Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-04-05
roR UNDERGROUND WIRES.
Six Miles Of ChIcaso's Great Tunnel
Already Completed.

Already Completed.
New York Evening Post. In view Of
the great havoc in telegraph, telephone
and other wires in the recent storms,
the plan adopted in Chicago should be
an object lesson to the east. Six miles
OF the tunnel of the Illinois Telephone
and Telegraph company have been
completed; the underground work pre-
pared for the introduction of telephone
wires Of the new company operating
in that city, now covering the better
part OF the main business district of the
city, having been built aince Septem-
Der last. with remarkable rapidityv AL
ready more than SO, 00O, 900 has been
spent upon the tunnel, and by next
september the downtown operations
Will be completed, and $40, 000, 600 will
have gone into the underground work,
the exchange and the wiring of import
ant municipal and business structures.
The president of the new
claims that by August he will have in
operation $500 telephones in the down
town business district, and, when thai
is done, the company proposes to ask
Tor powerato carry freight in the tun-
mel, as we'll as mail and newspapers
when latter are already permitted.
me tunnel, in its trunk or main thor
oush1ares, Is twelve feet high and four
teen rect wide, with space for all wire
caples and double track electric freight
track. The feeder or collateral tunnels
are eight feet high and six feet wide.
ana V room for both cables and
tracks. IL is in effect a series OF un-
foreground streets in the most congested
part or the city, which will be extended
unuef the river in one or more places.
IN speaking OF the tunnel the president
OF the company said that the first OBJ
Ject or 1t was TO carry the wires Of his
mnn nv AfNAn 4I.A " -
carry the police and fire alarm wires of
the city, the 800 tons of daily mail
handled by the p~ostofilce from the var
louS stations, the newspaper mail of
the city from the various offices to the
railway stations, to carry eventually,
as necessity arises, all other telephone
ana telegraph wires Of the city, and
nnally, after all pledges as to telephone
service have been carried out, TO make
application to the city council for the
rlght TO transport freight through the
tunnel.
The method of building the tunnel
mas been unique. Under the terms OF
lne ordinanc permitting the tunnel,
dlgglng down to the forty foot level
could not be begun from the street, and
no dumping could be done in the
streets. The whole construction had
TO be carried on without interfering In
'~S "ANAh BupllS lldlliS ii puDllC
rights. The company, therefore, hired
easements and empty buildings along
me route to begin shaft operations IN.
PERMITS were then secured to build
shaft houses on the edge Of the walks,
Forty foot shafts were then sunk. and
the men worked each way from them.
Inc men were n are worked in two
gangs, n excavating and the other
cementing. In eXcaVating nothing but
Dllp CLAW WAC moi with GO yha y.n,lr
mas been easy. AS fast as the clay is
Dug out II the bore shored up q ce-
ment groutfng, twelve inches thick. is
Duilt In. Compressed air, with twenty
four pounds pressure to the square inch
is used not only to supply the tunnel
win fresh air, but to close every inter-
stlce In the cement. Now that the work
has progressed so far it is possible TO
carry the earth eXcaVated to the shore
of the lake I'm the tunnel and there
lump 1t on boats to carry il way, which
makes the work much easier.
Inc method OF service to be given by
the new company in August Is different
from any used before. In the establish
ments of reputable business houses and
individuals instruments will be in
stalled free Of charge. In some in
stances however, IL will be necessary
TO ask for q deposit of IS, which will
be returned when the user gives up his
telephone. No contracts will be made
by the company for a fixed monthly or
yearly rate. After the telephone has
been installed the user will pay for It's
service according to the number of
times he uses IL. The check upon his
use will be through a meter installed
at the central office of the company. He
Will have no telephone company switch
board TO deal with; there WIN be no
telephone girls, no party wires, no pos
sibiiity Of other han secret Service.
The switch key which operates with il
makes 1t impossible for one subscrib-
er TO overhear the talk OF another, or
Il central exchange to know what it's
patrons are talking about. 1t is claimed
by the new company that 1t will give
better service han the old companies,
and at a rate of about so per cent
lower.