Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-10-29
4 WONDERFUL TUNNEL.
Eight Thousand Persplring Miners-Drilf-
ing Huge Hole Through Twenty
eight Miles of Solid Rock.

eight Miles of Solid Rock
Deep down under the rustling corn
fields, green meadows. and peaceful
woods by the faint yellow light OF in
Vulnerable smoky lamps. and the inter-
mittcnt cold cleaning from white
electric lights. six thousand grimy
men arc toiling night and day so that
the water supply of New York may
flow through twenty-eight miles Of
solid rock. It never ceases, this grind
ing and cranking and whirring and
dull booming of powder explosions.
save for two hours out of the twenty
four, when three thousand men drows-
lily crawl out of the dim shafts on the
surface of the earth to eat their bread
and meat and go to sleep, whilc three
thousand other men take their places.
Since the first of the year these cold,
trickling caverns and shafts have been
drilled and blasted continuously. Hun
dreds of powerful steam drills driven
by streams of compressed air, from
wonderful, shining engines, eat into
the hard rock like so many steel par
asites, and mountains of torn gneiss
and shining mica have been piled up
around the shafts as the work went on.
In two years tunnel of thirty-one
miles will stretch from Croton lake to
the reservoir in Central park, through
the brick and stone lining of which
will gush body of crystal water more
than enough to supply the metropolis
plenteously. For all these blessings
and the proud distinction OF owning
the longest rock tunnel in the world,
the city will have to pay at least $685.
600. 900 or perhaps $60.000 900. The
Mount Cents tunnel Is u miles long,
and cost about $15,000,O00, while the
Gothard tunnel is 81 miles long, and
cost very little more. Few people in
the city have any idea of the marvellous
rapidity with which the aqueduct
tunnel is being made. Indeed, the
speed which Is kept up has attracted
attention of miners all over the couu-
try, for nothing even approaching to it
has eyer been seen before. The work
is divided into two parts. Erom High
Bridge to Tarrytown it is in the hands
of O'Brien s. Clark. the contractors,
and from thence to Croton lake it be-
longs to Brown, Howard & Co. These
contractors farm out the tunneling to
SuDCOubE1CbOLos Ou tAC WuO1t 1lu6
there are tWenty-six shafts. These
shafts are punched up into sections of
two or three shafts each, and the subs
contractors arc under agreement to
tunnel out the rock in their respective
sections at so much a yard. and to
build the brick and stone waterway in
side of ii at set prices. Over eight
thousand men are employed in the
work six thousand underground and
| two thousand on the surface. At the
bottom of each shaft the miners work
! in two directions, so that while one set
of men are drilling southwark there is
set of men in another shaft drilling
| northward to meet them. These shafts
are about mile apart, and yet so deli
| icate and accurate are the plans of the
engineers that in no case, they declare,
will the line of the tunnel be more than
an inch out of the way when the
miners in the different tunnels meet
each other underground.
The reporter put on a rubber suit
| and descended the Shaft with Engineer
| Parker. Water rained down the rocky
walls from all sides until it poured
from the rubber hats. Then picking
his way over little pools of water and
huge, scattered misses of rock, the
| engineer led the reporter along the
tunnel southwark Electric lights
were hung from the roof of the cavern
all along the way, but even they could
not dispel the thick gloom that dwelt
in the damp place. Here and there
were little lights suspended in line by
wires from the roof So that the fore
men might sight from one to the other,
and so Keep drilling out The tunnel in .
straight course. At the end of the
cavern was crowd of mcn working at
..sluggcr' drills which emitted such q
terrific sound that The hearing became
| dulled and the slcd1e-hammer blows
which 4 brawny miner showercd upon
| q hand-Jrill sounded like the strokes
of velvet hammer upon q featherbed.
| Perspiration poured down the faces of
the men as they hung to the drill or
| poured cups Of water down the drill
holes to keep the dust from binding
| them. Each drilling-machine emitted
| such powerful snorts of cold air that at
| times they created q strong breeze,
| which swept away the smoke curling
up from the oil lamps on the miners
| hats.
| There you sec our method of work
| ing said Mr. Parker. 1.-The upper
| half of the tunnel Is drilled before the
lower half. It Is called the heading.
The lower half is called the bench.
First, two holes are drilled in the head
| inc from the side of the tunnel The
holes slant inward toward each other,
so that when the powder put in them
| is fred wedge Is blown out OF the
heading. The holes are drilled straight
along the sides. and tho remainder oi
the rock, forming the wedge-like cav
| Is tunneled out twenty or thirty feet /
| rang Of men drill holes straight down
into the lower hall. or bench, and
clear that out. The heading Is always
fifteen feet ahead of the bench. When
the holes are CHARGED with powder the