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SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO, SHOWING THE CRIR TN LAKE MICHIGAN, THE ORIGINAL LAKE TI
THE
Tunnels and Water System
OF CHICAGO.
• /• » t»
||mten ilie | and |] ndei[ the ||icet[.
ILLUSTRATED BY WALLIS.
CHICAGO:
. AI. "WJATGr Sc CO., F^iaLjlisliei's of Tlie ILanci Owner.
1874.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1874, by J. M. Wist* & Co., in the office of the
Librarian of Congress, at "Washington.
PREFACE.
That portion of this book describing and referring to the original
Lake Tunnel was published by the author in a cheap pamphlet form,
without illustrations, in 1864, at which time the water question was the
question par excellence of the hour. The edition was rapidly sold,
and has been out of print almost from its appearance, while there has
grown up a steady demand for a complete and exhaustive description
of the entire tunnel system of Chicago. To supply this demand is the
object of this volume, which, it is hoped, the public will welcome as
gladly as they did the little pamphlet that preceded it.
It may be well for the author to state here that the work lays no
claims to treating of the tunnel system of Chicago scientifically; it is
simply a descriptive and narrative history of the inception and
progress of the work, designed to convey to the reader a general idea
of the elaborate system, by means of which the 400,000 citizens of
Chicago are supplied with pure water, and the pains they have taken
to overcome the inconvenience of the river shipping and the bridges.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page.
SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE CHICAGO WATER SYSTEM, Frontispiece.
THE CHICAGO WATER WORKS BUILDING AND STAND PIl'E, 11
THE CRIB IN THE LAKE, 17
SHAFT OF THE SECOND LAKE TUNNEL ON ILLINOIS STREET,-
RAILROADING UNDER LAKE MICHIGAN, 20
EXCAVATING ON THE FACE OF THE TUNNEL, 35
SURVEYING UNDER THE LAKE, 41
APPARATUS AT THE SHAFTS FOR HOISTING EARTH, 47
BRICKING UP THE TUNNEL ARCH, - 55
THE MULE TRAIN IN THE TUNNEL, 50
TURN TABLE IN THE SUPPLY CHAMBERS, 05
WORKMEN DESCENDING THE SHORE SHAFT, 71
ONE OF THE GREAT ENGINES AT THE WATER WORKS, 77
ROADWAY FOR VEHICLES, WASHINGTON STREET TUNNNEL, S5
THE RIVER OVER WASHINGTON STREET TUNNEL, SO
ENTRANCE FOR VEHICLES, LA SALLE STREET TUN EL, 05
FOOT PASSENGER WAY, LA SALLE STREET TUNNEL. 101
ENTRANCE TO FOOT PASSENGER WAY, WASHINGTON ST. TUNNEL. 105
SECTIONAL VIEW OF LA SALLE STREET TUNNEL, 109
CONTENTS.
Page.
UNDER THE LAKE,
9
EARLY AGITATION OF THE WATER QUESTION,
14
A TUNNEL UNDER LAKE MICHIGAN,
10
EXAMINATION OF THE RED OF LAKE MICHIGAN,
22
AWARD OF THE TUNNEL CONTRACT,
20
GROUND BROKEN FOR THE TUNNEL,
28
SINKING THE SHORE SHAFT,
31
EXCAVATING THE TUNNEL PROPER,
33
THE CRIB IN THE LAKE,
39
THE LAKE SHAFT,
45
GEN. GRANT'S PARTY VISIT THE TUNNEL,
51
BOSTONIANS VISIT THE "BIG BORE,"
58
SIR MORTON PETO AT THE TUNNEL,
07
SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE TUNNEL,
08
PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES,
70
THE TUNNEL COMPLETED,
75
THE SEALING STONE PUT IN PLACE,
82
THE SECOND LAKE TUNNEL,
91
THE TUNNEL UNDER THE CITY,
98
THE TUNNELS UNDER THE RIVER,
100
THE GREAT TUNNELS OF THE WORLD,
104
-t-TCH
E GENIUS AVI) SCIENTIFIC KNOW LI
Gave 400,000 People of Chicago the matchless blessing of Pure Water,
ATTAINED THROUGH HIS SKILL AND DEVOTION TO THEIR INTERESTS.
THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY THE PUBLISHERS.
UNDER THE LAKE.
ROUND was first broken for the great Chicago Lake Tunnel,
on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, 1864. The various causes
which led to the undertaking of this gigantic work, and com¬
pelled such an enormous expenditure on the part of the city, now being
supplemented by a still greater outlay, may be briefly stated. The old
inhabitants of Chicago are painfully aware of them.
Since Chicago became a city, its great want had been an abundant
supply of pure water. This want became more and more pressing as
the city increased from a mere handful of settlers to be the teeming
mart of the western world. Unlike most other cities, and especially
those of the East, the surroundings of the Garden City were no more
elevated than the place where the city itself stood, and no flow of
water could be secured from any direction whatever. Originally, indeed,
the Chicago river possessed no current, being in fact a bayou setting
back from the lake, its source on a precise dead level with its mouth.
The astonishing growth of the city, unparalleled in the history of
the world, its increasing commerce and trade, combined to render
the currentless river a cesspool of filth. Miles of sewerage were
constructed, which discharged their foul contents into its turbid waters.
Hundreds of steam tugs and lake craft plowed its surface, and the
refuse and offal from numberless slaughter-houses and packing
establishments in the vicinity of Bridgeport, on the South Branch,
found its way into the filthy river. In midsummer the stench emitted
from this repository of a city's offal became intolerable; its waters
grew thick and slimy, obliging the steam craft that plowed its surface
to go far out into the lake to fill their boilers with pure water. Many
10
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
terrible explosions have been yearly chronicled by the Chicago press,
which resulted from the use of the foul water of the river for making
steam. The animal matter which it contained generated gas, and
explosions followed, which were often disastrous in the extreme.
The waters of Lake Michigan were contaminated and befouled by
the influx, rather than current of the river, for some distance from the
shore. A short distance north of the mouth of the river the engines
of the old Water Works were at work, pumping this foul liquid into
the reservoirs, from whence it found its way into every family in the
city. Bridget had no other with which to fill her tea-kettle, and the
laborer must needs quench his thirst with it. It came on the dinner
table and made the goblets look dirty; it was tasted from necessity,
and that was all. The guests present, from cities blessed with pure
water, disdained to taste it, and returned to their homes, declaring that
they would not live in Chicago for the world, its water "was so filthy
and smelt so bad."
Another grievous evil of the old water system was, that as cold
weather approached, millions of infinitesimal fishes sought the enclo¬
sure near shore, from which the water was pumped. In spite of every
effort, these scaly minnows would enter the reservoirs of the city, and
come out in scores from every hydrant, alive and swimming. This was
the greatest annoyance of all, and one that could not be brooked-
Every drop of water drank in the city was highly flavored with fish,
and one was obliged to look twice in his goblet to see that he did
not swallow one alive. Wagon loads of fishes were often seined out
of the reservoirs, but this seemed only to increase their numbers, and
augment rather than diminish the nuisance. This was the culmination,
the climax of endurance. To have living fishes forced down one's
throat, to taste, smell and bathe in fishy fluid, was rather too great a
torment to be borne. The press cried out against this plague,
pronounced it a greater than -ever afflicted Egypt, and demanded its
VIEW UF THE WATER WORKS BUILDING AND STAND PIPE.
under the lake and under the river.
abatement. Ladies complained that the avaricious milkmen of the
Garden City forgot to take the fish out of the water which they mixed
with the lacteal fluid, and fishy milk was the consequence. Wicked
liquor dealers were caught in the act of adulterating their goods,
pickled minnows being frequently found in their best brands. These
were among the unbearable features of the old water works, which
rather increased than diminished year by year, the nuisance having
been worse the season of 1866 than any previous one, as if to give our
citizens the darkest side of the old system just before the new went
into operation, that they might the better appreciate the pure water of
the Tunnel.
It is useless to add, that whenever Chicago was visited by "down
east" literary men or obese aldermen, they returned to their homes to
crack jokes at us, not because they had not been sumptuously and
hospitally entertained here, but to afford them an opportunity to display
their small wits. Thus Chicago water became the butt for jokes all
over the country, to the no small mortification of its citizens, who
were doing all in their power to ameliorate the evil, and who would
gladly have done so long ago, at any expense.
This had been the precise condition of Chicago since it arose from
the prairie to be the largest city in the western world. It was blessed
with commerce; with unequaled resources and avenues of wealth;
with railroads running to it from every quarter of the country,
draining the bountifully yielding prairies, and pouring their products
into its granaries and storehouses. Emigration flowed toward it with
unchecked tide. Its people grew rich, its schools numerous; its
magnificent churches could be counted by scores; its fine public
buildings and private residences astonished the world; its population
increased to 350,000 souls. And Chicago was great, prosperous and
happy, with the sole exception that it lacked the one great essential to
vitality, to life itself—pure water.
14
TIIE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
EARLY AGITATION OF THE WATER QUESTION.
HIS state of things was endured quite submissively until the
year 1863, when the citizens began to show a determination
to have it ameliorated in some manner or another. The war
was in progress, and the nation was too much excited for anybody to
think of much else. Engineers, men of mind and ability all over the
country, were turning their attention to the field. The pencil of the
draughtsman was busy in outlining fortifications, designing bridges and
outwitting the rebel foe. The all-absorbing topic was the war. Men of
wealth opened their purses and gave to the common cause; patriotic
ladies and children did their best to help it to a triumph. The prospects
were indeed poor for any great outlay in any other direction.. But still
the local agitation was kept up, until finally different parties began to
submit plans and specifications for purifying the Chicago river.
Many of these devices were Yankee in the extreme, and not a few
of them almost provoked a laugh. Perhaps the most elaborate of any
was that prepared by Mr. Gindele, of the Board of Public Works.
He suggested that the waters of the Calumet and Desplaines rivers be
diverted into the Chicago river, by means of the feeder and the use of
pumps. To this it was objected that the supply of water would
be inadequate, while the adoption of the plan would involve the city in
interminable and expensive chancery suits, the diversion of the current
of the streams and of the canal seeming necessarily to encroach upon
rights which had vested in the canal company and in the owners of
mill property and water privileges on the canal and on the running
streams.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
15
A second plan suggested was to build a series of intercepting
sewers, similar in their nature to those which had then lately been
erected in the city of London, for the purification of the river Thames.
These, it was thought by some, could be constructed along the margin
of the river, as reservoirs for the filth passing within its borders and
from the sewers, the contents thus received being emptiedinto the lake,
or distributed over the country for the purposes of agriculture. This
suggestion had a theoretical value. The largest city of the world
adopted it, at an enormous expense, but to the time of its consid¬
eration here, no results had been deduced which would warrant a
certainty of probable success. The expenditure of money would be
very great, and the loss of time would be considerable, and on so great
an experiment, which had not in itself a fair prospect of success, our
people were unwilling to enter.
A proposed ship canal had the appearance of being something
feasible, but there was a barrier to its success. It needed Congres¬
sional legislation, and to procure the necessary number of votes, the
assent of Western Congressmen was asked to have four distinct lines
of railroad communication to be built at the expense of the nation.
Less than a canal could not be thought of, because citizens of towns
upon the line and upon the river bank would be ill content to receive a
surfeit of our surplus nastiness.
A covered aqueduct was also proposed. This, it was thought, should
be of the diameter of ten feet, to extend from the lake to the river,
which it should enter at some point on the south side, a point at about
Sixteenth street being designated. To this plan it was objected,
that the obnoxious matter being emptied into the lake so near the point
whence the lake water would be drawn, it would be corrupted, and
would increase rather than diminish the evil complained of.
About this time the ship canal bill was killed, a result feared by many
of our citizens. It deprived them of all hope of relief in this
16
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
direction, and gave an impetus to the Tunnel project, which shortly
afterward gained great favor among all classes. Every scheme as yet
presented had proved untenable, and the desired end—that of
providing an abundance of pure water for Chicago—was quite as far
olf as ever. Only one point had been gained, and that was, the
people had now become thoroughly aroused on the subject. The grand
result shows what popular will and determination can accomplish.
THE CRIB IN THE LAKE, TWO MILES FROM SHORE. LAKE TERMINUS OF THE TUNNELS.
