The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-09-25

opinion ABOUT runner Inree-
Barclay, the contractor, who had
4 a little shanty of an Office at the
top OF the shaft, with blueprint plans
on the walls and a stovepipe crooking
out OF one corner of the roof, said it
was beautiful tunnel. He said it with
cheerful confidence TO the Committee
OF Five who had come to investigate
The FIVE had just dined expansively
with Barclay and it was with good
humored brsVado that they now trusted
themselves TO the dinky elevator and
descended the shaft. Sixty feet below
daylight they stepped out on Shiny
platform, and G-egson. the underground
boss. showed them a moist red tube
reaching outward under the river. A
row ~ misty incandescent lights ribbed
the tunnel a. regular intervals with cir
clcts OF brightness, and at the far end
they could see z black wall with
closed steel door. For the benefit OF
the chairman CT the Five, who thought
that this wall was the end Of the tun-
mel. GregsOn explained that the steel
door led into the air-lOck. and that for
coo feet beyond stretched the pressure
strictly to information; he ventured no
opinion at all. as became a wise boss
in the presence Of the contractor. The
Five walked down the plank roadway
on the floor OF the red tube. their heads
almost touching the roof the water
dripping on their oil coats. their ears
filled with the strange echoes of this
underground place.
You are now under the river" Bar
clay said; the water is not twenty five
feet over your heads"
The Five looked at one another.
rs there any danger?" asked the
chairman.
Not the slightest" answered Bar
Cay.
A small. cold rivulet dripped down
inside the chairman's collar.
Lets go up" he said.
Having now nearly reached the steel
door OF the air-lock, Barclay invited
them 10 enter the pressure workings,
where twenty men and a mule were
toiling, but the chairman remembered
suddenly that he had a weak heart
and couldn't take air-pressure, and the
others were certain that, having just
dined heartily. it would be very dan
gerous for them TO venture. Barclay
looked relieved at this decision; Greg
sons face was grim, and he said moth
ing
So the Five went I'D with the hay
impression that tunnels were generally
moist and uncomfortable, if not dan
gerous, and that Mr.. Barclay was a
remarkably eminent contractor and an
accomplished engineer, to say nothing
reported that the tunnel was a good
and perfect tunnel, and referred in
complimentary terms to the contractor,
thereby relieving the fears of a solicit
1Ous pubic. Not knowing a spreading
jack from a pressure nozzle. however.
Il had not occurred to the Five to in
Quire why the water roared under the
plank roadway on which they had
walked, nor why the heavy air shook
so constantly with the muff1ed thunder
OF great pumps. They had not even
seen the half-naked men of the deep
workings come out Of the air-lock wet
from top TO toe with blue mud and
shivering with cold.
It is a curious fact that the deeper
into tunnel one penetrates the poorer
its reputation. The Five had not been
permitted 10 catch so much as glimpse
OF Jernigan. the sub-boss, lord Of the
pressure workings. If Jernigans opin-
ion Of the tunnel had been asked he
would have answered frankly, being
an outspoken man:
She's a laundering Seeser''
In the cold ooze at the end OF the
tunnel. where the truth was, gaunt.
hslf-clad men, with picks and clay
R-4T1e
tunnel that would not look we'll in
print. and, being men Of experience in
these things. they spoke with authority
So bad was the reputation Of the tun-
mel among those who knew that no boss
but Jernigan could have kept a crew
at work. where every pick thrust was
a special invitation to death by drown
ing.
When Tunnel Three began to grum-
bic IL was beautiful to see Jernigau
hold his men in hand. At the first
sound OF danger there were those who
would have gone rushing for the air
lock and safety, but Jernigan, standing
there behind them IN the roadway. was
more terrible than the danger in front.
OF all the sounds known to these un-
derground places there is none quite
INT liz Gl a luuuel enQ-
1t comes often with explosive sudden
ness. like the swapping and rafting Of
steam in long pipes. though often muf-
fed. and then it is choked OF and dies
away IN q gurgle- And sometimes the
sound more resembles a long-drawn
wall or whistle, as a man would blow
sharply across the mouth of bottle,
this followed with sharp rapping and
cracldng-and then a gush OF muddy
water that makes a mans heart dot
and carry one.
And yet, sudden and startling as
these sounds at q tunnels end may be.
they are nothing of themselves; their
terror lies in their significance; they
are the outcries Of danger. The tun-
mel grumbles when it reaches a spot
where the earth between it and the
water OF the river bottom is thin, where
there are pockets OF Quicksand or deeps