CHAPTER II.
Submarine Blasting,—Erie Harbor,—Dimon’s Reef, N. Y.,—Coenties Reef, N. Y.,—Oil Wells, Penn.
In the winter 1869, 1870, I received a communication from the engineer in charge, Major G. Clinton Gardiner, formerly of the United States Boundary Line Survey, concerning the harbor improvements in Erie, Penn., under W. A. Baldwin, General Superintendent of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, with a view to blasting in the harbor of Erie, so as to furnish from 15 to 17 feet of water for vessels laying alongside of their wharves, instead of carrying them (the wharves) into deep water; these operations were entirely successful, and I subjoin the report of Major Gardiner to General Parke, U. S. Engineer Corps, written previous to dredging. The certificates of Mr. Baldwin, Superintendent; F. J. Wilson, Ass’t Engineer; Chas. F. Dunbar, contractor for the dredging, follow Major Gardiner’s report. These certificates it will be observed, were given after a considerable portion of the rock had been removed by the dredging machine.
Letter from Major G. Clinton Gardiner to General John G. Parke, Corps of Engineers, Washington City, D. C.Office of Philadelphia & Erie Railroad.Erie Harbor—August 2nd, 1869.ToGeneral John G. Parke, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.My dear General: Some days ago I received a letter from Mr. Geo. M. Mowbray, who is the patentee of a most valuable improvement in the manufacture of Nitro-Glycerin. He being interested in having his material used in the improvements at Hell Gate, requested me to report upon the experiment in blasting at this place. Being unknown to General Newton, and having no time for a report, I take the liberty of writing to you on the subject.Since leaving the United States Boundary Survey, I have been employed on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, under the direction of the Ass’t Gen. Superintendent, Mr. W. A. Baldwin, in the improvement of their dock at this terminus of the road. The water at the end of the main pier and for a short distance inshore, on either side of the pier, is over 14 feet deep, shoaling back to about 6 feet, which we had to deepen to 14 feet. The bottom is a smooth hard surface of shale rock, a portion of which when exposed to the air disintegrates, while other parts are sufficiently hard, and are used for, building purposes. It lies in strata of about eight inches to twelve inches thickness, which we drilled through and blasted during the winter, and are now dredging the rock. The process of drilling was in the primitive style, with hand drills, mostly done through the ice, and the blasting, with powder in cartridges with small tubes reaching to the surface of the water, through which the match was conducted to the powder. Firing however, was afterwards done by dropping a red hot nail down the tube, which was quite an improvement on the match, and gave us almost simultaneous explosions. The holes drilled were 5 feet apart, in rows of 5 feet from each other, and the largest charge of powder used was a canister 2 inches in diameter and 40 inches long. This process having been used to some extent the season before, it was commenced again this last winter, but the work being extended, we thought it advisable to make some improvements in the modus operandi. After a correspondence withdifferent manufacturers of machine drills, we found no one of them ready for business at once, and before we were able to make terms, our primitive style of drilling advanced almost to completion. We sent to Mr. Mowbray who was then in Titusville, Pennsylvania, to try his Nitro-Glycerin, and made an experiment in a square of a little over ten yards, where the rock to be removed was over seven feet deep. The holes were drilled a greater distance apart, but to the same depth as used for powder (15 feet from surface of water). In this square we blasted about 230 square yards of rock, using 50 pounds of Nitro-Glycerin in cartridges fired in rows by electricity, but without a face of rock to work from, such as we had with the powder blast. This would have taken 125 lbs. powder. Upon reaching the place with the dredge, we found the rock completely crumbled,rendering dredging as easy as that of gravel, and to the depth of seventeen feet, while with the powder blasting we have had trouble, and in two cases had to blast again to obtain fourteen feet of water, and even then have to lift rock measuring ten and twelve cubic feet. Nitro-Glycerin is certainly far superior in its effect, and would have been much cheaper to use in this case. Gunpowder does not blast to the depth of the holes drilled, whilst Nitro-Glycerin tears the rock from the bottom, and here seems to have penetrated