Historic Moment: Split Rock explosion
By Jorge and Beth Batlle
Village and Town Historians
July 2, 1918, an explosion at the Split Rock munitions plant not only shook the City of Syracuse, but also sent shock waves as far away as the Village of Skaneateles. Of the approximately 600 men working the 3 to 11pm shift, 50 men were killed in the blast. Two, Vernon Dillon and James King were from Skaneateles.
This tri-nitro-toluene (TNT) plant was one of 18 in the country. It was started in 1915 by the Semet-Solvay Company. It was located on 1,000 isolated acres in an old and abandoned quarry off the end of Onondaga Road, just west of the City, in an area now called Taunton. Approximately 25% of the nation’s explosives were produced here and sent to Belgium and France for the World War I effort. The plant employed 3,000 people by 1918. John Hazard of Skaneateles was the Vice President of the company.
James King and Vernon Dillon probably boarded the Auburn-Syracuse trolley in the Village earlier that afternoon and rode the line into work. Arriving at the plant, they passed through a turnstile, and both, as required left their matches and cigarettes behind, and headed for their work stations.
Vernon Dillon, age 23, was one of the 300 patrolman, who day and night guarded the 14 miles of fence that enclosed the facility. Dillon, a graduate of Skaneateles High School and Manhattan College in New York City, had worked for the plant for two years. As a patrolman, he carried a .38 caliber revolver, and was trained in the special techniques of fighting munitions fires.
When the fire whistle blew that night, he was one of the firefighters who responded. A fire had started from an overheated gear in one of the grinding machines. At first, the firefighters were able to keep the flames under control, until the hoses went limp due to a failure of the water system. A wind blowing up from the south fanned the flames until they were dangerously close to the 60 foot tower on TNT Building #1. The men quickly realized that they had to get as far away as possible.
But, before everyone could flee to safety, there was a blinding light, a deafening roar, and a fiery ball shot up into the air, and fell in a shower of sparks. Men were tossed up into the air, clothes torn from their bodies, (and their skin was yellow from the picric acid used in the manufacture). Breathing became difficult because of the super heated air and noxious gasses released into the air.
Vernon’s body was badly burned by the flames. He was identified in the morgue by family members by a missing tooth and other markings. The records show that he died of a crushed skull. He was laid to rest in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Skaneateles.
James King had only been working at the plant 4 weeks. He was waiting to be called up in the Draft, for the country was fighting in World War I. The body of the 26 year old was among the 15 workers who were so severely burned that relatives were unable to identify them. Other men from Skaneateles that survived in spite of their injuries were Charles Wood, John Newman and Leslie Hoyt.
There were many acts of heroism that night. For example – a little over a ton of material had exploded. while there was another 400 tons in storage in the western section. If the fire had spread there, experts say, the explosion would have destroyed the entire City of Syracuse. As it was, 10 buildings were destroyed, with property losses amounting to $1,000,000 (15.8 million in today’s dollar)
On Aug. 7, 1918 – 36 days after the explosion, 15 hearses carrying 15 black caskets, with the remains of the 15 unidentified causalities, slowly made their way to Syracuse’s Morningside Cemetery. These men, with James King among them, were buried in a semi-circular formation. A monument was erected in the center with the names of all 50 men who died in the explosion.
The July 14, 1918 issue of the Syracuse Herald said, “The victims of the Split Rock TNT explosion died for their county as truly as though they had fought in the trenches in France. They were as surely soldiers of civilization as are their brothers in khaki. They knew the danger. They accepted the challenge. They fought battles with fear and won – that our men abroad should not go without munitions and the people of Syracuse might be spared the horrors of a greater disaster if fire had spread to additional explosives. They were soldiers of Uncle Sam when they worked in the midst of danger. They were heroes in that they died courageously, fighting to protect their city from disaster. If they had run away, if they had given up the fight, the horror might have been widespread.
The families of these men, their wives, mothers and children have given their most precious possessions to the country. They deserve the praise and gratitude of the community and of the country for their sacrifices.
Four months after the explosion the quarry whistle blew once again. The men dropped their tools and ran toward the gate. This time, however, they ran jubilantly out the gate leaving the plant unguarded. The date was Nov. 11, 1918, and the time was 11 a.m., an armistice ending the war was just signed.
On Dec. 31, 1918 the plant closed its gates forever.
Additional information
In 1903 the largest stone crusher in the country was installed at the Split Rock quarry. It rose 22 feet above the cliff it backed up to and the base was on solid rock. It cost $75,000 to build. It is 75 feet from top to bottom.
The crusher could take a stone the size of two men and reduce it to about 6 inches, most desirable for the Solvay kilns, where they were making soda ash. Soda ash is a key component in glass making, paper production, soap, fabric bleaching, baking soda.
Buckets loaded with stone left the crusher every 30 seconds, on an endless cable (like the once recently proposed gondola ride for the State Fair). The buckets ran over the countryside, high above West Genesee Street, over the hill east of North Terry Road, the site of today’s Solvay High School, to dump their loads at the plant on Milton Avenue.
The buckets moved at a slow pace permitting men and boys to catch a ride back to Split Rock, when the empty buckets came close to the ground.
Solvay Process opened the Jamesville quarry in 1912, leaving the Split Rock operation inactive until the beginning to the World War 1. At that time the manufacturing of munitions began at Split Rock.
