The Hays free press., 1922-09-28

I
/ plants of broken windows and other
damages to property. Chemists were
/ deeply interested in the subject, but
/ in many a conservative family chem
/ lists were regarded as troublesome in
dividuals, always trying something
new. sure to fill a house with unpleas-
ant odors, and quite likely to set a
/ place on fire. Let US not be too harsh
/ on the old folks who so talked. If we
remember many young chemists of
forty years ago we remember some
who were frantic to try experiments
and needless of risk to themselves or
anyone else.
An Important Date
/ Few now can tell the stroy of the
old wrecks of He'll Gate, but the reefs
were for generations as famous as the
Inchcape Rock in Southey's poem.
The name "HeHe Gat' is found in the
/ old Dutch chronicles, and those who
ventured near the Long Island shore
heard many a tale of peril and loss.
/ So early as 1882 Congress appro-
! priated money to make a safe passage
! but delays occurred and it was not
until 1848 that Charles H. Davis, one
I of the ablest men the navy has ever
| known, went to survey the locality.
( The report found that Pot Rock and
: Frying Pan Rock were very danger
! Gus; that Ways Reef was a menace :;
that the Gridiron was threatening;
that Negro Head, Bread-and-Cheese
Rock, Flood Rock, Hen and Chickens
! Rock, Great Mill Rock, and Little Mill
/ Rock were all fraught with hazard to
navigatOrs, not to mention a sub
marine projection at Hallet's Point.
Davis believed that Pot Rock, Frying
Pan and Ways Reef could be blasted
/ Lieutenant Porter who served with
him, urged the removal of at least
/ part of the Hallet's Point reef.
Is not the date worth special note?
What does not 1848 tell US? We know
that Paul Jones had been dead fifty
six years, and Lord Nelson forty-three
/ years; that steam navigation across
! the ocean wa swell established; that
railroading had made promising be-
! ginning; that the telegraph was at
work; that we had fought two wars
with Great Britain, that we had sent
Preble to Tripoi and Decatur to AL
/ giers, and that all we had done for
| New York harbor's menace was to
officially report what was only too
well known already-that He'll Gate
was a dangerous passage. 1t is not
unreasonable to say that if it had
been a calm retreat for the wave
tossed seaman it would not have been
called He'll Gate.
But the Rocks Remained
It would be unpatriotic not to add
that the city of New York had plenty
of other matters to consider. The
war with Mexico, the Free Soil split
in the Democratic party, and the gold
discoveries in California were of in
terest. Still the rocks remained a
peril to all who ran near them, and
nothing was done until 1851. By this
time half the century had gone, how
ever New York raised a fund, and a
French engineer, justly honored in
his day, named Maillefert, blew to
such good effect that Hoyt's Rock was
shattered and that Bald-headed
Billy's Rock no longer made aynone's
hair stand on end. Deeper water now
ran over Pot Rock, Frying Pan Rock,
Ways Reef, Sheldrake and Diamond
81 D..
what it had been. The next year
Congress made an appropriation, and
some Improvement resulted. Con-
gresham Abraham Lincoln had
served his single term, so he could
not vote for the appropriation; but
we may be sure that he was glad to
hear that substantial progress had
been made. He had voted for Illinois
canals and had experimental with a
device for getting a vessel over
shoals. 1t must have occurred to him,
however, that nothing material had
been done for He'll Gate until the
Erie canal was more than twenty-five
years old. In 1852 George Stephen
son was among the dead and his son
Robert was as famous a bridge-build-
er as the world had known since
julius Caesars day.
We cannot say that it was all quiet
along the Hudson for municipal, state
and national recommendations were
made; but recommendations do not
remove rocks, and the work remained
in its inchoate state until in 1866
General John Newton of the engin-
eers was placed in charge. The war
had tannht lls son, at hir,n- Of hi idc-;r,o.