UNDEa THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
19
A TUNNEL UNDER LAKE MICHIGAN,
HE inventive genius of our citizens, and particularly of the
different members of the Board of Public Works, was now
thoroughly aroused. Western determination was at work,
and Teutonic pluck was resolved to unloose the hull-dog's grip. We had
plenty of pure water constantly in our view, tantalizing as the fact
appeared. It was true that Lake Michigan was quite as foul as the river,
near its mouth, but at a certain distance from shore the water became
as pure as Croton, cold and clear as crystal. The contaminating influ¬
ences of the Chicago river possessed no power over the waters of the lake,
at a distance of two miles from shore. Here, then, was an eternal reser¬
voir, from which Chicago could derive pure water in abundance, long
after the masonry of the Croton aqueducts should crumble. It was a
glorious idea in embryo. How could this natural supply of water be
appropriated and made to flow through the miles of pipes and number¬
less hydrants of the city ? The water, to insure its constant purity,
must be drawn from the lake, at a distance of at least two miles from
shore, far beyond the murky influx of the river and the city sewers.
It was a great problem, worthy of the mind of genius. And it was
solved. Chicago possessed a man with a mind equal to the gigantic
task.
To Mr. E. S. Chesbrough, the skillful and accomplished city
engineer, belongs the credit of the original idea of constructing a
a tunnel, two miles in length, beneath the bed of Lake Michigan,
which should literally tap the lake from the bottom, at that distance
20
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OP CHICAGO.
from shore, and through which pure water should be conveyed into the
reservoirs of the city. No sooner had Mr. Chesbrough conceived the
idea of a tunnel, than he proceeded to investigate the subject. He
soon determined, in his own mind at least, that it was entirely feasible,
and prepared plans for its construction, into which the other members
of the Board of Public Works entered with a will.
When the news became known that Chicago proposed to build a
tunnel two miles under Lake Michigan, far beneath its bed, and then
tap the bottom of the lake at that distance from shore, to secure a
supply of pure water for its inhabitants, the entire civilized world
was astonished. New York declared it could not be done; New
England affirmed, in Puritanic style, that it should not be. They
said, in their peculiar language, that no city but New York and Boston
had any right to drink pure water. Chicago, they more than once
hinted, would bankrupt herself if she undertook such a "wild job."
They could not bear the idea of such enormous expenditure. Besides,
such a project, by its very boldness, would draw thousands of visitors
to Chicago, to whom they preferred to show the Boston Common, the
big organ and Central Park. Both those cities pronounced against the
Lake Tunnel, and their newspapers endeavored to show by long
leaders that the project was a vain chimera.
But Chicago had got a brilliant idea, through the active brain of
Mr. Chesbrough, who has ever been her faithful servant, and whom her
citizens will never cease to hold in grateful remembrance, as much for
the rare fidelity with which he discharges his official duties as for the
unassuming modesty with which he leaves to the public the recognition
of his services. The popular verdict was pronounced, that it should
be seized upon and put into execution. The circumstances required
energy and prompt action. It was resolved, at all events, that water
should be taken from the lake, at a sufficient distance from the shore
to insure its continual purity.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
21
On the 13th day of February, 1863, the amended city charter was
approved by the Legislature, in which power was given to the city " to
construct such aqueducts along the shore of Lake Michigan, or in
the highways, or elsewhere in said Cook county, and to construct such
pumping works, breakwaters, subsiding basins, filter beds and reser¬
voirs, and to lay such water mains, and to make all other constructions
in said county, as shall be necessary in obtaining from Lake Michigan
a sufficient and abundant supply of pure water for said city;",
"to extend aqueducts, or inlet pipes, into Lake Michigan, so far as
may be deemed necessary to insure a supply of pure water, and to
erect a pier or-piers in the navigable waters of said lake, for the
making, preserving and working of said pipes or aqueducts."
Congress sanctioned this action of the Illinois State Legislature,
January 16, 1864.
And so the Chicago Lake Tunnel, so graphically pictured in the
pages of this volume, became a tangible thing.
22
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
EXAMINATION OF THE BED OF LAKE MICHIGAN.
OON after the action of the State Legislature, but before its
sanction by Congress, the bed of the lake was examined, with
a view to test the feasibility of excavating the' Tunnel,
month of June, 1863, the City Engineer, with some scientific
aid, commenced boring to ascertain the nature of the bottom. The
experiments were made first at some twenty feet from the shore.
At about two hundred feet from the shore, the water being a little
over twenty feet deep, there was blue clay underlying a sandy
covering. These experiments led to others. Two scows were towed
into the lake and secured by anchors. From between these a two-
inch gas pipe was lowered until it rested on the surface of the earth,
the top being two or three feet above the surface of the water.
Down this tube an auger was passed, both capable of being length¬
ened by attaching additional parts to each. At three-quarters of
a mile from the shore, the water being twenty feet deep, there was
found a four inch covering of sand and thirty feet of blue clay. One
and three-quarters miles out, the water being thirty-one feet deep, the
same substratum was discovered. Two miles and a quarter due east of
the old Water Works, near the site of the crib as at present located,
the water, being thirty feet deep, was clear and cool. The earth was
penetrated to the depth of thirty feet. Here was found a covering of
sand and soft, mashy soil, with a clay becoming more hard and compact
as it was sunk into.
On June 16th, of the same year, the temperature of the water began
to be tested. Its clearness was apparent, a small object being visible
In the
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
25
at a distance of eighteen feet, the water being thirty-six feet deep. On
the surface, the thermometer showed, at three o'clock of the 16th day
of June, sixty degrees, and at the bottom fifty-one and a half degrees.
These experiments continued to be carried on with the like result of
exhibiting a clay substratum, the approach to the shore, however, show¬
ing a deeper alluvial deposit, composed mainly of sand.
26 tie* tunnels and water system of chicago.
AWARD OF THE TUNNEL CONTRACT.
HE result of the above experiments was the adoption, by the
Council, of Mr. Chesbrough's plan for building a tunnel under
the lake, which he demonstrated to be entirely practicable to
the minds of the city fathers. The old methods of purifying the river,
the compound sewers, ship canals, wind-mills, etc., were at once aban¬
doned ; and, it is said, that the present Board of Public Works now
occasionally laugh at the folly of their predecessors, in once entertain¬
ing such plans, now that the correct one has been found. But it was
only through such inquiry and examination—research deep and long—
that the proper plan was at last obtained.
The necessary drawings and specifications were prepared, under the
never wearying eye of Mr. Chesbrough. Advertisements for bids for
building the Chicago Lake Tunnel soon astonished the world,
appearing in all the Chicago papers, and the New York dailies. Sev¬
eral letters containing "sealed proposals," or bids, were soon received,
which were opened on the 9th of September, 1863, in the presence of
the Board of Public Works and nearly all of the several parties pro¬
posing.
The bids were seven in number, and ranged very wide of each other,
as follows:
James Andrews, of Pittsburgh, Pa., - $239,548
Dull & Gowan, of Harrisburg, Pa., - 315,139
Walker, Wood & Robinson, of New York, - - 315,000
Williaihs, McBean, Brown & Nelson, of Chicago, 490,000
Henry Nash, of Chicago (per lineal foot), - .40
D. L. DeGolyer, of Chicago, - - 620,000
William Baldwin, of New York, - 1,056,000
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
27
The question will be asked, why this disparity of bids ? It arcse
from the fact of a difference of opinion existing among the sevral
parties offering the proposals, as to the character of the soil beneath
the lake. Some of them claimed that they would meet with sand or
gravel in the work of excavation, which would render it both difficult
and dangerous ; while others argued that the soil would be uniformly
of clay and easily tunneled.
.Messrs. Dull & Gowan, of Harrisburg, Pa., gentlemen well known
in the engineering world, although not the lowest bidders, were the
only parties who made an unqualified proposal, taking all risks of soil,
etc. upon themselves, and consequently the contract was awarded to
them.
On the 5th of October, the following month, the Common Council
of Chicago granted all necessary authority for building the Tunnel, so
far as they were concerned, and ordered that the requisite bonds be
issued.
The contract for this gigantic work, pronounced by engineers of
both hemispheres to be the greatest the world ever saw, and beside of
which the tunneling of the Thames was mere child's play, was signed
and sealed on the 28th day of October, 1863. This paper, which bound
the contractors to undertake" and complete the greatest project ever
entered upon by men, and the City of Chicago to pay them for the same,
together with the penalties of failure by either party, bears the signa¬
tures of James J. Dull and James Gowan, the contractors, and J. G.
Gindele, Frederick Letz, 0. J. Rose, and F. C. Sherman, Commis¬
sioners of the Board of Public Works, and specified the completion of
the work " on or before the first day of November, A. D. 1865." As
will be seen hereafter, the time fixed for the completion of the work
proved to be far too early. It was destined to be the work of years.
28
THE TUNNELS ANI) WATER SYSTEM 01? CHICAGO.
GROUND BROKEN FOR THE TUNNEL.
DELAY of about two months in the casting of the huge
cylinders for the shore shaft of the Tunnel, at Pittsburgh,
Pa., postponed the inauguration ceremonies until the 17th of
March, 1864, on which day the first shovelful of earth was removed.
These ceremonies were of an interesting character; every man partici¬
pating in them feeling aware of the great undertaking upon which they
were entering, and the disgrace which a failure would bring both upon
themselves and the city. The ceremonies were witnessed by about a
hundred gentlemen, among whom were Mayor Sherman, Messrs. Letz
and Rose, of the Board of Public Works, Mr. S. S. Hayes, the present
City Comptroller, E. S. Chesbrough, the Engineer, and U. P. Harris,
since deceased, and a majority of the members of the Common Council.
The Mayor made a few remarks appropriate to the occasion, and then
took the pick and broke the ground, amid the cheers of the company.
Each of the gentlemen took a shovelful of earth and placed it in the
wheelbarrow, which was taken away by Colonel Gowan, one of the con¬
tractors. The field was then abandoned to Messrs. Dull & Gowan, and
the work placed in their hands; the Board reserving the right to examine
and criticize the operations as they progressed.
The location of the shore shaft was on the site of the old pumping
works, at the east end of Chicago Avenue, directly on the lake shore,
about half an hour's walk from the old Court House.
under the lake and under the river.
31
SINKING THE SHORE SHAFT.
ESSRS. Dull & Gowan, the contractors, now entered zeal¬
ously upon their great work. A shaft about nine feet in
diameter was sunk, on the above site, a short distance from
the shore of the lake. When the workmen had descended a short
distance into the earth, they encountered a bed of shifting quicksand,
which, for a time, defied all efforts at excavation. It was originally
intended to construct the shaft wholly of brick, running it down from
the surface of the ground to a depth of fifteen feet below the level
of the bottom of the lake, but encountering quicksand compelled
the abandonment of this method. The contract was consequently
deviated from, and the contractors were authorized to run down
an iron cylinder of the same dimensions as the center of the crib,
as far as the bottom of the sand bed, about twenty-six feet. This
inlet cylinder was nine feet in diameter, inside, and two and one-
quarter inches thick. It was cast in four sections of about nine
feet in length. The great labor of sinking these sections will be
apparent to all. From the bottom of the cylinders, twenty-six feet,
the shaft was continued into the earth until it reached the depth of
sixty-nine feet, being constructed of brick from the point where the
iron cylinders ceased.
This shaft was not unlike an immense well. It was destined to be
the great highway through which the clay excavated from the Tunnel
proper should be conveyed to the outer world, and much satisfaction
was felt by the contractors when this bare commencement of their
great work was accomplished.
32 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
Over the mouth of this shaft, a rough, temporary building was
erected, large enough to contain a steam engine of great power, the
office of the contractors, and the brick, cement, tools, etc., used by the
workmen. An elevator was now constructed, which carried the miners
up and down the shaft to their work, being propelled by the engine.
Stepping upon this platform, half a dozen hardy miners, carrying each
his little lamp, pick and shovel, would descend far beneath the view of
the spectators, to their labors in the bowels of the earth. The clay
excavated was brought up the shaft in the same manner, and the brick,
cement, etc., carried down.
At the bottom of the shaft the water soon began to ooze in, and it
became necessary to construct a pump, which was worked by the engine,
and which kept it dry.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
33
EXCAVATING THE TUNNEL PROPER.
T the depth of sixty-nine feet the workmen stopped, and the
shore " shaft " was pronounced a success. Here began that
nice engineering, which one of the editors of The London
Times, who had visited the Tunnel, pronounced " the greatest of
modern times."
The point in the lake where the tunnel should receive water had
already been fixed, by means of soundings, and buoys marked the spot.
An imaginary straight line was drawn, which the Tunnel was to follow
from the point where it crossed the shaft, which was little less than
prolonging a straight line nine feet in length, without deviation, until
it reached some point two miles ahead. The compass, the natural
reliance of man upon the lake, could not be relied upon under the
lake. Local attractions of the earth would render it uselessly inaccu¬
rate, so far as giving anything more than a general direction was con¬
cerned. The only method of procedure was to run the axis of the
Tunnel parallel with the straight line drawn over the lake, which was
only observable at the point where it crossed the shaft.
