american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1178 address at the 42d annual convention, chicago, illinois, june 21st, 1910. by john a. bensel, president, am. soc. c. e. i know that to some of my audience a satisfactory address at a summer convention would be like that which many people regard as a satisfactory sermon--something soothing and convincing, to the effect that you are not as other men are, but better. while i appreciate very fully, however, the honor of being able to address you, i am going to look trouble in the face in an effort to convince you that, in spite of great individual achievements, engineers are behind other professional men in professional spirit, and particularly in collective effort. whether this, if true, is due to our extreme youth as a profession, or our extreme age, is dependent upon the point of view; but i think it is a fact that will be admitted by all that engineers have not as yet done much for their profession, even if they have done considerable for the world at large. looking backward, our calling may properly be considered the oldest in the world. it is older, in fact, than history itself, for man did not begin to separate from the main part of animal creation, until he began to direct the sources of power in nature for the benefit, if not always for the improvement, of his particular kind. in bible history, we find early mention of the first builder of a pontoon. this creditable performance is especially noted, and the name of the party principally concerned prominently mentioned. the same thing cannot be said of the unsuccessful attempt at the building of the first sky-scraper, for here the architect, with unusual modesty, has not given history his name, this omission being possibly due to the fact that the building was unsuccessful. if an engineer was employed on this particular undertaking, the architect had, even at that early stage of his profession, learned the lesson of keeping all except his own end of the work in the background. the distinctive naming of our profession does not seem, however, to go back any farther than the period of 1761, when that father of the profession, john smeaton, first made use of the term, "engineer," and later, "civil engineer," applying it both to others and to himself, as descriptive of a certain class of men working along professional lines now existing and described by that term. remarkable progress has certainly been made in actual achievements since that time, and i know of nothing more impressive than to contemplate the tremendous changes that have been made in the material world by the achievements of engineers, particularly in the last hundred years. this was forcibly impressed upon me a short time ago, while in the company of the late charles haswell, then the oldest member of this society, who, seeing one of the recently built men-of-war coming up the harbor, remarked that he had designed the first steamship for the united states navy. the evolution of this intricate mass of mechanism, which, from the very beginning of its departure from the sailing type of vessel, has taken place entirely within the working period of one man's life, is as graphic a showing of engineering activity as i think can be found. our activities are forcibly shown in many other lines of invention and in the utilization of the forces of nature, particularly in the development of this country. we, although young in years, have become the greatest railroad builders in history, and have put into use mechanical machines like the harvester, the sewing machine, the telephone, the wireless telegraph, and almost numberless applications of electricity. ships have been built of late years greatly departing from those immediately preceding them, so that at the present time they might be compared to floating cities with nearly all a city's conveniences and comforts. we have done away with the former isolation of the largest city in the country, and have made it a part of the main land by the building of tunnels and bridges. in all our work it might be said that we are hastening, with feverish energy, from one problem to another, for the so-called purpose of saving time, or for the enjoyment of some new sensation; and we have also made possible the creation of that which might be deemed of doubtful benefit to the human race, that huge conglomerate, the modern city. there has been no hesitancy in grappling with the problems of nature by engineers, but they seem to be diffident and neglectful of human nature in their calculations, leaving it out of their equations, greatly to their own detriment and the world's loss. we can say that matters outside of the known are not our concern, and we can look with pride at our individual achievements, and of course, if this satisfies, there is nothing more to be said. but it is because i feel that engineers of to-day are not satisfied with their position, that i wonder whether we have either fulfilled our obligations to the community, or secured proper recognition from it; whether, in fact, the engineer can become the force that he should be, until he brings something into his equations besides frozen figures, however diverting an occupation this may be. one may wonder whether this state of affairs is caused from a fear of injecting uncertain elements into our calculations, or whether it is our education or training which makes us conservative to the point of operating to our own disadvantage. we may read the requirements of our membership and learn from them that in our accomplishments we are not to be measured as skilled artisans, but the fact remains that, to a great extent, society at large does so rate us, and it would seem that we must ourselves be responsible for this state of affairs. our colleges and technical schools are partly to blame for the existence of this idea, on account of the different degrees which they give. we have a degree of civil engineer, regarded in its narrowest sense, of mining engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and by necessity it would seem as if we should shortly add some particular title to designate the engineer who flies. in reality there should be but two classes of engineers, and the distinction should be drawn only between civil engineers and military engineers. as a matter of fact, fate and inclination determine the specialty that a man takes up after his preliminary training, and so far as the degrees are concerned, the only one that has any right to carry weight, because it is a measure of accomplishment, is that which is granted by this society to its corporate members. the schools, in their general mix-up of titles, certainly befog the public mind. it is as if the medical schools, for instance, should issue degrees at graduation for brain doctors, stomach doctors, eye and ear doctors, etc. very wisely, it seems to me, the medical profession and the legal profession, with histories far older than ours, and with as wide variations in practice as we have, leave the variations in name to the individual taste of the practitioner, in a manner which we would do well to copy. the society itself has adopted very broad lines in admission to membership, classing as civil engineers all who are properly such; and there is good reason for the serious consideration of the term at this time, as we cannot fail to recognize a tendency in state and other governments to legislate as to the right to practice engineering. it was owing to the introduction of a bill limiting and prescribing the right to practice in the state of new york, that a committee was recently appointed to look into this matter and report to the society. this report will be before you for action at this meeting. as to the manner in which engineers individually perform their work, no criticism would properly lie, and in fact it is fortunate that our work speaks for itself, for, as a body, we say nothing. we are no longer, however, found working for the greater part of the time on the outskirts of civilization, and it becomes necessary, therefore, for us to change with changing conditions, and to use our society not only for the benefit of the profession as a whole, but for the benefit of the members individually. whether one of our first steps in this direction should be along legislative lines is for you to determine. for myself, having been confronted with legislation recently attempted in new york, i am convinced that we shall have legislation affecting our members, and this legislation should properly be moulded by some responsible body like our own society. if we do not take the matter up ourselves it is likely to be taken up by other associations, and from past experience, it would seem as though it might be carried on along lines that would tend to ridicule our desire for professional standing. the society is to be congratulated on its present satisfactory status. the reports show a very satisfactory financial condition, and you may note a continuing increase in membership that is extremely gratifying. this, after having nearly doubled in the last seven years, still shows no sign of diminishing in its rate of increase. it may be said, also, that we have in the society an excellent publishing house, where the members have an opportunity to secure technical papers published in the highest style of the art. we have in general in the officers, a number of men, who, within the prescribed limits, labor for the benefit of the members, but we also have constitutional limitations to the activity of our governing body, so that the voice of the society is never heard, or, at least, might be compared to that still, small voice we call "conscience," which is not audible outside of the body that possesses it. now, in these days, when the statement that two and two make four is accepted from its latest originator as a newly discovered truth, a little extension of our mathematics, to take into our estimate people as well as things, is what we principally need, and it would be a good thing, regarded either from the point of view of what the world needs or the more selfish view of our own particular gains. at the present time it would seem as though our world had thrown away the old gods without taking hold of any new ones. private ownership as it formerly existed is no longer recognized; individual action in almost any large field is to-day hampered and curtailed in a manner undreamed of twenty years ago. in fact, our whole scheme of government seems to be passing from the representative form on which it was founded, to some new form as yet undetermined. whether all this is, in our opinion, for good or for evil, is of no particular concern. the matter that concerns us is, that we have left our old moorings, and that, to secure new ones, new limits are to be set to the activities of men along lines which concern us, and that, therefore, it is necessary that those who by education and training are best fitted to consider facts and not desires, should guide society as much as possible along its new lines. i consider that we as a profession are particularly trained to do this by our consideration of facts as they exist, and i think it will be recognized by all that we are not in our work or activities bound by any precedent, even if we do learn all that we can from the past; and that we are by nature and training of a cool and calculating disposition, which is surely a thing that is needed in this time of many suggested experiments. to be effective, however, we must be cohesive, and thus be able to take our part not as the led, but as leaders, convincing the people, if possible, that all the ills of our social system cannot be cured by remedies which neglect the forces of creation, and that the best doctors for our troubles are not necessarily those whose sympathies are most audibly expressed. in the recent discoveries of science our ideas as to the forces of nature must be greatly enlarged and our theories amplified. recent discovery of radium and radio-active substances shows at least that much of our old knowledge needs re-writing along the lines of our greater knowledge of to-day. with this increase of knowledge it would seem as though those who devote their lives to the exploitation of natural forces should take a position in the future even more prominent than in the past, and it will undoubtedly become our function to help the world to that ideal state described by our greatest living poet of action, when he speaks of the time to come, as follows: "and no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame; but each for the joy of working, and each in his separate star; shall draw the thing as he sees it, for the god of the things as they are." given turbidity in applied water.~ ==========+================================================= turbidity | of | ~temperature, in degrees, fahrenheit.~ applied |---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- water. | 40 | 40 50 | 50 60 | 60 70 | 70 ----------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- 20 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 20-40 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 2.6 40-60 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 5.4 | ... | 3.7 60-80 | 10.7 | 7.7 | ... | ... | 5.4 80-100 | 11.3 | ... | ... | ... | ... 100 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 12.0[1] ==========+=========+=========+=========+=========+========= [footnote 1: for an average turbidity = 150. approximately.] the influence of the temperature of the water on the turbidity of the effluent is very pronounced. for a temperature of less than 40 deg. fahr. (actual average temperature about 35 deg.), the turbidity of the filtered water for a given turbidity of the applied water is practically twice as great as for a temperature greater than 70 deg. (actual average temperature about 75 deg.). this fact fits in very nicely with the influence of temperature on sedimentation. referring again to this temperature relation, as set forth on a previous page, the hydraulic subsiding value of a particle in water, of a size so small that viscosity is the controlling factor in its downward velocity, is approximately twice as great at 75 deg. as at 35 degrees. we would then expect to find that, in order to obtain a given turbidity in the filtered water, a raw water may be applied at 75 deg., having twice the turbidity of the water applied at 35 deg., to produce the same turbidity; and further, as the turbidity of the filtered water, for a given temperature condition, varies quite directly in proportion to the turbidity in the applied water, it follows that an applied water of given turbidity will produce an effluent at 35 deg. with a turbidity twice as great as at 75 degrees. this is quite in accordance with the facts obtained in actual operation, as indicated on the diagram, figure 15. _preliminary treatment of the water._--the most striking features of the bacterial results given in table 4 are, first, the uniformly low numbers of bacteria in the filtered water during perhaps 8 or 9 months of the year, and the increase in numbers each winter. this is shown clearly in the analysis of bacterial counts in table 32. ~table 32--classification of daily bacterial counts in the filtered-water reservoir during the period, november 1st, 1905, to february 1st, 1908.~ ==========================+==============+====================== bacterial count between: | no. of days. | percentage of whole. --------------------------+--------------+--------------------- 0 and 20 per cu. cm. | 291 | 41.0 20 and 40 per " " | 245 | 34.6 40 and 60 per " " | 63 | 8.9 60 and 80 per " " | 30 | 4.2 80 and 100 per " " | 28 | 4.0 92.7 --------------------------+--------------+--------------------- 100 and 200 per " " | 29 | 4.1 200 and 300 per " " | 13 | 1.8 300 and 500 per " " | 5 | 0.7 500 and 1000 per " " | 5 | 0.7 7.3 --------------------------+--------------+--------------------- | | 100.0 ==========================+==============+====================== the tests for _bacillus coli_ in table 5 show results which correspond closely to these, with this organism detected only infrequently, except during the periods of high bacteria, and both of these are parallel to the turbidity variations in the filtered water. these variations follow closely the variations in the turbidity and in the bacterial content of the water applied to the filters. by all standards of excellence, the sanitary quality of the water during the greater part of the time is beyond criticism. in view of the close parallelism of turbidity and bacterial results in the applied and in the filtered water, it is entirely logical to conclude that, if the quality of the applied water could be maintained continually through the winter as good as, or better than, it is during the summer, then the filtered water would be of the perfect sanitary quality desired throughout the entire year. this was all foreseen ten years ago, when messrs. hering, fuller, and hazen recommended auxiliary works for preliminary treatment of the supply, although, as the author states, these works were not provided for in the original construction. as prejudice against the use of a coagulant seemed to be at the bottom of the opposition to the preliminary treatment, a campaign of education bearing on this point was instituted, in addition to the systematic studies of different preliminary methods to which the author refers. as a result of the combined efforts of all those interested in promoting this improvement, an appropriation was finally made for the work in 1910. the coagulating plant has since been built, and the writer is informed that coagulation was tried on a working scale a short time ago during a period of high turbidity. a statement of the results of this treatment on the purification of the water in the reservoir system and in the filter plant would be of great interest. [illustration: ~figure 15-turbidity in applied water.~] _hydraulic replacing of filter sand._--the author has adopted a method of replacing clean sand in the filters which will commend itself to engineers as containing possibilities of economy in operation. the first experiments in the development of this method at the washington plant were carried out some three years ago, while the writer was still there. substantially the same methods were used then as are described in this paper, but examination of the sand layer by cutting vertically downward through it after re-sanding in this manner showed such a persistent tendency toward the segregation of the coarse material as to hold out rather discouraging promises of success. the greatest degree of separation seemed to be caused by the wash of the stream discharging sand on the surface. it was observed that, near the point where the velocity of the stream was practically destroyed, there seemed to be a tendency to scour away the fine sand and leave the coarse material by itself, and pockets of this kind were found at many points throughout the sand layer. the author states that, in the recent treatment of the filters by this method, there has been no apparent tendency for the materials to separate into different sizes, and it is fortunate if this work can be done in such a manner as to avoid this separation entirely. it may be questioned whether a certain amount of segregation of the materials will make any practical difference in the efficiency of a filter. in all probability this depends on the degree of the segregation, the quantity of pollution in the water to be filtered, the rate of filtration, and the uniformity of methods followed in the operation, etc. for an applied water as excellent in quality as that of the washington city reservoir during favorable summer conditions, a considerable degree of segregation might exist without producing any diminution in efficiency. for a badly polluted water, however, such as the applied water at this plant during certain winter periods, or the water of a great many other polluted supplies, it might be found that even a slight lack of homogeneity in the sand might make an appreciable difference in the results of filtration. as a result of the experiments herein described, however, this method may be applied at other plants where conditions seem to warrant it, with a largely increased measure of confidence; although, as in the case of the adoption of any new or radical departure, that confidence must not be permitted to foster contempt of the old and tried methods, but its operation must be watched with the utmost caution, until long experience shall have demonstrated its perfect suitability and defined its limitations. ~e. d. hardy, m. am. soc. c. e.~ (by letter).--it was not the writer's original intention to enter into a discussion of either the theory of water purification or of the experimental work on sand handling, but simply to present the main results of operation largely in tabular form. he is gratified, however, to have these sides of the question so ably brought out in mr. longley's discussion. mr. hazen referred to the inferior efficiencies of the experimental filters for rate studies (as shown in table 20) in the removal of the _b. coli_ from the water tested. this inferiority is really less than the figures in the table would indicate, as the tests for the experimental filters were presumptive only (as shown by the note at the foot of table 20), while those for the main filters were carried through all the confirmatory steps. from experiments[1] made by messrs. longley and baton in the writer's office, it would seem reasonable to assume that about one-half of the positive results, would have been eliminated had the confirmatory steps been taken. in other words, the figures showing the number of positive tests for _b. coli_ in table 20 should be divided by two when comparing them with corresponding ones for the main filters. [footnote 1: published in the _journal of infectious diseases_, vol. 4, no. 3, june, 1907.] mr. knowles seems somewhat apprehensive regarding the methods described in the paper of restoring the capacity of the filters by raking, and replacing sand by the hydraulic method, and yet, from mr. johnson's discussion, it would seem that the practice of raking filters between scrapings had recently been adopted at the pittsburg plant. before the practice of raking was finally adopted as a part of the routine filter operation, the subject was given a great deal of thought and study, as may be seen by referring to mr. longley's discussion. the re-sanding has been done by the hydraulic method, for nearly two years, and, as far as the writer is able to judge, this method has been more economical and also more satisfactory in every way than the old one. as mr. hazen states, this does not prove that the hydraulic method would be as satisfactory for other filter plants and other grades of sand. the elevated sand bins at the washington plant fit in well with this scheme, and save the expense of one shoveling of the sand; and the low uniformity coefficient of the sand is favorable in decreasing its tendency to separate into pockets or strata of coarse and fine sand. the method of washing is also well adapted to this method of re-sanding, as the sand is made very clean in its passage through the washers and storage bins. the hydraulic method of replacing sand tends to make it cleaner still, because any clay which may be left in the sand is constantly being carried away over the weir and out of the bed, to the sewer. sand replaced by the hydraulic method is much more compact than when replaced by other methods, and consequently the depth of penetration of mud in a filter thus re-sanded is less. careful tests of the effluents from filters which have been re-sanded by the two methods have invariably shown the superiority of the hydraulic method. the experiment of replacing sand by water, referred to by mr. longley, was not considered a success at the time, and the method was abandoned for about a year. at that time an attempt was made to complete the re-sanding of a filter which had been nearly completed by the old method. the precaution of filling the filter with water was not taken, nor was any special device used for distributing the sand. when this method was again taken up, various experiments were tried before the present method was adopted. mr. whipple's remarks on the results from the operation of filters under winter conditions are very interesting, and, considering his standing as an authority in such matters, they are worth careful consideration. in the operation of the washington plant, it has always been noticeable that the results were much poorer in winter than in summer. in fact, nearly all the unsatisfactory water which has been delivered to the city mains has been supplied during the winter months. on the other hand, the typhoid death rate has always been comparatively low in cold weather. these facts would seem to indicate that the water supply was not responsible for the typhoid conditions. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1176 reinforced concrete pier construction. by eugene klapp, m. am. soc. c. e. with discussion by messrs. william arthur payne, and eugene klapp. a private yacht pier, built near glen cove, long island, has brought out a few points which may be of interest. it is an example of a small engineering structure, which, though of no great moment in itself, illustrates the adoption of means to an end that may be capable of very great extension. the problem, as submitted to the writer, was to construct a yacht landing at east island, on the exposed south shore of long island sound, in connection with the construction at that point of an elaborate country residence. the slope of the beach at this point is very gradual, and it was specified that there should be a depth of at least 4 ft. of water at low tide. soundings indicated that this necessitated a pier 300 ft. long. it was further specified that the pier should be to some extent in keeping with the scale of the place being created there, and that a wooden pile structure would not be acceptable. besides these esthetic conditions, wooden piles were rejected because the teredo, in this part of the sound, is very active. at the same time, the owner did not care to incur the expense of a masonry pier of the size involved. also, it was desired to unload on the pier all material for the house and grounds during construction, and coal and other supplies thereafter, thus necessitating a pier wide enough to allow access for a cart and horse and to provide room for turning at the pier head. [illustration: plate xxx.--yacht pier near glen cove, n. y.] comparative designs and estimates were prepared for (_a_) a pier of ordinary construction, but with creosoted piles; (_b_) a concrete pier on concrete piles; and (_c_) for a series of concrete piers with wooden bridge connections. the latter plan was very much the best in appearance, and the calculated cost was less than that of the pier of concrete piles, and only slightly more than that of creosoted piles, the latter being only of a temporary nature in any case, as it has been found that the protection afforded by creosote against the teredo is not permanent. at this point on the sound the mean range of the tide is about 8 ft., and it was determined that at least 5 ft. above mean high water would be required to make the underside of the dock safe from wave action. there is a northeast exposure, with a long reach across the sound, and the seas at times become quite heavy. these considerations, together with 4 ft. of water at low tide and from 2 to 3 ft. of toe-hold in the beach, required the outer caissons to be at least 20 ft. high. to construct such piers in the ordinary manner behind coffer-dams, and in such an exposed location, was to involve expenditure far beyond that which the owner cared to incur. the writer's attention had shortly before been called to the successful use of reinforced concrete caissons on the great lakes for breakwater construction, by major w. v. judson, m. am. soc. c. e., and under patents held by that officer. it seemed that here was a solution of the problem. these caissons are constructed on the shore, preferably immediately adjoining the work. after thorough inspection and seasoning, they are usually launched in a manner somewhat similar to a boat, are towed into position, sunk in place, and then filled with rip-rap. in this case what was needed was a structure that could be constructed safely and cheaply in the air, could then be allowed to harden thoroughly, and could finally be placed in accurate position. the weights to be supported were not great, the beach was good gravel and sand, fairly level, and, under favorable circumstances of good weather, the placing of the caissons promised to be a simple matter. therefore, detailed plans were prepared for this structure. an effort was made to preserve some element of the yachting idea in the design, and bow-string trusses, being merely enlarged gang planks, were used to connect the caissons. the pier was originally laid out as a letter "l," with a main leg of 300 ft. and a short leg of 36 ft. the pier head consisted of eight caissons in close contact, and was intended to form a breakwater, in the angle of which, and protected from the wave action, was to be moored the float and boat landing. after the first bids were received, the owner wished to reduce the cost, and every other caisson in the pier head was omitted, so that, as built, the pier contains eight caissons and five 53-ft. trusses. the caissons supporting the trusses are 8 ft. wide and 12 ft. long, and those in the pier head are 12 by 12 ft. on account of the shoal water and the great height of the outer caissons in comparison with their cross-section, it seemed advisable to mould them in two sections. the reinforcement in the side walls consisted of round 1/2-in. rods horizontally, and 3/8-in. rods vertically, spaced as shown on fig. 1, together with cross-diaphragms as indicated. the caissons were reinforced for exterior pressures, which were to be expected during the launching and towing into position, and also for interior pressures, which were to be expected at low tide, when the water pressure would be nothing, but the filling of the caissons would be effective. the corners were reinforced and enlarged. in order to secure a proper bedding into the sand foundation, a 12-in. lip was allowed to project all around the caisson below the bottom. in the bottom there was cast a 3-in. hole, and this was closed by a plug while the lower section was being towed into place. the question of the effect of sea water on the concrete was given much thought. the writer is unable to find any authoritative opinions on this subject which are not directly controverted by equally authoritative opinions of a diametrically opposite nature. he thinks it is a question that this society might well undertake to investigate promptly and thoroughly. there can be no question that there are many distressing instances of failures due to the action of sea water and frost on concrete, and that many able and experienced engineers in charge of the engineering departments of the great transportation companies have simply crossed concrete off their list of available materials when it comes to marine construction. it is a subject too large in itself to be discussed as subsidiary to a minor structure like the one herein described, and though many have rejected concrete under these conditions, other engineers equally conservative are using it freely and without fear. the writer consulted with his partner and others at some length, and, considering all the advantages to accrue by the use of these concrete caissons, decided to do so after taking all known precautions. [illustration: fig. 1.] these precautions consisted in: first, the use of cement in which the chemical constituents were limited as follows: it was specified that the cement should not contain more than 1.75% of anhydrous sulphuric acid (so_{3}) nor more than 3% of magnesia (mgo); also that no addition greater than 3% should have been made to the ingredients making up the cement subsequent to calcination. secondly, to secure by careful inspection the most completely homogeneous mixture possible, with especial care in the density of the outer skin of the caissons. thirdly, a prolonged seasoning process before the new concrete should be immersed in the sea water. in addition to these well-known precautions, it was decided to try the addition to the cement of a chemical element that should make with the free lime in the cement a more stable and indissoluble chemical combination than is offered by the ordinary form of portland cement. this was furnished by the patent compound known as "toxement," which is claimed by the inventor to be a resinate of calcium and silicate of alumina, which generates a resinate of lime and a silicate of alumina in crystalline form. it is further claimed that each of these materials is insoluble in sodium chloride and sodium sulphate, 3% solution. it was used in all the caissons, excepting nos. 1 and 2, in the proportions of 2 lb. of toxement to each 100 lb. of cement. the first two caissons were not thus treated, and will be held under close observation and comparison with the others, which were treated with this compound. the mixture used was one of cement (pennsylvania brand), two of sand, and four of gravel. the sand and gravel were from the nearby cow bay supply, and screened and washed. none of the gravel was larger than 1/2 in., grading down from that to very coarse sand. the sand was also run-of-bank, and very well graded. the caissons, after being placed, were filled with sand and gravel from the adjoining beach up to about mean high-water mark, and the edges outside all around were protected from tidal and wave scour by rip-rap of "one man" stone. the trusses were constructed on a radius of 34 ft., with 8 by 8-in. chords, 6 by 6-in. posts, and 1-in. rods. the loading was figured as a loaded coal cart plus 100 lb. per ft. all lumber was clear yellow pine, except the floor, which was clear white oak. the pipe rail and all bolts below the roadway level, and thus subject to frequent wettings by salt water, were of galvanized iron. the trusses were set 9 ft. 9 in. apart on centers, giving a clear opening of 8 ft. between the wheel guards under the hand-rails. the fender piles were creosoted. the float was 18 ft. long and 12 ft. wide. a contract was let to the snare and triest company, and work was commenced early in august, 1909. the first caisson was poured early in september, and the last about the beginning of october. the caissons were all cast standing on parallel skids at about mean high water. it was first intended to construct a small marine railroad and launch the caissons in that manner, rolling them along the skids to the head of the marine railway. this plan was abandoned, however, and by sending in at high tide a powerful derrick scow, many of the caissons were lifted bodily from their position and set down in the water, towed to place and sunk in position, while the others, mostly the upper sections, were lifted to the deck of the scow and placed directly from there in their final position. there was not much difficulty in getting them to settle down to a proper bearing. provision had been made for jetting, if necessary, but it was not used. in setting caisson no. 2 a nest of boulders was encountered, and a diver was employed to clear away and level up the foundation. the spacing was accomplished by a float consisting of two 12 by 12-in. timbers, latticed apart, and of just sufficient length to cover the clear distance between the caissons. the first caissons being properly set inshore, the float was sent out, guyed back to the shore, and brought up against the outer edge of the set caisson. the next caisson was then towed out, set against the floating spacer, and sunk in position. there was some little trouble in plumbing the caissons, but, by excavating with an orange-peel bucket close to the high side and depositing the material against the low side, they were all readily brought to a sufficiently vertical and level position to be unnoticed by sighting along the edge from the shore. the trusses were all constructed in the contractor's yard at bridgeport, and were towed across the sound on a scow. they were set up and braced temporarily by the derrick boat, and then the floor and deck were constructed in place. on december 26th, 1909, a storm of unusual violence--unequaled in fact for many years--swept over the sound from the northeast; the waves beat over the pier and broke loose some floor planks which had been only tacked in position, but otherwise did no damage, and did not shift the caissons in the least. the same storm partly destroyed a pier of substantial construction less than a mile from the one in question. unfortunately, the work was let so late in the summer, and the restrictions as to seasoning the concrete were enforced so rigidly, that the work of setting the caissons could not be commenced until november 11th, thus the entire construction was forced into the very bad weather of the late fall and early winter. as this involved very rough water and much snow and wind, the work was greatly delayed, and was not completed until the middle of january. the cost of the entire dock was about $14,000. the writer believes that the cost was much less than for masonry piers by any other method of construction, under the existing circumstances of wind, tide, and exposure. it would seem that for many highway bridges of short span, causeways, and similar structures, the use of similar caissons would prove economical and permanent, and that they might be used very largely to the exclusion of cribwork, which, after a decade or so, becomes a source of constant maintenance charges, besides never presenting an attractive appearance. finally, in bridges requiring the most rigid foundations, these caissons might readily be used as substitutes for open wooden caissons, sunk on a prepared foundation of whatever nature, and still be capable of incorporation into the finished structure. discussion william arthur payne, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--on the arrival of the first barge load of brick, to be used in building a residence on the estate to which this pier belongs, a severe northwest wind blew for two days, after the boat was moored alongside, directly against the head of the pier and the side of the boat. the effect on the pier was to crush the fender piles and cause a settlement of one of the caissons at the pier head on the west end. the caisson was knocked slightly out of alignment, and a settlement toward the west was observable. the writer believes that this was caused by the pounding of the brick barge on the sand bottom on which the caissons rest, during half tide, the boat being raised from the bottom on a roller, and striking when the roller had passed. in order to protect the pier and avoid the bumping of barges against it, three groups of piles were driven about 8 ft. beyond the end, a secondary platform was built between these and the stringer of the pier, and arranged so that it would slide on the stringer in case of movement of the piles. this secondary platform is particularly advantageous in the handling of material, as the height of the dock was found to be excessive for passing up brick and cement. for handling material after it is deposited on the dock, an industrial railroad has been built. at the shore end of this railroad, brick and cement are dumped into wagons, in which they are carried up the hill to the house. eugene klapp, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--the injury done to the piers, as reported by mr. payne, is not to be wondered at. the pier was primarily built for a yacht landing, and, on account of the shoal water conditions, excepting at extreme high tide, it was mostly to be used by tenders and launches from larger yachts. it was thought that at high water the large steam yachts might be able to come alongside. provision was not made for tying up to the dock a heavily loaded brick scow and allowing it to remain there through rough weather. the building of the secondary fender piles, during the temporary use of the dock for unloading building material, will doubtless prevent further damage. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1153 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. meadows division and harrison transfer yard.