Year: 1876

removal of Blossom Rock, in the harbor Of
San Francisco, though beautiful triumph


of science, cannot be compared to the opera


tion in the East River, either for the difficult


ties encountered or for the importance OF the


result contemplated. 1t is ten years since


General Newton began operations here, and


seven years since he made his first assault


on the great obstacle that he will, in few


days hence shiver to atoms by one gigantic


blow. In this period the government has
spent nine hundred thousand dollars on this


operation, and it is estimated that the final


cost, with the labor completed, will be one
million and quarter Of dollars. 1t may be
interesting to recall, as an evidence OF the
happy accuracy of an engineers calcnla-
| tions, as we'll as of the probity Of his expen-


ditures, that General Newton's original esti-


mate of the cost was one million dollars.
| In our city government it is well known that
public enterprises, the estimated cost OF
| which is one million dollars, are never
| finished for less than four or five millions.


| By the blast at Hallett's Point He'll Gate
will be blown permanently open. The
| fierce whirl of the waters that has continued
from the time of the discovery, and that


suggested first the imaginative name of the
| place, will be tranquillized forever. All that
storm and roar that seething fury, that
passionate rush of the waves from rock to
rock, all the scene Of restless agitation so
terrible to the navigator even with steam


and every other power in his favor, will
cease to be q feature in the East River


scenery; and the strong current from the


Sound now rushing by Hallett's Point will
fall swiftly and smoothly into the East River
and spend its force, if it has any superfuity,


in tretting away some portion OF the Long


Island shore. There has often been caused
at that point in one year loss enough to more
than pay for the labor now so nearly ended,


and the total prevention of marine losses


that this improvement makes possible; the


safety to life and property that it secures !;
the manifold advantages that it opens in an


important approach to the commercial me-


tropolis Of the country, stamps this labor as
one Of the wisest and most beneficent ever


undertaken by the general government. 1t
appears to have been thought that the i'm


provement of this passage would induce


steamers from Europe to enter our port by


way of the Sound but this is m error.


Navigation in the Sound for large steamers


is far less safe than by sea, and the way by


sea is actually shorter. To the many dan
gers Of navigation in the Sound there are no
equivalents by the ordinary route for,
though many "tall admiral" lies buried in
the sands of the Jersey coast, it is thought


among sailors that Squan Beach is not the
necessary destination of any vessel when the


seamanship is thoroughly good.


1t is probable, however, that traffic by the


East River and the Sound may be greatly


stimulated by this improvement of the


navigation, and more especially the traffic


in freight, and it might not be an idle


speculation to anticipate that between the


effect of the He'll Gate improvement and the


effect that the East River Bridge may have


there will be in the early future q very great


change within the city, particularly in the


location of all the great houses engaged in


certain trades. Changes of this nature take
place at every period in the growth of cities.
In the period when the Park was our north
erly limit the important retail trade that


grew out beyond was determined in its


direction by the populousness of the East


River slope, and Chatham street and the


Bowery bade fair to become the line of our


main street. But in time of larger ideas and


under the influence of the ambitious schemes


of property holders Broadway grew up to


eclipse its older rival while the Bowery has


steadily gone down ut the heels for twenty


years. Perhaps it was the movement Of the


hotels with accommodation for country mer-


chants that determined the extensive migra-


tion of the wholesale dry goods men out Of
Pearl street into their present neighborhood.


Changes that are certainly quite as impor-


tant seem likely to determine the distribution


of the shipping trade rather than the migra-


ton Of the whole trade. 1t is, for instance,


apprehended that the bridge will become an


obstacle to the passage of large ships up the


East River Should this be realized ship


owners and merchants may be annoyed, but
they will not propose the removal Of the


bridge. On the contrary, they will observe
that the whole water line on the East River
below the bridge and for ten miles up the


North River is open to them, and they will
not insist upon passing the bridge.
On the theory of the comic actor who
suggested to his audience that it was easier
for them to get used to his ugly face than
for him to change it our reasonable mer-
chants will accommodate themselves to the
circumstances and take the easiest course !;
md tho East River ahova tho bridye will ho
without ships. Dock accommodation there


will become cheap, and the increased de-


mand on the other side will make 1t corre-
spondingly dear there and the traffic by


way of the Sound will gravitate to the part


of the water front above the bridge. That


will chortnn tha Snr,nd ri half hour