In 1919, a massive explosion just outside Torrent, Kentucky, killed four men and blasted a nitroglycerin factory. What caused the blast? No one knows for sure. But what we do know is this: it was just one of many deadly incidents tied to a nearly-forgotten industry that powered the early oil boom: torpedo blasting.
In this podcast episode on our YouTube channel, Steve and Rod tell the story of America’s early oil and gas industry including the history of oil well “shooting”, invented in the 1860s using nitroglycerin-packed iron tubes called torpedoes. The method increased oil flow dramatically but at a deadly cost. From backwoods factories to wagon explosions on mountain roads, this is another one of the Stories of Appalachia.