[a] by e. b. temple, m. am. soc. c. e. the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad diverges from the new york division in the town of harrison, n. j., and, ascending on a 0.5% grade, crosses over the tracks of the new york division and the main line of the delaware, lackawanna and western railroad. thence it continues, with light undulating grades, across the hackensack meadows to a point just east of the northern railroad of new jersey and the new york, susquehanna and western railroad, where it descends to the tunnels under bergen hill and the north river. (plate xvi.) [illustration: plate xvi.--plan and profile of the pennsylvania tunnel & terminal r. r., from harrison, n. j., to the hudson river] that portion of the line lying west of the portals of the bergen hill tunnels has been divided into two sections: first, the most westerly, known as the harrison transfer station and yard (plate xvii), which is located on the southern side of the new york division, pennsylvania railroad, and extends from the connection with the new york division tracks at grade up to the point of crossing the same, where the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad has its beginning; second, the meadows division of the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad, which is a double-track railroad, 5.08 miles long, extending from a point just west of the bridge over the new york division to a point 300 ft. west of the western portals of the bergen hill tunnels. _harrison transfer station and yard._--the necessities for the harrison improvements are two-fold: first, as a place to change motive power from steam to electric, and _vice versa_; second, as a transfer for passengers from trains destined to the new station at seventh avenue and 33d street, new york city, to steam or rapid transit trains destined to the present jersey city station, or to the lower part of new york city _via_ the hudson and manhattan tunnels, and _vice versa_. all steam trains from philadelphia, the south, and the west, from new jersey seashore resorts, and local trains on the new york division bound for the new pennsylvania station, will change their motive power from steam to electric engines at the harrison transfer station. likewise, all trains from the tunnel line will change from electric to steam motive power there, and passengers coming from jersey city and the southern section of new york city can take through trains at the harrison transfer platforms. it is estimated that the time required to make this change of motive power, or to transfer passengers, will not exceed 3-1/2 min. the plan at harrison provides at present for two platforms, each 1,100 ft. long and 28 ft. wide, and having ample shelters and waiting rooms, connected by a 12-ft. tunnel under the tracks, provision being made for two additional platforms when necessity requires their construction. the platforms are supported on walls of reinforced concrete, with an overhang to provide a refuge for employees from passing trains. the concrete walls are supported on wooden piles, prevented from spreading by 7/8-in. tie-rods at 10-ft. intervals, and embedded in concrete under the paving of the platform. as the elevation of the top of the platform is +21.83, and the top of the piles is +14.54 above mean tide, the piles will, of course, decay; but, as the embankment has been completed for some time and is well packed and settled, the concrete being deposited directly on the embankment, very little trouble from settlement is anticipated when the piles decay. the surface of the platforms, with the exception of the edges, is to be of brick, on a concrete base; and, if settlement occurs, the bricks can be taken up and re-surfaced. the tops of the platforms are 3 ft. 10 in. above the top of the rail and on a level with the floors of the cars, so that passengers may enter or leave trains without using steps, as all cars which will enter the pennsylvania station, new york city, are to be provided with vestibules having trap-doors in the floor to give access to either high or low platforms. details of the platforms are shown on plates xviii and xix. as planned at present, there will be four main running tracks, one adjacent to each side of the two platforms, providing standing room for four of the longest trains, two in each direction, or double the number of trains of ordinary length, so that passengers having to transfer from a train destined to the pennsylvania station at 33d street to a train destined for the jersey city station or the hudson and manhattan tunnels will merely cross the platform. between the two interior main tracks are two shifting tracks, so that between the platforms there will be two passenger tracks on which trains will stop to change motive power and transfer passengers, and two shifting tracks for rapid despatching of the empty engines and motors, each of the four tracks being 15 ft. from center to center to allow for uncoupling and inspection of cars. an efficient system of connections and cross-overs is provided for all tracks, and there is ample storage capacity for 10 steam engines at the western end of the platforms and 20 electric motors at the eastern end, both of which are conveniently located for quick movement, with provision for additional storage tracks, if required. steam engines, upon being disconnected, can be quickly sent to the main engine storage yard, and by the use of a loop track no turntable is required. the main engine storage yard is located south of the running tracks adjoining the bulkhead along the passaic river, where provision is made for the storage of 20 engines. there are two 50,000-gal. water tanks, an ash-pit, inspection-pit, work-pit, sand-hopper, and the necessary buildings. water is brought from the city water main in the meadows yard, on the new york division, about 8,200 ft. eastward from the center of this yard. it was at first planned to locate a power-house and car and engine repair shops in the yard, but as the ultimate extent of the electrification of the new york division cannot now be determined, the facilities in the large power-house in long island city, and in the shop and round-house in the meadows yard of the new york division, were increased to provide for the power and repairs necessary for the next few years. in order to reach the meadows shops and round-house without interfering with the present passenger and freight tracks, it was necessary to build track connections with the meadows yard. twelve stalls of the existing round-house were extended to accommodate the motive power; a large transfer table and pit were increased in size, and an additional ash-pit and engine storage tracks were constructed. any extensive repairs to the electric engines will be made for the present in the jamaica shops, long island; and the large shops at trenton, on the new york division, as well as the meadows shops, will be available for repairs to the steam locomotives. there is ample room at harrison, and plans have been prepared providing for storage and light repair of cars, locomotives, electric motors, and rapid transit trains, if the future demands require such construction at this place. the rapid transit line will extend from park place, newark, to harrison, and thence over the present line of the pennsylvania railroad, which will be electrified, to a junction with the hudson and manhattan railroad company's tunnel tracks at prior street, jersey city. it will be constructed and owned by the pennsylvania railroad company. a joint and frequent through service will be conducted by both companies between park place, newark, and the terminal of the hudson and manhattan railroad, in new york city, by the use of multiple-unit trains similar to those now being operated in the hudson and manhattan tunnels. these trains will pick up and discharge pennsylvania railroad passengers at the harrison transfer station, so that all passengers bound for lower new york city, who desire to use the tunnel service, will make the change at harrison instead of at jersey city as at present. provision is made for two additional platforms, each 1,100 ft. long, to accommodate the rapid transit trains when the present platforms prove inadequate. the existing passenger tracks between the harrison transfer yard and summit avenue, jersey city, where a new local passenger station will be constructed, will be used jointly by steam and electric trains. the embankment for the harrison yard was made, under contract dated july 21st, 1906, with henry steers, incorporated, of new york city, of cellar earth from new york city, and with rock and earth excavated from the pennsylvania station and cross-town tunnels. it was necessary to construct 1,000 ft. of stone and crib bulkhead along the bank of the passaic river. the plan of the yard was prepared by a committee of operating, electrical, and engineering officers, consisting of mr. f. l. sheppard, general superintendent, new jersey division, pennsylvania railroad company; george gibbs, m. am. soc. c. e., chief engineer, electric traction and terminal station construction, pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company; mr. j. a. mccrea, general superintendent, long island railroad company; mr. c. s. krick, superintendent, pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company; mr. a. m. parker, then principal assistant engineer, new jersey division, pennsylvania railroad company, now superintendent, hudson division; and approved by mr. a. c. shand, chief engineer, pennsylvania railroad company, and chief engineer, meadows division, pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company. [illustration: plate xvii.--plan of harrison yard] _meadows division, pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad._--the two main tracks ascending through the harrison yard continue on an embankment to a point 500 ft. west of the west abutment of the bridge over the new york division tracks, which is the point of beginning of the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad. from this point the line extends in a general northeasterly direction, crossing the hackensack river, skirting the base of snake hill, and thence to the approach cut to bergen hill tunnels. the embankment varies in height from 25 to 30 ft. above the surface of the meadows. in this division the following bridges were necessary: pennsylvania railroad, new york division, passenger and newark freight tracks; delaware, lackawanna and western railroad, morris and essex division; newark and jersey city turnpike; public service corporation right of way; erie railroad, newark and paterson branch; belleville road, and jersey city water company's pipe line; greenwood lake railroad (erie railroad), arlington branch; hackensack river; greenwood lake railroad (erie railroad), reconstructed line; delaware, lackawanna and western railroad, boonton branch; erie railroad, passenger tracks; bridge of 11 spans over proposed yard tracks, erie railroad; county road; secaucus road; new york, susquehanna and western railroad; northern railroad of new jersey. the alignment for this distance consists of 3.57 miles of tangent and three curves, two of which are 0° 30' each, one of the latter being at the western end of the division, and the other adjoining snake hill; the third is a regular curve of 1° 54' on the east-bound track, and a compound curve with a maximum of 2° on the west-bound track, the variation being due to the track spacing of 37 ft. from center to center in the bergen hill tunnels, while on the meadows division it is 13 ft. from center to center. the profile was adopted to give 18 ft. of clearance from the under side of the bridges to the top of the rail of the erie railroad branches, 21 ft. to the top of the rail of its main line, 19 ft. to the top of the rail of the delaware, lackawanna and western railroad, and a clearance of 24 ft. above high water in the hackensack river. with the exception of that portion of the line adjoining the bergen hill tunnels, where it was necessary to continue the 1.3% grade up to the bridge over the northern railroad of new jersey, and the east-bound ascending grade of 0.5% from the harrison platforms to the bridge over the new york division tracks, the grades do not exceed 0.3 per cent. when the construction of the embankment was commenced, it was expected that there would be considerable trouble by settlement due to the displacement of the soft material underlying the surface of the meadows to a depth of from 10 to 15 ft.; but, with the exception of the trouble the contractors had in maintaining their temporary trestles, the embankment as completed has settled very little. the section east of the hackensack river was made, in great part, of rock excavated from a borrow-pit in the town of secaucus, north of the eastern end of the division. the embankment was built under two contracts, one for the work east of the crossing of the boonton branch of the delaware, lackawanna and western railroad, under contract dated january 15th, 1907, with h. s. kerbaugh, incorporated, the material being taken from the borrow-pit in narrow-gauge cars and dumped from a strong pile trestle along the total length of the section, the same being completed in 19 months; the other for the embankment west of the boonton branch, delaware, lackawanna and western railroad, under contract dated april 10th, 1906, with henry steers, incorporated, of new york city, the material, consisting partly of cellar earth, and partly of rock and earth excavated from other sections of the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad, being brought on scows up the hackensack and passaic rivers from new york city. the material was handled expeditiously from the scows by orange-peel buckets operated from the shore, deposited in standard-gauge dump-cars, and transported by locomotives at one time used on the elevated railroads in new york city. no excavation whatever was required on the meadows division or in the harrison yard. [illustration: plate xviii.--details of shelters and platforms, harrison transfer station.] [illustration: plate xix.--details of shelters and platforms, harrison transfer station.] the substructures for all the bridges, except the hackensack river draw-bridge, are of concrete, without reinforcement, heavy enough to withstand the ordinary earth pressure for the exposed height. with the exception of three bridges, foundations were built on clay and sand; these three, on account of excessive depth of soft material, were built on piles. in some cases loose stone was deposited back of the foundations for a width of 10 or 12 ft. after the mud had been removed. this precaution has prevented trouble due to the thrust of the high embankments on the saturated material. masonry for all these bridges was constructed under contract dated august 21st, 1905, with mcmullen and mcdermott, of new york city. the superstructure consisted principally of half-through girders, floor of i-beams, filled solid with concrete, on top of which were placed five layers of hydrex felt, and water-proofing compound, protected by a layer of sand and grouted brick from the stone ballast. the bridges over the new york division passenger and newark freight tracks of the pennsylvania railroad, and the main-line tracks of the delaware, lackawanna and western railroad, at the west end of the meadows division, are separated by 300 ft. of embankment. the skew angle is 9°, the total length of each bridge being about 450 ft. the floors consist of i-beams embedded in concrete. the hackensack river draw-bridge consists of six spans of deck plate girders, each 110 ft. long, and a draw-span 300 ft. long, operated by two 70-h.p. electric motors. the masonry was constructed under contract dated august 25th, 1905, with the drake and stratton company, of philadelphia; and the steelwork was furnished and erected by the pennsylvania steel company, of steelton, pa. an important and interesting feature of the draw-bridge is the lift rail, and new rail-locking device. mitered rails are used, with sufficient opening between the ends to prevent binding at times of expansion. it was deemed advisable that the mitered joint should occur on the abutment, or fixed span, instead of at the opening at the end of the draw. the lift rail, therefore, was a necessity; and the design, as shown on plate xx, was perfected. it consists of lift-rails, 8 ft. 4 in. long, moving vertically 8 in. at the free end, reinforced on both sides by sliding steel castings, which are lifted with the rail; when the latter is dropped in place, the wedges on the castings engage at the abutment and heel joints and at one intermediate point in dove-tailed wedge seats, insuring tight contact with the rail, and absolute fastening to the deck of the bridge. the objection to the ordinary lift-rail, which in lowering must make its own joint by seating in tight boxes, has been that any slight deviation from a true line would prevent the rail from seating itself properly. this objection has been entirely overcome in this design, by allowing liberal clearance on all seats, and securing rigidity by the sliding bars and wedges which are connected with the inter-locking system, so that it is impossible for a clear signal to be given unless the lift-rails and wedges are in their proper positions. this device has been operated successfully on the new york and long branch railroad bridge over raritan bay for the last 18 months. each of the two main tracks on the meadows division, and all the main tracks in the harrison transfer yard, are of standard construction, with pennsylvania section, 1909, 100-lb., open-hearth steel rails, and stone ballast. every fifth tie is made 9 ft. 5 in. long, to carry the third rail for the electric current, and all joints of the running rails are bonded for the same purpose. track-laying on the meadows, and in harrison transfer yard, has been done under contract dated april 26th, 1909, with henry steers, incorporated, of new york city. samuel rea, m. am. soc. c. e., second vice-president, pennsylvania railroad company, is the executive officer under whose direction the work has been carried on. mr. william h. brown, chief engineer, pennsylvania railroad company, and chief engineer of the meadows division, also a member of the board of consulting engineers for the tunnel extension, until his retirement by age limit on february 28th, 1906, located and started the construction of the line from harrison to the western portals of the bergen hill tunnels, which latter point was the westernmost limit of authority of the board of consulting engineers. mr. a. c. shand succeeded mr. brown as chief engineer of the pennsylvania railroad company, and as chief engineer of the meadows division, with the writer, who was assistant chief engineer of the pennsylvania railroad company, and had been closely associated with mr. brown at the time of the location of the line and its earlier period of construction. h. e. leonard, m. am. soc. c. e., engineer of bridges and buildings, pennsylvania railroad company, designed the hackensack river bridge, the superstructures of the other bridges, and the rail-locking device on the hackensack river draw-bridge. the surveys and construction of the meadows division and of the harrison transfer yard have been in charge of mr. william c. bowles, engineer of construction. [illustration: plate xx, fig. 1.--lift rail and locking device, draw partly open.] [illustration: plate xx, fig. 2.--lift rail and locking device, draw closed.] footnotes: [footnote a: presented at the meeting of june 1st, 1910.] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1177 final report of special committee on rail sections.[a] your special committee on steel rails, since their appointment in 1902, have held numerous meetings, not only of their own body, but also in conference with committees representing other societies and the steel rail makers. the results of their deliberations have been presented to the society in their reports presented on- january 21st, 1903[b] " 18th, 1905 " 17th, 1906 " 16th, 1907 july 9th, 1907 december 6th, 1907 " 18th, 1908 november 30th, 1909 as previously reported to you, the rail committee of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association is also acting for the american railway association; and the latter organization has guaranteed to it the necessary funds to make exhaustive tests and observations as to the wear, breakage, etc., etc., of steel rails. this work is being prosecuted, and will of necessity require several years. your committee feels that it has nothing to add to the several reports which it has presented to the society, particularly as, so far, the several cardinal principles outlined in them are being practically followed in the several used and proposed specifications and rail sections. in view of the foregoing, your committee would respectfully ask to be discharged so that the field may be clear if at any future time the society should desire to again place the subject in the hands of a committee. joseph t. richards, c. w. buchholz, e. c. carter, s. m. felton, robert w. hunt, john d. isaacs, richard montfort, h. g. prout, percival roberts, jr., george e. thackray, edmund k. turner, approved in connection with the attached report: william r. webster. june, 1910. philadelphia, june 1st, 1910. i have signed the report of the a. s. c. e. rail committee,--"approved in connection with the attached report," as i feel that the report is too condensed, and assumes that all are familiar with the rail situation, especially what has been done by the other societies. the work undertaken by this committee has been delegated by the american railway association to the rail committee of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association, and it therefore seems appropriate to give the results of their work, up to date, to our members in convenient form for reference, especially as our rail specifications have not been worked to, and they have offered a better specification that will be worked to, and no doubt largely used by the members of this society. the specification is attached to this report. in presenting this specification to the annual meeting at chicago in march last, the committee said:[c] "a new specification should not be proposed at this time without careful consideration. so far as we know, no railroad company has purchased rails under the specifications approved by the american railway association and referred to us; nor do we know of any railway company that has succeeded in buying rails during the past two years according to a specification entirely satisfactory to the railroad company. we believe that all of the specifications under which rails have been rolled have been compromises on the part of both parties, with the general result that neither party is entirely satisfied. our experience during the year has brought to our attention some defects in all of the specifications now before us, and acting under the impression that there is a distinct feeling that we should revise our specifications, we offer the attached specifications for your consideration. our association has no specification for open-hearth steel rails, and in order to comply with the instructions, a specification for open-hearth steel rails is included. "we believe it necessary to submit a sliding scale for the percentages of carbon and phosphorus, which provides for increasing the carbon as the phosphorus decreases. the fixing of this scale properly is a matter requiring care, and we admit that our knowledge on the subject is limited. the american railway association specification calls attention to this matter in the following words: 'when lower phosphorus can be secured, a proper proportionate increase in carbon should be made.' the amount of increase is not provided for in the specifications, and this appears to us to be necessary in order to secure uniformity of practice; otherwise, the fixing of these percentages becomes a matter of special arrangement. bessemer rails are being furnished regularly with phosphorus under the maximum allowed, and where this is done, the carbon should be raised above the higher limit now fixed in our specifications, or a soft and poor wearing rail will result; yet this condition has not been fully guarded against in rails furnished under existing specifications. the lower and upper limits for carbon have heretofore been fixed with the intention that the mills furnish rails with a composition as near between the two limits as possible. the mills, however, in order to meet the prescribed drop tests with the least difficulty, keep both the carbon and manganese as nearly as possible to the lower limits, with the corresponding result that a generally poor-wearing rail is furnished. "some roads have prescribed the limits of deflection to be allowed under the drop test. with our present knowledge, we believe that we should fix a minimum deflection to eliminate brittle rails and to secure greater uniformity of product; also maximum deflection to eliminate soft rails. we are not able at the present time to fix these limits, but our ultimate object will be to determine and fix such limits for the specifications. "with reference to the amount of discard, time of holding in ladle, size of nozzles, and other such details of manufacture or machinery, we are of the opinion that the physical and chemical tests required should be prescribed, and that we should see that the material submitted for acceptance meets the prescribed tests. we should not dictate to the manufacturers the amount of crop which shall be removed from the top of the ingot, as this should vary with the care and time consumed at the various mills. the railroads should not be asked to take anything but sound material in their rails. the mills can furnish such sound material if the proper care and sufficient time are taken in the making of the ingots. information derived from the tests being made at the watertown arsenal shows definitely that sound rails cannot be made from unsound ingots, and that, therefore, the prime requisite in securing a sound rail is to first secure the sound ingot. "we recommend that the present specifications for steel rails be withdrawn from the manual of recommended practice of the association, as no longer representing the current state of the art. "we submit herewith, as appendix 'a,' a form for specifications. it will have to be amended from time to time as we receive further information on the subject." the specifications referred to above were modified and presented at the meeting in _supplement to bulletin no. 121_, of march, 1910, and in this final form are attached hereto. these specifications do not represent the work of any one society or the work of any one committee, but are the result of all the work of the different societies, as the members of all are so interwoven that whatever work is done in any one society, or by the committee of a society, has very naturally and fortunately been carried into the others. at the chicago meeting these specifications were accepted without a single change, and this is very unusual and shows how generally acceptable they were, as the members of all rail committees were present at the meeting. the main points in this specification were discussed and agreed upon by the members of the committee and the rail committee of the manufacturers who have co-operated with them in this work. in the matter of rail sections, the rail committee of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association has not arrived at any definite conclusions. the new sections "a" and "b" of the american railway association have not given as good results as was expected of them, and the whole matter is yet under consideration. the committee reported as follows:[d] "the instructions of the american railway association require us to study the a. r. a. sections 'a' and 'b' in use and submit a single type for standard. owing to the conditions existing in 1908, very little rail was laid, and practically none of the a. r. a. sections, in such manner as to give the needed information. this year, several roads have laid a. r. a. sections of rail, with a view of determining the relative merits of the respective sections. these rails have been in the track so short a time that we are not justified in drawing any conclusions as to which of the a. r. a. types, 'a' or 'b,' or if either, is better than the a. s. c. e. sections. "_bulletin no. 116_, issued october, 1909, gives the statistics for rail failures for six months from october 31, 1908, to april 30, 1909, as reported to the committee. these statistics do show that the difference in section can be entirely annihilated by difference in chemical composition and by the treatment in furnace and mill. "the results so far obtained from the heavy base a. r. a. sections are disappointing, as we have received some rail from the mills of the new section which was as bad as we did with the old a. s. c. e. section, showing that the quality of the rail does not depend entirely upon the section. "the tests to be inaugurated by the committee, combined with the results of the tests at watertown and the performance of the rail in the track, will give us valuable data to aid us in coming to a final conclusion." a careful study of the results already obtained, on both bessemer and open-hearth steel rails, indicates that the next necessary step will be the use of a much heavier rail, and i think the sooner this is admitted and trial lots of say 1,000 tons each of 110-lb., 120-lb. and 130-lb. rails rolled, of bessemer and open-hearth steel, and put in service under the most severe conditions, the sooner we will get rid of the present difficulties with our rails. wm. r. webster. "specifications for steel rails.[e] [sidenote: process of manufacture.] "1. the entire process of manufacture shall be in accordance with the best current state of the art. "(_a_) ingots shall be kept in a vertical position until ready to be rolled, or until the metal in the interior has had time to solidify. "(_b_) bled ingots shall not be used. [sidenote: chemical composition.] "2. the chemical composition of the steel from which the rails are rolled shall be within the following limits: =================+============================+============================ | bessemer. | open-hearth. +-------------+--------------+-------------+------------- |70 lbs. and | |70 lbs. and | | over, but |85 to 100 lbs.| over, but |85 to 100 lbs. |under 85 lbs.| inclusive. |under 85 lbs.| inclusive. -----------------+-------------+--------------+-------------+-------------carbon |0.40 to 0.50 |0.45 to 0.55 |0.53 to 0.66 |0.63 to 0.76 manganese |0.80 to 1.10 |0.80 to 1.10 |0.70 to 1.00 |0.70 to 1.00 silicon |0.07 to 0.20 |0.07 to 0.20 |0.07 to 0.20 |0.07 to 0.20 phosphorus, | | | | not to exceed | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.04 | 0.04 sulphur, | | | | not to exceed | 0.075| 0.075 | 0.06 | 0.06 =================+=============+==============+=============+============== "3. when the average phosphorus content of the ingot metal used in the bessemer process at any mill is below 0.08 and in the open-hearth process is below 0.03, the carbon shall be increased at the rate of 0.035 for each 0.01 that the phosphorus content of the ingot metal used averages below 0.08 for bessemer steel, or 0.03 for open-hearth steel. "the percentage of carbon in an entire order of rails shall average as high as the mean percentage between the upper and lower limits. [sidenote: shearing.] "4. the end of the bloom formed from the top of the ingot shall be sheared until the entire face shows sound metal. "all metal from the top of the ingot, whether made from the bloom or the rail, is the top discard. [sidenote: shrink] "5. the number of passes and speed of train shall be so regulated that, on leaving the rolls at the final pass, the temperature of the rails will not exceed that which requires a shrinkage allowance at the hot saws, for a 33-ft. rail of 100 lb. section, of 6-1/2 in. for thick base sections and 6-3/4 in. for a. s. cc. e. sections, and 1/8 in. less for each ten pounds decrease of section, these allowances to be decreased at the rate of 1-100 in. for each second of time elapsed between the rail leaving the finishing rolls and being sawed. "the bars shall not be held for the purpose of reducing their temperature, nor shall any artificial means of cooling them be used between the leading and finishing passes, nor after they leave the finishing pass. [sidenote: section] "6. the section of rail shall conform as accurately as possible to the templet furnished by the railroad company. a variation in height of 1-64 in. less or 1-32 in. greater than the specified height, and 1-16 in. in width of flange, will be permitted; but no variations shall be allowed in the dimensions affecting the fit of splice bars. [sidenote: weight] "7. the weight of the rail shall be maintained as nearly as possible, after complying with the preceding paragraph, to that specified in the contract. "a variation of one-half of one per cent. from the calculated weight of section, as applied to an entire order, will be allowed. "rails will be accepted and paid for according to actual weight. [sidenote: length] "8. the standard length of rail shall be 33 ft. "ten per cent. of the entire order will be accepted in shorter lengths varying by 1 ft. from 32 ft. to 25 ft. "a variation of 1/4 in. from the specified lengths will be allowed. "all no. 1 rails less than 33 ft. shall be painted green on both ends. [sidenote: finishing] "9. care shall be taken in hot-straightening rails, and it shall result in their being left in such condition that they will not vary throughout their entire length more than four (4) in. from a straight line in any direction for thick base sections, and 5 in. for a. s. c. e. sections when delivered to the cold-straightening presses. those which vary beyond that amount, or have short kinks, shall be classed as second quality rails and be so marked. "the distance between supports of rails in the straightening press shall not be less than forty-two (42) in.; supports to have flat surfaces and out of wind. rails shall be straight in line and surface and smooth on head when finished, final straightening being done while cold. "they shall be sawed square at ends, variations to be not more than 1-32 in., and prior to shipment shall have the burr caused by the saw cutting removed and the ends made clean. [sidenote: drilling] "10. circular holes for joint bolts shall be drilled in accordance with specifications of the purchaser. they shall in every respect conform accurately to drawing and dimensions furnished and shall be free from burrs. [sidenote: branding] "11. the name of the manufacturer, the weight of the rail, and the month and year of manufacture shall be rolled in raised letters and figures on the side of the web. the number of the heat and a letter indicating the portion of the ingot from which the rail was made shall be plainly stamped on the web of each rail, where it will not be covered by the splice bars. rails to be lettered consecutively a, b, c, etc., the rail from the top of the ingot being a. in case of a top discard of twenty or more per cent. the letter a will be omitted. open-hearth rails to be branded or stamped o. h. all marking of rails shall be done so effectively that the marks may be read as long as the rails are in service. [sidenote: drop testing.] "12. (_a_) drop tests shall be made on pieces of rail rolled from the top of the ingot, not less than four (4) ft. and not more than six (6) ft. long, from each heat of steel. these test pieces shall be cut from the rail bar next to either end of the top rail, as selected by the inspector. "the temperature of the test pieces shall be between forty (40) and one hundred (100) degrees fahrenheit. "the test pieces shall be placed head upward on solid supports, five (5) in. top radius, three (3) ft. between centers, and subjected to impact tests, the tup falling free from the following heights: 70 lb. rail 16 ft. 80, 85 and 90 lb. rail 18 ft. 100 lb. rail 20 ft. "the test pieces which do not break under the first drop shall be nicked and tested to destruction. "(_b_) (it is proposed to prescribe, under this paragraph, the requirements in regard to deflection, fixing maximum and minimum limits, as soon as proper deflection limits have been decided upon.) [sidenote: tests.] "13. (a) two pieces shall be tested from each heat of steel. if either of these test pieces breaks, a third piece shall be tested. if two of the test pieces break without showing physical defect, all rails of the heat will be rejected absolutely. if two of the test pieces do not break, all rails of the heat will be accepted as no. 1 or no. 2 classification (according as the deflection is less or more, respectively, than the prescribed limit[a]). "(b) if, however, any test piece broken under test a shows physical defect, the top rail from each ingot of that heat shall be rejected. "(c) additional tests shall then be made of test pieces selected by the inspector from the top end of any second rails of the same heat. if two out of three of these second test pieces break, the remainder of the rails of the heat will also be rejected. if two out of three of these second test pieces do not break, the remainder of the rails of the heat will be accepted, provided they conform to the other requirements of these specifications, as no. 1 or no. 2 classification (according as the deflection is less or more, respectively, than the prescribed limit[f]). "(d) if any test piece, test a, does not break, but when nicked and tested to destruction shows interior defect, the top rails from each ingot of that heat shall be rejected. [sidenote: drop testing machine.] "14. the drop-testing machine shall be the standard of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association, and have a tup of 2,000 lbs. weight, the striking face of which shall have a radius of five (5) in. "the anvil block shall be adequately supported and shall weigh 20,000 lbs. "the supports shall be a part of or firmly secured to the anvil. [sidenote: no. 1 rails.] "15. no. 1 rails shall be free from injurious defects and flaws of all kinds. [sidenote: no. 2 rails.] "16. rails which, by reason of surface imperfections, are not accepted as no. 1 rails, will be classed as no. 2 rails, but rails containing physical defects which impair their strength, shall be rejected. "no. 2 rails to the extent of five (5) per cent. of the whole order will be received. all rails accepted as no. 2 rails shall have the ends painted white, and shall have two prick punch marks on the side of the web near the heat number near the end of the rail, so placed as not to be covered by the splice bars. "rails improperly drilled, straightened, or from which the burrs have not been properly removed, shall be rejected, but may be accepted after being properly finished. "different classes of rails shall be kept separate in shipment. "all rails shall be loaded in the presence of the inspector. [sidenote: inspection.] "17. (_a_) inspectors representing the purchaser shall have free entry to the works of the manufacturer at all times while the contract is being executed, and shall have all reasonable facilities afforded them by the manufacturer to satisfy them that the rails have been made in accordance with the terms of the specifications. "(_b_) for bessemer steel the manufacturer shall, before the rails are shipped, furnish the inspector daily with carbon determinations for each heat, and two complete chemical analyses every twenty-four hours representing the average of the other elements specified in section 2 hereof contained in the steel, for each day and night turn respectively. these analyses shall be made on drillings taken from the ladle test ingot not less than 1/4 in. beneath the surface. "for open-hearth steel, the makers shall furnish the inspectors with a complete chemical analysis of the elements specified in section 2 hereof for each melt. "(_c_) on request of the inspector, the manufacturer shall furnish drillings from the test ingot for check analysis. "(_d_) all tests and inspections shall be made at the place of manufacture, prior to shipment, and shall be so conducted as not to unnecessarily interfere with the operation of the mill." footnotes: [footnote a: presented to the annual convention, june 21st, 1910.] [footnote b: these reports were published in _proceedings_, am. soc. c. e., as follows: february, 1903, p. 43; february, 1905, p. 60: february, 1906, p. 50; february, 1907, p. 69; august, 1907, p. 290; february, 1908, p. 85; february, 1909, p. 61; february, 1910, p. 62.] [footnote c: bulletin no. 118, december, 1909.] [footnote d: bulletin no. 118. december, 1909.] [footnote e: reprinted from _supplement to bulletin no. 121_ of the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association (march, 1910).] [footnote f: note: the clause in brackets in sections a and c to be added to the specifications when the deflection limits are specified.] [transcriber's note: bolded sections are rendered with equal signs e.g. =bold=. the oe ligature is rendered as[oe] e.g. ph[oe]nixville. the following table is a cross index relating asce papers to project gutenberg(tm) file directories e.g. