The Acadia Powder Mills Company was incorporated in July 1863 to supply explosives for gold mining operations in the vicinity of Waverley, Nova Scotia. The mill was built in Waverley and managed by Thomas Laflin, a member of the Laflin gunpowder family of the United States, and subsequently by B.C. Wilson after Mr. Laflin's death in 1870. The name was changed in 1869 to the Acadia Powder Company. In the early 1880s the company successfully undertook the manufacture of dynamite for mining operations and in 1883 expanded by purchasing the Pacific Powder Mills of Brownsburg, Quebec. The company was purchased by Nobel Company of Scotland and later from Nobel by the Hamilton Powder Company. By 1899 Nobel had acquired a controlling interest in the Hamilton Powder Company and it continued operation until 1910, when, under the presidency of William McMaster, Canadian Explosives Limited was formed to merge the majority of the explosives businesses in the country. Production continued at Acadia Powder Company until 1913 when the machinery was transferred to Windsor Mills, Quebec.