Beginning in 1908, gunpowder was manufactured in the valley of the Sterbecke, which flows into the Volme in Rummenohl. In peacetime, 100 people worked there; during World War I, the number rose to over 2,000. In wartime, the factory primarily produced landmines, cartridges and charges for grenades; after the war, it once more produced explosives for road construction and mining. A spur railway connected the distant factory on the heights near Selkinghausen to the Volmetal-Bahn railway line, negotiating the difference in height by means of several switchbacks. Beginning in 1926, the factory was gradually closed down. After World War II, the buildings served as accommodations for bombing victims and refugees. The building was torn down in the 1960s in the course of construction of the A45 Autobahn.