WEBVTT 1 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:17.399 Hello, and welcome to the show. This is Martin Willis, 2 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:21.160 and a lot of what I do is dovetailed in 3 00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:24.960 the antiques and arts world is you know, dovetailed with history, 4 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:27.039 and so every once in a while i'd like to 5 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:31.600 do a podcast on history. I've interviewed a number of 6 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:36.119 people on different topics like Thomas Jefferson scholar and people 7 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:38.320 like that. If you look on the antiq Auction Forum, 8 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:41.880 you'll see all those type of you know, podcasts back then. 9 00:00:42.119 --> 00:00:42.799 Just a couple of things. 10 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:47.560 When I started this podcast, I had Phylliscu with me. 11 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:50.479 I was basically mentoring her and she was a lot 12 00:00:50.520 --> 00:00:53.119 of people. I really liked her. She's very bubbly, very 13 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:56.280 full of life, and she's had quite a career path. 14 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:58.039 I'm just bringing this up because I want to talk 15 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:04.519 about this her now. And she's an auctioneer at Southeby's now. 16 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:08.439 When we were working together, you know, I mean I 17 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.319 told her a bit how to auction, but you know, 18 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:13.879 she just had a natural way with it. She's very good. 19 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.200 So here she is at Sotheby's and she's being really 20 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:20.920 celebrated now, which is really nice. She just sold the 21 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:25.200 world's most expensive dinosaur for forty four point six million, 22 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.159 So I'm so glad for Phillis. I've really been very 23 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:32.400 happy about her career path. It's had a couple of 24 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:34.280 bumps along the way, but you know, she comes She's 25 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:38.079 got a great attitude, and I think this is a 26 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.400 real good proof that she's come out on top. 27 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:41.319 Definitely. 28 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:45.439 So my guest is Jake Sconiers, and I'm really excited 29 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:46.200 to talk about him. 30 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:47.120 He as Hub History. 31 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:49.840 It's a podcast that talks about Boston. I was born 32 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:52.719 in Boston. I've always had a connection there. I love 33 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:57.079 the town. It's very interesting and I know a lot 34 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:01.000 of people there and it's a really friendly, historic, wonderful town. 35 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.319 And Jake, I want to welcome you to the show. 36 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:06.280 Hey, I appreciate you having me on. 37 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.199 And you used to be a tour guide in Boston, 38 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.879 so that that's you really got to know what's going 39 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:14.439 on if you're a tour guide. 40 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:17.080 Yeah, what came first? 41 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.280 Did you have they the you don't want to learn 42 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:22.439 the history first, and then became a tour guide? 43 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:23.120 Is that what it was? 44 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.680 Well, I'm a transplant to Boston, so I've lived in 45 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:31.560 Boston since the late nineties and I feel like because 46 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.919 I didn't grow up here. I didn't get bored with 47 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:36.120 all the places they made you go on a field 48 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:37.960 trip in fifth grade, the way a lot of my 49 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:43.199 peers now who live here have been. So I still Yeah, 50 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:44.919 I moved here as a young adult, and I had 51 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:48.240 that sense of wonder and that sense of curiosity about Boston. 52 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:51.479 Boston's a terrific say, I love this city again. I've 53 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.879 been here for over twenty five years now, and so 54 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:56.719 I was always a little bit of a history nerd 55 00:02:56.919 --> 00:02:59.439 growing up. My family. You know, we wouldn't go to 56 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.680 the land for vacation. We go to Gettysburg, you know. 57 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:06.039 So it was I always had that history bug, even. 58 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:06.560 As a young kid. 59 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:10.800 And then getting here and exploring, I really like to 60 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:12.759 soak up a lot of the history. Bust obviously has 61 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:17.759 a rich, nearly now four hundred year history. But then 62 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:20.639 the sharing that with people came a little bit later. 63 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:26.039 Starting around twenty twelve or so, my wife and I 64 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:31.240 started a tour company where we created and led four 65 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:35.360 or five different tours in different neighborhoods and focuses, and 66 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:37.840 so that let me sort of share that excitement, that joy, 67 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:40.120 that that love of Boston and its history with people. 68 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:44.159 But it took up all our time and didn't really 69 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:46.000 we broke even barely. 