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 E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 AND COMPANY 
 
 A History
 
 E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS 
 AND COMPANY 
 
 A HISTORT 
 1802-1902 
 
 BY 
 
 B. G. DuPONT 
 
 With Illustrations 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON M1FFLIN COMPANY 
 
 The Riverside Press Cambridge 
 1920
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY BESSIE GARDNER DU PONT 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 
 T? 
 
 TO 
 
 PIERRE S. DTT PONT 
 
 WHOSE HELP AND ENCOURAGEMENT 
 HAVE MADE THIS BOOK POSSIBLE
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 fiLEUTHERE IRENEE DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 AT SIXTY Frontispiece 
 
 ELEUTHERE IRENEE DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 AT TWENTY 6 
 
 FACSIMILE or LETTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 CONCERNING POWDER FOR THE GOVERNMENT 22 
 
 No. 1. ELEUTHERIAN MILLS, 1806 30 
 
 FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 CONCERNING POWDER FOR HIS OWN USE 38 
 
 A CIRCULAR RECEIVED BY E. I. DU PONT DE 
 NEMOURS & Co. IN 1838 62 
 
 AN OLD BILL OF LADING (1845) 66 
 
 POWDER WAGON OF E. I. DU PONT DE NE- 
 MOURS & Co. (discontinued, 1889) 136
 
 E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS 
 AND COMPANY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN the latter half of the eighteenth century 
 there existed in France a body of scholarly 
 men who were very earnestly trying to find 
 some wise and reasonable method of political 
 reform. They were in favor now with one party 
 and now with another, but were always striv- 
 ing to avert the danger that they knew was 
 very near, and to give their country some meas- 
 ure of the liberty that all nations were demand- 
 ing. Perhaps their plans were not sufficiently 
 practical; perhaps the financial problem was 
 incapable of solution; perhaps the triumph of 
 the American Revolution had swept away all 
 political restraint in France; but the deluge 
 foreseen by Louis XV was on them before they 
 were ready, if they ever could have been ready, 
 and in the struggle between the King's party 
 and that of the people these men of moderate 
 opinions were probably the worst sufferers.
 
 2 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 During the Reign of Terror many of them were 
 imprisoned or executed, and almost all of them 
 who lived through that fearful year were forced 
 to leave the country that had so ill rewarded 
 their efforts. 
 
 Among the "Moderates" who would have 
 been guillotined but for the fall of Robespierre 
 was Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. He 
 was a man of profound philosophic and literary 
 attainments and the author of many treatises 
 on political economy. He had been a pupil of 
 Quesnay, a friend and valued assistant of Tur- 
 got and other Ministers of Finance, and his 
 help had been sought by the rulers of other 
 countries. He held the office of Counsellor of 
 State when he was elected by the district l of 
 Nemours to the newly convened States Gen- 
 eral. He was at different times president and 
 secretary of the Constituent Assembly, where 
 he took an active part among those who hoped 
 for a constitutional monarchy. He and his 
 younger son 2 were with the few who fought 
 in defence of the King on the memorable 10th 
 of August. Unfortunately his efforts for moder- 
 ation won for him the ill-will of the Jacobins; 
 he was imprisoned in La Force during July and 
 
 1 BaiUiage. E. I. du Pont.
 
 A HISTORY 3 
 
 August, 1794, and was saved from the guillo- 
 tine only by the death of Robespierre. In 1795 
 Du Pont de Nemours was elected deputy to 
 the Council of Ancients, of which body he was 
 for a time president. He attempted to add to 
 his diminished income by establishing a print- 
 ing-house in Paris, where were published, be- 
 side various memoirs and books of travel, many 
 political pamphlets and a paper, "L'Histo- 
 rien," representing his own political views. 
 Again he attacked the policy of the Govern- 
 ment, his paper was suppressed, and in Sep- 
 tember, 1797, he and his younger son were im- 
 prisoned in La Force and he narrowly escaped 
 deportation to Guiana. 
 
 Du Pont de Nemours had always been 
 keenly interested in the Government and peo- 
 ple of the United States. He had, with James 
 Button, made the preliminary draft of the 
 Treaty of 1783, by which England recognized 
 the independence of the American States. 
 Franklin and Jefferson were his friends, as 
 were Lafayette and Talleyrand. His elder son, 
 Victor du Pont, had lived in America in various 
 diplomatic and consular positions for over ten 
 years and liked the country. Life in France was 
 becoming more and more difficult; his patriotic
 
 4 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 efforts had exhausted the greater part of his 
 fortune; and he and his sons came to believe 
 that their best hope for success was by emi- 
 gration. 
 
 The enormous tracts of undeveloped land in 
 America seemed to offer great opportunities for 
 investment. In 1792 a pamphlet was printed in 
 Amsterdam, entitled "Reflections offertes aux 
 capitalistes de 1'Europe, sur les benefices im- 
 menses que presente 1'achat de terres incultes, 
 situees dans les Etats-Unis de 1'Amerique." In 
 that same year an association of Dutch capi- 
 talists, who had loaned large sums of money to 
 the American revolutionists, agreed to take 
 about four million acres of land in the States 
 of New York and Pennsylvania in payment of 
 that debt, and called their new venture "The 
 Holland Land Company." Before the end of 
 1800 they had spent about $400,000 more on 
 roads, fences, and buildings of different kinds. 
 Du Pont de Nemours was much interested in 
 so great a plan of development, and deter- 
 mined, with the help of French investors, to 
 form an association that he would himself 
 direct with the assistance of his two sons and 
 his wife's son-in-law, Bureaux de Pusy, who 
 had been imprisoned at Olmiitz with Lafay-
 
 A HISTORY 5 
 
 ette, and who, although released in 1797, was 
 not permitted to return to France until 1800. 
 
 Du Pont de Nemours's plan was for a com- 
 pany of shareholders, with a capital of four 
 million francs in shares of ten thousand francs 
 each, for the purchase and development of land 
 in the western part of Virginia, principally in 
 the valley of the James River; for the estab- 
 lishment, also, of a central office in Alexandria, 
 which town was being exploited as the seaport 
 nearest to the new Capital of the United 
 States; and for an office in New York, to be 
 managed by Victor du Pont, who would do a 
 banking and exporting business until their 
 principal interest should become profitable. 
 James Bidermann, a banker living in Paris, 
 became much interested, and offered as part 
 of his share six thousand acres of land that he 
 already owned in Kentucky. In the spring of 
 1799 Du Pont de Nemours went to Holland 
 and Belgium to find other investors and to give 
 his instructions to Bureaux de Pusy, who in 
 May sailed for America with his mother-in- 
 law, Madame du Pont de Nemours, and his 
 little daughter, to find a home near New York 
 for the whole family. In the meantime Victor 
 du Pont travelled in the south of France in
 
 6 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 order to form business connections; and his 
 brother, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, undertook 
 the necessary preparations for the journey and 
 the sale of the printing-house in Paris. The little 
 leisure time left to Irenee du Pont was devoted 
 to the study of botany, which had always inter- 
 ested him. He evidently expected to use that 
 knowledge in the development of their Virginia 
 land, for his passport described him as a 
 botanist. 
 
 Du Pont de Nemours soon had two hundred 
 and fourteen shares subscribed for his land en- 
 terprise, with a very imposing list of names 
 Lafayette, Beaumarchais, Duquesnoy, Rous- 
 seau, Pourtales, La Tour Maubourg, Necker 
 were among them, but many of them never paid. 
 Instead of the proposed 4,000,000 francs he re- 
 ceived only 455,000, and of that 30,000 was 
 lost in the failure of a Paris bank before he left 
 Europe. Moreover, the vessel on which his wife 
 and Bureaux de Pusy had sailed from Holland 
 was captured by the English and held for four 
 months, so that their part of the preparation in 
 New York for the establishment of the business 
 was not accomplished. 
 
 In September of 1799 Du Pont de Nemours 
 decided that he could wait no longer for possi-
 
 
 ELEUTHERE IRENES on PONT DE NEMOURS AT TWENTY
 
 A HISTORY 7 
 
 ble subscribers and sailed in the ship American 
 Eagle with his two sons, Victor du Pont, his 
 wife and two children; Eleuthere Irenee du 
 Pont, his wife and their tlriW children, and his 
 wife's brother, Charles Dalmas, a youth of 
 twenty-two years; Madame Bureaux de Pusy, 
 the stepdaughter of Du Pont de Nemours, and 
 her baby. They were ninety-five days in cross- 
 ing, and one of Du Pont de Nemours's biog- 
 raphers writes: "There was scarcity of every- 
 thing, especially of water; the worn-out crew 
 flew a flag of distress for almost half the voy- 
 age. Du Pont alone preserved his sang-froid 
 and his gaiety; he entertained every one and 
 amused himself by making verses; but, with his 
 sword under his arm, he watched at night to 
 see that the sailors did not do violence to the 
 passengers." 1 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1800 it must have 
 been a very happy New Year's Day for them 
 they landed at Newport, Rhode Island, and 
 three days later continued their journey to 
 New York where they met Madame du Pont 
 and Monsieur de Pusy. 
 
 When he arrived in New York Du Pont 
 
 1 Notice biographique sur M. Du Pont (Pierre Samuel). Par 
 M. Silvestre; Paris, 1818.
 
 8 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 received a letter from Thomas Jefferson, on 
 whose friendship he had counted for advice 
 about his investments, urging him on no ac- 
 count to buy land under the existing condi- 
 tions. Prices were unreasonably high and 
 would remain so for two years, perhaps longer. 1 
 Furthermore, aliens could not own land in 
 many of the States and a residence of five years 
 was requisite for naturalization in all of them 
 except Virginia, where ownership of real estate 
 was the only qualification. The company could 
 arrange no importations of merchandise be- 
 cause the custom-house duties were ten per 
 cent higher for aliens than for citizens. Conse- 
 quently Victor du Pont, the only one of the 
 directors who spoke English readily, bought a 
 house in Alexandria, Virginia, and was natural- 
 ized a few months after their arrival. 
 
 As a result of so many disappointments, 
 about one fifth of their capital had been spent 
 by the autumn of 1800; it was imperative that 
 investments should be found for what was left, 
 even if the ultimate profit was to be much less 
 than the shareholders were expecting. Du Pont 
 de Nemours was never lacking in ideas, and he 
 
 1 Statement made by Du Pont de Nemours to the shareholders 
 of his company, April 18, 1808.
 
 A HISTORY 9 
 
 evolved many plans that seemed promising. 
 He arranged for the exchange of cargoes with 
 a friend in Guadeloupe; he offered to the Gov- 
 ernments of France and the United States a 
 plan for a regular passenger-boat service; he 
 worked out methods of communication be- 
 tween Spain and the Governor of Mexico l that 
 should escape the vigilance of the English 
 Navy England being then at war with 
 Spain; and last, and presumably least impor- 
 tant, he allowed his younger son to plan for 
 the establishment of a manufacture of gun- 
 powder. 
 
 In 1788, when a boy of sixteen, Eleuthere 
 Irenee du Pont, whom his family called Irenee, 
 but who came to be better known as E. I. du 
 Pont, began the study of chemistry at Essonne, 
 in the laboratory of his father's friend Lavois- 
 ier, who was then in charge of the manufacture 
 of gunpowder for the French Government. So 
 well was Lavoisier pleased with his pupil that 
 his future was supposed to be definitely ar- 
 ranged as assistant and eventually chief of that 
 manufacture; but the strictness and economy 
 of Lavoisier's administration had made him un- 
 popular, and his position was one of the first 
 
 1 Mexico was a colony of Spain until 1821.
 
 10 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 to be suppressed by the Revolution, in 1791. 
 Lavoisier accepted a position in the Treasury, 
 and Irenee du Pont, unwilling to remain in the 
 Powder Department after his chief had left it, 
 joined his father in the management of his 
 printing-house in Paris. 
 
 Pamphlets and journals were issued broad- 
 cast at that time of popular excitement, and 
 Du Pont de Nemours's presses were never idle. 
 His father's imprisonment during the Terror 
 threw all the work on Irenee's shoulders; he 
 proved to be an efficient manager of men and 
 affairs, and would probably have made a suc- 
 cess of his new occupation but for the political 
 purpose of his father's writings, which resulted 
 in the temporary imprisonment of both father 
 and son and the suppression of their principal 
 publication. 
 
 Irenee du Pont, therefore, though only 
 twenty-eight years old when he arrived in 
 America, was a man of unusual training and 
 experience. Through no fault of his own he had 
 twice lost what had seemed to be a permanent 
 occupation. He had no intention of throwing 
 away either his little capital or his training by 
 attempting to earn his livelihood by uncon- 
 genial work, yet it was imperative that he
 
 A HISTORY 11 
 
 should arrange for the support of his wife and 
 children. 
 
 While he was in that very unsettled frame 
 of mind he went for a day's shooting with 
 Colonel Toussard, a friend of his brother Vic- 
 tor who had come to America with Lafayette 
 and had stayed in the country. They shot away 
 all their powder and bought a new supply at 
 the nearest shop. The high price and bad qual- 
 ity of this powder impressed Irenee du Pont, 
 and he easily interested Toussard, who helped 
 him to learn all about the industry as it was 
 carried on in America. Their information satis- 
 fied Irenee that there was a real opportunity 
 for a powder manufactory built and managed 
 on the plan of the French Government works. 
 He made careful estimates of what he would 
 need in money and machinery and went back 
 to Europe in January, 1801, accompanied by 
 his brother. 1 He was in France for three 
 months and returned when his errand was 
 accomplished, landing in Philadelphia about 
 the middle of July. He had secured the money 
 he thought necessary, or promises of it, and 
 had ordered machinery in France. The esti- 
 mates that he took abroad called for twenty- 
 
 1 See Appendix, p. 167.
 
 12 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 four thousand for the first cost of land, build- 
 ings, and machines, and twelve thousand 
 dollars more for raw materials and successive 
 payments on the land. Du Pont de Nemours 
 was unwilling to take the whole amount from 
 the capital of the original land company, but 
 Irenee had little difficulty in interesting friends 
 of his father in his own project; those who sub- 
 scribed most largely were James Bidermann, 
 General Duquesnoy, and Necker, a brother of 
 the former Minister of Finance. Mr. Bider- 
 mann's share was partly used in France to pay 
 for the machinery that Irenee du Pont bought 
 with the advice and help of the chiefs of the 
 Government Powder Department. This trans- 
 action is most interesting; the description and 
 explanation of machinery and even offers of 
 trained workmen to be sent to him in America 
 were written on paper with the Government 
 letter head; the machines were made at the 
 Arsenal and the Government works at Essonne, 
 and the drawings were made by Government 
 draftsmen. In a country so entirely military as 
 France had become, such consideration could 
 hardly be merely the courtesy of former asso- 
 ciates, and seems to be best explained by a let- 
 ter that Irenee du Pont wrote to his father six
 
 A HISTORY 13 
 
 or seven years later: "It is the commerce of 
 the English only that American manufacturers 
 can hurt. In four years I have made 600,000 
 pounds of powder that would have come from 
 England if I had not made it; therefore it is 
 only the English that I have injured. This truth 
 was well understood in France when I was 
 given every facility for procuring my machin- 
 ery." l Napoleon's efforts to destroy the com- 
 merce of England seem to have been most 
 fortunate for the equipment of the American 
 powder mills. 
 
 While Irenee du Pont was in Europe his 
 father, at Jefferson's suggestion, had tried 
 unsuccessfully to find a location for the mills 
 near Washington. On his return Irenee went 
 there himself, but found "no opportunity in 
 Maryland or Virginia near Federal City; 2 the 
 country, the people, the location are all 
 worthless." 3 And he decided "to stay a day in 
 Wilmington to see the Brandywine." 4 Prob- 
 ably his friendship with Colonel Toussard and 
 Victor's with Alexandre Bauduy, both of whom 
 lived near Wilmington, influenced him to visit 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, October 1, 1808. 
 * Washington. 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, September 19, 1801. 
 Ibid.
 
 14 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 that part of the country. Naturally he was also 
 interested to meet the little colony of French- 
 men, all of whom urged him to make his home 
 near them. But agreeable neighbors were only 
 one consideration the money promised in 
 France had not all been paid, and as it was be- 
 coming evident that much of it never would be, 
 more must be found in America. In the mean- 
 time his machinery was arriving from France 
 and he had nowhere to put it. Irenee du Pont 
 had tried to buy, from one William Lane, pow- 
 der mills that for some years had been making 
 rather bad powder at Frankford, near Phila- 
 delphia, but Lane refused to sell. Various loca- 
 tions were suggested, one at Rosendall on the 
 Hudson River, another near Paterson in New 
 Jersey; but the Bauduys were very eager that 
 a site near Wilmington should be chosen, and 
 Peter Bauduy, the brother of Victor du Font's 
 friend, was lavish with his offers of money and 
 influence. He suggested two properties, one 
 belonging to a man named Harvey; another 
 farther in the country, belonging to Jacob 
 Broom. 
 
 Irenee du Pont finally decided in favor of 
 Broom's farm of ninety-five acres, the price of 
 which was $6740. At that time, however, an
 
 A HISTORY 15 
 
 alien could not own land in Delaware, and in 
 November of 1801 Du Pont de Nemours asked 
 the advice of Alexander Hamilton, who of- 
 fered to "consult Mr. Bayard of Wilmington, 
 as being influential in Delaware, to find out 
 whether it is possible during this winter session 
 to obtain from the State a special act which, 
 unless there is unreasonable animosity against 
 the French, should not be refused to a large 
 and valuable industry." l Apparently no such 
 legislation was effected, for on the 27th of the 
 following April the deed to the desired prop- 
 erty was made in the name of William Hainon, 
 a naturalized Frenchman living in Wilmington 
 and friend of the Bauduys. Irenee du Font's 
 capital then consisted of his machinery, for 
 which Bidermann had paid four thousand dol- 
 lars in France; ten thousand dollars in cash 
 or rather, in his father's stock-company of 
 which two thousand was needed at once for the 
 land; a cargo of salt supposed to be worth four 
 thousand dollars, which represented General 
 Duquesnoy's share; and Mr. Bidermann's 
 promise of five thousand dollars more a 
 total of twenty-three thousand dollars. 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Peter Bauduy, November 30. 1801.
 
 CHAPTER IT 
 
 1802-1804 
 
 SHORTLY after Victor and Irenee du 
 Pont went to France in 1801, Bureaux 
 de Pusy with his wife and child made the 
 same journey, intending to go to Spain to 
 arrange for Du Pont de Nemours's Spanish- 
 American shipments, but when he reached 
 France the treaty of peace between England 
 and Spain was being drawn up at Amiens and 
 the scheme was purposeless. He accepted a 
 position under the French Government and 
 never returned to America. 
 
 Victor du Pont's mission was not much more 
 successful, as the French Government de- 
 clined to listen to the packet-boat plan; but he 
 made important acquaintances in Paris and 
 came back to America four or five months 
 later than his brother, believing that if he 
 could establish a creditable commission house 
 in New York, he could get from the French 
 Government charge of all their financial affairs 
 in America. During his absence the Guade- 
 loupe trade arranged by his father had been
 
 A HISTORY 17 
 
 ended by a revolution in that island. The stock- 
 company, which was known as Du Pont de 
 Nemours, Father, Sons and Company, had 
 spent one quarter of its capital and was with- 
 out any definite plan for the future except an 
 interest in the powder factory, for which as yet 
 no site had been chosen. 
 
 A new difficulty then confronted the father 
 and sons. Their corporation had been organ- 
 ized according to the laws of France for the 
 formation of a commandite a stock-company 
 wherein each shareholder is responsible only 
 for the amount he has invested. After his ar- 
 rival in New York Du Pont de Nemours 
 learned, what none of the investors had known 
 before, that in America no such form of organ- 
 ization was recognized and no laws existed for 
 the protection of his shareholders that any 
 one of them might become responsible for the 
 entire indebtedness of the Company. 1 
 
 Unquestionably the New York house was 
 not doing enough business to employ both 
 father and son, and if Victor du Pont's hope 
 for financial relations with the French Govern- 
 ment was to be realized one of them must be 
 
 1 Statement made by Du Pont de Nemours to the sharehold- 
 ers of his company, April 18, 1808.
 
 18 ' DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 in Paris. While they hesitated, President Jeffer- 
 son asked Du Pont de Nemours to assist the 
 American Minister in his negotiations with 
 Bonaparte and Talleyrand for the purchase of 
 Louisiana. So important a mission could not 
 be refused, and Du Pont and his wife returned 
 to France in June, 1802. Before sailing he drew 
 up a formal agreement with his elder son by 
 which they established two firms Du Pont 
 de Nemours, Pere et Fils et C ie , the original 
 stock-company, was, for the protection of its 
 shareholders, to have its office in Paris and to 
 be directed by Du Pont de Nemours. The sec- 
 ond firm, V. du Pont de Nemours and Com- 
 pany, of New York, was nominally independ- 
 ent of the Paris house. Those firms were to hold 
 eleven shares in the powder enterprise, valued 
 at two thousand dollars a share in other 
 words, to find two thirds of the necessary capi- 
 tal. Irenee had disposed of three shares in 
 Europe, and Peter Bauduy, who had just sold 
 large properties in San Domingo, offered to buy 
 two shares in the manufactory and to take an 
 active part in its management; with this en- 
 couragement the success of Irenee's under- 
 taking seemed assured. 
 As soon as Du Pont de Nemours and his wife
 
 A HISTORY 19 
 
 had sailed for France in June, 1802, Irenee 
 made his own preparations for leaving New 
 York. His brother-in-law, Dalmas, went first, 
 in charge of dogs, sheep, boxes, and barrels, 
 and a few days later Mr. and Mrs. du Pont and 
 their children followed, arriving in Delaware 
 on the 19th of July, 1802. Their home was a 
 two-story log house on the land that Mr. du 
 Pont had bought from Jacob Broom, four miles 
 from Wilmington. The discomfort was very 
 great, but he wanted to be close to his work, 
 and in February of 1803 he wrote to his father: 
 "We have accomplished an astonishing amount 
 of work since August, but I am dismayed when 
 I think of what is still before us. Within three 
 months we have built a large house and barn of 
 stone and the greater part of the refinery; we 
 have repaired the water-course and the sawmill 
 in which we prepare the wood for our frame- 
 work, and a part of that used for the machines. 
 This month we have still to build three mills 
 and one or two other buildings; to dig a new 
 race for one of the mills; to make the drying 
 place, the magazine, the workmen's quarters. 
 It is evident that we cannot make powder be- 
 fore the autumn." l To add to his difficulties 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, February 7. 1808.
 
 20 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 his family were not well, "the position of our 
 little house at the very bottom of the valley and 
 in the damp air of the creek is not a healthful 
 one, but I think that when spring comes and 
 we live on the hill I shall be quite strong 
 again." * 
 
 The capital that was to serve as a founda- 
 tion for Victor du Font's firm, V. du Pont de 
 Nemours and Company, consisted almost 
 wholly of real estate of little value the house 
 in which he lived at Bergen Point, with twenty 
 acres of land; the shop in Alexandria, Vir- 
 ginia, that was bought for his naturalization; 
 and the six thousand acres in Kentucky that 
 had belonged to James Bidermann. Before the 
 Du Ponts came to America Mr. Bidermann's 
 land was managed by an agent who, through 
 carelessness, allowed it to be sold for taxes for 
 twelve hundred dollars. One of Du Pont de 
 Nemours's first efforts in this country was to 
 regain possession of the land, and it was bought 
 in Victor du Pont's name for two thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 In spite of the slenderness of his resources, 
 Victor du Pont for the first year did very well. 
 He had a large business with the French West 
 
 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, February 7, 1803.
 
 A HISTORY 21 
 
 Indies and sent valuable cargoes to France. 
 Unfortunately two of his best ships were lost, 
 many accounts due him were never paid, and 
 in March of 1803 he wrote to Irenee: "I do my 
 best to make money, but if I had to send you 
 now the six thousand dollars I still owe you for 
 the manufacture I would have nothing left. 
 I will send it little by little, the later the better, 
 and better still if you could get it somewhere 
 else; but even if I sent it at once it would be 
 insufficient to finish the work." 1 To make mat- 
 ters worse, Victor, who was still hoping that 
 he might be appointed financial agent for 
 the French Government, advanced to Pichon 
 the French Consul-General, two hundred thou- 
 sand francs, "chiefly in notes that have long to 
 run," 2 in return for San Domingo drafts on the 
 Paymaster of the French Navy, which Victor 
 sent to Paris for his father to collect, an opera- 
 tion that was necessarily slow even when suc- 
 cessful. From that time he was entirely occupied 
 by his efforts to meet those notes; there was 
 nothing left for Irenee's powder mills. But the 
 building went on in spite of all discouragement; 
 Irenee at last asked his brother to buy and send 
 
 1 Victor du Pont to E. I. du Pont, April 23. 1803. 
 Ibid.
 
 22 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 him six tons of saltpetre, and in July, 1803, he 
 wrote to President Jefferson "to ask his inter- 
 est, and work for the mills. The result was a 
 letter from the Secretary of War giving us the 
 refining of saltpetre now in the Government's 
 possession; the making-over of damaged pow- 
 der; and the furnishing of new powder when the 
 Government shall need it." * 
 
 At last in the spring of 1804 there was pow- 
 der ready for sale, and Victor, to whom some of 
 it was sent, wrote, " You may be sure that I will 
 do my best to sell the powder and I will cer- 
 tainly succeed," 2 and he suggested a notice in 
 the papers: 
 
 E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS GUN POWDEB 
 MANUFACTORY 
 
 Wilmington, Delaware 
 
 This new and extensive establishment is now 
 in activity and any quantity of powder, equal 
 if not superior to any manufactured in Europe 
 will be delivered at the shortest notice. 
 Samples to be seen at 
 
 V. DU PONT DE NEMOURS ET C IE 
 New York 2 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, August 8, 1803. 
 Victor du Pont to E. I. du Pont, May 1 and 2, 1804.
 
 [FACSIMILE] 
 
 *'$&&&
 
 A HISTORY 23 
 
 All seemed to be going well at last. But the 
 powder was sold on long credit, and the work- 
 men had to be paid and the materials bought. 
 Jerome Bonaparte, who was then in New York, 
 promised i Victor du Pont to help him with his 
 influence with Napoleon, and on the strength 
 of those promises was spending all the ready 
 money that Victor could give him. It was 
 necessary to ask Bauduy for the use of his 
 credit, and he became "nervous and worried 
 about the result.'* l He wrote to Victor to com- 
 plain of Irenee's methods, of the expense of the 
 farm, of the cost of feeding the workmen. Vic- 
 tor advised his brother to conciliate Bauduy, 
 but Irenee was exhausted by hard work and 
 desperately afraid that his whole venture 
 would fail for lack of funds. He was getting long 
 letters from his father complaining, rather un- 
 fairly, of Victor's investments, and criticism 
 of his brother always hurt him deeply, espe- 
 cially now when he knew that Victor was on 
 the verge of failure. He was in no conciliatory 
 mood; and Bauduy chose that unfortunate 
 moment to assert authority in the business, 
 and when that authority was questioned he 
 threatened newspaper publicity and a law-suit. 
 
 i Victor du Pont to E. I. du Pont, July 10, 1804.
 
