-end, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27366/bostons-great-molasses-flood-1919, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Molasses-Flood, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/without-warning-molasses-january-surged-over-boston-180971251/, (plural) an official visit to a school, hospital, etc., in order to see if rules are being followed and things are in their proper condition, a large container (such as a tub or barrel) used especially for holding liquids. ", Marilyn Dyrud: ETHICAL EXOTICA: SMALL, STICKY CASES FOR ANALYSIS, Mass Moments: Great Molasses Flood, January 15, 1919, How Regulation came to be: The Cocoanut Grove, Ways to get involved in the upcoming elections. U.S. Industrial Alcohol treasurer Arthur Jell, a man without any technical, architectural, or engineering experience, managed the original building project. "But now its known you need to have a higher ratio.". Boston's Italian community pursued citizenship and immersed itself in the politics of the North End and of Boston generally, its members laying claim to their voice in the decisions that affected them.. And that, dear Kossacks, is where regulation comes from -- not from some bored bureaucrat sitting in an office in Washington trying to think up ways to make life miserable and expensive for some innocent and unsuspecting businessman, but from real human suffering and tragedy brought about, all too often, by people who shirk what should be obvious responsibilities, who neglect basic diligence, who sacrifice safety for profit. "Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. Use this step-by-step guide to learn how you convert fermented wash into a high-proof spirit through a process known as distillation. The original cause of the deadly disaster, which has remained a mystery for the past century, was explored in another study published last year. Molasses can be very dangerous if you dont care for it properly. After all, this molasses sped 35 miles per hour through the North End, which wasnt slow at all. About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review under the charming heading of do things that dont interest you: Many things that end up being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations. Basically, it threw up a gigantic tank as quickly and as cheaply as possible, skimped on inspections and safety tests, and hoped for the best. A bubbling flood of molasses that sent a towering wave of goo down the streets of Boston in 1919, catching everything from horses to humans in its sticky grasp, killing 21 people, injuring 150. A massive tidal wave of molasses swept across Commercial Street, smashing into a house at 6 Copps Hill Terrace, demolishing the building and killing Mrs. Bridget Clougherty. Well, its just what it sounds like. Investigators soon found the real culprit, though: shoddy construction work. It was just after noon on January 15, 1919. Number of people injured: 150 We want to bridge divides to reach everyone. The obituary, written by an obvious deep critic of the dynamite inventor, reported that the merchant of death is dead.. The summer before the accident brought sweltering temperatures to Boston, and with them, resident complaints that the tank was springing leaks. Designed by its supplier, the Hammond Iron Works, and built to meet the exploding demand created by the war that had started in 1914, it had faced first delays and then was rushed through its construction, workers at the end laboring around-the-clock to meet a December 31, 1915 deadline when a ship from Cuba bearing 700,000 gallons of molasses, already under steam, was due to arrive. The Christian Science Monitor has expired. A view of the destroyed train trestle from atop the tracks. And why would it? Just ask anyone who lived in the Boston area in 1919. In 1915, the Purity Distilling Company built a tank in Bostons North End to store molasses imported from the Caribbean. The Science of the Great Molasses Flood. A ship bearing molasses from another United States Industrial Alcohol subsidiary in Jamaica had arrived just a few days before and its contents had brought the tank to near capacity. Rescue efforts continued for days, and the spill stained Boston Harbor brown for weeks. When he finally penned his report, he concluded that there was no evidence to support the companys theory of anarchist saboteurs. The Purity Distilling Company took action, not by reinforcing the tank or patching the holes, but by painting it rust-brown so the molasses spills blended in. Onlookers stand near the tank 30 minutes after the explosion. The Science of the Great Molasses Flood - Scientific American (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication. Before he was known for the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel, a brilliant chemist, engineer, and inventor, patented dynamite in 1867. What became known as the Great Molasses Flood occurred when a giant holding tank at the Purity Distilling Company, which had just been filled with molasses, burst apart. Mass Moments: Great Molasses Flood, January 15, 1919.
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