Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Forcite


An old box I used for collecting kindling in my drive shed.

CIL (Canadian Industries Limited) started out as Canadian Explosives Limited.  Forcite was one of their products manufactured after the First World War.  At one point, the company owned an entire island off the coast of British Columbia, James Island, where they manufactured this stuff.  (The plant was closed and demolished in 1978, and the island is now privately owned.)

Among the more bizarre stories is the following, from the 1964 Brantford Expositor:


"A case of dynamite containing 96 sticks fell from a truck this morning on Marlborough Street, near Holy Cross School.
The explosive is labelled CIL 40 per cent Forcite. The owner is not known, police said.
Children on the way to school saw the case fall from the truck, and break open as it struck the pavement. Children were playing with the dynamite, throwing sticks and breaking them, when police arrived on the scene in response to a call.
Police believe they have accounted for all of the explosive, but urge parents to call them if any children bring some home."
In hindsight, they should not have had forcite.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I have the identical box. Is it worth any money?

Unknown said...

I have one of theses boxs and they are pretty cool to own one