New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-11

boed together and the points are perfectly wake e
tight. The farges when boltea g me walls In
preparing to put the plates in position the stie h,,s
pressed into the mud a' o sns Of the
shield excludes the mud while the piates has hem
sscad Se shield is again moved forward and the
Of plates Is placed IN posi ,reI are com
Melted daily Blackwels Island IS now only aoou ~
lis feet the shield and when IT. Is m cnmpetcd
expected tina ten feet Of the tunnel VIII De pch
daily as drifting through rock ana earn osress
easier and simpler than me "VrK I'm mas been bored
has yielded many beautiful specimens Oh ~ en
almost perfect crysaziion subsiance resembling
peat. and indicating that point sixty re- was
ormerv "" b,sh and dry and with vegetation
Corresponding progress IS pcihs nl"e i be com
r % , earv mex; sumner The company has al
ready laid about twenty-five miies o. s'' ''''''
this city. and the work is sun eolis oii'
ORIGIN OF THE EAST RIVER TUNNEL.
The fact that the gas works in this city are si'u-
aed in densey populated districts, and that sooner
or later for obvious reasons. those WORKS VIII nave
TO be abandoned induced the East River Gas COM
pany 10 begin building the tunnel and enlarshs
It's works at Ravenswood, with view Oh uItiiid'eiS
manufacturing and supplying all the gas consumer
in this city. The companies by when gas Is no"
supplied In this city are the Consolidated hlui'a-
ble Mutual and Standard. In recent years the use
of naphtha has been in large degree substituted
for coal in the manufacture of gas by the local
companies which makes its production not only
agreeable people who live near the gas works'
but also dangerous About $4,000 ns S "a ~ pas
tina are annually used IN the Ia IL, p,,r
in this city. The enlarged works of the East River
Gas Company will have a capacity ior piouuc!is
5OOoOoOO cubic feet of gas a day which Is lGVVvGp
feet In excess Of the quantity now consumed III tIs
city President Mcmillan of the East RIVER con-
pany says 1t will not be long time before In, Inc
manufacture of will be prohibited IN thS CITY;
have been carried out, the company VIII pe apie 10
supply all the required. and at reduced price
company with large works can inahulacturte
much more cheaply than several companies with
small works.
THE HUDSON RIVER TUNNEL
Work on the Hudson River tunnel to extend from
FYfteenth-st Jersey City, TO Moron-st In this city.
was suspended in 1892. through lack of funds for
carrying it The plans for the undertaking con
templated a tunnel OF eighteen feet diameter. in
the clear and $500 feet long At Morton-st an
underground railway terminal was to be const ruced
and only passenger trains, but also freiSht
trains of every kind, TO run through the tun-
mel into this city. Cold storage warehouses were
to be erected above the terminal for the reception
of meat etc. The construction Of the tunnel was
begun by a private company In 1873. Up 10 1870
there had been 2,coo feet finished, and from then
until work stopped in 1882 there Were 2 ~.
10 be built The tunnel Is composed of cast iron
plates like those of the East River tunnel L ne
of 81 $1,000 which is only about onetenth OF the es
mated cost of a suspension bridge over the Hudson
tunnel had been completed. it was suddenly flooded
by the bursting in of the water OF the river. ana
twenty workren were drowned The last work
done the tunnel was paid for with English cap,
tai. A meeting recently held IN LONDON 10
devise means for providing about slWoeo needed
to complete the tunnel and terminal but nothing
was done as the construction company has Hen
on the unissued bonds. 1t is believed, however;
that the requisite funds will soon be PROVIDED ana
the tunnel and terminal completed.
The tunnels Of the world are classited as ran,
road tunnels, which bored through earth ana
stone above the level Of the sea: subaqueous tun-
nels; canal tunnels by means OF which the courses
of the canals are Strengthened by boring through
hills or mountains and conduit tunnels which are
used for conveying water by its own gravitation.
There are in the world about 1000 railroad tunnels
which are about $50 miles long, subaqueous tun-
nels miles long: 90 canal tunnels ~ mics iohee'
and 40 conduit tunnels IS miles long. ApproNi,
rnately there are in the world ll42 tunnels OF All
kinds having a total length Of 5li miles.