Obviously we need more pencils for the war effort.
I don’t think any of it went to the University of Chicago. That reactor has already been built. My guess is that the graphite is headed to Hanford Washington to make plutonium for “Fat Man.”
I’ll check Richard Rhodes “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” to see where the graphite came from. He had an extensive discussion of how the graphite was used as a moderator, and that the Germans made a “wrong turn” in their nuclear research by rejecting graphite. It turns out that naturally occurring graphite is laced with boron, which acts as a neutron absorber and kills the reaction. But when the boron is removed, pure graphite is a perfect moderator. The American scientists realized this, Heisenberg did not.
PS
I liked the comment on the article by the French, complaining that the instant shipment of 10,000 tons of graphite to the United States was proof that we wanted the colony for economic, not strategic purposes. Well, yes, we did. But I doubt the French knew why we were so anxious to ship 10,000 tons of graphite, of all things. Even before the colony had been completely secured, why would graphite be at the top of the list?
Pencils, anyone?
Yes! That's it! LOL!