Evening journal., 1901-01-26

for a rapid-transit tunnel, has exposed
the fact that there is running sand
undtr the hard-pan, by the sand run
ming away and leaving the hardpa
unsupported
There We're shells in this hard-pan
reminders OF the subglac.al age. when
seas flowed over all this land, but 81
far as l can ascertain no fossils o.
any special scientific interest
The human side OF the problem
not destitute of interest The gang
of six as they come out of the hollow
steel chambers in which they have
been working under pressure
of twenty-five pounds 10 the square
inch over every inch of their hodie
lin addition to the atmospheric pi as-
sure in which they have been WORKING
have been very cautious in coming
into the air. For that enormous pres
sur Elm which they haev been working
has actually forced air into the mus
cles of their bodies under the skin
and this the pressure once relieved
works its way painfully out.
The west wall Of the Stokes Build
ing, adjoining the new construction
presented a serious problem when the
necessity Of supporting .t became ap-
parent, as our engineers worked deep
er and deeper. This was a typical
old-time Office building The wall con
sisted cs curtain Of brick work
ten stories in height and cnly twelve
inches thickness IL was carr ec
on girders at each floor
the glrders being carried or
cast-ir0n columns which rested OF
granite cap-stones. supported By bricl
masonry piers The footing Of these
piers was in concrete twenty-five,
feet below the curb. Yet the running
sand which rested upon the hard-par
extended for at least seventeen fee
below the footing of these columns
and once our excavation made, would
naturally have run out from under thg
footing of the Stokes Building pier.
and left them unsupported. SO it wa.
necessary TO cut away the wall at tn,
first story of this building and re-
, enforce each of the cast-iIon columns
with double web-plate girders run
ming through frcm end TO end Of th'
building. The details of this c0nstruc
tion are of great interest Under The
piles and columns all around us-iI
other words, under the brick walls
I and the masonry foOtings. once sup
| posed to guarantee such security
we found the running sand not Z
/ true quicksand which absorbs by sue
ton, but as unreliable a foundation al
man ever built upOnl Into IL. to sup
port cur neighbOrs, our workmen an
sinking new caissons to be filleI
with concrete. and to support, from
/ bedrock up, the timeworn founda
! tions of those structures which hay
all this while been towering SO plausi
\ bly, into the sunshine. Building on
\ deep foundation exposes all the shal
low ones
\ Nor may ] fOrbear, serious as th
\ demands OF space are, TO mention ia
\ fact that a deviation of one-sixteent
Of an inch in the level Of the caa
wall of our building, now standin
) throughout all this complicated opera
/ tion Of cutting into and iaclSing u
y it's foundations. might end probabl
/ would be attended by a public financis
& misfortune So nicely adjusted ar
\ the doors and the combinations Of IN
?, safes In the deposit-raults OF Oh
n Mutual Life Insurance Company an
1 Of the safe Deposit Company which
3 its tenant. that even a hairs brcadt
I alteration OF their balance inorciib
p as t might seem, and certainly hi
Z ynnd question a very. very slight raj.
b. ing or lowering Of the supports of N
~ floors upon which those safes eian
2 would result in the sealing Of the
a doors, so that all Wall street migl
wake up some fine morning and I'm
, it's securities beyond its reach