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18229/ for paper 1150. +-----+------------------------------------------------------+------+ |paper|paper name & author | pg | | no | | file | | | | no | |-----+------------------------------------------------------+------| |1150 |the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania |18229 | | |railroad. by charles w. raymond | | |1151 |the north river division. by charles m. jacobs |18548 | |1152 |the east river division. by alfred noble |18065 | |1153 |meadows division and harrison transfer yard. by e. b. |18012 | | |temple | | |1154 |the bergen hill tunnels. by f. lavis |21083 | |1155 |the north river tunnels. by b. h. m. hewett and w. l. |42149 | | |brown | | |1156 |the terminal station west. by b. f. cresson, jr. |17302 | |1157 |the site of the terminal station. by george c. clarke |18408 | |1158 |the cross town tunnels. by james h. brace and francis |19037 | | |mason | | |1159 |the east river tunnels. by james h. brace, francis |18722 | | |mason, and s. h. woodard | | +-----+------------------------------------------------------+------+ ] transactions of the american society of civil engineers (instituted 1852) vol. lxviii september, 1910 edited by the secretary, under the direction of the committee on publications. reprints from this publication, which is copyrighted, may be made on condition that the full title of paper, name of author, and page reference are given. new york published by the society 1910 * * * * * entered according to act of congress, in the year 1910, by the american society of civil engineers, in the office of the librarian of congress, at washington. * * * * * note.--this society is not responsible, as a body, for the facts and opinions advanced in any of its publications. contents the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad no. page 1150 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania 1 railroad. by charles w. raymond 1151 the north river division. by charles m. jacobs 32 1152 the east river division. by alfred noble 62 1153 meadows division and harrison transfer yard. by e. b. 75 temple 1154 the bergen hill tunnels. by f. lavis 84 1155 the north river tunnels. by b. h. m. hewett and w. l. 152 brown 1156 the terminal station-west. by b. f. cresson, jr. 303 1157 the site of the terminal station. by george c. clarke 340 1158 the cross-town tunnels. by james h. brace and francis 391 mason 1159 the east river tunnels. by james h. brace, francis mason, 419 and s. h. woodard memoirs of deceased members page john fiske barnard, m. am. soc. c. e. 479 robert l. engle, m. am. soc. c. e. 480 charles herbert deans, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. 482 william meier, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. 485 =this volume and the succeeding volume of transactions (vol. lxix) will contain all the papers descriptive of the new york extension of the pennsylvania railroad. a general index covering both volumes will be issued in vol. lxix.= plates plate paper page i. map and profile, pennsylvania tunnel & 1150 19 terminal r. r., north bergen tunnel to long island city ii. map and profile, harrison yard to bergen hill 1150 21 tunnel iii. plan of sunnyside yard 1150 23 iv. view of tunnel under part of atlantic avenue, 1151 37 brooklyn, n.y. v. new york underground railway company: section 1151 39 through surface and underground stations vi. pennsylvania railroad extension: map showing 1151 45 proposed lines leading to those finally adopted vii. plan, profile, and triangulation, north river 1151 47 tunnels viii. typical sections between manholes, bergen 1151 51 hill tunnels ix. map of manhattan island from twenty-third to 1152 63 fortieth streets x. manhattan shaft, lines a and b 1152 65 xi. long island shaft, lines a and b 1152 67 xii. typical tunnel sections 1152 69 xiii. plan and profile, east river tunnels 1152 71 xiv. map and profile, cross-town tunnels 1152 73 xv. plan and profile of lines a and b, and 1152 75 sunnyside yard xvi. plan and profile of the pennsylvania tunnel & 1153 77 terminal r. r., from harrison, n. j., to the hudson river xvii. plan of harrison yard 1153 79 xviii. details of shelters and platforms, harrison 1153 81 transfer station xix. details of shelters and platforms, harrison 1153 81 transfer station xx. lift rail and locking device for hackensack 1153 83 river draw-bridge xxi. hackensack portal, bergen hill tunnels; 1154 85 method of using cross-section rod; and belt conveyor for handling and placing concrete xxii. scaffold car; headhouse; and round holes in 1154 87 concrete forms xxiii. record of drilling, air pressure, mucking, 1154 95 etc., in bergen hill tunnels xxiv. belt conveyor for handling and placing 1154 119 concrete; water-proofing, portion of completed sand-wall, etc.; and methods of placing concrete in forms and bench-walls xxv. telephone and telegraph ducts and mandrels; 1154 129 tunnel lining forms; placing water-proofing; and section of completed lining xxvi. form of circuit-breaker chamber and traveling 1154 137 gantry; forms for storage chamber; rock packing over arches; method of water-proofing in timbered tunnels, etc. xxvii. method of placing water-proofing and keying 1154 145 arch; view of completed tunnel; general view of completed hackensack tunnel and arches through cut-and-cover section; and view of hackensack approach xxviii. plan and profile of parts of north river 1155 153 tunnels xxix. weehawken shaft; and tunnel shield showing 1155 159 hood xxx. yard and offices at manhattan and weehawken 1155 161 shafts xxxi. tunneling shield 1155 167 xxxii. thirty-second street tunnels and shield 1155 175 chambers xxxiii. general methods of excavation adopted for 1155 177 land tunnels xxxiv. plan and longitudinal section of weehawken 1155 193 tunnels xxxv. apparatus for cleaning and rodding electric 1155 205 cable ducts xxxvi. diagram showing lines and grades in river 1155 229 tunnel north xxxvii. cross-section of subaqueous tunnels showing 1155 231 reinforcement xxxviii. back of shield in south tunnel; and rear view 1155 237 of shield during erection of first ring of iron lining plate paper page xxxix. view of meeting of shields; and lowering 1155 253 segment into tunnel invert xl. sections of tunnel during construction, 1155 255 showing shield, air locks, platforms, etc. xli. placing key segment; and method of grouting 1155 257 outside iron xlii. duct bench concrete form in river tunnels 1155 283 xliii. end of portable and adjustable forms 1155 285 for building side bench; and steel rod reinforcement in river tunnels xliv. details of 20-ft. movable form and traveler 1155 287 for concrete arches xlv. traveling concrete form for face of bench 1155 291 walls xlvi. mechanical analysis of sand used in mortar 1155 297 and concrete xlvii. views showing condition of work at site of 1156 307 terminal station xlviii. views showing excavation and supports for 1156 317 ninth avenue structures xlix. views showing underpinning for ninth avenue 1156 321 elevated railway l. views showing condition of work between ninth 1156 325 and tenth avenues, and progress on concrete walls li. views showing box drains and tie-rods in 1156 333 walls; the completed tenth avenue portal; and the disposal trestle lii. girders under the ninth avenue elevated 1156 335 railroad; method of supporting elevated railway columns; and view of inside of form for walls, showing drains, tie-rods, etc. liii. pennsylvania station, new york city; plan 1157 341 showing area at track level liv. diagram showing widths of base of retaining 1157 349 wall required for different batters and pressures, pennsylvania station lv. material trestle over n. y. c. & h. r. r. r. 1157 361 co.'s tracks; and construction of pier no. 72, north river lvi. material trestle showing first chutes in 1157 363 operation; and views of east and west pits at terminal site lvii. methods of excavation, cross-town tunnels, 1158 393 manhattan lviii. views of parts of first avenue plant, 1158 395 cross-town tunnels lix. methods of tunneling, timbering, and lining, 1158 399 cross-town tunnels lx. methods of timbering and underpinning, 1158 407 cross-town tunnels lxi. sections showing method of excavating and 1158 413 timbering in heavy ground, three-track tunnel; and carriage form for side walls, cross-town twin tunnels lxii. methods of water-proofing and concreting, 1158 417 cross-town tunnels lxiii. methods of excavation in all rock, east river 1159 423 tunnels lxiv. tunneling in compressed air, air-lock, 1159 425 caisson, etc., east river tunnels lxv. shields fitted with sectional sliding hoods 1159 433 and sliding extensions and with fixed hoods and fixed extensions to floors, east river tunnels lxvi. rear of shield showing complete fittings, 1159 435 and shield with lower portion of bulkhead removed, east river tunnels lxvii. methods of tunneling in rock, east river 1159 437 tunnels lxviii. operation of shields, east river tunnels 1159 439 lxix. operations in shoving the shield forward in 1159 441 rock and sand, east river tunnels lxx. small shaft, breasting and poling, shutters 1159 443 on front of shield, and hydraulic erector, east river tunnels lxxi. operations in shoving the shield forward in 1159 445 sand, and final breasting and bulkheading, east river tunnels lxxii. method of operating shields in soft ground, 1159 453 east river tunnels lxxiii. reinforcement of broken plates, and inflow of 1159 455 soft clay through shield, east river tunnels lxxiv. methods of placing concrete inside the iron 1159 475 tube, east river tunnels memoirs of deceased members. =john fiske barnard, m. am. soc. c. e.=[1] [1] memoir prepared by w. k. barnard, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. died february 6th, 1910. john fiske barnard was born in worcester, mass., on april 23d. 1829. he was graduated from the bridgewater normal school, and from rensselaer polytechnic institute. in november, 1850, mr. barnard entered the railway service. he held various engineering and operating positions with the grand trunk railway and its subsidiary lines in lower canada, and served as chief engineer of the grand trunk south of the st. lawrence river for the last three years of his connection with that road. in may, 1869, he went to the missouri valley railroad as superintendent and chief engineer. during the same year he was appointed chief engineer of the kansas city-st. joseph and council bluffs railroad, and remained with this road and the hannibal and st. joseph railroad (both now a part of the burlington missouri lines), as chief engineer, general superintendent, and general manager, until 1886. during this time mr. barnard was also president of the atchison union depot company and the st. joseph union stock yards company, secretary and treasurer of the st. joseph depot company, and director in various railroad companies. in 1886, mr. barnard was appointed president and general manager of the ohio and mississippi railway, which position he occupied until 1892. from that time until 1893, he was engaged on several reports of projected railroads and appraisals of industrial and railroad properties. from 1893 to 1898, mr. barnard was receiver of the omaha and st. louis (now wabash) railway, during part of which time he was also president of the alton bridge company, and receiver of the st. clair-madison and st. louis belt line. in the spring of 1905 he moved to los angeles, cal., where he lived until february 6th, 1910, when, after an illness of several months, he died at his home at the age of 81 years. mr. barnard was elected a member of the american society of civil engineers on september 1st, 1880. he was also a member of the american geographical society. =robert l. engle, m. am. soc. c. e.=[2] [2] memoir prepared by o. e. selby, jun. am. soc. c. e. died october 16th, 1909. robert l. engle was born on december 5th, 1846. he was a product of the time when opportunities for technical training were few, so that his engineering education was gained largely by contact with actual work. he began his professional career after the civil war, in which he served for two years in the one hundred and forty-eighth indiana volunteer infantry. the first construction work of any note on which mr. engle was engaged was the building of the ohio and mississippi railroad, now a part of the baltimore and ohio system, extending from cincinnati to st. louis. later, and up to 1878, he was connected with the construction of the cincinnati southern railway, cincinnati's municipally owned railway, as division engineer, at ray springs, tenn. this work included several tunnels and other heavy work in the mountain territory. after the completion of the cincinnati southern, mr. engle went west, and was engaged in the construction of the santa fé railroad at trinidad, colo., in the capacity of assistant chief engineer. under his direction the royal gorge hanging bridge was built, and much other interesting work was carried out. mr. engle's forte was location, and in the mountainous regions of the west he found ample exercise for this faculty. from trinidad he moved to santa fé, n. mex. his name is borne by engle, n. mex., now a thriving western town. while still in the west, mr. engle was connected with the mexican central railroad, at chihuahua, mexico, on construction work, and with the denver and rio grande railroad. it is thus seen that he played a part in much of the important pioneer railroad development of the mountain region of the west. in 1885, mr. engle began work on the location and construction of the chicago, burlington, and northern railroad, now part of the burlington system, being located at st. paul, minn., as assistant chief engineer of that portion of the line north of la crosse, wis. later, his jurisdiction included the whole line. during 1887 and a part of 1888, he had charge of the construction of the illinois valley and northern railroad, as chief engineer, at la salle, ill. in the latter part of 1888 he conducted surveys for coal branch lines connecting with the chesapeake and ohio railway, in the mountains of west virginia. beginning in september, 1889, mr. engle was resident engineer on the construction of the louisville and jeffersonville bridge over the ohio river. during his term of service the substructure, involving several deep pneumatic foundations, was built, and parts of the approaches were erected. during his stay at louisville mr. engle was selected as arbitrator in a matter of disputed classification between the company and the contractor for the pike's peak rack railroad, and effected a satisfactory settlement. among other things his later service included location work on the tennessee central railroad, in 1892; location and construction work for the missouri, kansas and texas railroad, in arkansas; and construction work on the tidewater railroad, now the virginian railway, at princeton, w. va. at the time of his death he was employed as engineer for the contracting firm of carpenter and boxley, at johnson city, tenn. with the death of robert l. engle, the profession loses one of those sturdy, self-made engineers, to whom the country is largely indebted for pushing railroad construction overland and through the west. in character, rugged like the mountains with which he was associated, he was still the gentlest of souls to those associated with him in subordinate capacities. the writer knew him as chief and friend for many years, and cannot recall any departures from the lines of the highest dignity, rectitude, good habits, and good nature. mr. engle was a member of the engineers' club of cincinnati from the time of its organization. he maintained his home in cincinnati for twenty-one years, while his engagements kept him at various other places. on february 20th, 1879, mr. engle married miss sallie mcqueety, of cincinnati, and is survived by her and their son and two daughters. his family and social relations were most happy, although his enforced absences from home kept him from much of the social contact which his qualities deserved. mr. engle was elected a member of the american society of civil engineers on september 7th, 1881. =charles herbert deans, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e.=[3] [3]memoir prepared by emil diebitsch and edwin s. jarrett, members, am. soc. c. e. died march 7th, 1909. charles herbert deans was born in chester, delaware county, pa., on november 30th, 1863, and died at his home in ph[oe]nixville, pa., on march 7th, 1909. his father, charles woodbury deans, was prominent in educational work, and was active in the early organization and in the popularization of the common school system of the state of pennsylvania. on his father's side mr. deans was descended from the deans and sterling families, who, immediately following the war of the revolution, emigrated from connecticut to susquehanna and wyoming counties, pennsylvania. his mother was priscilla lyons williams, of chester, delaware county, pa., who was descended from the lyons family of new jersey and the williams and pennell families of pennsylvania. from both his father and his mother mr. deans inherited a taste and aptitude for study. his youthful environment was among books and in an atmosphere which naturally encouraged the desire he early formed to fit himself for a professional life. his education was begun in private schools, but later he attended the public schools, and was graduated from the high school at ph[oe]nixville, pa., in 1881. he spent the next four years in practical work, learning business methods, becoming an excellent and accurate accountant, and familiarizing himself, in the works of the ph[oe]nix iron company, with mill and shop methods and practice, and the metallurgy of iron and steel. in 1885, mr. deans entered lehigh university, well prepared in his studies, with a mind ripe for the absorption of further knowledge, and a temperament for enjoying to the utmost the four years of university life before him. he was a good student, standing well up in the first quarter of his class. he was elected a member of theta delta chi fraternity, was one of the editors and assistant business manager of the college annual in his junior year, and business manager of the engineering journal in his senior year. he was graduated in 1889 with the degree of c. e. as a boy mr. deans was fond of games and all healthy outdoor sports. he was a lover of nature and of animals, fond of fishing and hunting, and was never happier than when roaming the beautiful woods and mountains of his native state. with such tastes it was natural to find him, in his college days, a participator in, and an enthusiastic supporter of, athletic games. not only in athletics, but in all things pertaining to lehigh university, mr. deans was a most loyal and enthusiastic son of his alma mater, both at college and after he had gone out into the world. he thoroughly appreciated the benefits derived from his technical training, and was so eager that others should share them, that early in his business career he advanced sufficient funds to two ambitious young men to carry them through lehigh. immediately after graduation mr. deans entered the employ of sooysmith and company, the well-known foundation engineers and contractors. he rapidly advanced to positions of responsibility with this company, and, in 1895, became its vice-president and chief executive officer. when, a year or two later, charles sooysmith, m. am. soc. c. e., retired from active business, mr. deans organized, from the sooysmith and company staff, the engineering contract company, of which he became president. pressure of business seriously undermining his health, he was forced to give up temporarily all work in 1900, and to spend the next two years in the mountains of northern pennsylvania. on regaining his health, he associated himself with the firm of john monks and son, of new york city, and, at the time of his death, he was second vice-president of that company. while under his executive charge, both sooysmith and company and the engineering contract company, constructed a number of the most important bridge foundations in the united states, and the former firm first successfully introduced pneumatic work in the foundations of the modern high office buildings of new york city, notably the manhattan life, washington life, standard oil, and empire buildings on lower broadway. at the time of his death, mr. deans was in full charge of the building of the piers of the reconstructed baltimore and ohio bridge over the susquehanna river, at havre de grace, md. in the early years of his connection with sooysmith and company, mr. deans was employed on work in the field, rising from subordinate positions to that of superintendent in responsible charge of work. during this period he acquired an intimate and practical knowledge of foundation construction, and his subsequent career gave evidence of the value of this training. being thus well-equipped, mr. deans soon became notable as a business engineer. his judgment on all substructure engineering problems was quick and keen, his thorough technical knowledge being supplemented by his penetrating practical sense. his business ability was of a high order, and his efficiency was largely increased by his industry and methodical habits. as a negotiator, he was in the first rank. his quick appreciation of the essentials in business transactions, his fertile resource in the most complicated financial dealings, his patience and persistence in the face of discouragement or delay, and his inflexible determination when once his decisions were reached, were qualities which placed him in the highest rank as a contracting engineer. to those with whom he came in close contact, mr. deans will always be remembered as exemplifying the ideal combination of technical training with business efficiency. he lightened the seriousness of his business transactions with a quick sense of fun, a fondness for a good story, and an infectious good humor. his genuine interest in the work of his associates and his unfeigned delight in their success won him many friendships which lasted throughout his life and which now keep his memory warm in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to know him intimately. strong of will, keen and clear-sighted in business transactions, loyal to his friends and to the interests entrusted to him, he was, above all, a genial, honorable, many-sided man, who loved his fellow men. mr. deans leaves a mother, mrs. charles w. deans, of ph[oe]nixville, pa., a brother, john sterling deans, m. am. soc. c. e., chief engineer of the ph[oe]nix bridge company, and two sisters, mrs. r. barclay calley, of seattle, wash., and mrs. elmer e. keiser, of tacony, pa. in 1893, mr. deans married miss helen arnold of west chester, pa., who, with two sons, charles woodbury, aged 15, and malcolm arnold, aged 13, survives him. mr. deans was elected a junior of the american society of civil engineers, on december 3d, 1890, and an associate member on may 6th, 1896. =william meier, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e.=[4] [4] memoir prepared by william a. theodorsen and e. james fucik, associate members, am. soc. c. e. died february 14th, 1910. william meier, the son of the reverend jacob l. and mary meier, was born in muscatine, iowa, on april 10th, 1878, the family moving to chicago, ill., in the same year. mr. meier received his education in the public schools of chicago and at the university of illinois, from which he was graduated in 1901, with the degree of b. s. in civil engineering. after his graduation, mr. meier was engaged with various firms, principally in bridge and structural work. for a time he was with william m. hughes, m. am. soc. c. e., and in january, 1905, he entered the service of the scherzer rolling lift bridge company, as assistant in the chicago office; and later was appointed assistant engineer and eastern representative, with headquarters in new york city. at the time of his death, mr. meier was employed in the bridge department of the chicago and north western railway. on february 14th, 1910, in diving from a spring-board, in the natatorium of the young men's christian association, he struck his head against the side or bottom of the tank. when his body was taken from the water, life was extinct, and all efforts at resuscitation were futile. mr. meier took great interest in all that pertained to his profession. he was elected an associate member of the american society of civil engineers, on june 1st, 1909. he was also a member of the western society of engineers. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1152 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the east river division. by alfred noble, past-president, am. soc. c. e. a general outline of the work included in this division has been given by general c. w. raymond, m. am. soc. c. e., in the first paper of the series. the few pages following are intended only as a note to connect his paper with the more detailed descriptions of the execution of the work, which will be supplied by the resident engineers in immediate charge. soon after the company's project was made public, in the latter part of 1901, borings were begun in the east river, and a few weeks later in manhattan and long island city. a preliminary base line was measured on the manhattan side, and temporary transit stations were established on buildings from which all borings in the river were located. the river borings were all wash-borings made from a pile-driver boat. after the results were plotted on the map, contour lines were drawn to indicate the rock surface, and profiles along the tunnel lines were plotted from the contours; as the borings were preliminary to the final location of the tunnels, and in many cases at some distance from the tunnel lines, considerable divergence from the actual rock surface was expected, and realized in a few places, yet on the whole the agreement was very good. the borings revealed two depressions or channels where the rock surface passed below the grade of the projected tunnels, these depressions being separated by a rock reef which extends down stream from blackwell's island. in 32d and 33d streets in manhattan, borings were made from the river to the station site at intervals of about 100 ft., wash-borings and core-borings alternating. in long island city, where the tunnel lines were to pass diagonally under the passenger station building and passenger yard of the long island railroad and under streets and private property, the arrangement of borings was less regular, although the alternation of wash-borings and core-borings was carried out as far as practicable. after the final location of the work, additional borings were made, particularly on shaft sites and also along the approaches and in the sunnyside yard, long island city. a triangulation was carried across the river with a measured base on each side. it was impossible to measure directly between the extremities of either base. the bases were measured with 100-ft. steel tapes, supported every 20 ft., stretched with a uniform pull, and frequently compared with standardized tapes. on account of the crowded condition of the streets during the hours of daylight and evening, most of the work was done between 10 p. m. and 5 a. m. similar measurements were made in the streets along the tunnel lines. angle readings were repeated many times, as is usual in such work. fig. 1 shows the triangulation, the street measurements being omitted. levels were first transmitted across the river by simultaneous observations of the river surface; then by several repetitions, across blackwell's island and the narrow channels on each side, where the longest sights were about 1100 ft.; and, finally, by several lines through the tunnel of the east river gas company at 71st street. the franchise granted by the city of new york provided for the sale to the railroad company of the portions of 32d street between seventh and eighth avenues, and between eighth and ninth avenues. later, the company acquired by purchase the portion of 32d street between ninth and tenth avenues. the franchise granted sub-surface rights under streets around the station site to within 19 ft. of the street surface under seventh, eighth, and ninth avenues; to within 30 in. of the street surface under 31st and 33d streets, except that, under the sidewalks opposite the station, that is to say, the south sidewalk in 31st street and the north sidewalk in 33d street, the construction must be at least 5 ft. below the street surface. in carrying out the work, full use of these rights was made under eighth avenue, but only under such portions of seventh and ninth avenues as were indispensable for access by trains to the station area. it was not practicable to make full use of the rights granted under 31st and 33d streets without incurring great expense for supporting adjacent buildings or for injuries to them, and, after careful consideration, the arrangement shown in the plans was decided on, making about 45% of the sub-surface area under these streets available at track level. [illustration: fig. 1.--triangulation system east river tunnel] the work of the east river division at this site embraced the excavation to the depth necessary for railroad tracks, and the building of a retaining wall extending in 31st street from the east side of ninth avenue to the west side of seventh avenue, thence northward along seventh avenue for a distance of 155.5 ft.; also a retaining wall in 33d street from the west side of seventh avenue to the east side of ninth avenue, and thence southward along ninth avenue for a distance of 136.3 ft. this work was placed under contract june 21st, 1904, with the new york contracting and trucking company, and later assigned by that company to the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, and was carried out under the direction of george c. clarke, m. am. soc. c. e., as resident engineer, by whom it will be described in detail. [illustration: plate ix.--map of portion of manhattan island from 23d to 40th streets, showing former topography from map made by gen. egbert l. viele in 1865] the station tracks leading eastward from the station will converge under seventh avenue and for some distance farther east, and pass into two three-track tunnels, one under 32d street and the other under 33d street, at the respective distances of 192 and 402 ft. from seventh avenue. a typical cross-section of the three-track tunnel is shown on plate xii. the converging sections were considered as easterly extensions of the station, and were not included in the east river division. within a few hundred feet (plate xiv), the tracks are reduced to two, each passing into a single tube, the two tunnels under each street being formed in one excavation, the distance between center lines of tunnels being 20 ft. 4 in. this construction has been termed a twin tunnel, and a typical cross-section is shown on plate xii. the tunnels continue on tangents under the streets to second avenue where they curve to the left by 1° 30' curves, passing under private property, gradually diverging and passing through shafts just east of first avenue. about 350 ft. west of the shaft, the divergence of the two lines from each street becomes sufficient to leave a rock dividing wall between them, and thence eastward each tunnel is formed in a separate excavation. a typical cross-section of the two separated tunnels is shown on plate xii. it thus appears that eastward from the station the lines constitute a four-track railroad, each track being in a separate tunnel; for convenience of the work these lines were designated _a_, _b_, _c_, and _d_, from north to south. [illustration: plate x.--manhattan shaft, lines _a_ and _b_] at an early date, when the organization of the engineering staff was taken up, charles l. harrison, m. am. soc. c. e., was appointed principal assistant engineer. he was directly in charge of all parts of the work, and all resident engineers reported to him. george leighton, m. am. soc. c. e., was placed in charge as resident engineer of the 33d street lines from the west end of the three-track tunnel to the shaft and also eastward from the shaft under east river. as he was not then able to endure the effects of compressed air, the work under the river was transferred to james h. brace, m. am. soc. c. e., as resident engineer. before the completion of the land tunnels under 33d street, mr. leighton accepted more responsible employment elsewhere, and mr. brace assumed charge of them also. francis mason, m. am. soc. c. e., was in charge as resident engineer of the 32d street lines during their entire construction, and also of the tunnels extending these lines eastward from the first avenue shaft under the river. the work just described as the 32d and 33d street lines, terminating at the easterly end at the first avenue shafts, was placed under contract on may 29th, 1905, with the united engineering and contracting company. the plans then provided for three-track tunnels from the west end of the work under the contract eastward 1,628 ft. in 32d street and 1,418 ft. in 33d street to the west line of fifth avenue, with a descending grade of 0.4%; this was to constitute, in a degree, an extension of the station, where trains could stand without brakes while awaiting signals to proceed to or from the station. from fifth avenue eastward to the lowest point under the river, the grade was to be 1.5% on all lines. later, during construction, when excavating westward under 33d street from fifth avenue, the surface of the rock was broken through, disclosing quicksand; within the next few days trial drill holes through the tunnel roof at 32d street and fifth avenue showed a thin cover with quicksand above it. the conditions had been indicated in a general way by borings made before construction was begun, but they proved to be rather worse than anticipated. on the topographical map of manhattan island, made by general egbert l. viele in 1865, is shown a watercourse which had its source near what is now broadway and 44th street, flowing thence along the west side and south end of murray hill, passing under the present site of the waldorf-astoria hotel, crossing 33d street at the point where the rock surface was broken through in the tunnel excavation, as above stated, crossing 32d street at its intersection with fifth avenue, where trial drilling showed thin rock cover over the tunnel excavation, passing thence eastward a short distance south of 32d street, which it recrossed near third avenue, and finally discharging into the east river near 34th street, and a little west of the present first avenue. the ancient creek apparently followed the course of a valley in the rock, the valley having become filled to a considerable depth with very fine quicksand. this concurrence of depressions in the rock surface with the watercourse shown on viele's map was noted in so many places and the difficulties of construction were so serious at these places, that a section of the map showing the old topography along and adjacent to the station and tunnel lines is reproduced in plate ix. [illustration: plate xi.--long island shaft. lines _a_ and _b_] the unfavorable conditions developed at fifth avenue affected both the construction of the tunnels and the maintenance of adjacent buildings. it would be necessary to construct the tunnels in open cut for a large part of the way westward, causing serious inconvenience to the public; the buildings were mostly of the older class, founded in earth, but there were several modern high buildings with foundations in the same material; some of these had been built since the tunnels were planned. in view of these added risks and the increased cost of construction, the value of the three-track construction was reconsidered, and two important changes were made in the plans. the first of these was to continue the twin tunnel westward to sixth avenue in 32d street, and to a point 180 ft. west of sixth avenue in 33d street; the twin tunnel being 9-1/2 ft. less in height than the three-track tunnel and 9 ft. narrower, the change reduced the difficulties considerably. where the three-track tunnel was thus eliminated, there was no longer objection to a steeper grade, so that, going eastward from the station, a grade of 0.8% in 33d street and 0.9% in 32d street was substituted for the original 0.4% grade. from the west line of fifth avenue eastward short sections with descending grades of 0.3% connect with the original 1.5% grade near madison avenue. the effect of these two changes--type of tunnel and grade--was to lower the roof of the tunnels at fifth avenue about 15 ft., which made it practicable to avoid open cutting east of sixth avenue. a full account of the construction of the cross-town tunnels will be given by the resident engineers. permanent shafts were made on both sides of the east river, those in manhattan being located a few feet east of first avenue, and those in long island city being located, one in the so-called annex slip, the other in the pier just south of it. the two railroad lines coming from 32d street in manhattan, and curving to the left at second avenue, are about 34 ft. apart between centers at first avenue, and it was convenient to make the shaft large enough to cover both lines. borings had shown that the excavation for the tunnels would break out of the rock about 200 ft. east of first avenue. it was desirable to carry the tunnel excavation eastward from the shaft in normal air far enough to permit of building at least 50 ft. of tunnel and installing air-locks, so that compressed air might be available when the rock surface was broken through. the location adopted, and shown on plate xiii, had the further advantages that the rock surface was several feet above the level of the top of the tunnels, and access to the river for receiving and discharging materials could be had without crossing any street. similar reasons governed the location of the north shaft for the lines from 33d street. on the long island side of the river there were only two feasible locations meeting these conditions, particularly in respect to a safe thickness of rock above the tunnels, one near the pierhead line, the other just outside the bulkhead line, and for many minor reasons the latter was preferable. the center lines of each pair of tunnels were 37 ft. apart, and each shaft, therefore, was made to cross both lines of a pair, the same as on manhattan side of the river. it was not expected, however, that the long island shafts could be built conveniently or the tunnels begun from them in normal air. the decision to make the shafts of permanent construction was based not only on the desirability of having access to and egress from the tunnels near the banks of the river for convenience of the workmen or exit for passengers in case of accident, but to facilitate ventilation; these locations divide the entire lengths of tunnels east of the station into three parts, two of which were approximately 4,000 ft. each, and the other about 5,500 ft. the accident risk was believed to be very small, while much weight was given to the feature of facilitating ventilation. further studies have enhanced the importance attached to ventilation, and it is now intended to provide appliances for mechanical ventilation at all shafts. the plans of the shafts are shown on plates x and xi. the caissons for the shafts are of structural steel, with double walls, filled between with concrete, including a cross-wall between and parallel to the tunnels. all these structures were fitted for sinking with compressed air, if that should prove necessary. although borings had shown that rock would be found at all the shaft sites several feet above the tunnel level, it could not be determined in advance of excavation whether the caissons would have to be sunk to full depth; if sound, unfissured rock were found, the sinking could be stopped above the tunnel level; but, if not, the caissons, in any case, would have to be sunk far enough to permit placing a water-tight floor below the tunnels, and the tunnels themselves begun through openings in the side-walls of the caisson; such openings, therefore, closed by removable bulkheads, were provided in all caissons. [illustration: plate xii.