New-York tribune., 1916-07-09
Engineers Determining
Character of Under
lying Rocks.
ALSO DEPTH AND
NATURE OF EARTH
Seek Cooperation of All Whose
Work Brings Them in Contact
with Subsurface Conditions.

In the last few years extensive
underground Investigations have been
carried out in this city TO determine
the character Of the underlying rocks
and the depth and nature of the earth
cover. says tho bulletin of the Mer-
chants Association. II is estimated
that about S3.OOOOO0 has been spent
for Investigations of this nature by
the municipality. the railroad com
panies and other corporations in con
nection with subway, bridge. dock and
aqueduct construction, foundations for
buildings and similar work.
Probably the most extensive work OF
this kind has been conducted by the
Board Of Water Supply in determining
the location of the city tunnel OF the
Catskil AQucduct, and by the Rapid
Transit Railroad and Public Service
Commissions in connection with sub
way construction.
when this work was started il was
found that while a large number Of
borings had previously been made IN
this vicinity the records had been pre-
served only in a few instances, and
that the samples of core and wash
borings. together with their descrlp-
tive notes. were inconveniently stored
at a number Of widely separated places
I'm the CUSTODY of the authorities under
whose direction they had been made
further says the Merchants Assocla-
tion.
Charles P Berkcy. professor Of
geology Of Columbia University, and
John r. Healy, on February 21, 1911
delivered joint paper before the
Municipal Engineers Of the City OF
New York on The Geology of New
York CITY and Its Relation 20 Engi-
neerinC Problems In the discussion
which followed the presentation OF
this paper il was suggested that the
society could perform valuable ser
vice 70 the city by aiding in the col
lection and permanent preservation OF
all boring samples, properly labelled
and cataiogued
Acting on this suggestion, appllca-
tion was made 10 the Board OF ksti-
mate and Apportionment IN 1913 by
Alfred j. Finn. president OF the
society. for an appropriation Tor the
purpose of collecting. Classifying ana
permanently preserving boring samples
and records and for the preparation o.
geological maps Of the C,iE ol NcW
York An appropriation Of $4,000 was
granted. with the understanding that
the work should be performed under
the direction of Nelson I. Lewis,
chief engineer of the Board Of Esti-
mate and Apportionment, Dr. BerkaY
who has acted as consulting geolOglst
Of the Board of Water Supply. was
selected to supervise the work, and,
aided by a corps Of assistants, rapid
progress is being made in collecting and
Classifying all available data.
a room having about GOO square
feet Of floor space in the Municipal
Building has been assigned Tor use
during the current year suitable
cases for the proper storage OF th'
borings are 20 be provided and an ac-
curate system of indexing and record
ing them is being designed.
To Collect al Data Available.
"Not only the records Of borings. but
also observations of earth and focK
cxposed in excavations. such as pits
cellars. tunnels and subways. are - he
collected and made available for refer
crco I'm order 10 facilitate the col
lection of such data. set Of rules ana
SUGGESTIONS with reference 10 the
nroner methods to use IN planning
lrdercround surveys are being tormu-
iated. A standard form has been pre-
pared. which will be made available
for general use. whereby all such data
can be Systematically recorded. A,
this work progresses and more ana
more data become available through
additions 10 the collection. the city
win be in a few years in possession OF
information which will be invaluuaole'
and To which any engineer, architect
or contractor will be glad 10 turn.
The Municipal Engineers com
uitteo and the city officials are desir,
aus Of enlstng the cooperation OF al
orrineers. contractors and others
whose work brings them in contact
with eubsurfacc conditions Throughout
fho citv. 10 the end that al data nov
available as we'll as all additional m
formation on this subject may be col
looted bv the city authorities and pre-
.crvcd for the general use Of the
Additional data for this collection
NAV be forwarded 10 Nelson !:
Lewis. chief engineer of the Board OF
Estimate and Apportionment. or 70
James F. Sanborn, division engineer
BOARD Of Water supply either OF whom
will DO clad TO supply further lnioF
nation on the subject