The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-03-19
F.. q MONROE, LOUISIANA, FRIDAY MARCH 19, $780,
UNnERNEATH THE HUDSON.

:. UNnERNEATH THE HUDSON. =. .,a
The Great Work from Jersey City to
-st New York Well Under Way. %.
.su..t' 8GF lH.'-- :. !a-'' - s'liI',. b.
New York sun.l ,....I,
All that can be- seem OF the North
River Tunnel thus far is . tremendous
we'll, smoothly lined with brick, sixty
feet deep, and wide enough to admit
an. ordinary dwelling house. This well
is covered by q clumsy wooden shanty,
high enough to accommodate der
rick, and, big enoughto hold the two
engines and three boilers, the coal
Office for the w0rkmen and the COM
pany's officers. The river originally
flowed where the shanty is, and under
meath the filling Is the original silt.
The great well beneath the shanty IS
not to ba terminus of the tunnel. It
is simply starting point which the
tunnel shaft Is to pierce, and it was
sunk because that was deemed the
better way to begin the great work.
Tie tunnel will De worked back be-
meath the city more than half q mile,
breaking through the surface beyond
Erie street, and having its absolute
lSIIAluuS dnu uCpOV AL VCASCy oNVAuCs
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 it's course.
The tunnel when completed will be
two miles long, and three-quarters of a
mile of its length will be directly be-
meath the bed of the river. AS the
river channel is nearest the New York
bank and there is q wide stretch of
sh0al water on the Jersey side, there
will be u continuous slant, from the
Jersey shore nearly across the river
when a short incline upward will bring
the tunnel to the surface in this city.
At its lowest point the top of the tun-
mel will be 1O2 feet below the surface of
the river and about twenty feet beneath
the river bed. The, New York termi-
nus will be In the nefghborhood of
Washington square, and work In this
city will be begun near the foot of
opposite Fifteenth street In jersey
City. - sli'a''.s-'' ~ tDi iaf..' -
BY ordinary means 1t would have
been next to Impossible to- excavate
tunnel through the silt that was en-
cOuntered at the outset, and must be
fought the greater part of the way.
President Haskins devised tho plan of
sustaining the earth above the excava-
ton by q pressure Of air. A powerful
pumping engine supplies this force.
For rsafety's sake, there is duplicate
engine, and there are three boilers, be-
cause an accident that removed the
pressure Of air In the shaft would bring
about certain disaster and possible loss
of life. The original plan was to bore
one shaft sufficiently wide for a double
eoS1 i~h <0
admit of the passage Of railroad cars.
1t was found necessary, however, to
alter this, and now the tunnel is COM
posed of two shafts, side by side, like
barrels of a fowling piece, and strength
ened as we'll as separated by q central
partition. These tunnels will each
contain a single railroad track, and
will be 81 feet in diameter, which
gives room for directors palace coach,
the tallest of railroad vehicles.
A visitor to the edge of the great
brick we'll sees what looks like large
boiler protruding from the we'll on the
river side, and extending sixteen feet
toward the centre. There is a plat
form of boards around it, and there are
many tubes and pipes, heaps of bricks,
and one. steam pump upon this plat
form. Beneath the platform, which
appears 10 ne at the OOttOm OF the We'll,
but is really only half way down,
there is sheet of muddy water COW
erjng the silt that. has been thrown
from the tunnel. The protruding boil
er is what is known as the air-lock,
by which the egress and entrance of
the work men in the tunnel is accom-
plished without destroying the even
pressure of air in the shaft. The Sun
| reporter saw six men enter the tunnel
yesterday to'go to work in it, and pres
emily he saw four leaye 1t. The six
| men were lowered in d wooden bucket,
which was swung over the pit from
the arm of a derrick. The door of the
boiler-like airlock was open; but there
is an inner door that was shut, and be-
yond it, in the tunnel, the pressure of
twenty pounds of air to the square
inch was maintained. The men en-
tered the air-Iock aud closed the outer
door, the engines equalized the air
pressure in the lock with that in the
tunnel, and then the inner door was
opened and the workmen passed into
the tunnel. Ittook ten minutes to do
fthis. Men with heart or lung diseases
Icould not work under these conditions,
but healthy young men are said to cx-
Eperience no harm from them. When
the work DrOpreSses flrf nor fhis nr..sS