Mystery Can
Sent to me in an email.
I have attached a picture of a type of can I found at the Inyo mine, Death Valley.
There were lots of them. All the cans were opened the same way and all had wood
in the bottom. They are roughly the size of welding rod cans...One guy thinks they
held tobacco..another thinks it had something to do with explosives..(it was a hard
rock mine) another thinks it was a cracker can..do you know what they were for?
Maybe you can ask some other seasoned desert rats if they know ....... John
Well what do you think out there?
Someone, somewhere, must know... Bill
Jeff .....not sure what came in it but maybe used as a make shift candle lantern.
Frank .....to my knowledge all explosives were carried in wood boxes,only a few pieces were carried into mine. not tobacco,as smoking was not aloud,gas,fumes,etc,etc. I can only assume they were meant to carry blasting caps,fuses,carbide lamps parts. this is based on not knowing where the cans were found. camp,in the mine,near the machinery,etc,etc.
Bill the can is a core drill bit can . It opened like a welding rod can. To preserve the bit in hostile enviroments they packed them this way. there would have been a block of wood in the other end of the can to protect the thread end of the bit. Thanks Chris Hart That can with the wood in the bottom, I think it is a acid shipping can. I have an old can I found near an old mill that had wood in the bottom, and could make out Nitric on the can. You don't find many of the acid cans, The fumes from the acid rusted the can real fast. The wood was to keep the bottles from braking during shipping and handling. Old Timer bubble rap.......CH (not Chris above)