The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-03-18
UNDERNEATH THE HuDsoN.
The Great Work from Jersey City to Now
York well Under wpy.

\
The Great Work from Jersey CITY to Now
York well Under Wey.
All that can be seen of the North
River Tunnel thus far is q tremendous
sell, smoothly lined with brick, sixty feet
deep, and wide enough TO admit an ordi.
nary dwelling house. This veil Is coy-
cred by o clumsy, wooden shanty, high
enough to accommodate derrick, and
! big enough to hold the Two engines and
three boilers, the coal heap, brick pile,
clothes, closets, and office for the work.
men and the company's officers. This
| shanty "a at the foot of Fifteenth street,
three:quartera of the way from the Penn,
| sylvania ferry to the Hoboken line. Il
| is close to the rivers edge, two city blocks
distant from Provost street, the thorough.
fare nearest the river bank. The river
originally flowed where the shanty 10,
and underneath the filling is the original
silt. The great well beneath the shanty
is not to be terminus of the tunnel. It
is simply o starting point which the tun-
| mel shafs is to pierce, and it was sunk be.
| canse that was deemed the better way to
| begin the great work. The tunnel will
be worked back beneath the city more
than half mile, breaking through the
surface beyond Erie street, and having
its absolute terminus and depot in jersey
| avenue. Eventually this we'll may or
may not be closed up, but in either event
the tunnel will pass along through it as
it passes any other point in its course.
The tunnel whom completed will be two
miles long, and three-quafters Of q mile
of its length will be directly beneath the
bed of the river. AS the river channel is
nearest the New York bank and there is
o wide stretch Of shoal water on the Jer-
sey side, there will be continuous slant
from the jersey shore nearly across the
river, when short incline upward will
bring the tunnel to the surface in this
city. At IFS lowest point the top of the
tunnel viii pc l02 feet below the surface
of tho river and about twenty feet be-
meath the river bed. The New York ter
minus will be in the. neighborhood of
| Washington square, and work in this city
will be begun near the foot of Leroy
| street, which is almost exactly opposite
Fifteenth street in Jersey city.
| By ordinary means it would have been
next to impossible to excavate @ tunnel
through the silt that WAS encountered at
the outset, and must be fought the greater
part of the way. President Haskins de-
vised the plan OF sustaining the earth
above tho excavation By q pressure of air.
a powerful pumping engine supplies this
force. For eafety's cake there is dupli-
cate engine, and there are three boilers,
because an accident that removed the
pressure of sir in the shaft would bring
about certain disaster and pos.ible loss Of
| life. The original plan was 10 bore one
shaft sufficiently wide for double rail-
road track and high enough to admit of
the passage of railroad cars. It was
found necessary, however, to alter this.
and now the tunnel 10 composed of two
shafts, side by side, like the barrels of o
fowling piece, and strengthened al we'll
as separated by o central partition.
These tunnels will each contain single
railroad track, and will 5s twenty-one
| feet in diameter, which gives room. for a
directors palace coach. the tallest Of rail.
road vehicles.
A visitor to the edge of the great brick
we'll sees what looks like largo boiler
protruding from the we'll on the river
the centre. There ie a platform of boards
around it, and there are many tubes and
pipes, hesps Of bricks and one steam
| pump upon this platform. Beneath the
| platform, which appears to be at the bot
tom of the well, bat is really only half
way down, there is g sheet 0f muddy
water covering the silt that has been
thrown from the tunnel. The protruding
boiler is what is known as the air-lock,
| by which the egress and entrance of the
workmen in the tunnel Is accomplished
without destroying the even pressure OF
air in the shaft. The San reporter saw
six men enter the tunnel yesterday to go
to work in it, and presently he saw four
leave it. The ak men were lowered in
q wooden bucket, which YVES swung over
the pit from the arm of derrick. The
dac- &C .Hs .!;s 55oi;iieT-iiao air-iock was open
hs,t there IS al inner door that was shut,
and beyond it, in the tunnel, the pressure
of twenty pounds of air to tho square
inch was maintained. The men entered
the air-lock and closed the cater door,
the engines equalized the air pressure In
the lock with that in the tunnel, ard then
the inner door was opened and the work.
zacn passed INFO the Tunnel. It took ten
minutes to do this. Men with heart Oh
lung diseases could not work under theee
conditions, bat healthy young men are
1 said to experience no harm from. Shem
i When the work progresses further this
pressure will have TO be doubled. The
four men who desired to come on.
stepped into the air-lock, closed the door
behind them, and signalled the engineer.
The compressed air was allowed to escape
with a deafening roar, like the esospe oi
steam from o thousand locomotive safety
valves, and presently the door opened
A dense cloud of brown smoke rolled out
from the lock, and as IL thinned ont the
forms of the workmen passing through
we're distingaishable. The reporter was
informed that sbis was the smoke of the
candles by the light of which the men
work in the ahaff. Fifteen or eighteen
pounds of candles are consumed by them
! il a Day, anI inc smoke they create is Q
great hindrance to the work, although
only the very best adamantine coach
lights arc used. Tho elacfrie linhta
which emit neither smoke nor heat, viii
soon be used in place of candles. One
Hight over the well and one in the atsfl
will sdpply all the illumination that /.
needed. Work in the tunnel never
ceases. 1t is prosecuted by three gangs
each gang working eight hours. Some,
times the men eat their meals in the
shaft, but rs often they como out and
spend half an hour on the earth's suyface
Theirs is not dainty work. The earth
th e. ..seJ 1II; uuJ is mixed with water Ii
the bottom of the shaft, and when it ha,
reached q certain depth and consistency
1t is blown out into the great brick vel
by the sir pressure in the 3haft through
pipes that lilo at the bottom Of the exca