With this, to less scientific minds than those engaged in the great
work, frail reliance, the miners struck their picks into the hard clay at
the bottom of the shaft, and excavating was commenced directly lake-
ward. The clay was thrown upon the elevator before mentioned, and
drawn up the shaft, while an ingenious, apparatus was arranged which
carried it off" and " dumped " it.
No little difficulty was encountered in making the turn, or point,
from the shaft to the Tunnel, but this was finally surmounted, and will
ever remain a model of skill in masonry.
3
34
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
With hardened muscles and determined faces the stalwart miners
delved in the hard, blue clay, which now began to be encountered, as
the excavation reached out further and further under the bottom of
Lake Michigan. It was a novelty then, burrowing in the earth
"beneath the wave," and they went at it with a will, notwithstanding
the two miles ahead of them. Could any one of them have realized
that, when they should meet to shake hands with the tunnelers from
the direction of the crib, his bright-eyed three-year-old would be grown
into a romping schoolboy, and that several years would be added to his
own life, it might have discouraged the hardiest of them. The more
grasping and far-seeing minds of the engineers and contractors had
scarcely felt the great work before them; why should the men who
knew only that digging all day brought its reward realize the vastness
of the undertaking ?
The width of the Tunnel, when bricked up, was decided to be five
feet, and its clear height five feet two inches, the top and bottom
arches being semicircles. Two miners were all that could work upon
the excavation ahead of the masons who laid the brick, and they were
relieved at regular intervals, so that the work should not stop for a
moment. The brick masonry, which followed the miners as fast as
they advanced, was eight inches thick, the bricks being laid length¬
wise of the Tunnel, with toothing joints, to give it greater strength
and durability. Between this masonry and the sides of the excava¬
tion, as much of the earth was forced back as possible. The lower
half of the bore was constructed in such a manner that the bricks
lie against the clay, while in the upper half, the bricks were wedged in
between the brick and the'earth, thus preventing any danger which
might result from the tremendous pressure, which it was feared might
crush in the Tunnel.
The material used in the masonry was Illinois white brick, of the
usual size, laid in cement. The Tunnel was to have a slope from the
EXCAVATING ON THE "FACE" OF THE TUNNEL.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
37
" crib," or lake terminus, to the shore of two feet to the mile, to admit
of its being emptied in case repairs should at any future time be neces¬
sary, the water being shut off by means of gates at the lake end.
In this slow and tedious manner, the workmen made their way
under the lake, from fourteen to twenty feet being considered great
progress for twenty-four hours, the work being continued night and
day. Before they had advanced far from the shaft, the air began to
grow impure, and each day the difficulty increased. Here was an
obstacle of no small moment to encounter. A large steam bellows was
obtained and placed at the mouth of the shaft, from which piping, not
unlike ordinary stove pipe, was run down the shaft, branching off into
the Tunnel. This tube was perforated with holes, in such a manner
that the operation of the bellows extracted the impure or dead air from
the Tunnel, causing pure oxygen to fill its place, which in turn was
carried off by the pipe, when it was consumed by the lungs of the
workmen. As the Tunnel progressed, this pipe was lengthened, and
thus a constant supply of pure air was obtained.
Soon it became necessary to provide some more rapid means of
transporting the earth from the face of the excavation to the shaft.
Rails were laid down, and small cars placed upon them. At the
commencement these cars were propelled to the shaft by workmen,
where they were drawn up, and their contents discharged. But
as the distance increased, day by day, and new lengths of rail were
added, other means of locomotion were sought. Much to the edification
of the laborers, two small mules were purchased, which could
barely stand between the walls of the Tunnel without rubbing their
ears. After some little schooling, these tractable animals were placed
upon the elevator, and lowered into the earth. After a little experi¬
ence and training, they learned their work, and performed it well.
Several cars at a time were now loaded, and the mules attached,
which drew them to the shaft. A regular railroad time-table was
38
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
prepared, to avoid collisions, as it was impossible for any person
entering the bore to pass the " down " train, should he be so unlucky
as to encounter it in the bowels of the earth. At the shaft, the mules
were turned around, and the train of empty cars drawn back. These
mules, and their long trains of cars, presented a very picturesque
appearance, each of them wearing a small lamp upon his collar, which
served as the calcium light before the engine. This submarine
railroading will be further spoken of in another chapter.
When the Tunnel had reached the distance of one thousand feet
from the shaft, a sort of chamber or stopping place was made, where
the excavation was enlarged, to afford a deposit for the material used,
a place to mix the cement, turn-tables for the cars, stables for the
mules, etc. These were left at the distance of one thousand feet apart,
to be bricked up when the whole work was completed. The distance
attained was marked upon the inside of the bore, as fast as the work
progressed from the shafts every five feet.
Leaving the miners at their ceaseless toil under Lake Michigan,
burrowing further and further from the light of day, where it is one
eternal night, still and damp and full of terror for less stout hearts, we
will take a look at the other operations of the contractors, and see how
they propose to construct the lake end of the Tunnel.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
39
THE CRIB IN THE LAKE.
ANY persons have been fully able to comprehend the Tunnel
itself, and how it was constructed, hut the process by which
water was let into it from the bottom of the lake has puzzled
many wise heads. It was originally proposed to sink from two to four
lake shafts, in the form of cast-iron cylinders, which were to be pro¬
tected from the action of the water by cribs built around them, similar
to those sometimes used in constructing piers or large breakwaters.
But on further examination it was ascertained that these shafts could
be reduced to one, which should be sunk at the extreme end of the
Tunnel, two miles from the shore shaft.
The " crib," as it has been commonly called, was built on shore,
and launched much like the Great Eastern or any other sea-going hulk.
It is composed of huge timbers and tons of iron, no expense being
spared to make it strong. It is forty feet and a half high and built in
pentagonal forln, in a circumscribed circle of ninety-eight and a half
feet in diameter. It was ponstructed with three walls—the outer, the
center and the inner—making it almost like three distinct structures,
one inside the other, and all firmly braced and bolted together, so as
to constitute one great structure. Each of these walls was caulked and
tarred, like the hulk of a vessel. They were constructed of twelve-inch
square timbers, the first twelve feet from the top of white oak, and the
remaining twenty-eight feet of white pine. Each piece of timber
comprising either wall was firmly bolted in its place with square rods of
iron, one and five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter and thirty inches
long. The bottom was composed of twelve-inch timbers, held in place
40
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
by bolts thirty-six inches in length, passing through three distinct
layers of timber. The whole framework was a combination of massive
timbers and irons, firmly held together by bars and bolts and braced in
every direction. When finished it contained fifteen separate water-tight
compartments. In the center was a " well," open at the bottom and
top, through which the shaft was to descend into the bottom of the
lake, and near this shaft provisions were made for sinking another,
should the requirements of the city for water ever be greater than the
first tunnel could supply. This has already come to pass, and the
lake shaft of the second tunnel, to which reference will be made
further on, now occupies this provisional chamber.
Each angle of the crib is provided with iron armor, to protect it
from ice or any other body borne upon the waves. This covering of
iron is two and a half inches thick, and envelopes the structure two
feet each way from the angles, and extends downward from the top
twelve feet. This armor is fastened to the outer wall of the crib and
the adjacent timbers by iron bolts thirty inches long, and to the inner
wall and its timbers by round iron bolts, an inch and a half in
diameter and thirteen and a half feet in length.
That people may form a correct idea of this immense structure, and
the importance it possessed in the great work, a few items of the
timber and iron used in its construction are given. It cost not far
•from one hundred thousand dollars before it was moved from the
stocks. Reduced to board measure, there were used in building it
618,325 feet of lumber, as follows :
538,368 feet white pine timber.
42,000 " white oak timber.
20,000 " two-inch white pine plank.
18,000 " two-inch white oak plank.
Besides this, there were used five hundred bales of oakum and
sixty-five tons of iron bolts.
sriiVKYfSG IWDER THE LAKE.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
43
The immense cost of all these different articles, at the ruling high
prices of the war, can hardly be estimated. It formed a large item of
the entire expense of the Tunnel. The contractors made no needless
expenditure, neither did they omit anything that could add to the
strength and durability of their work. So far as possible, the lumber
was all procured in the forest, cut and prepared as low as possible,
while the iron was purchased at the most reasonable figures.
This immense structure, almost as large as the Palmer House, was
built like a vessel, on the north pier, a short distance from the mouth
of the river. On the 24th day of July, 1865, an immense concourse
of people gathered on the spot to see it launched. So great was the
interest felt in its being successfully put in position, that merchants
left their counting-rooms and hurried to the scene. Thousands of
people were present, standing upon the house tops, riding upon the
river in yawls, and seated in carriages upon the banks and piers.
The launch was announced to occur at between nine and ten o'clock
in the morning. The day was propitious, scarcely a ripple breaking
the surface of the lake. From the summit of the crib floated
American flags, and the hat of Colonel Gowan was occasionally
visible, as he went to and fro, giving orders to the workmen. The
river also presented a lively appearance. Seven tugboats, with flags
flying and hundreds of people on their decks, among whom were
Governor Oglesby, of Illinois, and many other distinguished men,
were waiting in the harbor to tow the monster to its place in the lake.
Shortly after ten o'clock, the leviathan moved on its stocks, rode
slowly into the river, with streaming flags, and the hat of Colonel
Gowan swinging over his head from the top. Cannon boomed,
hundreds of steam whistles shrieked, bells rang, and thousands of
throats cheered lustily. When about in the middle of the river, the
mass left the ways upon which it rode, and rose upon the water as
gracefully as any craft that ever was launched.
44
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
The tugboats now attached their hawsers, and the crib was towed
slowly toward the buoys in the lake, which had been placed there to
mark its position, on a direct line with the shore shaft. These were
reached at two o'clock P. M., and the hawsers cut loose. The flood¬
gates of the crib were opened as soon as it was got in position, and it
settled majestically into the lake, where it is ever more to remain, a
monument of mind over matter.
When the crib was in its place it was filled with stone, with the
exception of the center compartment, reserved for the lake shaft to go
through, and cables were attached to its corners, which were fastened to
the bottom of the lake by means of Mitchell's marine mooring screws,
never before used except in tunneling the Thames. These screws had
previously been imbedded in the bottom of the lake.
Once in its place, this monster crib became an island in the lake.
When filled with stones, it was as immovable as Gibraltar. Reaching
down to the clay bottom, the water being about thirty feet deep at this
point, several feet of the structure remained above the surface of the
lake. As winter approached, the top of the crib was covered by a
house, constructed with a cupola, where a light and a fog bell are kept
at night to warn the mariner of his position, which the law now requires
the city authorities to constantly observe. Tugboats plied between the
crib and the city, carrying out supplies to the workmen and conveying
visitors to the wonderful artificial island.
The crib was at last firmly in its place, secure from the storms of
Lake Michigan. Tunneling from the shore toward it in a straight line
was kept up unceasingly.
The next end to be obtained was sinking the cylinders through the
crib to the lake bottom, in order that tunneling could be carried on in
both directions. The winter of '65 was at hand. A large quantity
of brick and mortar were taken out and piled upon the crib, as well as
provisions for the men; it being anticipated that when winter set in,
the ice would not permit of reaching the crib for months at a time.
45
THE LAKE SHAFT.
HE " crib" was now in its place, anchored securely in the lake,
two miles from the shore shaft. Every day the workmen in the
"bore," or Tunnel proper, were progressing toward it, slowly
but surely overcoming the impediments in their way, and gradually
becoming more inured to their close and somewhat dangerous quarters.
Imagine a score of hardy workmen down in the bowels of the earth,
thirty feet below Lake Michigan, burrowing their way to an unseen
goal, far, far ahead, and which they knew years alone would suffice to
reach. To the timid the situation would be a horrible one. The con¬
stant fear of accidents would drive them mad. Every rush of air
through the "breathing pipe," from the huge bellows above, would
terrify them with the thought that Lake Michigan had broken in upon
the devoted band, and would bury them in the deep grave dug by their
own hands. At each thud of the pick against the hard clay, they
would imagine the earth caving in upon them and engulfing them in
a living tomb. They would conjure up demons in the darkness, and
see horrible shapes in the smoke of the lamps. And those same timid
people shudder at their own firesides as they peruse these pages. If
all the people of Chicago had been of this sort, we should have drank
foul water all our days.
The huge iron cylinders which were to form the lake shaft of the
Tunnel were at length got out upon the crib, after much vexatious
delay and expense to the contractors. These cylinders are nine feet
in diameter, and the iron is two and a half inches thick. They were
also cast at Pittsburgh, Pa., in nine feet sections, their immense weight
rendering it otherwise impossible to move them. The end of each section
was provided with a heavy flange, through which it could be bolted to the
46
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
one below it, similarly constructed. These cylinders are seven in
number, their respective weight being about eleven tons. The irons
used in bolting them together were one and a Half inch, cemented as
well as riveted in their places.