--typical tunnel sections] as already stated, the grade of 1.5% from fifth avenue eastward was fixed with reference to the lowest point of the river bed in order to give the requisite cover over the tunnels at the deepest point of the channel on the west side of the reef, where the river bottom was about 60 ft. below mean high tide for a short distance. on the other hand, as the use of compressed air in building the tunnels was anticipated, an excessive depth below the water surface was to be avoided as far as possible; it was necessary, however, to continue the descending grade some further distance until the tunnels were mostly in rock, so that drainage sumps under the tunnels could be made readily. eastward from the sumps the tunnels had a rising grade of 0.7% to the established bulkhead line on the long island side, giving a cover at the points where the tunnels enter rock, a short distance westward, of about 10 ft. (if the dredging plane should be fixed at some future time at 40 ft. below mean low tide, as may be reasonably anticipated). eastward from the bulkhead line, tunnels _a_, _b_, and _d_ have ascending grades of about 1.25%, while tunnel _c_ rises at the rate of 1.9% in order to effect a crossing over tunnel _b_ west of the portals. this feature was introduced in order to place the two west-bound tracks together through the sunnyside yard, and the heavier grade, being downward with the traffic, was not objectionable. the arrangement of grades and tracks in the approaches and in sunnyside yard would require the introduction of too much detail to be taken up here, but will be dealt with in the paper on the sunnyside yard. it was recognized from the inception of the project that the tunnels under the east river would be the most difficult and expensive section of the east river division. the borings had shown a great variety of materials to be passed through, embracing quicksand, coarse sand, gravel, boulders, and bed-rock, as well as some clayey materials. (see plate xiii.) the rock was usually covered by a few feet of sand, gravel, and boulders intermixed, but, in some places, where the rock surface was at some distance below the tunnel grade, the material met in tunneling was all quicksand; the nearest parallels in work previously done were some of the tunnels under the thames, particularly the blackwall tunnel, where open gravel was passed through. before the plans for the east river tunnels were completed, work had been resumed, after many years' interruption, in the old hudson river tunnels between 15th street, jersey city, and morton street, manhattan, and sand materials were passed through for a short distance. these experiences satisfied nearly all the engineers in any way connected with the work that the shield method was the most suitable for the east river tunnels, and the plans for the work were based on its adoption. (see plate xii for cross-sections, etc.) other methods, as stated by general raymond in the introductory paper, were advocated, particularly caisson constructions and the freezing process, the latter being urged very strongly, and, when proposals were invited, in october, 1903, bidders were informed that alternative methods would be taken into consideration. bids were received and opened on december 15th, 1903. only one bidder proposed to carry out the work on the basis of unit prices, but the prices were so low that the acceptance of the proposal was deemed inadmissible; no bid based on caisson methods was received; several offers were made to perform the work by the shield method, in accordance with the plans, for a percentage of its cost, and one was submitted, on a similar basis, covering the use of the freezing method. the firm of s. pearson and son, limited, of london, england, submitted a proposal for building the tunnels by the shield method, on a modification of the percentage basis, and as this firm had built the blackwall tunnel within the estimates of cost and was the only bidder having such an experience and record in work in any way similar to the east river tunnels, negotiations were continued between that firm and the railroad company. the original plans and specifications contemplated that all tunnels between the first avenue shafts in manhattan and east avenue in long island city would be shield-driven, and that work would proceed simultaneously eastward from the first avenue shafts and both eastward and westward from the long island city shafts located west of front street at the river, requiring twelve shields. when making their proposal, s. pearson and son, limited, suggested that shields might be started from the east end of the work and arrive at the front street shafts as soon as these shafts could be completed, and proposed sinking a temporary shaft transversely across all four lines near the east end of the work just west of east avenue, from which, within a short time, to drive toward front street by the use of shields. the railroad company accepted the suggestion for the additional shaft, although the greater part of the tunnels east of front street was built without shields. after several months of negotiation, a contract was entered into on july 7th, 1904, with s. pearson and son, incorporated, a corporation of the state of new york organized by the english firm for the purpose of entering into and carrying out this contract. the main features had been agreed upon, and work had begun about two months before. the contract embraced the permanent shafts in manhattan and long island city, the tunnels between these shafts, and their extension eastward in long island city to east avenue, including in all about 23,600 ft. of single-track tunnels. the contract had novel features, and seemed to be peculiarly suitable for the unknown risks and the unusual magnitude of the work. a fixed amount was named as contractor's profit. if the actual cost of the work when completed, including this sum named as contractor's profit, should be less than a certain estimated amount named in the contract, the contractor should have one-half of the saving. if, on the other hand, the actual cost of the completed work, including the fixed sum for contractor's profit, should exceed the estimated cost named in the contract, the contractor should pay one-half the excess and the railroad company the other half; the contractor's liability was limited, however, to the amount named for profit plus $1,000,000; or, in other words, his maximum money loss would be $1,000,000. any further excess of cost was to be borne wholly by the railroad company. the management of the work, with some unimportant restrictions, was placed with the contractor; the relations of the engineer, as to plans, inspection, etc., were the same as in ordinary work, and the interest of the contractor to reduce cost was the same in kind as in ordinary work. [illustration: plate xiii.--plan and profile. east river tunnels] on account of the extent of the work embraced in this contract, and the dangerous exposure to compressed air required in most of it, it was divided into three residencies; two of these, including also the cross-town tunnels, have been described; the third, with s. h. woodard, m. am. soc. c. e., as resident engineer, embraced all tunnels from the easterly end of the work near east avenue in long island city to the meeting points under the river and also the permanent shafts in long island city. a few months after the execution of the principal contract, the work to be done was extended eastward 107.5 ft., across east avenue. the extensions of the tunnels were built without cast-iron linings and with an interior cross-section of the same height as the tube tunnels, but somewhat narrower. the work was also extended westward from the first avenue shafts to include the excavation of top headings in each tunnel for a distance of 100 ft. and an enlargement to full size for 50 ft. the borings having shown that soft earth existed below the grade of the tops of the tunnel under the passenger station building of the long island railroad on the east side of front street, and that earth of varying character would be met in places beyond the station building under the railroad tracks in the passenger yard and the street car tracks in borden avenue, it had been decided, before proposals were invited, to extend the metal lining eastward to east avenue, at the east end of the work embraced in the original contract, where the rising tunnel grades approached the surface of the ground so closely that their further extension would be in open cut. in places where the tunnels were wholly in rock, the weight of the cast-iron tunnel lining was reduced 43%; where the surface of the rock was below the top of the tunnel, but above the axis, the reduction of weight was somewhat less, about 25%; notwithstanding these savings, the cost of the tunnels was probably increased by the use of the cast-iron lining; on the other hand, when passing through bad ground, a section of tunnel could be made absolutely safe more quickly by erecting the lining as soon as a length of a few feet of tunnel was ready; under a crowded passenger yard, this feature had great value. the execution of the work under this contract will be described fully by the resident engineers. the plant assembled by the contractors is believed to be the most extensive ever placed on a single piece of work, and will be described in detail by their managing engineer, henry japp, m. am. soc. c. e. for convenience in receiving materials to be used in construction, and to facilitate the disposal of excavated materials, one pier was leased on the east side of the hudson river, two on the west side of the east river and three on the east side. excavated materials from the station, the cross-town tunnels, and the river tunnels, were placed on barges furnished by mr. henry steers under several contracts embracing also the disposal of the materials. in the earlier part of the work, they were used as fill in the freight terminal of the pennsylvania railroad at greenville on the west side of the upper bay; when the fill at this place was completed, the materials were sent to the tunnel company's yard on the passaic, at harrison, n. j., and a small part to the embankment in the meadows division. on account of the occasional closing of the passaic by ice, this involved the possibility of, and to some extent resulted in, interruptions to the work of excavation. the contract for the cross-town tunnels carried an option in favor of the company to require the contractor for those tunnels to dispose of materials at a stated price, and in the latter part of 1907, when the excavation in these tunnels was being pushed rapidly, the railroad company, unwilling to incur the responsibility for delays during the winter, availed itself of this option. the disposal of materials was an important part of the work, and will be dealt with more fully by the resident engineers. [illustration: plate xiv.--map and profile, cross-town tunnels] at the time the contract was made with s. pearson and son, incorporated, it had not been determined whether mechanical ventilation would be provided for the tunnels, and therefore the contract with that firm did not include the final concrete lining at the shafts, above the inverts of the tunnels. after the adoption of plans for mechanical ventilation, in the latter part of 1908, the plans for lining the shafts with concrete, including flues for conducting air to the tunnels, and stairways for ingress and egress, were completed, and the work was placed under contract; it will be described in detail by f. m. green, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. at the east end of the work under the pearson contract, the rising grade of the tunnels brought them so near the surface of the ground that their extension eastward could be carried out more readily in open cut than by tunneling. the locations of the portals could be varied somewhat, and they were built on rock which was found in rather narrow ridges at convenient places. tunnels _b_ and _d_ have a common portal; tunnels _a_ and _c_ have separate ones, the portal for tunnel _c_ being located about 800 ft, west of the others as a result of its crossing over tunnel _b_, as already explained. eastward from the portals, the track system expands, in order to provide connections with the tracks of the long island railroad to and from long island city, with the new york connecting railroad and new england lines, and with the storage and cleaning yard known as the sunnyside yard extending to the west side of woodside avenue, 2-3/4 miles east of the east river. (plate xv.) the yard and approaches are designed to avoid grade crossings by opposing trains. the various general features of the yard and tunnel approaches, bridge crossings, and street closings, have been described in sufficient detail by general raymond in the introductory paper. [illustration: plate xv.--plan and profile of lines _a_ and _b_, and sunnyside yards] for convenience in placing the work under contract, a line was drawn 10 ft. west of thomson avenue, dividing the work east of that embraced in the pearson contract into two parts. the work west of the line was placed under the immediate direction of george c. clarke, m. am. soc. c. e., as resident engineer, with naughton company and arthur mcmullen, contractors; mr. louis h. barker was resident engineer of the part east of the dividing line, with the degnon realty and terminal improvement company as the principal contractors. the substructures of the several bridges in or across the yard were included in these contracts, but the superstructures were carried out by various bridge companies, and other minor features were executed by other contractors. more complete descriptions of the plans and of the execution of the work will be given by the resident engineers. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1172 locomotive performance on grades of various lengths. by beverly s. randolph, m. am. soc. c. e. with discussion by messrs. c. d. purdon, john c. trautwine, jr., and beverly s. randolph. in the location of new railways and the improvement of lines already in operation, it is now well recognized that large economies can be effected by the careful study of train resistance due to grades and alignment, distributing this resistance so as to secure a minimum cost of operation with the means available for construction. while engaged in such studies some years ago, the attention of the writer was attracted by the fact that the usual method of calculating the traction of a locomotive--by assuming from 20 to 25% of the weight on the drivers--was subject to no small modification in practice. in order to obtain a working basis, for use in relation to this feature, he undertook the collection of data from the practical operation of various roads. subsequent engagements in an entirely different direction caused this to be laid aside until the present time. the results are given in table 1, from which it will be seen that the percentage of driver weight utilized in draft is a function of the length as well as the rate of grade encountered in the practical operation of railways. in this table, performance will be found expressed as the percentage of the weight on the drivers which is utilized in draft. this is calculated on a basis of 6 lb. per ton of train resistance, for dates prior to 1880, this being the amount given by the late a. m. wellington, m. am. soc. c.. e.,[a] and 4.7 lb. per ton for those of 1908-10, as obtained by a. c. dennis, m. am. soc. c. e.,[b] assuming this difference to represent the advance in practice from 1880 to the present time. most of the data have been obtained from the "catalogue of the baldwin locomotive works" for 1881, to which have been added some later figures from "record no. 65" of the same establishment, and also some obtained by the writer directly from the roads concerned. being taken thus at random, the results may be accepted as fairly representative of american practice. attention should be directed to the fact that the performance of the 10-34 e, consolidation locomotive on the lehigh valley railroad in 1871 is practically equal to that of the latest mallet compounds on the great northern railway. in other words, in the ratio between the ability to produce steam and the weight on the drivers there has been no change in the last forty years. this would indicate that the figures are not likely to be changed much as long as steam-driven locomotives are in use. what will obtain with the introduction of electric traction is "another story." these results have also been platted, and are presented in fig. 1, with the lengths of grade as abscissas and the percentages of weight utilized as ordinates. the curve sketched to represent a general average will show the conditions at a glance. the results may at first sight seem irregular, but the agreement is really remarkable when the variety of sources is considered; that in many cases the "reputed" rate of grade is doubtless given without actual measurement; that the results also include momentum, the ability to utilize which depends on the conditions of grade, alignment, and operating practice which obtain about the foot of each grade; and that the same amount of energy due to momentum will carry a train farther on a light grade than on a heavy one. there are four items in table 1 which vary materially from the general consensus. for item 9, the authorities of the road particularly state that their loads are light, because, owing to the congested condition of their business, their trains must make fast time. item 10 represents very old practice, certainly prior to 1882, and is "second-hand." the load consisted of empty coal cars, and the line was very tortuous, so that it is quite probable that the resistance assumed in the calculation is far below the actual. items 15 and 17 are both high. to account for this, it is to be noted that this road has been recently completed, regardless of cost in the matter of both track and rolling stock, and doubtless represents the highest development of railroad practice. its rolling stock is all new, and is probably in better condition to offer low resistance than it will ever be again, and there were no "foreign" cars in the trains considered. the train resistance, therefore, may be naturally assumed to be much less than that of roads hauling all classes of cars, many of which are barely good enough to pass inspection. as the grades are light in both cases, this feature of train resistance is larger than in items including heavier grades. attention should be called to the fact that a line connecting the two points representing these items on fig. 1 would make only a small angle with the sketched curve, and would be practically parallel to a similar line connecting the points represented by items 13 and 16. there is, therefore, an agreement of ratios, which is all that needs consideration in this discussion. [illustration: fig. 1.--diagram showing percentage of weight on drivers which is utilized in traction on grades of various lengths] wellington, in his monumental work on railway location, presents a table of this character. the percentages of weight on the drivers which is utilized in draft show the greatest irregularity. he does not give the length of the grades considered, so that it is impossible to say how far the introduction of this feature would have contributed to bring order out of the chaos. in his discussion of the table he admits the unsatisfactory character of the results, and finally decides on 25% as a rough average, "very approximately the safe operating load in regular service." he further states that a number of results, which he omits for want of space, exceeds 33 per cent. the highest shown in table 1 will be found in item 1 (0.06 mile, 0.066 grade), showing 33 per cent. there is no momentum effect here, as the grade is a short incline extending down to the river, and the start is necessarily a "dead" one. the reports of item 3, which shows 31%, and item 5, which shows 27%, state specifically that the locomotives will stop and start the loads given at any point on the grade. the results of a series of experiments reported by mr. a. c. dennis in his paper, "virtual grades for freight trains," previously referred to, indicate a utilization of somewhat more than 23%, decreasing with the speed. all this indicates that the general failure of locomotives to utilize more than from 16 to 18% on long grades, as shown by table 1, can only be due to the failure of the boilers to supply the necessary steam. while the higher percentage shown for the shorter grades may be ascribed largely to momentum present when the foot of the grade is reached, the energy due to stored heat is responsible for a large portion of it. when a locomotive has been standing still, or running with the steam consumption materially below the production, the pressure accumulates until it reaches the point at which the safety valve is "set." this means that the entire machine is heated to a temperature sufficient to maintain this pressure in the boiler. when the steam consumption begins to exceed the production, this temperature is reduced to a point where the consumption and production balance. the heat represented by this difference in temperature has passed into the steam used, thus adding to the energy supplied by the combustion going on in the furnace. the engines, therefore, are able to do considerably more work during the time the pressure is falling than they can do after the fall has ceased. the curve in fig. 1 would indicate that the energy derived from the two sources just discussed is practically dissipated at 15 miles, though the position of the points representing items 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21 would indicate that this takes place more frequently between 10 and 12 miles. from this point onward the performance depends on the efficiency of the steam production, which does not appear to be able to utilize more than 16% of the weight on the drivers. the diagrams presented by mr. dennis in his paper on virtual grades, and by john a. fulton, m. am. soc. c. e., in his discussion of that paper, indicate that similar results would be shown were they extended to include the distance named. from this it would appear that a locomotive is capable of hauling a larger train on grades less than 10 miles in length than on longer grades, and that, even when unexpectedly stopped, it is capable of starting again as soon as the steam pressure is sufficiently built up. conversely, it should be practicable to use a higher rate of ascent on shorter grades on any given line without decreasing the load which can be hauled over it. in other words, what is known as the "ruling grade" is a function, strictly speaking, of the length as well as the rate of grade. in any discussions of the practicability of using a higher rate on the short grades, which the writer has seen, the most valid objection has appeared to be the danger of stalling and consequent delay. as far as momentum is relied on, this objection is valid. within the limits of the load which can be handled by the steam, it has small value, as it is only a question of waiting a few minutes until the pressure can be built up to the point at which the load can be handled. as this need only be an occasional occurrence, it is not to be balanced against any material saving in cost of construction. the writer does not know of any experiments which will throw much light on the value of heat storage as separated from momentum, though the following discussion may prove suggestive: a train moving at a rate of 60 ft. per sec., and reaching the foot of a grade, will have acquired a "velocity head" of 56.7 ft., equivalent to stored energy of 56.7 × 2,000 = 113,400 ft-lb. per ton. on a 0.002 grade (as in item 15 of table 1) the resistance would be, gravity 4 lb. + train 4.7 lb. = 8.7 lb., against which the energy above given would carry the train through 113,400 ÷ 8.7 = 13,034 ft., say, 2.5 miles, leaving 5 miles to be provided for by the steam production. examining the items in the table having grades in excess of 10 miles, it will be noted that 16% is about all the weight on drivers which can be utilized by the current supply of steam. in item 15 the energy derived from all sources is equivalent to 24.3%; hence the stored heat may be considered as responsible for an equivalent of 24.3% 16% = 8.3% for a distance of 5 miles. table 1. =========================================================================== item no. |length of grade, in miles. | |rate of grade. | | |maximum curvature. | | | |compensation. | | | | |gross weight of load, in tons. | | | | | |weight of tender, in tons. | | | | | | |weight of locomotive, in tons. | | | | | | | |weight on drivers, in tons. | | | | | | | | |percentage of weight on | | | | | | | | |drivers utilized in draft. | | | | | | | | | |class. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --+-----+------+------+----+-----+--+-----+-----+-----+------------------- 1| 0.06|0.066 | | | 115| | 37.5| 29 |0.358| 8-28-1/3 c 2| 0.33|0.0203|25°20'| | 242|25| 35 | 23 |0.285| 8-28 c 3| 1.0 |0.06 |16° |0.05| 192|22| 57.5| 50 |0.310|10-36 e 4| 1.3 |0.0127| | | 600|16| 40 | 32.5|0.300|mogul. 5| 1.4 |0.0128| 3°12'| | 750|15| 51 | 44 |0.270|10-34 e 6| 2.0 |0.01 | | |1,000|15| 51 | 44 |0.291|10-34 e 7| 2.2 |0.013 | 3° | | 725|15| 51 | 44 |0.245|10-34 e 8| 2.5 |0.0144| 6° | | 400|27| 42 | 32 |0.237|10-32 e 9| 2.5 |0.004 | | |2,700|70| 96.7| 85.8|0.207| h 6 a 10| 3.5 |0.033 |14° | | 100|25| 35 | 35 |0.160| 11| 3.6 |0.035 |10° |0.05| 236|22| 57.5| 50 |0.245|10-36 e 12| 4.0 |0.0085| 4° | |1,020|30| 51 | 44 |0.256|10-34 e 13| 6.0 |0.0145| | | 308|25| 38 | 28 |0.207|10-28 d 14| 6.0 |0.020 |10° |0.05| 460|32| 57.5| 50 |0.242|10-34 e 15| 7.5 |0.002 | | c |6,152|86|134.5|109.5|0.243|mallet. 16| 9.75|0.018 | | | 200|18| 29 | 29 |0.170| 17|10.0 |0.006 | | c |6,173|86|299 |265 |0.203|mallet. 18|12.0 |0.018 |10° | | 280|30| 51 | 44 |0.160|10-34 e 19|12.0 |0.022 | | | 850|74|175 |156 |0.166|d-d 16 20|13.0 |0.022 | | | 800|74|177 |158 |0.153|d-d 1 21|13.0 |0.022 |14° | | 415|50| 91 | 83 |0.154|consol. 22|16.0 |0.0044| | | 950|30| 51 | 44 |0.164|10-34 e 23|20.0 |0.022 | | | 500|62| 97.5| 90 |0.170|f 8, consol. 24|20.0 |0.022 | | | 800|74|177 |158 |0.159|l-1, mallet. =========================================================================== ============================================================================ |maker. |railroad. |reporting officer. |year. --+--------+----------------------------+-----------------------------+---- 1|baldwin.|morgan's louisiana & texas |newell tilton, asst. supt. |1880 2| " |long island |s. spencer, gen. supt. |1878 3| " |atchison, topeka & santa fe |j. d. burr, asst. engr. |1879 4| " |chillan & talcahuana |j. e. martin, local supt. |1879 5| " |chicago, burlington & quincy|h. b. stone |1880 6| " |chicago, burlington & quincy| " |1880 7| " |chicago, burlington & quincy| " |1880 8| " |st. louis & san francisco |c. w. rogers, gen. mgr. |1879 9|pa. r.r |cumberland valley. | |1910 10| | | |1910 11|baldwin.|atchison, topeka & santa fe |j. d. burr, asst. engr. |1879 12| " |missouri pacific |john hewitt, supt. m. p. |1880 13| " |western maryland |d. holtz, m. of mach'y. |1878 14| " |atchison, topeka & santa fe |j. d. burr, asst. engr. |1879 15| " |virginian ry. | |1910 16| |pennsylvania | |1910 17|baldwin.|virginian ry. | |1910 18| " |lehigh valley, wyoming div. |a. mitchell, div. supt. |1871 19| " |great northern |grafton greenough. |1908 20| " |great northern |grafton greenough. |1908 21| " |baltimore & ohio |f. e. blaser, div. supt. |1910 22| " |central of n. j. |w. w. stearns, asst.gen.supt.|1880 23| " |great northern |grafton greenough. |1908 24| " |great northern |grafton greenough. |1906 ============================================================================ ============================================================================== |source of data. |remarks. --+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------------- 1|baldwin catalogue, 1881, p. 134 | 2| " " 1881, " 72 |10 miles per hour. 3| " " 1881, " 115 | 8 " " " | | stops and starts on grade. 4| " " 1881, " 100 | 5| " " 1881, " 116 |stops and starts at any point | | on grade. 6| " " 1881, " 116 | 7| " " 1881, " 116 | 8| " " 1881, " 87 | 9| | 10|trautwine's pocket book, ed. 1882, p. 412|empty cars; many curves and | | reversions. 11|baldwin catalogue, 1881, p. 114 | 12| " " 1881, " 112 | 13| " " 1881, " 86 |12 miles per hour. 14| " " 1881, " 114 | 8 " " " 15|_engineering news_, jan. 13, 1910. | 16|trautwine's pocket book, ed. 1882, p. 412| 17|_engineering news_, jan. 13, 1910. |road locomotive and helper. 18|baldwin catalogue, 1881, p. 112 | 19|baldwin loco. wks. record, no. 65, p. 29| 20|baldwin loco. wks. record, no. 65, p. 29| 21| |very crooked line. uncompensated. 22|baldwin catalogue, 1881, p. 113 | 23|baldwin loco. wks. record, no. 65, p. 29| 24|baldwin loco. wks. record, no. 65, p. 29| ============================================================================== in proportioning grade resistance for any line, therefore, a locomotive may be counted on to utilize 24.3% of the weight on the drivers for a distance of 5 miles on a 0.002 grade without any assistance from momentum, and, in the event of an unexpected stop, should be able, as soon as a full head of steam is built up, to start the train and carry it over the grade. this is probably a maximum, considering the condition of the equipment of this virginian railway, as previously mentioned. treating item 14 in the same way, a distance of 2,310 ft. is accounted for by momentum, leaving, say, 5.5 miles for the steam, or the length of a 0.02 grade on which a locomotive may be loaded on a basis of tractive power equal to 24.2% of the weight on the drivers. from these figures it may be concluded that on lines having grades from 12 to 15 or more miles in length, grades of 3 to 5 miles in length may be inserted having rates 50% in excess of that of the long grades, without decreasing the capacity of the line. this statement, of course, is general in its bearings, each case being subject to its especial limitations, and subject to detailed calculations. it may be noted that the velocity of 60 ft. per sec., assumed at the foot of the grade, is probably higher than should be expected in practice; it insures, on the other hand, that quite enough has been allowed for momentum, and that the results are conservative. arguments like the foregoing are always more or less treacherous; being based on statistics, they are naturally subject to material modifications in the presence of a larger array of data, therefore, material assistance in reaching practical conclusions can be given by the presentation of additional data. discussion c. d. purdon, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--some years ago the writer, in making studies for grade revision, found that the tractive power of a locomotive up grade becomes less as the length of the grade increases, and in some unknown proportion. this was a practical confirmation of the saying of locomotive engineers, that the engine "got tired" on long grades. on a well-known western railroad, with which the writer is familiar, experiments were made for the purpose of rating its locomotives. the locomotives were first divided into classes according to their tractive power, this being calculated by the usual rule, with factors of size of cylinders, boiler pressure, and diameter of drivers, also by taking one-fourth of the weight on the drivers, and using the lesser of the two results as the tractive power. locomotives of different classes, and hauling known loads, were run over a freight division, the cars being weighed for the purpose; thus the maximum load which could be handled over a division, or different parts of a division, was ascertained, and this proportion of tonnage to tractive power was used in rating all classes. of course, this method was not mathematically accurate, as the condition of track, the weather, and the personal equation of the locomotive engineers all had an effect, but, later, when correcting the rating by tests with dynamometers, it was found that the results were fairly practical. there were three hills where the rate of grade was the same as the rest of the division, but where the length was much in excess of other grades of the same rate. designating these hills as _a_, _b_, and _c_, the lengths are, respectively, 2.44, 3.57, and 4.41 miles. there were no other grades of the same rate exceeding 1 mile. in one class of freight engines, 10-wheel brooks, the weight of the engine was 197,900 lb.; tender, 132,800 lb.; weight on drivers, 142,600 lb.; boiler pressure, 200 lb.; and tractive power of cylinders, 33,300 lb. on hill _a_ these engines are rated at 865 tons, as compared with 945 on other parts of the division. as the engine weighs 165 tons and the caboose 15 tons, 180 tons should be added, making the figures, 1,045 and 1,125 tons. thus the length of the grade, 2.44 miles, makes the tractive power on it 92% of that on shorter grades. on hill _b_, the rating, adding 180 tons as above, is 1,160 and 1,230 tons, respectively, giving 94% for 3.57 miles. on hill _c_, the rating, with 180 tons added, is 1,130 and 1,230 tons, making 92% for 4.41 miles. taking the same basis as the author, namely, 4.7 lb. per ton, rate of grade × 20, and weight on drivers, gives: hill _a_, 18.078%, remainder of division, 19.462% hill _b_, 20.068%, " " " 21.279% hill _c_, 19.549%, " " " 21.279% it will be noted that the author uses the weight on the drivers as the criterion, but the tractive power is not directly as the weight on the drivers, some engines being over-cylindered, or under-cylindered; in the class of engines above mentioned the tractive power is 23.35% of the weight on the drivers. the writer made a study of several dynamometer tests on hill _c_. there is a grade of the same rate, about 1 mile long, near this hill, and a station near its foot, but there is sufficient level grade between this station and the foot of the hill to get a good start. all the engines of the above class, loaded for hill _c_, gained speed on the 1-mile grade, but began to fall below the theoretical speed at a point about 2-1/4 miles from the foot of the hill. this condition occurred when the trains stopped at the station and also when they passed it at a rate of some 16 or 18 miles per hour, the speed becoming less and less as the top of the hill was approached. the writer concludes that the author might stretch his opinion as to using heavier rates of grade on shorter hills than 10 miles, and indeed his diagram seems to intimate as much, and that, for economical operation, the maximum rate of grade should be reduced after a length of about 2 miles has been reached, and more and more in proportion to the length of the hill, in order that the same rating could be applied all over a division. this conclusion might be modified by local conditions, such as an important town where cars might be added to or taken from the train. while it does not seem practicable to the writer to calculate what the reduction of rate of grade should be, a consensus of results of operation on different lengths of grade might give sufficient data to reach some conclusion on the matter. the american railway engineering and maintenance of way association has a committee on "railway economics," which is studying such matters, but so far as the writer knows it has not given this question any consideration. the writer hopes that the author will follow up this subject, and that other members will join, as a full discussion will no doubt bring some results on a question which seems to be highly important. john c. trautwine, jr., assoc. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--in his collection of data, mr. randolph includes two ancient cases taken from the earliest editions (1872-1883) of trautwine's "civil engineer's pocket-book," referring to performances on the mahanoy and broad mountain railroad (now the frackville branch of the reading) and on the pennsylvania railroad, respectively. in the private notes of john c. trautwine, sr., these two cases are recorded as follows: "on the mahanoy & broad mtn. r. r., _tank_ engines of 35 tons, _all on 8 drivers_, draw 40 _empty_ coal cars weighing 100 tons, _up_ a continuous grade of 175 ft. per mile for 3-1/2 miles; & around curves of 450, 500, 600 ft. &c. rad., at 8 miles an hour. (1864) this is equal to 77-14/100 tons for a 27-ton engine." (vol. iii, p. 176.) "on the penn central 95 ft. grades for 9-3/4 miles, a 29-ton engine all on 8 drivers takes 125 tons of freight and 112 tons of engine, tender, & cars, in all 237 tons,[c] and a passenger engine takes up 3 cars at 24 miles an hour (large 8 wheels). when more than 3, an auxiliary engine." it will be seen that mr. randolph is well within bounds in ascribing to the mahanoy and broad mountain case (his no. 10) a date "certainly prior to 1882," the date being given, in the notes, as 1864; while another entry just below it, for the pennsylvania railroad case, is dated 1860. it also seems, as stated by mr. randolph, quite probable that the frictional resistance (6 lb. per 2,000 lb.) assumed by him in the calculation is far below the actual for this case 10. the small, empty, four-wheel cars weighed only 4,400 lb. each. furthermore, the "tons," in the trautwine reports of these experiments, were tons of 2,240 lb. on the other hand, the maximum curvature was 12° 45' (not 14°, as given by the author), and the engine was a tank locomotive, whereas the author has credited it with a 25-ton tender. after making all corrections, it will be found that, in order to bring the point, for this case 10, up to the author's curve, instead of his 6 lb. per 2,000 lb., a frictional resistance of 66 lb. per 2,000 lb. would be required, a resistance just equal to the gravity resistance on the 3.3% grade, making a total resistance of 132 lb. per 2,000 lb. while this 66 lb. per ton is very high, it is perhaps not too high for the known conditions, as above described. for modern rolling stock, mr. a. k. shurtleff gives the formula:[d] frictional resistance, on tangent, } in pounds per 2,000 pounds } = 1 + 90 ÷ c, where _c_ = weight of car and load, in tons of 2,000 lb. this would give, for 4,400-lb. (2.2-ton) cars, a frictional resistance of 42 lb. per 2,000 lb.; and, on the usual assumption of 0.8 lb. per 2,000 lb. for each degree of curvature, the 12.75° curves of this line would give 10 lb. per ton additional, making a total of 52 lb. per 2,000 lb. over and above grade resistance, under modern conditions. in the 9th to 17th editions of trautwine (1885-1900), these early accounts were superseded by numerous later instances, including some of those quoted by the author. in the 18th and 19th editions (1902-1909) are given data respecting performances on the catawissa branch of the reading (shamokin division) in 1898-1901. these give the maximum and minimum loads hauled up a nearly continuous grade of 31.47 ft. per mile (0.59%) from catawissa to lofty (34.03 miles) by engines of different classes, with different helpers and without helpers. table 2 (in which the writer follows the author in assuming frictional resistance at 4.7 lb. per 2,000 lb.) shows the cases giving the maximum and minimum values of the quantity represented by the ordinates in the author's diagram, namely, "traction, in percentage of weight on drivers." it will be seen that the maximum percentage (16.1) is practically identical with that found by the author (16) for grade lengths exceeding 17 miles. near the middle of the 34-mile distance there is a stretch of 1.51 miles, on which the average grade is only 5.93 ft. per mile (0.112%), and this stretch divides the remaining distance into two practically continuous grades, 19.39 and 13.13 miles long, respectively; but, as the same loads are hauled over these two portions by the same engines, the results are virtually identical, the maxima furnishing two more points closely coinciding with the author's diagram. table 2.--tractive force, catawissa to lofty. ======================================================================== length of grade, in miles | | 34.03 | | grade {in feet per mile | | 31.47 {percentage |_a_ | 0.597 | | resistances, in pounds per 2,000 lb., | | gravity (=20 _a_) = 11.94. friction = 4.70 |_b_ | 16.64 | | load: | cars. | locomotive.