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Alex Cabrero ReportingIt stood for 100 years, but came down in less than 10 seconds.
The 215-foot high Amalgamated Sugar smoke stack in West Haven is no more, brought down this morning by a controlled demolition.
Hundreds of people showed up very early for the 8:00 demolition, proving there's just something about explosives and big bangs that lots of us love.
It's what everybody wanted to see. We want to try to explain why so many people showed up at 7 am on a Saturday.
Richard Leishman: "Why not come out and see something blown up, you know? It's not everyday you get to see something blown up."
Lydia Benavides: "What else you got to do?"
Craig Widdison: "It's like, don't we have anything better to do? But it's pretty fun to see everybody come out."
Yeah, lots of people had to be here to take that final picture, that final memory, or just to see something get blown up.
Greg Brubaker: "It's like the little kid at heart watching something get destroyed."
Craig Widdison: "They called up Grandpa and was like, 'Let's go watch it get blown up, Grandpa!'"
They teach 'em young out here. But for this smoke stack, it was just too old. It hasn't been used as part of the Amalgamated Sugar Company in West Haven for at least the past 60 years.
Pieces have been falling from the top, making it dangerous for workers below. So, this was simply a safety thing... and a whole lot of fun.
And even though everybody knew it was coming, they still weren't quite ready.
Rick Letcher: "Kind of neat to see it go down."
Craig Widdison: "That's just something you don't see everyday."
Of course, guys being guys...
Richard Leishman: "I thought there would be more dust."
...they wanted more.
Rick Letcher: "I can't really say it was as thrilling as I thought it was going to be."
Richard Leishman: "Fire and flames flying out, more noise or something."
There has to be another smoke stack... somewhere.
Richard Leishman: "Maybe we were just too far away."
A group tried to raise the necessary $120,000 to save the big chimney, and keep it up as a monument to Utah's sugar industry, but they came up $40,000 short. And West Haven city leaders voted no on spending taxpayer money to do it.
