Fahs: A neighbor of mine suggested I go to [the] DuPont Company and see about a job. When I was learning my trade I had made some dies or worked on them that the DuPont Company experimented with in making pulp kegs for powder. This was around 1905 or 1906 at the Novelty Manufacturing. I did the turning on the dies and David Gillesby hardened them. Anyway, I went out to the Gate at Hagley Yard; we weren’t allowed to go in because they had match searches. I walked around until I saw the office and walked in. As you walked in the office it went right straight on back through a back door; so, I walked straight through and into the Yard and walked around. The first building I saw was the old blacksmith shop. I walked in and there were 3 of 4 men in there. They looked at me kind of funny and wanted to know what I wanted in there. I told them I was hunting for a job. I told them I just walked in through the Office. Mike Maloney was there, George Daniels, the superintendent (can’t think of his name—he was a big man), and Mike Maloney’s helper. The superintendent asked me about my trade and my working experiences and he told me to, “go out and over there through the office and have them take your name and tell them I sent you and they might get in touch with you.’ George Daniels spoke up and said if they wanted me why didn’t they hire me. So, they did. I was hired to come to work the next Monday morning. By the way, George Daniels was sent out here by the Building to take the other man’s place. This superintendent was let out and later George Daniels took his place. This was in the latter part of 1913. I got a little more money working down in here than in York. I had been working 12 ½ hours at night at York.

Interviewer: Just what machines did you work on?

Fahs: I built every one of the machines in this Yard. On paper! Everything. I started to work in the big Machine Shop. It’s been changed around a little since then.

Interviewer: We have been told that if World War I hadn’t come up these yards would have been torn down because they were old and obsolete. Did you have this impression?

Fahs: No. I don’t believe that. I was told that some of the old miners wouldn’t work with anything but black powder because black powder wouldn’t shatter like dynamite.

- Interview with Clarence A. Fahs [transcript]. Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation interview transcripts on the history of the DuPont Company Powder Yard (Accession 2026). 1966-04-22, 1966-05-02, 1966-05-04. 2026_052913_01. Box 1, Manuscripts and Archives, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2026-01-12; https://digital.hagley.org/2026_052913_01.