| tender. | | maximum[e] | 1,561 | 44.60 | 25.25 |_c_ | 1,631 minimum[f] | 1,031 | 60.50 | 34.50 |_c_ | 1,126 | | traction (= _b_ _c_ ÷ 2,000 ) maximum[e] |_d_ | 13.60 minimum[f] |_d_ | 9.38 weight on drivers: | locomotive.| helper. | | maximum[e] | 21.60 | 63.00 |_e_ | 84.60 minimum[f] | 47.00 | 72.00 |_e_ | 119.00 | | percentage ( = _d_ ÷ _e_ ). | | maximum |_f_ | 16.1 minimum |_f_ | 7.9 ======================================================================== footnotes: [footnote e: giving maximum values of percentage, _f_.] [footnote f: giving minimum values of percentage, _f_.] beverly s. randolph, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--the percentages given by mr. purdon would seem to indicate that the length of the grades did not affect the loads in the cases cited, but these percentages are so much below those shown in the table, for similar distances, as to indicate some special conditions which the writer has been unable to find in the text. the use of the percentage of weight on drivers which is utilized in traction as a measure of the efficiency of the locomotive, while, probably, not applicable to individual machines, is sound for the purposes of comparison of results to be obtained on various portions of a line as far as affected by conditions of grade and alignment. it has the advantage of disregarding questions of temperature, condition of track, character of fuel, etc., which, being the same on all portions of the line, naturally balance and do not affect the comparison. it is, of course, simply a method of expressing the final efficiency of the various parts of the locomotive, and, since it depends entirely on actual results already accomplished, leaves no room for difference of opinion or theoretical error. the writer has always considered an "under-cylindered" locomotive as a defective machine. all weight is a distinct debit, in the shape of wear and tear of track and running gear, resistance due to gravity on grades, interest on cost, etc. when this weight fails to earn a credit in the way of tractive efficiency, it should not be present. the statement relative to the performance of locomotives on "hill _c_" is interesting, especially in that it appears to have been immaterial whether they made a dead start after stopping at the station or approached the foot of the hill at 16 to 18 miles per hour. the momentum would appear to be an insignificant factor. it is gratifying to note that mr. trautwine has been able to brace up the weak member of table 1 so completely with his detailed data; also that his other results strengthen the conclusions reached in the paper. footnotes: [footnote a: "the economic theory of railway location," 1887 edition, p. 502.] [footnote b: _transactions_, am. soc. c. e., vol. l, p. 1.] [footnote c: "nearly 200 tons _exclusive_ of eng. & ten." (vol. iii, p. 176-1/10.)] [footnote d: american railway engineering and maintenance of way association, bulletin 84, february, 1907, p. 99.] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1173 a concrete water tower.[a] by a. kempkey, jr., jun. am. soc. c. e.[b] with discussion by messrs. maurice c. couchot, l. j. mensch, a. h. markwart, and a. kempkey, jr. the city of victoria is situated on the southern end of vancouver island, in the province of british columbia, canada, and is the capital of the province. in common with all cities of the extreme west, its growth has been very rapid within the last few years. the population of the city proper, together with that of the municipality of oak bay, immediately adjacent, is now about 35,000. the victoria water-works are owned by the city and operated under the direction of a water commissioner appointed by the city council. by special agreement, water is supplied to oak bay in bulk, this municipality having its own distributing system. the rapid increase in population, together with the fact that in recent years very little had been done toward increasing the water supply, resulted in the necessity for remodeling the entire system, and there are very few cities where this would involve as many complex problems or a greater variety of work. water is drawn from elk lake, situated about five miles north of the city; thence it flows by gravity to the pumping station about four miles distant, and from there is pumped directly to the consumers. the remodeling of the system, as recently completed, provided for: 1.--increasing the capacity of elk lake by a system of levees. 2.--increasing the capacity of the main to the pumping station by replacing about two miles of the old 16-in., wrought-iron, riveted pipe with 24-in. riveted steel pipe. 3.--increasing the capacity of the pumping station by the installation of a 4,500,000-gal. pumping engine of the close-connected, cross-compound, corliss, crank-and-fly-wheel type. 4.--the construction of a 20,000,000-gal. concrete-lined distributing reservoir in the city. 5.--the entire remodeling of the distributing system, necessitating the laying of about 1/2 mile each of 18-in. and 27-in. pipe, and about 1 mile of 24-in. riveted steel pipe; also about 3,000 tons of cast-iron pipe, varying in size from 4 to 12 in. 6.--the provision for a high-level service by means of an elevated tank of approximately 100,000 gal. capacity, water being supplied to the tank by two electrically-driven triplex pumps, each having a capacity of 100,000 gal. per 24 hours, against a dynamic head of 150 ft., and arranged to start and stop automatically with a variation of 3 ft. in the elevation of the water in the tank. these pumps are located about one mile from the tower, and are controlled by a float-operated auto-start, in the base of the tower. a description of the elevated tank, which is novel in design, with the reasons for adopting the type of structure used, the method of construction, and the detailed cost, form the basis of this paper. the tower is on the top of the highest hill in the city, in the heart of the most exclusive residential district, beautiful homes clustering about its base. the necessity for architectural treatment of the structure is thus seen to be of prime importance. in fact, the opposition of the local residents to the ordinary type of elevated tank, that is, latticed columns supporting a tank with a hemispherical bottom and a conical roof, rendered its use impossible, although tenders were invited on such a structure. it is believed that under the conditions of location, three types of structure should be considered: first, an all-steel structure, the ornamentation being produced by casing in with brick or concrete; second, a brick-and-steel, or a concrete-and-steel, structure, such as the one actually erected; third, a typical reinforced concrete structure. considering only that portion below the tank, the amount of material required to case in a structure of the first type would be substantially the same as that used to support the tank in a structure of the second type. consequently, the steel substructure, for all practical purposes, would represent a dead loss, and, therefore, the economy of this type is open to serious question. a tender was received for a reinforced concrete structure identical in outward appearance with the one built, but, owing to the natural conservatism of the local residents regarding this type of construction, it was not acceptable. the tower, as built, consists of a hollow cylinder of plain concrete, 109 ft. high, and having an inside diameter of 22 ft. the walls are 10 in. thick for the first 70 ft. and 6 in. thick for the remaining 39 ft., and are ornamented with six pilasters (70 ft. high, 3 ft. wide, and 7 in. thick), a 4-ft. belt, then twelve pilasters (12 ft. high, 18 in. wide, and 7 in. thick), a cornice, and a parapet wall. a steel tank of the ordinary type is embedded in the upper 40 ft. of this cylinder. to form the bottom of this tank, a plain concrete dome is thrown across the cylinder at a point about 70 ft. from the base, the thrust of this dome being taken up by two steel rings, 1/2 in. by 14 in. and 3/8 in. by 18 in., bedded into the walls of the tower, the latter ring being riveted to the lower course of the tank. the tank is covered with a roof of reinforced concrete, 4 in. thick, conical in shape, and reinforced with 1/2-in. twisted steel bars. the design of the structure is clearly shown in fig. 1. the tower is built on out-cropping, solid rock. this rock was roughly stepped, and a concrete sub-base built. this sub-base consists of a hollow ring, with an inside diameter of 20 ft., the walls being 5 ft. thick. it is about 2 ft. high on one side and 7 ft. high on the other, and forms a level base on which the tower is built. the forms for this sub-base consist of vertical lagging and circumferential ribs. the lagging is of double-dressed, 2 by 3-in. segments, and the ribs are of 2 by 12-in. segments, 6 ft. long, lapping past one another and securely spiked together to form complete or partial circles. these ribs are 2 ft. from center to center. [illustration: fig. 1.--(full page image) water tower victoria, b.c. water-works] similar construction was used to form the taper base of the tower proper, except, of course, that the radii of the segments forming the successive ribs decreased with the height of the rib. tapered lagging was used, being made by double dressing 2 by 6-in. pieces to 1-3/4 by 5-13/16 in., and ripping on a diagonal, thus making two staves, 3 in. wide at one end and 2-3/4 in. wide at the other. this tapered lagging was used again on the 4-ft. belt and cornice forms, the taper being turned alternately up and down. [illustration: fig. 2.--forms for water tower victoria, b.c.] the interior diameter being uniform up to the bottom of the dome, collapsible forms were used from the beginning. these forms were constructed in six large sections, 6 ft. high, with one small key section with wedge piece to facilitate stripping, as shown in fig. 2. there were three tiers of these, bolted end to end horizontally and to each other vertically. above the taper base and except in the 4-ft. belt and cornice, collapsible forms were used on the outside also. there were six sections extending from column to column and six column sections, all bolted together circumferentially and constructed as shown in fig. 2. three tiers of these were also bolted together both vertically and horizontally. having filled the top tier, the mode of operation was as follows: all horizontal bolts in the lower inside and outside forms were removed, as was also the small key section on the inside; this left each section suspended to the corresponding one immediately above it by the vertical bolts before mentioned. it is thus seen that in each case the center tier performed the double duty of holding the upper tier, which was full of green concrete, and the sections of the lower tier, until they were hoisted up and again placed in position to be filled. these lower forms were then hoisted by hand--four-part tackles being used--and placed in position on the top forms, their bottom edges being carefully set flush with the top edge of the form already in position, and then bolted to it. on the outside, the column forms, and on the inside, the wedge and key sections were set last. a 3-lb. plumb-bob on a fine line was suspended from the inner scaffold and carefully centered over a point set in the rock at the base. this line was in the exact center of the tower, and the tops of all the forms, after each shift, were carefully set from it by measurement, thus keeping the structure plumb. the first 23 in. of the barrel of the tower was moulded with special outside forms, constructed so as to form the bases of the large pilasters. after eleven applications of the 6-ft. forms, these 23-in. sections were reversed to form the capitals, thus making these pilasters, 69 ft. 10 in. over all. the forms of the 4-ft. belt and beading were made in twelve sections of simple segments and vertical lagging, as shown in fig. 2. two sets of the outside forms were split longitudinally, as shown in fig. 2, and used to form the small pilasters. the first set was put in place, filled, and the concrete allowed to harden. the bolts were loosened and the forms raised 5-1/2 in. vertically, again bolted up, and the second set was placed in position, bringing the top of the second set up to the bottom of the cornice. the bases and capitals of the small pilasters were moulded on afterward. the cornice forms are clearly shown in fig. 2. the small boxes separating the dentils are made of light stuff, and tacked into the cornice forms so that, in stripping, they would remain in place and could be taken out separately, in order to prevent breaking off the corners of the dentils. a number of outside and inside sections were sawed in half horizontally in order to provide forms for the parapet wall. the inside diameter of the tank is 8 in. greater than the inside diameter of the base. two sets of inside forms were split longitudinally and opened out, as shown in fig. 2, and another small section was added to complete the circle. the remaining set was left in place to support the dome forms. the dome forms were made in twelve sections, bolted together to facilitate stripping. all ribs and segments were cut to size on the ground, put together in place, and then covered with lagging and two-ply tar paper. the lagging on the lower sharp curve was formed of a double thickness of 3/8-in. spruce, the remainder being 1 by 4-in. pine, sized to a uniform thickness of 7/8 in. fig. 3 shows the construction of these forms and the method of putting on the lagging. the roof forms were made in eight sections and bolted together to facilitate stripping. all ribs and segments were cut to size on the ground, put together in place, and covered with 1 by 4-in. lagging, dressed to a uniform thickness of 7/8 in., and two-ply tar paper. fig. 3 shows the construction of these forms. the segments being put in horizontally instead of square with the lagging, gave circles instead of parabolas, making them much easier to lay out, and giving a form which was amply stiff. the question of using an inside scaffold only was carefully considered, but owing to the considerable amount of ornamentation on the outside, necessitating a large number of individual forms, it was not thought that any economy would result. fig. 4 and figs. 1 and 2, plate xxiii, show clearly the construction of the scaffolding. [illustration: plate xxiii, fig. 1.--scaffolding for water tower.] [illustration: plate xxiii, fig. 2.--completed water tower.] all concrete was mixed wet, in a motor-driven, smith mixer, and handled off the outside scaffold, being sent up in wheel-barrows on the ordinary contractor's hoist and placed in the forms through an iron chute having a hopper mouth. this chute was built in three sections bolted together, either one, two, or three sections being used, depending on the distance of the forms below the deck. when the top of the forms reached the elevation of any deck, the concrete was put in through the chute from the deck above. the chute was light and easily shifted by the wheel-barrow men, assisted by the man placing the concrete, during the interval between successive wheel-barrows. [illustration: fig. 3.--forms for water tower victoria, b.c.] the concrete, except that for the roof and parapet, was composed of sand and broken rock, the run of the crusher being used. that for the roof and parapet was composed of sand and gravel. the only reason for using gravel for the concrete of the roof was the ease with which it could be obtained in small quantities, the supply of broken rock having been used up, and this being the last concrete work to be done. the concrete used was as follows: 1:3:6 for the sub-base and taper base; 1:3:5 for the barrel of the tower and tank casing; and 1:2:4 for the dome and roof. the dome was put in at one time, there being no joint, the same being true of the roof. vancouver portland cement, manufactured on the island about 15 miles from the city, was used throughout the work. before filling, the inside of the tank was given a plaster coat, consisting of 1 part cement to 1-3/4 parts of fine sand. this proved to be insufficient to prevent leakage, the water seeping through the dome and appearing on the outside of the structure along the line of the bottom of the rings. three more coats were then applied over the entire tank, and two additional ones over the dome and about 8 ft. up on the sides, and, except for one or two small spots which show just a sign of moisture, the tank is perfectly tight. the barrel of the tower was carried up to a height of 66 ft. a special set of inside forms, about 2 ft. high, extending to the springing line of the dome, was then put in, and the dome forms were set up on it. the idea was that this 2-ft. form could be knocked out piece by piece and the weight of the dome form taken on wedges to the last 6-ft. form, these wedges being gradually slackened down in order to allow the dome form to settle clear of the dome. as a matter of fact, this was done, but the dome forms, being very tight, did not settle, and had to be pried off a section at a time. a similar method was used for slacking down the roof forms, with similar results. after the dome forms had been put in, the concrete was carried up approximately to the elevation of the bottom of the rings. small neat cement pads were then put in and accurately leveled, and on these the steel rings were placed, and the steel tank was erected. in order to insure a perfectly round tank, each course was erected against wooden templates accurately centered and fastened to the inside scaffold. the tank is the ordinary type of light steel, the lower course being 3/16-in., the next, no. 8 b. w. gauge, the next, no. 10 b. w. gauge, and the remaining four, no. 12 b. w. gauge. work on the foundation was started on august 15th, 1908, and the tower was not completed until april 1st, 1909. much time was lost waiting for the delivery of the steel, and also owing to a period of very cold weather which caused entire cessation of work for about one month. the tower as completed presents a striking appearance. in order to obliterate rings due to the successive application of the forms and to cover the efflorescence so common to concrete structures, the outside was given two coats of neat cement wash applied with ordinary calcimining brushes, and, up to the present time, this seems to have been very effective in accomplishing the desired result. [illustration: fig. 4.--(full page image) scaffold for water tower] irregularities due to forms are unnoticeable at a distance of 200 or 300 ft., and the grouting gave a very uniform color. the application of two coats of cement wash cost, for labor, $97.68, and for material, $15.18, or $1.32 per 100 sq. ft., labor being at the rate of $2.25 per 8 hours and cement costing $2.53 per bbl. delivered on the work. the tower was designed by arthur l. adams, m. am. soc. c. e., under whose direction the plans for all the work of remodeling the water-works system were prepared and executed. the forms, scaffolding, etc., were designed by the writer, who was also in immediate charge of the erection. tenders received for the construction of the tower covered an extremely wide range, and indicated at once the utter lack of knowledge on the part of the bidders of the cost of a structure of this kind. inasmuch as none of them had had previous experience in this class of construction, the engineer deemed it the part of wisdom and economy to retain the construction under his immediate supervision, and, therefore, the work was done by days' labor. table 1 gives the cost of the structure. the total herein given will not coincide with the total cost as shown by the city's books, for the reason that various items not properly chargeable to the structure itself have been omitted, the principal ones of which are the cost of the site, the laying of about 600 ft. of sewer pipe to connect with the overflow, and considerable expense incident to the construction of a wagon road to the tower. the rates of wages paid, all being on a basis of an 8-hour day, were as follows: common labor $2.25 and $2.50 carpenter 4.00 carpenter's helper 2.75 boiler-maker 3.50 holders on 2.50 boiler-maker foreman 5.00 plasterers 6.00 plasterers' helpers 3.00 the cost of material was as follows: cement, per barrel $2.53 sand, per yard 1.47 rock, per yard 0.80 lumber, per 1,000 ft. b. m. 14.00 and 16.00 all these prices are for material delivered on the work. an examination of the cost data, as given, will show that for the most part the unit costs are very high. this is due chiefly to the continued interruption of the work, during its later stages, owing to bad weather, particularly in the case of the erection of the steel tank. the material cost in this case was also exceedingly high. in the case of the concreting, inability to purchase a hoist and motor and the high cost of renting the same, together with the delays mentioned, added greatly to the unit cost. when it is considered that the cost of plastering covers that of four coats over the entire inside of the tank and three more over about one-third of it, it does not appear so high, especially in view of the high rate of wages paid. the cost per yard for concrete alone was $25.126, and this is probably about 25% in excess of the cost of the same class of work executed under more favorable conditions as to location, weather conditions, etc. table 1.--cost of high-level tower, victoria water-works. (412 cu. yd.) ============================================================================= | total cost. | unit cost. ---------------------+---------+--------+----------+---------------+-------- | rate | | | | | per | amount.| complete.| labor. |material. | hour. | | | | ---------------------+---------+--------+----------+---------------+--------preliminary work: | | | | | labor, carpenter |$0.50 |$11.00 | | | labor | 0.344 | 64.94 | | | " | 0.281 | 249.67 | $325.61| $0.790 | material | | 133.62 | 133.62| | $0.324 | | | | | forms: | | | | | buildings, shifting | | | | | and stripping: | | | | | labor, carpenter | 0.50 |1,832.99| | | labor | 0.344 | 80.85| | | " | 0.281 | 563.84| 2,477.68| 6.014 | | | | | | material: | | | | | lumber | | 583.49| | | hardware | | 325.51| | | miscellaneous | | 13.90| 922.90| | 2.240 | | | | | scaffold: | | | | | erecting and | | | | | tearing down: | | | | | labor, carpenter | 0.50 | 693.00| | | labor | 0.344 | 350.59| | | " | 0.281 | 117.27| 1,160.86| 2.818 | | | | | | material: | | | | | lumber | | 487.77| | | hardware | | 202.79| 690.56| | 1.676 | | | | | concreting: | | | | | labor | 0.50 | 142.00| | | " | 0.344 | 11.00| | | " | 0.281 | 947.81| 1,100.81| 2.672 | material: | | | | | rock | | 317.30| | | sand | | 385.72| | | cement | |1,581.97| | | motor and hoist: | | | | | rental | | 406.56| | | power | | 83.53| 2,735.08| | 6.638 | | | | | plastering | | | | | (3,000 sq. ft.): | | | | | labor, plasterers | 0.75 | 116.50| | | labor | 0.46-7/8| 15.00| | | " | 0.37-1/2| 198.52| | | " | 0.281 | 105.66| 435.68| 14.52 | | | | | per sq. ft. | material: | | | | | sand | | 8.64| | | cement | | 66.10| | | alum and potash | | 16.00| 90.74| 3.25 | | | | | per sq. ft. | | | | | | cement wash | | | | | (8,560 sq. ft.): | | | | | labor | 0.48-3/4| 50.00| | | " | 0.281 | 47.68| 97.68|1.14 per | | | | | 100 sq ft. | material: | | | | | cement | | 15.18| 15.18| 0.18 " " " " | | | | | | windows, doors, | | | | | and scuttle: | | | | | labor | 0.50 | 49.00| 49.00| | material: | | | | | 1 door, | | | | | 7 windows, etc. | | 47.26| 47.26 | | | | | | | equipment: | | | | | 40% of $461.46 | | 184.58| 184.58| 0.448 | | | | | | superintendence | | | 1,241.45| 1.506 | | | | | | steel tank: | | | | | labor, carpenter |$0.50 | $124.24| | | helper | 0.344 | 2.75| | | boiler-makers | | 382.57| | | holders on | | 147.33| | | labor | | 40.61| | | foreman | 0.625 | 186.25| $883.75|$0.0441 per lb.| | | | | | material: | | | | | tank, rivets, etc.| | | | | (20,000 lb.) | | | 1,740.69| | $0.0875 | | | | | iron-work: | | | | | spiral stairway, | | | | | inlet, and overflow| | | | | pipes, ventilator, | | | | | reinforcing steel, | | | | | etc.: | | | | | labor, machinists | 0.50 | 89.50| | | helper | 0.344 | 240.16| | | labor | 0.281 | 100.79| 430.45| | | | | | | material | |1,814.71| 1,814.71| | ---------------------+---------+--------+----------+---------------+-------- total | | |$16,578.29| | ============================================================================= discussion maurice c. couchot, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--it appears to the writer that in the design of this structure two features are open to criticism. the first is that such a high structure was built of plain concrete without any reinforcement. even if the computation of stresses did not show the necessity for steel reinforcement, some should have been embedded in the work. as a matter of fact, the writer believes that, with the present knowledge of the benefit of reinforced concrete, a structure such as this should not be built without it. this applies mainly to the tower below the tank. the second feature, which is still more important, refers to the insertion of a shell of smooth steel plate to take the stresses due to the hydrostatic pressure, and also to insure against leakage in the walls of the tank. the 6-in. shell of plain concrete outside the steel shell, and the 3-in. shell inside, do not work together, and are practically of no value as walls, but are simply outside and inside linings. although the designer provided lugs to insure the adhesion of the concrete to the plate, such precaution, in the writer's opinion, will not prevent the separation of the concrete from the smooth steel plate, and, at some future time, the water will reach and corrode the steel. it would have been better to have reinforced the wall of the tank with rods, as is generally done. the full thickness would have been available, and less plastering would have been required. furthermore, the adhesion of concrete to a smooth steel plate is of doubtful value, for, in reinforced concrete, it is not the adhesion which does the work, but the gripping of the steel by the concrete in the process of setting. l. j. mensch, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--this water-tower is probably the sightliest structure of its kind in north america; still, it does not look like a water-tower, and, from an architectural point of view, the crown portion is faulty, because it makes the tank appear to be much less in depth than it really is. the cost of this structure far exceeds that of similar tanks in the united states. the stand-pipe at attleboro, 50 ft. in diameter and 100 ft. high, cost about $25,000. several years ago the writer proposed to build an elevated tank, 60 ft. in diameter and 40 ft. deep, the bottom of which was to be 50 ft. above the ground, for $21,000. among other elevated tanks known to the writer is one having a capacity of 100,000 gal., the bottom being 60 ft. above the ground.[c] the total quantities of material required for this tank are given as 4,480 cu. ft. of concrete, 23,200 lb. of reinforcing steel, and 27,600 ft., b. m., of form lumber and staging. calculating at the abnormally high unit prices of 40 cents per cu. ft. for concrete, 4 cents per lb. for steel, and $50 per 1,000 ft., b. m., for lumber, the cost of the concrete would be $1,792, the steel, $928, and the form lumber and staging, $1,380. adding to this the cost of a spiral staircase, at the high figure of $7 per linear foot in height, the total cost of this structure would be $4,598. the factor of safety used in this structure was four, but some engineers who are not familiar with concrete construction may require a higher factor. by doubling the quantities of concrete and steel, which would mean a tensile stress in the steel of only 8,000 lb. per sq. in., and a compressive stress in the concrete of only 225 lb. per sq. in., the cost of the tank would be only $7,318, as compared with the $16,578 mentioned in the paper. this enormous discrepancy between a good design and an amateur design, and between day-labor work and contract work should be a lesson which consulting engineers and managers of large corporations, who prefer their own designs and day-labor work, should take to heart. a. h. markwart, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--it is the writer's opinion that the steel tank enclosed within the concrete of the upper cylinder, to take up the hoop tension and presumably to provide a water-tight tower, will not fulfill this latter requirement. if a plastered surface on the dome-shaped bottom provided the necessary imperviousness, it would seem that plastered walls would have proved satisfactory. apparently, the sheet-metal tank is intended to exclude the possibility of exterior leakage, but it occurs to the writer that it will fail to be efficient in this particular, because, under pressure, the water will force itself under the steel tank and the dome thrust rings and out to the exterior of the tower just below the tank, thus showing that insurance against leakage is actually provided by the plastered interior surfaces and not by the sheet-metal tank, and, for this reason, ordinary deformed rod reinforcement, in the writer's opinion, would have proved cheaper and better, and more in line with other parts of the reinforcement. mr. kempkey states: "before filling, the inside of the tank was given a plaster coat, consisting of 1 part cement to 1-3/4 parts of fine sand. this proved to be insufficient to prevent leakage, the water seeping through the dome and appearing on the outside of the structure along the line of the bottom of the rings. three more coats were then applied over the entire tank, and two additional ones over the dome and about 8 ft. up on the sides, and, except for one or two small spots which show just a sign of moisture, the tank is perfectly tight." this substantiates the writer's contention that water-tightness was actually obtained by a liberal use of cement plaster, which would also have been true had the reinforcement been rods. as a further comment, it might be stated that a water-tight concrete for the tank could have been obtained by adding from 8 to 10% of hydrated lime to the 1:2:4 mixture. this seems advisable in all cases where a water-tight concrete is necessary. the interior plastering could then have been done as a further precaution. a. kempkey, jr., jun. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--mr. couchot's statement, that the 3-in. inside and outside sheets forming the tank casing do not act together, is quite true, and it was not expected that they would, other than to protect the steel and form an ornamental covering for it. there is certainly adhesion between concrete and steel, even though the steel be in the form of a thin shell, and in a structure of this kind where the steel is designed, with a low unit stress, to take all the strain, and where the load is at all times quiescent, it is difficult to see how this bond can be destroyed; the writer feels no concern on this score. mr. markwart's statement, that the steel tank enclosed within the concrete of the upper cylinder, presumably to provide a water-tight tower, will not fulfill this latter requirement, is not true, as shown by the statement in the paper that the only leakage which occurred was that which passed under the tank, the entire remaining portion being absolutely tight. the amount of leakage, while insignificant, was, until remedied, sufficient to spot the outside of the tower, making it unsightly; and this, in the writer's opinion, is just what would have happened had the tank been constructed in the ordinary manner, with deformed bars, except that it would have extended over more or less of the entire surface, instead of being localized, as was actually the case, and would have required more instead of less plastering. it is also doubtful whether the addition of hydrated lime would have produced a tight tank, in the sense that this structure was required to be tight. in the paper the writer endeavored to bring out the fact that this is one of the few instances where the ã¦sthetic design of a structure of this sort is of prime importance, and cost a secondary consideration. there is, therefore, no use in comparing its cost with that of a structure in no way its equal in this respect and the use of which would not have been permitted any more than the use of the ordinary type of steel structure, even though the estimated cost were 75% less. mr. mensch has been pleased to term this design amateurish, presumably because of the conservative character of the stresses used and because of its cost; at the same time, he sets up the design to which he makes reference as a good one simply because of its cheapness. he will find the "enormous discrepancy," to which he calls attention, accounted for by the fact that the "good design" would not have been tolerated because of its appearance and because of the fact that the excessively high unit stresses, of which mr. mensch is an exponent, did not commend themselves either to the designer, in common with most engineers, or to victorian taste; while the design used has proven eminently satisfactory to a more than usually conservative and discriminating community. mr. mensch's statement of unit costs, even though applied to a much plainer structure, is not calculated to inspire confidence in the soundness of his deductions in any one familiar with victoria conditions. footnotes: [footnote a: presented at the meeting of march 16th, 1910.] [footnote b: now assoc. m. am. soc. c. e.] [footnote c: "the reinforced concrete pocket book," p. 124.] [transcriber's note: 1. mathematical power (superscript) is rendered using a carat (^). 2. superscript text is rendered using an underscore (_).] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1168 tests of creosoted timber. by w. b. gregory, m. am. soc. c. e. during the last few years a quantity of literature has appeared in which the treatment of timber by preservatives has been discussed. the properties of timber, both treated and untreated, have been determined by the forest service, united states department of agriculture, and through its researches valuable knowledge has come to engineers who have to deal with the design of wooden structures. there is very little information, however, regarding the effect of time on creosoted timber, and for this reason the results given herewith may prove of interest. the material tested consisted of southern pine stringers having a cross-section approximately 6 by 16 in. and a length of 30 ft. for the purpose of testing, each beam was cut into two parts, each about 15 ft. long. this material had been in use in a trestle of a railroad near new orleans for 26 years. the stringers were chosen at random to determine the general condition of the trestle. the timber had been exposed to the weather and subjected to heavy train service from the time it was treated until it was tested. the annual rainfall at new orleans is about 60 in., and the humidity of the air is high. in spite of these conditions, there was no appearance of decay on any of the specimens tested. the specifications under which the timber was treated were as follows: timber. the timber for creosoting shall be long-leafed or southern pine. sap surfaces on two or more sides are preferred. _piles._--the piles shall be of long-leafed or southern pine, not less than 14 in. at the butt. they shall be free from defects impairing their strength, and shall be reasonably straight. the piles shall be cleanly peeled, no inner skin being left on them. the oil used shall be so-called creosote oil, from london, england, and shall be of a heavy quality. the treatment will vary according to the dimensions of the timbers and length of time they have been cut. timbers of large and small dimensions shall not be treated in the same charge, neither shall timbers of differing stages of air seasoning, or the close-grained, be treated in the same charge with coarse or open-grained timbers. the timbers shall be subjected first to live steam superheated to from 250 to 275° fahr., and under a 30 to 40-lb. pressure. the live steam shall be admitted into the cylinders through perforated steam pipes, and the temperature shall be obtained by using superheated steam in closed pipes in the cylinders. the length of time this steaming shall last will depend on the size of the timbers and the length of time they have been cut. in piles and large timbers freshly cut, as long a time as 12 hours may be required. after the steaming is accomplished, the live steam shall be shut off and the superheated steam shall be maintained at a temperature of 160° or more and a vacuum of from 20 to 25 in. shall be held for 4 hours or longer, if the discharge from the pumps indicates the necessity. _oil treatment._--the temperature being maintained at 160° fahr., the cylinders shall be promptly filled with creosote oil at a temperature as high as practicable (about 100° fahr.). the oil shall be maintained at a pressure ranging from 100 to 120 lb., as experience and measurements must determine the length of time the oil treatment shall continue, so that the required amount of oil may be injected. after the required amount of oil is injected, the superheated steam shall be shut off, the oil let out, the cylinders promptly opened at each end, and the timber immediately removed from the cylinder. in the erection of timbers the sap side must be turned up, and framing or cutting of timbers shall not be permitted, if avoidable. all cut surfaces of timbers shall be saturated with hot asphaltum, thinned with creosote oil. the heads of piles when cut shall be promptly coated with the hot asphaltum and oil, even though the cut-off be temporary. method of testing. the tests were made on a riehlé 100,000-lb. machine in the experimental engineering laboratory of tulane university of louisiana. the machine is provided with a cast-iron beam for cross-bending tests. the distance between supports was 12 ft. the method of support was as follows: each end of the beam was provided with a steel roller which rested on the cast-iron beam of the testing machine, while above the roller, and, directly under the beam tested, there was a steel plate 6 by 8 in. in area and 1 in. thick. the area was sufficiently great to distribute the load and prevent the shearing of the fibers of the wood. the head of the riehlé machine is 10 in. wide. a plate, 3/8 in. thick, 6 in. wide and 18 in. long, was placed between the head of the machine and the beam tested. [illustration: fig. 1.--deflecton curves beam i] [illustration: fig. 2.--deflecton curves beam ii] table 1.--summary of results of transverse tests of beams at tulane university, february 10th to march 2d, 1909. columns in table: 1. number of beam. 2. top or butt of log. 3. width, in inches. 4. height, in inches. 5. i = (bh^3)/12 6. actual at elastic limit. 7. maximum. 8. at elastic limit. 9. maximum. 10. at elastic limit. 11. e = (pl^3)/(48di) 12. weight, in pounds per cubic foot. ===========================================================================+ | | b | h | i | loads: |s = (plc)/(4i) | d, | | | | | | | |inches.