The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-08-17

preparations were nearly nnlSneU, ana |
tomorrow morning or the next day |
the drilling and blasting will be re-
sumed.
A reporter of the EUeniag Post, on |
the invitation of the engineer in charge, |
inspected the excavations already made !
in Flood Rock. Accompanied by that
officer, and by the foreman, Mr. Boyle,
he jumped down from the Astoria pier
to the deck of little steamtug, and in
about five minutes was landed on Flood
Rock, in the center of the stream, due
north of the lighthouse that adorns the
thin extremity of BlackwelHs Island.
He was conducted at once to Mr.. Boyle's
private office, where all three of the
party clothed themselves in rubber
coats, fremen's hats and galoshes.
Then he was led to the yawning mouth
of the shaft, from the bottom of which,
some fifty feet distant, had Just been
drawn up by steam an immense shovel
shaped receptacle full of mud and
! stone.
Hold on minute,'' said the en-
gineer to the men who had dumped the
load, and were about lowering the We
hiclc to the bottom; "hold on; l think
we'll 90 down with her."
Like other descents it was easy and
fast. Presently thud, a jar and a
grating announced that the car had
reached bottom. In the damp and
chilly atmosphere the several galleries
lead out from the shaft and into the
thick darkness. The party entered one
of them. Two members were provided
with torches in whose light the third
member Chat is to say the reporter)
rejoiced. The way was rough and Ia
borious. Pools of water of uncertain
depth stood in it, and little streams
trickled upon it through the rocky cell
ing from the river above. The size
was more or less circular at times, with
diameter of eight feet or so; at other
times the gallery became cutting forty
feet deep. One gallery runs into an
other; and this into third, at the head
of which several others are focused.
Finally the party reached the end Of
the extreme northern one.
Il should think" the reporter OBJ
served, "that in blasting down here
you are liable to force an opening
above, and to let the river in upon
you"
"Oh, that is the least of our dangers.
Still we have to feel our way pretty
carefully, and mind whatw are about"
"What are some other dangers?n
1.-The falling of rock is the principal
one. Sometimes the sides split off and
drop when least expected. You see
those cracks there?" The reporter saw
large and long ones which the concus-
sion of the blasting had made. I've
have to keep our eye on those. Look
at that rock in front of you. That is
what we call sliding rock" Its strata
were diagonal, and it projected cohsid-
erably. 1t seemed as though it might
slip from under the mass above it and
do terrible mischief. In almost every
direction props had been laid crOsswise
between the walls of the galleries to
keep them in place. Occasionally we
came upon large slabs which had been
sliced off and tumbled to the bottom.
They looked ugly and nasty in the pres
ence of the thirty or forty laborers near
them. Listen" the engineer said,
softly. "Do you hear that?" 1t
sounded like the tumult of waves above.
The gallery the party We're in is soon
to be blasted again. Holes three inch
es wide and nine or ten feet deep are to
be drilled across the bottom of it, and
eight feet length of bottom blown out.
Then similar holes, eight feet further
on, are to be made, and another stretch
of bottom torn away, the process being
repeated until the depth of the gallery
is thirty, forty or fifty feet In few
years the whole of Flood Rock will
have been undermined, the top of it,
mostly under water now, becoming a
roof supported by pillars. When the
time for the final blowing up arrives
the top will be pierced upward in thou
sands of places and the pillars side
ways, and both will be stored with nj
trO-glycerine.
Handling the nitro-glycerine," the
engineer replied, sis the worst source
of danger to the men. No one of them
has been killed yet by anything else,
except fellow who ran direct into a
blast. They get consumption, though,
and other diseases, and seven of them
, one day were upset in our rowboat,
while crossing to Astoria, and nearly
drowned, the tide was so strong and
the waves so high. But we use steam
tug now for crossing" Applications
for work, however, are constantly COM
ing in, and q thousand fresh laborers
could be engaged in twenty-four hours.
The prices paid vary with the work
done. The men employed are those
who were tried in the Hallett's Point
excavations, and Capt. Mercur desires
J it to be understood that there is room
for no others.
The ascent from the mine was made
by ladders. After that labyrinthine
tour in the bowels of the rock, in the
darkness, under deep water, perhaps
also in peril, certainly in chilliness, in
dirt, and in continual drippings. the
sunshine and the sky were pleasant.
When the blasting is begun, tomorrow
or the next day, Flood Rock will GER
tainly be dangerous to visit.-N Y.
Eccnjng Post.