Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-09-08

| nels, and on which patient mules oraggeu
out the car loads of rock after the blasts.
MANY visitors call to look through the
galleries. Clad in big rubber boots. cloak.
and hat. and holding f1aring light in his
hand. the visitor follows a guide down
long flights of stairs until the bottom OF
the big shaft is reached. Then he splashes
off through the water that covers the bot
tom of most of the galleries. The guide
points out one of the holes where the ex-
plosives are TO be placed, and the visitor
blinks at the blank. wet wall for minute
or two before he can see wooden plug
with a numbered tin label on it. The
visitor always says it is very interesting.
but the chances are he is thinking about
the possibility of an influx of He'll Gate
water or of the premature explosion of
dynamite already slowed. Very little can
be seen by one unaccustemed to subter-
ranean passages. He seems to stand in
the middle of a yellow. vapory ball.
with silver jets of water glistening down
through it or gushing from some invisible
source on the side The guide who stands
by looks simply like black outline of a
man. But il the visitor stares in one direc-
ton long enough he will be able to dis
tinguish by the reflection of the dripping
water the rough rocks that form the walls
of the gallery And all the time there is
rushing and dripping of water that
makes it necessary to raise the voice
whenever question is asked.
will the explosion of 275.OOO pounds
of dynamite and rackarock turn Manhat-
asked of Lieut. Derby
aT Al - AN d.
pect to make any more of disturbance
than the so 600 pounds OF dynamite did
that was exploded under the point over
there at Astoria. Small powder blasts
often throw the water higher. 1t will
heave up the water. the waves will dance
awhile. and then it will settle down and
for a while we will have worse obstruc-
ton here than we have now. The broken
rock will occupy about half a mile more
space than the solid rock does But we
have the money to clear it away. The
big rocks will be grappled up and carried
away to deep water. There is hole
more than 100 feet deep dear the upper
end of Blackwell's Island that will hold
them"
"After you get the cartridges all in
place what will you do next"
Flood the chamber. 1t will take about
day to do it We will put the end of
the big pipe through which we have been
pumping down under the surface and
sphOn the water back in. AS soon as
that is done we will let off the blast.
There will be no unnecessary delay then,
and that time will come, as has already
been stated, about the 1st of October"
s.jOw will Won fro tho hlaStpS
"By an electric current, or Just as the
other one was fred-partly by electricity
and partly by conclusion. We have not
decided whether we will lay cable over
to Astoria to send the current through, or
whether we will provide some automatic
apparatus to touch it off with. The dyna-
mite cartridges are used because they are
more sensitive to conclusion than racka-
rOck.''
"Hell Gate is bad enough now," said
an old pilot. "Sloops and schooners are
frequently drifted onto the rocks, and
nobody hears of it except the owners and
the insurance companies. Not long ago
the big City Of Albany ran plump into the
dock which the engineers have built on
Flood Rock. The dock was cut down,
but the steamer was saved because the
dock timbers gave way. There is deep
channel through the gate that would float
the big Liverpool packets. but they could
never make the turn around Hallet's
Point while Flood Rock is ir the way.
They probably won't try it when the rock
is gone. There is no end to the process
sion of coasters going through there. and
the big steamers could never dodge them.
But you should have seen He'll Gate in its
prime. In 1850 Pot Rock rose right up
in the middle of the channel. just about
south OF the Homeopathic Hospital on
Wards Island. There was eighty feet of
water around it and eight on top. There
would be slack water from two to ten
minutes, and then it would begin to swoop
and swirl. no matter whether it was flood
or ebb tide. The current rushed through
there at fourteen miles an hour sometimes,
and rising up over that rock till it boiled
ten feet higher than the banks, it poured
into the pot beyond. bowling and roaring.
1t was awful. No one knows how MANY
hundreds of lives have been lost in He'll
Gate, or how many good ships have gone
to pieces. 1t was estimated in those days
that one out of fifty was damaged in the
passage, and the number of vessels
through rose to 800 day sometimes. For
200 years no one thought of improving
what was the most dangerous and, at the
same time, most picturesque strip of salt
water in the world. No one could get
down to the rock 10 drill it, and no craft
could be anchored over it but in 1852 a
gentleman named Maillefert. came here
and said no drilling was necessary. He
was laughed at but he persisted. He said
he would let tin can full of powder,down
on the rock and touch it off. and thus
blow the top off. After awhile they lis
tened to him. and on August 10, 1851, he
fired his first charge at flood tide. With
in the next two and 4 half months 143
charges of powder, varying from so to
1875 pounds, each were exploded on Pot
Rock. At the end of that time the water
was IS 1-2 feet deep. and the boiling Pot
had disappeared The work was contin-
ued until there was 30 l-2 feet of water
there at low tide. and Is 1-2 on the Frying
Pan. besides other improvements that
were made about the harbor.
| There is one other benefit which New
York will receive from the removal of
Flood Rock besides the direct benefit of
doubling the narrowest part of He'll Gate
channel. The tide reaches food in the
Sound some time after it reaches food in
the East river. and the consequence is that
/ tt.,A 10 Al