Bureau of Mines Experiment Station

Bureau of Mines Experiment Station for chemical warfare, American University, Washington, D.C., 1917. McKinley building (with dome) was then known as the Ohio building. 

In September the first chemists arrived. The laboratories were not finished, there was no heat, and there was insufficient equipment. Yet, there were so many problems awaiting solution that chemists set up their apparatus on improvised benches while carpenters installed hoods and desks, plumbers laid gas and water lines, and electricians wired sockets. Shortly after the research center at American University opened, Manning organized it into eight sections Chemical Research, Physiological Research, Pyrotechnic Research, Chemical Manufacture, Mechanical Research, Submarine Gases, Dirigible and Balloon Gas, and Gas Mask Examination.  

Liaison was maintained among the Army, Navy, and Bureau of Mines through frequent committee meetings and by personal contact between officers and members of the research staff. Twice a week, conferences were held between officers and scientists. One conference considered chemical warfare offense, the other, problems in defense. Twice each month a report was sent to the War Department, the Navy Department, the Ameri- 

Nev7 Chemical Building at American University under construction for 

History of Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces, Liaison Office, London. CWS, H-24. i 

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Munkoe, C. E., and Tiffany, J. E., Physical Testing of Explosives at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station, Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 346, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1931. 

Numerous reports speak to the quantity of gas being produced at the Spring Valley site. Excerpts from Report of the Work Done at Bureau of Mines Experiment Station Spring Valley DC on War Gas Investigations During May, 1918 specify the quantities produced, as follows ... 

C.E. Munroe J.E. Tiffany, "Physical Testing of Explosives at the Bureau of Mines Explosives Experiment Station,... 

Contribution from Central Experiment Station, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bruceton, Pa. 

The American University Experiment Station, established by the Bureau of Mines in April, 1917, became July 1, 1918 the Research Division of the Chemical Warfare Service. . . The relation of the various sections may best be shown by outlining the general procedure used when a new toxic substance was developed. . . ... 

So I went over to the trench warfare division of the Ordnance Dept., told them that I wanted to work in gases, was commissioned and assigned to the American University Experiment Station, then under the Bureau of Mines. 

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