 24 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 The two men had never been congenial 
 Bauduy seems to have been full of hospitality 
 and good cheer, while Irenee admitted his own 
 "coldness and sensitiveness." 1 Bauduy, how- 
 ever, was not frank in his business methods, 
 while Irenee was sincerity itself, and was hor- 
 rified to find that he had been led to sign pa- 
 pers written in English, 2 which at the time he 
 understood imperfectly, giving Bauduy a full 
 partnership in the powder company. On Bau- 
 duy's side, instead of the four thousand dollars 
 that he at first offered, he had put into the 
 business eight thousand dollars in actual 
 money and notes for eighteen thousand dollars 
 more; naturally he wanted to know how its 
 affairs were administered Both men wrote all 
 their anger to Victor du Pont, who tried with 
 some success to explain away their grievances. 
 The greatest difficulty for the moment was 
 the name of the new firm. Partly because of 
 his knowledge of English and partly because 
 Irenee du Pont was engrossed in the construc- 
 tion work, Bauduy had done all the correspond- 
 ence of the company and had done it in his own 
 name. Du Pont objected to that arrangement, 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Victor du Pont, December 13, 1804. 
 
 2 E. I. du Pont to Peter Bauduy, December 14, 1804.
 
 A HISTORY 25 
 
 which gave outsiders the right to suppose that 
 he was merely the head- workman in the mills. 
 Bauduy then suggested, what he had probably 
 had in mind all along, that the letters be signed 
 "Du Pont, Bauduy and Company," but Du 
 Font's answer was very emphatic "If, as I 
 hope, it earns a reputation greater than that of 
 others, and if it makes a name that name 
 should be mine." 1 
 
 He carried his point; and though he died 
 more than eighty years ago the signature is 
 still "E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Com- 
 pany." The name is his. 
 
 E. I. du Pont to Peter Bauduy, December 12, 1804.
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 1805-1809 
 
 IN June of 1805 the output of the mills war- 
 ranted the employment of outside agents, 
 and Irenee du Font's letters to his father show 
 more confidence for the future. He had "made 
 twenty-two thousand pounds of powder for the 
 frigates sent to Algeria. This powder was tested 
 several times at Federal City 1 and was com- 
 pared with powder sent by. all of the manu- 
 facturers, as well as with some lately secured 
 from England, and it proved so superior that 
 old Mr. Dearborn, 2 in spite of his unwillingness, 
 sent us about one hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand pounds to remake and a part of his salt- 
 petre to refine, and he announced publicly on 
 the Fourth of July before the officers, who were 
 delighted with our powder, that in future we 
 will do all the Government work. Beside that, 
 I have in the last month made forty thousand 
 pounds for the Spanish Minister." 3 
 He had become self-supporting just in time, 
 
 1 Washington. * The Secretary of War. 
 
 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, August 6. 1805.
 
 A HISTORY 27 
 
 for in August of 1805 Victor du Pont failed, 
 partly because he never had sufficient capital, 
 but chiefly because the French Government 
 refused to honor certain San Domingo drafts 
 on the Paymaster of the French Navy. In the 
 first six months after Du Pont de Nemours's 
 return to France, Victor du Pont received in 
 payment of various cargoes to Guadeloupe and 
 San Domingo four hundred and seventy thou- 
 sand francs in drafts that were cashed in Paris 
 by his father. Later on he paid the expenses in 
 New York of a squadron of five French frigates 
 from Guadeloupe and was fully reimbursed by 
 the French Government for that and for fur- 
 nishing various supplies for other vessels. He 
 was still eager to act as American financial 
 agent for the French Government, and both 
 Jerome Bonaparte and the Consul-General, 
 Pichon, encouraged his hopes and borrowed of 
 him freely. By 1805 he held San Domingo 
 drafts to the amount of five hundred thousand 
 francs, which he forwarded to his father for 
 collection. Very many other San Domingo 
 drafts were presented for payment at the same 
 time. Few of them were accepted by the Gov- 
 ernment and those few were paid only a small 
 percentage of their face value. The ones held
 
 28 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 by Victor du Pont, however, were specially dis- 
 criminated against by the Emperor Napoleon's 
 decree censuring Pichon's accounts and refus- 
 ing to pay them; the fact that Pichon was dis- 
 missed from his office in no way helped Victor 
 du Pont. 
 
 Of course Irenee could expect no more help 
 from Victor; indeed he was in some danger 
 from creditors of the New York firm, many of 
 whom applied to him for their payments; but 
 Victor had been very careful to protect his 
 brother's interests. The failure, however, more 
 than doubled Irenee's burden, for his father's 
 company in Paris had been existing almost en- 
 tirely on the sale of the cargoes sent over by 
 Victor, and Irenee had now not only the anx- 
 iety of his own business he had also to con- 
 tribute to the support of both his father and 
 brother until the latter could get on his feet 
 again; at home he had always to bear with 
 Bauduy's fault-finding, and he could not bear it 
 cheerfully. He was most anxious that his father 
 should return to this country and live with him, 
 for he was quite sure that the Paris firm was 
 losing money, and he believed that his father's 
 friendships in America would be helpful for the 
 powder interests. But Du Pont de Nemours
 
 A HISTORY 29 
 
 was happily occupied in Paris; he had been 
 made President of the Chamber of Commerce; 
 he was among his old friends of the Institut, 
 of the Societe Philanthropique, of the Societe 
 d'Encouragement pour I'lndustrie; above all, 
 he was editing the works of Turgot, and he 
 could not be persuaded to leave Paris while 
 his task was unfinished. 
 
 Meanwhile the business was gaining slowly: 
 in 1804 the sales amounted to ten thousand 
 dollars; in 1805 to thirty-three thousand; in 
 
 1806 they dropped to thirty-two thousand; in 
 
 1807 they were forty-three thousand. "But," 
 Irenee wrote to his father, "in spite of this 
 success I am still somewhat embarrassed, and 
 as yet have been unable to pay any part of the 
 eleven thousand dollars that I borrowed from 
 the bank, because the first expenses and the 
 completion of the establishment cost more than 
 I had calculated, and because in that calcula- 
 tion I forgot the credit of six months and more 
 that we must necessarily allow on all sales; thus 
 there is from twenty-five to thirty thousand 
 dollars due us now." 
 
 In the same letter, dated February 8, 1808, 
 he tells of the first explosion in the mills: 
 "Tired of building and forced by the demand
 
 30 ' DV PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 to start manufacturing as soon as possible, I 
 was obliged to use a house that was already 
 built, sixty feet from the graining mill, to make 
 a heated dry-house. Attached to this was an- 
 other building that was formerly used in the 
 cotton manufactory l and that I use for a 
 charcoal house, having no other. I knew that 
 the charcoal had several times lighted spon- 
 taneously at the Essonne mills and at other 
 mills in France; I knew the danger of thus hav- 
 ing powder and charcoal under the same roof; 
 but my partner 2 did not think as I did; we 
 were tired of building and we had to start. On 
 the 18th of August 3 we had taken the charcoal 
 out of the furnace with the fire absolutely ex- 
 tinguished. When we stopped work in the eve- 
 ning Dalmas 4 and I went to look at the charcoal 
 to be sure that there was no appearance of 
 danger; we saw none. After supper Dalmas 
 said, 'We should go back and look at the char- 
 coal it is too dangerous. Will you go or shall 
 I? ' Then he added, ' You are tired; I will go.' In 
 less' than fifteen minutes after he left the dry- 
 ing-house exploded with a tremendous crash. 
 I ran down, convinced that Dalmas was lost. 
 
 1 Built by Jacob Broom in 1795. See also Appendix, p. 189. 
 Asaocti, i.e. Bauduy. * 1807. 4 His brother-in-law.
 
 A HISTORY SI 
 
 Imagine my joy when he was the first to answer 
 my call. We spent the rest of the night putting 
 out the fire and preventing it from spreading to 
 other buildings. All of the window panes in my 
 house were broken and some of the windows 
 blown in. What proved most fortunate for us 
 and really seemed help sent from Heaven, was 
 the light wind, cold and damp, that was blow- 
 ing from the northeast and had thoroughly wet 
 all the roofs." Most fortunate was that damp 
 wind, for a serious explosion just then would 
 have been disastrous. 
 
 The original agreement with the sharehold- 
 ers 1 had specified that an accounting should be 
 given them at the end of 1809. That statement, 
 which was much belated, showed that the sales 
 for the six years amounted to $243,554.79 and 
 the profits to $43,613.31. Irenee du Pont and 
 Bauduy, who together held only five of the 
 eighteen shares of stock, promptly invested the 
 whole profit in very necessary raw materials 
 and in payments on some of their notes; at 
 which the European shareholders, who had 
 
 1 There were eighteen shares in the powder company. E. I. 
 du Pont owned one; Bidermann, one; Bauduy, four; the remain- 
 ing twelve were held by Du Pont de Nemours Pere et Fila et 
 Compagnie. See Appendix, p. 175.
 
 32 DV PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 counted on enormous dividends, were loud in 
 their expressions of indignation. 
 
 STATEMENT OF GUNPOWDER SOLD BY MESSRS. E. I. 
 DU PONT DE NEMOURS & Co. AND THEIR AGENTS 
 UP TO THE 31 DEC., 1809 
 
 Quantity ' 
 Sold by themselves in pounds Kegs 
 
 1804 11,350 454 $ 4,368.00 
 
 1805 80,720 3228 29,581.00 
 
 1806 38,269 1527 14,239.00 
 
 1807 38,551 1541 * 13,495.00 
 
 1808 53,900 2156 22,523.00 
 
 1809 25,456 1018 12,694.00 
 
 $96,900.00 
 
 Sold by the following agents 
 
 Mitchell & Shepherd 330 2,927.65 
 
 Delaire & Canut 249 2,552.07 
 
 V. du Pont de Nemours & Co 96 787.52 
 
 Aubin Laforest 550 5,829.36 
 
 John Sullivan 253.27 
 
 Anthony Chs. Cazenove 975 10,213.10 
 
 Anthony Girard 33,972.55 
 
 Richard Bowden & Co 302 2,545.98 
 
 Archibald McCall 36,486.16 
 
 Brujiere & Teisseire 490 5,505.85 
 
 Suydam & Wickoff 674.96 
 
 D. P. Dows & Co 465.79 
 
 Thomas Shewall 4,548.39 
 
 Benjamin Herr 32 
 
 John Hancock 470 4,987.32 
 
 Samuel Hastings 410.00 
 
 John Strong * 472.10 
 
 Watkinson & Co. . . .... 716.78
 
 A HISTORY 
 
 33 
 
 John Chew 
 
 John Thurston 
 
 Anthony Buck 
 
 Mein & Rodgers 66 
 
 John Whipple 
 
 Richard Drummond & Co 140 
 
 426.50 
 300. 
 184.04 
 570.24 
 854.75 
 1,630.51 
 
 $214,214.79 
 $5,355.37 P. Bauduy's Commission @ 2| pr. ct. 
 
 Brought forward $214,214.79 
 Gunpowder manufactured & 
 reman ufactured with the 
 saltpetre of the U. States. 
 
 fe 
 
 In 1805 35,000 2,800.00 
 
 1806 67,200 6,376.00 
 
 1807 29,500 2,360.00 
 
 1808 98,400 8,116.00 
 
 1809 93,800 10,688.00 
 
 $29,340.00 $243,554.79 
 
 $1,467.00 P. Bauduy's Commission 5 pr. ct. 
 5,355.37 Brought forward. 
 
 $6,822.37 Carried to account currant 
 
 Inventory of the money, prime materials, gunpowder 
 manufactured, goods, land property, improvements on 
 the same; and debts belonging to E. I. du Pont de 
 Nemours & Company: as also of the debts due by 
 Them to Others on the 31st day of December, 1809, 
 when the term of their original association expired, as 
 per Statements in waste book No. 6, folios 1 and 24; 
 and in Journal No. 7, folios 1 and 26:
 
 34 
 
 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 To WIT 
 Belonging to them 
 
 Cash in the Delaware Bank $ 1,911.66 
 
 Prime materials outstanding: valued at 4,028.34 
 
 Gunpowder unsold: valued at 21,780.64 
 
 Bills receivable 1,130.00 
 
 Goods and land property mortgaged to 
 
 them 5,712.97 
 
 Real estate of their own, buildings thereon, 
 
 machinery and utensils: valued at 42,750.00 
 
 Book debts due to them 31,504.31 
 
 Brought over 
 They are indebted as follows: 
 
 Book debts due by them $22,304.24 
 
 Promissory notes due by them 6,900.00 
 18 shares due to the stock- 
 holders 36,000.00 
 
 Profit made since the 21 April, 1801, to the 
 21 Dec., 1809, and divided as stated in 
 waste book no. 6, folio 24 
 
 $108,817.92 
 $108,817.92 
 
 65,204.24 
 
 $43,613.68 
 
 Shares of Stock Shares of Profit 
 
 1 J. Bidermann 1 placed to a/c ct. 
 
 12 Du Pont Father & Co. 12 
 
 4 Peter Bauduy 7 " " " 
 
 1 E.LduPont 10 " " " 
 
 1,453.78 
 17,445.47 
 10,176.52 
 14,537.91 
 
 $43,613.68
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 1809-1814 
 
 DU PONT DE NEMOURS and his son 
 had expected much help for the powder 
 company from the Government because of 
 their friendship with Thomas Jefferson help 
 that the President was very willing to give so 
 far as he was able; but the heads of the Army 
 and Navy ordered their own supplies, and at 
 the end of 1809 the total sales of powder to the 
 Government had only amounted to about 
 thirty thousand dollars. 1 That estimate did not 
 include the powder sent to "Indian agents," 
 who ordered according to their individual fan- 
 cies and in their own names, but even so the 
 encouragement given by the Government 
 amounted to very little. 
 
 In January of 1809 Irenee du Pont wrote to 
 his father: "The Secretaries only employ me 
 when they cannot do otherwise, regardless of 
 their Chief's wishes. Things are done here much 
 as they are in France. They have given the re- 
 
 1 Statements of gunpowder sold by E. I. du Pont de Nemours 
 and Co., December 31, 1809, and December. 1815.
 
 36 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 fining of saltpetre to an apothecary * who does 
 not understand it at all and who spoiled ninety 
 thousand pounds that the Government gave 
 him to do. As an excuse for giving him the 
 work, they said that he charged half a cent per 
 pound less than I, and then paid him exactly 
 what I had asked, and they allowed him a loss 
 of eighteen per cent on saltpetre that he de- 
 livered damp, while the fifty thousand pounds 
 that I refined and delivered perfectly dry was 
 only allowed fourteen per cent. Therefore, be- 
 side the loss of the refining, which will have to 
 be done over if they ever want to make good 
 powder of his saltpetre, the Government lost 
 more than fifty thousand pounds of saltpetre, 
 which the apothecary put in his pocket." 2 
 
 As a matter of fact, though the French share- 
 holders were far from pleased with the returns 
 on their American investment, the growing im- 
 portance of the mills interested many specu- 
 lative "apothecaries" and manufacturers, who 
 knew that the plant consisted of a few small 
 stone and wooden buildings and some very 
 simple unpatented machinery. They believed 
 that they, too, could turn some chemical 
 
 1 Dr. Hunter, of Philadelphia. 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, January 28, 1809.
 
 A HISTORY 37 
 
 knowledge to practical purpose. They quite 
 failed to realize that Irenee du Font's unusual 
 experience as both chemist and machinist was 
 the essential factor that gave his powder "a 
 reputation greater than that of others." 
 
 As a consequence mills of varying degrees of 
 importance were built in different parts of the 
 country. The first powder made at the Du 
 Pont mills was sold in kegs marked "Brandy- 
 wine Powder Mills," the name suggested by 
 his father. "In a few years, about 1808, a small 
 set of works were put up in Connecticut and 
 the place was named by the owners Brandy- 
 wine. Of course the Connecticut powders were 
 branded exactly as ours and we could have no 
 recourse at law. Our mark was immediately 
 changed to Du Pont ; it has remained the same 
 ever since and we feel pride in keeping it the 
 same." l Powder that was below the "Du 
 Pont" standard was marked "A. F. & Co." 
 Andrew Fountain was the proprietor of a little 
 country store near the mills, and probably sold 
 some of the cheaper powder. 
 
 One of the new establishments seems to have 
 had more patronage from Washington than 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Decem- 
 ber 13, 1844.
 
 38 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 Du Pont had been given. In 1811 Thomas 
 Ewell, who was said to have much influence 
 with the Secretary of the Navy, built mills at 
 Bladensburg, near Washington, and tried to 
 alienate workmen from the Du Pont mills. 
 Finding that impracticable, he offered Mr. du 
 Pont "a connection" with his establishment, 
 admitting that he did not know the mechani- 
 cal processes for making powder although he 
 had secured large contracts from "the ( heads 
 of the military departments." l Such men as 
 Thomas Law 2 and William Thornton 3 were 
 thoroughly indignant at EwelPs pretensions 
 and urged Du Pont to build mills nearer to 
 Washington, offering to invest their own money 
 and to find more for such a plant. Thomas Law 
 wrote to Bauduy: "Ewell has received four 
 thousand more dollars from the Navy Depart- 
 ment. You remember the old motto In for a 
 penny, in for a pound." 4 And a few months 
 later: "I think you are too backward; I request 
 
 1 Thomas Ewell to E. I. du Pont, December 8, 1811. 
 
 2 Thomas Law came to America from England in 1794, and 
 invested largely in real estate in the City of Washington. He 
 married the granddaughter of Mrs. Washington. 
 
 3 William Thornton was one of the architects of the Capitol 
 at Washington; one of the Commissioners of the District of 
 Columbia; and the first Curator of the Patent Office. 
 
 4 Thomas Law to Peter Bauduy, July 16, 181*.
 
 [FACSIMILE)
 
 A HISTORY 39 
 
 you to determine pro or con." 1 Mr. EwelPs ex- 
 periment in powder-making did not last long, 
 for though the War of 1812 was at hand he was 
 unable to profit by the opportunity and he was 
 not heard of after it. In 1817 his mills at Bla- 
 densburg were for sale and Irenee du Pont was 
 offered them, but refused to buy them. 
 
 As early as 1809 relations between the 
 United States and England were so strained 
 that in Mr. du Font's letters to his father he 
 wrote of the probability of war and the need of 
 a sufficient provision of saltpetre. War was not 
 declared, however, until June, 1812. A month 
 later the Du Pont agent in Philadelphia 
 wanted a hundred and sixty kegs, "or more," 
 sent to him for the outfitting of privateers in 
 that port. 
 
 The Government had ordered fifty thousand 
 pounds of powder in the autumn of 1811. In 
 1812 two hundred thousand pounds were or- 
 dered and in 1813 five hundred thousand. 
 These orders probably did not include all the 
 powder made by the Du Pont Company for 
 the Navy. The principal ports seem each to 
 have had a "Navy agent" who ordered for the 
 Government vessels as they arrived whatever 
 
 * Thomas Law to E. I. du Pont, December 25. 1812.
 
 40 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 supplies they might need. The powder thus 
 furnished was of any make the commander of 
 the ship preferred, and was bought from any 
 local powder agent, whose business it was to 
 secure the order for his own firm. 
 
 The fighting was at first near Canada or at 
 sea and did not reach Delaware until March, 
 when Mr. du Pont received the following letter 
 that to-day sounds more like preparation for 
 the Fourth of July than a serious effort to de- 
 fend the coast: 
 
 Wilmington, March 19, 1813 
 
 DEAR SIR: I this morning received a letter 
 from Governor Hazlet stating that considera- 
 ble depredations in Burning of Vessels &c are 
 committed by the British Vessels of War about 
 Lewes Town in Sussex and requests of me to 
 forward him six kegs of your best rifle powder 
 or such as is used for musketry, perhaps one or 
 two of the kegs had best be of Cannon powder. 
 I wish you to have it sent in to Paul McGin's 
 this evening or early in the morning, as we wish 
 to forward it to-morrow with some lead I am 
 procuring. 
 
 Yours sincerely 
 
 JOHN WARNER 
 P.S. Send me a bill of the powder.
 
 A HISTORY 41 
 
 General Stockton apparently had more 
 faith in artillery than had Mr. Warner, and 
 three weeks later supplemented his order: 
 
 Thursday, April 8, 1813 
 
 DEAR SIR: By express from Governor Hazlet 
 this morning at one o'clock the enemy's Ship 
 Belvedier had commenced cannonading Lewis 
 Town. In addition to the number casks of 
 powder I am directed to get ten more of Can- 
 non powder, please to send them this day to 
 Mr. Dixson's store. 
 
 JNO. STOCKTON 
 
 When the British attacked Washington, in 
 August of 1814, about two hundred kegs of Du 
 Pont powder were in a magazine near Alexan- 
 dria. As the English squadron was insistent in 
 its demands for munitions, the Du Pont agent 
 in Alexandria asked the Government's protec- 
 tion for the magazine. The Government im- 
 mediately bought all the powder but ten kegs, 
 paying three thousand dollars in cash, and 
 ordered more. In August of that year E. I. du 
 Pont sent to the Government arsenal eighteen 
 hundred and forty barrels of powder, and in 
 November one hundred and sixty-six thousand 
 pounds amounting to seventy thousand
 
 42 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 dollars; all but eighteen hundred dollars of 
 which was paid by January, 1815. From No- 
 vember, 1814, to February, 1815, when peace 
 was declared, he had delivered six hundred and 
 eighty-seven barrels more, making a further 
 $13,740, of which $7601.40 was still due in 
 March, 1815. 
 
 The success of the business was now unques- 
 tioned. For the first six years the profits had 
 been slightly over forty-three thousand dollars. 
 In 1811 E. I. du Pont wrote to his father, "The 
 profits of 1810 came to more than thirty thou- 
 sand dollars, and for this year will be between 
 forty thousand dollars and fifty thousand dol- 
 lars.'* 1 He felt quite warranted in that year 
 in helping his brother Victor to build, near the 
 powder mills, a factory for the manufacture 
 of woollen cloths. Mr. Bauduy also invested in 
 the new enterprise, as offering an opportunity 
 for his son, and the cloth firm was established 
 under the name that Mr. Bauduy had proposed 
 for the powder company Du Pont, Bauduy 
 and Company. 
 
 After the war Irenee du Pont could probably 
 have paid all his debts and enjoyed the fruit of 
 his labor, but in 1811 the Paris firm of Du Pont 
 
 " E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours. May 26, 1811.
 
 A HISTORY 43 
 
 de Nemours failed, with twelve shares in the 
 powder company as its only asset. 
 
 The capital of the powder company con- 
 sisted of eighteen shares of two thousand dol- 
 lars each : twelve shares were held by Du Pont 
 de Nemours Pere, Fils et C 16 , 1 though instead 
 of twenty-four thousand dollars, Irenee du 
 Pont only received $16,470.90 from his father; 2 
 four shares belonged to Bauduy; one to Bider- 
 mann; one to Duquesnoy. 3 But thirty-six 
 thousand dollars, even if it had been paid, 
 proved to be much too low an estimate for 
 building and operating the mills, and Irenee du 
 Pont and Bauduy borrowed thirty thousand 
 dollars more from Philadelphia and Wilming- 
 ton banks with which to complete the plant. In 
 Paris, Du Pont de Nemours was constantly de- 
 scribing Irenee's great success, and repeatedly 
 told his shareholders that the powder company 
 would repay all they had lost in his company 
 and Victor's. In a letter to Mr. Bidermann, 
 
 1 The original commandite, or limited stock-company, the 
 office of which had been removed to Paris. 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Mme. Bureaux de Pusy, January 16, 1813. 
 This letter explains many of the early difficulties of the powder 
 company. 
 
 * The share originally belonging to Duquesnoy was bought 
 by Du Pont de Nemours for E. I. du Pont in 1808, from Catoire
 
 44 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 written on April 18, 1808, he said: "I think 
 that after the manufactory has had some im- 
 provement and has repaid the one hundred 
 thousand francs that I borrowed for it, 1 each 
 share will pay six hundred dollars a year, and 
 therefore will have a real value of six thousand 
 dollars. For one cannot estimate the capital of 
 a manufacture and one so hazardous as gun- 
 powder at more than ten times its profit. But 
 even that would be three times the original 
 cost of each share of my company. And it fol- 
 lows that the twelve shares that my company 
 owns in the powder company would equal 
 thirty-six shares in the company that bears my 
 name of which I am the head." 
 
 By the original agreement 2 the shareholders 
 had the right to dissolve the powder company 
 and divide its assets at the end of 1809 and 
 at stated periods thereafter if two thirds of 
 them notified Irenee du Pont of their wish to 
 do so six months before the specified date. 
 
 1 This sum, equivalent to twenty thousand dollars, was bor- 
 rowed from Prince Talleyrand. Irenee du Pont had not asked his 
 father for money, and he only received twelve thousand dollars 
 of it; eight thousand dollars was spent in Paris. Yet the powder 
 company was charged with the whole amount. (E. I. du Pont to 
 Mme. de Pusy, January 16, 1813.) 
 
 2 See Appendix, p. 178.
 
 A HISTORY 45 
 
 Irenee had, however, the first right to buy 
 their shares, at the value given in his previous 
 yearly report. Neither Du Pont nor Bauduy 
 was a trained accountant, and misunderstand- 
 ings with the shareholders were frequent. But 
 the limit of tension seemed to be reached when 
 at the time of his father's failure each one of 
 the thirty-six shares of his father's company 
 the commandite was translated into one 
 third of a share in the powder company, 1 and 
 they all demanded full and immediate pay- 
 ment of their shares. Irenee du Pont wrote let- 
 ter after letter begging them to wait until he 
 had enough capital to keep supplied with raw 
 material. Even his father could not realize 
 Irenee's situation and the necessity of meeting 
 the notes that he and Bauduy had given to 
 build their own and Victor du Pont's mills. 
 During the War of 1812 letters to France often 
 took six months to reach their destination; and 
 conditions would entirely change while Du 
 Pont de Nemours was waiting for answers to 
 his questions. It became most important for 
 the brothers that their father should come to 
 America to be convinced of what they had so 
 often written him that Bidermann, Mme. 
 
 * See Appendix, p. 181.
 
 46 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 de Stael (who had inherited from her father, 
 Necker, two shares in the Paris firm of Du 
 Pont de Nemours), and the other associes were 
 doing their utmost "to kill the goose that lays 
 the golden eggs for us all." 1 
 
 But for the time being persuasion was use- 
 less. Du Pont de Nemours could not bring him- 
 self to leave France while his literary work was 
 unfinished; and in April, 1814, Napoleon abdi- 
 cated, the Bourbons returned to France, and 
 Du Pont was appointed Secretary of the Pro- 
 visional Government then Chevalier of the 
 Legion of Honor and Counsellor of State. 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Du Pont de Nemours, July 4, 1811
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 1814-1816 
 
 IT^OR several years Du Pont and Bauduy 
 JL had continued their business relations 
 chiefly because they were devoted fathers, and 
 their children, Victorine du Pont and Ferdi- 
 nand Bauduy, had become engaged to be mar- 
 ried. So little did Irenee du Pont like this ar- 
 rangement that in 1810 he encouraged young 
 Bauduy's desire to finish his education in Eu- 
 rope, hoping that his absence would end the 
 understanding; but Bauduy returned in June 
 of 1813 and married Miss du Pont the next 
 November. Only a few weeks later, on the 21st 
 of January, young Bauduy died of pneumonia in 
 Mr. du Pont's house. His daughter's passionate 
 grief, as well as that of Mr. Bauduy, who was 
 for the moment overwhelmingly grateful for 
 the care given his son, touched Mr. du Pont 
 very deeply, but the only link that might have 
 held him and Mr. Bauduy together was broken, 
 and misunderstandings and fault-findings went 
 from bad to worse. 
 
 In 1813 Mr. du Pont bought from Thomas 
 Lea, for forty-seven thousand dollars, the es-
 
 48 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 tate known as Hagley, in order to add new pow- 
 der mills which the growth of the business re- 
 quired. In the summer of 1814 Bauduy was 
 complaining of the cost of the new plant, and 
 in December of that year Du Pont offered to 
 buy Bauduy's shares in both the powder and 
 wool factories. A notification of the change in 
 the firm was sent to various banks and agen- 
 cies in January and February, 1815 : 
 
 To DANIEL BYRNS, 
 
 Cashier of the Bank of WiF & Brandy 6 
 
 Our present object is to inform that the 
 partnership which existed between Mr. Peter 
 Bauduy and ourselves is dissolved, in conse- 
 quence of our having purchased his shares in 
 the concern. 
 
 the manufacturing of gun Powder will con- 
 tinue to be conducted as formerly, under the 
 same firm, by E. I. du Pont, whose only signa- 
 ture please to acknowledge for the future. 
 
 Mr. du Pont and Mr. Bauduy held very dif- 
 ferent opinions of the values of the shares of 
 the two plants, and legal arbitration became 
 imperative. While the claims of both men were 
 being considered, Du Pont learned to his 
 amazement that in the previous June Bauduy
 
 A HISTORY 49 
 
 had written confidentially to the French share- 
 holders making all kinds of accusations against 
 Du Font's integrity as well as his administra- 
 tion of the business. That was, of course, the 
 end of all friendly relations between the two 
 men; but it served one excellent purpose in 
 accomplishing what both Du Pont brothers 
 had urged for ten years the return of their 
 father to America. Because of his position in 
 the Government of Louis XVIII he did not 
 come immediately, though he was anxious to 
 see for himself what truth there could be in 
 Bauduy's charges. In the following March, 
 however, Napoleon returned to Paris, the 
 Bourbon Government again collapsed, and in 
 May, 1815, Du Pont de Nemours was in Dela- 
 ware, where he spent the two years that were 
 left of his life. His presence was a great help to 
 his sons. His unconquerable good spirits, his 
 warm sympathy, and his fluent pen were now 
 on this side of the ocean; and he was as ready 
 to explain to the French shareholders the diffi- 
 culty of sending money from a country that 
 was doing all its business on credit as he had 
 been in insisting to his sons that his creditors 
 must be paid immediately from the American 
 earnings.
 
 60 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 Another result of Mr. Bauduy's letter was 
 that James Bidermann of Paris, who was one 
 of the chief shareholders, sent his son, Antoine 
 Bidermann, to America as his representative. 
 When Mr. Bauduy retired from the partner- 
 ship in February, 1815, his duties, which con- 
 sisted mainly in travelling about the country 
 to see the various agents, were assumed by Mr. 
 Bidermann. 
 
 In 1816 an Alexandria newspaper published 
 an advertisement, which with slight modifica- 
 tions was printed in all the large cities: 
 
 NOTICE. PETER BAUDUY'S BEST GUNPOWDER ' 
 Having for thirteen years been concerned in 
 the manufactory of Gunpowder of E. I. Du- 
 pont (de Nemours) and Co. and having last 
 year withdrawn from the said concern, I have 
 established a manufactory of the same article 
 under my particular care, and beg leave to in- 
 form the public that a constant assortment of 
 gunpowder will be found with my agent Mr. 
 John Roberts, merchant, of Alexandria, which 
 will be warranted to be of the first quality, and 
 will be sold on the most reasonable terms. 
 
 PETER BAUDUY 
 
 Brandywine, August 25
 
 A HISTORY 51 
 
 Mr. Bauduy had received from the powder 
 company $108,690.31 since 1804, including the 
 purchase from him of his four shares for eight 
 thousand dollars; 1 but he was not satisfied 
 with the terms offered by Mr. du Pont and 
 brought suit against him in March, 1816. 
 Bauduy rejected all efforts for arbitration, and 
 it was not until April, 1824, after many post- 
 ponements, decisions, and appeals, that the 
 case was finally decided in Mr. du Font's favor. 
 
 Bauduy's accounts were very complicated, 
 partly because "in return for arranging and 
 sustaining his credit he demanded, beside the 
 interest due on his four shares, that he should 
 be given a profit equal to the interest on three 
 other shares which had been held in reserve by 
 the Company to be given to certain persons 
 who had an influence with President Adams 
 and his Secretary that was supposed to be es- 
 sential, but that it was not necessary to con- 
 sider during the administration of the upright 
 Jefferson." 2 
 
 In the meantime Eden Park, Bauduy's estate 
 near Wilmington, was rapidly being turned 
 
 1 Statement of Profits and Interest received by P. Bauduy 
 from E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, January, 1819. 
 
 1 Statement by Du Pont de Nemours, Pere, to the sharehold- 
 ers in his company, April 18, 1808.
 
 52 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 into a powder yard. The mills were small and 
 driven by horse-power; and were as nearly as 
 possible copies of the Du Pont mills. The kegs 
 were marked "Brandy wine Powder." "But," 
 wrote Du Pont de Nemours, "even though he 
 has taken many of our workmen, though he 
 uses almost the same machinery and methods 
 of mixing no powder compares with ours 
 all because of Irenee's skill and his marvellous 
 industry." 1 
 
 1 Du Pont de Nemours to Johannot, undated, but written 
 about May. 1817.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 1817-1837 
 
 IN August of 1817 Du Pont de Nemours 
 died at his son's house in Delaware. Irenee 
 du Pont was intensely fond of his father and 
 felt his death keenly; and with the personal 
 grief came increased anxieties. His relations 
 with the shareholders of his father's company 
 could no longer be adjusted by the explana- 
 tions and postponements that were so easy to 
 Du Pont de Nemours, whose cheerfully philo- 
 sophic mind always had an amazing ability for 
 proving that in a short time his shareholders 
 would be marvellously enriched by their Amer- 
 ican investments. He persuaded the richer in- 
 vestors in his company to allow their dividends 
 to accumulate, and gave varying sums of 
 money as dividends to those who were more in- 
 sistent. At his death, however, promises were 
 inadequate; all the shareholders except Bider- 
 mann demanded payment of their original cap- 
 ital with interest. In addition to that indebted- 
 ness, Du Pont de Nemours, in November, 1807, 
 had borrowed one hundred thousand francs
 
 54 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 from Prince Talleyrand, in order to relieve 
 Irenee of the need of constantly asking Bauduy 
 to renew his notes. Some of the money was 
 spent by Du Pont de Nemours in Paris, much 
 of it for buying up shares in his own and the 
 powder companies, but twelve thousand dollars 
 of it had been used in the powder company and 
 Irenee du Pont accepted the responsibility of 
 the whole amount, as well as of seven thousand 
 francs borrowed from Mme. de Stael, in 1814, 
 with which he had nothing to do. The money 
 paid to Bauduy for his share in both the pow- 
 der and the wool mills had already taxed the 
 company's resources to an alarming degree; 
 and the climax was reached when in March, 
 1818, five powder mills exploded, destroying 
 almost the entire plant and over eighty-five 
 thousand pounds of powder. The actual loss 
 was about thirty thousand dollars. 1 The catas- 
 trophe brought a temporary relief, for the 
 French creditors saw the uselessness of demand- 
 ing immediate payments and were induced to 
 accept long-term notes for their shares in the 
 business. 
 
 Shortly after the War of 1812 the Govern- 
 ment had found itself in possession of a large 
 
 > * E. I. du Pont to LeRoy, Bayard & Co., February 12, 1819.
 
 A HISTORY 55 
 
 quantity of hurriedly made or damaged pow- 
 der, and offered it "on loan" to various powder 
 companies. E. I. du Pont took more than three 
 hundred and fifty thousand pounds of this 
 powder, which fortunately was not lost in the 
 explosion and served to supply the agents until 
 the mills were rebuilt. 
 
 Business conditions in America were very 
 peculiar in those days. There was infinite op- 
 portunity for manufacturing and very little 
 money for investment. Credit had to be 
 stretched to the utmost. To quote a letter 
 written by Du Pont de Nemours to a French 
 banker: "Houses without number have been 
 built of paper; water-power for factories and 
 the factories themselves of paper; canals 
 and roads of paper; beautiful and useful 
 steam-boats of paper." 1 Good notes were 
 discounted at one and a half per cent a month; 
 and important firms were constantly failing, 
 among them several Du Pont agencies. Mr. du 
 Pont estimated his losses from 1817 to 1819, 
 from bankruptcies, explosions, etc., at one hun- 
 dred and forty thousand dollars, and from de- 
 terioration of values of real estate because of 
 the general financial distress, at fifty thousand 
 
 1 Du Pont de Nemours to Johannot, May. 1817.
 
 56 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 dollars more; yet the powder company steadily 
 gained in strength. The reputation of the pow- 
 der became well established and Mr. du Pont was 
 liked and respected. He was appointed a direc- 
 tor of the Bank of the United States; was con- 
 sulted by those in authority concerning legis- 
 lation for helping manufacturers and farmers; 
 and his notes were accepted from Boston to 
 New Orleans. He made a large part of the 
 Government powder; he sold about twenty-five 
 thousand pounds a year to the American Fur 
 Company, of which William Astor was pres- 
 ident; he supplied many of the West Indian 
 and South American States; but all on credits 
 of four, six, and eight months. In 1824 he wrote 
 from Philadelphia to his wife: "It is cruel to 
 ride sixty miles every five or six days to meet 
 one's notes, and so to waste one's time and 
 one's life. God grant that some day I may get to 
 the end of it." He never did. It was not long after 
 his death that the last of the French notes were 
 paid and that the company became wholly 
 American; but in the last year of his life he gave 
 a very real proof of his loyalty to the country 
 of his adoption. 
 
 In 1833 the Nullification Party in South 
 Carolina deeply resented certain import duties
 
 A HISTORY 57 
 
 ordered by Congress. The State threatened to 
 secede from the Union; and, through the New 
 York agent, offered the Du Pont Company 
 twenty-four thousand dollars in cash for one 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds of 
 cannon and musket powder. Mr. du Pont an- 
 swered: "The destination of this powder being 
 obvious, we think it right to decline furnishing 
 any part of the above order. When our friends in 
 the South will want sporting powder for peace- 
 ful purposes we will be happy to serve them.'* l 
 Two months later he himself wrote: "Our E. I. 
 duPont has been in Washington assisting at the 
 treaty of peace between your friends, the Nulli- 
 fiers, and ours, the monopolist manufacturers 
 of the North. Now that the affair has ended so 
 amiably I almost regret that we refused to sup- 
 ply the powder. We would be very glad to have 
 that twenty-four thousand dollars in our cash 
 box rather than in that of your army." 2 Per- 
 haps the affair would not have ended so ami- 
 ably had the powder been forthcoming. 
 
 On the 31st of October, 1834, E. I. du Pont 
 died in Philadelphia after an illness of only a 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont to Wm. Kemble, January 12, 1833. 
 * E. I. du Pont to Pitray, Viel & Co., of Charleston, March 
 2,1833.
 
 58 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 few hours. His business was successful; its fu- 
 ture was to be greater than he could have 
 imagined; but the three people for whose sake 
 he had struggled and saved, the three he most 
 dearly loved his father, brother, and wife 
 had died while the struggle was still at its 
 worst. Good citizen though he was, there were 
 times when his heart ached for France, for the 
 friends that he had loved, and whom he never 
 replaced. Of his seven children only three were 
 born in France and the eldest was but seven 
 years old when they left there. His deep affec- 
 tion for Antoine Bidermann, who married his 
 second daughter, Evelina du Pont, was partly 
 because Bidermann, too, was a Frenchman 
 and understood the homesickness that at times 
 could not be conquered. His children were de- 
 voted to him and he to them; his neighbors and 
 employees respected and loved him; and his 
 daily work had been free from annoyance and 
 contention since Bauduy left. But after thirty- 
 three years of anxiety and toil, it was hard that 
 he should die just before the last payments on 
 the old debts were made, just too soon to have 
 realized his victory. 
 
 For the next three years the business was 
 managed by Mr. du Font's son-in-law, An-
 
 A HISTORY 59 
 
 toine Bidermann, and his eldest son, Alfred du 
 Pont. At the end of that time Mr. Bidermann 
 went to France to arrange for the final pay- 
 ments to the creditors of Du Pont de Nemours; 
 and though he returned to live for many years 
 in America, he never resumed an active part in 
 the firm. He had been Mr. du Pont's friend and 
 confidant for nearly twenty years and was 
 better fitted than any one else to administer 
 the estate; but that duty accomplished, he 
 gave place to E. I. du Pont's three sons, who 
 were well qualified to take up their father's life- 
 work. The notifications of the new partnership 
 were dated April 1, 1837. 
 
 It is almost impossible to form any estimate 
 of the firm's profits in the last few years of Mr. 
 du Pont's life. According to his statements in 
 the Bauduy suit, the gross sales of powder, 
 which in 1804 were $10,015.10, had in 1812 
 (during the war) reached $148,597.62; but in 
 the next year they dropped to $107,291.20, 
 and were still lower in 1814. In 1819 Mr. du 
 Pont wrote that within two years the company 
 had lost in explosions, bankruptcies, etc., over 
 one hundred and forty thousand dollars, and by 
 depreciation in real estate fifty thousand dol- 
 lars more. In 1832 he wrote: "The amount of
 
 60 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 gunpowder manufactured annually by us is at 
 this time about eight hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand pounds. The quantity made since the 
 establishment of the manufacture to the pres- 
 ent time is about thirteen million four hundred 
 thousand pounds." 1 
 
 The company also sold refined saltpetre, 
 charcoal, pyroligneous acid, iron liquor (a red 
 dye), and creosote, or exchanged any of those 
 products for crude saltpetre. To keep supplied 
 with this essential ingredient was from the be- 
 ginning the greatest difficulty with which Du 
 Pont had to deal. Most of the saltpetre in this 
 country was brought from India. The Du Pont 
 mills were at first supplied by New York and 
 Philadelphia commission merchants at a cost 
 of about fifteen cents a pound, but at the end 
 of 1807 the United States declared an embargo 
 against England and the importations could 
 not be depended on. Du Pont was told that 
 saltpetre had been found in caves in the west- 
 ern part of Virginia and in Kentucky, and he 
 determined to go himself to look for it. There 
 seemed to be many possibilities, if one may 
 judge from the itinerary sent him from Alex- 
 
 1 Answers to queries received from the Secretary of the 
 Treasury. E. I. du Pont, April 12, 1832.
 
 A HISTORY r 61 
 
 andria: "I would recommend to Mr. du Pont 
 to commence his researches for saltpetre at 
 Franklin in Pendleton County, and pursue his 
 route along the foot of the Alleghany Moun- 
 tain, keeping the mountain on his right; from 
 Franklin to the warm springs in Bath County, 
 from thence to Fincastle in Botetourt County, 
 thence across the Alleghany mountain to 
 Uniontown, also in Monroe County. My 
 Knowledge of the saltpetre country does not 
 extend further than the above direction, but 
 in this route he can make himself acquainted 
 with the whole saltpetre country." l It was a 
 delightful trip that was suggested to him, 
 through the most beautiful part of Virginia. 
 The Warm Springs had been famous among the 
 Indians for their health-giving properties; and 
 Washington and the Custis family made them 
 fashionable. But it is probable that Mr. du Pont 
 never found time for the journey. At any rate, 
 he did not buy saltpetre there. 
 
 During the War of 1812 no saltpetre was im- 
 ported, and that from the Mammoth Cave in 
 Kentucky sold for thirty-five cents a pound. 
 Fortunately, during Jefferson's administra- 
 
 1 A. C. Cazenove to E. I. du Pont, August 19, 1808; quoting 
 Mr. John Roberts.
 
 62 DV PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 tion Mr. du Pont had reminded the President 
 of the difficulty of getting saltpetre from India 
 in times of war, and the Government, acting on 
 Du Pont's advice, bought and stored about 
 fifty thousand dollars worth of it an ultimate 
 saving to the Government of about five hun- 
 dred thousand dollars. 
 
 After the Treaty of Ghent saltpetre was 
 again brought from Calcutta at about seven 
 cents a pound, but the supply was uncertain in 
 both quantity and quality. As early as 1832 Du 
 Pont was getting all possible information about 
 the saltpetre found "hah* way between Val- 
 paraiso and Callao," but was told that "its 
 basis is nitrate of soda and it is unfit for the 
 composition of gun-powder." l In 1838 a large 
 quantity of "Peruvian saltpetre" was offered 
 in Boston at three and a hah* cents when Indian 
 saltpetre was at six, but the Company refused 
 to take it. 
 
 The problem of transportation was a diffi- 
 cult one. For the first few years everything was 
 shipped by sea and taken inland by wagons; 
 and the loss in storms and from inadequate pro- 
 tection was very great. During the War of 1812 
 
 1 Lieutenant Irvine Shubrick to E. I. du Pont, from Val- 
 paraiso, November 18, 1832.
 
 PENNSYLVANIA & OHIO 
 TRANSPORTATION LINE. 
 
 The undersigned proprietors of the above Line, will be prepared on the opening of the 
 Canals (say from 1st to 15th March next) to forward goods to Pittsburg daily, via Schuylkill, 
 Union and Pennsylvania Canals and Portage Rail Road, in as quick time and at as low rates as 
 by any other Line. 
 
 Goods directed to our care if ordered into the Schuylkill, can be received and forwarded 
 free of charge of porterage, &c. 
 
 Freights and expenses paid on goods consigned to our address, and forwarded without charge 
 of commission. 
 
 JAMES STEEL & Co. Arch street wharf, SchuyOciU. 
 ROYER & McLANAHAN, HoUidaysburg. 
 
 MCDOWELL & Co. 
 
 JAMES vrn;i,T*^e. and GEORGE THLIIOLLV\ Jr. having associated them- 
 selves together under the firm of JAMES STEEL &. Co. intend doing a general Commis- 
 sion business on the Schuylkill; having a commodious Warehouse, will be prepared to receive 
 and make liberal advances on any articles consigned to them for sale. 
 
 JAMES STEEL & Oo. 
 
 Philadelphia February SO/A, 1838. 
 
 A CIRCULAR RECEIVED BY E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO. IN 1838
 
 A HISTORY 63 
 
 our coasts were patrolled by English gunboats 
 and transportation by land became imperative. 
 Regular freight lines of wagons drawn by four 
 or five horses ran from Boston to Baltimore and 
 from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Canals were 
 cut in every direction, greatly relieving the sit- 
 uation except when there was ice; but for sev- 
 eral months of each year powder could be 
 moved only in wagons, and the freight added 
 materially to its price. In 1835 the New York 
 agent wanted to fill an order for supplying the 
 frigate Constitution, then in New York Har- 
 bor, and as the Delaware River was closed by 
 ice, he suggested sending it by the new Camden 
 and Amboy Railroad. 1 The Philadelphia agent 
 was instructed to inquire about it, and wrote 
 to Bidermann, then head of the firm, that the 
 freight from Camden to New York would be 
 $1.25 per hundred pounds as against twelve 
 and a half cents a keg 2 by schooner from Wil- 
 mington to New York. He added: "Mr. 
 Stevens, the principal proprietor of the Rail 
 
 1 Grading for the Camden and Amboy Railroad was begun at 
 Bordentown in 1830. An "exhibition trip" was made in 1831; 
 but the road was not completed from Camden to Jersey City till 
 1839, when the management announced that the entire journey 
 would be made in "between six and seven hours." 
 
 * A keg probably held twenty-five pounds.
 
 64 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 Road line, says that as thirty miles of the Rail 
 Road has no horse track it would be necessary 
 and unavoidable that they should use a Loco- 
 motive Engine which should be placed behind 
 the train of cars, so as to propel instead of 
 drawing them. Precaution, he said, would be 
 taken by covering the cars, which are tight 
 roofed and sided, with cloths dampened so as 
 to prevent accidents from sparks. When the 
 powder arrived at Amboy they would put it on 
 board a sloop and tow her to New York by the 
 steam-boat that carries merchandise and not 
 passengers." l 
 
 1 F. G. Smith to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March. 
 1835.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 1837-1860 
 
 WHEN Antoine Bidermann retired from 
 active business in 1837, Alfred du 
 Pont, the eldest son of E. I. du Pont, and his 
 two brothers, Henry and Alexis, formed a part- 
 nership, still using the original name of the 
 firm. Alfred had been in the business for nearly 
 twenty years and was fourteen years older than 
 Henry, the brother next to him in age; he nat- 
 urally assumed the direction of the company, 
 following as closely as was possible the methods 
 that he had learned from his father. Thanks to 
 that father's industry and courage and to the 
 financial skill of Mr. Bidermann, the firm was 
 out of debt, and the younger brothers were 
 quite able to relieve Alfred of the details of the 
 manufacture. He began at once to improve his 
 equipment. The wooden kegs for shipping pow- 
 der, bought in Boston and Philadelphia, were 
 of all sizes and qualities, and were often alto- 
 gether lacking when they were most needed. 
 His first innovation was to bring coopers and 
 their machinery to the Brandywine and start 
 the manufacture of kegs on the premises. Pow-
 
 66 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 der destined for New York and New England 
 had been loaded from small boats on schooners 
 near Marcus Hook, but the wagons carrying 
 the powder did not leave the mills until the 
 schooner signalled that it was waiting, and if 
 the weather was bad and powder could not be 
 loaded the vessel proceeded and the powder 
 was kept until another opportunity should 
 offer. Agents objected to so uncertain an ar- 
 rangement, so Alfred du Pont built a pier and 
 magazine three miles above Wilmington, on 
 the Delaware River; the abandoned magazine 
 still stands at Edge Moor. 
 
 For the next ten years such improvements 
 constitute the story of the company. Untiring 
 effort was necessary in order to keep pace with 
 the growth of the country a growth so rapid 
 that no financial system could support it. Fail- 
 ure followed failure. "We have seen within the 
 last four years many sudden and heavy changes 
 in money matters, but the crisis of the last 
 week exceeds anything of the kind it has been 
 our lot to experience." 1 In 1841, "All the states 
 are insolvent, if by insolvent we mean unable 
 to pay their bills." 2 And the following year, 
 
 1 Alfred du Pont to Wm. Kemble, February 7, 1841. 
 
 2 Wm. Kemble to Alfred du Pont, November, 1841.
 
 f ^ T - ' * ' 
 
 ELDER, G-ELSTON & CO. 
 
 ^a^w^a^iir^ &^^BU> 
 
 34 & 36 COMMERCE STREET WHARF, BALTIMORE. 
 
 itlci Of C . t ' .. 
 
 Mi n-Lnmilise. \ehii:li ire jyomtAe to fltJiw In Vc 
 
 " 
 
 . 
 ritliiii --- days, at the uilc o/'S 
 
 thrf'.!i>inn t*tckage*of' 
 , . - , ri 
 
 p" lOOlbs. nd charge*. 
 
 
 'v/ 
 
 ^-- 
 
 
 
 j 
 
 AN OLD BILL OF LADING
 
 A HISTORY 67 
 
 "there is a meeting of the holders of bills 
 against the Government called to take place in 
 Washington on June twenty-third," 1 which 
 meant delayed payments for powder. Iron and 
 coal mines were being discovered and blasting 
 powder was wanted. The construction of canals 
 and railways required it, and the mills were 
 worked to their full capacity to supply all the 
 demands. With new interests and new indus- 
 tries came new difficulties and disagreements. 
 In 1842 Alfred du Pont writes, "Our political 
 dissensions are such that it would require the 
 enemy at our doors to induce us to make proper 
 preparations for defence." 2 Three years later 
 the enemy was at the door, or perhaps it is 
 fairer to say we had knocked at the door of the 
 enemy, who was as unready as ourselves. 
 
 War between the United States and Mexico 
 began early in 1846. A few weeks later a 
 firm in Havana ordered two hundred thou- 
 sand pounds of powder. Alfred du Pont sus- 
 pected that it was for Mexico and went to 
 Washington to consult the President; at his 
 request and that of "the Secretaries" 3 the 
 
 ,! Wm. Kemble to Alfred du Pont, June 18, 1842. 
 * Alfred du Pont to Wm. Kemble, July 12, 1842. 
 1 See letters from Wm. Kemble in June and July, 1846.
 
 68 DV PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 order was declined. Mr. du Pont wrote to the 
 would-be purchasers, "However unjust our 
 proceedings may be, and however shameful our 
 invasion of Mexican territory, we cannot make 
 powder to be used against our own country." l 
 Another effort was equally unsuccessful: "Two 
 gentlemen, a Frenchman and a Spaniard, the 
 former giving his name as being Desache, have 
 applied for two hundred thousand pounds of 
 powder, terms cash, and they refer, to S. Morris 
 Wain of Philadelphia and to Harmony and 
 nephew of New York City. They denied the 
 powder being wanted for Mexico, but as I have 
 every reason to believe that it is for that coun- 
 try a prompt and decided refusal was given." 2 
 The war lasted two years, requiring con- 
 stant effort from all three brothers to meet 
 changing conditions in the requirements for 
 army powder as well as in that for commercial 
 uses. New explosives had often to be consid- 
 ered. The most interesting of these was offered 
 them in 1846. A man named Schonbein pa- 
 tented in Europe and America a product which 
 was called "cotton gunpowder," "explosive 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., to Morrison, De Carrick & 
 Co.. May 20, 1846. 
 
 Alfred du Pont to Wm. Kemble, June 11, 1846.
 
 A HISTORY 69 
 
 cotton," "fulminating cotton," or "gun cot- 
 ton." He offered to sell the rights to England 
 and to France, but both countries refused it. 
 Alfred du Pont, however, was sufficiently in- 
 terested to make some gun cotton from a for- 
 mula of his own composition. He wrote: "The 
 discovery is brilliant and such as to create 
 astonishment, but the introduction of gun cot- 
 ton in common use must be the work of time, 
 because the cost of preparing it is high and it 
 will require years before the application of ma- 
 chinery to its manufacture can make it cheap 
 enough." * That he found time to make a care- 
 ful study of the new material before he rejected 
 it is shown in a letter he wrote in answer to 
 some of the questions that were coming from 
 all the powder agents, who were much alarmed 
 by newspaper accounts of the wonderful inven- 
 tion: 
 
 " The objections to gun cotton and all other 
 preparations of the kind are such as to preclude 
 its becoming suitable for gunpowder. I shall 
 name a few, leaving out the cost which must 
 under any circumstances be greater than that 
 of gunpowder. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Novem- 
 ber 25. 1846.
 
 70 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 "1st. The article is more explosive than pro- 
 pellant. 
 
 "2d. It yields much less gas than gunpowder 
 and at a lower temperature; therefore any 
 given amount of propellant power can only be 
 obtained by a much greater strain on the gun 
 than if powder was used. 
 
 "3d. The effect depending in a great measure 
 on the quantity of common air contained be- 
 tween the fibres of the cotton, the compression 
 in the gun barrel must have much influence, 
 and no certainty can be expected in daily use. 
 
 "4th. It imbibes moisture with more rapidity 
 than common powder and any moisture it im- 
 bibes has a very injurious effect, unless it is 
 dried over previous to being used. Powder is 
 generally used in charges competent to effect 
 the purpose intended and these charges are 
 graduated so that they will be fully efficient, 
 even with one or two per cent moisture. This 
 is done without risk; it is different with gun 
 cotton for the least over charge endangers the 
 barrel. 
 
 "5th. The propellant gases of gun cotton are 
 very acid and corrode the interior of gun bar- 
 rels rapidly. 
 
 "6th. Gun cotton if used in close places,
 
 A HISTORY 71 
 
 such as casements, between decks of ships, etc., 
 would by the vapors of nitric and nitrous acid 
 it yields make such place untenable. 
 
