The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1891-09-24
A STUPEND0US WORK.
BUILDING A CABLE ROAD ON
BROADWAY. NEW YORK.
Extraordinary Difficulties and How
They are Meta Maze OF Under
Ground Pipes and Wires.


Never, probably in the history Of
cable railroad building was there line
put down ia the faoe OF greater difficulties
than met the contractors of the Broadway
road now in process Of construction. As
general summary Of the progress al
ready made, It may be said at the outset
that tribe over two miles of the road is
fully completed; that there remain
something over three miles either to build
from the beginning OF 10 finish, and that
the work is progressing at the rate Of
about six short city blocks Of completed
road per week
At this rate Mr. John ID. Crimmins
who has the great undertaking in charge,
estimates that the entire roadway
viii be finished and ready for cars by
some time in December next. Cars will
not BIO running however, before next
spring, for building the roadway is by no
means all there isto be done. There are
to be two power statioR~~-one at Houston
street, and another at Fifty-hrst street
Broadway, through which the road for
the most part passes, is and has always
been the great artery Of the city through
which all corporations serving the popu-
lation with the various eonveniences
which are distributed underground, laid
their main and largest pipes and lines.
The main pipes Of the Croton water sys-
tenn, the main pipes of seven OF the gas
companies, the main cables of the West
orn Union Telegraph Company, of the
telephone companies, of the electric
/ lighting companies. Of the steam-heating
companies, the subway, and, from
Twenty third to Dey street, the tubes of
the Western Union pneumatic line, all
ran in confused and irregular tangle
through Broadway.
The general proposition which met tho
engineers ct the outset was, that through
the centre Of this street they would dig a
wide and deep trench, extending on each
side to points just near enough each curb
to allow wagon 20 pass, and that in
doing this they would not cut off a gas
or water or an electric light or tele-
graph or a telephone connection, or in
| terfere with citizens in the enjoyment Of
any Of the conveniences which are dis
tributed to thcm by all this snarl of
underground communication and for
which they are paying in the aggregate
many thousands of dollars day.
What caro-, what figuring out of nice
calculations, what tedious delays and
heavy money cost all this has involved
can Mother be understood nor apprecia-
ted except by those who have known in
timately of the work and all its intricate
and wearisome detail II has included,
among other things, the undermining at
one point of the Sixth avenue elevated
railway structure and its artificial sup
port while the excavations and the road
construction under itwore going on. This
4 was at the intersection of Broadway and
Sixth avenue, between Thirty third and
Thirty-fourth streets. Here 1t wns
/ found thQt great main ran Immediate
Il IN under ono Of tho supporting pillars
Of tho elevated railway structure It had
to be removed, and to do this involved
the digging away Of the entire founda-
ton under tho railway support, Not 9
train must be delayed nor the safety OF
the railway for moment impaired, and
not only that, the main itself must not
be for very long time cut off. This
task, like all tho Others, was successfully
accomplished. Thousands of people
werc whirIod swiftly over the spot in the
elevated trains without the remotest sus-
picion TINT the ground beneath them was
undermined, and that the track was held
in place by braces and props.
Another great task in connection with
the work was the building of an entire
pneumatic tube plant from Twenty-third
street to the Western Union building at
boy street The old tubes ran directly
under tho bed Of the cable road. The
construction OF the road did not injurc
them in any way, but as the bed of the
road is Of portland cement the tubes had
to be covered and solidly fixed in the
cement, which in time turns as hard as
solid rock. This would make it impOssi-
bic TO get at the tube after the road was
built, and access is necessary every now
and then for the reason that, like all
other mechanical devices, il gets out of
repair. At different points it is likely TO
be blocked and the fight of tie little
leather cylinders through it arrested
The first time this happened after the
completion of the road the tube would
have to be abandoned because there would
be no way to get ut and remove the
defect.
There was one way and one way only
to get around this difficulty. Anentirely
new and complete tube must be supplied
through the whole length Of Broadway
from Madison square TO the Western
Union building. This tube viii be laid
close to the east curb and win not be
brought into use until the old tube is
blocked, which may be at any minute or
which may not occur until some distant
day in the future The cost Of the copper
tube alone to the cable company, 70 say
nothing Of the expense ofputting i down
and making the necessary connections,
will be not far from half a hundred thou
sand dollars.
i In addition 70 this xork for the Yves
tern Union Company. its main cable,
carrying something ike sixty distinct
wires. has been taken up bodily and
transferred to parallel streets. lnseyeral
instances the water mains have been
lacked over and out Of the way, enc
into line IN long sections and the subway
has been torn down and rebuilt in num-
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