Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-10-05
The Blowing Up Of He'll Gate.

The Blowing UP of He'll Gate.
NEW, YORK, September "a fAwith !
slight ltremor of the earth thfonghout
the city, and the upheaval of two col
sumnss of water, accompanied with. a
considerable quantity Of rock, which
all fell into the river, Hallett' s Point
Reef, at He'll Gate, was demolished thia
afternoon The triumph of American
engineering accomplished by Gen.
Jno. Newton was complete, IN the pre-
else time and manner intended, and
without a single accident. IAaH
About Il o'clock stream of pedes-
TRANS were vending their way across
the city TO points OF Observation on the
East'Side. "A vast number Of Strangers
anne to see what every body expected
would be a~magnificent spectacle; streets
cars going up town were loaded with
citizens, and Firstrand SecondAvenues,
as viewed from the heights, were black
with pedestrians moving toward Nine
tieth Street. Aboilt 2 O'Clock cross
streets and avenue from which asyiew
could be.had were swarming with pee
pie and the houseztops along East Side
were crowded. Thousands of vehicles
of every description filled the heights
and cross streets. Great alarm pre-
vailed among the residents of First
Avenue and the cross streets from
Forty-second to Nilpetieth Street, and
some houses were entirely deserted by
their residents, through fear of. rocks
being hurled across the river, or a huge
wave beng 'cat1sad by the lupheaval.
Er-crr boy,cn ~ Tho rinirSfr hal ,fc
doors and windows open as a matter of
~precaution, but the great mass. of ppeo-
Pile had no fe,trs whatever, and specta-
tors sw trmed the piers and low grounds
directly in line with the rock, where they
might have been drowned by thousands
in case of a wave. The police lined
First and Second Avenues, and were
stationed amongst the crowds on the
rocks to be available in case of a panic.
A bird's-eye view of the point of. inter-
est was had by some 10000 or $4,000
people, at the heights between Ninety
second and Nfnety=sIxth Streets and at
Third Avenue, where there are no
houses. Directly opposite across the
river was Hallett's Point, and tim
bers and shanties at the4opening of the
shaft, nearly midway in the river; but
a trifie to the north was Little Island,
with its bOat-house, and n few hundred
yards to the south, Little Rock, sur
mounted by an advertising board. The
rock to be blasted lay beneath the sur
face, between Little Island and Hallett's
Point. The Government scow and the
Police and Emigration Board steamer,
and hundreds of barges and rowboats
lay between New York and Wards
Island, about opposite One Hundred
and Tenth Street.
At 2 o'clock a faint puff of smoke
arose from the scow, followed by the
report of the first gun, and there was
an instant cOmmotion, the crowds sway
ing about in fresh eagerness to get a
good standpoint. Ten minutes later
another report, and q deep hush fell
upon the multitude. The stiffness was
unbroken from then until the third gun,
at $50, which was followed, at precise
ly 81, by the explosion. In a straight
and seemingly narrow line, running
north and south for about 300 yards,
the water whitened and arose even
three or four feet. A high, dull thud
vas heard, and the rocks trembled
beneath the feet of the multitude as if
firm, quick, short pulsations of an earth
quake. The water, which appeared to
remain stationary.for an Instant, broke
and spurted up in irregular, dark yell
lowish masses, about II feet high, mix
ed with dark smoke from the dynamite,
then it fell back, and in a moment the
river resumed its usual peaceful aspect.
Then a mighty cheer arose from all the
northeast side of the city, and from the
steamers and boats, and steam whistles
were blown, and bells were rung out
~joyously, and all was over. s,. ~
The report, was scarcely noticeable,
and not so much as a ripple was caused
upon the water, W. just yer the spot
where the explosion took place. There
was no conclusion in the air, and not a
pane of glass was broken in the city or
on Wards Island. .f...
Immediately after the explosion hum
dreds OF row boats set out at their best
speed for Hell Gate, each anxious to
have the honor of first passing over the
scene of the explosion. That the work
was effectually done is the GEN
eral feeling, and this also appears from
the fact that the police-boat passed over
Tie spOt StleIy. Wafu 8 lslanu was con-
sidered afavorite place to view the esx-
plosion, and the applications to 60 there
by the ~police-boat Seneca and the boat
of the Commissioners of Emigration
were very numerous, but the invitations
issued were limited to a select party of
city officials and politicians.
Probably the finest view of the whole
explosion was from Hoyt's Place, some
700 yards east of Hallett's Point. The
ground is high and He'll Gate did not
appear more than 200 yards awaysb 1t.
was from this point that Gen. Newton
n the Geographic operators sent the
electric fluid rushing into the NINE,
Suddenly a cloud of water, turned into
white spray, shot up just off Hallett's
Point. This was followed bv a cloud
of black SmoLn rnalra a.l l-l