[no source, no date]
St. Charles County
Gets TNT Plant
Site Near Daniel
Boone Bridge; Will Employ Up to 10,000
A
20,000-acre site near Weldon Spring in St. Charles County has been selected by
the War Department for a $15,000,000 TNT plant, which will provide employment
for at least 8000 to 10,000 men.
The first
announcement of the project came late yesterday from R. Newton McDowell, Kansas
City contractor, who has been designated by Col. R. D. Valliant, chief
procurement officer of the department’s Quartermaster Corps, to acquire options
on land for the site.
The plant
will be owned by the Government and will be the first west of the Mississippi
River to produce explosives exclusively for government use. It will be operated
by the Atlas Powder Company of Wilmington, Del.
ON HIGHWAY 40
Bounded by
the new Daniel Boone Bridge, over which the new Highway 40 passes, on one side,
and by the Missouri River and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad on the other,
the site was selected because of its proximity to rail and river transportation
facilities.
The new
highway and bridge was a major factor in the consideration of the site for the
plant, according to D. M. Bolton, engineer representing McDowell and who has
been in St. Charles for the last few days investigating the area,
Bolton said
the road will expedite the transportation of workers from St Louis to the
plant, which will be approximately 20 miles west of the city limits. Bolton
told a reporter between 10,000 and 12,000 men will be employed.
Too, the
proximity of the site to a large supply of raw materials, including sulphuric
acid, which is used extensively in the manufacture of TNT, and to the Missouri
River, which affords plenty of water also needed for the explosive, were other
prime factors considered by the war Department.
The
estimate of the cost of the project was made by Thomas H. Dysart, chairman of
the Missouri Industrial Commission and head of [?] St. Louis Chamber of
Commerce, who said the selection of the St. Charles site for the plant
establishes St. Louis area as one of coming importance in industrial aspects of
the defense program.
The
erection of the explosive plant will necessitate the absorption of Hamburg, an
unincorporated area five miles south of Weldon Springs and with a population of
145, into the plant area and the rerouting of State Highway 94, which leads to
St. Charles through Hamburg. About 700 farms are included in the 20,000 acres
now needed, it was said.
A prepared
statement issued by both McDowell and Bolton read: “It is the desire of Col.
Valliant that farmers be paid a reasonable price for their land. He does not
expect to buy it at bankrupt sale figures, but on the other hand does expect to
get a fair price for the government.
“However,
time is the essence, the defense program must go forward quickly, and
construction on this site is ready to go. While the War Department is most desirous
to see this land is acquired in a fair manner and to the satisfaction of the
farmers, it has the right in the last analysis to enter condemnation
proceedings and take possession immediately. However, the hope is that this
will be entirely unnecessary.”
Bolton said
about a dozen aids will be in St. Charles by the end of the week to help him in
negotiating for the land, which he seems to think will be a difficult problem
as the largest individual tract is about 200 acres.
McDowell
has designated the Kansas City Title and Trust Company to pass on all titles in
acquiring options and the Emmons Abstract Company of St. Charles for abstract
work.
==========
[no source, no date]
TNT Plant Wrecks
Plans for Estates
St. Louisans Had Area
in Mind for Fine Homes
Decision of
the War Department to erect a $15,000,000 plant at Weldon Spring, near St.
Charles, for the manufacture of high explosives wrecks the plans of a group of
wealthy St. Louisans to establish country estates in that area.
Birch O.
Mahaffey, president of W. C. McBride, Inc., owners of oil wells and leases in
the Illinois basin and in other oil producing states, yesterday said his 800
acres are a part of the 18,000 acres to be purchased by the government for the
plant. Mahaffey’s holdings extend for several miles along the Missouri River
bluffs. Kenneth Bitting, broker, is the owner of several farms on the site. He
recently erected a fine country home on one of his properties, Other land
holders on are B. B. Culver, president of the Wrought Iron Range Company;
Edward K. Love Jr., real estate operator, and Mrs. Nancy Blair Van Cleave.
Mahaffey
said he had not been approached by government agents and offered a price for
his holdings.
About 12
years ago, said one of the owners of property on the site, a group undertook to
locate the most desirable country residence areas accessible to St. Louis.
After much search the group selected the Missouri River bluff in St. Charles
County, extending from the present Daniel Boone bridge to five miles up the
river. This site met the requirements of accessibility to the city, with
privacy of surroundings, scenery, including water areas, and without
objectionable features in view.
Another
important requirement was that the summer breeze from the south should come
across the maximum amount of water surface to the building site which should be
at the greatest elevation obtainable above the water to gain the cooling effect
of a rising air. The site, on which the explosive plant is now to be built,
fully met this requirement.
The area on
which the War Department will erect the ordnance plant is covered with virgin
timber. According to wild life conservationists, while there are many large
wooded areas south of the Missouri River, this is the only stand of virgin
timber north of the river in the state. Plans were being made to develop it as
a forest preserve.
The War
Department announced in Washington yesterday that the plant is to be
constructed and operated by private interests, the Atlas Powder Company of
Wilmington, Del., on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis. It will manufacture
trinitrotoluene (TNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT) an explosive similar to TNT.
==========
[no source, October 28, 1940]
Fail to Get Options
on TNT Plant Site
[handwritten: Oct. 28,
1940]
Twelve
agents of the R. Newton McDowell Company. Kansas City, Mo., who went out
yesterday [?] options on the land for the government’s TNT plant at the Daniel
Boone bridgehead in St. Charles County, returned last night without options.
F. M. Bolton,
manager of the St. Charles office of the McDowell Company, said the agents [?]
the farmers skeptical. The farmers, he said, wanted more time to consider
whether they were getting a fair price for their farms before signing the
options. The agents expected better luck today.
The
government is seeking options on 18,000 acres of land [?] site of the high
explosive factory. The site now composes 700 parcels of land. Some 200 families
are living in the area sought by the government.
The
McDowell Company, however, obtained one option on a [?] of 132 acres. A farmer
and his wife came into McDowell’s office at St. Charles and signed an option
[?] their property.
