Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-12-10
NEW DEPOT TO
COST MILLIONS
NORTHWESTE WILL ERECT
MODERN STRUCTURE.
Main Front Will Be on Madison Street
and Train Sheds Will Extend
Three Blocks North-WeliS
Street Station Built in 1892, When
Road Had Only Forty Trains a Day.

A passenger station that will take
it's place among the great transporta-
ton centers of the world is to be
built by the Chicago and Northwestern
Railway in Chicago. The plans for
the station, which will be located on
the west side, between Madison, Lake,
Canal and Clinton streets, have been
made public. The big structure, with ito
twentieth century atmosphere, will in
wade one of the oldest sections of the
city. Dozens of buildings which date
from the Chicago fire will be RACED to
make way for it. Among the struct-
ures to go will be the old Gault House
in West Madison street, known to Chi
cagoans of generation ago as one
of the city's leading hotels.
The work of clearing the ground
and constructing the building will
probably begin next spring, and within
two years from now it is expected
that the railway will be operating
from the new terminal.
To Cost Nearly $2o,0oo,0oo.
The Northwestern company is pre-
pared to expend on this improvement
of its Chicago facilities between ST.
900 900 and $2O,O00,00O, and from an
architectural point of view the station
building, it is promised, will surpass
anything of the kind in this country.
Main Front on Madison Street.
The principal facade of the building
which will be several stories hign,
will rise in Madison street, between
Canal and Clinton, while the train
sheds will extend three blocks north
The plans of the Northwestern of
ficials TEEN with hitherto unheard OF
facilities for the handling of ire
mendous volume of traffic. One OF
the most striking novelties of the sta
ton will be the fact that it will span
two entire streets, Washington and
Randolph, without interfering with
traffic or requiring a change of grade
in the thoroughfares. Street cars
and other traffic will pass through
great ornamental archways and an il
Illuminated tunnel a block long. This
arrangement is said to be without
precedent in this country
Six Street Level Entrances.
The station will have entrance IA
cilities three or four times greater
than the Wells street station. In all
there will be six street level entrances
One in Madison, two in Washington.
two in Randolph and one in Lake.
Madison street electric cars will run
past the main entrance; the Milwau-
kee avenue and other northwest side
lines will pass through the station in
Randolph street. Other west side
lines yet to be determined will run
into the station from the Washington
street tunnel, when reconstructed,
and the north entrance will be served
by the Lake street elevated and sur
face lines. There will also be proyi-
sion in the plans for connection at
some future date with Chicago's
prospective subway.
The general waiting rooms and the
tracks will be on the second floor
level. Here there will be sixteen
tracks, each one able to accommo-
date a train of fifteen or sixteen cars
Present Depot Built Long Ago.
The new terminal, with all dts at
tendant facilities, will consummate
ambitions which the Northwestern
company has entertained in this dil'ec-
ton for nearly generation.
The Wells street station was
built in 1882, when the road had only
forty or fifty trains day and handled
only 1000 people a day, or 100000
a year. Today the road has 304
trains, carrying $4,000 passengers a
day, or 100000 a year.
On the new site passengers from
the loop district will be able to gain
access to the station by five avenues
instead of one, and, the trackage be-
ing entirely on the west side of the
river, the operation of trains will not
be delayed by bridges.
One of the principal features will
be the reorganization of track facili-
ties by the construction of two new
routes of three tracks, each leading
from the north end of the station,
one running in a northwesterly direc-
ton and joining the main line of the
Wisconsin and Milwaukee divisions,
and the other running directly west
to the Omaha or Galena division
Each of these new tracks will be de-
voted exclusively to passenger traf-
fic.
The present tracks which these
routes will parallel will be given over
entirely to freight traffic, and the site
of the Wells street station will doubt
less eventually be employed as a
freight depot exclusively.
The new station will have capac-
ity of several trains minnie whereas