Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-10-19

complished by a Pittsburg con-
tractor one of the largest feats in blast
ing known in the history of explosives.
Two hundred and twenty-five tons of
dynamite, rock chiefand black powder
were set off at the same moment dur
ing the work of clearing away half of
mountain so that the tracks of the
| Northern Central railroad, controlled
by the Pennsylvania railroad, might
be rearraneed. The entire precipice
was pushed over into the valley below.
The gigantic task was accomplished
on September %. 1t was successful in
that it resulted in doing the work ex-
pected of it and because it Was attend
ed by not the slightest casualty.
The blast was set off during the prog
ress of what the railroad people term
"The Atglen and Susquehanna work."
| lust one-half mile west of Safe
Harbor, Pa, along the Susquehanna
river. The work is being done in order
to relieve the congested condition of
| the Pennsylvania freight yards at Har
risburg and also to shorten the freight
distance from Philadelphia to Harris
burg.
The Northern Central rams from
Baltimore to Sunbury. 1t meets the
main line of the Pennsylvania railroad
at Mt. Tower, between Parkesburg
and Thorndale, continuing along the
banks of the Susquehanna.
In order to make the necessary track
improvements there had to be removed
a section of hillside 700 feet long by 100
feet wide by so feet high. To remove
| this great pile of earth and rock it was
considered best to attempt one nam.
moth blast; would take too long to do it
| by piecemeal and the cost would be all
| the greater So the contractors set
themselves to pull off one great coup
and thereby accomplish at one time
what ordinarily would have taken Il
! year.
Hundreds of holes had to be drilled.
| The nature of the hillside made this
task extremely perilous. The men had
difficulty in obtaining footholds-a slip
meant serious injury, perhaps death.
| Drilling machines had to be hauled
from the bottom Of the hill by means
of ropes. Once at the top they had to
be spiked or tied down, and the opera
tors perforce had to be treated to simi-
lar tying down process.
On September /, after month of
! hard work, wherein were engaged 200
men and 10 four mule teams, the work
| of drilling was finished. There had
| been drilled so drill holes, averaging
lis feet in depth; and 123 rock drilled
holes, none less than 80 feet deep.
The work of springing these holes ac.
complished they were given three
weeks in which to cool, this period
ending September 21.
Then the laborers and mule teams
were again brought into requisition.
This time it was for the purpose of
transferring the dynamite and powder
with which the holes were to be load
ed.
The task required 20 hours of con-
tinuous work. Not a stop was made
Men and mules were kept at it all the
time, only time for eating being afford
ed them, taken in relays. The task of
loading was completed at 5 a. M, on
September %, and by . O'Clock that
same evening the holes had been
wired.
BY this time there had been packed
into the drill holes 100000 pounds of
xplosives-enough to blow up the en-.
tire city of Pittsurg and an amount
five times greater than that contained
in the charge exploded at Portsmouth,
N. H., recently, which charge was
heralded as one of the greatest in the
worlds history.
The report was unlike anything ever
before heard along the peaceful Sus'
aaehanna. 1t was heard for miles
around.
In order that the danger might be
obviated human line was formed and
the dynamite was passed along from
man to man until 1t reached the spot
for which it was intended. In this
manner as much of the danger as it
was possible to avert was done away
with. Two hundred and fifty boxes of
the explosives were handled in twenty
minutes.
The black powder was emptied into
a hopper box eight feet long, three feet
2 l.i.l IA e,u,. faat vida This bpx was