LAKE MONTEZUMA, Ariz. — A Yavapai County Public Works surveyor recently had a brush with some explosive history tucked into a cliff face near Cornville Road, county officials said.
Just near Kymberly's Way, he discovered a parcel of undetonated dynamite believed to have been leftover from when the road was built.
The surveyor spotted the dynamite around 8 in the morning on Wednesday, Oct. 25. Two Yavapai County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to the scene to confirm that the small bundle sticking out of the cliff was a pack of dynamite.
A DPS Explosive Ordinance Disposal squad was quickly called in, and arrived from Tucson just before noon, according to a release from the county.
Because the dynamite was found below a landfill on top of the cliff, Cornville Road was shut down in both directions and operations at the landfill were temporarily halted.
After all, they had a bomb to set off.
Officials determined that two nearby residences were empty and boom went the dynamite.
The squad successfully detonated the dynamite around 1:15 p.m without damaging any nearby structures or the roadway, the county said.
The roadway was cleared of debris and reopened roughly 30 minutes later.
Experts with the bomb squad believed that the dynamic was "very old and possibly left from when Cornville Road was constructed," Yavapai County officials said.
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