 "Many other reasons could be given which 
 would at once convince any person that gun 
 cotton cannot come in use for military pur- 
 poses, but time will not permit; there is, how- 
 ever, a trifling experiment which will show the 
 merit of the new article. Take a small lock be- 
 tween your thumb and finger, holding it with 
 no more pressure than you would hold a pen in 
 writing; fire one end and you will find that the 
 fire will be cut off at the point of compression, 
 the piece held between the fingers remaining 
 unburnt; now, what dependence can be placed 
 on a substance so easily effected by pressure? 
 Any person who will fire gun cotton in the com- 
 mon vacuum of an air pump, will see at once 
 that its power depends entirely on the common 
 air contained between the fibres; it varying 
 according to the vacuum, or otherwise accord- 
 ing to the compression used in ramming down 
 a charge, which amounts to the same. 
 
 "In flashing common gunpowder in a com- 
 mon air pump no difference can be seen be- 
 tween doing so when the bell is full of air, or 
 when a good vacuum is obtained; but in burn-
 
 72 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 ing gun cotton it is a very different thing, for in 
 a bell where not more than two grains weight 
 of powder could be burnt, fifteen or twenty of 
 gun cotton could be exploded, the mercury in 
 both instances standing a little below one and 
 a half inches. 
 
 "ALFRED DU PONT" 1 
 
 Many phrases in Mr. du Font's objections 
 suggest a belief in the future usefulness of gun 
 cotton in some form. He had himself done 
 much to improve powder-making. When he 
 was twenty-five years old, his father wrote: 
 " Alfred has just contrived a new instrument as 
 simple as it is ingenious and has proved an in- 
 teresting fact, which is that there is no relation 
 between the strength and the quickness of gun- 
 powder." 2 And a year later: "I am confident 
 that my son Alfred has considerably improved 
 the manufacture of our Sporting and Eagle 
 powders"; adding, "Please, dear Sir, to receive 
 my thanks for the gratification your letter 
 gives me, which is the greater from the circum- 
 stance that it is to my son that the compliment 
 is due." 8 
 
 1 Correspondence of Charles I. du Pont & Co., Dec. 29, 1847. 
 1 E. I. du Pont to P. P. F. Degrand, August 10, 1823. 
 * E. I. du Pont to Colonel George Gibson, July 22, 1824.
 
 A HISTORY 73 
 
 Even after the administration of the business 
 had become his first duty, Alfred du Pont was 
 an active powderman, often in the mills, exper- 
 imenting in the laboratory, and deeply inter- 
 ested in any discovery that could improve the 
 manufacture. Thirty years of hard work wore 
 him out as it had his father; in 1847 a severe 
 explosion with a loss of eighteen lives was a 
 serious blow to him; and in 1849 he began to 
 find his burden very heavy. He wrote: "A fabri- 
 cation of over ten thousand pounds of powder 
 per day, and all the mills going the twenty-four 
 hours through (fourteen of which are by lamp- 
 light) is no small care," 1 and, "We will this 
 year have made over four hundred thousand 
 pounds of powder more than in 1848." 2 
 
 In 1850 Alfred du Pont gave up the manage- 
 ment to his brother Henry, with whom began 
 a new regime. Alfred had gone to school in 
 Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and had afterwards 
 studied in Philadelphia; but he had always 
 been near home, had grown up on the Brandy- 
 wine, and had worked with his father for seven- 
 teen years. Henry du Pont had gone from 
 boarding-school to West Point; had then served 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Novem- 
 ber 21, 1849. 
 8 Ibid., December 20, 1849.
 
 74 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 in the Army, and had resigned and joined his 
 brothers only five months before their father's 
 death in 1834. He had worked loyally under 
 Alfred and cheerfully accepted his decisions, 
 but when his turn came to take command of the 
 office after sixteen years in the mills, he brought 
 all the efficiency of his West Point training to 
 bear on the task before him. He studied the 
 growth of the West and put new agencies where- 
 ever he believed that new markets might be 
 created; he required the payment of old loans 
 that had held over from his father's time; he 
 conquered many of the difficulties of packing 
 and shipping; he made economic arrangements 
 with other powder companies and so avoided 
 extravagant competition. He never ignored any 
 complaint of the quality of powder, but he was 
 not eager to experiment with new methods. He 
 wrote to the various agents that he was satis- 
 fied that the powder could not be improved; 
 the reduction of its price was to be the impor- 
 tant consideration. 
 
 When Henry du Pont became head of the 
 firm in 1850, the other partners were his bro- 
 ther Alexis and their nephew, Eleuthere 
 Irenee du Pont, whose younger brother, Lam- 
 mot, had just finished his studies and was in
 
 A HISTORY 75 
 
 the mills; he was not a member of the firm till 
 the early part of 1857. 
 
 Alexis and Irenee du Pont were able, effi- 
 cient, hard- working men. They built new mills, 
 they supervised their workmen patiently and 
 methodically and according to the best tradi- 
 tions of the firm. Irenee du Pont made a not- 
 able improvement by suggesting that powder 
 be packed in metallic kegs instead of wooden 
 ones, and experimented indefatigably until he 
 found a suitable model, which was patented; 
 apart from this he was, like his uncles, content 
 to work by the methods to which he was ac- 
 customed. 
 
 The new management soon had its great 
 opportunity. In 1854 the Crimean War de- 
 manded more powder than the mills of England 
 and France could supply and large quantities 
 were bought by the English Government from 
 the Du Pont Company. The profits from this 
 transaction so strengthened the finances of the 
 firm that its members had no misgivings as to 
 their safety during the panic of 1857, or the up- 
 heaval of the Civil War, though at that time 
 they lost heavily through their Southern 
 agents, and Government payments were long 
 delayed.
 
 76 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 In May of 1854 there occurred an accident 
 which, happening as it did in one of the prin- 
 cipal streets of Wilmington, attracted much 
 more attention than if it had been more serious, 
 but at a more isolated place. Three wagons con- 
 taining four hundred and fifty kegs of powder 
 exploded on their way to the Du Pont pier; 
 the three drivers and twelve horses were in- 
 stantly killed, as were two men who happened 
 to be near by. While the cause of the explosion 
 was never proved, it was probably the careless- 
 ness of one of the drivers. The newspapers 
 were filled with very exaggerated accounts of 
 its effects, and all through the country laws 
 were passed prohibiting the carrying of powder 
 through cities; a precaution of which every one 
 recognized the wisdom, but which added im- 
 mensely to the difficulties of the shippers. 
 
 Three years later, on the 23d of August, 
 1857, Alexis du Pont was superintending the 
 dismantling of a mill in Hagley yard when the 
 moving of a heavy bin caused a slight explosion 
 from which the loose powder carried a spark to 
 an adjoining mill. In his effort to put out the 
 fire, Mr. du Pont gave no thought to the great 
 danger. The mill blew up, wounding him fatally 
 with several of his men. He lived many hours,
 
 A HISTORY 77 
 
 
 
 and in spite of great weakness and pain, in- 
 sisted on seeing the men who worked in the 
 yards; bidding each one in turn good-bye. 
 
 In 1858 Alfred du Pont died. Like his 
 brother Alexis, his relations with the men in his 
 employ were almost paternal in their interest 
 and affection. A letter taken from his corre- 
 spondence with one of the Company's agents 
 perhaps best shows the gentleness of his nature 
 and the reason for the grief of his men at his 
 death: "Will you please oblige our Alfred du 
 Pont by inquiring from Mr. West, the lumber 
 merchant who assisted in procuring the boards 
 he wanted, the name of the carpenter who so 
 kindly assisted our A. du P. in selecting the 
 boards? His name has escaped our memory, 
 but his kindness and gentlemanly conduct have 
 not; and he being fond of shooting, we wish to 
 send him a few pounds of our powder as a 
 slight return." l 
 
 Such a letter needs no comment and his 
 life was full of that kind of consideration and 
 courtesy. He was never a robust man, and for 
 the last eight years of his life he lived in the re- 
 tirement of a semi-invalid, though at his death 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., to Z. H. Gooch, September 
 11, 1844.
 
 78 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 he was only sixty years old. Even after he gave 
 up his active place in the Company his knowl- 
 edge and experience were always at the service 
 of his brothers and were invaluable to his sons. 
 
 Henry du Pont and the two sons of Alfred 
 du Pont were the only members of the firm af- 
 ter Alexis du Font's death. The younger of 
 them, Lammot, was as enthusiastic a powder- 
 man as his uncle was an astute financier. They 
 developed the business with amazing rapidity, 
 but always on a sure foundation. In 1853, four 
 years after he had finished his studies, all ques- 
 tions of fault in the composition of powder, 
 complaints of miners, and the like, were re- 
 ferred to "our chemist, Lammot du Pont," 
 and his corrections and explanations were al- 
 ways adequate. In 1857 he was granted a pat- 
 ent that made possible the use of nitrate of 
 soda instead of saltpetre for manufacturing 
 blasting powder. 
 
 In 1831 Lieutenant Irvine Shubrick, of the 
 United States Navy, was ordered to Chili, and 
 at the request of E. I. du Pont, whose niece 
 Lieutenant Shubrick had married, he investi- 
 gated the newly discovered "Peruvian salt- 
 petre." His report is interesting, and satisfied 
 Mr. du Pont that, as powder was then made,
 
 A HISTORY 79 
 
 the nitrate would be of no use to him. 1 Lieu- 
 tenant Shubrick's letter was dated from the 
 "U. S. Ship Potomac, Valparaiso, November 
 18, 1832," and he wrote: "The saltpetre is 
 produced in the province of Tarrapaca and 
 embarked at the port of Iquique, a small port 
 in the latitude of 21 40' south and longitude 
 70 00' west, a little more than halfway be- 
 tween this place and Callao. It is said here that 
 its basis is nitrate of soda and unfit in the com- 
 position of gun powder, and that in France it 
 is principally used for acids, glassware, soap, 
 &c. It is thought that the province of Tarra- 
 paca could produce as much as might be de- 
 manded for all Europe or any other destination, 
 but the present establishments do not yield 
 more than 80,000 quintals annually. The prin- 
 cipal mines are about eight, ten and twelve 
 leagues from the sea, and it may be said are 
 productive from the surface of the earth. It is 
 subjected to a simple process of purification 
 which consists only in separating the salt from 
 the earth. What is generally sold contains 
 about four per cent extraneous parts, whereof 
 one and a half and two per cent humidity. The 
 quantity exported June, 1830, to the present 
 
 1 See Appendix, p. 182.
 
 80 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 time is computed at 90 to 95,000 quintals. 
 The present price is $4 per quintal in bags de- 
 livered into the ship's boats, which in addition 
 to the freight from this to the United States 
 would make the cost greater than the amount 
 stated in your letter of August, 1831. The 
 saltpetre now is a regular business, and all 
 French ships from this to France are freighted 
 with it." 
 
 Lammot du Font's discovery of a way of 
 making powder from this unfailing source of 
 supply so cheapened the cost of materials that 
 his powder was in great demand at all mines. 
 The resultant expansion of business altered 
 the Du Pont policy of building no mills except 
 those that the members of the firm could per- 
 sonally supervise. 
 
 The great market for blasting powder was in 
 the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania, and 
 inasmuch as the ever-increasing need of pow- 
 der made new mills necessary, the logical place 
 for them was nearer the market. Mills had 
 been built in 1858 by Parrish, Silver & Co., in 
 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, on the Big 
 Wapwallopen Creek, a tributary of the Susque- 
 hanna River, but were not successfully oper- 
 ated. A year later they were bought for the
 
 A HISTORY 81 
 
 purpose of making Lammot du Font's new 
 soda powder, and were rebuilt and managed 
 under his direction. Once before the company 
 had controlled an outside plant E. I. du 
 Pont had built one in Louisiana in 1804 in or- 
 der to make a place for a troublesome employee, 
 but in 1811 the man died and the money in- 
 vested was lost. Several capitalists suggested 
 to Mr. du Pont after the War of 1812 that they 
 were willing to invest in mills to be built near 
 Washington, but the Louisiana venture had 
 convinced him that the successful manage- 
 ment of one plant required all his energy, and 
 he refused even to consider another. "Wap- 
 wallopen" was bought, however, not from an 
 effort to create a new market, but to supply 
 more economically a market that was rapidly 
 growing and constantly clamoring for sup- 
 plies. It was not a large factory with its output 
 of thirty-five thousand kegs a year, but it 
 marked the beginning of a new condition. The 
 mills on the Brandy wine were insufficient; for 
 the future there must be considered not only 
 the economic shipping of powder, but the pos- 
 sibility of building plants in such localities that 
 the difficulties of transportation would be less- 
 ened. Visitors to Wilmington were inclined to
 
 82 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 smile at the teams of six mules which drew 
 great wagons loaded with powder as far west as 
 Pittsburgh a six weeks' journey long 
 after railways were carrying every other kind 
 of merchandise, but there were many times 
 when in no other way could powder be carried. 
 Railways often refused to take it, or, worse, 
 announced that for the safety of the road 
 "friction matches will not be carried except in 
 the cars that carry gunpowder"; l canals froze 
 and for months the boats did not move; nerv- 
 ous captains of coasting schooners would not 
 have powder on their boats, or, as often hap- 
 pened, threw it overboard if a thunderstorm 
 threatened. The mules, however slow, were 
 sure. 
 
 In 1858 Lammot du Pont spent three months 
 in Europe in order to visit the manufactures, 
 arsenals, etc., in England, France, and Bel- 
 gium, all of which had been more or less mod- 
 ified by the experience of the Crimean War. 
 He came back filled with eagerness for the 
 improvement of munitions of war in this coun- 
 try, and for some years he worked in coopera- 
 tion with Major Hagner and Captain Rod- 
 
 E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. to B. T. Elder & Co, 
 February 23. 1853.
 
 A HISTORY 83 
 
 man, all three of them giving their utmost 
 knowledge and ingenuity to make a military 
 powder that should be the best in the world. 
 
 The development of special powders for 
 large ordnance began about 1852, when Cap- 
 tain Dahlgren suggested that coarser powder 
 than was then being made would be more effi- 
 cient for the Navy guns. The size of the grain 
 was materially increased, but it was not until 
 1859 that officers of the Army became satisfied 
 that the powder must be radically changed, in 
 order to be adaptable to the new guns. Henry 
 du Pont advised powder grained to one inch in 
 diameter, and presumably it was tried; but 
 Captain Rodman was not satisfied with the 
 result, and he experimented with various kinds 
 of powder at the Frankford Arsenal. On No- 
 vember 22, 1860, he wrote that he wanted the 
 Du Pont Company to make "for guns of 24 
 Ibs. and over, cartridges composed of perforated 
 cakes of powder from one to two inches thick 
 each cake to be in diameter about one quar- 
 ter of an inch less than the bore of the gun in 
 which it is to be used. In very large guns the 
 cakes may be made hexagonal instead of circu- 
 lar, in which case seven cakes would form a 
 layer this was the form of cake used in the
 
 84 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 15 in. gun. 1 In the cakes used in the 15 in. gun 
 the holes were one quarter in. in diameter and 
 .6 in. apart from center to center, leaving the 
 walls of powder between the holes about .35 in. 
 thick. This thickness of walls was too great 
 even for the 15 in. gun, as the powder was not 
 all burned in the gun. I do not see why your in- 
 corporated materials, in the same form as they 
 go to the ordinary press to be pressed into 
 cakes for graining, would not be suitable for 
 entering the moulds for being pressed into per- 
 forated cakes. If this would answer, it would 
 save the expense of pressing into cakes and of 
 granulation or mealing. The cakes used in the 
 15 in. gun were made of ordinary cannon pow- 
 der after the addition to it of about 3 per cent 
 of moisture. It worked perfectly well." 
 
 Doubtless Captain Rodman's powder did 
 "perfectly well" for experimental work, but it 
 was long before the proper composition and 
 machinery could make it in quantities for war 
 needs. Six months after that letter was written, 
 and while he and Lammot du Pont were work- 
 ing to perfect his "cakes," South Carolina se- 
 ceded; and in April of 1861 the country was at 
 war. There was no time then for making ex- 
 
 1 In his own experiments at the Frankford Arsenal.
 
 A HISTORY 85 
 
 periments; the Government had no proper 
 supply of munitions; and new inventions had 
 to wait for their development till immediate 
 needs had been met.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 1861-1865 
 
 THE election of Abraham Lincoln in No- 
 vember of 1860 was a very definite noti- 
 fication to the Southern States that a majority 
 of the citizens of the United States opposed the 
 extension of slavery. In December South Caro- 
 lina seceded from the Union; in February Jef- 
 ferson Davis was inaugurated as President of 
 the Southern Confederacy; in March he or- 
 dered that an army of one hundred thousand 
 men should be raised. But it was not till Fort 
 Sumter was taken by the Confederate forces in 
 April, 1861, that any preparation seems to 
 have been made by the Northern States either 
 for an army or for munitions for the struggle 
 which no one expected to last more than a few 
 months and which racked the country for 
 four years. 
 
 Two days after the fall of Sumter the Du 
 Pont Company again gave proof of its loyalty 
 to the Government in a letter to the Richmond 
 agent: "With regard to Colonel Dimmock's 
 order we would remark that since the inaugura-
 
 "A HISTORY 87 
 
 tion of war at Charleston, the posture of Na- 
 tional affairs is critical, and a new state of af- 
 fairs has arisen. Presuming that Virginia will 
 do her whole duty in this great emergency and 
 will be loyal to the Union, we shall prepare the 
 powder, but with the understanding that 
 should general expectation be disappointed 
 and Virginia, by any misfortune, assume an 
 attitude hostile to the United States we shall 
 be absolved from any obligation to furnish the 
 order." 
 
 In May, 1861, Henry du Pont was appointed 
 Major-General of the forces in Delaware, a 
 position for which his West Point education 
 had well fitted him. The situation of the mills 
 in a State of which the loyalty was at first 
 doubtful, and their value to the Government, 
 made it imperative that they should be intelli- 
 gently protected; for that purpose two com- 
 panies were organized from the men employed 
 by the Du Ponts; their captains were Lammot 
 du Pont and Hugh Stirling. In July, 1863, an 
 effort was made by the Confederates to seize 
 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore 
 Railroad at a point between Philadelphia and 
 Baltimore. A troop of cavalry reached Gun- 
 powder Bridge, in Maryland, but was driven
 
 88 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 back by Delaware troops, the Du Pont com- 
 panies among them. A year later one of the Du 
 Pont companies was sent to help guard the 
 railroad which was again threatened. Confed- 
 erate raids were not the only danger; on one 
 occasion two men, who proved to be disguised 
 officers from the Southern army, were stopped 
 within half a mile of the mills. In the four years 
 between 1861 and 1865 there were seven ex- 
 plosions from "unknown causes" in which 
 thirty-nine men were killed and much powder 
 and machinery destroyed. Such catastrophes 
 occur so much less often in times of peace, and 
 are so helpful to the enemy in times of war, 
 that one hesitates to use the word "accident" 
 in describing them. 
 
 The Southern States were importing excel- 
 lent English powder, and in order to make an 
 explosive that should be better than that of the 
 enemy, Lammot du Pont, reenforced in 1861 
 by his cousin, Eugene du Pont, 1 worked night 
 and day; but their experiments soon had a seri- 
 ous interruption. 
 
 The Government had very little powder and 
 could not pay for any until special appropria- 
 tions were made; whereas all the raw materials 
 
 1 The eldest son of Alexis I. du Pont.
 
 A HISTORY I S9 
 
 had to be paid for in cash. Late in 1861 there 
 was but a small quantity of saltpetre in Amer- 
 ica and it was feared that England's sympathy 
 with the Confederacy might result in closing 
 the East India market to the Union. The Du 
 Pont Company could not possibly buy enough 
 saltpetre to assure their supply in such an 
 emergency, and in November Lammot du 
 Pont went to Washington to explain the situa- 
 tion to the Secretaries of War and of the Navy. 
 They authorized him to go at once to England 
 and buy a large quantity of saltpetre for the 
 Government. To avoid publicity it was all to 
 be purchased in the name of the Du Pont firm 
 and by their usual brokers. Mr. du Pont 
 reached London on the 19th of November, 
 1861. He had some trouble about his credit, for 
 he was known only at Brown, Shipley and 
 Company, and without notifying him, the 
 Government funds on which he was to draw 
 had been sent to Baring Brothers. When that 
 difficulty was overcome, he bought in one day 
 for the United States Government and his own 
 firm all the saltpetre that was for sale in Eng- 
 land about two thousand tons, and much 
 that was on its way from India; arranged for 
 ships in London, Liverpool, and Greenock; and
 
 90 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 began loading his cargoes on the 28th; nine 
 days after his arrival. 
 
 In the meantime the British Government 
 was informed that Messrs. Mason and Slidell, 
 Commissioners from the Confederate States on 
 their way to England, had been taken from an 
 English vessel, the Trent, and imprisoned in 
 Boston on November 19 in defiance of interna- 
 tional law, but with the approval of the United 
 States Congress. The immediate surrender of 
 Mason and Slidell was demanded by England; 
 and an embargo on the exportation of saltpetre 
 stopped Lammot du Font's cargoes before they 
 were loaded. There was nothing for him to do 
 but return home at once; letters were uncertain 
 and there was no other means of communica- 
 tion. He sailed on the 7th of December and was 
 again in Washington on the 26th; there he was 
 given a letter from the Secretary of State urg- 
 ing Charles Francis Adams, the American 
 Minister in London, to do all in his power "for 
 the relief of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co." 
 He sailed again for England on the 1st of Janu- 
 ary, 1862, as did Mason and Slidell, the Ameri- 
 can Government having admitted the impro- 
 priety of their seizure. Mr. du Pont wrote from 
 England on the 13th that the embargo would
 
 A HISTORY 91 
 
 probably be removed within a week. It was re- 
 moved on the 18th; the interrupted loading 
 was resumed, and, the political crisis having 
 passed, Mr. du Pont arranged for the sale in 
 England of some of the saltpetre bought for his 
 firm. He returned to this country, sailing from 
 England on the 1st or 2d of February, 1862, 
 and arriving in Wilmington on the 15th. The 
 first of the vessels carrying the saltpetre sailed 
 on the 2d, the other four soon after. 1 The se- 
 crecy of the whole transaction and Lammot 
 du Font's hurried and unexplained journeys 
 were perhaps some excuse for the very remark- 
 able accounts of it that have found their way 
 into print accounts for which Mr. du Font 
 was certainly not responsible, but of which 
 many were too grotesque to be worth contra- 
 diction. It was a very important mission to en- 
 trust to the youngest member of the firm, and 
 was accomplished so successfully that in less 
 than a year the Government again authorized 
 the company to buy saltpetre; but conditions 
 had changed and the purchase was left to their 
 London brokers. 
 
 As soon as he had returned from England, 
 
 1 The amount paid by the Government for this saltpetre was 
 79,699, 10s 8d.
 
 92 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 Lammot du Pont was again experimenting for 
 the improvement of both military and blasting 
 powder; he made frequent journeys to Wash- 
 ington, New York, and Wapwallopen, where 
 he supervised all the work; and in May, June, 
 and July, 1863, he was on duty with his com- 
 pany of Delaware militia. In August, on his 
 way from Wapwallopen to New York, he was 
 suddenly taken ill and hurried home, where 
 for two months he suffered a severe attack of 
 typhoid fever. When he was considered con- 
 valescent his eyes became troublesome, and 
 another month passed before he could get back 
 to active work. Then he tried to make up for 
 lost time with the not surprising result that he 
 was in bed with an acute attack of rheumatism 
 in June and July of 1864. 
 
 When war was declared Henry du Pont 
 wrote to one of the agents, "The extra demand 
 for powder for war purposes will not equal the 
 regular demand which would have existed had 
 peace continued." * There can be no doubt of 
 the correctness of his prophecy. Of course no 
 explosives could be sent to the Southern or 
 Southwestern States, where the Du Pont 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 6, 
 1861.
 
 A HISTORY 93 
 
 agents had sold large quantities of both blast- 
 ing and sporting powder. None could be ex- 
 ported from New York or Philadelphia, lest it 
 should be captured at sea and used to supply 
 the Southern armies; this order cut off ship- 
 ments to the West Indian Islands and Mexico, 
 and for a time those to California, where since 
 1849 an important agency had existed. The 
 miners of the Western coast had no other 
 means of getting their powder, and by October, 
 1863, the situation had become so critical that 
 the Collector of the Port of San Francisco tele- 
 graphed the Secretary of War that unless pow- 
 der was sent promptly the supply of gold 
 would stop. Before the needs of the market 
 could be met, California capitalists had raised 
 one hundred thousand dollars and organized 
 the California Powder Works, which, with 
 Chinese labor and saltpetre brought from In- 
 dia across the Pacific Ocean, took much of the 
 business from the Eastern manufacturers. 
 
 The difficulty of getting saltpetre again be- 
 came serious. Lammot du Pont's purchases in 
 England were for supplying powder for a war 
 that might last for six months; by 1863 the 
 stock was exhausted. When a pound sterling 
 was valued at thirteen dollars and all saltpetre
 
 94 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 came from the English market, some other 
 means of supply became imperative. Lammot 
 du Font's nitrate of soda powder made salt- 
 petre unnecessary for blasting, but there was 
 nothing to take its place for military powder. 
 Samples of "nitrous earth" were sent by 
 agents from Tennessee and Missouri; two 
 caves of such earth "several miles in extent" 
 were for sale in Mexico; a mine in Tennessee 
 that "will give five tons a day" was offered for 
 four hundred thousand dollars; but the sam- 
 ples were not satisfactory, and in May, 1863, 
 Henry du Pont wrote to the brokers in Cal- 
 cutta who ordinarily supplied the Company: 
 "The manufacture of saltpetre has been com- 
 menced in this country in several places; at the 
 present high rates for East India nitre it will 
 pay well; the article being made by chemical 
 decomposition, it comes out pure, which is a 
 great advantage." A year later he wrote: "The 
 manufactured saltpetre is made from nitrate of 
 soda and potash. It sells at the same price as 
 East India saltpetre. It is not popular with 
 powder manufacturers, but when saltpetre is 
 scarce it sells pretty well." l 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., October 
 80, 1864.
 
 A HISTORY 95 
 
 In March, 1862, Lammot du Pont went to 
 Washington in an attempt to modify a bill for 
 the taxation of gunpowder which had also a 
 clause providing for the manufacture of pow- 
 der by the Government. It was not a new idea. 
 Many years before then Alfred du Pont wrote: 
 "We notice in the President's message the rec- 
 ommendation of erecting powder works, but 
 not having yet seen the report of the Secretary 
 of War, we cannot exactly know the reasons 
 that have induced the Department to recom- 
 mend this measure. We can only say that if the 
 expectation is to save expense, they will find 
 themselves greatly deceived." 1 Though the 
 powder was taxed in 1862, the Government 
 powder works were not heard of again, but 
 Henry du Pont was very indignant at the sug- 
 gestion that the Government could, with inex- 
 perienced men, make powder that would be 
 better or cheaper than that furnished by the 
 Du Pont firm, and he wrote to Captain Har- 
 wood: "The market price was twenty cents in 
 December when we supplied the Government 
 at eighteen cents; the present price compared 
 to current rates of trade is two dollars a barrel 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Decem- 
 ber 8, 1837.
 