These immense cylinders once placed upon the crib, the next step
was to get them in place in the center compartment of the structure.
Mr. Bramhall, one of the engineers, solved the problem, inventing
machinery and tackle for the occasion. The cylinders were partially
suspended over the chasm in the crib by. this tackle, then swung upon
ways and supports of timber, in which manner they were at last
placed in position and firmly riveted together. After reaching the
bottom of the lake, on which the crib rested, being sunk into the clay
several inches by its immense weight, these cylinders or sections of the
shaft were sunk into the ground twenty-seven feet, in much the same
manner as the shore shaft was built, at which distance they reached the
required depth, leaving a fall of two feet to the mile in a straight line
drawn to the bottom of the shore shaft.
The work now resolved itself into simply this : An island (the crib)
is situated in Lake Michigan, two miles from shore, upon which (to
draw a homely illustration that all will understand) are confined a
number of convicts. There is no means of their escape to the city
over the surface of the water, and they resolve to go under it. Never
dreaming of this trick, the authorities have placed in their hands picks
and spades, with which to till the island whereon they are confined for
life. The villains go to work, dig a hole in the island until its bottom
is below the bottom of the lake, then strike off for the shore, which
they succeed in reaching after years of toil, much to the surprise of
everybody. This is the plan of the Tunnel, the crib forming an arti¬
ficial island where the water is to enter, and pass to the shore, free
from the impurities of the river or the city sewers.
An engine was placed upon the crib, to which was attached a pump,
APPARATUS USED AT THE SHAFTS FOR HOISTING EARTH
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
49
similar to the one in operation at the shore end, by which the water
was taken from the new shaft as fast as it found its way in from any
cause whatever.
Winter was now rapidly approaching and threatening to lock the
lake and river ,in icy armor. Consequently every means of getting
winter supplies to the crib before the river should freeze up, and stop
the running of the tugs, was resorted to. A large supply of brick,
cement and other material used in making the Tunnel was taken out
and stored in the building upon the crib. It being anticipated that
months might elapse before the miners could communicate with the
shore, a commissary department was thought necesary, and all kinds of
provisions were likewise transported to the crib, in sufficient quantities
to satisfy the hunger of a large number of laborers for some length of
time. The services of a cook were also procured, a kitchen commis¬
sariat fitted up, and everything put in complete order for the winter
campaign under the lake.
A visit to the crib just before the harbor froze over proved interest¬
ing in the extreme. The party, was composed of Aldermen Denio and
Marsh, of Boston, Mr. J. B. Stearns, Superintendent of the Boston
Fire Alarm Telegraph, and several members of the Board of Public
Works, and Chicago citizens. Within this " castle at sea" everything
presented the appearance of the interior of a well regulated building on
shore, while just without the waves of an angry lake were beating with
remorseless fury, but which were not able to even stir the monster arti¬
ficial island. The steam engine was at work moving heavy stones and
timbers into position, workmen were hallooing "heave! yo, heave !" and
the dismal creak of powerful pulleys and levers told that a great work
was in progress. The Bostonians asked many questions, all of which
were carefully answered by Col. Gowan. They expressed many doubts
as to the two sections of the Tunnel meeting, but were assured that
they would do so to within an inch.
f>0 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
There was something strikingly romantic in the scene, which will
never be obliterated from the minds of those present at that time.
r
Fifty workmen living an entire winter in a castle built in the lake, two
miles from shore—-a little world within a world. The storms and tem¬
pests of a large body of water beating around them in every direction,
and they busy digging deeper and farther beneath the lake, as if bur¬
rowing out of a prison fortress.
Winter at length closed in upon the inhabitants of the crib, almost
before they were ready for it, and the tugs ceased to run. The river
froze up, and our family of laborers, with one or two officers, were left
upon the crib to pursue their round of work, with nothing but the
winds to vary the monotony of their existence. Meanwhile the prog¬
ress of the work was made known to the contractors, and Mr. Offer-
man, the superintendent, at the shore shaft, by means of signals of
different kinds, which had been previously determined upon between
the parties. And so the work went on day and night, the laborers
coming on duty at regular intervals, while the merry world of Chicago
skated, danced, went to the opera, and disposed itself as happily as
possible.
The lake shaft being ready, tunneling was commenced from the
bottom toward the shore, on the first day of the New Year, 1866.
The first brick at the crib end was laid on the 22d day of December,
1865. At that time the shore shaft had reached the length of 4,815
feet. The earth removed from the face of the Tunnel was- carried up
the shaft and dumped into the lake, and as it progressed similar appli¬
ances to the furtherance of the work were used to those already des¬
cribed at the shore shaft.
Leaving the two mining parties under the lake, slowly approaching
each other, guided by skillful engineering, we deviate- from the bare
detail of operations, go back a little, and narrate the particulars of
several visits to the shore shaft.
51
GEN. GRANT'S PARTY VISIT THE TUNNEL.
ARLY in July, 1865, Gen. Grant and suite arrived in Chicago,
and were entertained for several days by the citizens, making
the old Tremont House their headquarters. Being invited
to visit the Tunnel, an hour was fixed upon for their reception at the
" big bore," which had then progressed several thousand feet from the
shore.
When the carriages arrived at the works, much disappointment was
caused by the non-appearance of the General, who, being indisposed,
had declined to leave his room. All the other members of his suite
and staff were, however, present, together with several gentlemen who
had been invited to make a trip out under the lake. The follow¬
ing are the names of the entire party : Maj. Gen. Wilcox ; Maj. Gen.
Williams; Maj. Gen. Ord; Hon. Z. Chandler; Hon. W. A. A. Bald¬
win ; Capt. Roe, of the U. S. steamer Michigan ; R. N. Rice, Esq.,
then Superintendent of the Michigan Central Railroad; P. A. Hall,
Esq.; C. W. Davis, Esq., and Col. Gowan.
Whenever a person went into the Tunnel, he was obliged to prepare
for the work before him. Col. Gowan kept on hand a large variety of
tunnel costumes, of the most elegant subterranean designs. He
marched the visitors to the clothing room, which consisted of a large
chest in his office, and showing them the collection, bade them make
choice of their apparel, stipulating that however fascinated they might
become with its fit, and their own figure when attired, they must on
no account wear away a single article, nor take a shred home with
them as a relic of their visit. This being arranged, the Major Generals
52 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
were fast given their choice of garments. Gen. Ord, who is a tall six
footer and rather slim, picked out a corduroy jacket, which came down
as far as his hips, and there paused. It sat admirably, the sleeves
being a little shorter than his arms, which Col. Gowan assured him
was all the rage, Napoleon having worn a similar coat on a recent
visit to the great Mont Cenis tunnel under the Alps. Quite Napoleonic
looked the General when attired, and he was cheered for his success in
tunnel drapery. Next his military .hat went by the board, and a
chapeau of a very slouchy appearance took its place. Rolling up his
trowsers, he declared himself ready for a visit to China, or anywhere
else.
Gen. Wilcox next fixed up, in a very long coat, being a moderately
short man. This was a satinet garment, very threadbare from long
acquaintance with the Tunnel, and longer with the world. The
General looked like farmer Slocum just come to town with a load of
vegetables. A palm leaf hat sat jauntily on his caput, giving him a
decided Yankee air. Gen. Williams borrowed a coat from a miner,
because he thought the coat might know more about the Tunnel than
any other, and he would be less likely to go astray from the rest of the
paity. A dilapidated tile finished his outfit, and he stood before the
admiring spectators a veritable tunnel miner.
Senator Chandler is a tall man ; very tall. Few old coats will fit
him ; few new ones do. He was more fastidious in his taste than the
rest of the party, and consequently fared worse. A very ragged coat
and a very ragged hat were finally adjusted ; in what manner hereafter
follows : The coat was turned inside out, because the Senator began
to put it on at the wrong end, and because nobody told him how it
went. His hat was caved in, appeared to have a brick in it, and had
a constant and inexplicable tendency to gravitate earthward.
Superintendent Rice, of the Michigan Central Railroad, got on a
very narrow little cap, something on the clerical style. The coat he
BRICKING UP THE TUNNEL ARCH.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
55
wore was once broadcloth, but that was before Chicago was a city.
When it was cut there was not a railroad in Illinois; hence the very
grotesque appearance of a railroad man in such a garment.
The remaining members of the party attired themselves in whatever
was at hand, some turning their coats inside out and tieing handker¬
chiefs over their heads. All in all, a more novel group of explorers
was never seen. The men in buckram were eclipsed.
Col. Gowan had prepared three earth cars for the voyage under the
lake. These vehicles were about three feet long and two feet wide,
and, when used for carrying passengers, were expected to hold four
persons. On this occasion they were upholstered with blankets and
buffalo robes, and were quite comfortable to travel in. There was not
the slightest chance of falling out, because the sides came up to the
passengers' heads, when they were seated upon the bottom.
The cars were brought forward, placed upon the elevator, and four
persons got into each one. At last, as they were filled, they
descended into the shaft; the explorers bidding adieu to those behind
as their heads went down out of sight. When the cars were lowered
to the bottom of the shaft, they were rolled off into the Tunnel proper,
as they came down, and coupled to each other, like a railway train on
a genuine track extending the whole length of the bore. When
everything was in readiness, or, as Superintendent Rice said, when
the train was made up, a diminutive mule was attached, and a miner,
with a little lamp on his hat, drew rein over him, gave a shrill whistle,
and the train moved off into the subterranean darkness.
" Now we are under Lake Michigan," said Col. Gowan, and the
mule was given the whip. Off went the cars at a breakneck speed;
into the darkness, into the bowels of the earth, under the waters of the
lake. The rapid motion caused a current of air, which relieved the
damp sensations of the place. Imagine a tube, nearly a mile in
length, and the size of a carriage wheel, built of solid masonry.
56
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO:
Through it a train of little cars are gliding, each one filling up the
entire space of the tube. Each car contains four persons—Major
Generals, Colonels, Senators, etc. The only light is a dim lamp in the
hands of the driver, and ft similar one on the engine, or the mule.
Nobody but the driver, one of the passengers (Col. Gowan), and the
mule have any idea where they are going, what they will run against,
or where they will fetch up. This will give a little idea of this
subterranean and sub-lacustrine journey.
The cars sped along at a remarkably rapid pace. Gen. Ord inquired
of Superintendent Rice if he did not think Col. Gowan's " under¬
ground " railway compared favorably with the Michigan Central, both
as regarded speed, ventilation and convenience. Mr. Rice admitted
that the Michigan Central was nowhere; but suggested the only thing
he feared was meeting a down train. He also reminded Conductor
Gowan that it was quite time to pass through and take up the tickets.
Colonel Gowan replied that the road would soon be paying a large
dividend annually to the citizens of Chicago, and that they all owned
stock in it.
After a journey of fifteen minutes, through a straight, dark road,
at a cantering speed, the train emerged into the last chamber, which
was lightedJ>y innumerable little lamps. The miners looked bewildered
at the strange advent, and laughed outright as the parties stepped from
the cars and shook themselves. Col. Gowan announced that they had
about four hundred feet further to traverse by walking, before they
would get to the extreme end of the Tunnel. Taking a lamp, he led
the way. The long men in the party doubled themselves up and
followed, and the short men bent their heads very low. " Tramp,
tramp, tramp," until backs and legs ached, and at length the extreme
end of the Tunnel was reached. About twelve feet was dug into the
solid clay, and the miners, who stood about the weird place like
so many specters, were engaged in bricklaying and cementing.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
57
Colonel Gowan announced that the party were then -3,400 feet
from shore, under Lake Michigan. Bits of the clay were pocketed
as trophies, and the party retraced their steps.
The cars were re-entered at the first chamber, where the party left
them, and off went the train in the direction of the shaft, at the rate
of 2.40 per mile. The mule, which wore no breeching or back strap,
suddenly paused, when the train was at its greatest speed. The cars
ran upon the animal's heels, and those in the forward car had the
pleasure of receiving him into their laps, nearly frightened out of his
mulish wits. Col. Gowan, the conductor of the train, got out, and
went ahead to see what had frightened the "locomotive." A shout
told the party that some joke was in store for them. He returned
to the cars with Senator Chandler's hat, which had been blown off and
been left on the track during the outward voyage. The mule was not
used to such a strange sight, which nearly caused an accident to the
passengers.
The party soon emerged into the light of open day, and, congratu¬
lating each other on the success of the trip, disrobed and put on their
usual habiliments. After shaking hands with and thanking Colonel
Gowan for his kindness, they got into their carriages and drove back
to the Tremont House, well satisfied with their trip into the bowels of
the earth and under Lake Michigan.
58
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
BOSTONIANS VISIT THE "BIG BORE.
