Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-11-06
BORES IN CAPITOL HILL
Progress of Washinston's Modern Tran
sit Methods.

| sit Methods.
The "modernization'' of Capitol hill
at Washington by the installation of
| underground connections is proceeding
| apace, writes q special correspondent
of the New York Post. When all those
in course of building or projected are
finally completed there will be net
work of them radiating from the capt
| tol and skirting its eastern edge
Within a few weeks the greatest of
these projects, the twin bore through
| Capitol hill from the south or Potomac
| side to the new Union station, will be
| completed and ready for railroad traf-
| fic. These parallel tubes under First
| street, on which fronts the Library of
| Congress. will afford southern rail traf-
fic direct and speedy ingress and egress
at the new railroad center of the CAPT
tai. The sOuthbound tunnel is already
complete, with track laid and ballasted
ready for use. The other track, for
trains approaching the station, requires
but little work for its similar compile
ton.
There are many surface indications
of the fact that the tunnels We're bur
rOwed out and not built on the open cut
method. As the level of the tracks is
forty feet below the street. the boring
process was given preference. Soon Il
sinking of the asphalt street and the
ornamental coping Of the capitol
grounds was noticed. The section af
fected was fenced off and the surface
hlln1 in fn hr.ipC 10
level. But the sinking has apparently
continued. and there is now n notice
able depression all along that part of
the line in front of the library.
This has caused renewed concern for
the safety OF the greatly admired
bronze group of Neptune, his sea
horses and mermaids adjoining the
fountain adjacent to the outside stair
case, constituting the main approach
to the building So far the group and
the basin proper show no sign of dam
age but the granolithic pavement abut-
ting on the basin has already opened
up Seven-eighth inch cracks along the
lines parallel to the tunnel
The first underground tramway on
1.-The hilI' was the conduit connecting
the library with the capitol 1t is not
large enough to transport people. but
can rush stack of books from the
librarians desk in the great reading
room to the substation just outside of
Statuary hall in the capitol in Il few
moments This and the railroad tun-
mel first mentioned are the two eX-
tremeS in the new Capitol hill under
ground service The second in point
Il,
which will connect the capitol with
the new senate office building to the
northeast and with the house of rep |
resentatives office building to the south |
east. There are likely to be short I'M
dergrOund connections also between |
these buildings and the railroad tun |
mel itself. They may not appear to |
be of much practical advantage to the
general public at first glance, but there |
Is an interesting intimatiOn that the |
railroads may run roll call specials"
for hasty statesmen. landing them di- |
rectly ut the doors Of their committee |
rooms, and dinner expresses" to rush |
them away at the end of the day, so
that they need lose not mSment Of
time. If so, the underground cOnnec-
tions, sheltering busy statesmen from
storm and avoiding the necessity of
cab hire and the risk of missing the
train in the end, will surely prove pop
ular.
Another type of underground con-
nection Is urged to connect the capitol
and the government printing office.
The exact size remains to be determin
ed, but 1T will be larger than the con-
nection with the library and not so big
as the passageways to the office build
ings. 1t may be only pneumatic tube
eventually, but a greater likelihood is
that it will be an electric railway af
fair, with a capacity of several hun
dred pounds of government ''litera
ture' at a trip. There has long been
4 demand at the capitol for more
up to date method than that now In
vogue of transporting copy" from APP
committee rooms to the big
printery. Bicycle messengers do the
work as acceptably as possible. but
there are bound to be delays. due to
stormy weather, physical fatigue or
punctured tires Then the able states
men at the capitol may sit and fume,
while clerks telephone frantically back
slhu lOL III W lOCalC TIC lliloSiA3 NOly |
and proofs. Meanwhile the poor, ex-
llauSted messenger may be fordng 4
swollen gutter in n storm or winding
tire tape over puncture. The expe
rience of Senator Hale on the last day
Of the last session of congress, when
ne was SO eXasperated by slips and de-
lays between the capitol and printery
hat he set in motion joint investiga-
ion to locate the blame. will be one of
he things which will aid In establish
ng some auGmatic connection in the
near future.