The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-12-30

boriuE Through the solid Rock.
Two Miles of subway and Tunnel
Now Under WRy-The Ingenuity Of
Foarscore Engineers severely
Taxed-How the Greatest Contract
OF Its Kind Ever Awarded u Being
CarriSd Out-Every Problem %
Hallway Construction Is Pre-
scented.
From Leslie's Weekly.
New York Is putting $4,000 under
ground. All that money is going into a
hois IN the earth. Yet when shis pune
turs OF Manhattan soil comes out OF the
crude and takes on definite shape as an
engineering problem successfully solved
and completed, e viii be spoken OF as the
underground rapid-transit system. and
VIII be che most startling achievement OF
its kind that the world has ever under
taken
London has an underground railway-a
stufiy. poky AFFAIR. with constant elements
Of danger and panic attending possible
break downs IN the motive power. Boston
has an underground rallway-ncat cheer
L
outlay. Yet Boston's cherished achieve
ment IN this line is puny when compared
with the great artery OF transportation
that viii. for the most part run just UNI
der the surfncc Of the busy. throhhing
enormous metropolis OF the New World
The problems 10 be worked on. in New
fork-they are already fully planned are
numerous, vast in extent OF difficulty. ana
requiring every variety Of specialized
knowledge IN civil engineering
In the FIRST place there Is a great deal
of popular misconceptlon as 20 the exact
nature OF this huge suhterranean AFFAIR.
BY many people IL is termed a subway:
still more cali it a tunnel. IL is neither.
wholly. A. the START. and FOR q considera-
able distance this great artery OF travel
VIII be what Is properly called "a subway
that ia. an excavation cut down from the
surface and covered over. over q portion
! OF the route this method Of construction
would not do at all; her genuine tunnel
| ing. through solid rock. must be resortod
20. while farther on. M 50 Harlem. tho
| tracks viii 60 over a vladuct across Man
haitian valley. a portion 81 the road will
I also be 81 the regulation construction Of
an elevated railroad. From the beginning
to end Of the road there Is not a prob
lem known 10 railway building that will
not have 70 be aolved an over again.
/ Many other quest ions that have never
come up with the builders OF ordinary
I surface railways will have 20 be met ana
settled In the suhways tho construction
/ VIII be 81 steel and masonry IN the tun-
/ nels there viii be only masonry. while the
/ viaducts and Il" structures VIII DO wholly
/ ar steel
Twenty Miles of Railway.
! The southern terminal station will he
| at city Han Thence tho underground
railway Will proceed up Elm street 90
/ Fourth avenue 20 Forty-sccond street. IL
/ may turn here. or To one Of tho nearby
I parallel streets That Is a point not vet
/ fully decided. and will be "a good seal
| governed by the comparative ma
/ lure OF difficulties when the engineers
/ reach this Point through whatever street
| the railway turns. 81 viii cross over 20
/ Broadway. thence up that thoroughfare
and the Kingshri3ge road. stopping ~ the
| bridge near Van Cortlsndt Park. From
/ one Hundred and Nlnety-sccond street
/ tho road on the West side will pass over
/ elevated trestles. At one Hund~es and
I Second street a branch tunnel will run
under Central Park thence along LenoX
/ avenue. crossing the Harlem river. ana
passing The rest OF the way over an ele-
waited structure until Il reaches Bronx
| Pork. Thus the two outermost limits of
I tbs city VIII be reached. From city h1il
I 20 ono Hundred and Third street the un-
foreground railway viii bo a four-track az
/ fair Through the two branches that eN-
tend from there uorthward the two-track
7 system VIII prevail
In al there will be twenty miles OF
/ railway 81 which some three VIII be tun-
| net The rtst OF this great stretch OF
l track viii ha divided between subway
/ vi8sucts, and IL" structures So FAR.
/ only about two miles Of the whole dis
| lance ore being worked upon. The other
/ portions viii b. each begun a. their turn
comes and the need for their excavation
/ boring o. construction arises
| Downtown in Elm street the work Of
dirsing down from the surface hns been
I barely begun. Al Tenth street ANA Fourth
7 avenue there rs deep cut ana blasting
/ is % daily occurrence. Here depth Of
I between thirty and forty fecs has been
I reached. and here some 81 the best sam
/ pies or the engineering difficulties OF the
7 work ore to be seen There are water
I mains. gas-mains. and sewcr-pipes lit
/ he way below the surface. Under ali Of
/ these-unless Il be found cxpcdicnt 90
shift them-the subway must run. Great
/ quantities of timber are here GA position.
/ both to "shore uu" the sides 81 the street
| and 10 furnish structure from the TOP
/ of which massive chains hold up the great
| iron pipes from which oil che sustaining
earth has been dug away. Steel columns
are already in place and the steel glr-
| dere are being riveted Ia position. Tho
columns rest on masonry. under which g.
| "A stratum Of interpreting. and under
/ this stiM more masonry. Tor these columns
/ must De siauch for an time. with no dan
ger Of undermining hy water. The roof
/ OF the subway VIII go on o. n latcr stage
Ga the work and here ag1ln al the SKIN
/ OF the engineers viii be called Into play.
\ Tunnel Under n Tunnel.
Tn al TAlr'y-fourth street and Fourth
| avenue something much more wonderful
A. 10 be seen. Here turncinE VIII be re-
sorted 20. and tho peculiar feature of this
work will be che digging Of tunnel under
a tunnel Here the present surface cars
run underground almost 20 Foriy-sccond
street end the rapid transit must have a
hole sim deeper down. and must build
3. without interfering with the present
traffic To speak more accurately. two
/ tunnels will bc dug. They VIII run some
vybat under the present one. but little
| to either side. In such way a. 20 support
che surface roads tunnel instead OF I'M
/ dsrmining a. Here the work T. being
/ doue through the solid rock The drilling.
bisstlne. aud removal or rock az this
polrt viii be a long and tedious task.
/ md will have to be prosecuted with the
utmost care.
I thc circle near the park en-