three feet beyond. The reason it was not used before, was the difficulty in procuring it. The nearest factory was that of Mr. Mowbray at Titusville, and the local as well as state laws were such that it could not be transported, except by private conveyance, which added to its cost. That used was carried to Corry in Mr. Mowbray’s carriage, over a very rough road, and thence by special train to this place. If pure, the danger in the use of Nitro-Glycerin is no greater than that of powder, and the premature explosions that have proved so fatal in many instances, have without doubt been caused by decomposition, which was the result of imperfect manufacture. If regularly manufactured, accidents will be the result only of inexperience or the neglect of instructions from those having experience. In the manufacture, the nitrous vapours that are disengaged at the time of mixing, if not entirely expelled, will make it liable to explosion from any concussion, and from Mr. Mowbray’s experience in a number of instances with that manufactured by himself, I should judgehis Nitro-Glycerin to be as safe as powder in the hands of experienced persons. It is of a light yellowish color, with pungent aromatic taste, rather sweet than otherwise, and is so poisonous, that in handling, should one allow it to remain on his hands, it would produce intense head ache. It does not explode from the application of flame to its surface, yet will burn, but explodes only from severe concussion, as by the explosion of detonating mixtures and fulminates.I write to you hoping you will communicate any information my letter may contain to General Newton, as it may serve Mr. Mowbray, who I think has made a great improvement in the manufacture of Nitro-Glycerin, and as he gives it his personal attention, I have no doubt it is superior to any now used.I was much pleased to receive the report of the blasting in California, and should interesting professional papers be published by the Bureau, let me beg you will rememberYour sincere friend,G. Clinton Gardiner.
Letter from Major G. Clinton Gardiner to General John G. Parke, Corps of Engineers, Washington City, D. C.
Office of Philadelphia & Erie Railroad.Erie Harbor—August 2nd, 1869.
ToGeneral John G. Parke, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A.
My dear General: Some days ago I received a letter from Mr. Geo. M. Mowbray, who is the patentee of a most valuable improvement in the manufacture of Nitro-Glycerin. He being interested in having his material used in the improvements at Hell Gate, requested me to report upon the experiment in blasting at this place. Being unknown to General Newton, and having no time for a report, I take the liberty of writing to you on the subject.
Since leaving the United States Boundary Survey, I have been employed on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, under the direction of the Ass’t Gen. Superintendent, Mr. W. A. Baldwin, in the improvement of their dock at this terminus of the road. The water at the end of the main pier and for a short distance inshore, on either side of the pier, is over 14 feet deep, shoaling back to about 6 feet, which we had to deepen to 14 feet. The bottom is a smooth hard surface of shale rock, a portion of which when exposed to the air disintegrates, while other parts are sufficiently hard, and are used for, building purposes. It lies in strata of about eight inches to twelve inches thickness, which we drilled through and blasted during the winter, and are now dredging the rock. The process of drilling was in the primitive style, with hand drills, mostly done through the ice, and the blasting, with powder in cartridges with small tubes reaching to the surface of the water, through which the match was conducted to the powder. Firing however, was afterwards done by dropping a red hot nail down the tube, which was quite an improvement on the match, and gave us almost simultaneous explosions. The holes drilled were 5 feet apart, in rows of 5 feet from each other, and the largest charge of powder used was a canister 2 inches in diameter and 40 inches long. This process having been used to some extent the season before, it was commenced again this last winter, but the work being extended, we thought it advisable to make some improvements in the modus operandi. After a correspondence withdifferent manufacturers of machine drills, we found no one of them ready for business at once, and before we were able to make terms, our primitive style of drilling advanced almost to completion. We sent to Mr. Mowbray who was then in Titusville, Pennsylvania, to try his Nitro-Glycerin, and made an experiment in a square of a little over ten yards, where the rock to be removed was over seven feet