Is Boston the only city that has had a molasses flood?

[bicentennial_baby]

From Wiki:

The disaster occurred at the Purity Distilling Company facility on January 15, 1919, one day before the 18th Amendment (which prohibited alcohol production) was ratified. January 15, 1919 was an unusually warm day. At the time, molasses was the standard sweetener in the United States. Molasses can also be fermented to produce ethanol, which is used in making liquor and was a key component in the manufacturing of munitions. The stored molasses was awaiting transfer to the Purity plant situated between Willow Street and what is now named Evereteze Way in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

At 529 Commercial Street, a huge molasses tank 50 ft (15 m) tall, 90 ft (27 m) in diameter and containing as much as 2,300,000 US gal (8,700,000 L) collapsed. Witnesses stated that as it collapsed there was a loud rumbling sound like a machine gun as the rivets shot out of the tank, and that the ground shook as if a train were passing by.<2>

The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft (2.5 to 4.5 m) high, moving at 35 mph (56 km/h) and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft² (200 kPa).<3> The molasses wave was of sufficient force to break the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway's Atlantic Avenue structure and lift a train off the tracks. Nearby, buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet.

"Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage. Here and there struggled a form — whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was.... Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings — men and women — suffered likewise."<4>

The Boston Globe reported that people "were picked up by a rush of air and hurled many feet." Others had debris hurled at them from the rush of sweet-smelling air. A truck was picked up and hurled into Boston Harbor. Approximately 150 were injured; 21 people and several horses were killed — some were crushed and asphyxiated by the molasses. The wounded included people, horses, and dogs; coughing became one of the biggest problems after the initial blast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boston_Molasses_Disaster

[mitchum]

1. No...what do ya think made Atlantis sink?

[bicentennial_baby]

2. For series?

:o

[mitchum]

4. Series! It was tragicallylicious!

[bicentennial_baby]

6. I wonder if the ocean floor tastes sweet....

Hmmmm.

[Xipe Totec]

18. That's why the ocean floor is made of salt water taffy nt

[bicentennial_baby]

19. It is?!

:wow:

[Xipe Totec]

21. I would never stretch the truth nt

[graywarrior]

3. One of my most favorite Boston stories ever.

I don't recall it happening anywhere else. It should have happened in Lynn, but that city decided to set itself on fire a few times.

[bicentennial_baby]

5. Bah! And hey, there's a book about it too:

I wanna read it :bounce:

[graywarrior]

7. They should make a movie about it.

When I did trolley tours in Boston, that was everyone's favorite story. That, and the lie I made up about Paul Revere being called a Minute Man because he had a gazillion kids.

[bicentennial_baby]

9. You were *not* a Trolley Tour person!!!

Say it ain't so! :rofl:

[graywarrior]

13. I was a Blue Trolley person til the owner shot his son in the head.

I left after that.

Oh...the son lived and continued to work for his dad. Bwahahahahahahahahaha!

[bicentennial_baby]

14. Oh wow....

to all of the above :o

I love MA and its MAssholes. :D

[graywarrior]

16. Best part of the job was yelling at the other trolley companies.

The summer I drove, Nancy Kerrigan got married at some church off Newbury Street and one of our drivers went by as they were coming out of the church. She had all the tourists on her trolley chanting Tanya Tanya as Nancy stood on the steps. It was hilarious.

[DS1]

8. Also known as the Teddy Kennedy BM

yep, just made that one up

[bicentennial_baby]

11. ...

:spray:

:spank:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Seattle had a glue fire.

That wasn't as tasty though.

[bicentennial_baby]

12. Still, pretty cool

:thumbsup:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. It gave us the underground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground

[bicentennial_baby]

23. That's so cool...Here's a pic of the guy that started the fire:

I found it while Googling :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. He does have an "Oh shit" look in his eye.

[KamaAina]

15. "Well, I love that dirty water..."

I know, I know, that's about the water in the Charles. But what do you expect from me, anyway? I'm from Conn., also known as Massachusetts Jr.!

[Critters2]

20. Wow. I lived in Boston for 4 years, and never heard about this.

Did hear about the Coconut Grove fire. One of my uncles was in the service, at the Charlestown Navy Yard and helped remove bodies after the fire.

Interesting history, the Hub.

[Breeze54]

29. Yep, I heard about both all the time

from both of my parents and my uncle and aunt.

The Coconut Grove fire devastated both my parents.

They never said but I think they lost friends there.

[DarkTirade]

22. The only one SO FAR.

There's still time.

[Shakespeare]

25. My dad once accidentally caused a large-ish can of molasses to explode all over our kitchen.

I assume you still can, but years ago you could buy tins (think paint can kind of can) of molasses from roadside stands in the south. We had one of these cans, and my dad used to sit it in a saucepan on the stove, lid off, to heat it up and drizzle on his biscuits.

Well, one morning he forgot to take the lid off when he put it in the saucepan to warm up. This was in the late 70s, when a lot of new kitchens were carpeted in that nasty indoor/outdoor carpet stuff (think flat, no pile--like a wall to wall rug).

In keeping with the laws of physics, when the molasses in the can reached a certain temperature, pressure built up and blew the lid off, and rained very sticky molasses all over the kitchen. The mess was unprecedented, and I don't think we ever got all the sticky places out of the carpet. Fortunately, no one was in the kitchen when it blew.

Years later, it's hilarious (not so much at the time).

[bicentennial_baby]

26. I completely heart that story!

OMG! :woohoo:

It's like a mini- Boston Molasses flood :D

[ashling]

27. Well, thie Mississippi flows like molasses

in the wintertime
:rofl:

[1gobluedem]

28. That's how Boston Baked Beans got invented

There was an explosion at a bean cannery on the other side of town and they met in the middle.

[Breeze54]

30. My Dad was 9 yrs old when that happened and he said he remembered it.

My Mom would have been 7, I think.