Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1912 — EXPECT POWDER FACTORY ON KANALLY PURCHASE. [ARTICLE]

EXPECT POWDER FACTORY ON KANALLY PURCHASE.

People at Wheatfleld Have Little Doubt That Laud and Right-Of-Way Was Purchased for That Purpose. While no definite information has been acquired, it is generally believed that the land in the northwest corner of Kankakee township, purchased by Attorney M. V. Kanally, of Chicago, will be used for the building of a large powder manufacturing industry. In all. Mr. Kanally purchased about 1,700 acres of land and a right-of-way for a railroad leading from both the C. 4k E. J. and the Three Eye roads to the tract where it is presumed the factory will be located. TheVact that the land was all purchased on the quiet, that large prices were paidand that no one seemed to realize what was happening until Mr. Kanally had secured all the land he needed for the purpose to which it will be put, confirms the idea that a factory of Borne kind will be built. Since the purpose is guarded as a close secret, there is not much conjecture to go. on, although a Rensselaer gentleman who was in that part of the county last week, says he learned that there is not much doubt but the purchase was made for the purpose of erecting a powder mill for the Dupont Powder Co., now located at Miller, Ind. That company is said to have orders far in excess of its output and that it can not grow on account of the high price of land there and also because of the prejudice existing there against the company where several explosions have occurred in recent years. It is said that the mill to be established in Jasper county will employ from 500 to 700 people, and that the factory will be built on the lines of the most modern powder mill in the world, making an explosion practically impossible. If the plan is carried* out as our informant believes it will be, a town of four or .five thousand people will spring up. It will be only about three miles from Wheatfleld. /