New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-09-26
THE DAZZLING RIVAL OF GAS.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING IN THIS CITY.


INGs.
Any one who was IN the city and above Four
teenth-st- n ght In August when tho Elizabeth
Street station of the Brush Illuminating Company
was burned out and nearly all the electric arc
lights uptown failed ust at the liveIiest hour Of
the evening. will remem Der the gloom that fell
upon the streets and the sense Of insecurity and
discomfort that came over all pedestrians who hap
pened to be caught IN the sudden semi-darkness
Everything looked chs1g~d and unfamiliar. The
Gayety Of upper Broad way, for all its theatres
cafes and throngs of frequsnters was eclipsed
Fifth-sve., forlorn enough By daylight through the
summer. and now with not even a stray gas Jet to
relieve its som breness. was dismal and
sepu.chral indeed The streets that get alor with
gas only seemed dimly lighted than ever TO
travellers who took refuge there. The greaI lights
in Union and Madison Squares in whose genial
brilIIancy the tramps and nurse maids and out-of
door lovers bask all evening. disappeared. leaving
the holders of benches to a privation az touching
as Millions. though, perhaps. plainly ana for
chilly expressed. The thought that IL might con
tnue indefinitely stopped only at blank despair.
new circuit was formed In an hour or two and
the two clear circles of white light high above she
city AGAIN set flashing The amps in Broad
way and Fifth-ave. came out by and the
dingy gas Jets of the side streets caught up their
rays again. The odd eclipse was over 1t had shown
one thing conclusively however. that the days Of
street lighting hy gas were over also The electric
light which only six years before untried
fancy in the brains of two three inventors had
come 10 stay. Even the frequen:ers of the park
benches felt lonely and constrained out of its
cheerful brilIiance
1t seems like going back a long distance 20 the
time when there nothing but gas lamps all
the city. Yet. in fact the bulk of the arc
lights was put in only between 1883 and 1854.
The city had more than $4,000 gas lamps burning
in 1879 and the cautOus fathers turned deaf ear
to the appeals Of all inventors to have the new
light tried In 1880 nearly q thousand new gas
lamps were lighted, but after some hesitation the
Comm ssioner OF Public Works gave the Brush
Company permission TO ct out twenty three
burgers at It's own expense and experiment. with
them along Broadway. Thirty-two
mounted the next year and the success Of the
experiment seemed assured. The United States
Illuminating Company followed the suit OF the
Brush people In 1882 and put in seventy three
lights most Of them down town. 1t was in this
year that tho Union aud Madison Square lamps
were hosted into position and became the two
landmarks by night for the heart OF the city that
the twin lights of the Nsvesink Highlands ara for
it's outskirts at Sandy Hook. Wild stories
told Of the marvellous brilliancy and penetration
of these two groups of lights. The rays
carried easily to Central Park. ami one could SEQ
to RE a tie In glass tnero # only he got high
enough up. IL even said that paper could be
read clearly the top of tall building near City
Hall Park by the aid only of the haf-dozen arcs in
Union Square
RAPID EXTENSION OF THE SYSTEM
There some complaints heard in those days
Of the dazzling intensity Of tho glare from the
street Lights They grew steadily 10 favor.
no ~ever all through 1888. The city had begun To
pay for the street lighting and the two competing
companies soon struck agreement to share the
city between them. tourteenth-st being far
possible, the dividing line The Brush Company
put uD 292 new lamps at once, giving totai for 1t
OF 3f7. The United States Company put up 227
the downtown streets and parks IN e54 aud 81 III
1888. making grand total for it Of. 36I. Few
lamps have been added since, though plans are
afoot the Board of Aldermen and elsewhere to
extend the system Of lighting to Harlem. running
a lle 0. poles up each OF the avenues and through
every one Of the streets between Washington
square and Contra Park.
The public OF the arc lamp for street lighting
however, has hardly kept pace with the private.
No theatre IS complete without ito amp or two
outside or IN the lobby. The BijOu Opera House
has row of three strung over the sidewalk,
above tue other. Tue hotels cafes aud shops of
upper Broadway are lavish both with the and
the lncandescenJs. Lower Broadway. Fourteenth
and Twenty third sts. are glrish with the pale
white rays and circiing blueish shadows Of tle
conflicting lamps. hanging densey aiong before a
church or Gance-halI differently. Aud out Of
the gay glitter At hand the tall lines of poles. tipped
with piercing sparks stretch away Z ast md West
like bright belt toward che horizon. studded with
two twInkng rows Of stars. Madison SQUARE
III frst ri
way. Ffth-ave. and Twenty -third-st. below, and
itS towering circle like cear-cut reflection above
seems like the centre Of the Milky Way. Here
one may sit On park bench aud "a iher at q glance
all that is Ost brilliant aud fascinating in the
cIty's aspect By night The great hotels. aDlaze
with gas and electricity. their corridors thronged
with well-dressed meD, the crowded. busting
streets, now oil astr again with the pursuers of
pleasure. the clubs ald res aurants, the rafting
u.s. the tail church spire across che way, the cool
and airy setting of the trees aud grass. these
are dazzling picture IN the fancy of the New
! orker beside which the splendors OF London or
Paris seem to fall quite hat. Nowhere in this
country or ia other countries whispers our native
cocAney ferventiy, IS there such a
The Madison Square Ii ghts are rated at twice the
average power SO are those on the tail pole in
Union Square. Over on Halletts Point, near He'll
Gate, the United STATES engineers have rugged a
tribe taller hight with lamps of a somewhat greater
power. So strong, fact is their glare on the
waters at the foot OF the tower that beyond the
brief circle one can scarcely soc at al The East
River pilots lose their bearings In the binding
light, and got quite through tie narrow Hell Gate
passage before they find them again at Black wells
Island. The lamps no wever. shine far up and
down and across the city to the Hudson bluffs
where one them a clear slt well enough
to distinguish them apart.
And with all the enliven ng glitter of the electric
lamp it brings solid sense Of security.
Each new one, the authorities sometimes say is
worth additional policeman Even the water
thieves cannot bear their piercing rays and tn re
has been notable robbery along the wharves
since the lamps in West-st. and South-st were put
up. TOmpkins Square. too with its sixteen lights.