GREAT BLAST AT PENRHYN QUARRIES.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXVII, Issue 8161, 28 June 1895, Page 1

GREAT BLAST AT PENRHYN QUARRIES.

On Saturday, April 27th, a pinnacle of rock at Psnrhyn 'Quarries, familiarly called ■ Taken Maffr,'-was destroyed by means of seven tons bt-gnnpowder.- This huge djke had stood in sblitarygrandeur in the middle of the quarry from time immemorial, and was a relic o(thi period when the works were in'their infancy, The explosive was placed in the deep shafts worked from a tunnel'which has existed in the rock for. many years. : A person- who l ■ spedtacie • writes*-Bethesda, the .'small town} rejoicing in this name, known as the head*' quarters of the Welsh slate industry, on Saturday was the scene of the biggest blast on record, an event that caused the day to be observed as a general holiday in Carnarvonshire. A gigantic explosion that displace?, no less than 125,000 tons of stone does not lend itself to wordy treatment. It may be easy enough to. write that (he removal of the huge rockypinnacle rising as a solitary column in the centre of Lord PenrhynV quarry necessitated the use of seven'tons of gunpowder; but it is another thing altogether to convey a vivid conception of the singular immensity of the undertaking—of the throng of people who •: watched the spectacle from the surrounding heights, of' the intense excitement which thrilled us as we saw the thunder- >;. ous explosion. The quarry itself is avast, excavation worked into the very heart of the mountain in three direction's, or in the shape of a horseshoe. Lord Penrhyn adopted all the resources of modern engineering to remove danger. Hardly fifteen minutes had passed after the ignition of the fuses ere the solemn stillness was broken. A sudden puff of dark smoke burst through the mouths of the tunnel, followed by a small flame; -and then a thick cloud of white smoke enveloped the structure. My eyes were beginningTd'crnmble, when" the whole pinnacle crashed to the grourid^AlPwa conld see was. a spacious veil, of grey vapour, disturbed only by the. dying echoes of the'"explosion. 'In less than a few seconds a" lofty awe-iDspiring pinnacle had. been'transformed into a huge heap of ashes, dust," and ishale.'