The sun., 1907-08-15
INSPECT EAST RIVER BORES
MUD A-PLENTY FOR Professors
TO WADE THROUGH.

station Between Third and Lexington Ave-
nnes First Ono 20 he Opened on This
side Of River-- % followed Out of
solid ROCK 10 Feet Below surface.
st.. John Clarke and the other engineers
who have superintend the building Of the
Belmont tunnels under the East River at
Forty-seoond street took a party OF re-
porters, college professors and engineering
students on tour Of inspection through the
tunnels yesterday afternoon. IL was the
first time that anybody outside OF the work.
ers had been admitted to the tunnels There
were about tifty In tho party and they re-
turned TO daylight after three hours, plest-
cred with mud and with the sound Of buzz
saws running In their ears.
Dean Fred A. Goethe Of tho Columbia
University School Of Applied Sciences
was the head mud wader In the college
contingent. . With him were Prof. Walter
Rautenstrauch of the Mechanical Engineer
ing School and Prof. Charles e. Lucke Of
the department Of hydraulics at Columbia
and forty students from the summer engin-
eering school
Roll UP your trousers and look out for
your straw hats" said Chief Engineer
Clarke a. the lift loaded with human know-
edge and the engineers started its i04 foot
drop down the shaft at the foot Of Forty
second street
overhalls?" asked one Of the students Of
Prof. Rautenstrauch. the only member Of
the party who had followed the example Of
the engineers and dressed for tho trip
My son." said the profe ssor. that is
Iii l. .kS
degree. or perhaps before the trip 10 over.
II you are observing
Engineer Clark distributed his assistants
among the party and struck out in the
north tunnel toward the west. There was
a nice thick coating Of crushed stone on
the bottom Of this section Of the tunnel.
and walking in low shoes was splendid exer-
else for the ankles. The trip over the
ballast continued from the foot Of Forty
second street to a spot eighty feet under
ground in front Of the Grand Central Sta
ton and then back again through the south
bore. Each tunnel 10 IS feet inches high
and IL feet wide. The section from the
solid rock. The curved surface Of the
tunnel is protected by a thick covering Of
cement. The power rail is fastened to the
cement roof. At Park avenue there 10 a
snakelike loop. Deep underground tun-
nels will connect the Belmont bores with
the Grand Central Station and the Hotel
Belmont
When the tunnel first opens. which will
be in about three months, the only station
on the New York side will be between Third
and Lexington avenues. There a space
$50 feet long and 100 feet wide has been
followed out OF the solid rock. eighty-sx
feet below the surface Of the street. Nov
ing stairways will carry the passe myers
up and down. IL will be an up to date
sanitary station.
The engineers said that the work on the
bores in Forty-second street was done
In record time. both having been completed
in sixty-one working days.
II took about half an hour to make the
trip under the river to the Long Island loop
at jackson avenue and Fourth street.
There were a good many leaks and every
little while the party had to crawl under a
muddy platform. A trip through the com-
pressed air chamber in the south bore
was the last thing on the programme