The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-27

room for the main station, and it was
understood that all the trains, both
express and local. should pass this
way. The task, however, was too diff
tcult 1t was not possible to pass I'M
der the pOstoffice building without
weakening that structure, and the plan
TO tunnel to Brooklyn also made il
advisable to locate the main station
at the bridge. Accordingly Mr.. Will
nam Barclay Parsons, the chief en-
Slneer, planned a smaller loop and
local train station which has aroused
the admiration of all the engineers.
Ihere is not a straight line at this
terminus. The station is a
curved platform, the roof is a series of
domes and arches within arches. The
change in the loop made necessary a
sWItcn yard for trains, and this was
tunneled out under Park Row.
Only a short distance up from the
loop is the main station. That is to
say, the main station will be located
mere, close by the New York end of the
Brooklyn bridge. 1t is one of the last
pieces of work to be taken up. On both
sides of the locality work has been GO
ing on for nearly two years, but ow-
ing to the continual crowds in this
nelghborhood, it has seemed best to
complete one part before beginning an
other.
A Mine in the Big City.
From the bridge station the four
tracks will extend in practically a
straight line to Forty second street.
thence over to Broadway and up
Broadway to One Hundred and Fourth
street. From this point there are two
branches, one extending up or near
Broadway to Two Hundred and Fiji
teenth street, the other cutting through
q corner of Central Park, under the
Harlem river, and up into the suburbs
as far as Bronx Park. over this line
all kinds of operations are being car
ried on from the sinking of shafts $50
feet down in solid rock to erecting high
bridges and elevated structures
Inc most interesting experience the
explorer of the subway can have is to
go down the One Hundred and Eigh-
ty-first street shaft and walk up one
of the headings, now each several hun
! dred feet long. 1t is like going into a
mine. The heavy elevators sink slow
ly out of the daylight, first into a dim
haze, and then into the thick smoke
make by the hastings and by the min
ers' lamps, which the workmen carry
At the bottom, 1875 feet below the sur
face, one may go either north or south
1t is impossible to see more than few
feet ahead in either direction. The
writer made the trip one afternoon re-
Gently just after the workmen had
gone. The guide picked path through
the mud and water and related details.
on the way.
"Twenty-six feet high here all along
two tracks. Look out for this mule
stable" Come here, Jenny" he called
out to a moving shape in the darkness
ahead. There are six of these ami
mails down here, and most of them
haven't seen daylight for a year. Right
above US" pointing upwards through
the gloom, there used to be a big
boulder. When it fell it caught two
men under it. That's the only acct
dent we've had up here"
The mules, the little dump car tracks.
the drills at the ends of the headings,
/ the blasts and the cavernous gloom
throughout remind one of nothing SO
much as a huge mine. For two miles
the work in this section is carried on
by boring. On the surface no sign of
an excavation is to be seen, save al the
shafts, but next to the Hoosic tunnel,
this piece of the New York subway
will be the largest piece of single tube
boring in this country.
These scenes are not familiar to
many New Workers because they are
so far up Manhattan. There has Just
been completed, however, another sec
ton in which the same kind of work
was carried on. When the contractor
for the section which runs under a cor
ner of Central Park undertook this
piece of work his task was that of Dor
ing tunnel through the solid
rock without disturbing the sur
face of the park. There were
many nearby buildings, and every
unusually large blast was a mem
ace to the neighborhood. Still the con-
tractor accomplished his difficult task
without a mishap. AS an instance of
the beautifully exact calculation which
has been made in connection with every
part of the work the experience of this
contractor in connecting his two head
ings may be cited. When the blast
had blown out the separating rock il
was found that the two headings had
joined in one straight tunnel. There
was not a fraction Of an inch differ
aence in the calculations of each as to
the location of the other.
In marked contrast to the scenes of
mining life, with it's accom-, 1anlment of
trembling from the blasts and its pre-
cession of oily, muddy dril,ers of the
rocks, are the bridge builders, the toll
ers in the air, far above ground. The
face of the solid rock at One Hundred
and Ninety-fifth street will soon have
a huge mouth, for here the subway