Wayne county farmers who expect to prepare new land and will be forced to do some blasting can secure a high explosive prepared for farm purposes by the Bureau of Public Lands at one-third the cost of dynamite, according to A.K. Robertson, farm agent. Mr. Robertson is preparing to place an order for a car of the explosives for the county shortly and farmers who expect to do blasting in the next few months should communicate with him or with J.D. Brndon, assistant agent at Mt. Olive.
Sodatol is the name which the government has given to the explosive. It is manufactured from surplus war material and 18 million pounds are ready for distribution by the government department. There is no charge for the explosive itself but the cost of preparation and of shipment must be paid by the consumer.
Sodatol is a high explosive made by mixing T.N.T. and sodium nitrate. It is prepared for use in double dipped parafinned cartridges weighting about seven ounces. The cartridges are packed in wooden boxes, each containing 50 pounds of the explosive. While sodatol is more sensitive than T.N.T. or picric acid, there is no more danger in handling it provided that the ordinary care used in handling any explosive is used. It will burn without exploding, at least in small quantities so should not be exposed to fire.
So far as ordinary handling is concerned, sodatol has no toxic effects. It can be used in any open air blasting operations and will not cause headaches, stain the hands, nor cause other ill effects. A cartridge of sodatol is equal in strength for agricultural blasting to the usual cartridges of dynamite, which weigh 8 ounces. This gives about 120 cartridges in a 50-pound box of sodatol, compared to 100 in the usual forms of dynamite. Sodatol is a non-freezing explosive and will give good results at all ordinary temperatures.
From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Sept. 23, 1923
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