Port Royal commercial and Beaufort County Republican. [volume] (Port Royal, S.C.) 1873-1874, 1873-12-25
The Last Barrier Blown Down.
Scenes In the Hoosac Tunnel-The Noun
tain Pierced from End to End.

scenes In the Hoosac Tunnel-The Noun.
tain Pierced from End to End.
The Hoosac Mountain has been pene-
trated. The last barrier against an
uninterrupted passage from one side to
the other was completely removed, and
a few minutes latter the parties which
had entered from opposite sides were
shaking hands on the western side Of
the breach. There was no ceremony
whatever at the opening, and no public
notice had been given by the contrac-
tor, although the announcement had
Indirectly found its way into the journals
Fifty persons besides the miners were
on the shaft side of the blast, and some
twenty on the west side. The holes for
the final blast had been drilled in
the morning, and but for the previous
determination to allow visitors to wit
ness the operation, the whole thing
might have been over at 10 o'clock.
The old workman, who has faced death
q thousand times in charging holes with
nitro-glycerine, was sent down the GEN.
trail at about ! 80 o'clock, with his long
cans of the explosive. All the glycerine
for this final blast was carried down the
shaft, and that for the west-end holes
was passed through the hole already
drilled. The most dangerous task con-
nected with the work of the tunnel was
accomplished, and word was brought
up that nothing remained but to con-
meet the wires of the battery. The
cage was packedful half dozen times,
and the visitors were speedily dropped
down the shaft into the dismal regions
below. The hollow echoes of the walls,
the dim and Pickering lamps, the drip
of water, and the reports OF occasional
explosions, where the workmen were
engaged in trimming east of the shaft,
were the only sights and sounds.
There was l,ng wait between the
acts, owing to the lateness of the train
which brought the gentlemen from Bos-
ton to the East End. At last, Mr..
Shanly, who had started out to meet
them, returned with the rest of the
company, and word was at once dis
patched to the man who had charge of
the blast to connect the wires. This
man was stationed only about 500 feet
from the heading, and, from the effect
at our distant station, 1000 feet from
the blast, the crash when the wires
touched must have been terrific. The
report of the explosion came first with
distinct crack followed instantly by
dull, prolonged boom, and accompanied
by very perceptible puff of wind. A
shout was given by all present, and the
company began to flock forward toward
the heading in general scramble, but
this was soon stopped, for it would have
been highly dangerous to have gone
into the heading before it was known
whether all the explosives had been dis
charged. A few hundred feet from the
shaft, therefore, the visitors were stop
ped until two men, who had gone up to
examine the holes, came running back
with the information that fine clean
breach had been made. Then there was
another pell NELL scramble for the open
ing. The miners, however, were first,
but they did not pass through the open
ing but prevented others from doing so.
When the company had assembled, the
miners made passage-way between
two lines, and Mr.. Shanly, with Hon.
Robert johnson, of Boston, State Sena-
tor and Chairman of the Legislative
Committee on the Tunnel, marched up
the breach, the entire assemblage cheer
ing them heartily. Just as they reach
ed the aperture Mr.. Shanly fell back
and allowed Mr.. Johnson to pass through
in front of him. The general crowd
very quickly followed, and on the other
side of the opening not less enthusiasm
was manifested.
The breach made was about five feet
by four, large enough for two people to
pass abreast quite easily. The explo-
sion on the west side was much louder
than on the other, and had a greater
effect on persons in the tunnel. The
work done was tremendous. One great
rock, weighing fully ton, was thrown
distance of 300 feet, where it's mo-
mentum was still sufficient to break
down the ponderous gates set up as a
barrier. There was much picking up
of relics for short time, including,
doubtless, many rock specimens of pre-
vious blasts. AS there were still many
chances to be first in something, those
who went in at the west shaft were in
haste to get to the central shaft and
pass upward, while those who had
come down the central shaft pushed for
the west end. The western half of the
tunnel differs greatly from the eastern
half in the headings of the rock. 1t is
nearly all quartz for upward of mile,
and then the material grows gradually
softer, until at distance of 1000 feet
from the portal it gets SO soft that it
was necessary to brick it the whole dis
lance where it has been completed.
Not less than 100000 bricks will have
been used in arching. The west end
differs from the eastern half, also, in
the amount of water, for almost the
whole distance of twelve thousand feet
| the floor of the tunnel is composed of
Shiny mud, ground down by the feet of
the mules and the miners, while through
the whole length runs considerable
stream of water. The contractors,
Messrs. Shanly, have used in the five
years they have been at work $4,000
pounds of nitro-glycerine, $4,000
pounds of common powder, As, 500
pounds of giant powder, and $500
pounds of dualin, making in all nearly
go, 900 pounds of explosives. Forty
three persons have been killed in and
about the tunnel, of whom twenty-one
met their deaths by premature explo-
sions, four by explosions of nitro.