FEW weeks after the above excursion, Chicago had the honor
of entertaining a delegation of aldermen and other city
officials from the "hub." Of course they must see the
Tunnel, and a journey under the lake was put upon the programme,
especially as the guests all requested it, saying that it was one of
the principal things they had come to see.
Arrived at the Water Works, the Boston men were all anxiety con¬
cerning their expected adventure, not caring to be killed outright in
Chicago, as they seemed to fear they were 'going to be. But they were
told that many illustrious gentlemen besides themselves had gone down
into the Tunnel before them, and returned to the outer world alive.
Lieut. Gen. Grant's staff officers and a large party of gentlemen
descended into the Tunnel in July, and Sir Morton Peto's party also
paid a visit to the "big bore." Where such gentlemen had been, the
heroic firemen and aldermen of the "hub" could certainly go with
impunity and profit; and so it was decided to undertake the subter¬
ranean and sub-aqueous journey.
The first step previous to the descent was examining the hoisting
machinery, and the apparatus by means of which the air in the Tunnel
was kept pure. Everything was fully explained by Col. Gowan, who
took pains to carefully elucidate every point and answer every question.
The machinery was beautiful in the extreme, the hoisting machine
being almost noiseless in its revolution, and perfectly under the control
of the engineer. It was so arranged that in case of an accident it
could be stopped in an instant, midway of the descent. The immense
THE MULE TKAIN IN THE TUNNEL.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
61
bellows which created a current of pure air in the Tunnel was also
examined, as a point of especial interest.
The next thing was to get ready for the descent. Aldermanic
broadcloth, fresh and glossy from the looms of Lowell, could never
survive contact with the clay of Lake Michigan. Col. Gowan again
drew on his wardrobe, and produced several complete suits of exploring
garments. Aid. Marsh attired himself in a very jaunty suit, mostly of
cast-off corduroy ; and when he was dressed looked quite as much like
an Indiana Hoosier as a modest alderman. Alderman Denio was
less fastidious, and turned his coat inside out. Tying a pocket hand¬
kerchief over his wise head, Alderman No. 2 was ready. The gentle¬
men of the Boston and Chicago Fire Departments displayed much skill
in their drapery. Their quaint "get up" excited much remark, and
j esting upon personal matters was brisk. All in all, a more novel-
looking half-dozen explorers never prepared to visit the crater of
Vesuvius. Seen by the faint glimmer of the miners' lamps, they looked
like conspirators—and yet half of them were citizens of Boston !
" Hoist away," cried the man in charge of the elevator at the shaft,
and the next moment Aldermen Marsh and Denio, and a miner with
a little lamp upon his cap, were rapidly descending the shaft. Those
left on terra firma gathered around the opening in the earth and gazed
after the glimmering light as it slowly went down into the bowels of
mother earth; for the lake roared and tossed half a rod away, and
those accompanying the taper were going beneath its waves and foam.
Forsaking the sublime for the ridiculous, a wicked fellow above
remarked that it was an awful lowering of aldermanic dignity, which
provoked a laugh that rang out clear upon the night air. Luckily for
his head, the members of the Boston city government were out of
hearing.
Depositing its passengers at the bottom of the shaft, the elevator was
drawn up, and the lesser lights of the party began the descent. Once
t)2 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
upon the bottom of the shaft, which is eighty-nine feet in depth, the
Tunnel proper was seen branching off under the lake like a long t ube.
In the little chamber where the expectant party were standing, was
noticed a train of three small cars, which had been prepared to convey
them out under the lake.
A diminutive mule was attached to this train, and the gentlemen
seated themselves like Turks upon their curled up legs in the bottom of
the cars. One man in each car was given a small lamp, and one was
hung upon the mule's collar. The driver's whip was applied vigor¬
ously, and away went the train, aldermen and all, under Lake Michigan.
The Tunnel is five feet in diameter, a perfect cylinder, and just large
enough to admit of the passage of the cars. Whoever raised his head
abo-ve the sideboards would be sure to lose his hat, and a portion
of his scalp.
Along the Tunnel ran a pipe something like a stove pipe, through
which the bad air was extracted from the extreme end. As the work
progressed this pipe was extended. The only caution necessary on
this railroad excursion under the lake was to keep one's head clear of
the pipe, which all succeeded in doing. Every thousand feet the
travelers arrived at a chamber, where, the miners mixed their cement
and mortar, and where cars were turned round on turn-tables. As
you went down into the bore, or further out, the number of feet the work
had progressed under the lake was marked upon the masonry in plain
figures.
Much joking was enjoyed as this singular train of cars passed
further and further under the lake. No one could raise his head
beyond a certain height, and could scarcely move. The mule trotted
along briskly, and the current of air created by the motion was quite
strong. The gentlemen from the "hub" were dumbfounded by the
singularity of their situation. What if water should find its way into
the bore from the foaming lake above ? In such a case the descendants
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
of Plymouth Pock wouM never return to the harbor where the May¬
flower dropped anchor. It was horrible to think, of the bereaved
Bostonians. For the nonce, all seemed to obey the mandate written
over the entrance to Dante's inferno " All hope abandon ye who
enter here.'"
The cars could go no further than the last chamber, and the party
alighted. Here they found men engaged in mixing mortar and
cement, by the light of little lamps hung upon sticks stuck in the clay.
Two hundred feet yet remained to be traversed before the extreme end
could be reached. The miner who conducted the party led tfye way
with a lamp, and several gentlemen followed on foot. Men of ordinary
stature were obliged to stoop almost double, so the last part of the
journey was where the romance came in. At length the extreme end
was reached—nearly a mile from the shaft.
Here all was busy labor. The sharp click of the trowel, and the
dull sound of the miner's pick as it was buried into the compact clay,
met the ear. The smoke from a dozen fluid lamps floated off into the
long, tube-like bore, casting weird shadows over the scene. Clamber¬
ing over a pile of clay awaiting transportation to the shaft by the next
train, the party reached the miners. Here two stalwart men, with
breasts bared and brawny muscles, were striking herculean blows
against the earth before them, which yielded reluctantly, and
crumbled. The air here was extremely bad, caused by the number of
persons breathing it and the smoke from the lamps. The miners
looked like grim specters as they plied pick and spade and trowel.
For a few moments the visitors gazed awe-struck upon the inhabitants
of this subterranean world. One miner said that he had been there
every day for nearly two years ; and so his sallow countenance and
sunken, almost unearthly face indicated.
In the excavating process, jets of gas were frequently struck, which
delayed the work, and were difficult to surmount. One week several
1)4 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
such jets were encountered, and much delay occasioned. The miners
could always tell by the sound of their picks when such a jet was
being approached. When within a few feet of it, they bored through
the clay with an auger, and when the jet was reached, one miner
pulled the instrument out, and another lit the jet with his lamp and
retired. In this manner a natural gas light was produced, some¬
times lasting several hours. When the gas was encountered in large
quantities, it drove the workmen from the Tunnel. To avoid accidents
when working new gas jets, a safety lantern was used. Few stones
were met with. When found at all, they did not seem to lie in any
geological order, or range in any particular direction or stratum, but lay
in groups of four or five, as if thrown together by the action of the
waves at some remote period. When granite was found, it appeared
polished, as if having been under the same influence.
The Boston men evinced a desire to lay a brick in the great Chicago
Lake Tunnel, thereby immortalizing themselves, and, more particularly,
that they might tell of what they had done. So an obliging miner
arranged the cement, and the aldermen each deposited a brick, leaving
a greenback in the itching palm of the accommodating but greedy
workman. Bits of the clay were carefully picked up and pocketed as
souvenirs, and the tired party of explorers retraced their steps.
"Good evening, gentlemen," said each of the miners as the party
left, showing that good manners may exist under the ground when
they do not above.
Returning to the first chamber, the party re-embarked on the cars,
and were soon at the shaft. The elevator placed them upon terra firma
in a few moments afterward, all safe and sound. On examining
watches, it was found they had spent an hour and a half in the Tunnel.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
67
SIR MORTON PETO AT THE TUNNEL.
HEN Sir Morton Peto and party visted Chicago, the Lake
Tunnel was one of the first sights they requested to see.
After a drive through the city, these distinguished for¬
eigners were taken to the Water Works, where, unfortunately, they
did not find Col. Gowan. The Superintendent would not consent to
the party entering the cars and going out where the miners were at
work, as he stated that an earth train was then about leaving the
face of the Tunnel, and the party would be sure to encounter it.
He, however, did all in his power to explain the work to the
visitors. They were lowered to the bottom of the shaft, each one
being provided with a small lamp, to enable him to examine more
closely the masonry and note the dimensions of the bore. Sir Morton
evinced the greatest interest in the work. Taking a lamp, he ran off
into the Tunnel until quite beyond the hearing of the remainder of
the party, seemingly desirous of seeing all that was to be seen. He
expressed an earnest wish to go to the further end and witness the
work in progress, but was told that it was nearly a mile there, and
reminded that the "down train" was almost due. The Englishmen
took full notes of the work in their diaries, and carried across the
Atlantic with them more knowledge of the Lake Tunnel than is
possessed to this day by half the people of Chicago.
It was intensely gratifying to see these far-sighted Englishmen,
with ideas enlarged by the most liberal travel, taking so much interest
in the Tunnel. Sir Morton did not hesitate to pronounce it a greater
work than the tunneling of the river Thames, yet that required the
work of half a century, and was several times entirely abandoned
before being brought to completion.
68 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE TUNNEL.
T can easily be imagined that, while the miners worked day and
night, week after week, month after month, year after year,
down in the bowels of the earth, directly under a large and
ever restless body of water, scenes and incidents occurred which would
interest the world above ground, could they be related with any sort of
accuracy or coloring that would do them justice. The conversation
carried on between the miners and the bricklayers was often interesting
in the extreme. Now and then it would be varied by the ludicrous
joke of some stalwart son of the Emerald Isle, whose broad grin was
scarcely visible through the gloomy smoke from the lamps. Conjec¬
ture was freely indulged in, and many were the surmises in either
section of the Tunnel as to how the other. party got along, and how
they managed to enliven their dismal work. So entirely had the
workmen on the shore Tunnel been kept to their labor, that few if any
of them ever saw the crib, or had much of an idea concerning it.
They were the tools in the hands of more skillful workmen—dug
where directed, and asked few questions as to the result. Some of
them were quite as contented to earn a living under Lake Michigan as
anywhere else.
One of the miners once stated to the writer that none of them were
ever entirely without fear. Their situation, the terrible darkness which
always surrounded them, the weird shadows of the place, the impossi¬
bility of escape should the earth cave or a crevice be opened from the
lake, which would instantly submerge them—all these forebodings
never left their minds. The superstitious were easily able to conjure up
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
69
all kinds of infernal demons in the narrow passage they left between
themselves and the outside world as they advanced, and many were
the times these men fell on their knees to ask for aid from above, as
some unusual sound or occurrence reminded them of their exact
situation, and that they were wholly at the mercy of the natural
influences of the place. In this sub-lacustrine abode, so full of
romance, thought and apprehension, where the full power of nature
was visible, these invaders of her solitude cowed before the horrible
thoughts, which, in spite of themselves and their work, would arise.
Confine a hardened criminal in such a cell, let him fully understand
that but a wall of clay keeps the waters of the lake from drowning
him, that, should the bellows at the shore end of the Tunnel cease to
perform its rapid revolutions, his lungs would refuse to receive life
from the close and confined atmosphere, and he would repent his sins
in an hour.
One day, while Col. Gowan was showing a party of visitors into the
Tunnel, they distinctly heard the paddle wheels of a steamer, which
just at that moment passed directly over their heads on the lake,
showing that the water and the earth were both good sound conductors.
Returning to the outer world, they descried the vessel steaming her
way toward the harbor. The workmen frequently reported hearing
similar sounds.
In September, 1865, a crevice was struck, through which water
began to drip into the Tunnel. The frightened miners fled in dismay,
but soon returned, repaired the crevice, and proceeded with their work.
It is somewhat wonderful that during three years of tunneling no
accident occurred of any moment, or which delayed the work more
than a few days. The beds of quicksand, prognosticated by some,
were never found.
TO THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES.
HE history of nearly all great enterprises has been embarrass¬
ments in more ways than one. It has been said that money
would remove mountains, which nohody can doubt, since the
completion of the Lake Tunnel. It was not expected that such a
gigantic work could be done for anything less than a mine of gold;
neither did anybody suppose that such a job could be accurately figured
upon in the office of the Board of Public Works. The great disparity
in the bids put in by different parties, which ranged from $239,548
to $1,050,000, is evidence enough of the assertion. The varying state
of gold, the prices of labor and material, rendered it still more difficult
to tell what the work would cost. The labor market undergoes m,any
changes in three years, which was the case after the Tunnel was com¬
menced. The contractors also claimed that they expected to use the
clay for making brick for the masonry, but that it was not fit for the
purpose, and they consequently lost a large amount of money.
