Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel (yes, that Nobel) in 1866 and was quickly adopted in the American West for railroad construction and for mining. Besides being a powerful explosive, it must be delicious as well, considering the many stories of animals eating sticks of dynamite. One particular cow in Birdseye, Wyoming, was used to roaming free and wandered into the vicinity of two prospectors conducting an assessment. They had 19 sticks of dynamite left, and discovered that the cow had eaten every one of them! One man threw a rock at the cow, which immediately exploded. The miners had to pay for the cow, minus the cost of the dynamite she ate.
The local paper thought the account was believable, and printed the story. But that wasn't the only tale of animals eating dynamite with disastrous results in the West. There were more than a hundred such newspaper stories, involving mostly cows and goats. And those were only the ones that exploded and made a good story! Of course, they probably aren't all true. Dynamite needs a blasting cap to initiate an explosion, and those are kept separate until time of use. However, cows and goats will eat those, too. Explosions can also occur if there is enough static electricity present, which would have to be massive to detonate livestock. Read up on several stories of cows and goats eating dynamite to no good end at Cowboy State Daily. -Thanks, WTM!
Commenting on Neatorama will earn you NeatoPoints!