Late in the morning on Sept. 18, 1917, an explosion ripped through the Clipper Gap Powder Works, killing one man, Joe Cihowski, instantly. Two other men, Frank Pasinetti and Domingo Larrarte, succumbed to their wounds soon after.
Work in a black powder factory was dangerous and there were several fatal accidents at the Clipper Gap Powder Works since it opened in 1889. Walter H. Gaffett was the superintendent of the Clipper Gap Powder Works since the beginning and was well known as an expert in the field, but he retired just months before this event.
After 1914, with war looming, there were rumors that the Clipper Gap Powder Works was concentrating on ordinance production and that the explosive accidents in 1915, 1916 and 1917 were sabotage. But, in the end, they were just rumors. Each of the accidents was just an example of the perils of working with black powder.
Although the Clipper Gap Powder Works was rebuilt after each fatal, explosive accident, the one incident that occurred on Sept. 18, 1917, proved to be the last. The remaining structures were dismantled the following October and black powder was never again manufactured at the site.
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