LEHI, Utah (ABC4) –This Lehi family was cleaning out their deceased father’s home when they found a padded box with a vial in it. Because their father was a miner and a blaster, they said they believed it could be suspicious and called the Lehi Police.

The family members believed, because of their father’s line of work, that the substance could be the chemical nitroglycerin. According to the American Chemical Society, “Nitroglycerin, formally 1,2,3-propanetriol trinitrate, is a venerable explosive.” Their website states.

And according to the Linda Hall Library website, nitroglycerin was used by miners and railroad workers alike, and while workers used black powder as well, the website describes why workers would often choose nitroglycerin instead.

“Despite the volatile nature of the chemical, construction workers found that nitroglycerin had several advantages over black powder” The Linda Hall Library website states, “it required fewer and shallower holes than blasting with black powder; its debris required less clean up time; and nitroglycerin worked when wet, unlike black powder.”

Because the family said they thought this could be nitroglycerin, they contacted the Lehi Police around 6 p.m. tonight Feb. 7. to look at the substance. Lehi Police then contacted Utah County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad to help them extricate the material from the house.

The bomb squad used a robot to pick up the box and place it in a protective container. The protective container that had the padded box in it, was transported away to safely discard the substance, the police report stated.

The Lehi Police were told the substance would be destroyed as a precautionary measure, which means this family may never know what was in the vial.