The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-02-24
WATER BARRIERS
ARE OVERCOME
AND A TUNNEL UNDER HUDSON
RIVER IS COMPLETED.
WILL BE OPENED TUESDAY.
Steel Tubes Laid Under the River
Connect New York City with Ho-
boken, NJ J.-EIectric Cars
Will BE Run Therein.

New York. Feb. 24.-The century
old task of overcoming the water bar.
riers that have separated Manhattan
Island from the country of which it is
the metropolis mas at last been ac.
complished. The first tunnel for pas
senger traffic under the North, or Hud.
son, river will be thrown open to the
public at noon Tuesday The event,
which spells the eventual doom of the
Hudson ferries and marks the com
pletion of another stage of the vast
projected system of underground and
underwater transportation Ia the
Greater City, will be celebrated Off
cially by the builders and by the high
est officials of state and nation and
unofiicially by tens of thousands oi
commuters, who no longer will have
their going and coming dependent up
on fog or ice and ferryboat delays.
President Roosevelt, at his desk In
Washington, will press button to sig
nal the opening of the tube. and the
governors of New York and New Jer-
sey will participate I'm the ceremonies
at the tunnels mouth.
With the exception of one line of
railroad which crosses the Hudson at
Albany and then comes In a direct
line south to the Harlem river and
across that stream into the Grand Cen
tral station, all travel to New York
from the south and west has been de-
pendent upon ferryboat services.
Now after 81 years of almost con.
slant effort, the problem of boring be-
meath the surface of the river has
been solved and New York has been
inseparably Joined to the outside
world
The first of the tunnels to be oper.
ated is a part of the so-called Nc
Adoo system, thus named in honor OF
William G. McAdoo, president of the
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Co., a
young Tennesseean, whose energy Sc
cured the backing and made the tun-
nels an accomplished fact. The bore
of this first completed means of un-
der-river transportation to the west
leads from Morton street, on the lower
West Side of New York, to Hoboken,
NJ j.
The tunnel consists of two tubes,
In which shuttle trains of eight cars
each, propelled by electricity, will be
operated. Two more tubes of the Nc
Adoo system are nearing completion.
Their Manhattan terminus will be at
Cortlandt street-now an important
ferry center-and the New Jersey end
will be in Jersey City Both at Hobo !
ken and Jersey City the tunnels have
connections with several of the most
important railroads leading into the 4
city.
The North river tunnel service is to !
be still further augmented later on by
the opening OF the Pennsylvania rail
road tubes to connect their lines with
their magnificent new station now un-
der construction at Thirty-second |
street and Seventh avenue. The first /
of these bores was connected last |
Friday.
The McAdoo tunnel system includes |
subway branches under New York
City leading from the downtown sta
tions to the heart OF the shopping dis
trict The tunnels also will connect
with the main subway routes of The
city and with the Pennsylvania tun-
nels.
Many years ago an aged man known
as "CraZy Luke" was sent to an in
sane asylum for continually discussing
tunnel under the Hudson. In 1874
an engineer named Haskins under
took the task, but after completing
1,200 feet of brick tunneling his com
pany failed in 1880. Ten years later
an English company was formed and
carried the work 1900 seet further,
but after great loss of life and mon
ey the project was abandoned
Mr.. McAdoo was the next to take up
the task and by employing the more
modern method of driving a stout
steel tube under the river bed quick
ly accomplished the work. A feature
of the system Is the Cortandt termi-
nal Two buildings, occupying the
frontage of two blocks and rising 22
stories above the sidewalk, have been
constructed. The train stations are In
the sub-basement and the offices will
house some 10000 people