The Republican journal., 1876-03-09
A Giant Firecracker.
n. Y. Evening Telegram, Feb. 20.

in the East river at Hallet's point tamil-
iarly known as
| ''HELL GATE"
Many attempts to remove the obstruc-
tions had been previously made, but had
altogether failed in the one great end
that of rendering the channel safe and
deep enough to admit the passage Of large
vessels. Upon the receipt of the generals
partly by subscription among our local
merchants and party by a grant form con-
gress. The survey for the work was made
in 1869.
The work itself involved the removal of
the Middle Reef, Gridron, Hen and Chick
ems and Negroes Head, virtually the com
plete demolition of Hallett's Point. In
September. 1869, the first machinery was
erected and the work OF burrowng into
the heart of the submerged rocks pro-
gressed slowly but surely The unwise
delay Of congress in appropriating the
necessary funds and the niggardly paltry
allowance made hampered the advance
ment of the scheme. At last. however, it
is announced as near comp. .etion, by the
| bulletin, that the chamber prepared for
the great charge which is to
REND THE STONY MASS TO sPLINTERs,
and make Hell Gate terror of the past,
is as large as it is required to be. BY this
explosion the eastern entrance to the port
Of New York will be opened to vessels of
twenty six feet draught The cost of the
affair in money has been, so far, $50 900.
The work has been under direction OF
General Newton, and deserves special re-
cord in the annals of American engineer
! ing. AT the extremity of Hallett's Point
which is laid bare at low water, a central
shaft was sunk, and the ledge of rocks into
which it descended was surrounded by Il
Golfer dam to guard the workings from the
| high tides From the main shaft ten large
| headings radated like the spokes OF a
wheel, running out into the river bed and
under the reefs, which it was necessary to
| remove. From these tWenty-eight smaller
| drifts were driven The larger shafts, the
! chiet of which was POO feet long, were
| named alter various United States officers,
rs the Grant, Mcclellan, Meade. sc, Gal
leries and were connected at regular dis
| tances by lateral galleries, circular in form
and concentric with the centre Of the shaft.
Twenty-Five and a half acres were under
mined in this way. and
A MILE AND A HALF OF TuNNELING
made. The great danger attendant on
the work, was, OF course, that likely to re-
suit from the caving of the roof rock. TO
fully guard against this soundings We're
made all over the work at regular inter-
walls Of one foot. In ordinary eases the
lead was sunk. but where shae was met
with the patent sounding instrument was
driven through the bed rock b, boring
But few short of 30, 600 of these measure
ments were required to establish the nee
essary knowledge of the ground The
best comment on the correctness OF the
measurements arrived at is in the fact
that no serious case OF caving in the gal
leries has occurred since the work was
commenced
An enormous quantity of blasting ma
terial was used; at first nitro-gll cerine,
but later an agent composed OF thirty
parts of nitro-g lvcerine to seventy OF gun
powder. This compound, called vulcan
powder, answered the requirement better
than any other, producing the short, quick
blast required, to a marvel Explosives,
equivalent on the whole to 150, 900 pounds
Of nitro glycerine, have been consumed
in bringing the work to its present state
TO-DAY
the mine is ready TO receive the final
charge in the pit OF chamber, which is
thirty-tiye feet deep and two hundred feet
in diameter, 10000 small holes two and
half inches in diameter. and from seven
to twelve feet deep. are being drilled in
the root and sides of the passages for fur
ther blasts, and to be charged with the
explosive enclosed in iron tubes In the
matter of that explosive the engineers are
at present in doubt. From among the en-
tire list OF blasting material at their com
mand they desire to select that which can
most certainly be relied on for effective
work The choice has 50 far narrowed
down to two, respectively known as Rend-
rock and kieselguhr The latter is a Ger
man compound, an especial tavorite in
the extensive workings Of the Prussian
mines. The charges are to be simutan
eouslY ignited by percussion. with caps
similar in principle to those OF a gun,
A GIANT CHARGE.
Forty thousand pounds Of nitro-g ycer-
inc are to form the grand charge The
discharge of the various blasts is to be ef-
fected by electricity, and, in order to avoid
the possibility Of an irregular series OF eX-
plosions, General Newton proposes to con-
meet the mines by means OF an electric
wire enclosed in iron tubing and carried
about the entire workings communicating
directly with each blast A hundred and
twenty men are at present employed drill
ling the holes for the minor blasts. and
twenty-one of them are driven each dav.
THE EFFECT
of the discharge of this enormous naga-
zine can easily be imagined, and if, as the
superintendent OF the work hopes its final
preparation can be reached by then, New
York will hail her centennial 4th of July
with a right royal fire cracker indeed
The men are working hard to get things
into trim for the occasion, and talk of their
great work as a worthy rival OF Philadel-
phia's great gift to the centenaran repub-
lie. "lt's lucky their darned old buildings
amt around here" said one OF the work
men to the telegram reporter as he stood
looking into the yawning cave of the great
mine, II guess it wouldn't leave much
glass in their window frames 1t. be ii
understood, is the workman's pet name
for the mine, and he rarely calls it by any
other. But the utility Of the proposed ex-
plosion extends beyond the addition it will
make to our noisy national holiday and
when the stately ships sail down the sound
and New Workers, passing through the
East river, look in vain tor the seething
eddies OF old He'll Gate, the toll of tel
long years will have its own reward in the
new gateway to our matchess harbOr,
which it has thrown open to the world
Uncle Sans Treasure Trove.
New York Commercial Advertiser
Uncle Sans strong box on the corner of
Wall and Nassau streets, in what is known