70 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:47.120 In the end. 71 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.159 So yeah, after a couple of years we got out 72 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:50.439 of that. 73 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:51.199 I went off. 74 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:53.560 I was a doc in a vo volunteer dose int 75 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:57.479 at a local history historic site for a summer. And 76 00:03:57.520 --> 00:03:59.759 then while I was a docent there, I had the 77 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.360 bright idea. My wife and I were both dough since 78 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:04.080 then we were sort of trading, trying to one ofp 79 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:07.280 each other with stories. Who had the weirdest, most interesting 80 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.560 whatever stories from Boston history back and forth across the 81 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.439 sort of docent bullpen, waiting for the next guests to 82 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:14.639 come in. And that's where the idea for our podcast 83 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:16.079 was born. So, you know, we were trading all these 84 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:17.920 cool stories back and forth. We said we should write 85 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:19.920 some of these down. What should we do with this? Oh, 86 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.399 let's start a podcast. So we started the Hub History 87 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:28.680 podcast in twenty sixteen. I'm just working on episode three 88 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.839 ten at the moment, So a lot of stories have 89 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.800 been told. There's still lots of stories to tell. Still 90 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:37.879 just as excited about Boston history as I ever was. 91 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:39.759 Yeah, you know, it was funny. 92 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.360 I have looked for like weird history, you know, where 93 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.639 are some weird things that have happened in Boston, you know, 94 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:48.959 other than this, And so I'd like to, you know, 95 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.480 maybe touch a little bit on that after. But first 96 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:54.839 of all, let's dive right in and talk about this 97 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:58.279 very unusual. It sounds, you know, like before we went 98 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:00.519 live here, you know, you mentioned that it's kind of 99 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:02.240 kind of a joke to some people, but this was 100 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:05.920 a serious thing and you know, people were killed and 101 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:09.600 who could ever, you know, when I first heard the 102 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:13.680 Boston molasses flood, I'm thinking, what and how could that 103 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:16.480 be even dangerous? But you know, when you have two 104 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:19.639 million gallons over two million gallons, and all of a 105 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:22.959 sudden the tank bursts and you're talking thirty five miles 106 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.720 an hour molasses, everyone thinks of molasses is you know, 107 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:27.879 really slow? 108 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:28.240 Right? 109 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:31.120 I mean, it's an aphorism in the English language, right, 110 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:33.759 somebody's moving slower than molasses in January. And this is 111 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:37.439 a molasses flood in January in Boston. So it seems 112 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:41.240 like again when I was a tour guide, a lot 113 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:44.079 of visitors in Boston have heard about the molasses blood. 114 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:44.959 They want to know more about it. 115 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:47.079 We used to have a North End tour, and people 116 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:48.759 would ask about it with that idea of it being 117 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:52.160 sort of a punchline, something funny that happened, and you know, 118 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:56.000 some of the travel sites and sometimes kids sites sort 119 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:58.199 of reinforced that humorous aspect. 120 00:05:58.199 --> 00:05:59.959 But it was a terrible trap. 121 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:03.720 I mean, we had over twenty people killed, at least 122 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:06.759 one hundred and fifty injured, some of them grievously injured, 123 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:12.519 huge amounts of property damage from the elevated train tracks 124 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.240 to just buildings scoured off the face of the earth. 125 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:21.120 It was really a terrible tragedy. That's only funny because 126 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:22.680 it's been over a century. 127 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:26.000 Yeah, yeah, and you know what I mean. 128 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:31.519 So let's let's talk about how well how it happened. 129 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.600 And you know, generally speaking, I hate to say it, 130 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:39.000 but it always trickles back to money, and you know, yeah, 131 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:42.160 that's what it was really all about, saving money and 132 00:06:42.199 --> 00:06:44.720 making money and you know profits. 133 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:45.040 And all that. 134 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:50.360 Molasses From the very earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 135 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:54.480 molasses and the products that you can make from molasses 136 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:59.240 were integral to the Boston economy for basically three hundred years, 137 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:03.199 from very early in the English settlement of the Sham Peninsula. 