Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-09
Enormous Expenditures Of the
Pennsylvania Railway.
CASSATT'S GREAT WORK
ROAD PRACTICALLY REBUILT
DURING HIS PRESIDENCY.
Costly Improvement of the System
Great Engineering Enterprise in
New York Bay.
ny WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

Correspondence OF Inc star ana the lineage
Record Herald.
NEW YORK, June 8, 1905.
1t seems as If one could not go anywhere
these days without running I'D against
some enormous Improvement being made
by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
Mr.. Cassatt has practically rebuilt that
road since he has been It's president, and
is extending its facilities and improving its
physical condition in forty different direc-
tons Costly improvements have been made
at almost every station between New York
ana Washington. and the tracks have been
eIeVated In every town. so that it will soon
be possible to run Il four-hour train with
only three or four stops. Two splendid
new bridges are being built across the Sus-
quehanna-one at Harrisburg and another
az HaVIe de Grace. Millions of dollars
are being spent at Philadelphia to add to
the economy, convenience and speed of
operation You can see the advertisements
IN the newspapers announcing the sale of
Sl-.N7'Jo IN bonds to pay for the new
terminals at Washington. Three tunnels
are being bored under New York and a
twenty millon-dollar station for this city
IS progressing rapidly, while another
twenty million-dollar Improvement which I
nave never seen noticed in the newspapers
Is being made in New York harbor You
can See It from the elevated railroad sta
ton at Bay Ridge, on the Long Island side
of New York bay beyond Greenwood
neering enterprises ever undertaken.
An Artificial Peninsula.
An artificial peninsula more than a mile
long and three-quarters of a mile wide has
been created a Greenville. N J.. in the bay,
at a cost of $4,000 an acre, and is being
covered with warehouses, power houses re-
pair shops, round houses, freight
machinery and other facilities for transfer
ring cargoes from railway trains 10 boats
n ha mos n-,,fr al
manner.
This peninsula represents about Il, 900 900
cubic yards of earth. which has either Deen
sucked up by huge suction dredges from
the bottom of the bay or has been brought
down from the city in scows. 1t cont aims
the sweepings of the street-cIeaning depart
ment, the earth and rock that was taken
out of the tunnels of the subway and from
thousands of cellars that have been exca-
waited In the city. The earth that is beirg
removed from the site OF the new station
between 31st and 33d streets and that which
will be taken out of the tunnel 20 Jersey
City and Long Island City will be taken
there also and dumped between the cribs
that have been built to hold It. 1t is esti-
mated that about S.O0oOO0 cubic yards more
of earth will be needed to complete the re-
clamatiou.
On the other side of the bay. at Bay
Ridge, a similar Improvement is In prog
reSs-the counterpart of that at Green
N1lle-and the purpose is to furnish ter
mInal facilities for the coal business and
other freight
Immense Dockage Facilities.
On both sides great piers, having a total
frontage of eight miles EACH have been or
Will be constructed. Some of them will
be 1000 feet long, giving accommodate
for a large fleet of vessels. One of these
piers will be for btuminous and another
for anthracite coal, and they will be
equipped with overhead travelling cranes
and other electrical machinery similar to
that used at Cleveland. AshtabuIa and
other points on the lakes, by which an
entire carload can be dumped into the hold
or bunkers of n vessel as quickly and
easily as stoker can fill a bushel basket
The improvements on the Bay Ridge side
viii cost about $6.000000 and the dockage
facilities Will be similar to those at Green
Vile. Freight trains over the Pennsylva-
be ishtered across this. the narrowest
part of New York bay. upon enormous
barges, and q four-track underground
railroad, about three miles long, will be
built to connect with the New York New
Haven and Hartford system. The earth
to be taken out of these tunnels will be
used to build the peninsula which will ex-
tend out into the harbor from Bay Ridge;
and a vast quantity of material has al
ready been obtained by the removal of a
hill which overlooked the water. 1t is an
enormous enterprise-the greatest of the
kind that was ever undertaken-and the
officers of the Pennsylvania company be-
lieve that the saving in the expense of
handling freight for New England by this
route instead of by the present method of
floating it from Jersey City to the Har-
lem river Will more than justify the cost
These improvements contemplate the con-