| Part of Trent–Severn Waterway construction | |
| Date | September 4, 1885 |
|---|---|
| Location | Douro, Ontario, Canada |
| Coordinates | 44°32′13″N78°04′55″W / 44.537°N 78.082°W |
| Deaths | 2 |
On the September 4, 1885 a wagon loaded with dynamite exploded at Douro, Ontario, Canada, killing two men and their horses.
The blast was felt 50 miles (80 km) away. A historical plaque marks the location.
George Morton and James Simmons were transporting a wagon load of dynamite from Tweed, Ontario [1] to Burleigh Falls, Ontario to be used for the rock blasting of the Trent Canal lock. [2] They stayed overnight at a hotel in Indian River on September 3, 1885. [1]
Their load exploded at 9:45am on September 4, 1885 on the 6th Line (road) at Douro, Ontario, [2] noted as being a corduroy road and rough to travel in poor weather. [3] Both men were killed in the blast and the only parts of the men that were found were "a finger, two tiny sections of a skull, a tiny piece of cheek identified by the whiskers, and what appeared to be a man's shoulder that was found hanging on the branch of a tree 300 feet (91 m) distant." [2] The blast blew the metal shoes off the horses hooves and broke windows in Selwyn, Ontario and Campbellford. [2] The shock wave was felt in Tweed, 50 miles (80 km) away. [3]
Sources at the time describe a 8 feet (2.4 m) deep by 60 feet (18 m) wide crater, [3] and 1960s sources report a 10 feet (3.0 m) deep and 70 feet (21 m) wide crater [2] being left by the blast and trees were flattened in a radius that varied between 50 yards (46 m) and 75 yards (69 m). [2]
The blast site aroused public interest for subsequent weeks. [2] Reports on visitor numbers vary between 300 and 1,000. [2] [1]
The Battle of the Crater took place during the American Civil War, part of the Siege of Petersburg. It occurred on Saturday, July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George G. Meade.
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Clifton Hall Colliery was one of two coal mines in Clifton on the Manchester Coalfield, historically in Lancashire which was incorporated into the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England in 1974. Clifton Hall was notorious for an explosion in 1885 which killed around 178 men and boys.
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The John B. King explosion was a Canadian maritime disaster on June 26, 1930, when a drill boat containing dynamite was struck by lightning near Brockville, Ontario. Thirty people were killed.
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