138 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:05.959 Right up through the Prohibition era, molasses was right at 139 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:10.839 the heart of Boston's economy. And that's because of originally 140 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:14.199 again sort of you go back far enough, it's because 141 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:17.680 of the Triangle trade. You know, we have manufactured goods 142 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:21.879 being shipped out of Europe, out of England, traded in 143 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.839 Africa for people, for enslaved people, their ship to the 144 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:31.839 America's north and south, and then that basically produce agricultural products, 145 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:35.279 the most important of which for centuries was sugar and 146 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:40.000 then sugar. The most stable way to ship sugar around 147 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:44.959 is as molasses. It's non perishable at room temperature, so 148 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:46.399 it's easy to put it in a cask, put it 149 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.519 on a ship, and move it around the around the world. 150 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.839 Here in Boston, we wanted a way into the triangle trade. 151 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:56.240 We don't have. You know, some of the some of 152 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:59.600 the southern colonies could produce these vast crops of rice 153 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:02.160 and things like that that could be food staples for 154 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.079 those sugar islands and the Caribbean where so much of 155 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.920 the sugar is produced Boston, I don't know. And you're 156 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.279 I think New Hampshire based same thing up there. The 157 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:13.240 Granite State we grow a lot more stones than we 158 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:17.759 do wheat around here. So for us, our entries into 159 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:21.160 the triangle trade where salted cod, salt cod could be 160 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.639 shipped again it was stable at room temperature, It could 161 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:25.519 be shipped to the Caribbean. 162 00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:29.480 It was used to. 163 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.920 Feed both the enslavers and the enslaved who worked there. 164 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:34.519 And then our other big entry into the triangle trade 165 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:40.960 was rum because the molasses again sort of stable form 166 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.320 of sugar could be shipped from the Caribbean to New 167 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:46.840 England and then we could then further distill and refine 168 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:50.759 it here into rum. There was then sort of a 169 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.919 globally sought after commodity. It could be shipped back to 170 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:56.679 Europe and a lot of it then was shipped to 171 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.000 Africa and use this currency to enslave more people. 172 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:05.639 Honestly, I went and dusted off some of my old notes. 173 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:09.320 About rom and Boston just to get some stats. So 174 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:15.360 by seventeen seventeen Boston was manufacturing two hundred thousand gallons 175 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:16.200 of rom every year. 176 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:17.720 That's very early on. 177 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:21.360 And by seventeen fifty there were sixty three active distilleries 178 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:24.639 in Boston making upwards of seven hundred thousand gallons of 179 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:28.799 rom yearly, so this is a very important economic output 180 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:33.600 for the city and for the region. There's a consolidation process. 181 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:35.720 So by the time the turn of the twentieth century, 182 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:37.559 as we get a little closer to the incident we're 183 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:42.279 talking about happens, distilling its consolidated. They're really a handful 184 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:47.279 of larger distilleries Boston, Cambridge, a few outlying towns, but 185 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:53.080 it's still very important into the twentieth century. And the 186 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.960 molasses disaster happens in January nineteen nineteen, just as we're 187 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.080 coming out of the First World War. 188 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:01.879 Back up just a. 189 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:04.879 Little bit because where you were going when you first 190 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:06.720 talked about that. But I want to go back to 191 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:10.120 seventeen seventy when you're talking about that, and then we'll 192 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:12.720 go right back to nineteen nineteen when this happened. But 193 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:16.600 I did an auction. It was actually the sign of 194 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.679 the Declaration. I went through all those ledgers. It was 195 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.720 really a fascinating auction that was back in nineteen eighty nine. 196 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:25.600 But I read so many times I'd read either keg 197 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.720 or cask, I can't remember the term, but of rum 198 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:31.080 and molasses, like over and over again. 199 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:32.279 You'd see the purchase of it. 200 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.759 And you got to realize that back then, in the 201 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:38.720 eighteenth century, people were drinking. 