deep. The holes were drilled a greater distance apart, but to the same depth as used for powder (15 feet from surface of water). In this square we blasted about 230 square yards of rock, using 50 pounds of Nitro-Glycerin in cartridges fired in rows by electricity, but without a face of rock to work from, such as we had with the powder blast. This would have taken 125 lbs. powder. Upon reaching the place with the dredge, we found the rock completely crumbled,rendering dredging as easy as that of gravel, and to the depth of seventeen feet, while with the powder blasting we have had trouble, and in two cases had to blast again to obtain fourteen feet of water, and even then have to lift rock measuring ten and twelve cubic feet. Nitro-Glycerin is certainly far superior in its effect, and would have been much cheaper to use in this case. Gunpowder does not blast to the depth of the holes drilled, whilst Nitro-Glycerin tears the rock from the bottom, and here seems to have penetrated three feet beyond. The reason it was not used before, was the difficulty in procuring it. The nearest factory was that of Mr. Mowbray at Titusville, and the local as well as state laws were such that it could not be transported, except by private conveyance, which added to its cost. That used was carried to Corry in Mr. Mowbray’s carriage, over a very rough road, and thence by special train to this place. If pure, the danger in the use of Nitro-Glycerin is no greater than that of powder, and the premature explosions that have proved so fatal in many instances, have without doubt been caused by decomposition, which was the result of imperfect manufacture. If regularly manufactured, accidents will be the result only of inexperience or the neglect of instructions from those having experience. In the manufacture, the nitrous vapours that are disengaged at the time of mixing, if not entirely expelled, will make it liable to explosion from any concussion, and from Mr. Mowbray’s experience in a number of instances with that manufactured by himself, I should judgehis Nitro-Glycerin to be as safe as powder in the hands of experienced persons. It is of a light yellowish color, with pungent aromatic taste, rather sweet than otherwise, and is so poisonous, that in handling, should one allow it to remain on his hands, it would produce intense head ache. It does not explode from the application of flame to its surface, yet will burn, but explodes only from severe concussion, as by the explosion of detonating mixtures and fulminates.
I write to you hoping you will communicate any information my letter may contain to General Newton, as it may serve Mr. Mowbray, who I think has made a great improvement in the manufacture of Nitro-Glycerin, and as he gives it his personal attention, I have no doubt it is superior to any now used.
I was much pleased to receive the report of the blasting in California, and should interesting professional papers be published by the Bureau, let me beg you will remember
Your sincere friend,
G. Clinton Gardiner.
The experiments above narrated and conducted under the supervision of Major Gardiner, were continued, (on the removal of the Major to the Pennsylvania Central’s works at Altoona,) by F. J. Wilson, under General Superintendent Wm. A. Baldwin, and the results expected were entirely fulfilled, as will be seen by the subjoined communications:
Submarine Blasting with Nitro-glycerin; Results as Compared with Blasting Powder, in Erie Harbor, May, 1870.Philadelphia and Erie R. R.; Pennsylvania R. R. Co., Lessee.Office of the General Superintendent,Erie, Penn., May 19th, ’70.ToGeo. M. Mowbray,North Adams, Mass.,Dear Sir: The comparative values of the two materials, Gun-Powder and Nitro-Glycerin, as to results and actual cost for blasting in the harbor at Erie, cannot be positively obtained until the dredging is finished; when this year’s operations with Nitro-Glycerin, can be compared with that of last year done with powder. The prospects thus far are so favorable, however, I regret that the use of Nitro-Glycerin was not adopted last year.On the completion of the work I shall be pleased to furnish you with statements of comparative results, feeling confident they will prove a more full satisfactory and valuable endorsement of your Nitro-Glycerin for submarine use, than any theoretically based opinion can be.I enclose you copy of reports of Mr. F. J. Wilson, Engineer in charge of Erie Harbor Works, and of Mr. Dunbar, contractor for dredging, which will give you an idea of the economical results to us from the use of your Nitro-Glycerin.Yours truly,Wm. A. Baldwin, Gen’l. Supt.
Submarine Blasting with Nitro-glycerin; Results as Compared with Blasting Powder, in Erie Harbor, May, 1870.
