New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-09
DEEP WATER, At HELL GATE.


The success of a great engineering work Is
always an occasion of generalization, but
when it solves problem that has defed pre-
vious attempts and is itself pioneer in new
method, it deserves something more than
passing comment Such is the work, now
happily past the stage of doubtful expert
ment, at Iialett's Point, which is destined
to remove the distractions at He'll Gate
and open new channel to the ocean
commerce Of NewYor The need of
clearing out these distractions has been the
parent Of many abOrtiye undertakings, and, be
would be an old citizen who could recollect
tho time when there was no plan on foot or
work under way having this object in view !;
but successive failures had gradually impressed
upon most NewYorkers the conviction which
almost took proverbial form that this thing
would not be done in our day. Among the
more recent and costly of these failures was
the method of NJ. Mailefert, which was more
annoying because it delusively offered at first
some apparent success 1t consisted in ex-
ploding large masses of gunpOwder on the
bed of the Sound, and its first effect was to
reduce to a level some of the more prominent
rocks. But when this was accomplished the
great work of deepening the channel was not
really begun, and the expenditure of more
money and the production of more extensive
explosions added nothing to the average depth
Of water. t ,.J .l
1t was at this stage in affairs that Gen. John
Newton undertook the work His method diff
fered from those of his predecessors not so
much in degree as in kind, and was at first
met with many representations of misfortune.
For a while indeed, success may have seemed
doubtful 1t was bold plan, at the outset,
to attempt to undermine the entire river bed
by starting O series of tunnels from the shore,
and by charging these till only pillars sup
ported the roof of a vast submarine cavern,
80 as to prepare receptacle FOR the roof itself
to fall into at the final explosion. There were
difficulties peculiar to this locality. The struc-
ture of the rock which forms the bed of the
Sound offers a very different problem from that
which Brunei encountered in constructing the
Thames Tunnel, but the terrible disaster which
for while interrupted that great work seemed
to be among the possibilities of Gen. Newton's
undertaking; for when by blasting out with
nitro glycerine the rock drilled by means OF
compressed air, the wOrkmen had fairly adj
vanced their tunnels under the bed of the river
there was danger that the perpendicular
qualification of the rocks would render 1t
almost impossible to prevent the dangerous
pereolaton of water through the roof. The
problem which Gen. Newton thus confronted
was really more exacting as well as more
novel in its conditions, than any hitherto
undertaken in the history of such submarine
uori- T~""nlins the AlpS 10 strnightfnr
ward and simple business compared with
undermining He'll Gate.
But Gen. Newton has been as prudent as
bold, and his work has now reached point
where it's ultimate success is assured. Even
an explosion which should shatter the roof
could no longer do more than merely retard
the work. The excavations could be pumped
out and the drilling begin again. This under
taking has been accomplished with a much
smaller rate of expenditure than the previous
attempts, presenting the rare spectacle of a
Government work done thoroughly and eco
nOmicaly; and already foreign experts familiar
with the chief monuments of engineering skill
in Europe, recognizing the extraordinary
difficulties which Gen. Newton has sur
mounted, are unmeasured in their praise
1t is unfortunate that Gen. Newton has thus
far received scant sympathy from the very
His vessels anchored in the stream, have
been annoyed by the Sound steamers, and
even by sailing vessels, and there has seemed
to be in the minds of many Sound navigatOrs a
belief that the United States officers and YES
sells here at work were only nuisance, whose
presence was to be resented, and whose
labOrs interrupted at every convenient OPP
pOrtunity. A better understanding of the
work in hand, and of the present certainty of
its success, would doubtless do away with
these provoking annOyances. When the
Instructions of He'll Gate are finally re-
moved, and the value of work which brings
Europe several hours nearer to our wharyes
begins to be realized by our citizens in new
facilities and increase of commerce, there will
be no lack of appreciation OH their part of
the ingenuity and practical skill which have
achieved work creditable alike to our Army
service and our national reputation.
PEITCJOUS uATTEPg 1RPOJD