Dynamiting for Proper Drainage. Although this looks at first sight like one of the destructive scenes from the World War or from the current wars plaguing the earth, the ultimate intent is purposeful and constructive. A ditch 1700 feet long, measuring 12 to 20 feet in width and 4 feet in depth, is being blasted to serve as a drainage area for a section of agricultural land. Previously, a much smaller ditch had been unable to carry off the water in spring and fall floods which overflowed onto this land, often washing out seeds that had been planted, or, ruining crops before they could be harvested in the fall. Successful drainage work by means of explosives is comparatively easy feat for modern engineers. The explosive force of dynamite can now be controlled sufficiently so that they can determine beforehand the approximate size of the ditch which will result from a blast so that it will be large enough for proper drainage. For the explosion above a foreman and six men worked one and one-half days, sinking and loading 1,130 holes with dynamite. The man in the right foreground is operating the blasting machine. Our pictures tell the full story.

Wide World Photos, Inc. · [ca. January 1938]

[Information from item housing] Dynamite and Dynamiting