Total Pages
Chapters
Book Overview
The story of the rise and fall of the Hazard Powder Company
one of the largest gunpowder manufacturing facilities in the country in the 1800s, is told in detail from its inception to its death in a violent explosion, crisping employees and nearly destroying the nearby town of Hazardville.
Meet the Loomis Brothers
Neeland, Parkes, and Allen, tobacconists from Suffield, Connecticut, who, along with Allen Andrews Denslow, a businessman from New Haven, as they purchase nearly 500 acres of woodland bordering the Scantic River and build a small gunpowder mill.
Meet Augustus George Hazard
of the Rhode island Haszard's, as he reclaims the glory and social standing his father and grandfather had let slip from their branch of the family by purchasing the mill site and expanding it to rival that of the Duponts of Delaware.
Meet Robert Stuart Waddell
star witness for the government and disgruntled employee, as he helps dismantle the Dupont Empire.
Meet the Prickett's
émigrés from England, who successfully steer the powdermill through each crisis up until the final concussive explosion.
And finally
consider the employees as each meets their maker in explosion after explosion, with most being buried in nearly empty coffins.
About The Author
Peter Floyd Sorenson
Peter Floyd Sorenson was born in Sleepy Hollow, New York in 1957.
He moved with his parents and two sisters, Gail and Judy, to the small town of Sherman, Connecticut at age three. He spent his youth there before heading off to college in New Haven, Connecticut.
He currently (and for the foreseeable future) resides in the quiet town of Enfield, Connecticut, in a 1919 Colonial home with his wife Lyn and their dog Oscar.
Purchase Book
You're not just getting a great book but you're supporting the Hazardville Institute Conservancy Society in Hazardville, Connecticut. Augustus George Hazard donated land (at the corner of Hazard Avenue and North Maple Street) for the construction of the Hazardville Institute, an Italianate-style building that was used as a meeting space by the community and is currently undergoing a renaissance of its own.
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$ 20 / Book
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