The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-05-02

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. CO.
"HE cities of the world that pos
sess underground street rail-
ways-11 in all-are about to
have a recruit In Stockholm.
This capital and metropolis of Swe-
den with it's 465,OOO inhabitants Is ne
gotiating for the construction of a
comprehensive subway system to cost
many millions of dollars.
This decision of Stockholm to place
street railways under the earth's sur
face comes soon after the newest and
one of the most ambitious of the
worlds subway stations has been
opened under Piccadilly Circus, the
center of London's activity and the
place of her greatest traffic conges-
ton. The two events recall the brief
period during which the present ex-
tensive underground railway systems
In great cities have developed.
1t seems strange that man. who de-
serted his caves scores of thousands
of years ago and who has been busy
cLuSC SuDuuiuS thC Col III oui ldIC anu
even invading its air, should turn back
and begin burrowing beneath ground.
II seems strangest Of all that he
should delve below the surface for
rapid, mass travel, thing that he
probably never dreamed of in his most
imaginative moments until perhaps a
century ago.
Underground rapid transit Is the
result of the tremendous growth Of
certain cities. 1t was only where pop
-ulation increased to such an extent
that surface streets became choked
with myriads of people seeking to
move about that the idea of travel be-
meath the surface could ever seem de-
sirable. And it was only after the in
vention Of the railway that the idea
became feasible.
Just as the country railway
| developed from the stagecoach, so the
highly organized and heavily capital
lied subway systems of today grew
from the omnibus, the stagecoach of
the city. In New York, a city stage
line was started in 1880 to operate
north on Broadway from Bowling
Green; and within two years the
worlds first street railway-its cars
drawn by horses-was born in the
same city. 1t was line along Fourth
avenue from near the present site Of
city hall to near the present location
of Grand Central station. The idea
spread in the United States but Eu-
rope was slow to follow. Paris es-
tablished horse-car line in 1856; but
it was not until 1861 that London had
its first passenger tram"
In London and New York.
Londoners did not take kindly to
street railways; they objected to the
rails which interfered with other traf-
fic. 1t was because of this feeling
that railways in cities should be out
of the way that the first steps were
taken in London toward underground
rapid transit. The earliest line, con-
structed before 1870, was not all un-
derground. Much Of it was in open
cut, and only part in tunnels. The
trains were operated by steam en-
gines, and the tunnels were so smoky
and Ill ventilated that the system was
not a success.
In the meantime New York, faced
with growing congestion of street
| traffic, and frightening city, was ex-
| perimenting with a new solution, the
elevated railroad. The first was built
| In 1868 and by 1887 there were four
elevated structures on which steam
| trains were operated. Placing fast
| moving city trains above the street
level proved the best solution while
steam was the only motive power, and
| the system was adopted in Chicago,
Berlin and Liverpool.
London, then the worlds greatest
| city, continued to look underground
for the solution Of the rapid transit
| problem After cable cars first came
into use In San Francisco in 1873 and
| spread to other cities, the idea was
| conceived of operating cable cars in
tunnels in London. In 1886 the worlds
| first all-tunnel subway was started in
| London; by the ime it was completed
In 1890 the electric locomotive had
been perfected and the new under
| ground railway was put into opera
| ton with this newest draft agency.
Glasgow, Scotland, and Berlin, Ger
many. opened subway railroads about
the same time. Budapest, Hungary,
was next to join the ranks of subway
| cities. Boston was the first American
| city to begin work on a subway. It
was opened in 1898. In 1900 the Paris
"Metro" began its underground career,
and in the same year New York
started on its first underground rail-
| way. The first train rolled through
the New York subway in 1904, and the
work of extending the system has
been under way almost continually
since. Philadelphia first joined the
cities having underground rapid tran
sit systems in 1908. Since then the
roster has been added to only by
Madrid. Buenos Aires, and Tokyo. The
subways in Madrid and Buenos Aires
are only few miles in length, but
the Tokyo system is fairly extensive.
| Big Population Needed.
| The fact that heavy population is
essential to the success of subways
| demonstrated by a glance at the
! .oster of subway cities OF the