Part of the story was that on November 13, 1884 a hunter aimed wrong and hit a box of nitro and blew up the dock and storehouse. Yet nothing in the Toledo Blade account mentions a hunter. The Blade account reads in part "At a few minutes past 10 o'clock this morning a terrific explosion startled everyone in Toledo. In the business section, windows rattled--everyone thought it was an earthquake....Rummel's powder workers on Delaware Creek had blown up...On the south side of Delaware Creek, situated on the side hill, was Rummel's Powder Mills, consisting of a packing house, drying house and storage rooms. These were located about 200 feet apart.
This morning a tub of nitroglycerine which had been out of doors had frozen and it was necessary to thaw it out. N.C.Clark, the foremand, had rolled the keg to within five or six feet of the coal stove--but R. Gaul moved it closer. Since nitroglycerine will not explode except at a temperature of 360 degrees or more, it is thought that the tub caught fire. When it was discovered that it was on fire, one of the men threw it outside...South Toledo, Maumee and Perrysburg saw an immense cloud of smoke. Shock was felt in a raius of at least 40 miles. Fremont, Ann Arbor, and a dozen towns reported by telephone that they had heard the crash. The glass in a Monroe Street saloon shattered. One side of Grasser & Brand's ice house, west of the scene of the accident, was completely blown out.
The report of the explosion was plainly felt at the Court House. Officers and clerks rushed franticallhy out into the park,...Total loss was estimated by Mr Rummel to be about $10,000."
A social group known as the "Dynamiters" are shown at what remains of the dock at Carland Beach. About 1905.
