Omaha daily bee., 1900-12-12
NEW YORK'S MIGHTY TUNNEL
Underground Rapid Transit Taxes the Skill
Of Fouroore Engineers.
TWO MILES OF SUBWAY UNDER WAY
How the Greatest Contract of Its Kind
Ever Awarded IL Being Carried
Out-some Problems
10 He solved.

New York is putting ss5 900 under
ground. All that money is going into hole
In the earth. Yet when this puncture OF Man
haitian soil, relates Leslie s Weekly, comes
out OF the crude and takes on definite shape
~ an engineering problem successfully
solved and completed. II will be spoken Of
rs the underground rapid transit system
and will be the most startling achievement
Of its kind that the world has ever under
taken.
London has an underground railway-a
otuffy, poky AFFAIR, with constant elements
Of danger and panic attending possible
breakdowns In the motive power. Boston
has an underground railway-neat, cheerful
and handy. and representing a big outlay.
Yet Boston's cherished achievement in this
line Is puny when compared with the great
artery of transportation that Will, for the
most part, run just under the surface of the
busy, throbbing, enormous metropolis OF
the new world. The problems to be worked
cut in New York-they are already fully
Dlanned-are numerous, vast in extent OF
1iffculty. and requiring every variety OF
specialized knowledge in civil engineering.
In the frst place, there is a great deal
Of popular misconception as to the exact
nature of this huge subterranean affair
BY many people 1t is termed a subway;
still mere call II a tunnel. 1t is neither
wholly. At the start. and for considerable
distance, this great artery of travel Will be
what is properly called a subway-that is
IN excavation cut down from the surface
and covered over. over a portion OF the
route this method of construction would
not do at all. here genuine tunneling
,.h nat ha aH n
while farther on, up in Harlem, the tracks
will 20 over a viaduct across Manhattan
valley. A portion Of the road will also
be of the regulation construction Of an
elevated railroad. From beginning to end
~ the road there is not problem known
u to railway building that will not have to bs
solved all over again. Many other ques-
tions that have never come up with the
builders OF ordinary surface railways will
have 70 be met and settled. In the sub
ways the construction will be Of steel ant
masonry. In the tunnels there will be onl,
masonry. while the viaducts and "L' struc
lures will be wholly of steel.
The southern terminal station will be al
city hall. Thence the underground railwa,
k,will proceed up Elm street to Fourth ave
Pnuc to Forty street. Il may turr
here, or in one of the nearby parable
streets. That is point hot yet full,
decided. and will be good deal governed
by the comparative nature of difficulties
when the engineers reach this point
Through whatever street the railway turns
It will cross over to Broadway, thence W
that thoroughfare and the Kingsbridg,
road, stopping at the bridge near Val
Cortlandt park. From One Hundred ant
Ninety second street the road on the ives
wi A
One Hundred and Third street a brancl
tunnel will run under Central park. thence
along Lenox avenue, crossing the Harlem
river, and passing the rest of the way owe
an elevated structure until 1t reaches Bron,
park. Thus the two outermost limits of tn
city will be reached, From city hall T.
One Hundred and Third street the under
ground railway will be a four-track affair
Through the two branches that extend fror
there northward the two-track system will
prevail.
Surface ana Tunnel.
In all there will be twenty miles Of rail
way, Of which some three will be tunne
The rest Of this great stretch Of track will
be divided between subway, yiaducts an
IL" structure. SO far. only about tw
miles of the whole distance are bein
worked upon. The other partions will b
each begun as their turn comes and tn
need for their excavation, boring, or con
Btruction arises.
Down town, In Elm street. the work Q
digging down from the surface has bee
Abarely begun. At Tenth street and Fourt
Nyenue there is deep cut. and blastin
is Of daily occurrence. Here a depth G
between thirty and forty feet has bee
reached. and here some OF the best sample
of hn a Of ha
are to be seen. There are water maini
gas mains and sewer pipes little wa
below the surface. Under all Of these
unless 1t be found expedient to shift thel
the subway must run. Great auantitie
of timber are here In position, both I
\ ''shore up" the sides of the street, and /
hrnish a structure from the top Of whc
Z mo ssive chains hold up the great iron pipt
from which all the sustaining earth hs
been dug away. Steel columns are alread
In place, and the steel girders are ber
riveted In position, The columns rest G
mas onry. under which is stratum
water proofng. and under this still mol
masonry, for these columns must be stanC
for all time. with no danger OF undermine
by water. The roof Of the subway wi
60 on at a late stage In the work. and he
again all the skill Of engineers will
caHed into play,
Up at Thirty-fourth street and Four
avenue something much more Wonderful
to be seen. Here tunneling will be resort'
to and the peculiar feature of this woi
will be the digging OF tunnel under
tunnel. Here the present surface cars n
underground almost to Forty-se sire
and the rapid transit must have a hole ST
deeper down and must build 1t witho
interfering with the present traffic. 7
speak more accurately two tunnels will
dug. They will run somewhat under Il
present one, but little to either side,
such way as to support the surface road
tunnel instead OF undermining 1t. Here d
work is being done through the solid roc
The drilling, blasting and removal of ro
at this point will be long and tedio
task and will have to be prosecuted wi
the utmost care.
Underground Problems.
Up at the Circle, near the park entran,
huge mains have been uncovered. The
are supported by timbers underneath a
by chains from overhead. Here. too. at o
point, the excavation passes under the su
face railway. but so well has this wo
been done that the tracks are as steady
II the solid earth were underneath the
The subway will pass under a portion
the massive pedestal OF the Columb
monument. There was some idea OF movi
the monument a short distance, but II