Courier Explosives Burial Site

There were two stories from the AU campus newspaper Courier in 1921 (one in April) that stated, There were munitions on hand, including multiplex gas and an invented explosive many times dynamite, valued at 800,000. .. Permission was given to go far back on University acres, to dig a pit deeper than the one into which Joseph was cast, bury the munitions there and cover them up. This has always been presumed to be on the southern edge of the campus, as the article stated. Indeed, there have been three large burials found in this vicinity to date. However, nothing approaching the description in the campus newspaper has yet been found. The athletic field was a valley that was subsequently filled with dirt. 

The 800,000 burial is noted in two 1921 American University Courier articles and in the American University trustee minutes. Bancroft states that, The Small Scale Manufacturing Section (located at Spring Valley) made the following amounts. .. nitrogen tetroxide, 3000 lbs.  

The highest perchlorate concentration detected was 124 ppb from the Glenbrook Road wells. These weUs also had low levels of RDX and phenol hydrazine. Perchlorates were developed at the AUES in several forms, including their use as a hand grenade filler. Only low levels of perchlorates 

The athletic field was surveyed but interference from the television tower presented difficulties. The amount of fill over this pit (10-12 ft from the cut and fill maps), together with the description of the pit as deep in the 1921 Courier story, suggest that the current instruments would not be able to locate it. Finally, the explosives may have been buried in bulk, not shells. Wooden barrels have little signature for a metal detector. 

The 3000 lb figure for nitrogen tetroxide is interesting. The only reference for this compound by Rudolf Meyer in his book Explosives is under Liquid Propellant Rockets for its ability to combine with hydrazine. Meyer also lists hydrazine nitrate. The detonation velocity of hydrazine nitrate is 28,500 ft/s. It is only significantly exceeded by HMX at 29,800 ft/s and RDX at 28,700 ft/s. By comparison, TNT is 22,600 ft/s and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (penthrite, or PETN), used in detonation cord, is 27,600 ft/s. If this 3000 lbs of N2O4 was combined with hydrazine H4N2 to make hydrazine nitrate, we are looking at possibly two tons of the 

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