The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1904-10-28
OPENING OF THE NEV YORK SUBWAY
AFTER FOUR YEARS THE GREAT UNDERGROUND
RAILWAY is READY FOR THE PUBLIC---BUILT
AT A COST OF $sooooooo

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! popularity known, aud the most COlus
sal undertaking of its Kind I'm thr
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exercises TOOK pIac" under tn" Joint
auspices of the lutcrbOrOuGh company
aud the board Of aldermen In City
| HAN park whore the downtown ter.
miuul Is located and whore the nrst
| spadrlul Of earth was turned the prm-
cipal ceremonies of the day took place.
! shortly before noon The pnrl, and
| the city han were ayishly decorated
Bishop Potter opened the coromo.
nics with prayer and was followed by
an address bv Alexander IT, orr. pres.
idcut of the Rapid Transit commits.
sion who turned the subway over to
the city Mayor Mcclellan accepted
! the trust. and then turned the road
over to August belmont president of
! the lntorhOrOugh company. who also
made brief address. Archbishop
Farley closed the ceremonies.
|
ed over the road. operated by Mayor
Mcclellan in person. Bands of music
were stationed at all the pricipal stops
along the route. Included among the
passengers on the first train were the
| city officials, officials Of the Interior
ough company. large party of dis
tingushcd engineers and other mvit-
| ed guests Promptly at midnight To.
night the road will be opened TO the
| general public. That part of the road
that will be operated for the present
includes the whole Of the main from
! city Han park to the Harlem river on
the upper west side II is expected to
have the entire west side line opcned
TO traffic within a month or so and
also the east side branch to the Bronx.
Twenty-One Miles Underaround
The great subway opened today con.
sists of 81 miles Of railroad under the
citys teoming streets The actual
| work Of construction has taken lust
ION, years and ,hc cost has exceeded
$5OOOOOOO when the entire system
!
ol from the limits of Brooklyn to the
nOrthcrnmOst end of Manhattan en-
tirely underground
dazzling array of facts and figures
tell the story of the building of Nhe
mammoth underground road. For in
stance, more than 100000 cubic
yards of dirt and rock were blasted
and dug from the streets of the crowd
ed city To tear away the rock 9O0,-
600 pounds Of dynamite were used
Eleven thousand men were employed
in the work and of this number sev.
eral hundred lost their lives through
accidents, premature explosions, cave
ns and falling rock
II is estimated that the road will
carry ll5,OOO,O0O passengers year.
The fare is cents When the exten.
sion to Brooklyn, under the East river,
has been completed it is estimated
that the road will carry 100000, 900
passengers a year.
Speed of a Mile a Minute.
Express trains will run through the
subway at the rate of mile min.
ute for the benefit of the long hauls
from the Bronx to the busiest sections
of the city below Fourteenth street
Local trains will stop at all of the un.
derground stations, every half dozen
blocks along the route. The tunnel is
ventilated by a system of electric fans
and illuminated the entire route by in
candescent lights.
A trip through the great tunnel is all
that is necessary TO convince one of
its entire security White enameled
bricks wall mp the sides to a bricked
arch overhead. Everything else is of
stone and steel, and heavy plate glass
at the stations 10 let the light in from
the street overhead 1t would seem
impossible for a disaster TO occur
where everything is as new and