a number of the Auchindrain folks worked at the Powder works over time.
Neil McGougan 1817 - 1906 was recorded as a labourer there in the 1871 census.
From the website of Scotlands places is this bit of info by A Fraser from 1971
"This works was established in 1841 by Robert Sheriff, who also owned the powder works at Glen Lean (Clachaig).
It was ideally suited to take advantage of plentiful local supplies of charcoal released after the closure of the neighbouring iron furnace.
However, the site was dangerously close to existing development, and therefore fell foul of the Explosives Act of 1875 when it was observed that several components of the works were both too close to each other, and too close to the village.
These regulations were waived as the site pre-dated the Act.
The Lochfyne Powder Works Company (Limited) was subsequently taken over in the late 1870s by John Hall and Son of Faversham, Kent.
In 1883 a serious explosion confirmed the doubts raised previously.
The blast not only caused several injuries and much damage in the village, but also killed the manager who was standing in the garden of his house at the time.
The works were never re-opened and all machinery was stripped out and taken to Faversham."
There is a hint of work being done at the site in 1988 in this pdf
http://www.royalgunpowdermills.com/GEHG/GMSGNewsletter04_webp.pdf
In 1871 Neil Mcgougan was recorded as working at the Powder works, this is probably only because the weather may have prevented the working of the mine, of which he was foreman
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/23403/photographs/furnace+lochfyne+powder+works
Loch Fyne Powderworks from wikipedia)
The same charcoal resource that fed the furnace (at Furnace) supported the development of the next industry to arrive - the manufacture of gunpowder using charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre.
The Loch Fyne Powderworks, one of four in Argyll, was built in 1841 and was criticised for its safety standards after the Explosives Act 1875.
The company had sited an 80-ton storage magazine 80 metres from the village school.
1883 saw the end of ‘The Powdermills’ when it blew up with a stove-house explosion.
The only casualty was the manager, William Robinson, who was not even on site at the time but at home for lunch 230 metres away and killed by flying rocks.
The explosion was the subject of a Government enquiry, with concerns (which were never substantiated) about industrial sabotage by rival firms.[citation needed]
from the Furnace village website http://www.furnace-argyll.org/the-powder-mills.html
The furnace closed in 1813 and was soon replaced by other industries, one of them related to the iron making process. Cannons and cannonballs are no use without gunpowder, and the damp climate of Argyll was ideal for its manufacture. Mills had already been built at Glen Lean in Cowal and Kilmelford in Nether Lorn.
In 1841 it was Dunoon man Robert Sheriff who applied for the licence to build the powder mills on the lands of Goatfield. The mills went through several hands, and by 1879 they were in the possession of an English company, John Hall & Son.
