The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-27
NEW Y0RK'S SUBWAY.
1wOsT EVERY SORT OFF TUNNEL
MAKING KNOWN BEING EN-
PLOYED.

GAOA
,,o.t Extensive Public Work on
Earth Now In PrOgress-Were the
subway a Single Tunnel Six Feet
Hiah and Three Feet Wide 1t
wouId Reach From New York to
CbtcaEo-The Part Through Solid
Rock would Reach From the Me-
tronoIis to CIeVeIand-Three Mill
lion Cubic Yards of HOIe-Sixty-
1--WE Thousand Tons of Steel Struc-
ture.
DOWNRIGHT 1902, by Herbert Wallace.
New York, April 25.-Imagine
tunnel. six feet high and three feet
wide. from New York to Chicago and
Won have some conception of the GU
bical contents of the New York sub
vav when completed. Now imagine
that from New York to Cleveland
there was solid rock, that for con-
siderable distance a street car service
had to be maintained unimpaired above
the digging toilers and that water
mains, gas pipes and sewage had to
be moved whenever the path of the
tunnel intercepted them, and you may
realize what a tremendous. engineering
task is being pushed forward now in
New York city months ahead of con-
tract time.
ate, but it serves its purpose of calling
attention to the most gigantic piece of
engineering in modern times. Three
million cubic yards of space, under
meath a teeming city are to make
room for a thirty-five million dollar
railway. Sixty-five thousand tons of
steel will be used in the arches, pill
lars and rails. Ten thousand men
will have been engaged for nearly four
years in bringing this marvel about
that d@ the he's New yorker and the
visiting stranger may be whisked from
one extremity of Manhattan Island to
the other In hurry.
At the present time millions of feet
of lumber are being used to maintain
undisturbed the street surface with it's
ceaseless traffic going on above the ex-
cavations. If this timber had been
used in building homes for the army
of 10000 workmen employed there
would have been sufficient for a two
story frame house for every man. The
two and a half million tons of rock
which are to be taken out would make
a solid wall three feet thick six feet
high and nearly five hundred miles
long and if the dirt were spread over
Central Park the entire area would be
covered ten inches deep. AS a matter
of fact, acres and acres; of New Jersey
swamp land are being made habitable
since the Rapid Transit Commission
began to dispose of the surplus dirt
and rock upon them.
1t is a veritable city under a city
which the engineers and contractors
are building, a city of one street, to be-
sure, now with two roadways, now
with four, but it is an electrically
lighted clean, we'll ventilated avenue
of travel, and millions of passengers
will be carried over it every year.
Strange Metropolitan Sights.
Those who wish to see strange sights
In the metropolis can find more variety
in trip along the line of the subway
in its present state than in any other
excursion in Manhattan. New Workers
have not yet accustomed themselves to
the upheaval of streets. the jacked-up
street car lines, the swinging cranes
and the cable ways on which ton loads
are carried at a time. Now and then
the pedestrian is confronted by a work.
ingman who waves a red flag and cries
ONt' l. II anu Tic pedestrian hllOWS
that an explosion is imminent. Crowds
watch daily the operation of the COM
pressed air drills which bore into the
solid rock; at times the monotony of
living in the neighborhood is disturbed
by the thunder of a blast, passengers
IN nearby street cars feel their hats
lifted slightly from their heads. They
remark, only the subway" and won
der when all the confusion and muss
will be over.
Down below, on the damp, sunless
bottom of the many openings, the real
state of the subway may be seen, pro-
Vded one is fortunate enough to secure
permission to explore the cuts and
headings. At City Hall Square, the
lower terminus, fully two-thirds of the
work has been done. One section of
me loop is already covered over, and
the floors, arches and entrances of the
station are now being completed. The
Olty Hall Station is to be a local train
station only. Originally a great loop
was planned here, which was to circle
a part of the postoffice and furnish