3. On a canal or river, which could afford a safe and economical means of transportation of the pulverized materials in process of manufacture, at the same time affording the necessary water-power to the different buildings. 4. In the neighborhood of a town or city, from which mechanics and employees, as well as necessary articles, could be obtained. 5. A location near which the best building materials could be procured for permanent structures. 6. A temperate climate, where operations could be continued throughout the year without obstructions from ice, and to avoid the hazard and expense of warming the building. 7. A district of country free from lime and earthy salts, so that the large amount of water required in the operations of the Saltpetre Refinery should be as nearly pure as possible. 8. A location which would insure an abundant and cheap supply of the proper kind of wood required in the making of gunpowder. 9. A situation which, whilst sufficiently near a town to procure readily supplies and workmen, should, at the same time, be removed so far off that the dangerous structures, should an explosion occur, would cause no damage to the nearest inhabitant. 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.