 96 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 better for the Government than it ought to be 
 by present prices of materials. There is no 
 country in the world where the Government 
 obtains its powder on as favorable terms as in 
 the United States. When our Mr. Lammot du 
 Pont was in England in January and February 
 last, the British Government was paying its 
 contractors, in time of peace, eighty shillings 
 per hundred pounds for cannon powder, one 
 hundred and ten for musket, one hundred and 
 twenty for rifle a good deal above the war 
 prices here; the British manufacturer having 
 the benefit of free saltpetre and brimstone, 
 while the American manufacturer pays a heavy 
 duty on both." 1 
 
 Prices and taxes kept increasing, and in No- 
 vember of 1863 the price to the Government 
 had reached twenty-six cents a pound; at that 
 point the Assistant Secretary of War wrote to 
 ask Henry du Pont whether it was possible to 
 bring powder from England. He was told that 
 the English firms that supplied their Govern- 
 ment would undoubtedly sell to the United 
 States at thirty-four cents a pound for cannon 
 and forty cents for musket powder, exclusive of 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., June 17. 
 1862.
 
 A HISTORY 97 
 
 shipping charges; but he was also informed 
 that the sizes and specifications of English 
 powders, which differed from those required in 
 America, would cause much confusion. In 
 March, 1864, Henry du Pont wrote to General 
 Ramsay: "There never has been a case in any 
 country in the world where a nation at war has 
 had its powder so cheap as the United States 
 have had it since the breaking out of the Re- 
 bellion; and now at this time, with a specific 
 duty of two cents per pound on saltpetre and 
 of six dollars per ton on brimstone, and a Gov- 
 ernment tax of one cent per pound on powder, 
 the United States are getting the powder 
 cheaper than England pays for her powder, 
 where saltpetre and brimstone are both free 
 and where labor and all other elements are 
 much lower than in this country." 
 
 In April, 1864, a resolution in Congress 
 added fifty per cent to the duties affecting 
 powder and the price of Government powder 
 was raised to thirty cents. General du Pont, in 
 his letter of explanation, said: l "From 1861 to 
 the present time saltpetre has advanced 135 
 per cent; brimstone, 80 per cent; charcoal, 50 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 
 26, 1864.
 
 98 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 per cent; cooper work, 90 per cent; labor, 75 
 per cent." 
 
 Low as were the prices asked for Government 
 powder, the Treasury Department was unable 
 to make immediate payments, and though the 
 bills were promptly audited and approved, the 
 drafts were slow in coming. As all materials, 
 taxes, and labor had to be paid for in cash, the 
 situation was a grave one for the manufacturer. 
 In March, 1862, Henry du Pont wrote to the 
 Ordnance Department: "We have received no 
 payments since October, and saltpetre is selling 
 only for cash. We need funds badly." In April: 
 "We are very much in want of funds; there is 
 due on the November account $7770 and all 
 that has been audited since. We understand 
 that the Treasury is paying twenty per cent 
 demand notes and eighty per cent certificates 
 of indebtedness, which would be very accept- 
 able." Between April and the end of July the 
 company received about $360,000, but nothing 
 more for many months. In July, 1864, powder 
 furnished in August, 1863, was still not paid 
 for, and in October, "The Government owes us 
 over $350,000 for the Army alone." In August 
 of 1865 the Secretary of the Treasury offered 
 payment of all the bills twenty-five per cent
 
 A HISTORY 99 
 
 in cash and seventy-five per cent in certificates 
 of indebtedness, which was cheerfully accepted. 
 The four years of the war were very hard 
 ones for all the members of the firm; two of 
 them Henry and Lammot du Pont had 
 suffered severe illnesses, but they had sur- 
 mounted every difficulty with unshaken cour- 
 age. Though great fortunes had not been made, 
 the company had gained immeasurably in pres- 
 tige and in experience and had laid a founda- 
 tion of great strength for new activities.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 1865-1877 
 
 AT the close of the Civil War the members 
 of the firm were Henry du Pont and his 
 three nephews, Eleuthere Irenee and Lammot, 
 sons of Alfred du Pont, and Eugene, the eldest 
 son of Alexis. 
 
 As soon as it was possible to travel in the 
 south, George Breck, a relative of the Du Pont 
 family, was sent through that country to in- 
 vestigate the business conditions of the South- 
 ern States and the standing of the various Du 
 Pont agencies. His report confirmed Henry du 
 Pont's belief that the sale of powder to the 
 Government in time of war would not be as 
 profitable as the earnings would have been had 
 peace continued. All through the South agents 
 had accepted Confederate money or bonds in 
 payment for powder, and the banks in which 
 their deposits were made refused payment in 
 United States currency. Some few agents had 
 bought cotton with the money they had, but 
 few were so far-seeing, and the losses were very 
 heavy. Powder valued at over twelve thousand
 
 A HISTORY 101 
 
 dollars was taken from the State Magazine in 
 Missouri for the use of the Confederate armies, 
 and was still unpaid for in 1870. 
 
 When the war ended, the Government asked 
 to be released from all powder contracts. The 
 Du Pont Company at once agreed to have 
 them cancelled at no cost to the Government 
 and resumed the manufacture of blasting pow- 
 der, for which agents were clamoring from all 
 parts of the country. Between 1860 and 1870 
 over twenty-two thousand miles of railway 
 were built in the United States; work on the 
 Pacific Railroad began at both ends in 1863. 
 The demand for powder for coal and iron mines 
 as well as for the construction of the roads was 
 enormous. Partly because the large mills 
 Hazard, Laflin, and Rand, and Du Pont 
 were fully employed in supplying the Army 
 and Navy, and partly because of the difficulty 
 of transportation, small and poorly equipped 
 mills had been put up near the mines, and hav- 
 ing no agents and no freights to consider, they 
 were able to sell blasting powder at a great re- 
 duction from former prices. Few of them had 
 made any allowance for losses by explosion, and 
 after short and disastrous experiences many 
 were glad to sell their machinery to the larger
 
 102 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 companies or to increase their capital by issuing 
 stock to those companies in order to profit by 
 their greater knowledge. 
 
 The spirit of speculation and competition 
 which was driving the whole country to a con- 
 dition that culminated in the panic of 1873 was 
 particularly disorganizing to powder-makers; 
 agents of different companies were continually 
 selling at a loss rather than let another com- 
 pany have a customer; sometimes agents of the 
 same company underbid each other. Railroads 
 usually gave lower freight rates to the company 
 from which they could most cheaply buy the 
 powder used in their construction work. 
 
 In this very uncertain market a new and un- 
 expected competitor appeared. The Govern- 
 ment, in addition to the powder left from the 
 war and that taken in Confederate magazines, 
 was constantly receiving new supplies from 
 firms that had refused to cancel their war con- 
 tracts. It had formerly been the custom of the 
 Army and Navy Departments to give old pow- 
 der in part payment for new; but the great 
 quantity on hand and the industrial demand 
 for explosives suggested a more summary 
 method, and in 1866 large quantities were 
 offered for sale at public auctions. In April of
 
 A HISTORY 103 
 
 that year Henry du Pont wrote: "The policy 
 pursued by the Navy Bureau in crowding 
 immense quantities of powder, by auction, on 
 the market has completely broken down the 
 trade." l In 1866 Du Pont agents were sent to 
 sales at various arsenals where about forty 
 thousand barrels of powder were sold the 
 whole amount sold was much larger. The situ- 
 ation was so serious for every one concerned 
 that an agent was sent to Washington to try 
 to make a better arrangement, but his report 
 was not encouraging: "I had a talk with Cap- 
 tain Crispin this morning. He says he can see 
 that it would be to the interest of the Govern- 
 ment to have their powder handled by one 
 large concern; but he does not think there is a 
 man in the entire department, from the Secre- 
 tary of War down, that would dare to make 
 such an arrangement. I told him that was the 
 only way they could get a fair price for all their 
 powder; they might find parties who would 
 take a few thousand barrels at what would ap- 
 pear to be better terms, but they would create 
 a competition against themselves. That if the 
 Government was going to sell powder that way 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., April 16.
 
 104 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 it would be more to your interest to stand aside 
 and let other parties buy it." * Other parties 
 were very glad to buy it: "Your old friend 
 Goodwin of the Empire Mills bought 1000 bar- 
 rels of Government powder at St. Louis at 
 7| cents and shipped it to Pittsburgh so look 
 out for a raid on prices at that point. The pow- 
 der delivered on board the barge at 7$ by 
 General Callender." 2 
 
 In 1868 Colonel Hazard told General Dyer, 
 of the Ordnance Department, that "the large 
 quantities of powder offered at St. Louis at the 
 last sale (16,247 barrels) broke down the mar- 
 ket and caused a heavy loss to manufacturers 
 as well as to the Government." 3 A week later 
 General Dyer was told that "at the Charlotte 
 sale the Du Pont Company paid for powder 
 and got a general assortment of percussion caps, 
 fuses, ends of rope, old nails, spikes, paper and 
 brass balls"; 4 and that "it was not just the 
 thing for the Government to compete with us 
 
 1 F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., July 7, 
 1866. 
 
 2 J. M. Boies (of Laflin, Boies, & Turck) to F. L. Kneeland, 
 June 10, 1868. 
 
 * F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., January 
 14, 1868. 
 
 4 F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., January 
 31, 1868.
 
 A HISTORY 105 
 
 for our retail trade. It is hard enough to con- 
 tend with the depression in business and high 
 taxes, without having the competition of thi 
 Government in addition." 
 
 That same year Pope, the secretary of the 
 Hazard Company, told a Du Pont agent that 
 the Hazard Company had recently bought 
 Government powder and that "it was found to 
 contain percussion caps, nails, stones, chippings 
 of lead and pieces of iron from inside shells. 
 The workmen were so fearful of it that they 
 dumped it all into the river, which is what the 
 Government ought to do with the whole of 
 it." 1 
 
 The complaints, however, were not all of that 
 kind. Much of the auctioned powder was very 
 good. Cannon and musket powder for which 
 the Government had paid thirty cents a pound, 
 and which it sold for from five to twelve cents, 
 was quicker and easier to handle than blasting 
 powder costing twenty-two cents a pound; and 
 the agents' letters were filled with the com- 
 plaints of the miners when they could not get 
 the better and cheaper powder. 
 
 These public sales lasted till 1872, when 
 
 1 F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., August 
 4, 1863.
 
 106 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 Henry du Pont wrote: "On inquiry from the 
 Department at Washington we learn that there 
 will be no more condemned powder sold at 
 public sales. There is still, however, some on 
 hand which the Government will exchange for 
 good powder." 1 This was done at a ratio of 
 about one to four for some years. The Du Pont 
 Company was still reworking Civil War pow- 
 der in 1890. 
 
 Though the public sales of powder were dis- 
 continued, there were many private sales. In 
 March, 1878, the Government had for sale at 
 St. Louis 832,000 pounds of cannon and mus- 
 ket powder. 2 J. W. King had been an official of 
 the Miami Powder Company of Ohio; he quar- 
 elled with its directors and, with the powder 
 that was for sale so conveniently near by, de- 
 clared war on the Miami Company. King's 
 Great Western Powder Company was organ- 
 ized near Cincinnati in August, 1878; but a 
 month earlier Henry du Pont wrote: "King's 
 Rifle powder is old condemned powder such as 
 is sold for blasting; he purchased it at the St. 
 Louis Arsenal and has redried and reglazed it. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Decem- 
 ber 16, 1872. 
 
 2 F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March 
 SO, 1878.
 
 A HISTORY 107 
 
 It is an inferior article. We have often bought 
 it at Government sales and sold it for blasting 
 powder. He has a very small mill, makes some 
 blasting powder but no rifle, but fills his rifle 
 trade with this old Government powder.'* 1 
 And seven years later: "Prices of powder have 
 been demoralized by the war between the 
 Great Western Powder Company and the 
 Miami Powder Company." 2 Either the Great 
 Western Company had provisioned itself well 
 for the war or it made very large profits, for 
 it continued its depredations on the regular 
 market until the death of King in July, 1885. 
 The new manager, G. W. Peters, a son-in-law 
 of King, did not carry on the feud. 
 
 With so many difficulties to overcome, it was 
 obvious that if any profit was to be made by 
 the manufacture of powder the materials must 
 be bought and the product sold more carefully 
 than had hitherto been done. For that purpose 
 the larger companies agreed among themselves 
 not to outbid each other in buying saltpetre or 
 nitrate; not to attempt to sell in territory that 
 could be more economically reached by another 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., July 
 29, 1878. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., July 
 13, 1885.
 
 108 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 company; and above all to stop the ruinous 
 competition of their agents. Their intention 
 was not to force prices up or down, nor was any 
 company made to suffer for not joining them. 
 They were simply making the best arrange- 
 ment that seemed possible to allow each manu- 
 facturer to deliver his product at the least cost 
 to both himself and the purchaser. Even with 
 these economies it was hard to earn any profit. 
 In 1868 Smith and Rand reduced their divi- 
 dend from five to three and a half per cent. In 
 1870 the Oriental Powder Company failed be- 
 cause of heavy indebtedness, high cost of ma- 
 terials, and competition. It struggled on a little 
 while, was sold at auction in 1872 and was 
 reorganized. 
 
 In 1873 all business in this country was in a 
 most critical condition. Speculative buying had 
 reached unprecedented heights and fallen. 
 The great failure of Jay Cooke and Company 
 carried other bankers with it; and railways and 
 mines were forced to stop work. In 1877 Henry 
 du Pont said, "More than half the powder ma- 
 chinery in this country has been lying idle since 
 the panic of 1873." 1 Only the fittest could sur- 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Font de Nemours & Co., March 
 17, 1877.
 
 A HISTORY 109 
 
 vive, and they by the greatest effort. In 1875 a 
 man wrote to ask the Du Fonts for a place as 
 engineer and was told: "We build our own 
 machinery; draw our own plans; make our own 
 patterns; and have never employed any one 
 to design or construct our mills or machinery, 
 dams or races, roads or anything else; being 
 our own engineers and superintendents of all 
 work done at our mills, both here and in Penn- 
 sylvania." 1 That is the true explanation of 
 the growth of the company in those most try- 
 ing times. Their agents could not always be 
 trusted; many of them succumbed to the mania 
 for speculation, and losses through them were 
 very heavy. But the manufacturing part of 
 the business was wholly in the hands of those 
 whose name it bore and they were willing to 
 make every personal sacrifice that it might 
 succeed. 
 
 The President of the Hazard Powder Com- 
 pany died in 1868, leaving to his family a large 
 fortune all invested in railways. A few months 
 later the New York agent wrote: "The death 
 of Colonel Hazard has effected the standing of 
 their Company in the trade very seriously. It is 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Novem- 
 ber 22, 1875.
 
 110 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 reported that the Company is falling to pieces. 
 I think they are badly in want of business abil- 
 ity." l A serious explosion in 1871 was a severe 
 blow to their credit, and in 1874 they were said 
 to be in need of both money and orders. In 
 1876 the Hazard Company was quite willing to 
 sell a majority of their stock to the Du Pont 
 Company, with whom they had always been 
 on very friendly terms. 
 
 An interest in the California Powder Works 
 was acquired at about the same time. Because 
 of the impossibility of sending powder to Cali- 
 fornia at the beginning of the Civil War, when 
 it was greatly needed for the gold mines, a set 
 of mills had been built in 1861 at Santa Cruz. 
 Having Chinese labor, and saltpetre and ni- 
 trate directly from India and Chili, they man- 
 ufactured about four thousand kegs a month 
 with some success. They made only blasting 
 powder, and at first only expected to work 
 until the market could be supplied by the East- 
 ern manufacturers. As early as 1864 troubles 
 with the machinery and with labor had dis- 
 couraged the stockholders, and in 1867 one of 
 them offered the Du Pont Company his shares 
 
 1 F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Decem- 
 ber 12, 1868.
 
 A HISTORY 111 
 
 of the stock, amounting to twenty thousand 
 dollars. His offer was declined, but the next 
 year the Du Fonts were offered shares by two 
 other shareholders. The Du Pont Company 
 then instructed their San Francisco agent to 
 investigate the California Company the 
 value of its land and buildings, its capital, etc., 
 and as a result bought much of its stock, though 
 until 1877 the Du Pont Company's interest was 
 not large enough to ensure the cooperation of 
 the California Company. 
 
 The experiments with cannon powder that 
 were so engrossing to Captain Rodman and 
 Lammot du Pont before the war were not seri- 
 ously resumed until 1870, and then by Lieuten- 
 ant Dutton, who had Captain Rodman's 
 former place at the Frankford Arsenal. At first 
 only the composition of the usual Mammoth 
 powder was considered ordinary black pow- 
 der grained to about an inch in diameter but 
 the perforated cakes that Captain Rodman had 
 suggested were remembered, and experimental 
 moulds for them were made. These moulds, 
 made of bell metal, gave much trouble, for they 
 did not keep their dimensions under pressure, 
 and the density of different cakes was uneven. 
 The solid cakes were sent to Frankford and
 
 112 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 perforated with a drill that Lieutenant Button 
 adapted for the purpose. 
 
 In 1872, the moulds having proved impracti- 
 cable, Lammot and Eugene du Pont together 
 applied for a patent in the United States, Eng- 
 land, and France "for compressing dampened 
 powder in sheets between ribbed plates or other 
 mechanical equivalent for forming indented 
 lines, by which the cake is broken up into uni- 
 form shapes or sizes, and the giving of these 
 grains a greater density on the surface than in 
 the interior." * Lammot du Pont had in 1865 
 patented a horizontal press for the compression 
 of powder and also the hard-rubber plates used 
 in it. The Du Ponts were so sure of the value of 
 the ribbed plates that they at first intended to 
 have their rights patented in Germany also. 
 This plan was discouraged by their lawyer, 
 whose letter on the subject is interesting: "In 
 Germany there is so much uncertainty that I 
 consider it my duty to first inform you of it 
 before you incur the expense of an application 
 there. My experience in procuring patents in 
 Germany is that they refuse everything that 
 the Government wants to use, and your inven- 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. to A. B. Stoughton, August 
 25. 1873.
 
 A HISTORY 113 
 
 tion is right in their line. Beside, their system is 
 so defective and their commissioners so corrupt 
 that you must either buy or get personal influ- 
 ence before you can obtain the patent. And 
 after you have a patent the Government will 
 use it if they want it and without paying a far- 
 thing for it." * 
 
 Samples of hexagonal and octagonal powders 
 were ready for the Government to try in Janu- 
 ary, 1873. The new powder could not be made 
 quickly. All of it was gone over by hand and 
 imperfect grains were taken out; "the produc- 
 tion per month will fall far behind that of the 
 old style Mammoth powder, but we believe 
 the loss in production and the increase in price 
 will be amply compensated by the results ob- 
 tained." 2 Samples were also sent of what was 
 called square powder; "the horizontal section 
 is square and the vertical section an octagon " 3 
 but it never seems to have got beyond the 
 experimental stage. In the following December 
 the Government ordered four hundred and 
 fifty barrels of hexagonal powder for the Navy 
 
 1 A. B. Stoughton to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Septem- 
 ber 9, 1873. 
 
 1 E. I. du Pont de Nemours to Major Bayler, April 25, 1873. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., August 
 18, 1873.
 
 114 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 and five hundred for the Army, beside one 
 thousand barrels of ordinary Navy cannon 
 powder; and very soon after that, the English 
 Government ordered two thousand pounds of 
 the hexagonal, probably in order to compare 
 it with "an analogous powder" 1 made by an 
 English firm for that Government, at nine cents 
 a pound more than the Du Pont price. 
 
 Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, the eldest grand- 
 son of the founder of the Company, died in 
 September, 1877, after an illness of many 
 months. He was only forty-eight years old, and 
 had been a member of the firm for twenty-six 
 years. When Alfred du Pont resigned in 1850, 
 Henry du Pont took entire charge of the office, 
 leaving the care of the mills to his brother 
 Alexis with their nephews Eleuthere Irenee and 
 his brother Lammot. Seven years later Alexis 
 du Pont was killed in an explosion and the mills 
 were managed by Irenee and Lammot alone, 
 until in 1861 they were reenforced by Eugene 
 du Pont, then twenty-one years old. They 
 superintended the entire manufacture of both 
 the Brandywine and Wapwallopen mills until 
 Francis G. du Pont, Eugene's younger brother, 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Decem- 
 ber 8. 1873.
 
 A HISTORY 115 
 
 joined them. Lammot du Pont was in Europe 
 for three months in 1858 and for a shorter time 
 in 1861. When he was nominally at home his 
 share in the management often called him to 
 Wapwallopen, New York, or Washington. The 
 chemical work in which he was so successful 
 kept him in the refinery and the laboratory 
 very constantly. Those buildings were in the 
 original enclosure the "Upper Yard," which 
 in 1866 had a capacity for producing five thou- 
 sand pounds of sporting powder a day. Lammot 
 and Eugene du Pont practically confined their 
 supervision of the Brandywine mills to this 
 yard, leaving the rest of the manufacture to 
 Irenee and, after 1871, Francis G. du Pont. 
 
 "Hagley Yard," bought in 1812 and often 
 extended, could make twenty-five thousand 
 pounds of blasting powder a day in 1866; and 
 within its boundaries were the machine and 
 millwright shops, the carpenter and black- 
 smith shops, keg factory and packing house. 
 The "Lower Yard," begun in 1847, on the 
 opposite side of the Brandywine and nearer 
 Wilmington, had an output of five thousand 
 pounds of sporting powder a day. A circular, 
 printed in 1872 for the information of their 
 agents, shows that the Company made twenty-
 
 116 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 four kinds of gunpowder and seventeen kinds 
 of blasting powder, and sold as by-products 
 refined saltpetre, sulphur, charcoal, and also 
 safety fuse. 
 
 Irenee du Font's responsibility, therefore, 
 was very great. Day after day for twenty-seven 
 years he was with the powdermen, looking for 
 opportunities for improving the efficiency of 
 the machinery or adding to its safety. He was 
 always one of the first on the ground after an 
 explosion, and he never permitted a new or a 
 rebuilt mill to be operated until he himself had 
 run it. During the Civil War all the mills 
 worked on Government powder, and the care 
 and the constant anxiety and frequent acci- 
 dents gave him little rest. The men who worked 
 for him told stories of his generosity and his 
 courage for many years after his death. His 
 few friends loved and admired him. But he 
 never left home except for short business trips; 
 he put all his strength into his daily work, and 
 died as a result of the exposure and fatigue.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 1878-1889 
 
 HENRY DU FONT'S elder son, Henry 
 A. du Pont, was, like his father, a grad- 
 uate of West Point. He was given the Con- 
 gressional Medal of Honor and the rank of 
 lieutenant-colonel for distinguished gallantry 
 in the Civil War, and he remained in the Army 
 until after his marriage in 1874. For many 
 years his father had urged his return to Dela- 
 ware; more men were much wanted in the 
 management of the Company; but Colonel du 
 Pont was devoted to his profession and post- 
 poned his resignation until his wife's desire for 
 a settled home was added to his father's need 
 of his help. He became a member of the firm in 
 January, 1878, at the time of the readjustment 
 that followed the death of the second E. I. du 
 Pont. Colonel du Pont was assigned to duties 
 in the office he had had much administra- 
 tive experience at various army posts and it 
 was believed that he could relieve his father of 
 part of the enormous correspondence. In 1876
 
 118 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 Henry du Pont wrote in apology for an illegi- 
 ble phrase in one of his letters: "I have written 
 so many letters in the last forty years aver- 
 age about six thousand per year that it has 
 spoiled my penmanship." l There were times, 
 undoubtedly, when he felt the need of help, 
 but when it came to the point he was quite un- 
 willing to give up any part of his accustomed 
 task. Colonel du Font's share of the office work 
 was not sufficient to fill his time, and by de- 
 grees business arrangements that involved trips 
 to New York were assigned to him, as were all 
 railway arrangements and discussions with the 
 officials of other companies. As a result of his 
 knowledge of railway methods, he became 
 President of the Wilmington and Northern 
 Railroad in addition to his duties with the 
 Company. 
 
 In 1878 Henry du Pont's younger son, Wil- 
 liam, seventeen years younger than Colonel du 
 Pont, also became a member of the firm, and 
 was given charge of all the farms belonging to 
 it no small task, for farming was the one 
 relaxation that Henry du Pont and his father 
 before him had permitted themselves, and by 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., August 
 5, 1876.
 
 A HISTORY 119 
 
 1878 "the farm" covered many hundreds of 
 acres. 
 
 Neither of the new men had any place in the 
 running of the mills, and Francis G. du Pont 
 had all the responsibility that he had formerly 
 shared with Irenee du Pont. 
 
 In 1865 Alfred Nobel patented a process for 
 making nitro-glycerine, thereby introducing 
 an explosive infinitely more powerful than any 
 previously used. Henry du Pont, always firm 
 in his faith in the processes used by his father, 
 had little patience with the reports that were 
 sent to him of the wonderful discovery: "Since 
 writing to you on the subject of Blasting Oil, 
 we have seen an interesting article on the sub- 
 ject in the last number of the 'Scientific Amer- 
 ican,' taken from some European paper, which 
 confirms the impression we had and proves 
 that its use would be much more dangerous 
 than gunpowder"; l and later: "We thank you 
 for the sh'p containing account of the explosion 
 at San Francisco. We think that will be the end 
 of Nitro Glycerine in this continent." 5 
 i Other firms, however, did not dismiss the 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March 
 5, 1866. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., April 
 19, 1866.
 
 120 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 subject so lightly. The London brokers who 
 bought saltpetre for the Du Pont Company 
 wrote: "After the recent experience in Ger- 
 many of new explosives, it is probable that the 
 use of Gunpowder will become less extensive 
 for War purposes, whilst substitutes for blast- 
 ing purposes also appear to be coming into 
 more general use." 1 
 
 The danger in handling pure nitro-glycerine 
 was very great; newspapers had frequent sto- 
 ries of terrible explosions; and when in 1868 
 Nobel's own factory near Stockholm was de- 
 stroyed with much loss of life and property, its 
 importation or use was forbidden in both Bel- 
 gium and England. But in that year Nobel 
 patented a formula for dynamite which dimin- 
 ished the sensitiveness of the nitro-glycerine 
 by introducing an absorbent. 
 
 Much experimenting was being done in the 
 United States. The Oriental Powder Company 
 made a "new explosive" and had a disastrous 
 explosion, ending in their bankruptcy. "Dua- 
 lin " was a dangerous explosive made by Rand. 2 
 "The California Company are selling in Colo- 
 rado a new article which they call Hercules, 
 
 1 Forbes, Forbes & Co., August 8, 1866. 
 8 F. L. Kneeland, December 19, 1871.
 
 A HISTORY 121 
 
 which is Blasting Powder soaked in Nitro-Gly- 
 cerine." 1 But Henry du Font's distrust of all 
 "high explosives" remained unshaken: "It is 
 only a matter of time how soon a man will lose 
 his life who uses Hercules, Giant, Dualin, Dy- 
 namite, Nitro-Glycerine, Guncotton, Aver- 
 hard's Patent or any explosive of that nature. 
 They are all vastly more dangerous than Gun- 
 powder, and no man's life is safe who uses 
 them." 2 He declined to buy patents for new 
 explosives, though in writing to one inventor 
 he admitted: "A powder is much wanted that 
 will answer certain purposes and it must have 
 the following qualities, 1. It must burn with 
 intense quickness. 2. Large volume of gas. 
 3. Cheapness. 4. Not liable to spontaneous de- 
 composition." 3 
 
 In 1873 a letter that later on must have been 
 embarrassing was written to the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad warning them against carrying "any 
 compounds of nitre-glycerine," adding, "We 
 have sent circulars to all our agents cautioning 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., De- 
 cember-21, 1869. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March 
 14, 1871. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., August 
 15, 1871.
 
 122 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 them against allowing any such to be stored in 
 our magazines." l 
 
 It was not until 1876 that there was any 
 suggestion that the head of the company was 
 weakening in his condemnation of the new ex- 
 plosives, but in that year he approved the 
 manufacture of Hercules powder by the Cali- 
 fornia Powder Works, in which the Du Pont 
 Company was the largest stockholder; and he 
 gave some advice concerning the manufacture 
 of the necessary acids. In 1877 the California 
 Works built a plant for Hercules powder near 
 Cleveland, Ohio, because they found it could 
 "be manufactured there ten cents per pound 
 cheaper than in California," 2 and shortly after- 
 ward Henry du Pont wrote to an agent: "We 
 know nothing about the prices of the Hercules 
 powder; but please write or telegraph J. W. 
 Willard, Hercules Powder Company, Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, and he will post you. On August 1st 
 last he wrote to know if our agents could help 
 in the sale of Hercules, to which we consented, 
 provided they do not store it in our magazines. 
 It is the best of all patent explosives." 3 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 
 1, 1873. 
 
 * California Powder Works, September 16, 1877. 
 
 3 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Novem- 
 ber 6, 1877.
 
 A HISTORY 123 
 
 It is not difficult to read between the lines of 
 these letters that Lammot du Pont had been 
 experimenting with the new explosives and 
 that the day must come when any firm of 
 which he was a member would do its share of 
 the manufacture. He made plans for a dyna- 
 mite plant to be built on the Wilmington and 
 Northern Railroad, not far from Wilmington, 
 but there was much opposition from other 
 members of the firm, and the site was aban- 
 doned. On January 29, 1880, a very unenthusi- 
 astic announcement was made: "We are going 
 into the high explosive business that is, we 
 are forming a company in which we are heavily 
 interested to manufacture the same, and have 
 not as yet fully determined on the name." In 
 February Lammot du Pont went to San Fran- 
 cisco, presumably to discuss his plans with 
 other manufacturers. In May press plates for 
 making hexagonal powder were sent to the 
 California Powder Works; these plates had 
 been patented by Lammot du Pont and were in 
 use only at the Du Pont mills. Very shortly af- 
 terward the three companies Laflin and 
 Rand, Hazard, and Du Pont who had sub- 
 scribed equally for the new high explosives 
 company, also bought the California Com-
 
 124 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 pany's Hercules plant at Cleveland. All of 
 which sounds like an exchange of courtesies 
 helpful to both sides. 
 
 The Repauno Chemical Company, of which 
 Lammot du Pont became president and Wil- 
 liam du Pont secretary and treasurer, had its 
 factory at Gibbstown, New Jersey, at the 
 junction of the Repauno Creek and the Dela- 
 ware River, directly opposite Chester, Penn- 
 sylvania. Henry du Pont apparently became 
 really converted: "As to blasting under water, 
 we must frankly advise Nitro-Glycerine. We 
 refer you to the Repauno Chemical Company. 
 Atlas powder is the best and safest high explo- 
 sive made." 1 
 
 Though the plant at Cleveland built by the 
 California Powder Works for their Hercules 
 powder was bought by the same interests that 
 provided the capital for Repauno, the name 
 was not part of the bargain, and it was not till 
 September of 1881 that the California Com- 
 pany agreed to allow the new corporation to 
 be called the Hercules Powder Company. It 
 was quite distinct from the Repauno Chemical 
 Company, though it had the same officers and 
 stockholders. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Janu- 
 ary 6. 1881.
 
 A HISTORY 125 
 
 In January, 1882, Lammot du Pont resigned 
 from the Du Pont Company in order to give 
 all his time to the Repauno Company, of which 
 the office was in Philadelphia. He took over all 
 the shares owned by the Du Pont Company; 
 the rest of the stock remained with Laflin and 
 Rand, and Hazard. His success was immediate 
 and brilliant, and he laid the foundation of an 
 enormous industry; but the end of his share in 
 it came very soon. On March 30, 1884, Henry 
 du Pont wrote to Bernard Peyton of the Cali- 
 fornia Company, to tell him of the accident in 
 which Lammot was killed, and his words are 
 too graphic to be altered: 
 
 "We have just advised you by telegraph of 
 the death of Mr. Lammot du Pont, who was 
 killed by the serious accident which occurred 
 about 10.20 A.M. yesterday at the works of the 
 Repauno Chemical Company. 
 
 "Something going wrong in the Nitro-Gly- 
 cerine house, the person in charge Mr. Nor- 
 cross, who was there with two workmen, sent 
 for Mr. Hill, the chemist. Mr. du Pont, who 
 happened to be at the works that day with Mr. 
 Ackerson of the Laflin and Rand Co., went 
 with Mr. Hill, as did Mr. Ackerson. 
 
 "All of these were at or near the house when
 
 126 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 the explosion took place, and all were instantly 
 killed by the shock; the bodies being very 
 slightly mutilated. 
 
 "The damage to the other buildings was 
 practically nothing; a few panes of glass being 
 broken and a few weather boards knocked off. 
 The most serious part of the accident was the 
 sacrifice of so many useful and valuable lives 
 but we will not enlarge upon this, knowing how 
 thoroughly you will appreciate the magnitude 
 of our loss. 
 
 "As nearly as can be ascertained about 2000 
 Ibs. of nitro-glycerine exploded." 
 
 Lammot du Font's death was an appalling 
 loss to the firms with which he was connected. 
 He was a brilliant chemist, a skilful and practi- 
 cal machinist, fearless almost to recklessness in 
 experimenting, and he had an understanding of 
 human nature that was of great value in the 
 business world. He would have gone very far 
 had he lived a few years longer. As it was, he 
 probably did more for the development of ex- 
 plosives than any other one man. 
 
 After his death the Du Pont Company 
 bought from his estate the greater part of his 
 stock in the Repauno Company. Mr. Turck, 
 the president of the Laflin and Rand Company,
 
 A HISTORY 127 
 
 was made president pro tern, of Repauno, "and 
 nothing is done without full consultation with 
 Mr. William du Pont, who represents us on the 
 Board; Mr. Lammot du Font's plans are being 
 carried out just as he intended." l In a short 
 time William du Pont became president of both 
 Repauno and Hercules and the offices were 
 moved from Philadelphia to Wilmington. 
 
 In the early years of the Du Pont Company 
 the correspondence with its agents was the 
 happiest part of the day's work. Victor du 
 Pont, the New York representative of the 
 Company, and his successor, Anthony Girard; 
 De Grand in Boston; Cazenove in Alexandria; 
 Pitray, Viel and Company in Charleston all 
 of them wrote to E. I. du Pont in the language 
 that he loved, and their letters gave him the 
 news of the day in America and Europe. Gir- 
 ard, a friend of Victor du Pont, was the New 
 York agent from 1806 till 1823, when he re- 
 tired from business and William Kemble took 
 the agency. Kemble's letters two or three of 
 them every week until 1861 were full of the 
 business and politics of New York and are still 
 most interesting. By 1861 the New York end 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., April 
 21, 1884.
 
 128 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 of the work had become too important to be 
 merely a side issue in Mr. Kemble's office 
 nor could he give all his time to Du Pont busi- 
 ness; he had for some years been supplemented 
 by F. L. Kneeland, a salesman whose energetic 
 methods recommended him to Henry du Pont. 
 Kneeland was put at the head of a New York 
 office of the Du Pont Company and given 
 charge of all the shipping that went through 
 that city and of all the agencies, which were 
 increasing rapidly, in New York State and New 
 England. He became invaluable to General du 
 Pont; was soon "our general agent"; travelled 
 all over the country on inspection trips; inves- 
 tigated delayed accounts; discharged untrust- 
 worthy agents; and was the one man whose 
 advice on any subject was always welcome to 
 General du Pont. He died in May, 1884, after 
 a short illness that had not been considered 
 alarming. There had been no time for readjust- 
 ment and there was no one to take his place. 
 The accustomed routine of transshipping and 
 bookkeeping went on as before in the New 
 York office, but the greater part of the work 
 that Kneeland had accomplished was after his 
 death done in General du Font's office, and 
 greatly increased his cares and the volume of
 
 A HISTORY 129 
 
 his correspondence. One of these letters is so 
 characteristic as to be worth quoting. An agent 
 in Texas had been somewhat over-zealous in 
 warning the company of the laws concerning 
 corporations; he was probably less officious 
 after he had received the following reply in 
 General du Font's handwriting: 
 
 "We are a partnership a firm composed of 
 individuals. We are not an incorporated com- 
 pany, nor have we ever been a corporation. We 
 have always been a firm and never had but the 
 one firm name. We manage our own business in 
 every particular, and allow no trusts or com- 
 binations to rule or dictate what we shall do or 
 what we shall not do. We make our own pow- 
 der, and we make our own prices at which it 
 shall be sold, here, there, and everywhere in the 
 world where it is for sale. 
 
 "We are every day dictating to our agents 
 as to prices, terms, and conditions to govern 
 them; but we do not allow anybody to dictate 
 to us as to what prices, terms, and conditions 
 we shall dictate. We do our own dictating. 
 
 "If we choose we can as quickly as wires can 
 carry the orders change the price at each and 
 every point in the world where Du Pont pow- 
 der is for sale. And no trust, no combination,
 
 130 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 no set of people nor persons can interfere. We 
 have not changed our mode of selling. Our 
 mode to-day is the same as it has been since 
 our firm was established very nearly a hundred 
 years ago and we expect to continue a hundred 
 years more in the same way." 1 
 
 In 1880 the Du Pont Company owned 2 
 "outside of the coal-fields: 3 the Brandy wine 
 mills; the Hazard Powder Company; the Syca- 
 more Mills; 4 two thirds of the Oriental Powder 
 Mills; 5 one third of the Austin Powder Mills; 6 
 thirteen twentieths of the California Powder 
 Works." Henry du Pont kept in touch with the 
 activities of all these plants and with four or 
 five hundred agents. Lammot du Font's resig- 
 nation made it necessary that Eugene du Pont 
 should superintend the Wapwallopen Mills, as 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., April 
 20, 1889. 
 
 2 F. L. Kneeland to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Septem- 
 ber 14, 1880. 
 
 3 Inside were Wapwallopen, and mills at Tamaqua, Pennsyl- 
 vania, managed by H. C. Weldy. They became H. C. Weldy and 
 Company in 1899. 
 
 4 The Sycamore stock was acquired partly as payment for 
 machinery, partly from individual holders. 
 
 6 The Oriental Company was wrecked by a severe explosion 
 of dynamite in 1870; became bankrupt with an indebtedness of 
 $648,000; and was bought in 1879. 
 
 * The Austin Powder Company stock was bought in 1872.
 
 A HISTORY 131 
 
 well as the Upper Yard and the experimental 
 laboratory. In 1884 Charles I. du Pont, a great- 
 grandson of Victor, the brother of E. I. du Pont 
 de Nemours, became assistant to Eugene du 
 Pont, and Alfred I., a son of the second E. I. 
 du Pont, helped Francis G. du Pont in Hagley 
 and the Lower Yard. 
 
 The increasing demand for blasting powder 
 in the Middle West and the difficulties of trans- 
 portation made it necessary to build a factory 
 to supply that market. In 1888 the Company 
 bought land near Keokuk, Iowa, where Francis 
 G. du Pont directed the construction of mills 
 as perfect as his long experience could make 
 them. They were not ready for work till April, 
 1890, but were then the largest mills in the 
 world for the manufacture of blasting powder. 
 
 Before Lammot du Pont's retirement from 
 the company some experimenting was done in 
 the burning of charcoal. In 1876 it was found 
 that "red charcoal has about 4 per cent more 
 oxygen and hydrogen than light brown. Red 
 charcoal ignites more readily than black." But 
 nitro-glycerine was the absorbing subject of 
 investigation, and until the Russo-Turkish 
 War of 1877, in which England very nearly be- 
 came involved, little thought was given to any
 
 132 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 radical changes in munitions of war. In 1882 
 Captain Smith, of the Ordnance Department, 
 asked the Du Pont Company to order moulds 
 and dies to press "prismatic powder"; each 
 cake was to be hexagonal in shape, to measure 
 two and a half inches from flat to flat, and to 
 be two inches high a hole to be drilled 
 through the middle. 1 In January, 1883, Eugene 
 du Pont was arranging a temporary press for 
 the "prismatic" and getting all the informa- 
 tion he could about European powders. 
 
 Several of the "high explosive" formulas 
 were largely composed of gun-cotton, which 
 had been forgotten for nearly thirty years, and 
 when it was definitely displaced by nitro-gly- 
 cerine chemists began to experiment with it as 
 a base for rifle powder. In June, 1883, Eugene 
 du Pont went to Bridgeport to test samples of 
 "E. C." powder that had been brought to this 
 country by a Major Garrett who was author- 
 ized to sell the patent. The powder did not do 
 what was expected of it, and Major Garrett 's 
 price was so high that the Du Pont Company 
 declined to consider it. In 1884 the Company 
 agreed to make samples of "Brown Prismatic 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., August 
 16. 1882.
 
 A HISTORY 133 
 
 or Cocoa Prismatic powder," and were working 
 on a large press "moving slowly on a large 
 number of prisms." 1 The chief difficulty in 
 making the new powder seems to have been 
 the proper burning of the charcoal "we have 
 not yet succeeded in getting charcoal in quan- 
 tity of the desired amount of carbonization 
 and of uniform quality "; 2 and three years later 
 they were investigating the possibility of buy- 
 ing the "Danish process of preparing brown 
 charcoal." 3 As a guide for incorporating the 
 brown prismatic, for which the press was un- 
 accountably delayed in the machine shops, 
 some brown hexagonal was fired at Sandy 
 Hook, and on March 30, 1885, two boxes of 
 brown prismatic were sent to Communipaw 
 "as ordered in letter from Ordnance Office, 
 Washington, December 9, 1884, which says, 
 'as soon as your new press is in working order, 
 please furnish us with a sample as nearly as 
 possible like that described within, which was 
 procured from the United Rhenish Westpha- 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March 
 24, 1884. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., July 7. 
 1884. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., October 
 17, 1887.
 
 134 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 lian Powder Co., for the 12" B. L. Rifle.*'* 1 
 The test of the new Du Pont powder was so 
 satisfactory that Eugene du Pont immedi- 
 ately patented the formula. A year later the 
 Rhenish Westphalian Company, through their 
 London agent, offered to sell their formula for 
 cocoa powder to the Du Pont Company, with 
 the exclusive rights for the American market, 
 but the Du Pont brown prismatic was sat- 
 isfactory to the Government and the proposi- 
 tion was declined. 
 
 In March, 1889, the Chief of Ordnance wrote 
 to the Du Pont Company that he had a report 
 that the French Government was "making a 
 new powder for the breech-loading rifles, 6", 
 8", 10" calibre and larger, giving 2800 ft. per 
 second velocity with 1.5 tons pressure, using 
 about the weight of the projectile in powder"; 2 
 he desired that a competent person be sent at 
 once to France to investigate. Alfred I. du 
 Pont sailed immediately, instructed to learn as 
 much as possible about both brown and smoke- 
 less powders for large guns and small arms in 
 France and England, and to find out how many 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March 
 SO, 1885. 
 
 * Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., March 
 16 and May 24, 1889.
 
 A HISTORY 135 
 
 of the methods used in Europe might be pur- 
 chased. The information gained by Mr. du 
 Pont satisfied him that the reported success of 
 the French brown prismatic was much exag- 
 gerated and the results no better than those of 
 the Du Fonts' own formula. The secret of the 
 French smokeless powder for small arms was 
 so jealously guarded by the Government that 
 while the officials showed him every courtesy 
 he was not allowed to see the powder nor. would 
 they talk of it. From Paris Mr. du Pont went 
 to England where he saw the agent of the 
 Rhenish Westphalian Powder Company, of 
 Cologne, and "learned that owing to certain 
 encouragement given them by the United 
 States Government, they were contemplating 
 building mills in the United States"; 1 and 
 that their brown prismatic powder gave much 
 the same results as the French. From England 
 he went to Wetteren, hi Belgium, where Coopal 
 et C ie made both prismatic powder and 
 smokeless powder for small arms. In Mr. du 
 Pont's opinion the Belgian powder was "su- 
 perior to either the French or the Rhenish 
 Westphalian powder." 2 He made tentative 
 
 1 A. I. du Pont to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., June 26, 
 1889. * Ibid.
 
 136 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 terms with both firms and returned to America 
 in June to give the company the details of his 
 mission. Satisfied that the Du Pont brown 
 prismatic was quite as good as that made in 
 either Belgium or Germany, and that their 
 experiments in smokeless powder would soon 
 have a successful result, the members of the 
 firm were not eager to pay a cash price and 
 heavy royalties for the secret formulas of 
 either company, but the Government insisted 
 on the purchase and agreed to pay the royal- 
 ties. Agreements were, therefore, made with 
 both of the European companies in November, 
 and Charles I. du Pont, who had worked with 
 Eugene du Pont in his experiments with Gov- 
 ernment powders, went to Europe to learn the 
 methods of manufacture. 
 
 Henry du Pont died on the 8th of August, 
 1889, after an illness of almost two months. 
 For fifty-five years he had been a powder- 
 maker, for thirty-nine of them the head of the 
 firm. In the first years of his authority he made 
 many important innovations in the business; 
 he was an eager and skilful financier always; 
 but as he grew older changes annoyed him. His 
 father had built a little office between his house 
 and the gate to the mills, and there with a staff
 
 A HISTORY 137 
 
 of four clerks and a boy General du Pont built 
 up an enormous business of which he and he 
 only knew every detail. He fought off the 
 approach of railways as long as it was possible, 
 and perhaps he was not alone in a little feeling 
 of regret when in 1889 the teams of six mules 
 with the big covered wagons were displaced by 
 a branch of the Wilmington and Northern 
 Railroad. The powder mills that often ran day 
 and night and the roads between them were 
 lighted, if that word may be used, by very in- 
 efficient lanterns, and it was only in response 
 to a somewhat peremptory suggestion from the 
 Chief of Ordnance that in 1889 an electric- 
 light plant was installed. In 1884 an applica- 
 tion was made that would have relieved Gen- 
 eral du Pont of at least a part of his work, but 
 the answer was decisive, "We have no use for 
 a stenographer and do not wish to employ any 
 one in that capacity." 1 
 
 It may have been partly the simplicity of his 
 surroundings that appealed to the affection of 
 the workmen. They could always find him in 
 the little office, and he never refused to help or 
 advise them when they came to him. Outsiders 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Febru- 
 ary 12, 1884.
 
 138 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 were a little afraid of the conservatism and de- 
 cision of General du Font's manner, but "the 
 men" the powder-men, the teamsters, the 
 farmers loved "Mr. Henry" and came to 
 him with all their perplexities, confident of his 
 wisdom and his friendship.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 1890-1902 
 
 EUGENE DU PONT and his brother, 
 Francis G. du Pont, were the practical 
 powder-men of the firm after Henry du Pont's 
 death. Eugene, ten years older than his brother, 
 became the senior partner. Colonel Henry A. 
 du Pont continued the work that had been his 
 under his father's management apart from 
 those duties his time was much occupied by 
 the settlement of his father's estate. William 
 du Pont resigned from the company, but con- 
 tinued to be president of the Repauno Chemi- 
 cal Company, the Hercules Powder Company, 
 and the Hercules Torpedo Company until 
 1892, when he left active business. Three new 
 members were added to the firm Charles I. 
 and Alfred I. du Pont, who for five years had 
 been superintendents in the powder yards, and 
 Alexis L, 2d, a brother of Eugene and Francis; 
 he had been successful in other enterprises, but 
 was persuaded to join his brothers who were 
 inexperienced hi business methods and some- 
 what dismayed at the task before them.
 
 140 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 It was quite necessary to reorganize the 
 management of the business; the changes be- 
 gan in the office. A larger building was at once 
 planned, but work on it was delayed by an ex- 
 plosion in 1890 and it was not occupied until 
 1891. In this new office a reasonable number of 
 clerks and stenographers were employed. The 
 innumerable agencies were reduced to only 
 eight or ten "branch offices" where powder 
 was sold direct to the dealers. The staff of the 
 New York office was materially reduced and 
 the greater part of the work that had been done 
 there was accomplished at the home office. The 
 Philadelphia office was closed. A new wharf 
 was built in the Delaware River at which ves- 
 sels could discharge or receive cargoes and be 
 directly met by freight cars. 
 
 In one way, however, and that a very im- 
 portant way, the firm's methods were unal- 
 tered. The business was entirely managed by 
 the senior partner. It was customary for him to 
 consult the other men in matters that con- 
 cerned their departments of the industry, but 
 he was hi no way bound to accept their advice, 
 and tradition made them hesitate to offer it or 
 to ask questions. The head of the firm was ex 
 officio head of the family. The homes of the
 
 A HISTORY 141 
 
 different partners belonged to the company, 
 and it made any additions or improvements 
 that were necessary and took no rental. For 
 the first sixty years of its existence the individ- 
 ual partners did not even own horses; when a 
 carriage was wanted a message was sent to the 
 office and a vehicle of some sort usually arrived 
 in due time there were never any too many 
 of them. Checks were cashed at the office and 
 all mail went through the office and was usually 
 sorted by the head of the firm himself. The 
 houses were near together and the partners 
 were men of very simple and domestic tastes, 
 to whom it would never have occurred to want 
 more money than was necessary for the needs 
 of their quiet lives. No one of them ever 
 thought of drawing his full income; they gave 
 their allegiance to the Company and its chief 
 and with it all their ability and confidence. It 
 is not surprising that the accumulating profits 
 grew very rapidly, nor that most of them were 
 invested in the smaller powder mills that were 
 constantly coming under the company's con- 
 trol. Since 1880 the company had bought 
 Lammot du Font's shares hi the Repauno 
 Chemical Company, the Hercules Powder 
 Company, the Hecla Powder Company, and
 
 142 DV PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 the Hercules Torpedo Company; some shares 
 in the Marcellus Powder Company, the Laflin 
 Powder Manufacturing Company, and with 
 Hazard and Laflin and Rand had organized 
 the Standard Cartridge Company, which was 
 founded because the older companies were 
 making cartridges loaded with inferior powder. 
 In addition to these interests the new Du Pont 
 mills at Mooar, Iowa, were almost ready to 
 furnish large quantities of blasting powder. 
 
 To offset this prosperity the losses suffered 
 by the new firm in the first year of its existence 
 were tremendous. At the very end of Henry du 
 Pont's regime, in May, 1889, the building in 
 the Upper Yard known as the "Refinery," 
 where saltpetre and other raw materials were 
 stored and refined, caught fire and was partly 
 destroyed. Thanks to Eugene du Pont's con- 
 trol of the situation there were no fatalities, 
 though the wooden building, with two hun- 
 dred thousand pounds of saltpetre, was within 
 a few yards of two large powder mills. The 
 melted saltpetre, which cannot be fought with 
 water, was running directly toward the mills 
 when Mr. du Pont ordered that ditches should 
 be dug to carry it into the Brandywine and 
 himself led a party of men who drenched the
 
 A HISTORY 143 
 
 mills and the powder to protect them from the 
 burning shingles of the Refinery. 
 
 In the same year there began a series of in- 
 cendiary fires on the company's farms. In 
 every case the fire was confined to the barn in 
 which it began, but other buildings and even 
 the mills were dangerously near. The first one 
 was on December 26, 1889, then January 10, 
 November 8 and 12, 1890, and the last one on 
 November 12, 1893. The culprits were eventu- 
 ally found and imprisoned, but the unrest and 
 tension that are caused by such a situation, 
 particularly when it exists in the neighborhood 
 of explosives, added infinitely to the difficulties 
 of the new management. 
 
 In the middle of the afternoon of October 7, 
 1890, after seven years without a serious acci- 
 dent, the Upper Yard was torn to pieces by 
 seven explosions occurring within eight sec- 
 onds and consuming one hundred tons of 
 powder; twelve persons were killed and twenty 
 wounded. At first it was feared that the "barn- 
 burners" were responsible for this horror, too; 
 but there proved to be no doubt that in sealing 
 a tin box of prismatic powder the soldering 
 iron had been overheated and the powder ex- 
 ploded. The man who was doing the work evi-
 
 144 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 dently saw what was about to happen in time 
 to run several yards before the concussion 
 killed him. Five of the Du Pont homes were 
 badly shaken and many of the workmen's 
 houses were destroyed; deep cavities showed 
 where the mills had stood. The sympathy and 
 offers of help that came by every mail did much 
 to encourage the members of the firm. Eugene 
 du Font's answer to one of these letters shows 
 his deep appreciation of the writer's generosity, 
 and was the beginning of one of his very few 
 intimate friendships: 
 
 To SCHUYLER PARSONS, ESQ. 
 New York City 
 
 October 10, 1890 
 
 DEAR SIR: Our sorrows for the afflictions of 
 the families of our workmen have been indeed 
 lightened by such a manifestation of your sym- 
 pathy as your letter of the ninth instant. Your 
 kindness is written in our " book of remem- 
 brance," there to remain as evidence of your 
 friendship. Concerning the losses and needs of 
 all our hands we purpose to them and their 
 families and to all who have suffered, to bring 
 out of chaos an orderly state of affairs, to re- 
 store everything except life to all; to nourish,
 
 A HISTORY 145 
 
 protect and guide all and to do everything pos- 
 sible for man to do. Such being our purpose it 
 will not be necessary to use your check, which 
 we therefore herein return with as many and as 
 sincere thanks as it is possible for any one to 
 give. 
 
 We remain very truly your friends 
 
 E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND Co. 
 
 As soon as Francis G. du Pont had started 
 the Mooar Mills in Iowa, which began making 
 powder in April, 1890, he devoted all his energy 
 to the development of smokeless powder. Pat- 
 ent after patent was offered to the company. 
 In 1883 they had refused to buy the formula 
 for the "E. C." powder, chiefly because the 
 samples did not give the promised results; but 
 its quality improved and by 1892 it was a very 
 important competitor. As a result of Alfred I. 
 du Pont's investigations the formula used by 
 Coopal et C ie in Belgium was bought and 
 Charles I. du Pont went to their factory to 
 learn how it and the brown prismatic were 
 made, but by the time he returned the Ord- 
 nance Department had found that Hudson 
 Maxim's smokeless powder gave better results 
 than Coopal's, although Maxim's powder gave
 
 146 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 such high pressures that it was not considered 
 satisfactory. Negotiations were immediately 
 begun with Maxim, and samples from different 
 European mills were sent for. Nobel developed 
 a formula that the Company declined to pur- 
 chase, the patent of which seemed likely to in- 
 terfere with Maxim's. It was evident that none 
 of the smokeless powder on the market was 
 satisfactory, but the demand for such a powder 
 was insistent. 
 
 Partly because the powder yards were al- 
 ready crowded with mills, partly because of the 
 danger of having gun-cotton, the base of the 
 new powder, near gunpowder mills, but chiefly 
 for better shipping facilities, a large tract of 
 land was bought at Carney's Point, on the 
 Delaware River opposite Wilmington, and a 
 wharf was built there in April, 1891. Experi- 
 mental laboratories were constructed, and 
 Francis G. du Pont, with the assistance at first 
 of Pierre S. du Pont l and afterward Alexis I., 
 3d, 2 Francis I., 3 and A. Felix du Pont, 3 worked 
 indefatigably to develop a "Du Pont Smoke- 
 less.*' It was not till November, 1893, that they 
 felt sufficiently sure of their formula to send 
 
 1 Son of Lammot du Pont. * Son of Eugene du Pont. 
 Son of Francis G. du Pont.
 
 A HISTORY 147 
 
 samples to the different cartridge factories for 
 testing, though early in the summer they had 
 "furnished twenty-five or thirty small cans to 
 our friends, to get an opinion on the powder." 1 
 Six months later they had "radically changed 
 the method of manufacture since last fall; put 
 in new machinery and buildings. We are now 
 making a very fine grade of powder in every 
 way better than the first. It is not yet on the 
 market, because we desire to have a stock on 
 hand before we begin to distribute it." 2 And 
 soon after: "Our new smokeless powder is 
 ready for the market, as yet only for shot guns; 
 we have not yet adapted it for rifles or revol- 
 vers." 3 The following spring they were able to 
 offer a bid for smokeless rifle powder, of which 
 the Government wanted twenty thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 The smokeless powder of that day had a new 
 quality to recommend it. One is not apt to 
 think of a color scheme in gunpowder, but a 
 revulsion of feeling from the old black and the 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., August 
 19, 1893. 
 
 * Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 
 4, 1894. 
 
 * Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., June 22, 
 1894.
 
 148 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 more recent brown powder seems to have run 
 riot in the new manufacture: "We can dye the 
 Smokeless almost any color desired. We send 
 you a box of thirteen smokeless powders all 
 of these are on the market and you can judge of 
 the colors. They are Giant; Walsrode; Robin 
 Hood, made in Canada; E. C. powder; W. A., 
 Laflin and Rand; Schultz; Austin; S. S., Haz- 
 ard; Gold Dust, made in California and we 
 think, in New York; King; Du Pont; Trois- 
 dorf. We also send you some small bottles of 
 Du Pont powder dyed various colors. Some are 
 very pretty. If you do not like any of them we 
 can send others, as we have a multitude of 
 shades." * 
 
 In 1896 the Navy Department ordered from 
 the Du Pont Company one hundred thousand 
 pounds of smokeless cannon powder to be 
 made by the "Navy's own formula." It re- 
 quired both alcohol and ether, neither of which 
 was used in the Du Pont powder. The Army 
 and Navy never used the same powders nor 
 the same guns and in time of war the differ- 
 ence of their requirements added not a little to 
 the problems of the manufacturer. 
 
 1 Correspondence of . I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., June 3, 
 1896.
 
 A HISTORY 149 
 
 The agreements concerning brown prismatic 
 and smokeless powder that were made in 1889 
 with the Belgian and German firms had al- 
 most expired in 1897, when a new competition 
 threatened all manufacturers of explosives in 
 the country. " The Rhenish Westphalian Gun- 
 powder mills of Cologne propose to locate a 
 branch of their works in New Jersey near New 
 Brunswick. They have bought about five hun- 
 dred acres. Mr. Barksdale l and Mr. Fay 2 sail 
 to-day for Germany to see whether anything 
 can be done as to a withdrawal from this enter- 
 prise. It would not be advisable to make any 
 payment to head it off, and if anything is done 
 it will be on a traffic agreement concerning dy- 
 namite." 3 Mr. Barksdale and Mr. Fay found 
 that the matter could not be settled on a dyna- 
 mite basis smokeless powder had to be con- 
 sidered; and in July Bernard Peyton, of the 
 California Powder Works, and Eugene du Pont 
 went abroad to reenforce the American manu- 
 facturers. Mr. du Pont was at home again early 
 in August with the outlines of an agreement 
 that was completed in October, to be operative 
 
 1 Of the Repauno Chemical Company. 
 
 * Of the .(Etna Powder Company. 
 
 * Correspondence of . I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 
 19, 1897.
 
 150 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 till 1907, which effectually kept the largest 
 German manufacturers out of the United 
 States. The necessity of such an arrangement 
 was explained in a letter from Eugene du Pont 
 to Henry Belin written on December 30, 1897: 
 "To give you briefly the history of the reasons 
 why this agreement was made I would say that 
 early in April about six hundred acres of land 
 were purchased by the Europeans, near James- 
 burg, New Jersey. Work was commenced 
 with promptness, and sufficient buildings were 
 erected to accommodate the manufacture of 
 metallic blasting caps. So soon as we heard of 
 this enterprise, after due consultation with 
 other companies in interest, it was decided that 
 some one had better go to Europe and see what 
 the Europeans intended to do. Consequently 
 Mr. Fay and Mr. Barksdale made the trip to 
 Europe leaving New York on the 19th of May. 
 After reaching Europe they had many inter- 
 views with the Europeans, and found that the 
 latter were determined not only to manufac- 
 ture blasting caps, but to extend their opera- 
 tions to all explosives; black powder, rifle and 
 blasting, dynamite and smokeless powder. The 
 Europeans were especially desirous of entering 
 into the manufacture of rifle and blasting pow-
 
 A HISTORY 151 
 
 der, because smokeless powder in Europe had 
 made great inroads on their sporting powder 
 business; and the flameless explosives had prac- 
 tically driven the blasting powder out of the 
 European markets. Their machinery, there- 
 fore, was standing idle, and they had intended 
 to come to this country and put up blasting 
 powder mills, not at the Jamesburg plant, but 
 wherever the prices and delivery were such 
 that they could run their mills at a profit. The 
 anthracite region was no doubt considered by 
 them, as well as every other large coal-produc- 
 ing centre. 
 
 "Messrs. Barksdale and Fay handled the 
 negotiations as well as it was possible to do; 
 and while some concessions were made, in the 
 main they were compelled to accept the situa- 
 tion as they found it. 
 
 "By the agreement with the Europeans the 
 danger of this competition was removed, and 
 in order that the payments for preventing the 
 competition should be made conveniently, it 
 was decided that Smokeless Military Powder 
 should be the basis on which the payment 
 should be computed; and while smokeless mili- 
 tary powder was thus used, it was only so be- 
 cause of convenience."
 
 152 DV PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 One wonders what effect such a system of 
 factories as was planned by the Germans 
 would have had on the history of the world in 
 1918 or earlier. 
 
 When on April 25, 1898, the United States 
 declared war with Spain the powder supply 
 was in a very disorganized condition. It had 
 been admitted in Washington that the Navy 
 had not enough powder to suffice for two hours' 
 hot engagement. The magazines were empty; 
 not because of neglect, but because "prismatic 
 powder had seen its day," x and smokeless 
 powder was improving rapidly, though as yet 
 its keeping qualities were uncertain. In Febru- 
 ary the Government ordered two hundred 
 thousand pounds of smokeless cannon powder; 
 the largest guns required brown prismatic, of 
 which one million pounds were ordered for the 
 Navy early in July to be delivered at the 
 rate of twenty thousand pounds a day. The 
 existing presses were insufficient, but a press 
 had shortly before been invented by Alfred I. 
 du Pont that turned out powder much more 
 rapidly than the old ones; they were hurriedly 
 installed and ran night and day. "The supply 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Janu- 
 ary 23, 1899.
 
 A HISTORY 153 
 
 was equal to the demand and at no time was 
 the Government crippled for want of this ma- 
 terial." l Hardly was the work well under way 
 when Cervera's fleet was " destroyed " and the 
 order countermanded. The Du Pont and Cali- 
 fornia Companies supplied all the prismatic 
 powder that was used, but the L Government had 
 to "import some smokeless powder to suit the 
 guns and ammunition of the New Orleans and 
 other cruisers bought in Europe." 2 
 
 Brown prismatic powder was not made in 
 any quantity after the Spanish War; but Eu- 
 gene du Pont was mistaken hi believing that 
 "the smokeless military powder business has 
 seen its maximum." 3 The Carney's Point capac- 
 ity has grown steadily, and the powder has 
 improved with the growth of the plant until 
 Du Pont Smokeless, both for cannon and small 
 arms, is believed to be the best ever produced. 
 
 For many years the Navy Department had a 
 small powder plant at Newport, Rhode Island. 
 At the close of the war they secured an appro- 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Janu- 
 ary 23. 1899. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., April 
 18, 1898. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co, May 
 28, 1900.
 
 154 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 priation from Congress for the construction of 
 a large smokeless powder plant at Indian Head, 
 Maryland, where powder might be made by 
 their own formulas, hoping to make it at less 
 cost than the manufacturers' price. "The offi- 
 cers entrusted with its supervision visited our 
 [the Du Pont Company's] several plants and 
 asked for and received plans and blue-prints 
 which would enable them to construct a plant 
 with the greatest economy and of the greatest 
 efficiency for the Government. When the ap- 
 propriation was granted for the Army plant 
 erected at Picatinny, New Jersey, we were re- 
 quested by the Chief of Ordnance of the Army 
 to assist them in the preparation of plans and, 
 as a matter of fact, their engineers had access to 
 our plants and their plans were sent to us for 
 criticism and amendment. We furnished them 
 with blue-prints for some of their work. All 
 absolutely without compensation." 1 
 
 Among those most interested in the develop- 
 ment of smokeless powder was Captain Sidney 
 Stuart, U.S.A., who was detailed to Wilming- 
 ton to inspect Government powders. He was 
 eager to try for himself certain experiments in 
 shell-loading, which were quite apart from the 
 
 1 Testimony of J. A. Haskell, March 10, 1910.
 
 A HISTORY 155 
 
 work of the Du Pont Mills, and for that pur- 
 pose he had a small laboratory at Carney's 
 Point. He and several workmen were killed in 
 this building in April, 1899. Eugene du Pont 
 wrote a very clear account of the unfortunate 
 accident: "No one had any idea that com- 
 pressing wet gun-cotton into a 13 in. shell 
 would be attended with danger. The operation 
 was as follows : The cavity of the shell, about 8 
 in. in diameter, was lined with thin copper. The 
 conical head was filled with gun-cotton sawed 
 from blocks to fit it. Two compressed blocks, 
 full size of the cavity, were placed upon the 
 gun-cotton sawed to fit the conical point. After 
 that, loosely compressed gun-cotton containing 
 seventy per cent of water was inserted in the 
 end of the shell and forced home by hydrau- 
 lic pressure. The pressure was ten thousand 
 pounds per square inch and enough to reduce 
 the soft blocks of gun-cotton to about two 
 inches. The water flowed incessantly from the 
 end of the shell as the gun-cotton was com- 
 pressed. When the gun-cotton was fully com- 
 pressed it contained at the least eighteen per 
 cent of water. One shell had been loaded in the 
 forenoon of Saturday, and the work on the 
 second shell (which exploded) had proceeded
 
 156 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 until about twenty pounds of gun-cotton had 
 been placed therein under pressure. We have 
 pressed very large quantities of gun-cotton in 
 the regular shapes, and never had any accident 
 of any kind." 1 In another letter he said: "It is 
 a fact that all of the gun-cotton in the shell did 
 not explode in the explosion which resulted in 
 the loss of life of Captain Stuart and five other 
 men. We found quite a large amount of this 
 gun-cotton and no doubt some of it was scat- 
 tered; the shell and casing were broken into 
 very many fragments, some of them larger 
 than others; the men standing around were 
 badly cut to pieces." 2 
 
 The amount of work involved in settling the 
 estate of Henry du Pont brought to the firm a 
 realization of the great volume of business that 
 was being done by the company. Colonel du 
 Pont advised that the partnership be made a 
 corporation; the plan was much discussed and 
 there was some opposition, but after various 
 compromises were made the corporation was 
 formed under the laws of Delaware on the 23d 
 of October, 1899. Eugene du Pont became 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 1, 
 1899. 
 
 1 Correspondence of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., May 
 27, 1899.
 
 A HISTORY 157 
 
 president; his two brothers and Colonel du 
 Pont, vice-presidents; and Charles I. du Pont, 
 secretary and treasurer. 
 
 As a matter of fact there was no change in 
 the administration of the business; directors' 
 meetings were called, where the older men dis- 
 cussed affairs in the informal way that they 
 had always done the younger men were usu- 
 ally too busy to be present. Eugene du Pont 
 was, as Henry du Pont had been, the one mem- 
 ber of the Company who was in touch with all 
 its workings who wrote all the letters in any 
 way concerning the policy of the business. 
 Francis G. du Pont was fully occupied at Car- 
 ney's Point and in keeping a general supervi- 
 sion of the different plants that had come under 
 the company's control; his brother, Dr. Alexis 
 I. du Pont, had a share in the administration 
 of both the Du Pont Company and the Eastern 
 Dynamite Company; Colonel du Font's out- 
 side interests demanded the greater part of his 
 time; and Charles and Alfred were trained only 
 in the manufacture of powder. 
 
 In January, 1902, Eugene du Pont had a 
 sudden attack of pneumonia and died on the 
 28th, after a week's illness. He had been in au- 
 thority for eleven years, during which time the
 
 158 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 business had grown rapidly, and, the magnitude 
 of the responsibility appalled the five men who, 
 with Eugene du Font's heirs, now owned it. 
 Since Henry du Font's death the Eastern Dy- 
 namite Company had been formed in 1895, by 
 a coalition of the Repauno Chemical Com- 
 pany, the Hercules Powder Company, and the 
 Atlantic Dynamite Company, and had bought 
 the Dittmar Powder and Chemical Company. 
 In that year large numbers of shares had been 
 bought hi the Enterprise Powder Company 
 and the Chattanooga Powder Company. In 
 
 1896 the Phcenix Powder Company, the South- 
 ern Powder Company, the Chamberlin Cart- 
 ridge and Target Company, and the Equitable 
 Powder Company were added to the list. In 
 
 1897 some stock was bought in the American 
 Ordnance Company, of Washington, D.C.; 
 and the Maxim Powder and Torpedo Com- 
 pany, "buildings, machinery, and patents," 
 was bought outright. In 1900 a large proportion 
 of stock was bought in the Peyton Chemical 
 Works; and in 1902 the Indiana Powder Com- 
 pany and the North Western Powder Company 
 were bought. Some of these properties were 
 owned by the Du Fonts alone; most of them 
 were partly owned by the Laflin and Rand
 
 A HISTORY 159 
 
 Powder Company; and in some of them only a 
 few shares were held by either company. 
 
 Colonel du Pont, Francis, and Alexis were in 
 turn asked to take the presidency and each re- 
 fused; Colonel du Pont, because his personal 
 affairs required all his time; Alexis and Fran- 
 cis, because they were too ill to undertake new 
 work they both died in November, 1904. 
 The two younger men, having no business 
 training, were not considered eligible; the older 
 of them, Charles I. du Pont, was moreover in 
 very bad health and died before the end of the 
 year. It was suggested that the presidency be 
 offered to Hamilton M. Barksdale, who had 
 been an official of the Repauno Company since 
 1887, and was a very able business man, but he 
 declined to consider it "until they had ex- 
 hausted all efforts to secure a man of the name 
 to take the helm." 
 
 Francis G. du Pont was ill and despondent 
 and could see no hope for the success of the 
 company if it were handed over to the next 
 generation; he advised that the business be 
 sold outright, preferably to the Laflin and 
 Rand Powder Company. To Alfred I. du Pont, 
 however, it was intolerable that having reached 
 so remarkable a position in the business world
 
 160 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 the company should be sold to strangers be- 
 cause the fourth generation, of whom there 
 were twenty young men and boys, was con- 
 sidered unable to carry on the industry that 
 their great-grandfather had founded. He im- 
 mediately offered to buy the business at what- 
 ever price might be considered just. Francis 
 and Alexis du Pont hesitated because Alfred, 
 though an experienced manufacturer, was not 
 a business man, but Colonel du Pont gladly 
 agreed to help formulate any reasonable plan 
 that would keep the company in the hands of 
 the family. 
 
 Alfred at once communicated with his two 
 cousins, Thomas Coleman and Pierre Samuel 
 du Pont, and asked them to help him to arrange 
 for the purchase. Pierre S. du Pont had been 
 with the company for nine years, first in the 
 black powder mills, then as chemist in the 
 smokeless powder laboratories, but had re- 
 signed in 1899 and had been living in Ohio, 
 engaged in real estate and other administrative 
 and financial business that served as an excel- 
 lent preparation for his new responsibilities. 
 Coleman du Pont was a man of varied business 
 experience, with a remarkable ability for 
 organization.
 
 A HISTORY 161 
 
 The value of the old company was the first 
 subject for consideration. The members sug- 
 gested a price of $12,000,000 which was ten- 
 tatively agreed to; and on the 1st of March, 
 just a month after the death of Eugene du 
 Pont, the office was quite informally turned 
 over to the new owners, of whom T. Coleman 
 du Pont was president; Alfred I. du Pont, vice- 
 president; Pierre S. du Pont, treasurer; and 
 Charles I. du Pont, secretary. A month later 
 an examination of the books of the company 
 was completed and the value of $12,000,000 
 accepted. Payment was made in $12,000,000 
 four per cent notes and twenty-five per cent 
 ($3,000,000) of the stock of a new corporation, 
 E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company, after- 
 wards changed to E. I. du Pont de Nemours 
 and Company. 
 
 In 1802 E. I. du Pont de Nemours started to 
 build his mills; in 1902 the fourth generation 
 of his family began the second century of the 
 industry that bore the name his name 
 under which it had, as he hoped it would, 
 "earned a reputation greater than that of 
 others." 
 
 The hundredth anniversary of the settle-
 
 162 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 ment of the Du Pont family in Delaware was 
 celebrated on the Fourth of July, 1902; a little 
 ahead of time, for it was on the 19th that 
 Eleuthere Irenee du Pont and his family came 
 to the log house that he had bought on the 
 Brandywine. There were three thousand people 
 at the fete, the Du Pont men with their fam- 
 ilies, the powder-men with theirs, and a few 
 outside guests who were friends of long stand- 
 ing. There was dancing and target shooting, 
 music and fireworks merry-making of all 
 kinds; but to the older powder-men, whether 
 Du Ponts or not, there was some sadness. They 
 were at the end of the old regime the begin- 
 ning of the new. In the task that was before 
 them, and that they have so splendidly accom- 
 plished, it was impossible that the heads of the 
 company should, like their fathers, work side 
 by side with the men. They were in charge of 
 great industries, not of a few powder mills, and 
 they could no longer be the foremen of the 
 yards the friends and guardians of the in- 
 dividuals in their employ. The old homes in 
 which Eleuthere Irenee du Pont and his son 
 Alfred lived were too near the mills for safety, 
 so greatly had the explosive force of powder 
 increased. The "new office" was too small and
 
 A HISTORY 163 
 
 too far from town; a much larger one was 
 rented in the Equitable Building in Wilming- 
 ton. Saltpetre powder was no longer the most 
 important of explosives, and the preservation 
 of the Brandywine mills had become a matter 
 of sentiment rather than of necessity. 
 
 A few days after the "Centennial Celebra- 
 tion" a committee of the employees of the 
 mills met the members of the old and the new 
 companies at the office in order to give a for- 
 mal expression of their appreciation and affec- 
 tion; their resolutions were, in part: 
 
 "We, the employees of the E. I. du Pont de 
 Nemours and Company, at the home works on 
 the Brandywine, in meeting assembled have 
 hereby resolved: That the record of one hun- 
 dred years in the manufacture of Gunpowder 
 made by the Du Pont Company as a family is 
 also shared with pride by many of the em- 
 ployees whose fathers and grandfathers have 
 been identified with the history of the works. 
 
 "Resolved: That as one generation after an- 
 other passes away the record left by them has 
 always been honesty, bravery and kindness 
 from the Du Pont family and loyalty and love 
 from their employees.
 
 164 DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 
 "Resolved: That we, the employees of the 
 Firm in 1902, wish to record the fact that we 
 appreciate the kindness shown to us by the 
 present officials and members of the Du Pont 
 family in thus inviting us all to mingle together 
 in the celebration of this to them a Centennial 
 Day and as we have loved and been faithful to 
 their fathers we mean to do the same for the 
 present generation.'* 
 
 At the end of the little ceremony, Pierre 
 Gentieu, the spokesman of the Committee, 
 said: "Gentlemen of the old Firm, who have 
 been our leaders and friends for so many years, 
 we are sorry that you are leaving us, for we will 
 miss you." And turning to Coleman du Pont, 
 *'What the new Company will do of course we 
 do not know, but let us hope that after one 
 hundred years more as much good can be said 
 of them as is said to-day of the Du Ponts for 
 the past century." 
 
 THE END
 
 APPENDIX
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF WAR AND SPORT- 
 ING POWDER IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 BY E. I. DU PONT 
 1801 
 
 (Translated from the French) 
 
 THE high price of labor, and that of raw materials 
 which is the natural consequence, have caused till 
 now small success in the manufactures of the United 
 States. 
 
 But a manufacture in which nearly all the work 
 is done by machinery, which would use foreign raw 
 material, and which for these reasons could not feel 
 the effects of the high price of national industries, 
 would be sure of complete success. It would also 
 gain, to assure its profits, the cost of transportation 
 and the commercial charges now paid by European 
 manufacturers. 
 
 The manufacture of gunpowder has all these ad- 
 vantages; the cost of labor, even in America, is not 
 one sixth of its price, and saltpetre, the only raw 
 material in its composition of which the cost is 
 important, comes from India at as low a price as is 
 paid for it by European manufacturers. 
 
 A manufacture of this kind has therefore nothing 
 to fear from the obstacles which will for a long time 
 hinder the introduction of other manufactures into 
 the United States. It can count on a high price and 
 a sure market for its product. The supplying of the
 
 168 APPENDIX 
 
 Government for the Navy, for the Army, and for 
 the Forts which are now nearly empty; the con- 
 sumption of a race of hunters living largely in the 
 forests; the commerce of the West Indies and that 
 of the Indians offer to it outlets twenty times 
 greater than would be necessary for the most 
 brilliant success. 
 
 There are already in the United States two or 
 three plants which make bad powder at great ex- 
 pense and which nevertheless do a good business. 
 To give an idea of the incompetence of these manu- 
 facturers we will take as an example that plant 
 which has the best reputation l which is now work- 
 ing for the Government. 
 
 The Philadelphia merchants who own this man- 
 ufacture, nine years ago brought to this country as 
 manager of their plant a Batavian workman who 
 makes their powder as he saw it made in his own 
 country as they have probably made it in that 
 Dutch Colony for fifty years. 
 
 They use saltpetre from India of an infinitely 
 better quality than is procurable in France, but 
 they refine it so badly, they use it while it is still so 
 saturated with dampness and mother liquor, that 
 even were their powder made by modern processes 
 it would have about half the power of that made 
 of dry, pure saltpetre. 
 
 They work four mills night and day, while with 
 two mills, working in the daytime only, their out- 
 put should be a quarter more than it is. 
 
 1 Probably the mills at Frankford, Pennsylvania; owned by 
 William Lane and Stephen Decatur.
 
 APPENDIX 169 
 
 They employ sixteen men; they would need but 
 twelve to do as much work with two mills. 
 
 They grain their powder by crushing it in a 
 wooden sieve or a kind of basket so badly arranged 
 that the greater part is reduced to dust increas- 
 ing the cost of labor and the loss in manufacture. 
 
 This graining, so badly begun, they do not know 
 how to finish, and they have not succeeded in mak- 
 ing true Army powder even for the Government for 
 which they work. 
 
 Such competitors should not be formidable to one 
 who, having studied this manufacture for several 
 years in the powder works of the French Govern- 
 ment when they were directed by M. de Lavoisier, 
 can add to the extensive knowledge of that admin- 
 istration the important modifications which have 
 been in use since the Revolution and which have 
 been caused in the making of powder by the needs 
 of an unprecedented war. 
 
 We will make an approximate estimate of the 
 annual cost and production of such an establish- 
 ment in order to give an idea of the profit for which 
 it would be reasonable to hope. But we will be care- 
 ful in this calculation to keep the cost high and the 
 profits at the lowest in order to be on the safe side. 
 
 We will take as a standard the prices existing in 
 times of peace that is to say, those existing before 
 the present war; observing, however, that even 
 when peace is reestablished prices will not be so low 
 as they formerly were labor will be higher in 
 Europe, whereas it may be somewhat lower in 
 America.
 
 170 APPENDIX 
 
 We will look next into the circumstances which 
 may aid in the success of this enterprise and the ad- 
 vantages offered it by the present needs of the 
 Government. 
 
 A plant composed of only one stamping mill and 
 one wheel mill gives an output of eight hundred 
 pounds of powder a day, which, allowing only two 
 hundred working days in a year, gives an annual 
 output of 160,000 Ibs. 
 
 Before the war, powder imported from Holland, 
 very inferior in quality to the French powder, sold 
 in America at Twenty-five dollars a quintal. 
 
 At this price 160,000 'ibs. yield $40,000 
 
 The cost of manufacture would be 
 
 120,000 Ibs. saltpetre @ 10^ . . . $12,000.00 
 
 20,000 Ibs. sulphur @ 2 l 400.00 
 
 20,000 Ibs. charcoal @ lj 200.00 
 
 160,000 Ibs. 
 
 A head workman @ $1.75 638.75 
 
 4 upper workmen $1.50 J 2,190.00 
 
 12 workmen $1.25 6,387.50 
 
 Director's salary 2,000.00 
 
 Loss in manufacture and inciden- 
 tals s 4,183.75 
 
 Annual repairs to machinery 2,000.00 $30,000 
 
 Profit $10,000 
 
 1 The price of saltpetre imported from India was before the 
 war 6^ a pound. That on 10^ which we have here given for re- 
 fined saltpetre is certainly exaggerated. The price of sulphur is in 
 America $1.50 instead of $2.00 a quintal. 
 
 2 The workmen are estimated here at 25^ more than they are 
 paid at the Philadelphia plant, where they work one night in 
 three. 
 
 8 The losses in manufacture are estimated at much too high
 
 APPENDIX 171 
 
 And in this estimate we give the same price to all 
 powders, whereas in this quantity 160,000 Ibs. 
 there is always a proportion of choice powder l 
 which sells at a much higher price and on which is 
 the principal profit. 
 
 We have used as the base of our calculation the 
 methods employed in France six years ago, since 
 when there has been discovered a better and quicker 
 process for the refining of saltpetre; a partly success- 
 ful attempt has been made to substitute for the 
 stamping mill a new method by which a better grade 
 of powder is obtained in hah" the time and with fewer 
 men. This new process may be already adopted 
 if a remedy has been found for the danger which it 
 seemed to involve. There has recently been sug- 
 gested in France a machine for graining powder by 
 which one man can do the work of ten and which, 
 moreover, markedly diminishes the loss in manu- 
 facture. 2 
 
 a figure. The repairs would amount to almost nothing for the 
 first years. 
 
 1 Pottdre (TO-ite. 
 
 1 It should not be assumed that because the manufacture of 
 powder has been perfected in France, the new discoveries will 
 spread rapidly in the rest of Europe and that the manufacture to 
 be established in the United States on the new methods would 
 have no real advantage over others. The manufacture of powder 
 in France scarcely suffices for the National demand and the 
 economy introduced by the new methods will do no more than 
 compensate them for the difference caused by the high price of 
 saltpetre. The manufacturers of England and Holland having 
 therefore nothing to fear from competition with French powder 
 will make no effort to build new machinery; the more so because
 
 172 APPENDIX 
 
 It seems to us, then, quite proved that a powder 
 manufacture established in America would have 
 sufficient advantages even if after the present war 
 the price should fall to its former rate. 
 
 But it is certain that one of the effects of this war 
 will be a general increase in the price of labor in 
 Europe and especially in Holland, because of the 
 Revolution and that in consequence imported 
 powders will increase in value, which will be for the 
 advantage of our enterprise. 
 
 The war has compelled the United States to de- 
 velop a prudent strength, to build fortresses for the 
 defence of her ports and her frontiers. The Govern- 
 ment cannot depend on foreign countries to supply 
 powder for the forts, for the artillery, for the Navy, 
 
 in manufacture exposed to such great risks one is slow to experi- 
 ment. The horrible accident at the powder works at Grenoble will 
 for a long time be a bugbear to those who would be tempted to 
 imitate them and who have not sufficient knowledge to foresee 
 results. 
 