The contract price of the Tunnel was $315,139, with the allowance
of a few insignificant extras. For that amount the contractors believed
they could complete the work, but speedily complained that the
compensation was not adequate. According to the contract, it was
agreed that monthly estimates of the work would be made by the
Board of Public Works, during its progress ; and that seventy-five
per cent, of the amount should be paid to the contractors from time to
time; the remaining twenty-five per cent, being retained by the Board
until the completion of the work, as security for the faithful perform¬
ance of the duties of the contractors.
•xavHS aaoHs a HI otfKitfaosaa kswhhoay
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
73
The first application of Messrs. Dull & Gowan was for a simple
advance of money ; and this request the Council granted, by reducing
the amount of monthly estimates reserved by the Board of Public
Works from twenty-five to fifteen per cent.
Subsequently, in the fall of 1865, the contractors petitioned for an
increase of the contract price, claiming that they took the work when
gold was 1.25. When, however, the contract was signed, gold was at
1.60.
The question was referred to the Committee on Finance of the
Common Council, who, on the 12th of February following, presented
a long and carefully compiled report, amounting to nothing, save the
recommendation that the subject be again referred to the Board of
Public Works for further investigation. On the 19th of the same
month, after a sharp contest in the Council, an ordinance was passed,
by a vote of eighteen to eleven, giving to Messrs. Dull & Gowan, in
addition to the sum of $315,139 named in the original contract, the
further amount of sixty per cent, on said contract price. This
addition amounted to about $189,000. On the fifth of March, this
ordinance was returned to the Council without the approval of the
Mayor, for the reason that it had not been drawn by the law officer of
the city, and was in violation of the charter. The Council then passed
an order, advancing the contractors the sum of $50,000, said sum to
be deducted from the moneys due said contractors upon the completion
of the work.
Up to March 31, 1864, there had been expended upon the work
$2,919.63; up to March 31,1865, $106,389.24; and up to March 31,
1866, $230,220.08—amounting in the aggregate, up to last date, to
$339,528.94. Whether or not the contractors made money out of the
job will probably not appear. The press of the city uniformly argued
that no advance should be allowed the contractors, while the Board of
Public Works have seemed inclined to accede to their wishes. The
74 the tunnels and water system of chicago.
great question was, would the Tunnel prove a success ? which has been
satisfactorily answered.
The entire expenditure was not far from six hundred thousand dollars.
And this the city of Chicago was willing and able to pay. Pure
water was to be obtained at any expense. Tax-payers found no fault,
when the pure, life-giving fluid of Lake Michigan poured through their
hydrants, instead of the slimy, polluted mixture of all manner of filth,
which they had been accustomed to use so long.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
75
THE TUNNEL COMPLETED.
N Saturday, the 24th of November, 1866, the morning papers
informed the citizens of Chicago that the two sections of the
Tunnel had progressed so near to each other that but a thin
wall of clay remained to divide them. The glorious result sent a thrill
of joy to every heart, and the telegraph carried it to every quarter of
the globe. The long anticipated time had arrived—the vexing question
as to whether the two mining parties would meet, or, from some slight
error of the engineers, pass by each other, and continue on tunneling
at random, was answered. When it was further announced that the
sections had met each other to within the space of an inch, wonder at
the grand result took the place of joy. It was the topic on every
tongue, and had the authorities but hinted at a celebration, the city
woul d have resounded with the booming of cannon and ringing of bells.
But it was thought best to postpone the grand jubilee until water
flowed through the Tunnel, as months of work remained to be done
before the final result would be obtained. The work on the Tunnel
was comparatively nothing; it was the inception and the daring which
determined to carry out the idea to a successful result, that are among
the wonderful. The cbnfidence in the ability to burrow two miles out
under the lake, and then come up to the surface in deep water,
was of that sublime kind which assimilates to the faith that removes
mountains. The work might have been difficult, but it was not so; it
was unexpectedly easy; and while two or three cribs were dispensed
with, a vast amount of propping which had been calculated for was
found to be unneeded.
70
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
Remarking on the difficult engineering, and its success, a news¬
paper observed, the morning after it became known that the two sections
had nearly met: "Yes! There was one difficulty in the work—the
meeting. Just think of the difficulty of starting out blindfolded, to
run a mile and a half in one direction, and to engage to meet full butt
another man who would start two miles off with the same intent. Try
to fire off two cannon balls so scientifically that they shall meet in
mid air. Even these are easy, compared with the task set for the
engineers of that gigantic undertaking, whose virtual end is already
chronicled." " How was it done?" is the question which is now being
asked by hundreds, who have full faith in the old maxim, that " every¬
thing is easy when you know how." Scarcely so. We opine that
when this mode of procedure shall be comprehended, the wonder will
rather increase than diminish, and the almost superhuman character of
the task be only then fully realized.
The measurement of the Tunnel, as it then stood, was as follows:
Toward evening, the last day of November, the contractors, Messrs.
Dull & Gowan, Mr. E. S. Chesbrough, the original "inventor" of the
Tunnel, together with his Assistant Engineer, Mr. Offerman, the
Superintendent, and a number of miners, dividing themselves into two
parties, descended the respective shafts of the Tunnel, for the purpose
of removing the thin wall of clay that yet remained between the two
sections. The party that descended the shore shaft arrived at the
scene of operations first, the others having to traverse two miles of
the lake on board a tug, then descend the crib shaft, and go out to
meet them. When the appointed time, twenty minutes to four o'clock,
arrived, the picks were raised, and soon the barrier was removed,
Whole length of Tunnel,
Excavated on Shore Shaft,
Excavated on Lake Shaft,
Remaining,
10,587 feet.
8,275 «
2,290 "
2 "
ONE OF THE IiKHAT ENGINES AT THE WATER WORKS.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
79
rendering the great Lake Tunnel one continuous tube, two miles in
length and five feet in diameter, reaching from the shore to the
artificial island in the lake.
The greetings of the two parties who thus met under the lake can
be better imagined than described. There were hearty hand shakings,
joyful congratulations, and loud huzzas, which resounded through the
cavernous depths. Mr. Ofierman, superintendent of the work, was the
first who stepped from one section to the other of the Tunnel. The
joy of the contractors, at this happy termination of their gigantic labor,
cannot be described with any sort of justice. But they were not more
pleased than were the people of Chicago when they heard the glad
tidings. The party that had come down via the crib, consisting of
Mr. Dull, Mr. Bramhall and others, proceeded westward, and soon
arrived at the shore, being the first who passed completely through the
Tunnel, from the crib.
As soon as the clay dividing the two sections was removed, it was
no longer necessary to extract the foul air by means of the bellows at
either shaft. A pure current of air rushed through the Tunnel, as if
to seal its success.
On the night in which it was anticipated that the Tunnel would be
completed, the gang of workmen were in charge of E. W. Offerman,
son of the superintendent. That gentleman had received instructions
to pursue the excavation to a certain distance, and then leave it. Twice
had he measured and found that he had already permitted the workmen
to go forward to the farthest extremity, and yet the rod driven from
the other side had not been reached. What was to be done? Had all
their calculations been for naught? Was the shaft shorter than had
been supposed, or had the true course been deviated from ? Seizing an
auger near at hand, he thrust it into the clay, and commenced boring.
A few turns, and it gave way before him as the point was faced upon
the other side. The "trimming out" process revealed the iron rod,
80
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
and the workmen returned to the mouth of the shaft to make the early
morning ring with their rejoicing.
The successful meeting of the two tunneling parties was by no
means the end of the contractors' work. All along the bore, at
regular intervals, as before stated, chambers had been left, at the
distance of one thousand feet from each other, for the convenience of
the workmen. These remained to be bricked up, and the air pipes to
be removed. Besides this, it would be necessary to clean the entire
tube, before water could be passed through it. Much work also
remained to be done at the crib, such as preparing the gates to let in
the water, placing iron grating over the wells, to exclude anything that
might be floating upon the surface of the lake, etc.
The site of the new Water Works is the same as the old, with the
addition of 187\ feet of land west of Pine street, which the Board
purchased of Mr. Lill, and upon which, covering both it and the old
site, the new building now stands. The erection of this magnificent
structure, which cost §55,000, delayed for several months the final
letting in of water through the Tunnel. This building should have
been erected long before the two sections of the Tunnel met, but the
Board considered themselves too much engrossed in that work to
undertake another before it was successfully completed.
A new pumping engine, sufficiently powerful to elevate into the
reservoirs, from the Tunnel, eighteen million gallons of water in
twenty-four hours, was purchased and placed in the new building.
This engine, which was the largest ever put up in the West at that time,
cost $112,350. It was built from designs drawn by Mr. Cregier, the
old engineer at the Water Works, and is a model of beautiful machin¬
ery. A still larger engine was added last year, also built from Mr.
Cregier's design, which is illustrated in this volume.
The Water Works building and its surroundings add greatly to the
appearance of the locality]where it is situated. It is but a short walk.
under the lake and under the river.
81
or drive from any of the principal hotels, and is visited by thousands
of strangers annually. But they are not able to go down into the
Tunnel now, for instead of passing trains of visitors to the crib island
in the lake, it is supplying the city of Chicago with what it has always
most needed—pure water.
The Tunnel was so constructed, that if at any time repairs were
needed, the water can be immediately shut off at the crib, when the
inclined plane of the Tunnel—two feet to a mile—will drain it
completely, and workmen can descend into its depths, to repair any
possible defect. But the work was so uniformly well done that no such
accidents will probably occur.
The last work performed was to remove the stones which filled the
crib, and lay them in the cement. This rendered the structure imper¬
ishable, even should the timbers, of which it was originally formed,
decay.
By a glance at the map, the entire plan of the Tunnel will be
understood at once. The shore shaft and crib are both shown, as well
as the portions of the second tunnel.
82
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OP CHICAGO.
THE SEALING STONE PUT IN PLACE.
N Thursday morning, December 6th, 1866, people noticed
that a large flag floated from the cupola of the old ante-fire
Court House, in which building the Board of Public Works
had their office. It was in honor of the final closing up of the Tunnel
arch, at the point where the crib and shore sections met.
The Board of Public Works had previously extended invitations to
the Common Council, Board of Education, and many other prominent
citizens, to witness the ceremonies. At the time fixed, about two
hundred of the invited guests were on the spot, awaiting anxiously the
rare adventure before them. The invitations stated that a number of
the guests were to make a tour of the Tunnel from the shore shaft to
the crib, and return by the lake, on board tugboats, while others went
out to the crib first, and returned by the Tunnel railroad. Thousands
of people were on the spot who had not received invitations, and who,
of course, could not make the interesting voyage. It was wholly
impossible that all could visit the great work.
The Board of Public Works had arranged to have two trains of cars
pass through the Tunnel, from the shore to the crib, one leaving the
shore shaft at ten o'clock, and the other at half-past twelve in the
morning; and also to have a tugboat leave State street bridge, at
corresponding hours for the crib. Those who went out by the Tunnel
railway were to return via the lake, and those who reached the crib by
means of the tugboats were to return to the shore through the Tunnel
on hoard the train which brought the other party. Twenty-one
earth cars were put in readiness for the Tunnel trip, and the tugboat
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
85
S. H. Crawford was chartered for service above the waves. The hour
for starting was ten o'clock, at which time the entire party were on
hand, full of eager expectation.
When the hour arrived, Hon. J. B. Rice, then Mayor, several
members of the Board of Public Works, the Common Council, and as
many of the other guests as could ride in the first train, were lowered
into the shore shaft, where they entered the cars. The Mayor took
the first car, to reach which he was obliged to do considerable crawling
upon his hands and knees, and the other members of the party
arranged themselves in the train, four persons occupying a car, one
sitting in each corner. As the memorial stone was to be inserted upon
the south side, the passengers were seated so as to face that point of
the compass. As described before, the motive power of the train was
a mule, which could be dimly discerned in the gloom ahead. When all
was in order, the train started off through the tube-like passage, the
mule cantering along at a rapid pace. Many were the jests and jokes
indulged in on this wonderful highway, as the cars sped out under the
lake. There was also considerable temerity exhibited, as some of the
passengers had never before visited the Tunnel.
At the distance of a mile and a half from shore, at the exact point
where the two tunneling parties met, the train stopped. The Mayor
and members of the Board of Public Works left their seats, and
advanced to the spot. Mr. Kershall, the City Inspector, said:
Mr. Mayor, and Members of the Common Council:
You have arrived at the spot where the two ends of the work are to
be closed up. It only remains for you, Mr. Mayor, to place the last
stone in position in this work, and we are going to help you do it.
