The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-03-26
ATTEST IN TELEPHONES
,.4.resting Features of chicago's
~. /, ror Underground Wires.

49, ~. For Underground Wires.
novel Method of Excavation In Use
a. s.nerior Construction OF Telephone
AbsoIute Secrecy For Sub
-No Fixed MOnthIy0r Year
" Rates For Phones
:, view of the great havoc in tele-
!onb telephone and other wires IN
gr1p ~ocont storms, says the New York
tno airo Post, the plan adopted in Chi
hss eve shouId be an object lesson to the
GAG Six miles Of the tunnel of the
t t',iuois Telephone and Telegraph COM
liz have been completed, the under
pan 'nd work prepared for the intro
s s,,+ion of telephone wires of the new
u ,nonv operating in that city, now
e oOrering the better part of the main
Iusiness district Of the city, having
v voo huilt since September last with
.onnorkable rapidity. Already more
than SSOOO,OOO has been spent upon
.ho tunnel. and by next September the
Sowntown operations will be complet-
W ond S1O.OOO,OOO will have gone into
40 underground work, the exchange
and the wiring of important municipal
and business structures. The president
If the new company claims that by
Ironst he will have in operation 1900
+olonhones in the downtown business
district and when this is done the
comnany proposes to ask for power to
corrv freight in the tunnel as well as
mail and newspapers, which latter are
already permitted.
THE tunnel in its trunk or main
thoroughfares is twelve feet high and
fourteen feet wide, with space for all
wire cables and double track electric
freight track. The feeder or collateral
tunnels are eight feet high and six
feet wide and have room for both ca
bles and tracks. 1t is in effect series
of underground streets in the most con-
gested part of the city, which will be
extended under the river in one or
more places. In speaking of the tun-
mel the president of the company said
that the first object of it was to carry
the wires Of the company. After that
came in order to carry the police and
fire alarm wires of the city, the 300
tons of daily mail handled by the post
office from the various stations, the
newspaper mail of the city from the
various offices to the railway stations,
to carry eventually, as necessity arises,
all other telephone and telegraph
wires of the city and, finally, after all
pledges as to telephone service have
been carried out, to make application
to the city council for the right to
transport freight through the tunnel.
The method Of building the tunnel
has been unique. Under the terms of
the ordinance permitting the tunnel
digging 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
any way with public traffic or public
rights. The company therefore hired |
easements and empty buildings along |
the route to begin shaft operations in. |
Permits were then secured to build |
shafthouses on the edge of the walks. |
Forty foot shafts were then sunk, and |
the men worked each way from them.
The men were and are worked in two |
gangs, one excavating and the other |
cementing. In excavating nothing but |
blue clay was met with, so the work |
has been easy. AS fast as the clay is
dug out and the bore shored up a &C.
ment grouting twelve inches thick is
built in. Compressed air, with twenty |
Tour pounds pressure to the square
inch, is used not only to supply the tun-
mel with fresh air, but to close every |
lnterstice in the cement. Now that the |
work has progressed so far it is posi-
Die to carry the earth excavated to the
Shore OF the lake in the tunnel and |
there dump it on boats to carry it
away, which makes the work much |
easier.
The method of service to be given by
Tue new company in August is differ