202 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:39.080 All the time. 203 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:42.080 They were drinking alcohol all the time in the morning 204 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:46.039 while they were working in the fields. They didn't trust 205 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:49.759 drinking water. And if they this is just another little tidbit. 206 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:51.519 I don't know if you've ever heard about this, but 207 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:53.879 if they drank water, if they drank it out of 208 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:58.039 a silver cup, a real silver cup, it was much healthier. 209 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:00.480 And because it killed a lot of things. Oliver would 210 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:02.480 kill a lot of things that were in the water. 211 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:05.159 But people got really sick by drinking water, and then 212 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.840 they drank alcohol and distilled you know alcohol instead. 213 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:11.080 Yeah. 214 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:14.519 I mean, if you go back and look at the 215 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:18.799 maps from seventeenth eighteenth well into the nineteenth century, basically 216 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.559 up through the cholera epidemic of I think the eighteen 217 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:26.799 fifties in Boston, privies and wells were right next to 218 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:30.559 each other all the time, right, you know, so drinking 219 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:31.600 water was not to be trusted. 220 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.799 People didn't even refer I do a lot. 221 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:36.519 I do a lot of reading in the Adams papers, 222 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:41.639 John Adams diaries and letters, and you know, he writes 223 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:46.240 about cider and porter and beer. But at the time, 224 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.720 cider and beer weren't even really considered alcohol, you know. 225 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:52.840 It was just what you. 226 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:55.840 Drank when you weren't trying to get tipsy from the 227 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.799 rum or whiskey. 228 00:11:58.440 --> 00:11:59.840 Yeah, yeah, crazy. 229 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.840 So yeah, I just wanted to touch on that because 230 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:05.720 I was always surprised at how much people. 231 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:07.039 Drank back then. 232 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.519 Then there was a temperance movement that came along eighteen forties, 233 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:12.639 I think it was or something like that, but I mean, 234 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:14.360 still there. 235 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:15.879 Was a lot of a lot. 236 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:17.759 Of drinking, and a lot of it had to do 237 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.120 with people worried about drinking water. 238 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:21.559 You know. 239 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:24.000 I don't think that's really much of a known fact. 240 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:30.720 But so we get into the nineteen nineteen and I'm 241 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.159 trying to remember the year prohibition was, nineteen twenty. 242 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:35.759 I can't even remember close. 243 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.879 Ye, yeah, that is a great fact. So if you 244 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:44.159 look at the news coverage from the day after the 245 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:49.120 molasses disaster, which was the Believe the disaster. The collapse 246 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.879 happened on January fifteenth, and so the morning papers the 247 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:54.600 next day, I really how people are finding out about 248 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:58.240 the molasses flood. The Boston Globe, the Boston Post, all 249 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.080 the Boston papers above the fold like this carry the 250 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:07.879 molasses tank explosion, the disaster overestimate in the coming days, 251 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:09.720 the death toll is going to be overestimated and then 252 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.279 come back down to reality. But below the fold and 253 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.559 all these papers, the other front page news is the 254 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:18.720 race to be the thirty six state to ratify the 255 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:24.639 Prohibition Amendment. So actually the day after the molasses disaster, 256 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:26.919 Nebraska becomes that thirty six state. 257 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:30.200 So the actual the law goes. 258 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:33.960 Into effect one year later in nineteen twenty, like you said, 259 00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:36.919 but sharing the front page with the molasses disaster is 260 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:38.039 news about prohibition. 261 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:39.320 And then the other. 262 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:42.279 Story that a lot of the papers carry is sort 263 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:45.480 of fears about a new outbreak of war because there's 264 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:49.039 so much just chaos and disorder in post war Europe. 