saltpeter

Example Sentences

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Tultepec was one of the first places that began to produce gunpowder in Mexico during the colonial period, because of the town’s abundant supply of saltpeter, a key ingredient.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 9, 2024

He was perhaps the world’s leading expert on the history of mining for saltpeter, a primary ingredient in gunpowder, which in the 19th century was often harvested from caves.

From New York Times • Dec. 16, 2022

Sometime between 600 and 900 CE, a mix of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal — saltpeter, or rudimentary gunpowder — was poured into bamboo or paper tubes.

From Salon • Jul. 13, 2021

The mummified remains of some of these earliest explorers, estimated to be 4,000 to 5,000 years old, drew many tourists to Mammoth Cave in the early 1800s, after commercial saltpeter mining ended there.

From Washington Post • Sep. 26, 2019

He was able to rent an ancient mansion that had belonged to one of the great saltpeter fortunes before they invented the synthetic substitute that had shot the whole industry to hell.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende