New-York tribune., 1901-03-31

and on the east branch from the Harlem River
e. Bronx Park the same condition exists.
The motive power will be electricity, and the
road VIII also be lighted by that power.
The east side of the city viii not have the
same benefit from the underground railway as
the west side, for after reaching Broadway it
will Lccomc a West Side institution until one
hundred d-and- third-st. Is reached. where the
branch to I-enoX-ave. begins.
The construction Of the subway. which has
been r,arc"ilcd out to fourteen contractors. has
been described 10y of them as similar in
most respects 10 cellar digging. The rapid
transit contractor is required TO excavate along
Il certain number Of blocks. TO make the trench
fifty feet wide and carry it to a depth in keeping
with the level agreed upon. At some places this
depth will not exceed twenty feet while at other
points il viii he 150 feet below the street level.
One job begins where the other ends and these
various parts will fit SO that the work will be
!3me one continuous and harmonious structure
''SOundngs were taken along the line and by
means Gf these il was aSccrtained what the char
acter of the work before the contractor would
be. whether he would encounter clay sand rock
tr gravel, and he made his calculations to
machinery and men in keeping with his discov-
cries. In those parts of the city where pipes are
laid provision had TO bc made for holding them
in place or removing them from the line of the
excavation, and this has been one of the formd-
lb.e problems for the engineers
The lowering of sewers and diverting them
from their original courses has cost the builders
Of the underground railway upward of S15o-
too This is the work which many of the
employees now engaged
Before going to work all the conditions as to
the character Of the earth having been ascer-
ialned, the contractor must give his orders for
the structural iron. that it may be on hand
ready for use. when the excavation is ready TO
receive il. Then the ground is broken the
paving material is placed where 1t may be avail
able again, and the excavation proper begins
As soon this has advanced a little way, the
fidcs must be "shcctcd' by placing planks
Against the earth and hracing them with timber
fnd iron. Then, if rock is found il must bc
blasted Tnc power employed for drilling hoist
ing. pumping out water that may be found etc
IS compressed air. BY this arrangement the con
>1ctors have avertel much Inconvenience and
lave saved the res dents along the Iine of the
lork much annoyance. PoWcihouses from which
he compressed air is derived have been cstab-
hshed at Chamb"rS-st.. Union Square Forty
sccond-st and East River Fifty -ninth-st and
Eighth-ave, Lenox-avc. and hundred and
eeventh-st. and One hundred a nd -sixt ty-hfth-st
\,
which huge buckets are swung. have been used
at many points along the line of work. These
buckets are filled with earth or stone by tho
men IN the trench and then hostcd out Of
the excavation and sent along the cable To a
point where the contents can be dumped into
carts which stand ready to receive the load At
One hundred and -fourteo nth-st. an overhead
electric cable way has been in successful opera
tion for some time. and has attracted much at
tenton. cage containing a motor hangs sus-
pended from the cable. The operator who sits
next to the electrical mechanism directs its
movements forward or backward the cable
and by "A lever arrangement causes the buc4let
10 ascend or to be lowered into the trench
There is probably no place where may see
the work well along Broadway above
Fifty -nnth-st. There spots where tie
ground has just been made ready for the men
whose business II is to take off the first layer