Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-08-01
A Huge Undertakin


1t is thought that about eighteen
months will yet be required to complete
the work at He'll Gate, New York harbor.
The work is q wonderful piece of engineer
ing. Viewed from the head of the stair
way 1t reminds one OF railroad engine
house, being semicircular in form, and
having ten embrasures, with tracks lead
ing back to the terminus of the tunnels.
A turning-table in the center of the shaft
makes the simile all the more complete.
Only ten tunnels are visible from the out
side, but there are sixteen all told, six
commencing in the interior of the work.
Four galleries or intersecting tunnels are
now completed, and the fifth has been
commenced, thus leaving the rock above.
which is about ten feet thick, resting on
solid columns. Some of these columns
have already been pierced for the recep
tion of nitro glycerine. The aggregate
length of these excavations exceeds 5000
feet. The depth of the shaft is "a feet.
Visitors to the works should by no
means 60 in their best clothes. The leak
age is so great that the pumps are KEEP,
constantly going, and even with the use OF
an umbrella the incautious investigator is
likely to come ont with his clothes consid-
erably the worse for the journey. Sup
piled with candle, the visitor gropes his
way through the dark, sometimes descend
ing at an an angle Of forty-fve degrees,
until he reached the dim light at the end
of the tunnel. Here the workmen are
found, some drilling and others shoveling
up the loose stones. If he is fortunate
enough tosg get into the gallery where the
diamond drill is in operation, he will be
well paid for his trouble, although it does
deafen him with noise. There are two
drills of this kind here, but one is now
undergoing repair The bore made by
this machine is an inch and half in diam
e;er, and the cores, sometimes four feet in
length, can be had of the miners. The
drilling being over, the next thing in order
is the blasting, which occurs three times
q day, and is now done altogether with
nitro glycerine. When powder is used
the stones are so large that the use of the
hammer is necessary, while glycerine
breaks them in fine pieces.
When the charges are to be so exploded,
gong is sounded, the workmen retreat
to place of safety previously indicated,
and an electric battery does the work of
explosion. The laundering, smoothered
sound of the successive charges, forcibly
reminds the visitor of battery of forty
Founders in full play. When the volumes
of smoke have disappeared, the workmen
return, and the operations of drilling and
removing the debris are resumed. Speci-
luSIlS vi eIOHO Cal UC pIOSulCO lIOIu Iut
piles of rock on the shore. Garnets, mica
and quartz abound.
The apprehensions of danger, when the
general explosion takes place, are entirely
groundless, so cofdent is Mr.. Beitheimer,
the general superintendent of this fact,
that he intends to remain in his Office
about 800 feet from the shaft, when the
final charge is exploded. On completion
of the work of excavation and the nitro
glycerine ready, the cofferdam will be
cut, and as it is easier to raise a weight
under the water than above it; the shaft
and mine will be flooded, and with the
discharge of the electric spark the dan
gers of He'll Gate will no longer exist.
But should the explosion by any accident
not prove successful, or indeed, if it should
never take place, there will still be suffi-
cient room for the largest ocean steamers
to pass through the shaft after the Golfer
dam shall have been cut.