Many of the forefathers of our local people worked in the powder mills.  My grandfather, Elmer E. Grover, worked  there as a drover (a man who drives a team of horses or other draft animals).  I also had other relatives who worked in the mills, including Mr. Westbrook Totten, my great, great-grandfather, who was employed as the caretaker of the mills.  He and his family lived in a little house near the top of the lower falls (i.e., the one nearest to Wapwallopen), and often served as host for visiting officials from DuPont, including Mr. Lammott DuPont.  My great grandfather, Hiram Moyer, worked in a building called the “Soda House”, where the Sodium Nitrate was refined.  He was also active in forming the first union of the powder workers at the Wapwallopen mills in 1902, and was allegedly fired for his unionist activities.  Anyone from the Hobbie and Wapwallopen region probably has an ancestor or two who worked in the mills or worked in a job which provided goods and services to the mills.  Many local farmers provided feed, grain, hay and straw for the animals which worked in the operation.  Also, local men harvested timber and sawed it into lumber to be used in the buildings and in the making of barrels ( a barrel-maker was called a “Cooper”).

I live in the village of Powder Glen.  It is named for the powder mills discussed in this article.  Long ago, the village was called “Scanlin”, having a bakery, post office, blacksmith shop and sawmill just as many small towns of that time had.  There was also a Methodist Church which was torn down when there were no longer enough people to support it.  A cemetery is in the woods near the site of the church where my great grandfather, Hiram Moyer, and his wife, Fanny, are buried.  The cemetery is still church property and is near the home of the Hildebrand family in Powder Glen.  Mr. Bryce Readler lives in the home which was the parsonage (Preacher’s house)  for the church.  The church was torn down carefully and reassembled at Blytheburn, only a few miles from Hobbie.  There is a small cabin at the rear of the Bogart property which was built from lumber salvaged from the mills (after their closing) by the Diehl family.  The Diehl family was descended from Will Everard who built the house on the property.  It is the second newest house in Powder Glen, but it is over 110 years old!

Why was the Powder Hole chosen as a site for a factory?  To be sure, it is difficult to walk in and out of that property.  Today, we would never select such a site to build a factory.  The principal reason was the availability of Water Power! 
 
 

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