Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-12-04
THESEW ERSOFPARIS
WHAT THE VISITOR MAY SEE ON A
TRIP THROUGH THEM.
Great Tunnels with Waterways and
lsOats, Railways and cars-A Perfect
Subway Thrilling Blasts on
signal Horns and What They Mean.

boats, Railways and Cars--A Perfect
Subway System Thrilling Blasts on
Signal uorns and What They Mean.
One Of tho most unique bits of sight
seeing anywhere in the world may be en-
joyed in Paris during tho spring and sum-
ner months 1t consists of nothing less
than a trip by rail and boat across the
city, not through the streets and along the
Seine, not even by balloon or flying ma
chine overhead, but underground, through
the great sewers.
In order to visit these subterranean won
ders, you must write note to the project
do la vile, asking for passes The sewers
are open for inspection twice week from
May until Sept 80, always providing
that the days fixed are perfectly clear. If
the permits sent you say good for next
Friday" and ON that day there should be
clouds no amount of American money
could bride way down.
The parties descend at the same hour,
one entering by means of a stone fight of
steep stairs, at the Place de la Madeleine
and the other at the Place du Chatelet
The steps run down between gray stone
walls and are just wide enough to admit
of one PERSONS descending at time.
II you make your descent at the Place
de 10 Madeleine on reaching the bottom
Of the steps you find yourself standing on
a long platform, with q wide canal in
which water is running slowly past you
to the right, down into darkness and dis
lance. Looking to the left, you see
brilliantly lighted, arched stone tunnel,
through which the canal runs, with mar
row stone STOW path" on each side.
Overhead you see a huge pipe, held to
the center and top of the arched roof by
iron hoops. 1t is through this pipe that
Paris is supplied with all her common"
water, for in this city they have two grades
of water That in this large pipe is taken
from the Seine and is used for flushing the
streets, to water the gardens, to extin-
guish flres--in fact, for everything except
cooking ana drinking.
Next to the big pipe is another of about
one-half its capacity, and through this is
carried the pure spring water which the
people drink.
Next you will see heavy cable made Of
many ropes, all covered, so as not to come
in contact with each other or be damaged
by dampness BY these cables are trans
mitted all the different forces used in the
city There are the pneumatic tubes,
tIIOQBA MAlSl gOu lhSAg bNltl Il 1COtSI
across the city, as "change" is sent in our
retail shops. Then there are the electric
wires, for messages or light and the pipes
transmitting condensed air, which the
city sells to those wishing to use it.
CHANGING along the walls of the arch,
you see numbers at regular intervals
which correspond with those of the houses
In the street above and make it easy to
locate any trouble and rectify it. You
can, II you happen TO live in any of the
Its under which you pass, see your
address at q little underground OPEN
shat corresponds to the big doorway
? svs wher ?oG run in and out every
day.
Having gazcd around and seen these
main features of the sewer, you will be
asked to take seat in a wide, fiat bottom
ed boat, large enough to hold 20 persons
and with your captain" aboard, dressed
in white duck, you begin your trip, drawn
by four men, two ON each side of the canal
who, like the captain, are dressed in white
and are so clean that the nickel buttons
on their clothing twinkle in the bright
electric light
AT each street crossing you can look to
right and left down amending vistas of
nrched sewers, lighted always by huge
electric refectors.
Sometimes there are seven or eight of
these boats in line going down the Rue
Royal, which is the widest sewer in Paris,
and when you get out to "change cars at
the Rue de RivoH there are sometimes as
many as 200 persons on the platform
Here you leave the boat and take your
seat on sort of hand car which runs on
rails and spans narrow canal, as an en-
CINE does its roadbed. The cars are clean
and bright, and are fitted up with nickel
They are pushed by a crew of four men,
always in spotless white, by means of
long handle bar, which projects over the
footpath Of stone on each side of the canal.
AT intervals along the route you pass
openings in the wall, through which
comes roaring and dashing the waste wa
ter from some huge fountain in the street
Sabove, and at regular intervals, also, there
are rays of daylight to be seen through the
manholes that lead up from the sewers. to
the streets by means of iron bars driven
into the stone walls.
There is q system of signaling to the
men in the sewers that is thrilling to the
visitor. Every little while the long blast
of horn rings out and echoes through the
sewer, so that you think noisy Paris above
must hear, but it does not. There are
only four signals given; one blast or two
tells the workmen some private order, but
three calls warn them that storm is ap-
preaching the city and when there are four
long, ringing notes given it means that
everybody must leave the sewers by the
nearest manhole, that rain is falling as it
can fall only in Paris and that he that
stays in the underground waterways will
find in them his grave.
When you know the significance of these
signals, it is thrilling to hear the three
blasts ring out and it must be thou
sandfold more SO when the warning to
leave comes. 1t is because the sewers fill
30 rapidly, in ease of rain, that visitors are
allowed to descend only on clear days.
Throughout the whole trip through the
sewers there is not single sight or odor
that Is unpleasant-in fact, it is just the
reverse; from the stone arches and the
dazzling lights, to the nickel buttons and
the ornaments on the mems hats, every
thing is clean, bright and in order, for
you must know that it is only the surface
drainage that passes through the sewers of
Paris; all house drainage is removed in
quite different way.-M. W. Lewis in
Philadelphia Times.
Greatest Drinkers of Alcohol.