August 6, 2000
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Thousands of nostalgic Murray residents watched Sunday as two landmark smokestacks toppled and crumbled into their graves, burying nearly a century of history.
It was all over in just seven seconds.
On the call of "Fire!," explosives tore through the base of the taller, 455-foot chimney, jolting the earth and sending the tower crashing into a 15-foot-deep, 100-foot-wide trench. Seconds later, another blast ripped apart the shorter, 295-foot stack, which plunged northward alongside the first.
A huge cloud of dust lifted into the air and drifted toward downtown Salt Lake City as dozens of guns sprayed about 80,000 gallons of water into the air to capture contaminants including lead, arsenic and asbestos.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitored air quality before and after the explosion, detecting no asbestos.
"This is very, very good news," said EPA spokeswoman Eleanor Dwight.
A group of residents had tried to halt the demolition with a lawsuit, fearing their neighborhood would become contaminated by asbestos fibers, which can cause cancer in humans up to 20 years after being inhaled.
Eight homes and two nearby mobile home parks were evacuated for the demolition. Across the street at Murray High School, windows and intake vents were taped shut.
The brick towers had served as beacons for residents of the Salt Lake Valley since they were built by the American Smelting and Refining Co., which became the largest lead smelter in the world. Both taller than the Statue of Liberty, the shorter stack went up in 1902, the taller one in 1918.
During World War II, the smelter produced a large part of the bullets used by American soldiers.
While some residents saw the stacks as just ugly eyesores, most were sad to see them go.
Nearly 10,000 people lined the streets, climbed atop freight cars and buildings and even camped over night in sleeping bags to get a front row seat for the demolition.
"It's very sad," said Paul Buehner, 57, whose family has owned the stacks since the 1950s. "It's sort of a final chapter in our family's history."
"Our (concrete) plant was located at the base of them and it's the way I found my way to work for 25 years so there will be some nostalgia for sure," said Buehner, who watched the explosion from atop a nearby cement silos.
His mother, 86-year-old Irene Buehner, said the demolition was a sign of progress. "It hurts some and helps others," she said.
The stacks fell into disuse in 1949 and were later deemed unstable. Their fate was sealed in 1998 when Murray residents rejected a $3.4 million bond proposition to acquire them from owners Hi-Ute Investment Co. and Buehner Salt Lake Properties.
Burying the stacks clears the way for a 141-acre redevelopment project that includes a new Intermountain Health Care medical center as well as numerous stores, restaurants and a movie complex. Murray is about 10 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Murray Police Chief Ken Killian said the demolition went "according to plan," with the stacks falling squarely into their graves.
Blasters used 165 pounds of explosive to destroy the taller stack and 135 pounds for the shorter one.
"It was nice. It was beautiful," Killian said. "There was a little dust that went off to the north but not bad. The water contained most of it."
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