Philadelphia and Erie R. R.; Pennsylvania R. R. Co., Lessee.
Office of the General Superintendent,Erie, Penn., May 19th, ’70.
ToGeo. M. Mowbray,North Adams, Mass.,
Dear Sir: The comparative values of the two materials, Gun-Powder and Nitro-Glycerin, as to results and actual cost for blasting in the harbor at Erie, cannot be positively obtained until the dredging is finished; when this year’s operations with Nitro-Glycerin, can be compared with that of last year done with powder. The prospects thus far are so favorable, however, I regret that the use of Nitro-Glycerin was not adopted last year.
On the completion of the work I shall be pleased to furnish you with statements of comparative results, feeling confident they will prove a more full satisfactory and valuable endorsement of your Nitro-Glycerin for submarine use, than any theoretically based opinion can be.
I enclose you copy of reports of Mr. F. J. Wilson, Engineer in charge of Erie Harbor Works, and of Mr. Dunbar, contractor for dredging, which will give you an idea of the economical results to us from the use of your Nitro-Glycerin.
Yours truly,
Wm. A. Baldwin, Gen’l. Supt.
Erie, Penn., May 16th, 1870.Wm. A. Baldwin, Esq.,Gen’l. Supt. P. and E. Railroad.Dear Sir: Below please find a statement of comparative cost of drilling and blasting where Nitro-Glycerin is used. The 1240 lbs. of Nitro-Glycerin were used over an area of 26,700 sq. feet, with an average depth of rock of about seven and seven-tenths feet, making 11,500 cub. yards of rock measured in the bed.Cost of drilling and blasting (using Nitro-Glycerin), $5,119 67.Cost of drilling and blasting (using Powder), 7,475 73.Difference of cost in favor of Nitro-Glycerin, 2,356 06.The difference in favor of Nitro-Glycerin in dredging and in time saved is not taken into consideration in the above (see Capt. Dunbar’s letter).Very respectfully,F. J. Wilson, Ass’t Engineer.
Erie, Penn., May 16th, 1870.
Wm. A. Baldwin, Esq.,Gen’l. Supt. P. and E. Railroad.
Dear Sir: Below please find a statement of comparative cost of drilling and blasting where Nitro-Glycerin is used. The 1240 lbs. of Nitro-Glycerin were used over an area of 26,700 sq. feet, with an average depth of rock of about seven and seven-tenths feet, making 11,500 cub. yards of rock measured in the bed.
The difference in favor of Nitro-Glycerin in dredging and in time saved is not taken into consideration in the above (see Capt. Dunbar’s letter).
Very respectfully,
F. J. Wilson, Ass’t Engineer.
Erie, May 18th, 1870.ToW. A. Baldwin, Esq.,Gen’l. Supt. P. and E. Railroad,Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry as to the relative difference in dredging rock blasted by Nitro-Glycerin and that blasted by Powder, Ihave no hesitation in saying that I am certain we can dredge twice the number of cubic yards where it is blasted with the Nitro-Glycerin. I think I could speak safely and say three yards to one where the rock is hard. In fact, there are places where we could do nothing with the Powder blasting, when we have no trouble with the Nitro-Glycerin.Truly yours,Chas. F. Dunbar,Firm of Lee & Dunbar.Result.—Submarine drilling and blasting with Nitro-Glycerin costs 44½ cents per cubic yard. Gunpowder costs 66¾ cents per cubic yard. Nitro-Glycerin used, one ounce and six-tenths of an ounce per cubic yard of rock removed.
Erie, May 18th, 1870.
ToW. A. Baldwin, Esq.,Gen’l. Supt. P. and E. Railroad,
Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry as to the relative difference in dredging rock blasted by Nitro-Glycerin and that blasted by Powder, Ihave no hesitation in saying that I am certain we can dredge twice the number of cubic yards where it is blasted with the Nitro-Glycerin. I think I could speak safely and say three yards to one where the rock is hard. In fact, there are places where we could do nothing with the Powder blasting, when we have no trouble with the Nitro-Glycerin.