| | |------+-------+-------+-----------------+---------------+-------+ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ------+---+------+-------+-------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+ i | b | 6.28 | 15.94 | 2,120 | 22,000 | 45,900 | 2,975 | 6,200 | 0.41 | i | t | 6.00 | 15.69 | 1,934 | 20,000 | 38,000 | 2,915 | 5,540 | 0.465 | | | | | | | | | | | ii[a]| t | 6.37 | 15.81 | 2,098 | 20,000 | 43,450 | 2,722 | 5,918 | 0.380 | ii | b | 6.41 | 16.41 | 2,360 | 16,000 | 25,040 | 1,999 | 3,130 | 0.430 | | | | | | | | | | | iii | t | 5.88 | 15.68 | 1,871 | 24,000 | 45,130 | 3,608 | 6,785 | 0.535 | iii | b | 5.88 | 15.90 | 1,965 | 21,000 | 35,190 | 3,054 | 5,120 | 0.515 | | | | | | | | | | | iv | t | 6.00 | 15.43 | 1,835 | 22,000 | 38,425 | 3,320 | 5,810 | 0.465 | iv | b | 6.12 | 15.87 | 2,032 | 22,000 | 35,500 | 3,090 | 4,983 | 0.660 | | | | | | | | | | | v | b | 6.00 | 16.00 | 2,048 | 22,000 | 47,000 | 3,090 | 6,610 | 0.400 | v[a]| t | 6.00 | 15.87 | 1,999 | 14,000 | 22,050 | 1,998 | 3,145 | 0.315 | | | | | | | | | | | vi[a]| b | 5.50 | 15.75 | 1,790 | 22,000 | 51,330 | 3,484 | 8,925 | 0.450 | vi[a]| t | 5.87 | 15.62 | 1,865 | 20,000 | 44,000 | 3,013 | 6,627 | 0.410 | | | | | | | | | | | vii | b | 6.56 | 15.62 | 2,083 | 34,000 | 51,900 | 4,580 | 6,985 | 0.620 | vii[a]| t | 6.22 | 15.62 | 1,975 | 20,000 | 49,000 | 2,845 | 6,970 | 0.380 | ===========================================================================+ [footnote a: failed in longitudinal shear.] ============================================== e | | | | -----------+ | 11 | 12 | remarks. -----------+------+--------------------------1,575,000 | 50.2 | } close-grained pine, 1,383,000 | 47.5 | } long-leaf. | | 1,562,000 | 40.5 | } coarse loblolly, 979,000 | 42.2 | } large knots. | | 1,489,000 | 40.4 | } close-grained, long-leaf 1,288,000 | 44.2 | } no knots. | | 1,601,000 | 40.8 | } loblolly, with 1,017,000 | 41.5 | } knots. | | 1,670,000 | 47.2 | } long-leaf yellow 1,382,000 | 42.1 | } pine. | | 1,695,000 | 50.2 | } long-leaf yellow 1,625,000 | 45.2 | } pine. | | 1,637,000 | 43.7 | } long-leaf yellow 1,658,000 | 40.2 | } pine. ============================================== the deflection was measured on both sides of each beam by using silk threads stretched on each side from nails driven about 2 in. above the bottom of the beam and directly over the rollers which formed the supports. from a small piece of wood, tacked to the bottom of the beam at its center and projecting at the sides, the distance to these threads was measured. these measurements were taken to the nearest hundredth of an inch. the mean of the deflections was taken as the true deflection for any load. [illustration: fig. 3.--deflecton curves beam iii] [illustration: fig. 4.--deflecton curves beam iv] in computing the various quantities shown in table 1, the summary of results, the load has been assumed as concentrated at the center of the beam. while it is true that the load was spread over a length of about 12 in., due to the width of the head of the machine and the plate between it and the beam tested, it is also true that there were irregularities, such as bolt-holes and, in some cases, abrasions due to wear, that could not well be taken into account. hence, it was deemed sufficiently accurate to consider the load as concentrated. besides the horizontal bolt-holes, shown in the photographs, there were vertical bolt-holes, at intervals in all the beams. the latter were 7/8 in. in diameter, and in every case they were sufficiently removed from the center of the length of the beam to allow the maximum moment at the reduced section to be relatively less than that at the center of the beam. for this reason, no correction was made for these holes. the broken beams often showed that rupture started at, or was influenced by, some of the holes, especially the horizontal ones. while some of the heavy oils of a tarry consistency remained, they were only to be found in the sappy portions of the long-leaf pine and in the loblolly (specimens ii and iv). exposure in a semi-tropical climate for 26 years had resulted in the removal of the more volatile portions of the creosote oil. the penetration of the oil into the sap wood seemed to be perfect, while in the loblolly it varied from a fraction of an inch to 1-1/2 in. in the heart wood there was very little penetration across the grain. the timber had been framed and the holes bored before treatment. the penetration of the creosote along the grain from the holes was often from 4 to 6 in. circular 39 of the forest service, u. s. department of agriculture, entitled "experiments on the strength of treated timber," gives the results of a great many tests of creosoted ties, principally loblolly pine, from which the following conclusions are quoted: "(1) a high degree of steaming is injurious to wood. the degree of steaming at which pronounced harm results will depend upon the quality of the wood and its degree of seasoning, and upon the pressure (temperature) of steam and the duration of its application. for loblolly pine the limit of safety is certainly 30 pounds for 4 hours, or 20 pounds for 6 hours." [tables 3, 6, and 7.] "(2) the presence of zinc chlorid will not weaken wood under static loading, although the indications are that the wood becomes brittle under impact." [tables 3 and 4.] [illustration: fig. 5.--deflecton curves beam v] [illustration: fig. 6.--deflecton curves beam vi] "(3) the presence of creosote will not weaken wood of itself. since apparently it is present only in the openings of the cells, and does not get into the cell walls, its action can only be to retard the seasoning of the wood." [tables 3, 4, 5, and 6.] [illustration: fig. 7.--deflecton curves beam vii] comparisons. a comparison of the results obtained with tests made on untreated timber is interesting, and to this end tables 2 and 3, from circular 115, forest service, u. s. department of agriculture, by w. kendrick hatt, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e., are quoted. the tests made by the writer were from timber raised in louisiana and mississippi, while the tests quoted were from timber raised farther north. the number of tests was not sufficient to settle questions of average strength or other qualities. it will be seen, however, that the treated timber 26 years old compares favorably with the new untreated timber. [illustration: plate i, fig. 1.----specimen in testing machine, showing method of support.] [illustration: plate i, fig. 2.--end views of tested timbers.] table 2.--bending strength of large sticks. columns in table: a: reference number. b: number of tests. c: moisture, per cent. d: rings per inch. e: specific gravity, dry. f: weight per cubic foot, in pounds. g: as tested. h: oven dry. i: fiber stress at elastic limit, in pounds per square inch. j: modulus of rupture, in pounds per square inch. k: modulus of elasticity, in thousands of pounds per square inch. l: elastic resilience, in inch pounds per cubic inch. m: number failing by longitudinal shear. loblolly pine. +========================================================================+ | | locality| dimensions. | | | | | | | | | of +--------------+ grade. |condition | | | | | | a | growth. |section,|span,| | of | | b | c | d | | | | in | in | |seasoning.| | | | | | | | inches.|feet | | | | | | | +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | 6 by 7| | | | | | | | | | | 6 by 10| 10 | | | | | | | | 1 |south | 4 by 12| to | square | green |average| | 48.0| 5.7| | |carolina.| 6 by 16| 15.5| edge | |maximum| 42| 92.1|11.7| | | | 8 by 14| | | |minimum| | 30.2| 2.3| | | | 8 by 16| | | | | | | | +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | 6 by 7| | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 12| 10 | | | | | | | | 2 |south | 6 by 10| to | square |partially |average| | 27.7| 5.0| | |carolina.| 6 by 16| 16 | edge |air dry. |maximum| 18| 29.2| 8.2| | | | 8 by 16| | | |minimum| | 25.5| 2.5| | | |10 by 16| | | | | | | | +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | 6 by 7| 10 | | | | | | | | |south | 4 by 12| to | square |partially |average| | 21.0| 5.6| | 3 |carolina.| 6 by 10| 15 | edge |air dry. |maximum| 19| 24.9|17.2| | | | 6 by 16| | | |minimum| | 15.0| 2.7| +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | | 6 | | |average| | 22.4| 4.8| | 4 |virginia.| 8 by 8| to | square |partially |maximum| 12| 27.7| 8.8| | | | | 16 | edge |air dry. |minimum| | 17.8| 2.5| +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | | 6 | | |average| | 64.0| 3.0| | 5 |virginia.| 8 by 8| to | square | green |maximum| 17|100.5| 4.0| | | | |15.5 | edge | |minimum| | 38.8| 2.5| +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ long-leaf pine. +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | | | | |average| | 25.0|13.7| | 6 |south | 6 by 8| 15 |merchant-|partially |maximum| 22| 40.3|25.4| | |carolina.|10 by 16| |able |air dry |minimum| | 17.3| 6.2| +---+---------+--------+-----+---------+----------+-------+---+-----+----+ | | | | | | |average| | 27.3|18.0| | 7 |georgia. |10 by 12| 15 |merchant-|partially |maximum| 22| 34.5|29.0| | | | | |able |air dry. |minimum| | 20.0|11.0| +========================================================================+ +=====================================================================+ | | locality| | f | | | | | | | | | of | +---------+ | | | | | | | a | growth. | e | | | i | j | k | l | m | remarks. | | | | | g | h | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | | | | | | | | | |moisture | | | | | | | | | | | |above | | 1 |south |0.50|46.2|31.2|3,150| 5,580|1,426|0.45| |saturation | | |carolina.|0.60|56.8|37.5|5,210| 8,460|1,920|0.99| 7 |point in | | | |0.40|35.6|25.0|1,675| 3,120| 905|0.07| |all cases. | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 |south |0.50|40.0|31.2|3,380| 5,650|1,435|0.45| |moisture | | |carolina.|0.55|43.7|34.4|4,610| 8,090|1,880|0.76| 0 |from 25 to | | | |0.45|35.6|28.1|2,115| 3,600|1,152|0.20| |30 per cent.| | | | | | | | | | | | | +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |south |0.50|37.5|31.2|2,970| 5,690|1,340|0.39| |moisture | | 3 |carolina.|0.58|45.6|36.2|4,850| 8,100|2,040|0.69| 2 |less than | | | |0.41|31.2|25.6|1,730| 2,910| 906|0.10| |25 per cent.| +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | |0.46|35.6|28.8|3,260| 5,180|1,180|0.51| | | | 4 |virginia.|0.58|43.1|36.2|5,300| 8,950|1,728|1.05| 0 | | | | |0.37|30.0|23.1|1,280| 2,180| 606|0.13| | | +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | |0.43|43.7|26.9|1,935| 3,490| 744|0.31| |very rapid | | 5 |virginia.|0.51|51.9|31.9|3,185| 4,720|1,193|0.78| 0 |growth; poor| | | |0.35|35.0|21.9| 956| 2,180| 357|0.12| |quality. | +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ long-leaf pine. +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | |0.58|45.6|36.2|3,800| 7,160|1,560|0.53| | | | 6 |south |0.76|60.0|47.5|4,970|10,020|2,010|0.78| 9 | | | |carolina.|0.50|39.4|31.2|2,220| 5,450|1,190|0.21| | | +---+---------+----+----+----+-----+------+-----+----+---+------------+ | | |0.69|54.7|42.9|5,581| 8,384|1,820| -| |excellent | | 7 |georgia. |0.79| -|49.4|9,600|11,410|2,920| -| 6 |merchantable| | | |0.50| -|31.4|3,547| 4,836|1,167| -| |grade. | +=====================================================================+ table 3.--loblolly pine.--bending tests on beams seasoned under different conditions. (8 by 16-in. section; 13-1/2 to 15-ft. span.) columns in table: a. number of tests. b. fiber stress at elastic limit, in pounds per square inch. c. modulus of rupture, in pounds per square inch. d. longitudinal shear at maximum load, in pounds per square inch. e. modulus of elasticity, in thousands of pounds per square inch. f. percentage of moisture. g. rings per inch. h. weight per cubic foot, oven dry, in pounds. i. condition of seasoning. ==================================================================== | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i --------+---+-----+-----+-------+-----+----+----+----+-------------average | |3,580|5,480|364_{4}|1,780|23.2| 9.4|33.7| air dry, maximum | 4 |4,070|6,600|440 |1,987|24.3|11.5|34.5| 3-1/2 months minimum | |3,090|5,000|327 |1,530|21.5| 8.0|32.5| in the open. --------+---+-----+-----+-------+-----+----+----+----+-------------average | |4,512|5,060|338_{3}|1,685|20 | 7.7|33.9| kiln dry, maximum | 5 |5,840|7,320|488 |1,790|22 |10.2|38.0| 6 days. minimum | |3,180|2,150|143 |1,410|18 | 4.7|27.7| --------+---+-----+-----+-------+-----+----+----+----+-------------average | |4,331|6,721|493_{9}|1,688| -| 7.7| -| air dry, 21 maximum |12 |4,990|8,560|620 |2,002| -| 9.5| -| months under minimum | |3,110|5,160|380 |1,398| -| 5.5| -| shelter. ==================================================================== note.--figures written as subscripts to the figures for longitudinal shear indicate the number of sticks failing in that manner. [illustration: plate ii.--side views of tested timbers.] table 4.--load and deflection log. beam i. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: february 26th, 1909. date: february 24th, 1909. _l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 6-9/32 in.; _b_ (mean) = 6 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15-15/16 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.69 in.; _c_ = 7.97 in. _c_ = 7.84 in. time = 1 hour. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |1.86| 0 |1.88| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.83| 0 |1.86| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|1.92|0.05|1.90|0.02|0.035|| 2,000 |1.87|0.04|1.90|0.04|0.04 3 | 4,000|1.96|0.10|1.94|0.06|0.080|| 4,000 |1.91|0.08|1.96|0.10|0.090 4 | 6,000|1.99|0.13|1.98|0.10|0.115|| 6,000 |1.96|0.13|2.00|0.14|0.135 5 | 8,000|2.03|0.17|2.02|0.14|0.155|| 8,000 |2.00|0.17|2.04|0.18|0.175 6 |10,000|2.05|0.19|2.06|0.18|0.185||10,000 |2.04|0.21|2.08|0.22|0.215 7 |12,000|2.10|0.24|2.09|0.21|0.225||12,000 |2.09|0.26|2.13|0.27|0.265 8 |14,000|2.13|0.27|2.13|0.25|0.260||14,000 |2.14|0.31|2.18|0.32|0.315 9 |16,000|2.17|0.31|2.16|0.28|0.295||16,000 |2.19|0.36|2.23|0.37|0.365 10 |18,000|2.20|0.34|2.20|0.32|0.330||18,000 |2.24|0.41|2.28|0.42|0.415 11 |20,000|2.24|0.36|2.25|0.37|0.365||20,000 |2.29|0.46|2.33|0.47|0.465 12 |22,000|2.28|0.42|2.28|0.40|0.410||22,000 |2.34|0.51|2.39|0.53|0.520 13 |24,000|2.32|0.46|2.32|0.44|0.450||24,000 |2.39|0.56|2.43|0.57|0.565 14 |26,000|2.36|0.50|2.36|0.48|0.490||26,000 |2.44|0.61|2.48|0.62|0.615 15 |28,000|2.40|0.54|2.39|0.51|0.525||28,000 |2.49|0.66|2.53|0.67|0.685 16 |30,000|2.43|0.57|2.44|0.56|0.565||30,000 |2.55|0.72|2.58|0.72|0.720 17 |32,000|2.48|0.62|2.48|0.60|0.610||32,000 |2.61|0.78|2.65|0.79|0.785 18 |34,000|2.52|0.68|2.53|0.65|0.655||34,000[b]|2.68|0.85|2.70|0.84|0.845 19 |36,000|2.56|0.70|2.56|0.68|0.690||36,000 |2.74|0.91|2.78|0.92|0.915 20 |38,000|2.61|0.75|2.62|0.74|0.745||38,000 | broke. 21 |40,000|2.65|0.79|2.67|0.79|0.790|| 22 |42,000|2.70|0.84|2.73|0.85|0.845|| 23 |44,000|2.75|0.89|2.77|0.89|0.890|| || 37,500 lb., first crack; || 45,900 lb., failed. || || at elastic limit: load, 22,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 20,000 lb.; deflection, 0.41 in.; || deflection, 0.465 in.; _s_, 2,975 lb. || _s_, 2,975 lb. || maximum: load, 45,900 lb.; ||maximum: load, 38,000 lb.; deflection,.....; || deflection,.....; _s_, 6,209 lb. || _s_, 5,540 lb. || _e_ = 1,575,000 lb. || _e_ = 1,383,000 lb. ========================================================================= [footnote b: first crack.] table 4.--(_continued._)--load and deflection log. beam ii. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: february 20th, 1909. date: -_l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 6.38 in.; _b_ (mean) = 6.41 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.81 in.; _h_ (mean) = 16.41 in.; _c_ = 7.91 in. _c_ = 8.20 in. time = 47.5 min. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |1.65| 0 |1.68| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.86| 0 |1.87| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|1.69|0.04|1.72|0.04|0.040|| 2,000 |1.91|0.05|1.92|0.05|0.05 3 | 4,000|1.73|0.08|1.77|0.09|0.085|| 4,000 |1.98|0.12|1.98|0.11|0.115 4 | 6,000|1.76|0.11|1.80|0.12|0.115|| 6,000 |2.05|0.19|2.02|0.15|0.170 5 | 8,000|1.80|0.15|1.83|0.15|0.150|| 8,000 |2.07|0.21|2.08|0.21|0.210 6 |10,000|1.83|0.18|1.86|0.18|0.180||10,000 |2.13|0.27|2.13|0.26|0.265 7 |12,000|1.87|0.22|1.90|0.22|0.220||12,000 |2.18|0.32|2.18|0.31|0.315 8 |14,000|1.91|0.26|1.94|0.26|0.260||14,000 |2.25|0.39|2.24|0.37|0.380 9 |16,000|1.95|0.30|1.98|0.30|0.300||16,000 |2.30|0.44|2.29|0.42|0.430 10 |18,000|1.98|0.33|2.02|0.34|0.335||18,000[c]|2.35|0.49|2.35|0.48|0.485 11 |20,000|2.03|0.38|2.06|0.38|0.380||20,000 |2.44|0.58|2.42|0.55|0.565 12 |22,000|2.07|0.42|2.10|0.42|0.420||22,000 |2.54|0.68|2.54|0.67|0.675 13 |24,000|2.11|0.46|2.14|0.46|0.460||25,040 | failed 14 |26,000|2.15|0.50|2.18|0.50|0.500|| 15 |28,000|2.18|0.53|2.22|0.54|0.535|| 16 |30,000|2.23|0.58|2.26|0.58|0.580|| 17 |32,000|2.27|0.62|2.30|0.62|0.620|| 18 |34,000|2.32|0.67|2.35|0.67|0.670|| 19 |36,000|2.37|0.72|2.40|0.72|0.720|| 20 |38,000|2.42|0.77|2.45|0.77|0.770|| 21 |40,000|2.48|0.83|2.50|0.82|0.825|| 22 |42,000|2.53|0.88|2.56|0.88|0.880|| 23 |43,450| fracture. || 24 |45,710| failed. || || at elastic limit: load, 20,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 16,000 lb.; deflection, 0.38 in.; || deflection, 0.43 in.; _s_, 2,722 lb. || _s_, 1,999 lb. || maximum: load, 43,450 lb.; ||maximum: load, 25,040 lb.; deflection,.....; || deflection,.....; _s_, 5,918 lb. || _s_, 3,130 lb. || _e_ = 1,562,000 lb. || _e_ = 979,000 lb. ========================================================================== [footnote c: first crack.] table 4.--(_continued._)--load and deflection log. beam iii. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: february 13th, 1909. date: -_l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 5.88 in.; _b_ (mean) = 5.88 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.63 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.9 in.; _c_ = 7.82 in. _c_ = 7.95 in. time = 45 min. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |1.23| 0 |1.06| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.67| 0 |1.63| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|1.27| .04|1.10|0.04|0.040|| 2,000 |1.70|0.03|1.68|0.05|0.040 3 | 4,000|1.32|0.09|1.13|0.07|0.080|| 4,000 |1.72|0.05|1.72|0.09|0.070 4 | 6,000|1.37|0.14|1.17|0.11|0.125|| 6,000 |1.82|0.15|1.78|0.15|0.150 5 | 8,000|1.42|0.19|1.22|0.16|0.175|| 8,000 |1.86|0.19|1.82|0.19|0.190 6 |10,000|1.47|0.24|1.26|0.20|0.220||10,000 |1.90|0.23|1.87|0.24|0.235 7 |12,000|1.51|0.28|1.31|0.25|0.265||12,000 |1.97|0.30|1.92|0.29|0.295 8 |14,000|1.55|0.32|1.35|0.29|0.305||14,000 |2.00|0.33|1.98|0.35|0.340 9 |16,000|1.60|0.37|1.40|0.34|0.355||16,000 |2.03|0.36|2.04|0.41|0.385 10 |18,000|1.64|0.41|1.44|0.38|0.395||18,000 |2.10|0.43|2.09|0.46|0.445 11 |20,000|1.68|0.45|1.49|0.43|0.440||20,000 |2.13|0.46|2.14|0.51|0.485 12 |22,000|1.72|0.49|1.54|0.48|0.485||22,000 |2.20|0.53|2.20|0.57|0.550 13 |24,000|1.78|0.55|1.58|0.52|0.535||24,000 |2.26|0.59|2.26|0.63|0.610 14 |26,000|1.82|0.59|1.64|0.58|0.585||26,000 |2.31|0.64|2.32|0.69|0.665 15 |28,000|1.88|0.65|1.68|0.62|0.635||28,000 |2.38|0.71|2.40|0.77|0.740 16 |30,000|1.92|0.69|1.73|0.67|0.680||30,000 |2.42|0.75|2.47|0.84|0.795 17 |32,000|1.97|0.74|1.79|0.73|0.735||32,000 |2.49|0.82|2.55|0.92|0.870 18 |34,000|2.02|0.79|1.85|0.79|0.790||34,000 |2.58|0.91|2.62|0.99|0.950 19 |36,000|2.07|0.84|1.90|0.84|0.840|| 20 |38,000|2.13|0.90|1.97|0.91|0.915|| 21 |40,000|2.20|0.97|2.03|0.97|0.970|| 22 |42,000|2.27|1.04|2.11|1.05|1.045|| 23 |44,000|2.37|1.14|2.21|1.15|1.145|| || 39,100 lb. first crack; ||22,000 lb. first crack; 45,130 lb. failed. ||35,190 lb. failed. || at elastic limit: load, 24,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 21,000 lb.; deflection, 0.535 in.; || deflection, 0.515 in.; _s_ 3,608 lb. || _s_, 3,054 lb. || maximum: load, 45,130 lb.; ||maximum: load, 35,190 lb.; deflection,.....; || deflection,.....; _s_ 6,785 lb. || _s_ 5,120 lb. || _e_ = 1,489,000 lb. || _e_ = 1,288,000 lb. ========================================================================== table 4.--(_continued._)--load and deflection log. beam iv. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: february 16th, 1909. date: february 10th, 1909. _l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 6.0 in.; _b_ (mean) = 6.12 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.43 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.87 in.; _c_ = 7.71 in. _c_ = 7.93 in. time = 30 min. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |2.28| 0 |2.05| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.44| 0 |1.58| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|2.31|0.03|2.10|0.05|0.040|| 2,000 |1.50|0.06|1.64|0.06|0.06 3 | 4,000|2,34|0.06|2.14|0.09|0.075|| 4,000 |1.55|0.11|1.70|0.12|0.115 4 | 6,000|2.40|0.12|2.19|0.14|0.130|| 6,000 |1.62|0.18|1.76|0.18|0.180 5 | 8,000|2.43|0.15|2.23|0.18|0.165|| 8,000 |1.68|0.24|1.82|0.24|0.240 6 |10,000|2.47|0.19|2.28|0.23|0.210||10,000 |1.72|0.28|1.89|0.31|0.295 7 |12,000|2.51|0.23|2.32|0.27|0.250||12,000 |1.80|0.36|1.94|0.36|0.360 8 |14,000|2.54|0.26|2.37|0.32|0.290||14,000 |1.85|0.41|2.00|0.42|0.415 9 |16,000|2.59|0.31|2.41|0.36|0.335||16,000 |1.90|0.46|2.06|0.48|0.470 10 |18,000|2.62|0.34|2.45|0.40|0.370||18,000 |1.98|0.54|2.13|0.55|0.545 11 |20,000|2.68|0.40|2.50|0.45|0.425||20,000 |2.03|0.59|2.19|0.61|0.600 12 |22,000|2.72|0.44|2.54|0.49|0.465||22,000 |2.09|0.65|2.25|0.67|0.660 13 |24,000|2.78|0.50|2.60|0.55|0.525||24,000 |2.15|0.71|2.33|0.75|0.730 14 |26,000|2.82|0.54|2.65|0.60|0.570||26,000 |2.23|0.79|2.42|0.84|0.815 15 |28,000|2.87|0.59|2.69|0.64|0.615||28,000 |2.32|0.88|2.49|0.91|0.895 16 |30,000|2.91|0.63|2.74|0.69|0.660||30,000 |2.42|0.98|2.62|1.04|1.010 17 |32,000|2.97|0.69|2.78|0.73|0.710||32,000 |2.56|1.12|2.74|1.16|1.140 18 |34,000|3.01|0.73|2.85|0.80|0.765||34,000 |2.67|1.23|2.87|1.29|1.265 19 |36,000|3.07|0.79|2.90|0.85|0.820|| 20 |38,000|3.14|0.86|2.98|0.93|0.895|| || 34,000 lb. first crack; ||28,360 lb. cracked; 38,425 lb. failed. ||35,500 lb, failed. || at elastic limit: load, 22,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 22,000 lb.; deflection, 0.465 in.; || deflection, 0.66 in.; _s_ 3,320 lb. || _s_, 3,090 lb. || maximum: load, 38,425 lb.; ||maximum: load, 35,500 lb.; deflection,.....; || deflection,.....; _s_ 5,810 lb. || _s_ 4,983 lb. || _e_ = 1,601,000 lb. || _e_ = 1,017,000 lb. ========================================================================== table 4.--(_continued._)--load and deflection log. beam v. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: - date: february 27th, 1909. _l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 6 in.; _b_ (mean) = 6 in.; _h_ (mean) = 16 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.87 in.; _c_ = 8 in. _c_ = 7.94 in. time = 40 min. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |1.97| 0 |1.37| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.31| 0 |1.25| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|2.01|0.04|1.40|0.03|0.035|| 2,000 |1.37|0.06|1.31|0.06|0.06 3 | 4,000|2.06|0.09|1.43|0.06|0.075|| 4,000 |1.41|0.10|0.36|0.11|0.105 4 | 6,000|2.08|0.11|1.47|0.10|0.105|| 6,000 |1.46|0.15|0.40|0.15|0.150 5 | 8,000|2.11|0.14|1.50|0.13|0.135|| 8,000 |1.49|0.18|0.45|0.20|0.190 6 |10,000|2.16|0.19|1.54|0.17|0.180||10,000 |1.54|0.23|1.49|0.24|0.235 7 |12,000|2.19|0.22|1.57|0.20|0.210||12,000 |1.58|0.27|1.53|0.28|0.275 8 |14,000|2.22|0.25|1.61|0.24|0.245||14,000 |1.62|0.31|1.57|0.32|0.315 9 |16,000|2.25|0.28|1.65|0.28|0.280||16,000 |1.68|0.37|1.65|0.40|0.385 10 |18,000|2.29|0.32|1,69|0.32|0.320||18,000 |1.78|0.41|1.71|0.46|0.435 11 |20,000|2.32|0.35|1.73|0.36|0.355||20,000 |1.99|0.68|1.97|0.72|0.700 12 |22,000|2.36|0.39|1.78|0.41|0.400|| 13 |24,000|2.39|0.42|1.83|0.46|0.440|| 14 |26,000|2.42|0.45|1.85|0.48|0.465|| 15 |28,000|2.47|0.50|1.90|0.53|0.515|| 16 |30,000|2.50|0.53|1.95|0.58|0.565|| 17 |32,000|2.54|0.57|1.99|0.62|0.595|| 18 |34,000|2.59|0.62|2.04|0.67|0.645|| 19 |36,000|2.63|0.66|2.09|0.72|0.690|| 20 |38,000|2.68|0.71|2.17|0.80|0.755|| 21 |40,000|2.73|0.76|2.21|0.84|0.800|| 22 |42,000|2.80|0.83|2.30|0.93|0.880|| 23 |44,000|2.90|0.93|2.40|1.03|0.980|| || 25,000 lb. slight crack; ||20,000 lb. first crack; 47,000 lb. failed. ||22,050 lb. failed. || at elastic limit: load, 22,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 14,000 lb.; deflection, 0.40 in.; || deflection, 0.315 in.; _s_, 3,090 lb. || _s_, 1,998 lb. || maximum: load, 47,000 lb.; ||maximum: load, 22,050 lb.; deflection,.......; || deflection,.......; _s_, 6,610 lb. || _s_, 3,145 lb. || _e_ = 1,670,000 lb. || _e_ = 1,382,000 lb. ========================================================================= table 4.--(_continued._)--load and deflection log. beam vi. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: february 12th, 1909. date: february 13th, 1909. _l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 5.5 in.; _b_ (mean) = 5.87 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.75 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.62 in.; _c_ = 7.88 in. _c_ = 7.81 in. time = 40 min. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |1.22| 0 |1.30| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.28| 0 |1.30| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|1.26|0.04|1.34|0.04|0.04 || 2,000 |1.30|0.02|1.35|0.05|0.035 3 | 4,000|1.29|0.07|1.38|0.08|0.075|| 4,000 |1.36|0.08|1.39|0.09|0.085 4 | 6,000|1.33|0.11|1.42|0.12|0.115|| 6,000 |1.40|0.12|1.44|0.14|0.130 5 | 8,000|1.37|0.15|1.47|0.17|0.160|| 8,000 |1.43|0.15|1.47|0.17|0.160 6 |10,000|1.42|0.20|1.51|0.21|0.205||10,000 |1.47|0.19|1.51|0.21|0.200 7 |12,000|1.45|0.23|1.55|0.25|0.240||12,000 |1.51|0.23|1.56|0.26|0.245 8 |14,000|1.50|0.28|1.59|0.29|0.285||14,000 |1.55|0.27|1.60|0.30|0.285 9 |16,000|1.54|0.32|1.63|0.33|0.325||16,000 |1.59|0.31|1.64|0.34|0.325 10 |18,000|1.58|0.36|1.68|0.38|0.370||18,000 |1.62|0.34|1.69|0.39|0.365 11 |20,000|1.61|0.39|1.72|0.42|0.405||20,000 |1.66|0.38|1.74|0.44|0.410 12 |22,000|1.66|0.44|1.76|0.46|0.450||22,000 |1.71|0.43|1.80|0.50|0.465 13 |24,000|1.81|0.59|1.81|0.51|0.550||24,000 |1.77|0.49|1.84|0.54|0.515 14 |26,000|1.86|0.64|1.86|0.56|0.600||26,000 |1.83|0.55|1.90|0.60|0.575 15 |28,000|1.91|0.69|1.91|0.61|0.650||28,000 |1.90|0.62|1.97|0.67|0.645 16 |30,000|1.96|0.74|1.96|0.66|0.700||30,000 |1.97|0.69|2.02|0.72|0.705 17 |32,000|2.00|0.78|2.02|0.72|0.750||32,000 |2.12|0.84|2.10|0.80|0.820 18 |34,000|2.04|0.82|2.11|0.81|0.815||34,000 |2.20|0.92|2.16|0.86|0.885 19 |36,000|2.10|0.88|2.20|0.90|0.890||36,000 |2.29|1.01|2.24|0.94|0.975 20 |38,000|2.16|0.94|2.25|0.95|0.945||38,000 |2.39|1.11|2.32|1.02|1.065 21 |40,000|2.28|1.06|2.38|1.08|1.070|| 22 |42,000|2.38|1.16|2.42|1.12|1.140|| 23 |44,000|2.44|1.22|2.52|1.22|1.220|| 24 |46,000|2.53|1.31|2.60|1.30|1.305|| 25 |48,000|2.66|1.44|2.71|1.41|1.425|| 26 |50,000|2.78|1.56|2.87|1.57|1.565|| || 33,000 lb., first crack; ||24,000 lb., first crack; 51,330 lb., failed. ||44,000 lb., failed. || at elastic limit: load, 22,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 20,000 lb.; deflection, 0.45 in.; || deflection, 0.41 in.; _s_, 3,484 lb. || _s_, 3,018 lb. || maximum: load, 51,330 lb.; ||maximum: load, 44,000 lb.; deflection,.....; || deflection,.....; _s_, 8,925 lb. || _s_, 6,627 lb. || _e_ = 1,695,000 lb. || _e_ = 1,625,000 lb. ========================================================================= table 4.--(_continued._)--load and deflection log. beam vii. columns in table: a: load, in pounds. b: reading. c: total deflection. d: mean total deflection. date: march 2d, 1909. date: february 20th, 1909. _l_ = 12 ft.; _l_ = 12 ft.; _b_ (mean) = 6.56 in.; _b_ (mean) = 6.22 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.62 in.; _h_ (mean) = 15.62 in.; _c_ = 7.81 in. _c_ = 7.81 in. time = 1 hr. time = 33 min. ========================================================================= | p | deflection, in inches. || p | deflection, in inches. no.+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- | a | b | c | b | c | d || a | b | c | b | c | d ---+------+----+----+----+----+-----++---------+----+----+----+----+---- 1 | 0 |1.84| 0 |1.71| 0 | 0 || 0 |1.69| 0 |1.73| 0 | 0 2 | 2,000|1.88|0.04|1.74|0.03|0.035|| 2,000 |1.72|0.03|1.77|0.04|0.035 3 | 4,000|1.92|0.08|1.79|0.08|0.080|| 4,000 |1.76|0.07|1.80|0.07|0.070 4 | 6,000|1.96|0.12|1.81|0.10|0.110|| 6,000 |1.80|0.11|1.84|0.11|0.110 5 | 8,000|2.00|0.16|1.85|0.14|0.150|| 8,000 |1.84|0.15|1.87|0.14|0.145 6 |10,000|2.03|0.19|1.89|0.18|0.185||10,000 |1.88|0.19|1.92|0.19|0.190 7 |12,000|2.06|0.22|1.93|0.22|0.220||12,000 |1.91|0.22|1.95|0.22|0.220 8 |14,000|2.11|0.27|1.95|0.24|0.255||14,000 |1.95|0.26|2.00|0.27|0.265 9 |16,000|2.14|0.30|1.99|0.28|0.290||16,000 |1.99|0.30|2.03|0.30|0.300 10 |18,000|2.18|0.34|2.03|0.32|0.330||18,000 |2.03|0.34|2.06|0.33|0.335 11 |20,000|2.22|0.38|2.05|0.34|0.360||20,000 |2.07|0.38|2.11|0.38|0.380 12 |22,000|2.25|0.41|2.10|0.39|0.400||22,000 |2.11|0.42|2.16|0.43|0.425 13 |24,000|2.29|0.45|2.13|0.42|0.435||24,000 |2.15|0.46|2.20|0.47|0.465 14 |26,000|2.32|0.48|2.17|0.46|0.470||26,000 |2.19|0.50|2.24|0.51|0.505 15 |28,000|2.36|0.52|2.21|0.50|0.510||28,000 |2.23|0.54|2.28|0.55|0.545 16 |30,000|2.40|0.56|2.25|0.54|0.550||30,000 |2.27|0.58|2.33|0.60|0.590 17 |32,000|2.43|0.59|2.29|0.58|0.585||32,000 |2.32|0.63|2.37|0.64|0.635 18 |34,000|2.47|0.63|2.32|0.61|0.620||34,000 |2.36|0.67|2.42|0.69|0.680 19 |36,000|2.51|0.67|2.37|0.66|0.665||36,000 | 20 |38,000|2.56|0.72|2.41|0.70|0.710|| || 27,000 lb., first crack; ||28,000 lb., first crack; 51,900 lb., failed. ||49,000 lb., failed. || at elastic limit: load, 34,000 lb.; ||at elastic limit: load, 20,000 lb.; deflection, 0.62 in.; || deflection, 0.38 in.; _s_, 4,580 lb. || _s_, 2,845 lb. || maximum: load, 51,900 lb.; ||maximum: load, 49,000 lb.; deflection,.....; || deflection,.....; _s_, 6,985 lb. || _s_, 6,970 lb. || _e_ = 1,637,000 lb. || _e_ = 1,658,000 lb. ========================================================================= transactions of the american society of civil engineers (instituted 1852) * * * * * vol. lxx december, 1910 * * * * * edited by the secretary, under the direction of the committee on publications. reprints from this publication, which is copyrighted, may be made on condition that the full title of paper, name of author, and page reference are given. new york published by the society * * * * * 1910 * * * * * entered according to act of congress, in the year 1910, by the american society of civil engineers, in the office of the librarian of congress, at washington. * * * * * note.--this society is not responsible, as a body, for the facts and opinions advanced in any of its publications. contents papers no. page 1167 =expansion of pipes.= by =ralph c. taggart= 1 discussion: by william d. ennis 31 william kent 31 ralph c. taggart 32 1168 =tests of creosoted timber.= by =w.b. gregory= 37 1169 =some mooted questions in reinforced concrete design.= by =edward godfrey= 54 discussion: by joseph wright 72 s. bent russell 73 j.r. worcester 74 l.j. mensch 76 walter w. clifford 80 j.c. meem 82 george h. myers 84 edwin thacher 85 c.a.p. turner 87 paul chapman 90 e.p. goodrich 95 albin h. beyer 102 john c. ostrup 105 harry f. porter 111 john stephen sewell 124 sanford e. thompson 128 edward godfrey 133 1170 =the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex.= by =j.l. campbell= 164 discussion: by g.e.p. smith 186 kenneth allen 186 j.l. campbell 188 1171 =federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels.= by =herbert m. wilson= 190 discussion: by kenneth allen 300 henry kreisinger 300 walter o. snelling 307 a. bartoccini 312 h.g. stott 313 b.w. dunn 314 herbert m. wilson 318 1172 =locomotive performance on grades of various lengths.= by =beverly s. randolph= 321 discussion: by c.d. purdon 329 john c. trautwine, jr. 330 beverly s. randolph 333 1173 =a concrete water tower.= by =a. kempkey, jr.= 334 discussion: by maurice c. couchot 348 l.j. mensch 348 a.h. markwart 349 a. kempkey, jr. 350 1174 =pressure, resistance, and stability of earth.= by =j.c. meem= 352 discussion: by t. kennard thomson 389 charles e. gregory 391 francis w. perry 392 e.p. goodrich 393 francis l. pruyn 398 frank h. carter 399 j.c. meem 401 1175 =the ultimate load on pile foundations: a static theory.= by =john h. griffith= 412 discussion: by luther wagoner 442 john h. griffith 443 1176 =reinforced concrete pier construction.= by =eugene klapp= 448 discussion: by william arthur payne 455 eugene klapp 455 1177 =final report of special committee on rail sections.= 456 1178 =address at the 42d annual convention, chicago, illinois, june 21st, 1910.= by =john a. bensel= 464 * * * * * memoirs of deceased members * * * * * page linus weed brown, m. am. soc. c.e. 470 charles alfred hasbrouck, m. am. soc. c.e. 473 john henderson sample, m. am. soc. c.e. 474 albert mather smith, m. am. soc. c.e. 476 jacobus van der hoek, m. am. soc. c.e. 477 luther elman johnson, jun. am. soc. c.e. 480 plates * * * * * plate paper page i. specimen in testing machine, showing method of support; and end views of tested timbers 1168 45 ii. side views of tested timbers 1168 47 iii. junction of beam and wall column, with reinforcement in place. 1169 115 iv. slab and beam reinforcement 1169 121 v. el paso & southwestern system: condensed profile of bonito pipe line from bonito creek to pastura, n. mex. 1170 167 vi. explosion from coal dust in gas and dust gallery no. 1; mine gallery no. 1; and ballistic pendulum 1171 197 vii. bichel pressure gauges; and rate of detonation recorder 1171 219 viii. explosives calorimeter; building no. 17, and flame-test apparatus; and small lead block test 1171 223 ix. trauzl lead blocks; and powder flames 1171 225 x. separator for grading black powder; safety lamp testing gallery; and mine gallery no. 2 1171 231 xi. impact machine; and lamp testing box 1171 233 xii. breathing and rescue apparatus; and rescue training room 1171 235 xiii. testing beam in 200,000-lb. machine; and fire test of panel 1171 247 xiv. view of 10,000,000-lb. testing machine 1171 249 xv. characteristic failures of reinforced concrete beams; and arrangement of static load test for reinforced concrete beams 1171 251 xvi. brick machine and universal cutter; and house-heating boilers, building no. 21 1171 259 xvii. plan of building no. 13, testing station at pittsburg, pa. 1171 277 xviii. long combustion chamber; and gas sampling combustion chamber 1171 279 xix. gas producer, economizer, and wet scrubber; and dry scrubber apparatus, long and gas holder 1171 283 xx. charging floor of gas producer; and european and american briquettes 1171 285 xxi. hand briquetting press; and coal briquetting machine 1171 291 xxii. dryer for lignite briquetting press; and lignite briquetting machine 1171 295 xxiii. scaffolding for concrete water tower, and completed tower 1173 341 xxiv. sand arch experiments 1174 355 xxv. normal slopes and strata of newly excavated banks 1174 359 xxvi. arch timbers, bay ridge tunnel sewer; and normal slope of loose sand, gravel and cemented gravel 1174 363 xxvii. experiments on properties of sand 1174 365 xxviii. measuring loss of pressure in subaqueous materials; and raising tunnel roof by "bleeding" sand through displaced plates 1174 367 xxix. hollow california stove-pipe pile; and chenoweth pile penetrating hard material 1174 385 xxx. yacht pier near glen cove, n.y. 1176 449 memoirs of deceased members. =linus weed brown, m. am. soc. c.e.[1]= died march 7th, 1910. in the death of linus weed brown, which occurred in monrovia, cal., on march 7th, 1910, this society lost one of its valued members and the engineering profession a most able exponent. mr. brown was born in burnside, orange county, n.y., in august, 1856, and received his early education in the schools of that town. he studied his profession in the stevens institute of technology, hoboken, n.j. at the age of eighteen he entered the machine shops of the pennsylvania railroad, and later was employed as draftsman by that company, which position he held until 1880. in 1880 he accepted a position with the southern pacific railroad in new orleans, la., and designed and supervised the construction of the algiers shops. in 1883 mr. brown severed his connection with the southern pacific company and engaged in general engineering practice, principally in the line of sugar-house installations. in 1885 he was elected assistant city engineer of new orleans, which position he held for four years. in 1890 he became chief engineer for the caffrey central sugar refinery, designing and supervising the erection of the buildings, which represented an expenditure of about $600,000. in the same year mr. brown was appointed chief engineer of the franklin and abbeville railroad and built that road. at the same time he designed and built the des lignes sugar-house. in fact, he designed and built many of the large sugar mills and refineries erected in louisiana about that time. from 1892 to 1896 mr. brown held the office of city engineer of new orleans, and it was during this term that some of the most important works of his career were accomplished. under the direction of the city council, and in consultation with b.m. harrod, past-president, am. soc. c.e., the late h.b. richardson, m. am. soc. c.e., and rudolph hering, m. am. soc. c.e., mr. brown made a topographical survey of new orleans, a study of precipitation and run-off, and prepared plans and specifications for a drainage system. at the expiration of his term of office as city engineer, he engaged in private practice, assuming charge, as chief engineer for the contractors, of the first construction work of the drainage system. prior to and during his term of office as city engineer, mr. brown was architect of the mcdonogh school fund in new orleans, during which time he designed and built several new schools and remodeled a number of old buildings. he was also special engineer for the new orleans levee board on harbor and bank protection work. to the study of this work mr. brown devoted all his energies and knowledge for several years. at the same time he was a member of the new orleans advisory board of engineers on sewerage and water. when the oil fields of texas were first discovered, mr. brown's services were immediately engaged, and in the following years he devoted almost his entire time to the development of the oil fields and facilities for handling the oil. his operations were principally in the beaumont and sour lake fields. the holdings of the southern pacific railroad company in these regions demanded the services of an expert engineer, and mr. brown was engaged to take full charge of its interests. in 1904 he was compelled to give up active business and seek the restoration of his health. to this end he spent some time in the middle western states and finally decided to go out to the pacific coast. the climate there proved so beneficial that he eventually settled in bakersfield, cal., where he accepted an appointment as consulting engineer for the oil department of the southern pacific railroad and chief engineer of the atlantic division of the same line. shortly after he accepted this appointment the colorado river broke through its banks and overflowed the valley known as the salton sea, across which the tracks of the southern pacific road were laid. the company was compelled to make a detour of approximately 100 miles around the inundated region, but, under the direction of mr. brown, they succeeded in closing the break with two massive dams, confining the river to its ordinary channel and preventing the increase of the salton sea. while in california mr. brown invented an oil and sand separator, which the southern pacific company is now using throughout its oil fields. he also invented a continuous water purifier and a special oil power-pump. all these machines are now on the market. mr. brown was a man of sterling integrity; one who regarded his profession in the light of an obligatory public service. to this sense of duty he sacrificed much, primarily the necessary relaxation and rest from arduous labor, which undoubtedly accelerated the end of his useful and honorable career. in recognition of the valuable services he rendered in connection with the levee protection work in new orleans, mr. brown was made the recipient of public honors and testimonials of appreciation. he is survived by a daughter and two sons; the latter are preparing to follow the engineering profession. his wife, who was miss joan von vesterfeldt of new york city, died in 1903. mr. brown was elected a member of the american society of civil engineers on june 7th, 1899. he was also a member of the louisiana engineering society. footnotes: [1] memoir prepared by ole k. olsen, esq. =charles alfred hasbrouck, m. am. soc. c.e.=[2] died february 1st, 1910. charles alfred hasbrouck was born at forest home, a suburb of ithaca, n.y., on july 31st, 1864. after studying in the schools at ithaca, he entered cornell university in 1880, from which, after completing a course in civil engineering, he was graduated in 1884, the youngest member of his class. in july, 1884, mr. hasbrouck entered upon his professional career as assistant engineer of the detroit bridge and iron company, continuing with that firm until 1888. from august to november, 1888, he was employed with the king bridge company as assistant engineer. in november, 1888, he was appointed assistant chief engineer of the american bridge works, of chicago, specializing in bridge and structural engineering. in may, 1900, mr. hasbrouck was made contracting manager of the american bridge company, of new york, in charge of railroad structures on the western division, which position he held until his health failed. thus, after 24 years of active service in his profession, he was obliged to give up all work. on june 14th, 1893, mr. hasbrouck was married to miss mary fobes, of cresco, iowa, who died in 1907. after retiring from business, mr. hasbrouck spent part of his time in el paso, tex., in search of health. in 1909, he went to sierra madre, and, later, to pasadena, cal., where he died on february 1st, 1910. he was a patient sufferer, never uttering a word of annoyance or fretfulness at his condition. at his expressed wish, he was buried from his boyhood home which he had always kept up, and which, with its beautiful grounds, he left to cornell university. mr. hasbrouck was elected an associate member of the american society of civil engineers on february 3d, 1892, and a member on december 5th, 1894. he was elected a member of the institution of civil engineers, of great britain, on february 2d, 1904. footnotes: [2] memoir prepared by mr. edward capouch, contracting manager, american bridge company, chicago, ill. =john henderson sample, m. am. soc. c.e.