265 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:56.240 So there's the anarchy movement to yeah, what when it 266 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.279 comes to the use of this molasses, wasn't a lot 267 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.440 of it had to do with something with wartime and. 268 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.480 Yeah, yeah, So that's that's why it's so appropriate for 269 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:10.679 the prohibition and fears of a new war outbreak of 270 00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:14.080 war to be sharing the front pages. Because US Industrial 271 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:17.320 Alcohol Company, which is the sort of umbrella corporation that 272 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:21.360 owns the molasses tank that we're talking about. The main 273 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:24.080 use wasn't really Roum at that point. The main use 274 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:28.559 for the molasses they're importing into Boston is in munitions, 275 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:31.840 so it's used as a basically they're refining ethanol, so 276 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:36.039 it's used as a solvent, and it's used in manufacturing 277 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:39.279 a lot of different explosives. I saw an estimate that 278 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:41.960 a sixteen inch naval guns. This is these you know, 279 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.799 these huge naval cannons in the World War One, sort 280 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:47.759 of the peak of the battleship era. They mount these 281 00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:51.000 enormous naval guns that you know, fire a shell that's 282 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:53.399 hundreds of pounds of explosives. But each one of those 283 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:57.039 the powder that fires each round. I saw between what 284 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:59.360 was actually in the powder and in the manufacturing process 285 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.679 would be something like sixty gallons of alcohol to fire 286 00:15:02.759 --> 00:15:04.799 every round from a sixty inch naval gun. 287 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.519 Wow, huh yeah. 288 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:12.000 So it's it's a very valuable commodity still in the 289 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.279 twentieth century, but for different reasons now because it's such 290 00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:17.200 an important industrial component. 291 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:18.360 Mm hmmm. 292 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:23.559 So this first of all, let's talk about the location 293 00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:27.279 of and why did they pick the North End The 294 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.799 North End now you think of great Italian food. You know, 295 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:34.559 it's the Italian end of Boston. But why would they 296 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:38.320 do you know, is it because of a close proximity 297 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:42.000 to the harbor where they could get you know, the 298 00:15:42.039 --> 00:15:44.519 shipments to it, or what was the reason they picked 299 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:45.080 this area? 300 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:49.399 Yeah, So the tank that I love this this photo 301 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:51.159 of the tank you have pulled up. It gives a 302 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:52.720 great sense of the scale of it. So it's about 303 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:56.240 fifty feet tall, about ninety feet in diameter, and it's 304 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.080 right on the waterfront. So if you were to look 305 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:00.600 through those buildings and through that tank, probably see the 306 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:05.519 harbor right behind. I always think of old before all 307 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.559 the land making that went on in the late nineteenth 308 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.120 century early twentieth century just sort of expand Boston. If 309 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.840 you look at an old map of Boston, the Shawmat 310 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:15.480 Peninsula where Buston situated, looks kind of like a mitten, 311 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:18.039 and the north end is the thumb on the mitten. 312 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.679 So it's surrounded by water on three sides and wharves 313 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.919 all around those three sides. The wharves are still there, 314 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:27.000 they're just more likely to have condos than sort of 315 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.600 these big transshipment points. 316 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:29.039 Now. 317 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:35.159 But US industrial alcohol builds that tank in nineteen fifteen, 318 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:39.440 basically in the ramp up to wartime. It's very hastily built, 319 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:42.120 which we can talk about, but it's located such that 320 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:47.879 an it's used for basically transshipping, so molasses comes in 321 00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:52.759 on these giant tanker ships from the Caribbean. The first 322 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:56.919 load was I think December thirty first, nineteen fifteen, so 323 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:58.799 they just got it completed in time to take this 324 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:02.559 seven hundred thousand gallons of Cuban molasses that were incoming 325 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:06.279 and then it's it's used it they can then put 326 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:10.359 it into uh there's some pipelines for local distilleries. They 327 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:14.359 also offloaded into two train cars tanker cars on trains 328 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:16.880 from there because there were train spurs coming right up 329 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.039 to the wharves in most cases. So it's they're not 330 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:22.160 really distilling at that location in the North End, but 331 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.119 they're shipping it out. They're bringing it in on on 332 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:27.359 you know, these giant cargo ships and then moving it 333 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:28.799 out on train cars and pipelines. 