The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-23

Dc met, ls not all plain sailing. On bQeh
sides OF the river the path Of the subway
has gone through sand. which Is nos The
incest kind Of material for excavatoiS b
deal with. With permission only to ~
move material at night, the work waa q
necessity held back little, but q tempo.
rary railroad track. with mules for motive
power. was laid and it was soon posseh3e
to accumulate enough material a No.
mouths Of the shafts in the daytime not
to delay the job unduly.
On the Brooklyn side an open out vas
possible for part Of the way. For tho sSat,
as the excavation was deep and the ma
terial was sand there. too, shafts were sunk
and tie work was pressed on from boib
ends under protection OF shields. EEca-
walton was begun several months ago at ths
site of the Flatbush avenue terminal and
from there westward to meet the out gulrS
east, and the trolley line Is being used Cor
carrying away the waste material
The hardest problem on this sscond
subway. though, has been the East .havpR
tunnel. Work was begun from both aldsa
of the river rather moro than year ego,
and after several slight accidents which
delayed operations for while Is now mai.
ing fine progress. Altogether, about sFo.
thirds Of the distance has been excavstsd.
Rock was Boon encountered in the nnSdAls
Of the shaft, but that had bean expOoeed,
The trouble was In the first place that 4
was treacherous, shaly sort Of rock 10
work in, and in the second that while tAurs
was plenty Of rock to cut away in the middle
Of the shaft, In the upper corners it fef axAy
to within few feet Of the level Of the TOP.
The result was that the contractor WuD
obliged to cut his tunnel either with No
rock at all above him or with only Q thin
shell. And ten feet above tho top a Tie
shaft was the river.
In spite OF this nearly 800 feet Of tunnel
was excavated before trouble began. Then
one day last spring in came the watsr, end
the workmen had to run for Il. The sfsaft
it was the Battery shaft going east, into
which the food came-was pumped dry
again in a week or SO, the hole was plugesd
and the work went on, this time under ocen-
pressed air Of or 10 pounds pressure.
That Is the plan still being followed.
Shield work has not been necessary IN
this tunnel yet. The method OF constEVc.
ton Is that Of ordinary excavation. Ths
roof is supported on beams almost hvs ftst
apart, with the cutting behind and abeTe
protected by plank sheathing. s-.y
The tunnel lining at this point oonelfs
Of cast iron plates lined with oontsets.
The outside diameter OF the tunnel b 10
feet inches, and the excavation b nsde
large enough for this lining to be pot h
place. y.
In the space between the lining sad ~
rock, broken stone Is tightly paokAd And
nto the interstices Portland cement y
poured. On completion. therefore. thav
will be an iron tubular tunnel lined NM
inside and backed by hsaxy
jacket on the outside.
With good luck 1t will all be done, river
unnel, Manhattan spur and the long stretch
o the heart Of Brooklyn, before the end 4
900. The tracks will be down and The osRs
will be humming along as they ore uev
n the first subway in Manhattan.
And by that time still further extsnslonS
arrying the road down to the sea at Csagy
sland are likely to be under way. Fer q
; confidently expected that the people q
Jew York, once they have given the subway
ystem trial, won't be able to have 10
much of IL