 Except in France the manufacture of powder is left to private 
 manufacturers. At the time of the war of 1764, the best powder 
 was made by the English, and this superiority lasted long, but 
 the Government of France having, under the ministry of M. 
 Turgot, formed a school for the purpose and confided its admin- 
 istration to very capable men, the manufacture became so im- 
 proved that the powder was superior to that made in all the rest 
 of Europe and has continued so. Other countries have profited so 
 little by the improvements made in France that, although for 
 nearly twenty-five years French plants have been so constructed 
 that in case of accidents the fire will not spread, this wise pre- 
 caution is not copied and the new plant in Philadelphia is so 
 arranged that if there were an explosion the whole plant would 
 be lost.
 
 APPENDIX 173 
 
 it must have a manufacture established in America 
 and will doubtless give all necessary encouragements 
 to such an enterprise. The first of these should be a 
 duty of 15 per cent on the importation of foreign 
 powder, an assistance usually given in America to 
 all kinds of manufacture. 
 
 From these facts we may calculate that the in- 
 crease in the cost of labor in Europe and the duty on 
 imports, of which we spoke, would raise the price of 
 imported powder to at least 30^ a pound instead of 
 the 25 i which it has been. This small increase would 
 give an annual profit of $20,000. 
 
 If the Naval war continues or is renewed, the 
 profits of the enterprise would be infinitely greater. 
 The price of powder in the United States in times of 
 war is from 50^ to 75 jf a pound. The Government is 
 now paying 47^. 
 
 Taking as example this last, and lowest price the 
 160,000 Ibs. of powder would yield $75,000 
 
 The cost of manufacture would be 
 120,000 Ibs. saltpetre @ 20?f 
 
 (because of the war) $24,000.00 
 
 Sulphur and charcoal 600.00 
 
 Labor 9,216.25 
 
 Director's salary 2,000.00 
 
 Losses in manufacture 7,183.75 
 
 Annual repairs 2,000.00 45,000 
 
 Profit $30,000 
 
 In order to simplify these calculations we have 
 considered only the output of a single unit of mills, 
 although most of the old plants have two or three; 
 the needs of the Government and those of com-
 
 174 APPENDIX 
 
 merce offer boundless opportunities to such an en- 
 terprise and it would be possible to double or triple 
 the output by the construction of one or two new 
 units. 
 
 The equipment of the forts alone requires two 
 million pounds of powder. The Government, by the 
 frigates which it has sent to India, has assured the 
 necessary supply of saltpetre, of which it now has 
 800,000 Ibs. 
 
 The manufacture of these two million pounds of 
 powder would be sufficient reason for the establish- 
 ment of a new manufacture, even if it were to have 
 no other market, since this quantity would employ 
 a plant of two units for several years and would 
 alone, by the lowest possible estimate, assure a 
 profit of more than $125,000.
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 (Translated from the French) 
 
 ARTICLES of Incorporation for the Establishment 
 of a Manufacture of military and sporting powder 
 in the United States of America. 
 
 The undersigned Du Pont de Nemours, Pere et 
 Fils et O of New York Bidermann Catoire, 
 Duquesnoy et C ie and Eleuthere Irenee du 
 Pont, intending to establish a manufacture of mili- 
 tary and sporting powder in the United States of 
 America, have formed a Corporation for that estab- 
 lishment and have drawn up the following articles: 
 
 ARTICLE 1 
 
 The capital of the Company shall be thirty-six 
 thousand dollars, in eighteen shares of two thousand 
 dollars each. 
 
 ARTICLE 2 
 The capital will be subscribed by 
 
 Bidermann for one share one share 
 
 Catoire, Duquesnoy et Comp one share 
 
 Necker Germany one share 
 
 Arch d McCall \ one s] ^ re 
 
 \ one share 
 
 Peter Bauduy { one share 
 
 ( one share 
 
 Du Pont de Nemours Pere et fils et C ie of 
 New York twelve shares
 
 176 APPENDIX 
 
 ARTICLE 3 
 Each share shall pay an interest of six per cent. 
 
 ARTICLE 4 
 
 Citizen E. I. du Pont is entrusted with the con- 
 struction of the mills and the management of the 
 business, he will give to it his whole attention fcr 
 which he will be allowed a yearly salary of eighteen 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 ARTICLE 5 
 
 The constructions necessary for the manufacture 
 shall be completed during the year 1801 and the 
 first months of the following year, so that the mill 
 may be in operation in the spring of 1802. 
 
 ARTICLE 6 
 
 There shall be made every year, beginning at the 
 end of December, 1803, an Inventory giving the 
 value of the property and the product at the market 
 price. Any sum in excess of the original capital shall, 
 after the interests have been paid, be considered 
 profit. The Company Du Pont de Nemours Pere et 
 Fils et C ie of New York, the principal shareholder, 
 shall instruct one of its members or an accredited 
 representative to assist at the making of this 
 Inventory. 
 
 ARTICLE 7 
 
 The profits or losses, should there be any, shall IDC 
 divided in the following proportions: Eighteen
 
 APPENDIX 177 
 
 parts to the shareholders, nine to the director of the 
 business, as his share in the industry that he is to 
 establish, and three to l one of the originators 
 
 of the plan for this manufacture. 
 
 ARTICLE 8 
 
 If it should be unnecessary to dispose of the three 
 shares as indicated in the preceding article, they 
 shall be suppressed. 
 
 ARTICLE 9 
 
 The Director of the manufacture and the repre- 
 sentative of the Company Du Pont de Nemours 
 Pere et fils et C ie shall decide each year after mak- 
 ing the Inventory, what proportion of the profits 
 shall be divided among the shareholders. 
 
 ARTICLE 10 
 
 For those shareholders who live in France, the 
 interest and dividends will be paid in Paris by what- 
 ever firm corresponds with Du Pont de Nemours 
 Pere et Fils et C ie of New York. 
 
 ARTICLE 11 
 
 The Director of the manufacture shall keep his 
 books by the same methods as those established 
 in France by the Administration des Poudres et 
 Salpetres. 
 
 ARTICLE . 12 
 
 In the event of the death of the Director, the 
 Company Du Pont de Nemours Pere et Fils et 
 
 1 Col. Toussard.
 
 178 APPENDIX 
 
 C ie is authorized to settle his interests in the manu- 
 facture, and to name his successor; and to super- 
 vise such adjustments as may be necessary under 
 any circumstances that have not been provided for 
 in this agreement. 
 
 ARTICLE 13 
 
 The Corporation formed by this agreement shall 
 cease to exist after the first of January, 1810. 
 
 ARTICLE 14 
 
 Each of the shareholders shall declare before the 
 first of January, 1809, whether he wishes to con- 
 tinue the Corporation or to retire. 
 
 ARTICLE 15 
 
 If two thirds or more of the shareholders agree to 
 renew the Corporation, those who do not wish to 
 continue shall be reimbursed for their share of the 
 capital and profits in accordance with the Inventory 
 of December 31, 1809; the payments to be made in 
 three equal parts, at three, six and nine months 
 from the date of their resignation from the Corpora- 
 tion, with interest at six per cent. 
 
 ARTICLE 16 
 
 If two thirds of the shareholders refuse to con- 
 tinue, Citizen E. I. du Pont shall arrange the liqui- 
 dation of the Corporation in accordance with the 
 stipulations in the preceding Article.
 
 APPENDIX 179 
 
 ABTICLE 17 
 
 In the event provided for by Articles 15 and 16, 
 the Inventory of the manufacture for December 31, 
 1809, shall be made by experts chosen by the two 
 thirds who shall if necessary select one of their 
 number as arbitrator. 
 
 ARTICLE 18 AND LAST 
 
 The present Articles of Incorporation shall be a 
 binding agreement with each of the shareholders, 
 and therefore a certified copy shall be given to each 
 one of them. 
 
 Paris, I Flortal, year 9. April 21, 1801. 
 
 (Signed) DU PONT DE NEMOURS FATHER, SONS & 
 Co. CATOIRE, DUQTJESNOY ET COMP. ARCHD 
 McCALL BlDERMANN PETER BAUDUT E. I. 
 DU PONT. 
 
 Memorandum. Since the signing of the above 
 agreement Mr. Peter Bauduy has purchased the 
 two shares subscribed for by Mr. Arch d McCall. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 4, 1808. 
 
 (Signed) E. I. DU PONT 
 
 This present copy has been carefully examined 
 and compared by me, Pierre Etienne Du Ponceau, 
 notary public for the Republic of Pennyslvania, 
 duly admitted and authorized, a resident of Phila- 
 delphia, undersigned, with the original document 
 brought to me by Mr. E. I. du Pont in order that
 
 180 APPENDIX 
 
 this copy should be made, and by me returned to 
 him, as agreed. 
 
 Done at Philadelphia, May 4, 1808 
 
 (seal) PETER S. Du PONCEAU 
 
 not. pub. 
 
 Authentication. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE CONSUL-GENERAL OF FRANCE TO THE 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 We, Louis-Auguste-Felix de Beaujour, Member 
 of the Legion of Honor, Consul-General of France 
 to the United States; Certify that the signature af- 
 fixed to the above document with the seal of office of 
 the Consul-General is that of Mr. Peter S. Du Pon- 
 ceau, notary public in this city of Philadelphia, and 
 that full confidence may be given it in litigation or 
 otherwise. 
 
 In testimony of which we have executed these 
 presents. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 6, 1808 
 
 (seal) (Signed) BEAUJOUB
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 STATEMENT BY P. S. DU PONT DE NEMOURS 
 April 18, 1808 
 
 Names of the present share- 
 holders in the company formed 
 under the management of Du 
 Pont (de Nemours) Fere et Fils 
 et Compagnie, and the number 
 of their shares in that Company. 
 
 Shareholders 
 
 Number of shares 
 and parts of shares to 
 be given them in the 
 Manufacture of Pow- 
 der lately established 
 at Eleutherian Mill, 
 State of Delaware. 
 
 Shares Parts of V& shares Vo share 
 shares 
 
 M. Bidermann 13 
 
 Mme. de Pusy J 
 Du Pont de Nemours. ( 
 Mme. de Stael J 
 M de Crillon 
 
 P . . 1 
 1 .. 1 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 Mme. du Pont (de N.) 
 M. Lescalier 
 
 
 M. Ochs and children 
 M Wischer 
 
 .. 
 
 M. Forcard Weiss.... 
 M. Reinhard . . : 
 
 I 
 
 M.Hom.. 
 
 i 
 
 36 
 
 12
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 (E. I. du Pant's Manuscript) 
 
 January 29, 1831 
 
 DECOMPOSITION OF NITRATE OF SODA BY POTASH 
 THE Peruvian Saltpetre, or nitrate of soda, on 
 which our experiments have been made, is nearly 
 pure, not containing over 2 per cent of marine salt 
 and other impurities. 
 
 Pure nitrate of soda contains 63 parts of nitric 
 acid, and T \\ of soda 
 
 The componants parts of nitrate of Potash or 
 saltpetre, are 51 of nitric acid 
 49 of Potash 
 
 100 
 
 from these proportions it results that in decom- 
 posing nitrate of soda by potash, it would take 62 
 parts of pure Potash to combine with 63 parts of 
 nitric acid p r hundred pounds of nitrate of soda, 
 which would produce 125 pounds of pure saltpetre. 
 In our experiments the saltpetre has exceeded 124 
 Ib. and would no doubt come nearly to 125 Ibs. in 
 operating on large quantities. 
 
 The common Potash in the market does not con- 
 tain over 80 p r cent of pure Potash, it would conse- 
 quently require nearly 78 Ib. of common Potash to 
 furnish the 62 Ib. wanted p r hundred pounds of 
 nitrate of soda. In our experiments we have used 
 upwards of 80, but we had an excess of Potash.
 
 APPENDIX 183 
 
 The 37 parts of soda if combined with carbonic 
 acid would take 25 parts of acid and in chrystallising 
 would absorb 115 parts of water, which would fur- 
 nish 177 pounds of chrystallised carbonate of soda, 
 this would be the case if the Potash would furnish 
 only carbonic acid, but the common Potash con- 
 tains about 7 p* cent of Sulphuric acid, say 5? for 
 the 78 Ib of Potash, which 5% pounds uniting with 
 5 pounds of soda gives 10^ pounds of dry sulphate 
 of soda and reduces the chrystallised carbonate of 
 soda to 154 Ib.; but we have allowed only 128 Ib. 
 because there is also a small proportion of Hydro- 
 chloric acid both in the Potash and in the nitrate of 
 soda, and because when the mother waters should 
 become thick and durty it would be best to evapo- 
 rate them, calcinate the proceeds and sell it as dry 
 soda, than to push the operations any further with 
 the view of obtaining the whole in chrystallised 
 carbonate of soda. 
 
 The calcinated soda will proceed from 5 Ib. com- 
 bined with Sulphuric acid, 5 pounds remaining in 
 the mother waters; and from earthy matters and 
 impurities, and would exceed the 12lb. p r cent of 
 nitrate of soda which have been calculated upon. 
 
 The quantity of Chrystallised Carbonate of soda 
 which is yearly imported is about 200 casks, say 
 120,000 Ib., which sells at 5 to 6 cents, we suppose 
 that 128,000 Ib could sell at 4 cents. 
 
 If the operation was extended to more than 
 100,000 Ib. of nitrate of soda, the quantity of soda 
 exceeding 128 Ib. of chrystallised carbonate would 
 have to be sold in a dry state, say 62 Ib. of dry car-
 
 184 APPENDIX 
 
 bonate of soda p r hundred pounds, of which de- 
 ducting 12 Ib. for what will be extracted of the 
 mother waters, leaves 50 Ib. of dry carbonate of 
 soda; we say 52 as it would not be made perfectly 
 dry; we have estimated it at 5 cents, it being worth 
 more than Potash for Glass or soap manufacturers. 
 The 12 Ib. of calcinated soda extracted of the sul- 
 phate of soda and mother waters, would be a great 
 deal purer than the common Barrilla, and on this 
 account has been estimated at 3 cents p r pound.
 
 <N O O 
 < 01 
 
 .2 
 3 8 
 
 I 
 
 * i 
 
 3 
 
 U( ^ 
 
 O rH 
 
 9 
 
 I 1 
 
 a 3 S 
 
 1 
 
 S 
 
 1 ! ! 
 
 3 08 
 
 2
 
 APPENDIX E 
 
 E. I. DU PONT TO HEZEKIAH NILES, Editor 
 Niles* Weekly Register, Baltimore 
 
 August 29, 1827 
 
 THE amount of Gunpowder manufactured at du 
 Font's mills near Wilmington Delaware has been of 
 late years from 6 to 700,000 Ibs. with the new mills 
 lately added to the establishment the quantity man- 
 ufactured this year will be upwards of 800,000 Ibs. 
 
 The raw material annually imported for manu- 
 facturing this quantity of Gunpowder are 712,000 
 Ibs. of crude saltpetre imported from the East Indies, 
 and 94,000 Ibs. of Brimstone from france or Italy. 
 The number of persons employed at the factory 
 are 
 
 Overseers, clerks and workmen 99 
 
 Blacksmiths ^3 
 
 Mill wrights 8 
 
 Carpenters 6 
 
 Masons 5 
 
 Til 
 to which are to be added Coopers for making 
 
 kegs ; 17 
 
 Tin-men for canisters 2 
 
 Tio 
 
 and also Waggoners, Shallop men, &c., &c. 
 
 The whole amount of pounds of Gunpowder 
 manufactured at du Font's mills since their first 
 establishment in 1803 up to the 1st of June, 1827,
 
 APPENDIX 187 
 
 has been 9,718,438 Ibs. When this manufacture was 
 first erected the greatest part of the gunpowder con- 
 sumed in the United States was imported from 
 England. Had the above quantity continued to be 
 imported, the average cost in England would not 
 have been less than 21 cents pr. pound; so that this 
 establishment alone has already saved to the nation 
 upwards of two millions of dollars, which have been 
 kept at home to circulate among ourselves, instead 
 of being paid as a tribute to European industry. 
 
 The encouragement afforded by the last war, had 
 upon Gunpowder manufacturers the same effect 
 as protecting duties would have upon all other 
 branches of National Industry; Large Capitals were 
 involved, and a competition created which not only 
 forced the manufacturers to improve in their art 
 but at the same time reduced the price of the article 
 very considerably, the cost of Imported Gunpowder 
 of a good quality, without any profit to the mer- 
 chant, is at present from 26 to 30 cents per pound, 
 while american powder of the same kind sells at 
 16 & 20. if the american manufactures had not been 
 encouraged there would still be a few in the country 
 and the importers would still have it in their power 
 to fix the price in the market, which with a reason- 
 able profit to themselves could not now be less than 
 32 to 36 cents per pound; previous to the last war 
 the regular price was 40 cents, so that the en- 
 couragement given and the competition created, 
 united with the enterprise and skill of the American 
 manufacturers have reduced the price of the article 
 to be forever cheaper than it can be imported.
 
 188 APPENDIX 
 
 It is however to be observed that the government 
 by allowing the drawback of duties upon Imported 
 powder encourages the importation of inferior and 
 of damaged Gunpowder, which as it could not sell 
 in Europe continues to be imported here to be re- 
 exported to South america, and thus contribute in 
 part to the supply of a market which otherwise 
 would be furnished by the produce of our own manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 It ought also to be noticed that the importation 
 of Crude Saltpetre, one of the principal raw ma- 
 terials for the manufacture of Gunpowder, is taxed 
 with a duty of 15 p r c 1 - Saltpetre is not manufac- 
 tured in this country in time of peace, and should 
 not if it could as it is of great importance to keep for 
 time of war all that the country may contain. The 
 duty on crude saltpetre acts consequently only as a 
 tax on Industry and as an obstacle for the american 
 manufacturer to meet foreign competition in foreign 
 markets. Crude saltpetre ought to be imported free 
 of duty as it was formerly, but the tariff of 1816 
 subjected it to a duty of 7| pr. ct. which in 1826 was 
 increased to 15 pr. ct. The duty of 3 cents pr. Ib. 
 on refined saltpetre which was laid by the tariff of 
 1824 acts on the contrary as an encouragement to 
 Industry, and has already had the good effect of 
 every other encouragement on domestic manufac- 
 tures. There are now several large establishments 
 for refining saltpetre and the price which had never 
 been previous to the duty less than 10 cents pr. Ib. 
 is now reduced to 7 pr. pound.
 
 APPENDIX F 
 
 HENRY DU PONT TO AMOS C. BRINTON, 
 WILMINGTON 
 
 January 7, 1884 
 
 E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND Co. started their 
 powder works on the Brandywine in 1802, the 
 Upper works, on the site of the first Cotton mill 
 ever built in the United States, which was destroyed 
 by fire some time before our people came to Dela- 
 ware. In Brooks l history of cotton manufacture of 
 the United States it is claimed that the first mill was 
 built at Providence, R.I. This is not the case, for the 
 parties who built the Providence mill came to Dela- 
 ware to see this Cotton mill on the Brandywine be- 
 fore commencing theirs. They brought a letter of 
 introduction to Mr. Canby, and I understand that 
 Mr. James Canby brought them out to see the mill. 
 The Woolen mill opposite the Upper Powder 
 works was started by Victor du Pont in 1806. The 
 Hagley Powder works were established by E. I. du 
 Pont de Nemours and Co. in 1812, on the site of the 
 old Iron and slitting mill of Rumford Dawes. The 
 Henry Clay Factory was built in 1815. The Rokeby 
 mill was built by Louis McLane and George B. 
 Milligan, I cannot say in what year, but our Com- 
 pany bought that property and the site opposite, 
 occupied by Simmes, from Louis McLane and 
 1 Probably Brooks. Illegible in the manuscript.
 
 190 APPENDIX 
 
 George B. Milligan in 1813. The Lower Powder 
 works in Brandywme Hundred were built on our 
 unoccupied water power in 1847. The Simmes and 
 Rokeby mills were erected for cotton mills.
 
 APPENDIX G 
 
 E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY 
 1802-1902 
 
 PARTNERS SUPERINTENDENTS 
 
 1802 E. I. du Pont 
 
 Peter Bauduy resigned 
 
 1815 
 1815 E. I. du Pont 1834 Alfred V. du Pont 
 
 Antoine Bidermann Henry du Pont 
 
 1834 Antoine Bidermann re- Alexis I. du Pont 
 
 signed 1837 
 Alfred Victor du Pont 
 1837 Alfred V. du Pont re- E. I. du Pont, 2d 
 
 signed 1850 
 
 Henry du Pont Lammot du Pont 
 
 Alexis Irenee du Pont 
 1851 Henry du Pont 
 Alexis I. du Pont 
 Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, 2d 
 
 1857 Henry du Pont 
 
 Alexis I. du Pont killed 
 1857 
 
 E. I. du Pont, 2d 
 
 Lammot du Pont 
 1863 Henry du Pont 
 
 E. I. du Pont, 2d 
 
 Lammot du Pont 
 
 Eugene du Pont 
 1874 Henry du Pont 
 
 E. I. du Pont, 2d died 
 1877 
 
 Lammot du Pont 
 
 Eugene du Pont 
 
 F. G. du Pont 
 
 (Col.) H. A. du Pont 
 William du Pont
 
 192 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Eugene du Pont 
 Francis G. du Pont 
 
 1878 Henry du Pont 
 
 Lammot du Pont re- 
 signed 1882 
 Eugene du Pont 
 Francis G. du Pont 
 Henry A. du Pont 
 William du Pont 
 
 1882 Henry du Pont died 
 
 1889 
 
 Eugene du Pont 
 Francis G. du Pont 
 Henry A. du Pont 
 William du Pont re- 
 signed 1889 
 
 1889 Eugene du Pont 
 
 Francis G. du Pont 
 
 Henry A. du Pont 
 Alexis I. du Pont, 2d 
 Charles Irenee du Pont 
 Alfred Irenee du Pont 
 
 Charles I. du Pont 
 Alfred I. du Pont 
 
 Pierre S. du Pont 
 
 from 1890 till 1899 
 
 Henry Belin du Pont 
 
 died 1902 
 Alexis I. du Pont, 3d 
 Eugene du Pont, Jr. 
 Francis I. du Pont 
 A. Felix du Pont 
 
 The partnership dissolved and a corporation 
 formed. 
 
 STOCKHOLDERS 
 
 Eugene du Pont, President died 1902 
 Francis G. du Pont, Vice-President 
 Henry A. du Pont, Vice-President 
 Alexis I. du Pont, Vice-President 
 Charles I. du Pont, Secretary and Treasurer 
 Alfred I. du Pont
 
 APPENDIX H 
 
 PRICES OF SALTPETRE IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 1804 .20 per Ib. Calcutta, crude. 
 
 1805 .20 & 21 
 
 1806 .18 
 
 1807 .16 
 
 1808 .24-.30 
 
 1809 .30-.38 
 
 1810 .30-.36 
 
 1811 .30 
 
 1812 .30-.33 
 
 1813 .32-.S8 
 
 1814 .32-.3S 
 
 1815 .25 
 
 1816 .15-.18 
 
 1817 .10-.16 
 
 1818 .10 
 
 1819 .08-.10 
 
 1820 .07-.08 
 
 1821 .06-.07 
 
 1822 .06f-.07 
 
 1823 .06i-.07 
 
 1824 .06 i 
 
 1825 .06^ 
 
 1826 .05-.05J 
 
 1827 .05I-.06J 
 
 Kentucky & Tenn. 
 
 American ports 
 
 closed to British 
 ships. 
 
 " War with Great Bri- 
 (Mammoth Cave) tain 
 
 " " Treaty of peace at 
 
 Ghent. 
 
 Calcutta, crude 
 
 Duty of- 7J% im- 
 
 Duty of 15% im- 
 posed.
 
 194 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 1828 .07-.07I Calcutta, crude 
 
 1829 .07'-.07f 
 
 1830 .07-.07J 
 
 1831 .08-.10-.07I " 
 
 1832 ,07| 
 
 1833 .06f 
 
 1834 .06| 
 
 1835 .06 
 
 1836 .05-.06 " " 
 
 1837 .06f-.06 
 
 1838 .05* 
 
 1839 .06f-.08J 
 
 1840 .05f-.06 
 
 1841 .06* 
 
 1842 .05f 
 
 1843 .05i-.06 
 
 1844 .06 -.07| 
 
 1845 .06|-.05 
 
 1846 .06-.05f 
 
 1847 .06-.05i 
 
 1848 .06J-.06f 
 1849 
 
 1850 .05f 
 
 1851 .05i-.07| 
 
 1852 .06|-.05J 
 
 1853 .06-.07 
 
 1854 .06i-.08 
 
 1855 .06f-.20-.16 
 
 1856 .15-.07-.09 
 
 1857 .07f-.12-.07 
 
 1858 .06-.09 
 
 1859 .07|-.11-.07| 
 
 1860 .081-.11| 
 
 1861 .08J-.17-.12 
 
 Rumors of European 
 
 Peruvian saltpetre 
 nitrate of soda, 
 .04. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .05. 
 Crimean War. 
 Indian Mutiny. 
 
 European war May 
 to August. 
 
 Civil War in United
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 195 
 
 1862 .12-.15 
 
 1863 .16-.17 " 
 
 1864 .16-.25* 
 
 1865 .23-.12i 
 
 1866 .10 
 
 1867 .09-.10 
 
 1868 .07-.07* 
 
 1869 .07| (gold) 
 
 1870 .08-.09 (gold) 
 
 1871 .08f-.07f (gold) 
 
 1872 .06i-.09-.06 " 
 
 1873 .07} 
 
 1874 .06-.05J 
 
 1875 .05* 
 
 1876 .05-.07* 
 
 1877 .06i-.08-.05 " 
 
 1878 .06J 
 
 1879 .07i-.05-.06J 
 
 1880 .07 
 
 1881 .051 
 
 1882 .05J-.051 
 
 1883 .04|-.05f 
 
 1884 .04J-.05i 
 
 1885 .04i-.05 
 
 1886 .04i 
 
 1887 .05 
 
 Calcutta, crude 
 
 Nitrate of soda .03- 
 .06. 
 
 Manufactured salt- 
 petre .17$. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .07*. 
 
 End of CivU War. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .03| 
 
 Gold at 150 "and 
 
 upward." 
 Franco-Prussian 
 
 War. 
 Nitrate of soda .02J 
 
 (gold). 
 Duty reduced to .01 
 
 perlb. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .021. 
 
 Manufactured salt- 
 petre .08. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .03. 
 Tidal wave de- 
 stroys store- 
 houses in Chili. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .031. 
 
 Gold at par. Peru 
 and Chili at war. 
 Nitrate .03J-.04J. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .08 1. 
 Nitrate of soda .02 J. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .02. 
 
 Nitrate of soda .01 J.
 
 196 APPENDIX 
 
 1888 .04-.051 
 
 1889 .051-.04A Duty taken Qff 
 
 1890 .04H 
 
 1891 - 03 * ' Nitrateofsoda..01?- 
 
 1892 .Of ' ' m 7 
 
 1893 .03f -jrj" 
 
 1894 .03J Jl* 
 
 1895 .04 '"^3 
 
 1896 .OSA-.02JJ (lowest) ' 01 I* 
 
 1897 Du Pont Co. m'f'g saltpetre " " 'oil' 
 
 1898 .03I-.03 JJ| 
 
 1899 .03-J .03^ ' 01 i 
 
 1900 Du Pont Co. buying large quantities of muriate of 
 
 potash for the manufacture of saltpetre from 
 nitrate of soda "because saltpetre is advancing " 
 Transvaal War. 
 
 1901 .031. 
 
 1902 .03J-.03&.
 
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