The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-13
egIctGO'S GREAT SUBWAY.
,.RLE ENGINEERING PRO-
Ret nrcr CARRIED ON BY DAY
AND NIGHT.

wfres-PermissfOn UlVen
pan' coalition That 1t Was Sup
W. xvouId Kill the Project.
pO hundreds of Men Worked for
.tbs Unseen Like Burro"ins
NO. .u,axement of City Author
AO'' when the Truth Was Known.
"'' ton of street Traffic to Be
s'I'sved-Ten Millions Invested
" stock OGered to the Public.
Nv w. ]. Jackman.
-,,bt 1902. by w. ]. Jackman)
lCOp' the most extraordinary sub
". toms in the world is being con-
v" I'D in Chicago. 1t has three dis
sHD,5 unusual features-it is unique
pn'' ..Ign mammoth in size, and the
.thods of construction and ultimate
DF'r decidedly novel. When COM
nearly 100 miles of tunnels will
p n all parts of the city, and the
70 nroblem will be solved, so far
H'-- .,iaf from the congestion of sur
-. +ravel is concerned.
csi,ogo is a most peculiar city.
-oiIo if covers an area of 1874 square
large portion of which is
,sslv populated, the business inter-
H are conferred in district about
ss..,.'anarters of a mile square. With
u tbese narrow limits are the great
u .1asola houses, banks, department
. sars Office buildings, theaters, rail-
5anots and steamboat docks. The
III
Iastrians on the sidewalks, while the
F5Tays are choked with street
io ,as delivery wagons and heavy
avs All this within a radius
u siy blocks from the corner of
cato and Madison streets, the hub of
.ho business section. Outside of this
Hs,rot there is comparative ease of
novament for both pedestrian and
e S9 For years the people of Chicago
.ays been seeking relief from this
Dondition. Until the inception of the
snbwav scheme the only plan propos-
sS was that of sinking the street car
tracks and to this the merchants of
The downtown district made strong
n oSiection. They said it would ruin
their trade by taking the people from
Il tbs surface of the streets, and the
treated lightly in Chicago. Municipal
Teorners clamored for depression
of the tracks at the expense of the
street railways, with a view to har-
assDg these corporations into dispos-
Inc Of their franchises to the city;
trade interests made strenuous objec-
tios and between the two forces the
city officials were sorely befogged
when a proposition was made to the
council for an underground telephone
service that would rid Chicago of the
Bell monopoly. 1t was received kind
" and a permit given to construct
the necessary conduits. Then opposi-
4 ton began to show itself. A clause
was Inserted in the franchise forbid
y ding the Illinois Telephone and Tele-
a graph Company (the new concern) to
4 tear up a foot of pavement, or to dis
turb the surface of the roadways in
any manner under pain of forfeiture
of its entire plant.
ChicagO's Big Surprise.
This was about two years ago. The
opponents of the project thought they
had effectually blocked the construc-
ton of the conduits. There was no
sign of any work being done. Not
foot Of street payment had been torn
up, and the word was given out not
long ago that seven miles of large
sized tunnels had been built under
the business section of Chicago and
we're ready for use, everybody except
the men directly interested in the
work was astounded. 1t was pro-
nOmced an engineering impossibility
to construct such a system of sub
ways without tearing up the streets.
But the work had been done. The
al eaI,r.
rendered their rights to an Eastern
syndicate, which subscribed $10000,000
in cash to begin operations with, and
put Albert G. Wheeler, the man who
built the Love underground trolley
system in Washington, in charge of
The enterprise. Mr.. Wheeler associated
with him George w. Jackson, the en-
gineer of the Pixies Peake Railway,
and between them a novel plan of
Of the sky-scraping structures for
which Chicago is famous stand along
me route of the downtown tunnels.
knAing that if the foundations of
these were weakened, the promoters
would be liable for heavy damages
and that the entire work might be
stopped by injunction. Messrs. Wheel
er and Jackson first had a careful sur
yey made to determine the exact CEN
Ter lines of the various streets under
which the subways were to be con-
structed
These were compared with cross sur
Veys and the city maps, and in the
ialter many glazing errors were found.
When these were corrected, Easements
were rented at convenint intervals
along the line and the work of excava-
uon begun. Men were put to digging,
ana the earth taken out was hauled up
ana earted away at night through the
g ,oaI holes in the sidewalks. so that it
ulu not attract attention. The initial
point was at 40 Madison street, one
VI Inc busiest parts of Chicago, and to
Illustrate how quietly the work was
uehe the policeman on the beat, one
VI the most careful and efficient men
on the force, supposed it was a job
u repairing in the cellar of a saloon,
ana never gave it any attention.
Digglng straight down forty feet the
enslneers struck a line under Madison
street. and began the excavation of the
.sHnel proper, which at that point is
sA by eight feet in size. AS this was
pushed forward little shaft houses
IRE quilt at the curbstones, through
"nlch the large volume of debris was
oalted away at night and the con-
e.ee and other material for the con-
I ~ of the tunnels taken in.
uhureds of MOIe-Like Excavations
B.. IN the daytime there was not a sign
~ W lhdleate to the thousands of pedes-
utahs that any unusual work was in
fsress, but every hour of the twenty
NJ, Jay and night, hundreds of men
go juggling away like moles forty
, reet below the center of the streets. 1t
~ 0a necessary to go this deep in order
~ avoid the sewer and gas pipes, the
eo 1..uults of the telephone and the tel
SO siidph companies, the electric light
ives ives and the great water mains. 1t
riso- Ior this reason that Mayor Har-