Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1912-02-22
new News OF YESTERDAY
Story of the Man Who Con-
quered He'll Gate.
Gen. John Newton's Cool Confidence
in the Safety of His Plans for
the Blowing Up of Mid
die Reef.
BY E. J. EDWARDS.

AaVe OI great crisis whom | ever met
was Gen. John Newton. the conoueror
OF Hell Gate" said the late William r.
Grace, elected mayor of New York
city in 1880 and again in 1884. and for
years before his death, which occurred
IN 1901, one of the great export
merchants of the country.
Hell Gate. you know" continued
mayor Grace. sis at the exact point
where Long Island sound and the
East river meet, and the difference in
the tides in the sound and the river.
as wen as the numerous jagged reefs
'nat We're In the channel made the
passage of He'll Gate very dangerous
For a long time the federal govern
ment was a little doubtful about the
ability of any engineer to hit upon a
plan by which the reefs could be re-
moved and the channel made compar-
atlvely safe, except at a cost. possibly,
that would be prohibitive.
AT last, John Newton. who had
gone into the engineering corps of the
regular army following his graduation
from West Point, and both as an en-
gineer and fighting man had won a
volunteer brigadier generals commits
sion In the Civil war, was summoned
before the authorities at Washington
and asked If he thought he could rip
out the reefs in He'll Gate and make
navigation safe there. Yes. that can
be done, and 1 think can do it. was
General Newton's reply; and he was
set at the task forthwith.
Under one of the Lodges, known as
Hallet's reef, which extended from the
Long Island shore in to the East river,
General Newton excavated a number
OF tunnels and in the pillars support
Ing the roof of the tunnels and in the
ROOF itself he drilled a number of
holes, in which cans of nitro-glycerine
were placed. Then the tunnel was
hooded with water. the explosive dis
charged, and Hallet's reef was no
longer a menace to navigation.
The removal of the reef occurred
In centennial year. Eight years later,
when l was mayor of New York city.
General Newton had almost completed
under Middle reef a much greater tun-
mel and drilling system than that
which he had constructed for the pur-
pose of blowing up Hallet's reef. This
1act was well known. and many peo-
pie from all parts of the city and Long
Island came to me almost daily and
told me that II General Newton set Off
all the nitro-glycerin under Middle
reef which he was planning to do. the
explosion would cause an earthquake
which would probably destroy many
buildings on both the Long Island and
the Manhattan sides of He'll Gate.
General Newton and 1 were IN
innate personal friends, and I spoke
to him of these widespread apprehen-
sions. He told me to pay no heed to
them. He said he had worked out
every detail of the explosion to the
uttermost point. He was sure he
could describe to me exactly what
would happen when the nitro-glycerin
was discharged.
But said, you have nearly o.
600 feet Of tunneling under Middle
reef
Yes he said, I have, and need
1t all And the holes that have been
drilled in the tunnel for receiving the
nitro-glycerin would stretch a distance
OF over % miles If they were placed
end to end. and in these holes I am
going to put about 800 900 pounds of
explosive which will be discharged
simultaneously by means of an cleo
trio spark. But tell you now that
when the discharge comes all you'll
see Will lot of water shoot up in the
air and, perhaps, some stones. There
may also be little vibration on land.
but that'n be ALL
III take your word, general re-
piled. But ! shall be glad when it is
over
"Tll stake my reputation as an en-
gineer and all that gained when in
the Civil war on the result of the dis
charge answered the general
But so great an explosion has
never been made before cautioned
him. You are purposing to discharge
more explosive, by thousands of
| pounds, than any one has ever dared
before TO discharge at one time
He smiled quietly as he replied:
Every great thing has to be done the
first time.
"a few weeks later the mine was
discharged, and the effect was exactly
as General Newton had predicted.
And then, for the first time, realized
how foolish had been the fears Of
many New Workers over the result of
the explosion, and how cool and con-
fident John Newton had been in the
crisis of his career, for by far the
greatest achievement Of his life was
the manner in which he finally robbed
He'll Gate of most of its terrors to
navigation, by blowing up Middle
reef"
| Copyright, 1911, by z. !. Edwards. All
| Rights Reserved.)