The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-04-30
BRINGS UP OLD TRESTLEs
Excavations at Chicago Reveal the Ancient
Illinois Central Bed.


Excavations at Chicago Reveal the Ancient
Illinois Central BED.
Chicago, April 29.-One Of the most
interesting sights in the city al present
is along the Illinois Central railroad
between Van Buren, and Twelfth street
where over 700 men are at work depres-
sing tracks, building retaining walls
and making other Improvements for the
new Lake Front park.
The railroad tracks are to be depress-
ed four feet. In making the necessary
excavations south of Harrison street
the workmen have unearthed the tres
ties on which the first tracks OF the Il
linois Central were laid. The piles are
driven in the lake In 1852, when its Wa
tiers reached almost to the present cas-
tern boundary of Michigan avenue.
Men who now are presidents of finan-
cial institutions and the heads OF vast
mercantile enterprises are carried back
by the sight of that old trestle TO the
days when they dived from it into the
clear water of the lake and were not
hindered in swimming by cumbersome
bathing suits. One OF the boys then seen
most often sitting on that trestle with a
fishing pole in his hands was Washing
postmaster.
Although driven over forty years ago
many of the piles are now In agood
state of preservation Evidently many
years ago some of them showed signs
of rotting and were cut off at the water
line and capped with heavy pieces OF
oak twelve inches square. The ques-
ton Of how 10 get rid of the heavy piles
which threatened to seriously delay and
increase the cost Of depressing the track
bothered the workmen for a time, but
was happily solved by Pat" Galvins
the general foreman. The piles were
not worth pulling out, and it took too
much time, to say nothing OF hard
work, to cut them off
The foreman happened to find one pile
badly decayed and he gave il a push
and it broke off close to the ground.
Then the idea struck him that the way
TO get rid OF these piles was to break
them off. He took a heavy chain, fas-
tened it around the top of the big solid
pile, and then sent for a switch engine
Coupling the other end Of the chain, he
gave the signal to go ahead. The en-
gineer threw her wide open, and the
pile snapped and shot across the track
like a rocket. That settled the ques-
IlOii vi u SCI OuI the
The entire work along the lake front
in connection with the new park plan
is under the direction of II. U. Wallace
resident engineer OF the Illinois Central
railroad. An idea of the magnitude Of
the task Is not obtained from the state
ment that 1t Will cost 81 500 900 TO do the
work, and that the railroad is 70 be de-
pressed four feet for a distance of 5000
feet unless It is known that thework
must be done without obstructing the
traffic of the road. The latter obliga-
ton IS the main feature OF the task.
Work can only be done during the day
light. AT certain hours Of the day pas
senger trains pass over the tracks 10
be lowered at the rate of two every
five minutes, or twenty-four an hour.
The exact number of freight trains.
work trains, and switch engines using
the tracks cannot be stated, but there
are many The work of laying the
tracks IS still further complicated by
the fact that the entire track plan is
changed and no track Is directly low
cred in its bed. The number of tracks
now occupying the roadway Is twelve
but there will be fifteen when the new
plan is carried out. The width Of The
roadway viii be 200 feet Yesterday
VIZ n was On stone WAL on
the west side Of the roadway. Its
height viii be sixteen feet above the
present level of the Lake front park.
When completed the new park will be
level with the wall. The railroad COM
pany is required by its contract with
the city 10 fill up the Lake Front be-
tween the west wall and Michigan av-
enue. This will require about 200. 900
cubic yards OF filing. much Of which is
obtained from the excavation for de-
pressing the tracks.
The west wall OF the new roadway
will be about thirty feet west Of the or
iginal tracks built on the piles in the
lake forty years ago The distance 10
the west side OF Michigan avenue is 400
feet This was the limit fixed through
the efforts OF Hon John F. Stafford IN
his long warfare in behalf OF the city.
which won for him the title OF the
watch dog Of the Lake Front"
The amount u territory acquired bv
the railroad east OF its original tracks
laid on trestles IS l55 feet IN width.
where once the water OF the lake was
many feet deep.
In addition TO the depression OF the
tracks and the building OF the retain
ing walls on each side OF rs property
the railroad company Is now dredging
the yacht basin az Twelfth street and
building the sea wall az the outer limit
OF the proposed Lake Front park
A temporary vfaduc- has been built
over the tracks az the foot OF Van Bu-
re1 street and Il is crowded with teams
hauling material for filing the lake.
The old trestles on which th> orig
nal tracks OF the Illinois Central were
lad disappeared after the great fire OF
ISL. when the debris was thrown into
The lake. In excsvattlg for the deprez-
son OF tho tracks the wo-kmea fnd al
kinds or relics or ChicagO's cr-natlo
but 50 far nothing more valuable than
a table knife, picked up by Officer Ber-
I'll. who Is kept more than busy N pre-
venting interested spectators from tres
passing on the railroad property II the
vicinity OF The old treS1ls. But BE g
used TO dealing with me puzzle. having
been IN charge q the Van Buren, street
station during ne worlds FAR. where
one day alone he had q crowd OF =. COO
persons. During the many years he
has been employed BY ths company Re
has saved many persons from tniary
not an accident occurring A. any po.a;
where he vas stationed
Eigatyear-old Giri Missing.
Perry. O. 7. Apr!i 2s-ConSsde-zo,e