New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-01-04
Doing Underground Paris Is One
Of the Regular Sightseeing
Trips in Time of Peace

~0e'oeu w DC NiScHdfgeQ into tho
Seine and was used entirely in irr;.
cation. There are now five of tbss.
irrigation plants. Besides the ono
at Gennevillers, which has been IN
creased to nearly 5000 acres, the,u
are plants at Argenteuil, Mew
Pare d'Acheres, Carrieres-sous.po;.
sy and Mureaux.
The land under irrigation was for
merly arid, and the system is self
supporting by the sale Of irrigation
to cultivators, who are generally
small market gardeners, farming
two or three acres. The results on
the land are remarkable. Not onlv
is the soil constantly renewed. but
in the point Of crops the average is
twenty-eight tons Of cabbage an
acre, twenty tons Of carrots, forty.
eight tons of beets and six tons Of
beans, while the best land will pro-
duce from fourteen to sixteen tons
Of cauliflower an acre, from twenty.
four to thirty-two tons Of carrots
ffty-six tons Of cabbage and ftom
twenty-four to thirty-two tous Of
onions an acre. This 70 from Two
to three times tho result from ordi-
nary unirrigated land and is not IN
ferior to the best market garden.
where water and manure are freely
used.
This is the anal result a the
sewerage system Of Paris that had
its inception with Hughes Aubriot
in 1864. 1t is six and a half GEN.
turtles Of progress, undreamed Of BY
the medieval governor who laid
the foundations Of the great tunnel
through which the present-day visi.
tor to the Paris sewers progresses
by electric train or electrically
driven boat under the glare of
electric arc lights.
A Tour de Luxe
Such is the vast change since Jean
Vatican carried Marius in his arms
to the outlet in the shadow of the
Pont des Invalides. One no longer
drops through a manhole into an
unlighted drain, through which he
feels his way in the darkness and
in constant fear of a break, which
means quicksand and death. The
tourist season extends from April
to October, and the curious visitor
applies to the Project of the Seine
for an authorization to make the
tour Of the sewers on one of the
weekly trips.
The tour starts from the Place du
Chatelet, and the visitor descends
to the level Of the sewer by a wide
stairway. Arriving at the bottom
he finds himself in a we'll lighted
tunnel nineteen feet four inches
wide and with vaulted roof four
teen feet high. A ditch in the
center carries the sewage that is
mixed with large volume of swift
ly flowing water. Astride the ditch
on q track Of four-foot gauge is Q
train capable Of carrying 100 pas
sengers and drawn by an electric
locomotive Of the storage battery
type. In the galleries Of the sewer
are the water and gas mains, COM
pressed air conduits, the electric
light, telephone and telegraph wires,
and there is a broad footpath on
either side of the central ditch.
The line Of the tour follows the
Boulevard de Sebastopol to the Rue
de Rivoli, and along the Rue de
Rivoli to the Place de la Concorde.
At that point a change is made to
q tow Of electrically drawn boats,
which proceed through smaller
tunnel under the Rue Royale to the
Place de La Madeleine, where they
turn to the left Into the Boulevard
de Malesherbes, and the halt is OPP
posite the Church Of the Madeleine
after trip Of one and quarter
miles.
Up to 1894 the tours started from
the Boulevard de Malesherbes, and
the first part was made in boats,
which were carried along by the
force Of the current, while after the
change to the cars at the Place de
la Copcorde the motive power was
men. Both the boats and the cars
were the ones used in cleaning tho
sewage bitches. But the work was so
hard and the men had to be changed
80 frequently that in 1894 the system
II electric propulsion was adopted
and while the boats used are still the
ones for cleaning the bitches, the
cars are special ones for passenger
service. The tours start now from
Zach terminal and there are three
trips each way on each visiting day
during the .season.