The New York herald., 1876-09-10
He'll Gate-rhe Growth OF tho city.

removal of Blossom Rock, in the harbor Of
San Francisco, though beautiful triumph
of science, cannot be compared to the opera
tion in the East River, either for the difficult
ties encountered or for the importance OF the
result contemplated. 1t is ten years since
General Newton began operations here, and
seven years since he made his first assault
on the great obstacle that he will, in few
days hence shiver to atoms by one gigantic
blow. In this period the government has
spent nine hundred thousand dollars on this
operation, and it is estimated that the final
cost, with the labor completed, will be one
million and quarter Of dollars. 1t may be
interesting to recall, as an evidence OF the
happy accuracy of an engineers calcnla-
| tions, as we'll as of the probity Of his expen-
ditures, that General Newton's original esti-
mate of the cost was one million dollars.
| In our city government it is well known that
public enterprises, the estimated cost OF
| which is one million dollars, are never
| finished for less than four or five millions.
| By the blast at Hallett's Point He'll Gate
will be blown permanently open. The
| fierce whirl of the waters that has continued
from the time of the discovery, and that
suggested first the imaginative name of the
| place, will be tranquillized forever. All that
storm and roar that seething fury, that
passionate rush of the waves from rock to
rock, all the scene Of restless agitation so
terrible to the navigator even with steam
and every other power in his favor, will
cease to be q feature in the East River
scenery; and the strong current from the
Sound now rushing by Hallett's Point will
fall swiftly and smoothly into the East River
and spend its force, if it has any superfuity,
in tretting away some portion OF the Long
Island shore. There has often been caused
at that point in one year loss enough to more
than pay for the labor now so nearly ended,
and the total prevention of marine losses
that this improvement makes possible; the
safety to life and property that it secures !;
the manifold advantages that it opens in an
important approach to the commercial me-
tropolis Of the country, stamps this labor as
one Of the wisest and most beneficent ever
undertaken by the general government. 1t
appears to have been thought that the i'm
provement of this passage would induce
steamers from Europe to enter our port by
way of the Sound but this is m error.
Navigation in the Sound for large steamers
is far less safe than by sea, and the way by
sea is actually shorter. To the many dan
gers Of navigation in the Sound there are no
equivalents by the ordinary route for,
though many "tall admiral" lies buried in
the sands of the Jersey coast, it is thought
among sailors that Squan Beach is not the
necessary destination of any vessel when the
seamanship is thoroughly good.
1t is probable, however, that traffic by the
East River and the Sound may be greatly
stimulated by this improvement of the
navigation, and more especially the traffic
in freight, and it might not be an idle
speculation to anticipate that between the
effect of the He'll Gate improvement and the
effect that the East River Bridge may have
there will be in the early future q very great
change within the city, particularly in the
location of all the great houses engaged in
certain trades. Changes of this nature take
place at every period in the growth of cities.
In the period when the Park was our north
erly limit the important retail trade that
grew out beyond was determined in its
direction by the populousness of the East
River slope, and Chatham street and the
Bowery bade fair to become the line of our
main street. But in time of larger ideas and
under the influence of the ambitious schemes
of property holders Broadway grew up to
eclipse its older rival while the Bowery has
steadily gone down ut the heels for twenty
years. Perhaps it was the movement Of the
hotels with accommodation for country mer-
chants that determined the extensive migra-
tion of the wholesale dry goods men out Of
Pearl street into their present neighborhood.
Changes that are certainly quite as impor-
tant seem likely to determine the distribution
of the shipping trade rather than the migra-
ton Of the whole trade. 1t is, for instance,
apprehended that the bridge will become an
obstacle to the passage of large ships up the
East River Should this be realized ship
owners and merchants may be annoyed, but
they will not propose the removal Of the
bridge. On the contrary, they will observe
that the whole water line on the East River
below the bridge and for ten miles up the
North River is open to them, and they will
not insist upon passing the bridge.
On the theory of the comic actor who
suggested to his audience that it was easier
for them to get used to his ugly face than
for him to change it our reasonable mer-
chants will accommodate themselves to the
circumstances and take the easiest course !;
md tho East River ahova tho bridye will ho
without ships. Dock accommodation there
will become cheap, and the increased de-
mand on the other side will make 1t corre-
spondingly dear there and the traffic by
way of the Sound will gravitate to the part
of the water front above the bridge. That
will chortnn tha Snr,nd ri half hour