UNDER THE RIVER
The tunnel under the Hudson River was begun several decades ago. It was
started from the New York side, a little south of Christopher Street,
and continued out under the bed of the river for some distance. Then
the company failed and they built a brick wall, twenty-four feet thick,
at the end of the tube they had dug. It remained in that condition for
many years, until a new company was formed. This concern took up the
work where the others left off.
There were two tubes, each circular, and about twenty-four feet in
diameter, dug under the river. They were separated by a wall of earth,
and each tube was lined with heavy cast iron. In cutting the tube a
big thing like an exaggerated apple corer was pushed through the earth
sixty feet below the surface of the river bed by hydraulic force. To
prevent the water from rushing in, the shield was kept filled with
compressed air at a heavy pressure.
Up to within a few days this compressed air had been used in the
tunnel, but when the reporters started through the tunnel was near
enough completion to render it unnecessary. The heavy cast iron lining
was all in place, except where the brick wall was, and it only remained
to cut through the masonry, establish communication from one end to the
other, fit a few pieces of cast iron into place, and the tunnel would
be established. The cutting through of the wall was the event of great
importance, and really marked the completion of the first stage of the
work. Hence every reporter felt the need of getting a good story about
it.
“We’ll try to beat ’em,” whispered Mr. Newton to Larry as the party
started forward.
The tunnel was cut in a slanting or downward direction at first. It
began several hundred feet back from the edge of the river and, when it
was actually below the bed of the stream it was level.
It was quite dark in the big tube, save here and there where electric
lights gleamed. Most of the party walked, but there were small cars,
hauled by a cable, for the use of the directors and officials of the
construction company.
Through the tube they went. In spite of the heavy lining, sustaining
thousands of pounds of pressure, some water leaked in. It splashed down
in big drops, and felt like rain. Once a drop fell on Larry’s lips, and
it tasted salty, just as the lower Hudson River does. Then he began
to realize that he was in a queer place, under the bed of one of the
largest rivers in the United States. It hardly seemed possible that he
was walking under the historic stream that Henry Hudson, in the _Half
Moon_, discovered so many years ago.
As the party progressed, the president explained the workings of the
machinery, and stated that when the concrete lining had been placed
over the iron, there would be no leakage.
“Where are we now?” asked one of the reporters.
“Right under the middle of the river,” was the president’s reply.
“Above us are the big ferryboats. The ocean steamers are sailing, and
the tug boats are darting to and fro.”
“What if the tunnel should break?” asked the same newspaper man.
“None of us would be left to tell what happened,” was the reply. “The
water would rush in and--that would be the end of us.”
Larry shivered, though it was hot in the tube.
“But we didn’t build this tunnel to break,” the president went on. “You
are as safe as if you were in your offices.”
“I wish I could believe that,” a young reporter remarked, with
something like a shiver.
Here and there the gloom was lighted by an incandescent lamp. The
cable, pulling small cars, in which the officers and directors of the
company rode, while the rest walked, slid along on the grooved wheels.
The way was obstructed by huge pieces of iron, being some extra ones
of those that formed the inner lining of the tunnel.
With occasional jokes, which a reporter makes even at a funeral, the
party proceeded. Now and than a halt would be made while the president
explained some technical point.
Finally the party came to a stop. It was quite dark and the few lights
only seemed to make the gloom deeper.
“What’s the matter?” asked Mr. Newton.
“We’ve come to some sort of a wall,” another reporter replied. “It
seems they have to cut through this before we can go any further. Gee!
But I wish I had time to send something about this to my paper. It will
be a dandy story.”
“I guess there aren’t any telephones under the Hudson,” said Mr.
Newton, nudging Larry in the ribs.
“No, but there may be some day. Well, I suppose I’ll have to make a
story for to-morrow, but the morning papers will have the best of it.”
Mr. Newton did not reply, and Larry thought that perhaps the other
reporter might be mistaken. He began to see what a fine thing it would
be to beat the other papers. The whole party had now halted. There was
a sort of inclined platform of boards built from the floor close to the
roof of the tunnel.
Up this the members of the party walked until they came to a level
place where they stood together. Overhead was the iron-ribbed lining
of the big tube. It had only recently been put in place and, as it was
not water tight, moisture from the river came through quite freely.
Big drops splashed down almost like rain, and it was salt rain at that.