=[3] died march 4th, 1910. john henderson sample, the only son of judge william sample, was born on april 3d, 1849, at coshocton, ohio. he entered dennison university, granville, ohio, from which he was graduated in 1872. after leaving college, he was engaged on the early surveys of the toledo and ohio central lines, working up from axeman to division engineer. afterward mr. sample served as chief engineer of the cincinnati, lebanon, and northern railway, and chief engineer of the cincinnati and georgia (now the southern railway), from rome to macon, ga., except from austell to atlanta. in 1883, he made surveys for the east tennessee, virginia and georgia railway (now the southern railway) in alabama. he then became chief engineer of the alabama improvement company, engaged in the location and construction of the northern alabama railroad, and the development of coal and ore lands and the town of sheffield, ala. he was appointed chief engineer of the toledo and ann arbor, on location and construction from hammond junction to durand; chief engineer of location and construction of the missouri pacific lines in kansas, colorado, and missouri; and from 1887 to 1889, he served as chief engineer on the construction of the louisville, henderson, and st. louis railway, from west point to henderson, ky. mr. sample made examinations and reports on timber and mineral lands in kentucky, tennessee, virginia, and west virginia, and in 1889, he examined and reported on the mexican national railroad, from laredo, tex., to the city of mexico. from 1889 to 1896, he was chief engineer of location and construction and general superintendent of operation of the pittsburg, akron, and western railroad, from delphos to akron, ohio. in 1897 he was appointed general superintendent of the cleveland, akron, and columbus railroad, which position he held until this road was purchased by the pennsylvania company, in september, 1899. from that date to the time of his death, mr. sample was in the employ of the pennsylvania company, as assistant engineer, being engaged on line and grade revision and special work. his father being a lawyer and judge, he partook of his judicial nature, and all his lifework was based on the broad foundation of equity and honesty of purpose. he was a man of unobtrusive manner, retiring disposition, and unpretentious ways. on june 7th, 1876, mr. sample was married to miss virginia hughes. his wife died on june 24th, 1889. mr. sample died suddenly in the fort pitt hotel, at pittsburg, pa., on march 4th, 1910. he intended to leave for new york city during the day to bid farewell to his son, who was assistant engineer on the madeira and mamorã© railway, in brazil, and had been spending his vacation of three months with his father. to his children, and to those who knew him intimately, mr. sample leaves a memory of a life well rounded out by noble endeavor, and a fixedness of purpose to know and do the right. he was conscientious in every act and thought, a man of deep religious conviction, and though called suddenly from his earthly labors, he was ready for the higher service and duty. mr. sample was elected a member of the american society of civil engineers on october 6th, 1886. footnotes: [3] memoir prepared by w.b. hanlon, esq. =albert mather smith, m. am. soc. c.e.=[4] died february 27th, 1910. albert mather smith was born on october 5th, 1837, in new york city. he was the son of charles smith and miss alleta loverich, and a direct descendant of cotton mather. as a boy of fifteen he entered the engineer division of the manhattan gas light company, and later became engineer of its west 18th street station. at the outbreak of the civil war, mr. smith joined the 37th regiment, new york volunteers, organized by colonel roome, the president of the manhattan gas light company, and was chosen captain of company b. this company was largely recruited from the force of the gas-works, and drilled in the office of the gas company at 4 irving place, new york city. mr. smith's regiment saw active service during the invasion of pennsylvania, and also as special detail on the chesapeake; and, later, during the draft riots in new york city. after the close of the war, mr. smith became chief engineer of the manhattan gas light company, and, later, when this company was merged into the consolidated gas company, he became engineer of distribution of the latter company. at the time of his death he had been connected with the gas companies of new york city for 57 years. on march 18th, 1863, mr. smith was married to miss anna provoost elwes, who died on january 14th, 1873. in 1878, mr. smith was married to his second wife, miss jane h. bull. his widow, two sons, and a daughter survive him. mr. smith was a charter member and vice-president of the society of gas lighting, the oldest existing gas association in the united states. he was elected a member of the american society of civil engineers on may 5th, 1886. footnotes: [4] memoir prepared by w. cullen morris, m. am. soc. c.e. =jacobus van der hoek, m. am. soc. c.e.=[5] died december 22d, 1909. jacobus van der hoek, son of the late gysbertus van der hoek and johanna (tupers) van der hoek, was born at goes, the netherlands, on march 19th, 1862. he received his early education at the public schools, and was graduated from the high school of his native town in august, 1879. in september of the same year he entered the polytechnic school at delft, the netherlands, from which he was graduated, as civil engineer, in july, 1883. during 1884 mr. van der hoek was employed as inspector on the construction of a dike across the "het slaak," a shallow tidewater 1-1/2 miles wide, and made surveys and soundings for a record map of adjacent waters covering an area of 6 sq. miles. in 1885 and 1886 he was employed by the dutch government as assistant engineer in charge of a party, to re-survey the principal rivers of holland, and triangulated about 25 miles of river. during 1887 mr. van der hoek was engineer in charge of the submarine shore protection for the "polder of schouwen," the netherlands. in 1887 he left his native land for the united states, arriving in new york city, on december 25th. from the latter part of 1888 to the beginning of 1890, he was employed by the wheeling bridge and terminal railway company, at wheeling, w. va., under the late job abbott, m. am. soc. c.e., chief engineer. the work comprised steam railway construction, a bridge 2,000 ft. in length, including one span over the ohio river, 525 ft. long, and three tunnels from 400 to 2,400 ft. long, all double-track and heavy work throughout. the engineer who was in charge of the work, writes: "mr. van der hoek reported to me as chief draftsman and office assistant during the period above mentioned. he was so capable and earnest in all of his work, and so well qualified to perform it, that our relations were not only uniformly pleasant, but they marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted until the deplorable end of mr. van der hoek's useful life." in 1890, mr. van der hoek entered the service of the lehigh valley railroad and continued with this company until july, 1909; during this time he was successively engaged as chief draftsman, assistant, resident, and division engineer. during the extension of the main line of the lehigh valley railroad, from sayre to buffalo, he was employed as chief draftsman, designing masonry and other structures, also as assistant and resident engineer in charge of certain sections of the line. paul s. king, m. am. soc. c.e., the chief engineer in charge of the construction of this 175 miles of double-track railroad, soon recognized the exceptional engineering ability of mr. van der hoek, and appointed him, successively, assistant and resident engineer in charge of several sections; of his success and ability, mr. king writes: "the sad and sudden death of mr. van der hoek was indeed a great shock to me and his many friends in the lehigh valley system, particularly in new york state, his field of professional work for so many years. "i highly regarded his technical ability, sterling character, and untiring industry, both in the field and office. during the time he was engaged with me (nearly four years), he filled the positions of chief draftsman, assistant, and resident engineer, and earned the respective promotions by the zeal and energy which was always characteristic of him with any work he had in hand. he continued throughout the period of construction, a record not equalled by any of the dozen or more resident engineers connected with that work. it was this observation of his conduct and activity in executing his work that warranted me to have confidence in his ability to take up the work to be done after the operating department took charge of the line, recommending him as the engineer for maintenance of way of part of the new line." in 1893, mr. van der hoek was appointed division engineer of the buffalo division of the lehigh valley railroad, and had charge, under the superintendent of maintenance of way, of constructing stations, water stations, coal trestles, wharves, stone ballasting the line, building storage yards, rebuilding bridges, etc.; he continued in this position until july 1st, 1909. one of his associates on the lehigh valley railroad writes: "i was intimately acquainted with mr. van der hoek and his work from 1894 to the time of his death, and as a co-worker on the lehigh valley railroad it is a privilege to testify to his exceptional engineering ability, his strong, unflinching character, his untiring energy, and implicit adherence to the lines of duty. he had exceptional executive ability combined with a thorough knowledge of details. it was these qualities that made him so successful in his work. "mr. van der hoek was a sober, unassuming, and honest man, a generous and respected superior to his subordinates, a true friend, ever ready to assist an aspiring young man to greater knowledge and better positions; by these he will be truly missed and mourned." on july 12th, 1909, mr. van der hoek entered the service of the lehigh coal and navigation company, as civil engineer, under the general superintendent of that company, at lansford, pa., to take charge of the railroad maintenance, water supply, land surveys, and new outside construction, on the extensive mining properties of that company in the anthracite coal fields. mr. van der hoek's exceptional ability was thoroughly recognized by his new employers, and his work and its results were fully appreciated; he had but laid his plans and perfected a proper organization when, on the afternoon of december 22d, 1909, while inspecting the work of laying a new water main through the lansford, pa., tunnel, he met his death by being run over by an engine, and his successful professional career was thus sadly ended. his assistant, who had accompanied him on this inspection, met with the same lamentable fate. on may 30th, 1896, mr. van der hoek was married, in new york city, to johanna van der bent, and is survived by his wife and two children. he was elected a member of the american society of civil engineers on april 7th, 1897. footnotes: [5] memoir prepared by f.e. schall, d.c. henny, h.f. dunham and paul s. king, members, am. soc. c.e. =luther elman johnson, jun, am. soc. c.e.=[6] died march 23d, 1910. by the death of luther elman johnson, the engineering profession has lost a bright and able young engineer whose career, though short, gave promise of a steady rise and a brilliant future. mr. johnson, the son of mr. and mrs. m.d. johnson, of lawton, okla., was born in union, west va., on august 10th, 1881. most of his childhood and early manhood, however, were spent in missouri. he received his high school training at nevada, mo., and his technical education at the missouri state university, from which he was graduated in 1904, on his completion of the four years' course in civil engineering. in connection with the training at the university, mr. johnson, on graduation, was appointed and commissioned brevet second lieutenant, in the national guard of missouri, by the governor of the state. his professional work began shortly after graduation, with his employment in the united states reclamation service, in connection with investigations of reservoir sites for the storage of irrigation water in oklahoma. following this, mr. johnson was transferred to the garden city, kans., pumping project, where, from 1905 to 1907, he was engaged in concrete construction and other work. in the latter part of 1907, he was transferred to the minidoka, idaho, pumping project, where, as assistant engineer, he was engaged until shortly before his death. his work on the latter project was in connection with the location and construction of canals, and he was in active charge of the building of a large number of small reinforced concrete and timber structures and bridges for the irrigation system. in prosecuting this work, mr. johnson showed ability of the first order, and gave evidence, by his conscientious, thorough, and careful work, of great promise for the future. in march, 1910, his health failing, he returned to his home in lawton, okla., to recuperate from a general breakdown, but pneumonia set in, and he died on march 23d. mr. johnson was a young man of sterling qualities and rugged honesty; his life was clean and strong, his character sweet and lovable, and his capabilities exceptional. untiring devotion to and interest in his work were traits which had won for him the deepest respect of his associates and those who worked under his direction, and his death was a keen loss, not only to his family to whom he was a devoted son and brother, but to his many friends and to all those with whom his work brought him in contact. mr. johnson was elected a junior of the american society of civil engineers on september 6th, 1904. footnotes: [6] memoir prepared by p.m. fogg, assoc. m. am. soc. c.e. transactions of the american society of civil engineers * * * * * index volume lxx december, 1910 * * * * * subject index, page 482 author index, page 486 * * * * * titles of papers are in quotation marks when given with the author's name. volume lxx * * * * * =subject index= * * * * * =accidents.= "federal investigations of mine----, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =addresses.= "address at the 42d annual convention, chicago, illinois, june 21st, 1910." john a. bensel. 464. =blasting.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =boilers.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =bracing.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." j.c. meem. (with discussion.) 352. =building stone.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =cement.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =clay.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =coal.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =concrete.= "a ---water tower." a. kempkey, jr. (with discussion.) 334. "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. "reinforced ---pier construction." eugene klapp. (with discussion.) 448. =earth pressures.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." j.c. meem. 352. discussion: t. kennard thomson, charles e. gregory, francis w. perry, e.p. goodrich, francis l. pruyn, and frank h. carter, 389. =excavations.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." j.c. meem. (with discussion.) 352. =explosives.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =fire proofing.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =foundations.= "the ultimate load on pile----: a static theory." john h. griffith. 412. discussion: luther wagoner, 442. =fuel.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =grades.= "locomotive performance on ---of various lengths." beverly s. randolph. (with discussion.) 321. =heating.= "expansion of pipes." ralph c. taggart. (with discussion.) 1. "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =locomotives.= _see_ =rolling stock.= =materials of construction.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =memoirs of deceased members.= brown, linus weed. 470. hasbrouck, charles alfred. 473. johnson, luther elman. 480. sample, john henderson. 474. smith, albert mather. 476. van der hoek, jacobus. 477. =mining.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. 190. discussion: kenneth allen, henry kreisinger, walter o. snelling, a. bartoccini, h.g. stott, and b.w. dunn, 300. =piles.= "the ultimate load on pile foundations: a static theory," john h. griffith. (with discussion.) 412. =pipe.= "expansion of pipes." ralph c. taggart. 1. discussion: william d. ennis, and william kent, 31. "the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex." j.l. campbell. (with discussion.) 164. =pipe-lines.= ---for railroad water supply. 164. =preservation of timber.= "tests of creosoted timber." w.b. gregory. 37. =railroads.= "locomotive performance on grades of various lengths." beverly s. randolph. (with discussion.) 321. =rails.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =reinforced concrete.= "some mooted questions in ---design." edward godfrey. 54. discussion: joseph wright, s. bent russell, j.r. worcester, l.j. mensch, walter w. clifford, j.c. meem, george h. myers, edwin thacher, c.a.p. turner, paul chapman, e.p. goodrich, albin h. beyer, john c. ostrup, harry f. porter, john stephen sewell, and sanford e. thompson, 72. =reports of committees.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." joseph t. richards, c.w. buchholz, e.c. carter, s.m. felton, robert w. hunt, john d. isaacs, richard montfort, h.g. prout, percival roberts, jr., george e. thackray, edmund k. turner, and william r. webster, 456. =reservoirs.= description of----. 174. =rolling stock.= "locomotive performance on grades of various lengths." beverly s. randolph. 321. discussion: c.d. purdon, and john c. trautwine, jr., 329. =safety lamps.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =shaft sinking.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." j.c. meem. (with discussion.) 352. =sheathing.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." j.c. meem. (with discussion.) 352. =stand-pipes.= "a concrete water tower." a. kempkey, jr. 334. discussion: maurice c. couchot, l.j. mensch, and a.h. markwart, 348. =testing machines.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." herbert m. wilson. (with discussion.) 190. =timber.= "tests of creosoted----." w.b. gregory. 37. =towers.= "a concrete water tower." a. kempkey, jr. (with discussion.) 334. =train loads.= "locomotive performance on grades of various lengths." beverly s. randolph. (with discussion.) 321. =tunnels.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." j.c. meem. (with discussion.) 352. =water, flow of, in pipes.= data regarding----. 178. =water-works.= "the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex." j.l. campbell, 164. discussion: g.e.p. smith, and kenneth allen, 186. _see also_ =stand-pipes.= =wharves.= "reinforced concrete pier construction." eugene klapp. 448. discussion: william arthur payne, 455. =wood.= _see_ =timber.= =wood-pipe.= old ---in large cities. 186. "the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex." j.l. campbell. (with discussion.) 164. =author index= =allen, kenneth.= investigations of fuels. 300. railroad water supply. 186. =bartoccini, a.= investigations of mine accidents. 312. =bensel, john a.= "address at the 42d annual convention, chicago, illinois, june 21st, 1910." 464. =beyer, albin h.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 102. =brown, linus weed.= memoir of. 470. =buchholz, c.w.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =campbell, j.l.= "the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex." 164. =carter, e.c.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =carter, frank h.= earth pressure and stability. 399. =chapman, paul.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 90. =clifford, walter w.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 80. =couchot, maurice c.= a concrete water tower. 348. =dunn, b.w.= investigations of explosives. 314. =ennis, william d.= expansion of pipes. 31. =felton, s.m.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =godfrey, edward.= "some mooted questions in reinforced concrete design." 54. =goodrich, e.p.= earth pressure and stability. 393. questions in reinforced concrete design. 95. =gregory, charles e.= earth pressure and stability. 391. =gregory, w.b.= "tests of creosoted timber." 37. =griffith, john h.= "the ultimate load on pile foundations: a static theory." 412. =hasbrouck, charles alfred.= memoir of. 473. =hunt, robert w.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =isaacs, john d.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =johnson, luther elman.= memoir of. 480. =kempkey, a., jr.= "a concrete water tower." 334. =kent, william.= expansion of pipes. 31. =klapp, eugene.= "reinforced concrete pier construction." 448. =kreisinger, henry.= investigations of fuels. 300. =markwart, a.h.= a concrete water tower. 349. =meem, j.c.= "pressure, resistance, and stability of earth." 352. questions in reinforced concrete design. 82. =mensch, l.j.= a concrete water tower. 348. questions in reinforced concrete design. 76. =montfort, richard.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =myers, george h.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 84. =ostrup, john c.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 105. =payne, william arthur.= reinforced concrete pier construction. 455. =perry, francis w.= earth pressure and stability. 392. =porter, harry f.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 111. =prout, h.g.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =pruyn, francis l.= earth pressure and stability. 398. =purdon, c.d.= locomotive performance on grades, 329. =randolph, beverly s.= "locomotive performance on grades of various lengths." 321. =richards, joseph t.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =roberts, percival, jr.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =russell, s. bent.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 73. =sample, john henderson.= memoir of. 474. =sewell, john stephen.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 124. =smith, albert mather.= memoir of. 476. =smith, g.e.p.= railroad water supply. 186. =snelling, walter o.= investigations of explosives. 307. =stott, h.g.= investigations of efficiency of gas engines. 313. =taggart, ralph c.= "expansion of pipes." 1. =thacher, edwin.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 85. =thackray, george e.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =thompson, sanford e.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 128. =thomson, t. kennard.= earth pressure and stability. 389. =trautwine, john c., jr.= locomotive performance on grades. 330. =turner, c.a.p.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 87. =turner, edmund k.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =van der hoek, jacobus.= memoir of. 477. =wagoner, luther.= ultimate load on pile foundations. 442. =webster, william r.= "final report of special committee on rail sections." 456. =wilson, herbert m.= "federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels." 190. =worcester, j.r.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 74. =wright, joseph.= questions in reinforced concrete design. 72. transcriber's notes: the following external works are required to complete this volume. links are provided to the project gutenberg download page for the designated work. 1167 expansion of pipes http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25220 1168 tests of creosoted timber. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17776 1169 some mooted questions in reinforced concrete design. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17137 1170 the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16440 1171 federal investigations of mine accidents, structural materials, and fuels. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18448 1172 locomotive performance on grades of various lengths. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18747 1173 a concrete water tower. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18748 1174 pressure, resistance, and stability of earth. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16938 1175 the ultimate load on pile foundations: a static theory. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25222 1176 reinforced concrete pier construction. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17777 1177 final report of special committee on rail sections. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18785 1178 address at the 42d annual convention, chicago, illinois, june 21st, 1910. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18795 simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were corrected. italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_. bold markup is enclosed in =equals=. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1151 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the north river division. by charles m. jacobs, m. am. soc. c. e. these observations are written with the purpose of outlining briefly, as far as the writer was concerned, the evolution of the scheme of bringing the pennsylvania railroad and the long island railroad into new york city, and also, as chief engineer of the north river division of the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad, to record in a general way some of the leading features of the work on this division, which is that portion of the work extending from the east line of ninth avenue, new york city, to the hackensack portal on the westerly side of the palisades, as an introduction to the papers by the chief assistant engineer and the resident engineers describing in detail the work as constructed. it may be stated that, since shortly after the year 1871, when the pennsylvania railroad system was extended to new york harbor through the lease of the new jersey lines, the officers of that company have been desirous of reaching new york city by direct rail connection. the writer's first connection with the tunneling of the north river was early in 1890, when he was consulted by the late austin corbin, president of the long island railroad company and the philadelphia and reading railroad company, as to the feasibility of connecting the long island railroad with the philadelphia and reading railroad (or with the central railroad of new jersey, which was the new york connection of the reading) by a tunnel from the foot of atlantic avenue, brooklyn, under the battery and new york city, and directly across the north river to the terminal of the central railroad of new jersey. surveys, borings, and thorough investigations were made, and the metropolitan underground railroad company was incorporated in the state of new york to construct this railroad. mr. corbin, however, was aware that, in the transportation problem he had in hand, the central railroad of new jersey and the philadelphia and reading railroad were not as important factors as the pennsylvania railroad, and, in consequence, he abandoned the scheme for a tunnel to the central railroad of new jersey for a line direct to the pennsylvania railroad terminal in jersey city. meantime, the pennsylvania railroad company, as a result of its investigation of the matter, in june, 1891, thought that the most feasible project seemed to be to build tunnels for rapid transit passenger service from its jersey city station to the lower part of new york, connecting there with the rapid transit systems of that city, and also extending under new york on the line of cortlandt street, with stations and passenger lifts at the main streets and elevated railroads. the late a. j. cassatt, then a director of the pennsylvania railroad company, and previous thereto as general manager and vice-president (and later as president) of that company, was deeply interested in obtaining an entrance into new york city, but was not satisfied with the proposed rapid transit passenger tunnels which required the termination of the pennsylvania railroad trains at its jersey city station. therefore, upon his request, in september of the same year, another study and report was made by joseph t. richards, m. am. soc. c. e., then engineer of maintenance of way of the pennsylvania railroad, on a route beginning in new york city at 38th street and park avenue on the high ground of murray hill, thence crossing the east river on a bridge, and passing around brooklyn to bay ridge, thence under the lower bay or narrows to staten island and across to the mainland, reaching the new york division of the pennsylvania railroad at some point between rahway and metuchen. mr. cassatt also had in mind at that time a connection with the new england railroad, then independent, but now part of the new york, new haven, and hartford railroad system, by means of the long island railroad, and a tunnel under the east river, which in later years, as the result of further consideration of the situation, has been covered by the proposed new york connecting railroad with a bridge across the east river and over ward's and randall's islands. as a result of these investigations, the late george d. roberts, who was then president of the pennsylvania railroad company, authorized an expenditure of about $25,000 for soundings to determine the nature of the strata for tunneling under water. these soundings were carefully made by mr. richards with a diamond drill, bringing up the actual core of all rock found in crossing the waters of new york bay from the west to the east side and extending from the narrows to the jersey city station of the pennsylvania railroad. after these investigations had been made, early in 1892, mr. roberts expressed himself as being favorable to the undertaking, with the definite limitation that the tunnels must be for small cars doing local suburban business, and for the transfer of pennsylvania railroad passengers to and from new york, brooklyn, and jersey city, and not in any way to be tunnels for standard steam equipment, the expense for terminals and the prohibited use of coal for fuel in such tunnels not warranting any broader consideration. under such instructions, the interests of the pennsylvania railroad company for effecting a physical entrance into new york city in that year were turned over to samuel rea, m. am. soc. c. e., then assistant to the president of that company, who has been identified with the investigations, and the progress and construction of this work since that time, mr. cassatt also working in conjunction with him on the plans then and since considered by the pennsylvania railroad management. on october 5th, 1892, mr. rea, under special direction of president roberts, made an extended investigation of the various routes which had then been projected for extending the system into new york city by rail or transport, and reported to mr. roberts that, in his opinion, because of the limitation of the tunnel scheme to rapid transit trains and the consequent transfer of passengers and traffic carried in passenger trains, and because of the drawbacks caused by the use of steam locomotives in full-sized tunnels, and the objection to cable traction or any system of transportation which had not then stood the test of years of practical service, the plan of the north river bridge for reaching new york city and establishing a terminus therein was the best that had been evolved up to that time. the plan provided a direct rail entrance into new york city for all railroads reaching the west side of the hudson river, and also for the new york central and hudson river railroad, as well as adequate station facilities in that city. this bridge would have had one clear span of 3,100 ft. between pier heads, landing on the new york side at the foot of west 23d street, and thence the line would have passed diagonally to the terminus at sixth avenue and 25th street. the location of the terminus was subsequently changed to the vicinity of seventh avenue and 36th street. the bridge was designed with three decks: the first or lower deck was to accommodate eight steam railroad tracks; the second was to have six tracks, four of which could be assigned for rapid transit trains operating with electric power, and the other two for steam railroad trains; the third deck, reached by elevators, was to be a promenade extending from anchorage to anchorage. a connection with the eleventh avenue tracks of the new york central and hudson river railroad was to bring the trains of that road into the union station. the bridge company had a federal charter--granted in 1888--with broad powers. gustav lindenthal, m. am. soc. c. e., was chief engineer, and he and mr. rea were corporators and among its early promoters. the pennsylvania railroad management looked with favor on its construction at that time, as subaqueous tunnels, with standard railroad equipment with steam traction, were not regarded as a final or attractive solution of the problem, from the standpoint of the management, and at a subsequent period the pennsylvania railroad company agreed to use the north river bridge provided the other roads reaching the west bank of the hudson river would join. these roads, however, did not avail themselves of the opportunity which in its broadest scope was laid before them in 1900, after the board of directors of the pennsylvania railroad company had approved the scheme at the instance of mr. cassatt. the scheme of mr. corbin for a subway connection, between flatbush avenue and the jersey city station of the pennsylvania railroad, for local transit, took form in 1892, and, jointly with the pennsylvania interests, railroad companies were incorporated in the respective states to build a tunnel from under the jersey city station, under the hudson river to cortlandt street, new york city, thence under maiden lane, the east river, and pineapple and fulton streets, brooklyn, to a location at or near flatbush and atlantic avenues. on may 9th, 1893, these companies were merged into the brooklyn, new york and jersey city terminal railroad company, and estimates and reports on the construction were made ready by the writer in association with mr. rea, pending application for the franchises. the panic of 1893, occurring about that time, checked further progress on this scheme, and, before it could be revived again, other important projects for reaching new york city were given consideration. that part of mr. corbin's plan contemplating a subway under atlantic avenue in brooklyn to the present flatbush avenue terminal was not a new idea, as a tunnel had been built in 1845 and operated under a portion of atlantic avenue, but later it was filled up. plate iv, reproduced from a crayon sketch which was the property of the late william h. baldwin, jr., is a view of this tunnel. in conjunction with schemes for river tunnels, complete plans for rapid transit subways for new york city, very much on the line of the present rapid transit subways, were also prepared for mr. corbin by the writer. these plans provided a system of deep tunnels in rock, entirely below the plane of quicksand, and at the battery the lines were to connect directly into the tunnels to long island and new jersey, respectively, and the stations throughout, where the rock was at a deep level, were to be fitted with elevators, grouped as suggested in plate v, using private property on each side of the street at station locations--one side for north-bound and the other side for south-bound traffic. these plans were submitted to the first rapid transit commission, and, after long consideration, were rejected by that commission because they provided for the construction of the tunnels by a private company, notwithstanding mr. corbin gave the commission assurances of ample financial means to carry the work to completion. during the years 1892-93 mr. corbin was convinced that it was necessary to get better facilities for handling the baggage and express matter of the long island railroad and the long island express company across the east river between long island city and new york city, and he instructed the writer to investigate and report on the feasibility of building a tunnel, along the lines of the east river gas tunnels, then nearly completed, between the foot of east 34th street, new york city, and the long island city station of the long island railroad. in 1893 an investigation was made for such a tunnel, to be of similar size to the east river gas tunnel (8 by 10 ft.), solely for the purpose of handling baggage and express matter. investigation was made and estimates prepared, but the cost was considered to be prohibitive in view of the possible earnings solely from the handling of baggage and express, and the matter was not considered further. [illustration: plate iv.