Truly yours,Chas. F. Dunbar,
Firm of Lee & Dunbar.
Result.—Submarine drilling and blasting with Nitro-Glycerin costs 44½ cents per cubic yard. Gunpowder costs 66¾ cents per cubic yard. Nitro-Glycerin used, one ounce and six-tenths of an ounce per cubic yard of rock removed.
General Newton, U. S. Corps of Engineers, who has been entrusted with the expenditure of the annual appropriation for the improvements in New York harbor, having constructed a floating drilling apparatus, with steam power to capstans, four steam derricks, and direct engines to lift the drop-drills, applied to me (1870) first, to enter upon a competitive test, with Nitro-Glycerin as compared with Dualin, and with blasting powder, into which a reel of lightning fuse was inserted, to ensure more perfect and rapid combustion of the powder. These tests were conducted at Hell Gate, under the supervision of Mr. Reitheimer; Mr. H. H. Pratt, with Nitro-Glycerin, on my behalf; Mr. Dittmar with Dualin, and Mr. Gomez, for the powder and lightning fuse blasts, who respectively directed the holes to be drilled, charged them, and fired the several charges. The results were decisive of the superiority of Nitro-Glycerin, over both Dualin, and Blasting Powder, even when assisted by a coil of lightning or fulminating fuse, inserted in the powder. Two points were elicited, as reported by my operator; first the Nitro-Glycerin tore out more work, invariably reaching to the bottom, and sometimes beyond the bottom of the drill hole, whilst its explosion was so instantaneous it did not cause leakage in the roof, as with Dualin. Thereupon I was invited by General Newton, to arrange operations for blasting at Dimon’s Reef, between the Staten Island Ferry and Governor’s Island. Eight holes had been drilled in a circle of twenty feet diameter, with a ninth or central hole, thus leaving anaverage of eight feet of rock between each drill hole. Finding that the drilled holes were shaped like an inverted cone, owing to the omission of the reamer; that is, whilst the drill, jars, sinker bar, cable and cable clutch of the Pennsylvania oil wells, had been used, the provision for remedying the effect of the worn edges of the drill, had been overlooked, and thus a very disadvantageous form of hole, viz.: funnel shaped, was the result, necessitating the use of a cartridge, whose diameter must not exceed that of the smallest, which in this case was the lowest part of the drilled hole. The irregularity, and jagged edge of these unreamed holes, had also to be guarded against, lest the friction of any Nitro-Glycerin moistening the outside of the cartridge, might cause a casualty. I therefore determined, until better drilling could be secured, to use 2¼ inch two-ply rubber hose for cartridges, a material by no means desirable, because it afforded a cushion between the rock and the blast, but it became a necessity from the funnel shaped drill holes, when providing against the risk of premature explosion. The holes being 4½ inches in diameter at the upper part, and barely 3 inches at the bottom; the cartridge made of rubber hose, being uniform throughout, containing a column of liquid Nitro-Glycerin, 2¼ inches in diameter only, and 6 feet long; at the upper part of the holes there was an intervening cushion of water and hose, over 1 inch thick; and at the lower part, a cushion of ⅜ inch of hose. This should have been avoided, and I have mentioned these details as a caution to future operators, who desire the full explosive force of Nitro-Glycerin.
The depth of water at or during high-tide, is about twenty-two feet, and at low tide, fourteen to fifteen feet, the tide running four miles an hour with an amount of silty matter, drainage of N. Y. City sewerage, rendering it impossible for a diver to distinguish objects one foot from his helmet. Under these circumstances plugs have to be inserted in the several holes, each plug attached to the other by a rope, so as to enable the diver to guide himself from one hole to the other. Owing to various interfering circumstances the holes were only ready for blasting on the 16th of December, 1870; and the second day after arrival in New York, accompanied with three assistants, I proceeded to the work; there was a stiff wind blowing from thenorthwest, which, meeting the tide, caused a chopping sea; the weather was cold as shown by the crust of ice attached to the scow. The frozen Nitro-Glycerin was thawed out by hot water obtained from the steam boiler on board the scow.
