Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-03-14
CHICAGO FREIGHT
SUBWAY is READY
FORTYTHREE MILES OF TRACK
BENEATH STREETS.
AN END TO LABOR WARS
Transfers Unicn Deprived ct PowsI
Tunnel Linked to Every Railway
Commercial D strict Connected
With All Lines IN Country by
6ores to Oepots.

Chicago's underground freight rail-
: road, the most unique and extensive in
the world, practically is ready to be.
sin operation.
Less than five years ago the actual
work of digging the tunnels was com
menced by the Illinois Telephone and
! Telegraph company, now the Illinois
| Tunnel company Today the company
has forty-three miles of track ready to
DE operated, forty feet below the level
of the street Every street in the
/ downtown district is tunneled, and
and some streets outside this district.
! There is nothing like it anywhere.
/ When the tunnel formally opens tor
/ business, its capacity will be two and
half times greater than the present
| tonnage OF Chicago, handled in
/ wagons.
Before the end of the present year
the officials of the tuuae, compa y
expect to be hauling one-fifth OF the
( freight and coal now being hauIei by
wagon. When the tunnel railroad
rea, hes a stage where it handles one
third of the present tonnage it Will be
doing a business of 5000 900 a year
gloss.
No definite date has been fixed for
the formal opening of the tunnels for
! freight traffic. but the system will be
! in partial operation before many
weeks Practically the only delay is
in completing the connections into the
big downtown buildings. Work on
! these is progressing rapidly and is
| finished in a number of instances.
The tunnel, once it is in full opera
ton. will have an important bearing
on labor troubles. Never again will
/ the teamsters' union have the power
to tie up Chicago, and the teamsters
will have no terrors for Chicago mer
/ chants.
While a strike of the employees OF
the tunnel might occur, it could not
have the serious aspect of a strike o.
! teamsters for the present time, The
( tunnels are isolated absolutely from
/ the public, and the entrances can be
securely guarded with comparatively
small force of police.
Pickets Out of a Job.
A force of men could be put at
| work to take the places OF strikers,
and it would be impossible for any an
tagOnistic forces to get at them In
this respect the tunnel occupies "a nov
ell position toward labor If nect ssary.
its employees could be housed md fed
side elements for weeks OF months at
time.
The mail service, which will be an
important function of the tunnel rail-
road, Will begin March 10 between
the general postoffice and the Lake
Shore & Rock Island depot The whole
mail system between the pOstoffice
and all the railroad stations will be
running before the end of June.
The bulk of the wagon system will
be taken over, and by the middle of
| the summer the tunnel cars will be
carrying 500 tons of mail every day.
The times between the closing OF
the mails and the departure of trains
! will be greatly lessened, and arriving
mails will be hauled to the postoffice
| and TO other railroad stations in less
than half the time now required.
The full meaning of the tunnels can
! be graspad when it is remembe red
that they place every mans property
| in the entire business section of Chi
! cago on a railroad track connecting
/ with The whole United States
/ Forty per cent of the railroad mile
| age. of the United States has freight
yards within a district one and half
| miles square in the center of Chicago.
In no other city of the world does such
a situation exist, and because it does
| exist in Chicago the tunnel system is
possible.
The expense of hauling the broken"
! freight from railroad to rail- DAD is at
| present $65, 900 600 a year. Allowing
81 a day for he expense of maintain
! ing each team and driver, about
! $40, 600 600 a year is necessary, leav-
! ing 5000, 900 as the margin of profit
The tunnels now completed are de-
signed and adapted 70 the task OF
| handling Chicago's downtown freight
What effect this will have on the sur
face teaming the city remains to be
seen. Allowlrs that the estimates OF
the tunnel officials are fulfilled. prac-
tically all the neafy teamins in the
down town district would be removed
| from the stress within the next five
years.
The main system Of the Chicago TN
ncls comprises ten north and south
streets and fourteen east and west
streets The system is equivalent to
a railroad yard ten tracks wide. or
with five sets Of double tracks running
through the heart Of Chicago
The tunnels reach forty freight
, houses, Wit -hich they connect by
| elevators, enjless-chain carriers,
/ thutes. etc. Twenty four trunk line
| railroads are comprised within this
syst IN, with six termir Is. The
average haul from these F.eight
houses will not be over one mile for
the cars % the Illinois Tunnel com,
Tauy.