Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-12-18
OUR NEW YORK LETTER,
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS. I

~ lS HOW proposed 10 connect BROOK
and Jersey City by means of grea
tunnel extending beneath the Hudso,
river, the East river and New Yorl
City. The project is being pushed b,
the Brooklyn, New York and Jerse,
City Terminal Railway company. Tn,
plans for the work have all been drawn,
the necessary capital has been en-
listed, and as soon as the necessary
franchises have been secured work
will be begun at the Brooklyn end OF
the tunnel. 1t is expected that
within year from the beginning
of operations communication will be
established between the two prin.
cipal sections of greater New York
beneath the East river. The first half
will begin on the Brooklyn side, and
will extend across to the New York
shore at n point between the Fulton
and Wall streets ferries, short dis
tance below the Brooklyn bridge.
Thence the tunnel will be continued
beneath Maiden lane, Broadway and
COurtlandt streets to connect with the
great railway ferries. 1t will be neces-
sary to keep the tunnel some IS or 20
feet below the surface to avoid the
foundations of the great skyscrapers,
some of which extend down. nearly to
that depth. From the character of the
soil, however, which will almost en-
tirely do away with the necessity
for rock tunneling, the projectors of
the scheme do not anticipate much
difficulty on account of the unusual
depth. The work will begin in Brook
lyn where shaft will be sunk, near
the river, large enough to admit the
machinery necessary for the work, and
to serve afterward as a station. At
the depth of 70 feet two gangs of
men will be set to work. One will
tunnel inward beneath the city of
Brooklyn, where subway similar in
general construction to the Boston
subway is to extend under the most
crowded part of the city distance
of between two and three miles,
This will be a steel arch double
track passageway, 10 feet high
by 25 in width, and will admit of the
passage of double line of cars. The
most interesting part of the work,
however, will be in charge of the other
force of men, who will carry the tun-
mel beneath the East river. When the
old Hudson river tunnel was attempt
ed 20 years ago it was failure because
of the impossibility of keeping the
water and water soaked earth from
caving in on the workmen, the acci-
dent which finally caused the aban-
donment of the work killing TWEEN y
one men in single cave in. Modern
methods and the use of compressed
air have, however, made the silt and
sand beneath the two great New
York rivers the cheapest and easiest
kind of soil through which to dig. A
great shield of the dimensions of the
tunnel will be thrust out beneath the
bottom of the river. Inside this will
be a couple of air-tight compartments,
into which compressed air will be
forced by two pumps on the surface.
The earth will be taken out by the
pick and shovel and hauled away by q
hosting engine to the surface. AS
fast as the workmen remove the soil
about the rim of the shield the latter
will be driven forward by hydraulic
Jacks, so that the men will constantly
have roof over their heads. Behind
them will come another force of men
constructing the wall of the tunnel
proper. This will consist of steel
plates, 10 by 1S inches in fiat dimen-
sions, and an inch and quarter thick.
Electric lights will be put in and the
whole interior of the passage will be
kept brightly lighted. The usual
damp and dreary effect of an under
ground passageway will be entirely
done away with. The ventilation of
the tunnel will be provided for by
shafts with suction pumps at each end.
Instead of single passage large
enough for q double line of track, two
pipe tunnels will be built side by side,
so that the line of cars through each
one will always be travelling the same
way. This simplifies the problem of
ventilation and does not increase the
cost. On the New York side double
vaulted subway, similar to that in
Brooklyn, will be built with stations
and elevators reaching up to the sur
face at convenient intervals. The
length of the tunnel beneath the East
river will be little over 5000 feet,
the New York subway will be about
three-q quarters of mile long, and the
North river tunnel, when constructed
will be about $500 feet in length. The
total length of the system, when COM
pleted, will be over four miles, and the
estimated cost is between 80, 600, 900
and $40, 100000.
Charles Dudley Warner allows his