These cartridges were lowered to the diver with the connecting wire, fuse, and exploder attached, one after the other, occupying twenty minutes; two of the holes being too small to allow the cartridge to be fully inserted, these projected, one about eighteen inches, the other one foot above the surface of the holes; the diver, moreover, became entangled in the wires and in order to extricate him, it was necessary twice to haul him to the surface, after which considerable time was occupied in moving the scow from over the site of the intended explosion, before the order could be given to fire. The amount of Nitro-Glycerin used to fill the nine cartridges, was one hundred and thirty-four pounds. On the order being given, the charge was successfully fired. Similar charges of nine cartridges, with more perfect holes and a heavier charge were fired three weeks afterwards.
Nitro-Glycerin Torpedoes in Oil Wells.—The Legislature of Massachusetts having resolved to place the further construction of the Hoosac Tunnel under contract, pending the transfer from October, 1868, to April, 1869, from State management to the present contractors, Messrs. F. Shanly & Co. I proceeded to the Oil Region, and there verified the fact that Nitro-Glycerin, properly exploded, i. e., the charge completely exploded, was more efficient in causing an increased yield of oil when applied to wells ceasing or diminishing their yield, than any other material. Erhardt’s powder, Oriental powder, and ordinary blasting powder, had been used very generally, and Nitro-Glycerin had been alleged to have been used, but the results were unsatisfactory; as soon however, as we started a Nitro-Glycerin factory at Titusville, and inserted charges varying from six pounds to fifty pounds, the results were so advantageous to the well owners, that none others would be used, while Nitro-Glycerin could be obtained. The first explosion was in D. Crossley’s well on the Weed farm, a charge of six pounds having been inserted, and fired. The well whose previous best yield had only amounted to six barrels per day, increased forthwith to one hundred and twenty barrels of petroleum per day, and settled down to forty barrels per day, which were obtained daily for nearly a year. On the road to Enterprise at the McKinney & Prior well, the explosionof six pounds of Nitro-Glycerin invariably started the well to flow at the rate of about one hundred barrels in twenty-four hours. At the Crocker wells on the Weed farm, the increase after an explosion of Nitro-Glycerin was usually from ten barrels to one hundred and twenty. After a charge of Nitro-Glycerin in an oil well, the yield generally rises to the highest point it has ever attained, and thence gradually diminishes therefrom, apparently owing to an accumulation of paraffine deposited in the interstices of the walls of the well. This has led to the pouring down the well, benzine, and pumping same out with the oil, and is another form of recuperating the yield of oil. As the process of increasing the production of Petroleum in oil wells, by means of the explosion of gunpowder or its equivalent, substantially as described in the specification of E. O. L. Roberts, ante-dated May 20, 1866, was claimed by the patentee to cover the use of Nitro-Glycerin and every known or hereafter to be invented method of effecting an explosion in an oil well, and as the case has hereto been presented in the courts, this claim has been sustained.
When, therefore, the contractors commenced operations on their work at the Tunnel, I resumed my manufacture of Nitro-Glycerin for that work, leaving the oil region, where the oil operators and producers have since been incessantly litigating the validity of the Roberts patents above referred to, with, however, up to the present date, indifferent success. The average of greatly increased production in exhausted wells, so far as my experience extended, during four months at one hundred wells, was that 80 per cent. were benefited, and in about 20 per cent. no marked results were obtained. When the question as to whether this form of blasting, viz.: in oil wells, is patentable has been decided, it will be time to renew the careful application of Nitro-Glycerin in oil wells, but at present, the careless handling, the pursuit of wealth regardless of the lives of the employed, and the unscrupulous assertion prevalent among those interested in the patent referred to, is depriving the oil producers of a valuable agent. Since, however, the present yield of oil is ample for the consumption, this, so far as the public is concerned, is of less moment than it is to the producers, who, by the time economical and useful blasting in oil wells is needed to bring up the yield to the ever increasing demand, will have finally disposed of this patent litigation.