New-York tribune., 1906-11-07

nues Bosquet and lie B0urdonnais, at a stones
throw from the EiffeI Tower. IN caIcareous
soil. the workInen came across fossil bones of the
megatheriurn. These antediluyian remains are
exhibited at the Paris Geological Museum
Owing TO the general crumby but varied nature
OF the ground which had 10 be excayated and
the presence OF an extraordinary number OF
abandoned Quarries. dating from almost pre-
historic times. the use Of the buckler. which was
originally enforced upon the constructors by
their contract with the city authorities. had 10
be abandoned, and practically the whole work
has been done with the pickaxe. However, 1t
has been found necessary to use the buckler for
tunnellng under the Seine.
a big problem that had to be dealt with vas
the disposal Of the rubbish caused by the e1-
cavations and the transportation Of the neces-
sary materials From eight hundred TO one
thousand cubic metres Of earth have been ex-
cavated every twenty-four hours. and for the
disposal OF these enormous quantities various
methods have been adopted In connection with
one line. which was Of no great distance from
the Seine, special galleries many hundreds of
metres in length. were built, which Joined the
tunnel to the river and permitted Of the rubbish
being carried of by waterway. On other lines
functions were made with the big trunk lines Of
France In the neighborhood Of the Opera the
Purrey traction system has been satisfactorily
employed.
With respect TO the engineering problems
which have cropped up for solution from time 70
time in the progress Of the work, I have had
talk with NJ Louis Bette, the chief Of the tech
nicaI service Of the Metropolitan Railway. and
he expressed a doubt that the work on the
whole had called for any engineering or cleo
tricaI innovations Of an absolutely original kind.
we have had" he said, "to cope with a number
Of difficulties not Of the first importance, which
we have solved as We have gone along. and no
great change in the original plan has been re-
quired- We have proved that metropolitan
/ railway constructed a. a great depth beneath
the earth's surface. as in London, is less salts
/ factory in every way than az a much less depth,
4 as here and IN New York. AS the sUbsoil OF
/ Paris contains numerous sheets Of water, and
working at a great depth underground would
/ therefore have been difficult and dangerous, We
/ decided against the use Of the cast iron tubes
/ such as are employed IN London. except in order
/ 10 pass under the Seine. and to construct
! passage Of masonry for both tracks as close to
the surface Of the earth as possible, thus doing
I q wav with the huge expense Of the lifts which
entail waste Of time TO the passengers. and
/ largely diminish the cost OF construction, cast
! iron in France being more expensive than else
/ where The system Of tubes is excellent when
/ the ground traversed is wet-under The bed OF a
river. for fnstance-and for that reason We have
/ adopted il for our passage under the Seine; but
/ when the ground 70 be bored through is not wet.
( this system does not Justify the huge relative
exDense and the serious damage which It threat
ems 10 neighboring buildings on account Of
shocks and vibrations II has been contended
that unless subterranean railway is con-
s--l,c+ed Al a great depth below the earth's sur
/ face there are difficulties caused by the en-
countering Of drain and gas pipes electric cables
and other underground apparatus. Ny expert
ence is that II has always been possible to repair
s7v damage or destruction thus caused without
/ difficulty and the expense. although necessarily
/ great. is considerably less than when cast iron
| metallic coated tubes and hydraulic lifts are
! employed.
There remains the great problem Of ventila-
ton. We must confess that We have not solved
IT, The cutting through Of outlets 20 the sur
face. as has been recently done at points close
70 the Rome and Belleville stations, and the
building Of tall chimney near the Tower St
Jacoues have not been found especially salts
/ factory and 7 am convinced that the solution
lies in some form Of mechanical ventilation
! pror this purpose we have Just set up a gigantic
electric fan near the Ternes station, but the difi
! Guilty consists in getting good regular ventila-
! -ior such as would not cause drafts violent
| enough 20 blow peoples hats off In New York
/ the problem Of ventilation is practically the
sam. as our own. for there too only one pass
! &c exfs-s for both tracks. In London OF course.
/ the train Is built as nearly possible the same
| size as the tunnel. and there being tunnel for
each track the air IS pushed in one direction By
the train and finds outlet at the stations"
| The Lord Mayor Of London, IN course OF his
recent visit TO Paris. was shown over the Metro
politan railroad by II. Benvenu. the engineer
who superintends the administrative depart
r,en,s and by NJ. Louis Bette, the engineer IN
/ ct,s, ~ the technical service OF construction.
and he expressed his admiration for the way in
,.b,c, the work is conducted An interesting
! rbas. Of the enterprise is the tunnelling under
/ +ba saina The line is situat ted a great depth
| he,ea+b the water. there being a. point
! ,oentv metres. or. roughly speaking, twenty
| Two yards between the level of the rails ana
B ,l.. eartb,s surface. The line across the sa.ae