“I guess I’ll have to get a new suit out of the office, for mine’s
spoiled,” said one of the newspaper men.
“And my hat’s gone to grass,” remarked another, as he contemplated his
straw headgear.
“You want to be ready to slip back soon now,” whispered Mr. Newton
to Larry. “They’re going to try the hydraulic ram on the brick wall.
As soon as they start it I’ll let you know. Then you can slip down
as quietly as possible, make your way back through the tunnel, go up
to the surface, and telephone to Mr. Emberg. He has the story almost
written, for he knows something about the tunnel. All he wants to know
are a few particulars which you can give him.”
Larry nerved himself for the coming effort. There seemed to be a sort
of uneasiness in the crowd, for some of them did not know what was to
come. They were tired of being kept in the dark.
“We are now going to start the hydraulic ram,” said the voice of the
president. “It will cut through the brick wall and then we will step
through the hole into the other part of the tunnel, thus completing
the trip from New Jersey to New York. Let me call your attention to the
fact that this trip is made, not like the partial one of a year ago,
through the northern tube under compressed air. We have so far advanced
that we do not need to maintain an air pressure any longer for safety.”
“All ready,” called one of the engineers.
There was a little shifting in the crowd. Men in red shirts and big
rubber boots began fumbling at some pipes and machinery.
“Here she goes!” cried someone, and Larry prepared himself to start on
the back trip at a signal from Mr. Newton.
There was a rending, crashing, tearing sound. The brick wall began to
crumble under the powerful force of the plunger worked by water power.
Then came a dull thud, and silence.
“What’s the matter?” cried the president.
“I’m sorry to say the ram’s broken,” replied the engineer.
“Cut the wall down with crowbars and pickaxes then,” cried the
president.
“I regret, gentlemen,” he went on, “that we will have a little delay.
The wall was thicker than we thought. We cut away as much as we dared
and we depended on the ram to do the rest. It has failed us. But we
will soon have a passageway through, and you will have been the first
party to walk under the river without the use of compressed air, which
is something of an achievement.”
“Oh, for a chance to telephone the paper!” exclaimed several reporters.
But they knew there was no opportunity.
“Now’s your time!” whispered Mr. Newton to Larry. “Hurry back, and as
soon as you can get to a telephone tell Mr. Emberg all that you have
seen and about the failure of the ram to work. I’d go, only if I leave
the other men will notice it and they’ll try the same trick.”
Slipping through the crowd, Larry started back. He was not noticed
amid the excitement. He could hear the blows which the laborers were
beginning to rain on the brick wall and the thud of them sounded like
thunder in the tunnel. Down the sloping planks he went until he found
himself on the floor of the tube.
Then he began to run as fast as possible on the uneven surface and
through the semi-darkness. Several times he stumbled over big sections
of the iron lining and once he fell into a puddle of water. He got up,
not minding the smart of his cut hands, and kept on.
The tunnel made a slight turn a few hundred feet back from where the
wall was being cut through and this curve hid the throng from Larry.
Now he was all alone in the big shaft and he began to experience a
feeling of fear. Suppose some accident should happen? If the roof
should cave in? Or he should fall, strike his head, and be rendered
unconscious?
All these things Larry thought of as he hurried on. But he tried to
forget them and to think only of getting to the surface and telephoning
the news. The fact that the hydraulic ram had failed to work made the
story all the better for newspaper purposes.
Larry’s one real fear was lest he might not be able to get through the
air lock. This was a sort of double opening leading into the tube at
the western end. There was no air pressure in it however, but the lock
remained and had to be entered through small openings.
When the party had reached this, in going through the tunnel, they
found the opening so narrow that but one could pass through at a time.
Workmen had been stationed there to help, as the doors which formerly
closed the lock were still in place and were heavy affairs. If one of
them should happen to be closed Larry felt that his mission would prove
a failure.
He kept on as fast as he could walk. He was glad when he came to an
electric light, for it made the tube seem less lonesome. But the lights
were few and when he had left one behind Larry began to wish the next
one would gleam out.
When he felt the floor of the tube beginning to take an upward turn
Larry knew he was approaching the end, and, also, the air lock.
“I hope the men have left it open,” he said to himself.
He was almost running now. Suddenly something black loomed up in front
of him, as he could see by the glare from a near-by electric lamp. He
put out his hand and touched something cold and hard.
“It’s the air lock!” he exclaimed. “And the door is shut!”