334 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:31.240 Hmmm hmm. 335 00:17:31.759 --> 00:17:34.680 And speaking of that, this is right by you mentioned 336 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:38.839 the train trust Soul and was there an active train 337 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:44.440 actually yea almost an issue almost a train mishap to. 338 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:51.279 There was a a trolley was affected. I get the. 339 00:17:50.759 --> 00:17:54.640 Impression that it was sort of tilted but not derailed 340 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:56.359 or something like that, but I think that was a 341 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:58.839 surface trolley. You had several different what do you think 342 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.480 about the railway. We had the elevated railway that's pictured here, 343 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:07.319 that's carrying basically it's passenger travel, but it's up off 344 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:11.079 of the street level. It's using steam locomotives. And then 345 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:12.880 on a lot of the surface streets you'd have street 346 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:16.680 cars which were in the were electrified by that point, 347 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.720 much smaller sort of local connections. And then there were 348 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:24.039 freight railway railroads coming into the wharves also, So yeah, 349 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:26.920 so sort of the height of steam and rail travel. 350 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:29.839 So yet all the all these different transportation modes coming 351 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:34.640 into the North End, between the harbor, the railways, the 352 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:41.480 street cars. So the tank again, it sort of looms 353 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:47.519 over this area. The the elevated train tracks run right 354 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:50.960 down Commercial Street, which is sort of bounding around the 355 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.799 perimeter of the North End, and the center of the 356 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.480 North End is sort of a hill. It's a glacial 357 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:00.440 deposit of sand, a sort of a sand the hill 358 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:04.480 called Copps Hill, where famous burying ground, lots of patriots, 359 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:07.119 the Mather family is buried there, lots of lots of 360 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:08.960 great tombs to go see there. But right at the 361 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:12.920 foot of Cops Hill is Commercial Street and Commercial Street 362 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:15.279 and there's elevated train tracks sort of formed the boundary 363 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:17.559 between the industrial north end and the waterfront and then 364 00:19:17.559 --> 00:19:21.480 the more residential North end uphill from the train tracks, 365 00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:22.920 but they do it intermingle. 366 00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:27.839 Where the Cotton Mather family was is had anywhere near 367 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:31.680 the Revere Homestead or whatever your home. 368 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.880 Yes, in an area, it's just a few blocks away. 369 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.000 It's you know, not even probably a six minute walk 370 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.359 from the from the Revere House, which actually is the 371 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.279 same site as the Mather House, which is a fun 372 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.559 little factoid. Not the same structure, but the same site 373 00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:52.279 where Cotton Mather had his home, facing across North Square 374 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:55.279 to the the what at the time was the North 375 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:59.200 Meeting House, which was Cotton Mather's church, the Congregational Church, 376 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:01.960 Puritan Church, and then just a few blocks away it 377 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:05.440 was the Anglican Church where Paul Revere worshiped and as 378 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:09.240 a teenager was a bell ringer. How about that, Yeah, 379 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:09.880 it's pretty cool. 380 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:14.200 Yeah, So and I was I was there. You probably 381 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:16.119 were there too when they opened the time capsule. 382 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:16.680 Were you there? 383 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.599 No? I watched eagerly on TV, but I wasn't actually 384 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:21.160 there for it. 385 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:22.599 Yeah I was. Yeah, that was fun. 386 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:27.880 So let's, uh, let's talk about, first of all, what 387 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:32.319 was the purpose of them building that tank and talk 388 00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:36.559 about how they just you know, raced to get that 389 00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:39.240 thing done and they didn't They didn't do all the 390 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:41.920 things they were supposed to do. There's definitely negligence there. 391 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.960 Yeah. Again, it was very rushed. 392 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:54.599 There was the Again, this industrial alcohol company is seeing 393 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:56.599 the writing on the wall that war is coming to Europe, 394 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:00.480 so they're anticipating an increased demand for this sort of 395 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:03.640 refined ethanol they create out of the molasses that's being 396 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:08.920 shipped into Bust. And then they put you would think 397 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:14.440 they would put who a structural engineer, an architect, construction manager, 398 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:18.039 a somebody experienced in building things in charge of this project, 399 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.720 but instead the company treasurer is put in charge of 400 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:27.440 overseeing the construction of this giant molasses tank capable of 401 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.319