Albuquerque morning journal., 1920-07-23
DREDGING EAST
RIVER IN N. !.
DANGEROUS JOB
Death BY Drowning or Dy-
Mantle Faces Men While
at Work, Which May Re-
uuire 20 Years to Finish.


New York, July 22.-Death by
drowning or dynamite-,hese are
chief among the dangers facing the
men who are dredging the East
river to Long Island sound that
New York may have another deep
sea passage to the Atlantic
How this undertaking, which
will require fifteen to twenty years
and an expenditure of 5h,000,0O0
to SIS, 600, 900, is being carried on
was told here today by officials OF
the dredging company, which is
doing the work.
Most of the work must be done
during the slack water period at
the change of the tides and, as
there is generally from 500 TO l,0aO
pounds of dynamite aboard each
drill boat the danger of being
rammed by passing craft and sent
to the bottom Is complicated with
the possibility of being blown into
the air" one official said.
'Tn Hell Gate we are demolish-
ing Frying Pan reef which Is 4S0
feet by $50 feet. From eight to ten
months will he required to com
plete this task. A drill boat IS ne-
ing warped across it in parallei
paths thirty feet apart drililng
holes into which from 100 to 100
pounds of dynamite Is packed ana
exploded A dipper dredge, follow
ing the drill boat, loads the blasted
rock into scows for dumping into
holes seventy-five feet deep or
more in the river. This leveling OF
the river bottom removes the source
of eddies, smoothing the current.
pot Rock, another reef in He'll
Gate, will be destroyed next. Be
cause of treacherous currents. Tor
which it is responsible, Pot ROCK
is known as the wickedest spot in
American waters.
"The longest slack water period
registered in Hell Gaze during. the
last forty years was twenty-three
minutes. 1t is within that slack wa
ter period that drilling points must
be located, charges planted ana
fired and the position of the plant
changed. Divers on this work are
generally unable to spend more
than fifteen minutes under water
at time, so that they work but
nalT an HOuT III d lWchty -io"i i'
day.
"As a precaution against being
rammed by passing craft the navy
department and customs house Of
ficials have warned operators and
owners of vessels to keep a safe
distance from dredging plants. For
non compliance with this warning
eighty-five captains were arraigned
recently within a period or ten
days. Many were suspended Tor
from ten days TO six months.
when the collision signal is
sounded on one of the dredging
vessels, each of the dynamite crew,
wearing life belts, grabs box of
the explosive and stands by to jump
overheard.
"The project of dredging the
East river to the sound was first
undertaken forty years ago to pro-
vide New York harbor with an en-
trance which would require eontin-
uous dredging like Ambrose chan
mel, where five government dredges
are constantly removing the infil-
trating sands. Flood Rock, In Hell
Gate, was then removed and some
lesser work accomplished before
the appropriation was exhausted =
When Flood Rock was blasted a
charge of 100000 pounds of dyna-
mite was fired the official said.
Launches on the river mile away
were lifted three feet out of the
| water, but no damage resulted.