William (Bill) Haller was a manufacturing chemist, founding two corporations that developed industrial applications for hybrid polymer alloys. Following his retirement, Haller began to research the history of the chemical industry in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula, in particular the Atlas Powder plant at Senter, Michigan, and its dynamite manufacturing processes. The mines of Michigan's Copper Country were generally self-reliant; however, there were three things they could not find along the Keweenaw Peninsula - coal, iron and explosives. These items were transported, often at great expense, to Michigan from elsewhere. In an attempt to lower these costs, the controlling interests of the Tamarack and Osceola Mines, and later Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Company invested in the area's first explosives plant at Woodside in 1884. When this plant became obsolete and unprofitable, Calumet and Hecla, along with Dupont proceeded to build a new and modern plant in Senter, Michigan - the Atlas Powder Company.