Mayor Rice then came forward, and spoke as follows, amid the
cheers of the guests :
Members of the Board of Public Works, of the Board of Aldermen,
Gentlemen Contractors and Fellow Citizens :
At the commencement of this important work, the Mayor of the
86
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
city, being its chief officer, and supposed to represent the sentiments
of all our citizens, was appointed to remove the first shovelful of earth,
thereby introducing the work, and showing the world that the great
undertaking should be done.
Now that this portion of it is completed, I have the great pleasure,
and the honor, as Mayor of the city, in like capacity to put the
last finishing stroke upon this work, which is intended, as I understand,
to show the world that the citizens of Chicago, through me, give
this great enterprise their approval.
His Honor then took the trowel and the stone, a perfectly white
block of marble, one foot long by six inches wide, placed the cement
in the interstices left in the arch, and finally deposited the key stone
in its final place, remarking further, as he did so, "Now, gentlemen, in
behalf of the city of Chicago, I place the last stone in this great
Tunnel—the wonder of America and of the world." A number of
pieces of American coin were then deposited inside the stone, by the
guests, when the Mayor continued: " Gentlemen, I announce to you
all that the last stone in the Tunnel is laid, and that the work is
completed."
This was greeted with deafening cheers, which echoed and re-echoed
through the Tunnel, adding greatly to the sublimity of the occasion.
It was now eleven o'clock, and the party, re-entering the cars, were
soon at the crib shaft, appearing somewhat blinded by the light, as
they ascended from beneath the lake. The party who came by the
tug were already there, and many were the congratulations exchanged.
In a short time the second train from the shore arrived, and the
w ondering passengers were also elevated to the large room in the crib.
At this juncture cannon boomed upon the air, fired simultaneously
from the crib and the shore. Some little time was spent in examining
the wonderful structure upon which the visitors found themselves, and
then the regular order of exercises proceeded.
Mr. J. G. Gindele, then President of the Board of Public Works,
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
87
addressed the visitors, in a brief speech, which was loudly cheered.
In response, Mayor Rice spoke as follows:
Members of the Board of Public Works, Aldermen of the City of
Chicago, and Fellow Citizens, one and all:
The remarks last made by the President of the Board of Public
Works render it unnecessary for the Mayor of Chicago to speak a word ;
but, as I am here, I would gladly testify, with such weak words as I
can use, my appreciation of the wonderful work of which I have seen
the completion to-day; and with the most bewildering and heartfelt
joy I stand here among you to-day—this day of gladness, made doubly
glad to us by the genius of man. This great work—wonderful and novel
in its plan, perfect and satisfactory in its execution—is completed.
We have seen it. It is now an accomplished fact—no less a fact than
the means of furnishing every inhabitant of the city of Chicago with
pure, sweet water; and a supply in excess of the demand, sufficient for
a million of inhabitants more.
All honor and thanks to the men who conceived and to the men who
executed this great work. (Cheers.) And I would congratulate the
favored citizens of Chicago, here, that they have the healthy winds from
our boundless prairies, that they have the life-sustaining bread of our
perfectly cultivated fields, that they have the pure, refreshing water
from our mighty lake, all of which tend to make Chicago the most
favored of cities.
I do not intend to enter into statistics as to when the Tunnel was
commenced, how it has progressed, how difficulties have been met at
every turn, how these difficulties have been surmounted, how men
doubted at its commencement, how those doubts are now forever set at
rest; but I will unite with you all in saying: Hail! Chicago, metropolis
of the great West, vast in her resources, fortunate in her citizens,
whose genius, industry and integrity secure to us the use of all those
advantages and blessings which are vouchsafed to us by the Creator
and Dispenser of all the things which we have.
Addresses were also made by Aldermen Holden and Clark, and
D. D. Driscoll, Esq., the Corporation Attorney. Mr. Chesbrough
likewise made a short speech, in which he claimed that great credit
88
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
and praise were due to Messrs. Dull & Gowan, the contractors, upon
whom the entire responsibility of the great work had rested.
After partaking of a fine collation, prepared in the kitchen of the
crib, the party who came by the tug started for the shore, via the
Tunnel railroad, and the Mayor, Aldermen, etc., took passage on the
tug.
The stone laid by Mayor Rice bore the following inscription :
CLOSED,
DECEMBER 6, 1866.
THE RIVER OYER THE WASHINGTON STREET TUNNEL.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER. 91
THE SECOND LAKE TUNNEL.
HE original Tunnel, heretofore described, supplied the wants
of the city for pure water entirely satisfactorily, until about
the beginning of the year 1872. Then, as the city was
rapidly spreading out in every direction, and the population and
consequently the consumption of water increasing, it became necessary
to secure a still greater supply.
But this was comparatively easy. The first tunnel had demon¬
strated the entire practicability of boring a great sewer, as it were, out
under the lake, and the Board of Public Works had learned by
experience how to do it. About the only difficulty which attached to
the second enterprise was making the proper connection at the crib,
through the provisionary chamber mentioned in a preceding chapter.
But at this writing the work has been successfully performed. A
glance at the sectional plan of the tunnels, accompanying this volume,
will convey an idea of the whole system at once, as it shows the original
tunnel, and also the line of the second, now, as this volume is in press,
being excavated.
This shaft is 10 feet internal diameter and 86 feet deep (from the
surface of the ground to the bottom of the sump), and is 69 feet from
the city datum to the bottom of the tunnel. The shaft is lined with
brick, and is 12 inches thick. Connection is made with the first lake
tunnel 36 feet from the city datum ; the aperture connecting the
two is 5 feet in diameter.
The two tunnels are now nearly parallel with each other and 63 feet
apart—both at the same depth below the surface of the lake. The
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
second tunnel is 7 feet wide by 7 feet two inches high. Its form is
two half circles, each of a radius of 3 feet 6 inches (inside measure¬
ment), a tangent of 2 inches connecting the upper and lower halves,
forming horizontal side-bearings for the upper arch. This tunnel, like
the first one constructed, is lined with brick, the total number used per
lineal foot being 432. The interior course contains 99 brick, the
middle course 111; in these two courses the brick are placed in a
vertical position, their surface parallel with the radius of the arch.
The third or outside course contains 78 brick. These are placed
flatwise against the arch, their sides at right angles to its radius.
There are two gangs of miners employed, and each work eight hours
respectively. The remaining eight hours of the twenty-four are
devoted to the mason work on the tunnel. The masons lay 5380 brick
daily, equal to 15 feet, linear, and the two gangs of miners, working
1G hours in the aggregate, can excavate but from 13 to 15 feet, lineal.
The total thickness of the brick lining of the tunnel is 11 inches. A
temporary floor is placed within the tunnel, and upon this a tramway
is laid with a 12 pound rail; over this tramway a mule hauls the earth,
from the heading to the elevator, in small four-wheel cars, and the
return load is brick and bags of cement for the masons, as practiced
in the original tunnel. A small iron pipe, placed on the floor, at the
south side of the tunnel, conveys water from the shaft to the heading,
where the masons prepare their mortar.
The number of men employed on this tunnel during the month of
April, 1873, was:
Foreman, - - 1
Masons (5 helpers), - - 3
Miners (4 helpers), - 10
Pushers, - - 6
Carpenter, - - - 1
Engine-tenders, ... 2
Night boss, ... 1
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
93
Dumpers,
Day laborers,
Mules,
4
2
2
The following is a statement of the material used during the month
of April, 1873:
The progress made during this month was 375 feet, lineal, at
$29.50 per foot, the contracting price.
The grade in the new tunnel is 6 inches per mile, the lake end of
the tunnel being 12 inches higher than at the land shaft; conse¬
quently the fall is to the west from the lake. In the city tunnel, an
extension of the lake tunnel to the interior of the city, spoken of at
length in another chapter, the grade is about 10 feet per mile; the
termination of the extension, at the junction of Twenty-second street
and Ashland avenue, will be some 40 feet higher than at the land shaft.
The ventilation of this tunnel is admirable. At the heading
obnoxious gases exist at times, but no serious effect to the miners has
resulted therefrom, with one exception: the foreman was prostrated
for several hours from the combined effect of overwork and constant
inhalation of gas. Beneath the temporary wooden floor of the tunnel
is laid a galvanized iron tube, 8 inches in diameter. The air-pump at
the top of the shaft steadily exhausts the air through the tube from
the foot of the heading, and the fresh air rushes down the shaft and
along the roof of the tunnel, supplying the vacuum created at the
heading. At the top of the shaft is a fan-blower, in the mouth of the
Brick,
Lumber, ft.,
Water pipe, ft.,
Air pipe, ft.,
Cement, bbls.,
Sand, bbls.,
Iron Rails, ft.,
Coal, tons,
Oil, galls.,
162,000
6,625
375
375
375
375
750
26
60
94
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OP CHICAGO.
air tube, and one is surprised at the quantity of black, filthy matter
that is brought from the heading. This black, oily looking substance
is composed of soot, from the miners' oil lamps (the only lights used
in the tunnel), the exhalation from the miners' bodies and animals at
work, for the temperature is uniformly 63 degrees Fahrenheit,
together with the tobacco smoke from the miners' pipes. In traversing
the tunnel there are conditions of atmosphere that are indeed
noticeable. Near the shaft the air is found quite fresh and cool, and
at 1,000 feet further in the atmosphere is not unpleasant by any
means, though strongly impregnated with ammonia, arising from the
"mule chips." On approaching a switch where several car loads of
damp brick were standing, the fog was so dense as to nearly obscure
the view of the miners' lamps beyond. At the heading the air was
rather thick to one unaccustomed to inhaling it; the visitor finds it so
at first, but in a short time breathes more freely. Indeed, the
dampness arising from the heavy clay excavated by the miners, and
the smoke from their oil lamps, seems the most objectionable feature,
as far as easy respiration is concerned.
The following table will show the range of temperature in the
tunnel, the observations being taken by thermometer, May 27, 1873.
Each point of observation was in no way exposed to the open air:
Degs. F.
At the top of the shaft, - 75
At the bottom of the shaft, - 66
At 500 feet east from shaft, ... 56
At 1,000 " " " " - - - - 54
At 1,500 " " " - - - 53
At 2,000 " " " ... 56
At-2,200 " " " " - - - 57
At 2,329*" " " " - 60
At 2,359f" " " - - 64
*End of brick work.
j-Face of the drift.
ENTRANCE FOR VEHICLES, LA SALLE STREET TUNNEL.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
The cleanliness everywhere observable in and about the tunnel, and
the systematic manner with which the work progresses cannot be too
highly commended. There are many streets in Chicago that are far
more objectionable as promenades than this lake tunnel, and under the
care and supervision of Mr. Wm. Bryson, the engineer in charge,
there is nothing unpleasant or dangerous in traveling over this
"Underground Air Line."
There are some curious geological features regarding the bed of
Lake Michigan through which this tunnel has thus far penetrated.
Many varieties of stone have been found, but the engineer says none
similar in quality to the stone found in the interior of Illinois. To
quote from his journal of December 30, 1872: "666 feet from the
shaft a lime stone glacier was encountered (of fine quality, almost a
marble) extending 9 feet eastward; it was removed by four shifts of
miners in 32 hours. The rock was blasted through and the quantity
taken out was 240 cubic feet." Nearly all the material removed from
this tunnel is clay, of a dull, gray color; in this clay are found many
fine specimens of pyrites of iron. Occasionally the miners come upon
pockets of gravel, coarse and fine, conglomerate stones, in which
gypsum and jasper are found. The author saw one very fine specimen
of gneiss; also of carboniferous limestone, common to this belt of
country. At a depth of 32 feet below the bottom of the tunnel is
probably the surface of a firm foundation. At the gravel pockets the
miners are troubled the worst with the obnoxious gases.
The contractors for this second lake tunnel are Messrs. Steel,
McMahon & Steel.
7
98
THE TUNNEL UNDER THE CITY.
HE first and second lake tunnels, as described in the fore¬
going chapters, bring the water of the lake to the shore, at
the present pumping works, an illustration of which accom¬
panies this volume. From this point the water passed by the first
tunnel has been distributed over the city through a system of mains
and pipes, as in other cities, the force or head being obtained from the
stand pipe into which it was lifted by means of the powerful engines.
But so rapidly did the city expand in every direction, that it soon
became apparent that this system of street supply was becoming
inadequate. In order to overcome a lack of water supply in sections
of the city lying remote from the present Water Works, it was decided
to excavate a tunnel under the city, until it reached a point on the South
Branch near its intersection with Twenty-second street, where the city
had puchased a large lot of S. J. Walker, Esq. Here the auxiliary
Pumping Works are to be erected, as seen on the diagram, and from
this point the great West Side will be mainly supplied with its water
in the future.
This tunnel is, in effect, a monster main, extending under the
entire city, of a size and capacity never before dreamed of by any
municipality. The contractors are Messrs. Cox Brothers, who, as this
volume is in press, are vigorously prosecuting the work. Our
illustration of the shaft at Illinois street pertains to this tunnel.
A good many incidents might be enumerated in connection with the
work on this new tunnel, but the experience of the miners and
contractors has been substantially that narrated in preceding chapters,
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
99
as occurring in the original work. The cost of this "bore" cannot
at this time be definitely stated, but it will not fall far short of a
million dollars, including the building and engines at the new works.
This tunnel, it is expected, will complete, for many years at least,
the water system of Chicago. To say that it will be the most unique
and perfect system in the world, will be only to corroborate the
opinions of all scientific men on the subject.
100 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
THE TUNNEL UNDER THE RIVER.
0 overcome the constant opening of the bridges connecting the
South. West and North Divisions of Chicago, which hinder
and delay the passage of vehicles and pedestrians, causing no
little loss to the daily business of the city, it was early decided to
tunnel the river at Washington street. This undertaking was much
like that of the Thames tunnel in London, but the necessity was so
great that neither the cost nor trouble could be counted in the scales,
as weighing against the enterprise.
The first attempt was made with determination, and for a time the
work went bravely on. But the contractors encountered many diffi¬
culties they had not anticipated, and finally abandoned the work
altogether. It was then undertaken by others, at the head of whom
was Hon. C. B. Farwell, and the work, after much delay from the
failure of the first contractors, was rapidly pushed through.
The method of procedure was simple, yet not so easily executed as
many would suppose. The miners met with a heavy blue clay, which
was as hard to remove as so much rock. The grade was commenced
at Franklin street on the east side, and at Clinton street on the west
side, two blocks from the river each way. The river was then "coffer-
dammed" in sections, the water pumped out, and the excavation thus
made comparatively on dry land.
The completion of the Washington street tunnel was the cause for
much rejoicing by all our citizens, as it visibly relieved the heavy
traffic at Madison and Randolph street bridges.
The success of this tunnel soon led to the beginning of another at
FOOT PASSENGER WAY, LA SALLE STREET TUNNEL.
UNDEK THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
103
La Salle street, connecting the South with the North Division of the
city. The method of procedure was similar to that above described,
and this tunnel was thrown open to the public on the 4th of July, 1871,
having been upward of a year in building. There were excavated
67,548 cubic yards of earth, and an enormous amount of brick and
cut stone was used. The total cost when completed was $498,758.
Both of these submarine thoroughfares have two roads each for
vehicles, and one for pedestrians, the latter entirely separate from the
former. They are kept constantly lighted by gas, and the passage
through them is by no means unpleasant. At the time of the fire,
when the bridges were swept away by the flames, great crowds of
people surged through them, and thousands found shelter in their
depths from the fiery element.
These great submarine thoroughfares enable a large amount of the
traffic of the city to pass under the river, thereby relieving, to a
certain extent, the over-crowded bridges. They have proved so great
a success, that the day is not far distant when nearly every street will
dispense with its clumsy swing bridge, and the long lines of vehicles
and pedestrians that now patronize these necessary evils will pass,
quietly and without delay, under the shipping that renders the Chicago
river the counterpart of the great Mersey.
104
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
THE GREAT TUNNELS OF THE WORLD.
HE most talented engineers of all ages have been employed in
tunneling under mountains and rivers, thus overcoming the
obstacles thrown by nature in the way of the world's com¬
merce. Before closing this history of the Chicago tunnel system, it
will be of interest to mention some of the most noteworthy enterprises
of this character.
The recent completion of the great Hoosic tunnel in America, and
the Mont Cenis tunnel in Europe, have astonished the scientific world,
and opened up new channels of travel and traffic under the Hoosic
mountains and under the Alpine range.
The history of the Kilsby tunnel, on the London & Birmingham
(now the London & North-Western) Railway, is interesting. It is
known that the engineer's deliberate opinion was that the line ought
to pass through the town of Northampton—an arrangement which
would, of course, have vastly enhanced the commercial importance
of the town. The inhabitants, howe' er, "urged and excited by men of
influence and education, opposed the project and succeeded in distort¬
ing the line, via the Kilsby tunnel—which, if the projected plan had
been adopted, would not have been required—to a point five miles off.
It was not then considered that railways could supersede mail and
stage coaches ; they were looked upo". as, and declared to be, " but
smoky substitutes for canals." The tunnel is driven 160 feet below
the surface ; it is 2,4^3 yards in length, or about 1 mile and 3 furlongs'
and is 30 feet in width and 30 feet high, constructed with two wide
ENTRANCE TO FOOT PASSENGER WAY, WASHINGTON STREET TUNNEL.
UNDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
107
air shafts 60 feet in diameter, not only to give air and ventilation,
but to admit light.
The famous Box tunnel on the Great Western Railway, England—
between Bath and Chippenham—was another difficult and expensive
work. The tunnel is about 70 feet below the surface; it is 3,227 yards
in length, or rather more than If miles; the width is 30 feet, and the
height is 25 feet. Where bricked, the sides are constructed of seven
rings, and the arch of six rings of brick, and there is an invert of four
rings. There are eleven air shafts to this tunnel, generally 25 feet in
diameter.
There are about 70 miles of railway tunneling in Great Britain, or
one mile of tunnel for 130 miles of railway.
T he longest tunnel in England is the Woodhead at the summit of
the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, being 3 miles and
60 feet long.
T here had been two or three schemes for forming a tunnel under the
Thames, prior to that brought forward in 1823 by Mr. (afterward Sir)
Isamb ard Mark Brunei. One proposing to connect Gravesend with
Tilbury, another to commence at Rotherhithe, a little below the site of
the present tunnel; and work had been actually begun at both the places,
but soon abandoned. Brunei proposed to effect his object by means of
a frame work or shield, which should support the face of the excava¬
tion and allow the earth to be removed on many points simultaneously ;
the frames or divisions of the shields being then moved slowly forward,
and closely followed by a solid mass of brick work enclosing two
arched passages 16 feet 4 inches in height from the invert of the arch,
and 13 feet 9 inches span at the springing of the arch. Great
difficulties were experienced in the course of the work, and some
serious accidents happened from the river breaking through the moist
sand and clay through which the tunnel had to be carried. But ultimately
all obstacles were overcome, and the work was, in 1842, brought to a
108 THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF 'CHICAGO.
successful termination, about seventeen years from the commencement
of the excavations. But all this work proved of little value, as this
tunnel has never been used by the citizens of London for any practical
purpose, and the masonry is now rapidly going to decay.
A list of some of the most important tunnels in the world is added :
Length
Length
in Yards.
in Yards.
Thames & Medway,
3,720
Box Tunnel (Great Western),
3,227
Harecastle,
2,880
Littlehorough,
2,869
Lapal (Dudley canal),
3,776
Sapperton,
2,800
Gosty Hill (Dudley canal),
623
Kilsby,
2,423
Tipton Green,
2,926
Watford,
1,793
Ripley (Cromford canal),
2,966
Merstham,
1,780
Blis worth,
3,080
White Ball Hill, -
1,470
Asperton,
1,320
Shakespeare Tunnel,
1,300
Oxenhall,
2,192
Primrose Hill,
1,250
Marsden,
5,500
Bletchingley,
1,086
Foulbridge,
1,640
Salt Woods,
1,000
Fenny Compton,-
1,188
Rollebois (P. & Rouen)
2,890
Islington (Regent's canal)
900
Venables,
291
Maiden Hill,
370
Pissy Poville,
2,400
Sapperton,
4,180
Tene Noir,
1,641
Noorien,
13,128
Cumptich,
1,017
Soussey,
3,852
St Cloud,
554
Pouilly,
3,660
Nerthe,
5,032
Mauvages,
5,320
Blaisy,
4,376
St. Aignan,
288
Rilly,
3,829
Summit Tunnel (Ashton
&
Hammarting,
3,050
Manchester Railway),
5,192
Hauenstein
2,731
The construction of
tunnels is by no means of recent
origin,
although it is only of late that they have become common. The
outlet for the drainage of the lake Copais, in Boeotia, is one of the
oldest monuments of the labor of man. The great tunnel in Sa mos
which was seven stadia, or 4,200 Greek feet, in length, was driven
through a mountain 900 feet high, for the purpose of serving as the
bed of a channel to convey water from a natural source to the city of
Samos (Herod., iii, 60.)
TINDER THE LAKE AND UNDER THE RIVER.
Ill
The Posilipo near Naples, which is at least as old as the beginning
of the reign of Tiberius, is a tunnel three-quarters of a mile long. It
is one of the most singular of the many singular remains in the
wonderful Italian Peninsula. This tunnel is shaped almost like the
nave of a vast cathedral, and its entire length is cut through the solid
rock. After leaving Naples, on the way to Biac, the tourist is driven
through this tunnel, over a beautiful level roadway, on into the country
beyond, where lie the Lake Avernus and the Elysian fields of Virgil.
On the mountain near the entrance to this tunnel (called "Grotto " in
the guide books) is the tomb of that celebrated poet.
Like all such weird places in Italy, the "grotto of Posilipo" has its
hermit, a long-bearded old friar, who lives in a sort of a cave, about
midway along the road through the place. His business is begging,
and all who pass through this wonderful excavation must pay him
tribute, or he invokes on their defenseless heads the wrath of the
gods.
There are no records remaining of this great work that fully
explain its character. Its cost must have been immense, as its heigh t
from the roadway is equal to that of the main nave of St. Peter's at
Rome, which it much resembles. The excavation through the granite
mountain must have been the work of ages, and, as it was done before
the invention of gunpowder, the visitor can scarcely satisfy himself by
what means so many millions of cubic yards of solid rock could have
been removed from this mountain bed. The author, who visited th is
wonderful tunnel in 1869, regards it as one of the grandest and mos t
difficult works of the old Romans.
The tunnel which was made at an early period in the Roman
Republic for the partial dainage of the Alban Lake is above a mile in
length.
Of ancient works of this character, there is a remarkable example
in the subterreanean canal from Lake Fucinus, or the Lake of Celano,
112
THE TUNNELS AND WATER SYSTEM OF CHICAGO.
to the river Siris, originally formed by the Emperor Claudius, and
cleared out some years since by order of the Neapolitan Government.
This extensive tunnel, which is about three miles long, thirty feet high
and twenty-eight wide at the entrance, and nowhere less than
twenty feet high, passes, in part, through solid rock, and is lined in
other places with masonry; and it appears to have been constructed in
a manner resembling that now usually followed, the excavation having
been carried on by several parties or gangs simultaneously by means of
vertical sh afts and inclined passages or galleries from the sides of the
mountain.
Whatever great works of this character may yet be undertaken,
Chicago has certainly the credit,of completing successfully the grandest
system of tunnels ever undertaken by a single municipality.
J. M. WING & CO.'S
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and must be ordered at once. Boards and marbled edges, 228 pages, $3.00.
Broken Sets of The Land Owner for 1873. Comprising the January, Feb¬
ruary, April, June, July, September, November and December numbers. ' Paper
covers, 50 cents.
Binders for The Land Owner. Emerson's Patent Binder preserves each copy
during the year and will hold two volumes. A perfect multum in parvo.. Price,
#1.25.
The Land Owner Pocket Lot Book. Indispensable to every city real estate
dealer or owner. Sheep, for pocket use, JS1.50.
The Land Owner Office Tract Book. Contains 300 pages of alternate sec¬
tional and township plats in blank, with spaces for memoranda. Any tract of land
can be easily and handsomely mapped out in it. Cloth. Price, $3.00.
The Land Owner Farm Book. Contains 200 blanks for perfect description of
farps and township plat upon which to locate them. Most perfect book of the
kind ever issued, and indispensable to a real estate office. Takes the place of two
salesmen. Price, $2.00.
Sectional and Township Plats. A complete assortment. 6x6, $1.00 per
quire ; 3x3, 50 cents per quire, etc.
ESTABLISHED I3ST 1869.
ONLY $4.00 A YEAR. subscribe fob ONLY $1.00 A YEAR.
THE ONLY PICTORIAL JOURNAL IN THE WEST.
The Land Owner is published on the first day of every month, at the low price of jjSi.oo a year. Each number contains as much reading matter
as an ordinary octavo book, besides from seven to twelve pages of original engravings, representing the growth and progress of the great West. It has
been the most signally successful journalistic enterprise ever inaugurated, because it has kept pace with the onward strides of the times. Its engravings
are executed by its own artists, and excel any ever produced in the West, as its engraving department is most thorough and complete.
In point of circulation The Land Owner leads every Western publication, and its subscribers are all over the world.
The Land Owner is for sale by all news dealers everywhere; but the best way to obtain it is to enclose gl.oo to the publishers. Specimen copies
sent free to any address.
J. M. WING & CO.,
91 Madison Street, Chicago.
ONLY $1.00 A YEAR.
ONLY $1.00 A YEAR.
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