The Detroit times., 1909-07-23
100000 MINUTES
SAVED EACH DAY.
McAdoo Tunnel, Completed Between
New York and Jersey, Used by
100000 Persons Each Day.
BY w. G. SHEPHERD.


NEW YORK. July 23.-The dream
of w. G. McAdoo has come true. fle
is saving two cities 100000 minutes
a day.
4 And New York, because of him, is
no longer an island.
The opening of the McAdoo tunnels
10 Jersey City was one of the most
magnificent things To the world ont
side OF New York that has occurred
recently.
More than half the visitors to New
York don't reach ehe city by tram.
The trains take them TO the river,
ON the Jersey side. Here they have
had To alight and take ferryboats TO
Manhattan island, going from the ferry
stations 10 their destinations In the
city by trolley cars.
Bus McAdoo's tunnels have ended
this arrangement.
AT The three great depots on the Jer-
sey side--the Erie, Lackawanna and
PennSylvania-are subway stations
And from these, every two and one
half minutes during the day, trains or
eight cars are whisked, within the
space OF three minutes, TO the heart
OF Manhattan island
! There is one more tunnel that Nc.
Adoo Is contemplating. which will con-
meet his tunnel system with the
metropolitan subway
When this is completed travellers
who must go beyond New York Will
pass under IT, In fact. they will not
see daylight while they are in the
city.
The wonder OF the tunnels Is the
time saved All OF the vast Jersey
shore will be brought within the easy
reach OF New Workers, who Will un'
doubleday seek homes where they can
\ have yards and breathing room.
I At present 100000 persons who pass
between New York and Jersey City
daily will save 80 minutes day by
using the tunnels.
The vastness of this saving is diff
cult to realize. With no increase In
Ifare-5 cents-each one of these lOO,-
900 commuters saves three hours
week.
Three million two hundred thou
sand minutes saved day!
Fifty-fve thousand five hundred
hours.
! Over eight thousand working days
added 10 the time of the cities work
day!
! This vast work has been done by
a dreamer-a dreamer, who, also, was
performer.
w. G.. McAdoo was raised In Geor-
gia. He is long, gaunt. yellow, kind
and polite. He was educated In the
law Then he came to New York to be
great lawyer.
But one day the dream OF boring
under the great North river came to
him. IL was foolish that New York
should be an island, he thought. True,
nature had surrounded IL by water.
But beneath the water was earth. TX
human beings could travel through
this earth, Manhattan island would
no longer be bound by water.
McAdoo dreamed and talked. Tens
of millions heard him. Two great
firms had failed. in years before, in
attempting to do what McAdoo pro
posed. So McAdoo was handicapped.
But he couldn't stop dreaming and he
wouldn't stop talking
The millionaires at last listened To
him. A. j. Cassatt. president of the
Pennsylvania road, finally succumbed.
This broke the spell. The money
poured In.
McAdoo dreamed OF a great ter
minal in the heart of the business dis
trict. Ii was built-the largest Office
building and the largest railroad ter
minal In the world.
This was In 1906.
In three years the greater parts of
the tunnels were built.
Three years are 1895 days.