The times., 1899-06-01
A MIGHTY DYNAMITE BLAST.
Famous Landmark on the Hudson
River Destroyed.

New York, May 3I-By the explosion. in
one huge blast. of $500 pounds of dyna-
mite, 100000 tons of rock were blown from
the face of the Palisades yesterday and
fell with a mighty roar into a quarry.
$50 feet below. There it will be ground
and used for building roads. The huge
crag that was torn from the cliff was a rem
nant of Indian Head a famous landmark,
about mile north OF Fort Lee. until the
destruction of the Palisades began a few
years ago.
1t was the heaviest blast ever made on
the Palisades. 1t took two months to pre-
pare for it, and a fraction OF a second to
fire it. Hugh Reilly. boss blaster" for
Carpenter Bros. quarrymen, pulled ham
die, and the hillside burst open and went
laundering down. The edge of the cliff
was moved seventy-hve feet further in
land.
Roughly estimated, the dimensions OF the
rock blasted yesterday were $50 feet long.
70 feet wide, and 100 feet high. The dyna-
mite cost more than s1.G00. Rock enough
was thrown into the quarry TO keep the
men busy for months.
Workmen selected place in the north
face CT the cliff. about fifty feet from the
top. and began blasting and digging into
the crag. They made tunnel about twice
the size of mans body for fifty feet hori-
Zontally. This took weeks When the
horizontal tunnel was of the proper length
they sank WELL of the same diameter
for nearly an equal distance. When this
was finished the well was filled with dy-
Mantle Men, with boxes of the explo-
sve weighing fifty pounds each, toiied up
the almost perpendicular path to the
mouth of the tunnel from the magazine.
A misstep. the dropping of box. meant
probably the destruction of a half dozen
lives at least. Wires were laid to explode
the dynamite. and then the horizontal tun-
mel was filled with rocks and earth, so that
none of the charges could blow OUT and
become ineffective.
Reilly began the final preparation for
the blast shortly before o'clock yesterday
afternoon. Long wires were bent onto the
ends projecting from the tunnel mouth,
and then were carried up over the face of
the cliff and back into clump of small
trees to a battery.
Reilly ran to the edge of the cliff when
all was ready and signaled to the stone
breaker The steam whistle sounded 4
warning to the men in the quarry. Word
had been passed through the near villages
that there was to be big blast. and hun
dreds OF persons were on a point IaIlneF
up the Hudson from which they could see.
Reilly threw over lever. The top of
the huge rock heaved upward and the sides
bulged out. bursting into thousands of
pieces. Smoke burst through the assures.
The whole seemed to settle back into po-
sition for an instant, and then tumbled
down into the quarry.
Rocks as big as Harlem fats went roar
ing ahead plowing into the hillside and
throwing up clouds of dust where they
struck Some OF the smaller ones rolled
clear through the quarry into the river,
and thousands of small pieces flew directly
from the cliff into the water. The slide
lasted for half minute.
"You can't find better trap rock than
that anywhere" said Reilly. and then
started down the Washington Steps" that
lead by a roundabout way into the quarry.
Major p Wood McClave, a member OF
the Palisades Commission, recently ap-
pointed by Governor Voorhees, of New Jer-
sey, saw the blast.
This only shows what can be done with
one blast to destroy the Palisades he said
afterward IF popular interest could be
aroused we could soon stop this. At this
rate they will soon demolish the whole
thing There is nothing to prevent other
firms from buying along the river front
and Fastening the work of destruction.