New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-28
The Explosion at He'll Gate.

A New York dispatch of the American
Press Association, September &c. says:
The He'll Gate explosion, from all tn at
can be gathered, appears to have been On
tirely successful. The shall0west place on
the reef is now two fathOms deep, even at
low water to-day. Oa viewing the scene of
the explosion and its surroundings, not .
sign could be found indicating that the
shock had been at all severe, cave in the
immediate vicinity Of the mine. The resi-
dents of Astoria, YOrkville and Ravens
wood, who live close upon He'll Gate, de.
clare that their dwellings and furniture
were not injured in the least, and their
windows even we're not broken. The gov
ernment engineers will be busv for several
days to come, calculating aud tabulating
the figures collected at various points of
observation, ana the report will be pub
lished. One solitary instance of damage
by the explosion is reported from Brooklyn.
just after the cOncussi"n, large part of
the parlor ceiling of the honse occupied by
Charles F. Wiogate, No. 81 Jefferson street,
fell with crash. Mrs. Wipgate and child
were in the room and narrowly escaped be-
ing killed. This is the only case of actual
damage that has yet been reported.
George w. Blunt. commissioner of pilots,
to-day, in conversation said that the ex-
plosion yesterday had destroyed He'll G ate
reef for over $50 feet. and had sw pt away
200 feet of the shore line. thus deepening
will next be cleared away by the use OF ex-
plosives. Diamond Reef will also be cleared
40 as to give the channel depth of twenty.
fOur feet OF course these improvements
will depend upon future appropriations
Mr.. Blunt had no idea that large ocean
vessels would use this channel more than
formerly and the velocity of the current in
Long Island Sound will make that i'm
practicable. He made application for an
the coast trade Ouly.
William E. Dodge having addressed 8
long letter to General Newton on his "ua
necessary desecrstion of the Sabbath" anl
intimating that he was making a public
show of the explosion, General Newton for
warded the following reply:
HALLErr's POINT, September %, 1876
| To Mr.. William Z. Dodge:
SIR-I received q communication from
| you dated September %, in which Won de
| cline an alleged invitation from me to wit
| ness the explosion at He'll Gate, ON Sunday
!. the twenfy-t0urth instant. As you take 9
great deal Of pains to 60 out of your way Il
/ violate the common cOurtesies of eOcial in
| tercourse, l tsks this occasion to inform
YOU that did not invite you, nor ever
know Of your invitation until the receipt O
your refusal to accept one. The fact is.
left the matter of invitation to the Chambt
| of Commerce and Lieutenant Willard, O
the United States engineers, with instruc
tions to invite q certain number of gentle
men. l regret to find that in one case h
has made a mistake. Your obedisut ser
| want. JOHN NEWTON.
Lieutenat Colonel of Engineers, Breve
Major General.
A dispatch of the twenty ssnn. y sixth says.
Sounding Operations began at He'll Cat
to-day. At low tide the water was frou
sixteen to twenty feet deep over the forme
bed of the reef. and this strengthens tn
opinion that the reef has been totally de
molished. This would give depth at hig
tide. raDgiog from twenty-eight to thirty Q
thirty one feet, which is fully up to Genera
Newton's calculations. After the removs
of the debris it may be found that tn
channel depth will be even much create
than has been expected.