10. Hence, also, the canal or stream on which the works exist, should
have but little traffic or commerce, and, in the vicinity of the works,
should pass through a sparsely inhabited district.

The Augusta Canal, having been selected for the site of the Confederate
Powder Works, contracts were immediately entered into for the brick,
stone and carpenter's work, on very favorable terms.

At the beginning of the war, business was more or less paralyzed, so
that the manufacturers and builders were, to a considerable extent,
thrown out of employment, which enabled contracts to be made
advantageously at the usual prices. Thus, the total cost of the entire
works did not exceed three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars.

The erection of these works on the ground of economy alone, was of great
service to the Confederate Government. The extreme hazard of importing
gunpowder through the blockade, raised its average price, the first year
of the war, to three dollars per pound. There were made one million
pounds at the works in that period, at a total cost, including the
materials, of one million and eighty thousand dollars; thus saving to
the Government in one year, one million, nine hundred and twenty
thousand dollars.

The requisite land having been purchased, and contracts made for
building materials, the site of the main buildings were located by
myself, and construction commenced on the 13th of September, 1861, under
the immediate supervision of Mr. ---- Grant, a young civil engineer from
Savannah. These buildings were erected of the excellent bricks supplied
by the Augusta and Hamburg yards, which were worked to their full
capacity, and above five millions were supplied. The handsome granite of
Stone Mountain, on the Georgia Railroad, was employed for the sills,
lintels, copings, and foundation stones. The whole of the buildings were
erected by Messrs. Denning and Bowe, of Augusta, the former having
immediate charge, and could not be surpassed for excellence of
workmanship.

The first structure--or the one nearest the city--was called the
Refinery building, because the central portion was used for such
purposes, but it included a saltpetre and sulphur warehouse, of a
capacity of fifteen hundred tons, on the east end, and a charcoal
department and machine shop with a steam engine on the west end. Rifle
and ballistic pendulums on the northeast, and the steam boiler house on
the northwest portions. There were four s