St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-15
DOWN THEY WILL CO.
Preparing for the Burial Of the Myriad
Wires.
LAYING DoRSETT CONDUIT.
How the Electrical Subway Is Laid
and Observation-Disclosures
Made.

Within a year the network of wires
which now stretches over every street
of Minneapolis like giant cObwebs will
have disappeared and the space beneath
the streets will have been brought into
another use. One year of grace re-
mains in which all overhead wires must
90 underground, and the preliminary
work to accomplish that result is now
well under way. This is the laying OF
the electrical subways or conduits
which carry the wires beneath the
streets, and which carry them in per-
fectly systematic way, entirely inSulat-
ing them and yet holding them ready
for connections as desired. The sub
way system is the DOrsett patent, and
the cOnduits are now being laid down
Washington avenue at a rate OF speed
which promises soon to complete the
work. This fall the cOnduits will be
laid on Washington from Third avenue
north to Sixth avenue south, and on
Nicollet and Hennepin avenues from
Washington to Ninth street. The sub
way company has now the contract to
carry the wires of all of the local COM
panies, including the city wires for fire
and police purposes, the Brush COM
pany for light, the North American
Telegraph company and the A. ID.
T. The Western Union and the
telephone companies are both foreign
corporations and not yet ready to con-
tract, but there is no doubt that both,
in time, will enter into the same ar
rangement. Besides carrying all OF
these, the conduits will be prepared to
carry wires for the purpose of distrib-
uting electrical power such as to be
furnished by the new Edison company,
so that in year all wires will have EN-
tirely disappeared from that portion
of the city named.
I The conduits resemble tubular boil
ers more than anything else, as far as
appearance goes. They are laid in
fOur-foot sections, and when joined pre-
sent a continuous, non-conducting con-
duit about foot square, pierced with
nine canals for the carrying of wire.
Each of these circular canals or holes is
two and one-half inches in diameter
and will carry a cable of $50 wires, so
that each conduit will carry 1920 wires.
The cOnduits are laid double. about a
foot apart in the trench, so that 3,240
wires may be strung along under
ground and out of sight. The cOnduits
are made of a patent composition, OF
which aSpnaltum is the principal Ill
gredient, and are thorough and COM
pletely nOn-conducting.
As the subway is laid before the
wires are strung, it wonld seem diff
cult matter to insert the wires after
ward, but the reverse is the case. At
each street intersection are two man.
holes, four and one-half feet in diam
eter, into which the conduits run. and
from which the open ends of the canals
are visible. From a manhOle stiff
wire may easily be reeled into the con-
duit from one street to another, and
there the cable pulled through. The
entire distribution of wires will be
through these manholes, and individual
wires-telephones, for instance, will be
carried underground to the building for
which destined. Service for building
in the center of block will be obtained
by carrying the wire over the roof, from
the corner. The cOnduits are very rap
idly laid. The trench is about four feet
square, and carries the double line of
subway. The sections are very care
fully Joined and securely closed with
tar, so the canals are both air and water
tight. The process on Washington ave-
nue. is great curiosity and daily at
tracts large crowds to look on.