January 15, 2005
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86 YEARS AGO TODAY
January 15. 1919
Twenty-one people, a dozen horses and at least one cat drown in a tsunami of molasses.
The sticky liquid was stored in a massive dockside tank in Boston's crowded North End. Ninety feet in diameter with a capacity of 2.3 million gallons, the tank had been hastily constructed in 1915 by a subsidiary of the United States Industrial Alcohol Company.
Construction of the tank had been overseen by Arthur Jell, a bean counter with no technical background who was unable even to read blueprints. Anxious to complete the tank in time for the arrival of the first molasses shipment, Jell forwent the elementary precaution of filling it first with water to test for leaks. Once molasses was pumped in, the tank leaked so copiously at the seams that neighborhood kids collected the drippings in cans. When an alarmed employee complained, Jell's response was to have the tank painted brown so the leaks wouldn't be so noticeable.
With the war ending and demand for industrial alcohol plummeting, USIA decided to distill molasses into grain alcohol for liquor before Prohibition killed the market for good.
On January 12 and 13, 1919, a tanker filled the huge vessel almost to the brim. Two days later, at about half past noon, a sudden thunderous cracking sound was heard. The tank gave way with a roar, sending a wave of molasses in all directions.
The actual wall of molasses was estimated to be from 15 - 30 feet high and moved at 25-35 miles per hour in the area around the tank. The depth was only several feet in the surrounding area. You could not outrun this thing.
There was no chance of saving anyone in its destructive path. Anyone that attempted to go near the sticky goo got stuck in it themselves and could have been cooked alive. It could suck your boots right off your feet.
The flood killed twenty-one people and injured an additional 150. Some were suffocated, some cooked, and others were swept by the wave into the harbor.
Homes and warehouses were swept off their foundations and destroyed. Many nearby were crushed when buildings fell on them. A massive hunk of the steel tank was flung into an elevated rail line, collapsing the tracks only seconds after a train had passed.
Rescuers were hampered by the knee-high tide of congealing goo.
They could not remove the trapped horses from the sticky mess, so they had to shoot them to death. Freshwater from the fire hydrants would not wash away the molasses, so salt water from the harbor had to be sprayed on the land.
The last victim, a deliveryman, wasn't found for 11 days--he and his truck had been swept into the harbor.
It took over six months to remove the molasses from the cobblestone streets, theaters, businesses, automobiles, and homes. The Boston Harbor was also stained brown for six months.
There were reports that the molasses would actually continue to creep out of the ground and cracks in the sidewalks for 30 years. For decades afterward it was claimed that central Boston smelled like molasses.
-http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041231.html
-http://www.boston-online.com/bizarro/disasters.html
-http://members.tripod.com/~earthdude1/molasses/molasses.html
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