Yesterday, while perusing a book of historical items from the St. Joseph (MO)
News Press headlines and articles, I came across photos of an event I had
never heard about and saw a photograph of an unusual use of a wrecker.
On May 8, 1930 the Armour Plant in St. Joseph experienced a terrible
explosion caused by an accumulation of natural gas. The plant was completely
destroyed and no one who was in the plant survived. It was the worst
explosion of its kind ever in St. Joseph.
Along with the various articles was a large photograph of Q Wrecker No.
204330 on duty in the midst of the huge pile of rubble the plant structure
had become. The machine was being used to lift and drag the remains of the
plant in an effort to recover bodies of the victims and rescue any
survivors...ultimately there were none of the latter. As is quite unusual
in photos of this kind, the number of the wrecker was clearly visible. This
would have been a great photograph to use in the BB article a few years ago
covering the wreckers.
The photograph was from Fred Slater who was a reporter for the St. Joe paper.
I think that he is still around and I know someone who knows him. I'm not
looking for things to do, but if someone is interested in obtaining this
photograph for a legitimate purpose...not just out of curiosity, but perhaps
for a bulletin article or research of some kind, I would be willing to try to
get a copy.
Pete Hedgpeth
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