--tunnel under part of atlantic avenue, brooklyn. (from a crayon sketch.)] while mr. corbin was deeply interested in the down-town river tunnels, the up-town situation was of great importance to the long island railroad, and, having allied himself with mr. charles pratt, they took up generally the franchise owned by dr. thomas rainey for a bridge over blackwell's island. mr. corbin became interested with dr. rainey in 1894, and the actual construction proceeded on this bridge. the design provided for four railroad tracks, besides highways for tracks, pedestrians, etc., with a terminal station at third avenue and 64th street, new york city, which, under the franchise, was the limit to which the railroad could proceed. at this period there were two projects for bridging the hudson or north river: the new york and new jersey bridge company at about 59th street, and the north river bridge company at 23d street, as hereinbefore described. several studies were made by the writer, with the idea of making a rail connection between the long island "rainey" bridge and a bridge over the north river. an overhead structure connection was prohibitory, as no franchise could be obtained to cross fifth avenue with an overhead structure. sketches were prepared for a subway construction to connect with the bridges, but a final plan was not worked out. the failure to carry out the joint undertaking with the pennsylvania railroad company in 1893 led mr. corbin to revive the scheme of extending the long island railroad from flatbush avenue, brooklyn, to new york city, therefore consideration was given to a relocation of the route for mr. corbin during the early months of 1896, the idea being that the entire up-town outlet for the long island railroad would be by blackwell's island bridge, and the tunnel project would give the down-town outlet. at this time a commission had been appointed by the legislature to investigate the conditions on atlantic avenue, brooklyn, and evolve some scheme for the elimination of grade crossings on that avenue. early in 1896 plans were prepared and presented to this commission; first, for a subway from flatbush avenue terminal for the entire distance to the limits of the city of brooklyn at eldert's lane; second, for a subway from the flatbush avenue terminal to east new york, manhattan crossing, the railroad to remain as it previously existed at grade through the 26th ward of brooklyn. each of these schemes contemplated an extension through brooklyn to new york city at cortlandt street and broadway, and surveys and borings for this work were made across the east river. in the summer of 1896, on the decease of mr. corbin, all projects and work were immediately stopped; but, after some months, mr. w. h. baldwin, jr., when elected president of the long island railroad company, took up actively the reconsideration of the means whereby the long island railroad could reach new york city. after the fullest consideration, he decided that the blackwell's island bridge was by no means a suitable, adequate, or convenient entry for the long island railroad into new york city, as it involved too great a cost and altogether too rigid a connection; it was also a very inconvenient location, inasmuch as it was cut off from convenient access to the west side of new york city by central park. for the down-town connection, mr. baldwin became enthusiastic, but he had in mind, throughout, the all-important necessity for the long island railroad to reach the pennsylvania railroad across the north river. at the same time mr. baldwin took up energetically the atlantic avenue improvement with the atlantic avenue commission, and, on consideration, decided it was essential that it should extend through the 26th ward above or below grade. the better plan, of course, was obviously to make it a subway throughout, but, further, the residents of this ward objected to the subway through that section, and that construction would have made any change of the manhattan beach division at manhattan crossing very difficult for the future; besides this, the controlling factor was the absolute limitation by the city of brooklyn of the amount of expenditure therefor in which they would participate, therefore a composite scheme, which is the plan as carried out, was agreed upon, being in part subway and part elevated. this scheme reached a focus early in 1897, and the law constituting the board for the atlantic avenue improvement was passed, with a provision in the last paragraph of the act, for the construction of a tunnel from flatbush avenue terminal under flatbush avenue and fulton street to pineapple street, crossing the river to broadway and maiden lane (cortlandt street), new york city, and with the understanding that it would be extended beyond the new york state line to the pennsylvania railroad station in new jersey. this gave the legal right for the construction of this tunnel, and, on june 20th, 1899, the new york and long island terminal railroad company was incorporated for the purpose, mr. baldwin being president and j. v. davies, m. am. soc. c. e., chief engineer. application was immediately made to the boards of aldermen of brooklyn and of new york city. the latter acted favorably on the application, but the board of aldermen of brooklyn held the matter up, while the rapid transit commission laid out and promulgated the plan for contract no. 2 of the rapid transit subway. with the understanding that the rapid transit brooklyn extension would be constructed to the flatbush avenue terminal, mr. baldwin withdrew the application for the independent franchise, and agreed to proceed with the atlantic avenue improvement, on the basis of the city proceeding with the brooklyn extension of the rapid transit subway. this provided for the long island railroad entry down town. [illustration: plate v.--new york underground railway company section through surface and underground stations] subsequently, however, it was proved that mr. baldwin had not been fully satisfied that this was the proper solution of the matter, for on april 12th, 1901, and upon his recommendation, the board of directors of the long island railroad company took over from the pennsylvania railroad company its entire interests in the old brooklyn, new york, and jersey city terminal railway company, thus giving him control of the route from flatbush avenue _via_ maiden lane and cortlandt street to underneath the jersey city station. in the early part of 1900 active consideration was being given by the pennsylvania railroad and other railroads terminating in new jersey to the proposed north river bridge, as hereinbefore stated, and, for the long island railroad, mr. baldwin organized a new company to construct a tunnel from the long island railroad at sunnyside yard, diving under the streets of long island city by two tracks under the east river to the foot of 33d street and then proceeding under 33d street as far as seventh avenue. a station was to be located at fourth avenue below the rapid transit subway station and also a large terminal station at broadway. for this purpose an option was obtained on the property of the newbold lawrence estate, at broadway, sixth avenue, 33d and 34th streets, now occupied by saks' store. mr. baldwin, however, considered that the amount of the investment ($1,600,000) for that property was too great for this purpose, and allowed the option to expire. the property was sold within a week thereafter to the morganthau syndicate for $2,000,000. at this time (may, 1900), the pennsylvania railroad obtained a controlling interest in the long island railroad, and thereafter the two schemes became one. mr. baldwin and mr. rea purchased two 25-ft. lots on 33d street just east of broadway for an entrance to the underground station. plans were also prepared for extending this line from seventh avenue northward under seventh avenue to 45th street. the investigation and preliminary work in connection with this project were carried out in the early part of 1900. reconsideration was given by mr. baldwin to the proposed location of the up-town tunnels, with the idea of connecting the new york central and hudson river railroad by a tunnel between long island city (long island railroad station) and the foot of 42d street and extending to the grand central station, but nothing further than investigation and the preparation of estimates was done on this. in the summer of 1901 mr. cassatt was in paris and was advised by mr. rea of the opening of the extension of the orleans railway to the quai d'orsay station and its successful operation by electric power, also of the possibility of the pennsylvania railroad reaching new york city in a similar way (the other trunk lines not having joined in the promotion of the north river bridge project). he at once examined the new line, and then consulted the writer in london in relation to the possibility of building tunnels under the north river. the writer returned to new york with mr. cassatt, and soon thereafter a conference of mr. cassatt, mr. rea, and mr. baldwin with the writer and mr. davies was held in the pennsylvania railroad company office in new york, when mr. cassatt outlined the scheme practically as it is now carried out, the only difference being that he also proposed a station on property of the new york and harlem railroad company at 33d street, which was soon abandoned on account of the grade from the east river, and particularly because of the superior location of the adopted site at seventh avenue and 33d street, this being central between the down-town commercial and financial district and central park, which divides new york city. on mr. cassatt's instructions, surveys and investigations were begun in november, 1901, and estimates, drawings, etc., were made. preliminary estimates were presented to him on november 8th, 1901. following this, borings were continued, and a plan was presented to mr. cassatt for assisting the support of the north river tunnels on piles, if necessary. at the time of the appointment of the board of engineers and the general organization of the work, the preliminary investigations and work had been carried to an advanced state. one result of the determination of the pennsylvania railroad company to extend its lines into new york city and thus move its principal station from jersey city, was that the down-town local and suburban as well as through business was not provided for properly. mr. william g. mcadoo, appreciating this opportunity, revived the scheme of an electric subway from jersey city to new york, originally promoted by mr. corbin and associates, but not including the extension _via_ maiden lane to brooklyn, and entered into negotiations with the pennsylvania railroad company to provide for this down-town business by extensions of the tunnel lines of the new york and new jersey railroads to exchange place, jersey city, under the pennsylvania railroad station, and thence across the hudson river to cortlandt and church streets. as a result, the hudson and manhattan railroad company was organized in 1902, and contracts were made with the pennsylvania railroad company for the sub-surface use of its station in jersey city, and for the interchange of passenger business at that point between the trains of the pennsylvania railroad company and the tunnel of the hudson and manhattan railroad company. later, a further contract was made with the pennsylvania railroad company providing for the construction of the tunnel of the hudson and manhattan railroad company westward under the tracks of the pennsylvania railroad in jersey city to a junction with the latter at summit avenue, at which point can be installed a joint station, and the operation effected of a joint electric train service between church street, new york city, and newark, n. j., the pennsylvania railroad tracks between summit avenue and newark to be electrified for that purpose, with a transfer station established east of newark, at harrison, at which point the steam and electric locomotives will exchange. by means of this, all down-town passengers will transfer to the electric service at harrison station, and thus the pennsylvania railroad company is expected to be relieved of maintaining a separate steam service for passenger traffic to jersey city and a large down-town station with extensive contingent facilities at that point. from the foregoing it will be seen that the final decision to extend the pennsylvania railroad into and through new york city by a system of tunnels, and erect a large station in that city on a most eligible site, was not reached in a hurried or off-hand manner, but after years of painstaking study and a full and extended investigation of all routes, projects, and schemes, whether originating with the company or suggested by others. [illustration: plate vi.--pennsylvania railroad extension: map showing proposed lines leading to those finally adopted] plate vi is a map of new york city and vicinity on which are shown the various lines contemplated in the evolution of the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad hereinbefore outlined. the question of tunnels under the north river was an uncertain factor in the larger pennsylvania railroad scheme, owing to the nature of the ground composing the river bed in which the tunnels would be constructed. it is well known that about 35 years ago an attempt was made to construct a tunnel under the north river by using a "pilot" system under compressed air and forming the tunnels in brick masonry. owing to the very soft nature of the materials through which it passed, several serious accidents occurred, and the work was abandoned after about 2,000 ft. of tunnel had been constructed. later, this work was taken up again, when a shield was installed and an additional 1,800 ft. was built with cast-iron segmental lining, but the work was again abandoned, owing principally to financial difficulties while coincidentally before entering a rock reef which presented another serious difficulty in construction. the experience then in the construction of this tunnel led capitalists and engineers to believe that, owing to the very soft nature of the ground, a tunnel could not be built that would be sufficiently stable to withstand the vibration due to heavy traffic, and for this reason tunnels under the north river were not looked upon as practicable. the writer devised a scheme to carry within the tunnel the rolling loads on bridging supported on piers or piles extending from the tunnel invert down to hard material. these would be attached to the tunnel itself or would pass into it independently through sliding joints in the tunnel shell. this scheme gained the confidence of the management, as it was believed that, by adopting such a plan, tunnels could be built in the soft material underlying the hudson river and remain stable under all conditions of traffic. after thus feeling assured that by this method the tunnels could be made safe beyond question, orders were given to proceed with the great work of the extension into new york of the pennsylvania and long island railroad systems. [illustration: fig. 1.--(full page image) engineering staff organization chief engineer | chief assistant engineer | | +--(chief office) | | | +--office engineer | | | | | +--chief draftsman. | | draftsmen. | | messenger. | | | +--mechanical engineer | | | | | +--mechanical draftsmen. | | | +--assistant engineer | | | +--accountant. | clerks. | telephone operators. | messenger. | | +--(terminal station west) | | | resident engineer | | | +--assistant engineer. | | chief of party. | | instrumentmen. | | rodmen. | | chainmen. | | | +--inspectors. | | | +--clerk. | janitors. | | +--(subaqueous, 32nd street and weehawken tunnels) | | | general resident engineer | | | +--cement inspectors. | | ass't. cement inspectors. | | | +--photographer. | | | +--recording clerk. | | ass't. recording clerks. | | | +--dispatch boat | | | | | +--captains. | | engineers. | | deckhands. | | messenger. | | | +--resident engineers | | | +--(construction) | | | | | +--ass't. engineers. | | chief tunnel inspectors. | | tunnel inspectors. | | surface inspectors. | | clerks. | | | +--(alignment) | | | | | +--ass't. engineers. | | chiefs of parties. | | instrumentmen. | | rodmen. | | chainmen. | | rear chainmen. | | laborers. | | | +--(office staff) | | | +--draftsmen. | field office clerks. | cement warehousemen. | janitors. | messengers. | +--(medical department) | | | chief medical officer | ass't. medical officer. | | +--(bergen hill tunnels) | | | resident engineer | assistant resident engineer | | | +--assistant engineer. | | instrumentmen. | | rodmen. | | chainmen. | | | +--inspectors. | | cement warehousemen. | | | +--clerk. | janitors. | | +--(metal inspection) | chief metal inspector metal inspectors. clerks. ] the organization of the engineering staff is shown on the diagram, fig. 1. in the beginning of 1902 and during the period of making studies, additional borings, and preliminary triangulations, and prior to making the contract plans and specifications, james forgie, m. am. soc. c. e., was appointed chief assistant engineer by the writer. to him all the resident engineers and other heads of the engineering departments reported. the work was divided into three residencies: 1.--the terminal station-west, under the charge of b. f. cresson, jr., m. am. soc. c. e., resident engineer, comprising the work from the east side of ninth avenue to the east side of tenth avenue, including excavation, retaining and face walls, and the extensive work of underpinning ninth avenue with its surface and elevated railroads and other structures. 2.--the river tunnels, under the charge of b. h. m. hewett, m. am. soc. c. e., general resident engineer, and mr. h. f. d. burke and william lowe brown, m. am. soc. c. e., resident engineers, including the land tunnels from the east side of tenth avenue, new york city, to the commencement of the iron-lined tunnels, and extending westward from there to the weehawken shaft, new jersey. 3.--the bergen hill tunnels, under the charge of f. lavis, m. am. soc. c. e., resident engineer, including the rock tunnels from the weehawken shaft to the hackensack portal on the west side of the palisades, all in new jersey. paul a. seurot, m. am. soc. c. e., acted as office engineer in charge of the drawing office, and mr. j. soderberg as mechanical engineer in charge of the mechanical drafting. prior to the construction of the above works mr. c. j. crowley acted as resident engineer on the construction of the weehawken shaft, and j. f. rodenbough, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e., on that of the manhattan shaft. table 1 shows the quantities of certain materials and other statistics regarding this division. table 1. ------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------- | bergen | river | term. | hill. | tunnels. | sta.-w. +---------+-----------+--------- | | | excavation disposed of (or displaced), | | | in cubic yards | 263,000 | 238,995 | 517,000 cast metal used in tunnel, including | | | cast iron and cast steel, in tons | | 64,265 | steel bolts used, in tons | | 2,606 | cement used (concrete and grout), | | | in barrels | 95,000 | 145,500 | 33,000 concrete, in cubic yards | 95,000 | 75,400 | 18,500 dynamite for blasting, in pounds | 600,000 | 100,400 | 206,000 brickwork, in cubic yards | | 4,980 | structural steel (including pier 72), | | | in pounds | 50,000 | 3,141,000 | 1,475,000 ------------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------the number of passengers carried on the elevated railroad and surface lines of ninth avenue during the underpinning of these structures was about 125,000,000. the board of engineers, organized by the pennsylvania railroad company in january, 1902, immediately took up the matter of route and grade. the center line, which had been assumed as the center line of 32d street extended westward, was slightly changed. the grade adopted was approximately 2% descending westward from ninth avenue, which would place the tunnel well below the government dredging plane of 40 ft. below mean low water at the pier head line; thence westward on a lighter grade still descending until the deepest portion of the river was reached where the top of the rail would be about 90 ft. below mean high water, this location giving sufficient cover over the tunnels to insure stability and guard against the possibility of shipwrecks settling on the tunnels. from this point to the portal an ascending grade of 1.30% was adopted, which gave the lines sufficient elevation to cross over the tracks of the new york, susquehanna and western and the erie railroads, which run along the westerly base of the palisades. owing to the exigencies of construction, these grades in the river were very slightly modified. plate vii is a plan and profile of the tunnels as constructed. [illustration: plate vii.--plan, profile, and triangulation, north river tunnels] the board of engineers early in 1902 took up the question of supports for the tunnels under the north river, and various plans and schemes were considered. it was finally decided to support the tracks on screw-piles carried through the lining of the tunnels, as originally proposed by the writer. in order to know something of the capacity of screw-piles in the actual material to be passed through, it was resolved to test them. a caisson was sunk at the end of one of the erie railroad piers on the new jersey side near the line of the tunnels, and, to obtain parallel conditions as much as possible, the excavation was carried down to the proposed grade of the tunnel. various types of screw-piles were sunk therein and tests were made, not only of the dead load carrying capacity, but also with the addition of impact, when it was found that screw-piles could be sunk to hard ground and carry the required load. the final part of the test was the loading. the screw-pile, having a shaft 30 in. in diameter and a blade 5 ft. in diameter, was loaded with 600,000 lb., with the result that, for a month--the duration of this loaded test--there was no subsidence. again, and after the iron tunnel lining had been constructed across the river, tests were made of two types of supports: one a screw-pile 29-1/2 in. in diameter with a blade 4 ft. 8 in. in diameter and the other a wrought-iron pipe 16 in. in external diameter. tests were made, not only for their carrying capacity, but also for their value as anchorages, and it was found that the screw-pile was more satisfactory in every way; it could be put down much more rapidly, it was more easily maintained in a vertical position, and it could carry satisfactorily any load which could be placed on it as a support for the track. the 16-in. pipe did not prove efficient either as a carrier or as an anchorage. these tests will be mentioned in the detailed description of the work to follow. figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the general arrangement and details of the machine designed by the writer and used for sinking the test piles in the tunnels. this machine had been used originally on the new jersey side on the test pile at pier c, and the adaption was not exactly as shown on these drawings, but if the screw-piles had been placed in the tunnels, the arrangement shown would have been used. surveys, soundings, and borings were commenced in the latter part of 1901 on an assumed center line of tunnels which was the center line of 32d street extended westward. the soundings were made from a float stage fastened to a tugboat, the location being determined by transits on shore and the elevation by measuring from the surface of the water, a tide gauge being continually observed and the time of soundings and gauge readings kept. in the river wash-borings were made from a floating pile-driver on which was installed a diamond-drill outfit of rods, pump, etc. fourteen borings were completed in the river. considerable difficulty was found in holding the pile-driver against the current, the material in the bottom being very soft, and several borings were lost owing to the drifting of the pile-driver. each boring was continued, and the depth of several was more than 250 ft. below the surface of the water. the borings on land were mostly core borings, and were generally made with the chilled shot boring machine. base lines, about 2,250 ft. in length, were measured on each side of the river, and observation points established. it was necessary to build a triangulation tower 60 ft. high on the new jersey side as an observation point. the base lines were measured with 100-ft. steel tapes which were tested repeatedly, and the work was done at night in order to obtain the benefit of uniform temperature and freedom from traffic interruptions. from the base line on the new jersey side, which passed over the weehawken shaft, an elevated point on the assumed center line on the side of bergen hill was triangulated to, and from this point westward a closed polygon was measured along the streets to the top of the hill on the west side and thence along the assumed center line to the portal. the level transfer across the river was made by sighting across in opposite directions simultaneously, and also by tide gauges. the outline of the final triangulation system is shown on plate vii. [illustration: fig. 2.--(full page image) hydraulic screwing machine with ratchet drive and vertical jack general arrangement] [illustration: fig. 3.--(full page image) hydraulic screwing machine with ratchet drive and vertical jack details] the decision as to the locations of the shafts on both sides of the river, for construction purposes and finally for permanent use, was a comparatively simple matter, and, all circumstances considered, they are unquestionably in the most suitable places. on the new york side the shaft was as near as practicable to the line dividing the subaqueous iron-lined tunnels from the land tunnels, and on the new jersey side the shaft was placed centrally on the line of the tunnels and on the nearest available ground to the river, while at the same time beyond the other end of the river tunnels, thus necessitating driving the subaqueous tunnels only from east and west to meet under the river. a caisson shaft on the new york side, on the line of the tunnels near the river bulkhead, was at one time considered, but was not adopted as it entailed the driving of two shields both east and west, in addition to the two from new jersey, adding to the plant outlay while not affording any material saving in the time of construction. it was thought desirable to construct the shafts on the two sides of the river in advance of letting the main contracts for the tunnels. the manhattan shaft is north of the line of the tunnels, on the north side of 32d street, east of eleventh avenue. the weehawken shaft is on the line of the tunnels in the yards of the erie railroad on the new jersey side, and the distance between the shafts is about 6,575 ft. the contracts for these shafts were let in june, 1903, to the united engineering and contracting company, and they were completed and ready for use at the time of letting the main contract for the tunnels, thus saving considerable time. _the terminal station-west.--between ninth and tenth avenues._--in the original design it was contemplated to have a four-track tunnel under 32d street from ninth to eleventh avenues, but owing to the necessity for having additional yard facilities, property was bought for about 100 ft. north and 100 ft. south of 32d street, between ninth and tenth avenues, and an open excavation, lined with concrete retaining walls and face walls, was made. between ninth and tenth avenues, 32d street was closed, and the property formerly the street was bought by the tunnel company from the city of new york for a consideration by deed dated april 18th, 1906. the church, rectory, and school of st. michael's, which was located on the west side of ninth avenue between 31st and 32d streets, was acquired by the tunnel company after it had acquired property for and had built a similar institution on the south side of 34th street west of ninth avenue. probably the most interesting feature of this contract was the support and maintenance of ninth avenue, which has a three-track elevated railway structure and a two-track surface railway structure, on which it was necessary to maintain traffic while excavation was made to a depth of about 60 ft., and a viaduct was erected to carry ninth avenue. the length of this viaduct is about 375 ft., and the steelwork and its erection was done apart from the north river division work, but all excavation and underpinning was included in this division. the contract for this work on the terminal station-west was let to the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, on april 28th, 1906, and included about 517,000 cu. yd. of excavation, about 87% being rock, the construction of about 2,000 lin. ft. of retaining and face walls containing about 18,500 cu. yd. of concrete, and a large quantity of structural steel (1,475,000 lb.) for temporary use in underpinning ninth avenue. fig. 4 shows cross-sections of the terminal station-west yard, and fig. 5 shows the general method of underpinning the ninth avenue structures. [illustration: fig. 4.--terminal station west typical sections] _river tunnels._--in the original plan a four-track tunnel was contemplated from the east side of tenth avenue to the east side of eleventh avenue, but, owing to the extension of the terminal yard, previously noted, this plan was changed, and a two-track structure was built having a central wall between the tracks. this was constructed in tunnel, with the exception of 172 ft. about midway between tenth and eleventh avenues, where the rock dipped below the roof of the tunnel, and there the construction was made in open cut. these tunnels were lined with concrete with brick arches, figs. 6, 7, and 8 being typical cross-sections. this work was executed by the o'rourke engineering construction company, under a contract dated november 1st, 1904. it was possible to excavate in full rock cover about 250 ft. of the tunnels eastward from the weehawken shaft and 225 ft. westward from the manhattan shaft. at these points the rock cover was very thin, and there shield chambers were made for the erection of two sets of shields, about 6,100 ft. apart. a typical cross-section of the weehawken land tunnel is shown on plate viii. [illustration: plate viii.--typical sections between manholes, bergen hill tunnels] the board of engineers decided, and it was so stated in the contract and specifications, that the river tunnels should be constructed by means of hydraulic shields, but bidders were permitted to present to the board any scheme on which they might desire to bid, but, of course, the decision as to the practicability of such plans rested with the board. inasmuch as the shield method of construction was required, the writer designed a shield for use in the north river tunnels. the shield was about 18 ft. long, over all, and was provided with a rigid but removable hood extending beyond the normal line of the cutting edge, for use in sand, gravel, and ballast, to be removed when the shield reached the silt. the shields were thrust forward by twenty-four rams capable of exerting a pressure of 3,400 tons at a hydraulic pressure of 5,000 lb. per sq. in. taking into account 30 lb. air pressure, this pressure was increased to 4,400 tons. the shield was fitted with a single hydraulic erector and hydraulic sliding platforms, and when complete weighed 194 tons. fig. 9 is a back elevation and section of the shield. the contract for the river tunnels was let to the o'rourke engineering construction company on may 2d, 1904. the shields were built in accordance with the design previously referred to, and proved entirely satisfactory. generally, the materials passed through were as follows: starting out in full face rock, from it into a mixed face of rock and sand, thence into sand and gravel, full face of sand, piles, rip-rap, and the hudson silt; and all were fully charged with water. compressed air, at an average gauge pressure of about 25 lb. and a maximum of 40 lb. per sq. in., was used in the tunnels from the time the shields emerged from full rock face until the tunnel lining had been joined up and all caulking and grummeting had been done. [illustration: fig. 5.--(full page image) arrangement of structures supporting ninth ave. during progress of excavation] contractor's plants were established at the weehawken shaft and at the manhattan shaft, including at each, low-pressure air compressors of a capacity of 13,000 cu. ft. of free air per minute and also high-pressure air compressors for drills, hydraulic pumps, electric generators, etc. the river tunnels passed under pier 72, north river (old no. 62), which was occupied by the new york central and hudson river railroad company. the tunnel company leased this pier and withdrew all the piles on the lines of the tunnels prior to the commencement of construction, and on the remaining piles constructed a trestle for the disposal of the excavation from the tunnels and the terminal. at the completion of the work this pier had to be restored, and fig. 10 shows the general arrangements of the location of the piles and the pier structure with reference to the tunnels. in the tunnels which were constructed in silt farther down the river, by the writer as chief engineer for the hudson companies, it had been possible to shove the shield through the silt with all the doors closed, displacing the ground and making great speed in construction owing to the absence of all mucking. it was thought that this procedure might be pursued in the larger tunnels of the pennsylvania railroad, and it was tried, but it was almost immediately found to be impossible to maintain the required grade without taking a certain quantity of muck into the tunnels through the lower doors, the tendency of the shield being to rise. by taking in about 33% of the excavation displaced by the tunnel, the grade could be maintained. it was considered desirable, owing to this rising of the shields, to increase the weight of the cast-iron lining, and this was done, making the weight of the completed tunnel more nearly equal to the weight of the displaced material. the weight of the cast-iron lining (with bolts) was increased from 9,609 to 12,127 lb. per lin. ft. of tunnel. the weight of the finished tunnel with this heavier iron is 31,469 lb. per lin. ft. the weight of the silt displaced per linear foot of tunnel, at 100 lb. per cu. ft., is 41,548 lb. the weight of the completed tunnel with the maximum train load is 42,869 lb. per lin. ft. the maximum progress at one face in any one month was 545 ft., working three 8-hour shifts, and the average progress in each heading while working three shifts was 18 ft. per 24 hours; while working one shift with the heavier lining referred to above, the delivery of which was slow, the average progress was 11 ft. per 24 hours. [illustration: fig. 6.--15' 4" span twin tunnels. rock roof.] [illustration: fig. 7.--19' 6" span twin tunnels.] [illustration: fig. 8.--21' 6" span twin tunnels] [illustration: fig. 9.--proposed shield for subaqueous tunneling general elevation] [illustration: fig. 10.--restoration of pier 72 (old 62) north river transverse section at center of pier] in order to permit the screw-piles to be put in place through the lining, cast-steel bore segments were designed, and placed in the invert at 15-ft. centers; these are of such a design as to permit the blade and shaft of the screw-pile to be inserted without removing any portion of the lining. fig. 11 is a typical cross-section of the river tunnel, as originally planned, with these pile supports. after the shields had met and the iron lining was joined up, various experiments and tests were made in the tunnel; screw-piles, and 16-in. pipes, previously referred to, were inserted through the bore segments in the bottom of the tunnel, thorough tests with these were made, levels were observed in the tunnels during the construction and placing of the concrete lining, an examination was conducted of the tunnels of the hudson and manhattan railroad company under traffic, and the result of these examinations was the decision not to install the screw-piles. the tunnels, however, were reinforced longitudinally by twisted steel rods in the invert and roof, and by transverse rods where there was a superincumbent load on the tunnels; it might also be noted that on the new york side, where the tunnels emerge from the rock and pass into the soft material, the metal shell is of cast steel instead of cast iron. fig. 12 is a typical cross-section of the river tunnels as actually constructed. [illustration: fig. 11.--(full page image) cross-section of tunnel showing track system and screw-pile.] [illustration: fig. 12.--subaqueous tunnels cross-sections] during the investigations in the tunnels, borings were made to determine exactly the character of the underlying material, and it was then found that the hard material noted in the preliminary wash-borings was a layer of gravel and boulders overlying the rock. when the borings in the tunnels reached this material it was found to be water-bearing and the head was about equivalent to that of the river. rock cores were taken from these borings, and the deepest rock was found at about the center of the river at an elevation of 302.6 ft. below mean high water. rods were then inserted in each bore hole and thereby attached to the rock and used as bench-marks in the tunnels. from these bench-marks, using specially designed instruments, very accurate observations of the behavior of the tunnels could be made, and from these the very interesting phenomenon of the rise and fall of the tunnels with the tide was verified, the tunnels being low at high tide and the average variations being about 0.008 ft. in the average tide of about 4.38 ft.: the tidal oscillations are entirely independent of the weight of the tunnels, since observations show them to have been the same both before and after the concrete lining was in position. there was considerable subsidence in the tunnels during construction and lining, amounting to an average of 0.34 ft. between the bulkhead lines. this settlement has been constantly decreasing since construction, and appears to have been due almost entirely to the disturbances of the surrounding materials during construction. the silt weighs about 100 lb. per cu. ft. (this is the average of a number of samples taken through the shield door, and varied from 93 to 109 lb. per cu. ft.), and contains about 38% of water. it was found that whenever this material was disturbed outside the tunnels a displacement of the tunnels followed. the tunnels as above noted have been lined with concrete reinforced with steel rods, and prior to the placing of the concrete the joints were caulked, the bolts grummeted, and the tunnels rendered practically water-tight; the present quantity of water to be disposed of does not exceed 300 gal. per 24 hours in each tunnel 6,100 ft. long. _bergen hill tunnels._--these are two single-track tunnels, 37 ft. from center to center, and extend for a distance of 5,940 ft. from the weehawken shaft to the hackensack portal. they were built almost entirely through trap rock. the contract was let on march 6th, 1905, to the john shields construction company, but was re-let on january 1st, 1906, to william bradley, the shields company having gone into the hands of a receiver. about 1,369 ft. of the tunnel excavation was done by the shields company, but no concrete lining. the maximum monthly progress for all headings was 622 ft., and the average progress was 338 ft. a working shaft 216 ft. deep was sunk from the top of the hill, to facilitate construction. the tunnels are lined with concrete throughout. typical cross-sections of these tunnels are shown on plate viii. in conclusion it may be admissible for the writer after having, in conjunction with mr. samuel rea, experienced the evolution and materialization of this pennsylvania railroad scheme, to express his great sorrow for the untimely death of the father of the entire scheme, the late president cassatt. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1170 the water supply of the el paso and southwestern railway from carrizozo to santa rosa, n. mex.[a] by j.l. campbell, m. am. soc. c.e. with discussion by messrs g.e.p. smith, kenneth allan, and j.l. campbell. _location_.--the el paso and southwestern railway traverses the arid country west of the 100th meridian in new mexico, texas, and arizona, as shown on the map, fig. 1. the water supply herein described serves that division of this road lying between carrizozo and santa rosa, a distance of 128 miles. _rainfall_.--the average annual precipitation is 9.84 in. the year 1909 was exceptionally dry, with a rainfall of less than 5 in. _original water supply_.--east and west of el paso, for distances of 270 miles in each direction, the railway crosses no streams, and the supply was obtained from wells ranging from 100 to 1,100 ft. in depth. on the division served by the new supply, this well-water is of very bad quality, as shown in table 1. after the most thorough practicable treatment, these waters were still so bad that they caused violent foaming, low steam pressure, hard scaling, rapid destruction of boiler tubes, high coal and water consumption, extraordinary engine failures and repairs, small engine mileage, low train tonnage, excessive overtime, and a demoralized train service. [footnote a: presented at the meeting of may 4th, 1910.] table 1. --------------------------------------------------------------- | incrusting solids, in | non-incrusting solids, station. | grains per gallon. | in grains per gallon. ---------------------------------------------------------------carrizozo | 31 | 7 ancho | 14 | 14 gallinas | 91 | 8 varney | 180 | 14 duran | 127 | 55 tony | 115 | 11 pastura | 141 | 6 pintado | 81 | 9 santa rosa | 140 | 29 ---------------------------------------------------------------_new water supply_.--the writer was directed to find, if possible, a supply of good water, and his efforts proved successful. the pure water now in use has eliminated the adverse conditions before mentioned; has improved the _esprit de corps_ of the train service; and, in a short time, the reduction in operating expenses will liquidate the first cost of the new supply. this supply is taken from the south fork of bonito creek, which flows down the eastern slope of white mountain. the latter is 12,000 ft. high, and is 16 miles south of carrizozo (fig. 1). the watershed is a granite and porphyry formation, heavily timbered, and the stream is fed by snow and rain. this combination yields an excellent water, carrying on an average 6.05 grains of incrusting and o.95 grains of non-incrusting solids per gallon. the north fork of the creek carries 16.60 and 2.40 grains, respectively. below the junction of these forks, the water contains 10.48 grains of incrusting and 1.57 grains of non-incrusting solids per gallon; and a branch pipe line takes water from the creek during intervals in dry years when the daily flow of the south fork is less than the consumption. _the water plant_.--the water is taken to and along the railway in pipe lines. the system includes 116 miles of wood pipe, 19 miles of iron pipe, one 422,000,000-gal. storage reservoir, four 2,500,000-gal. service reservoirs, two pumping plants in duplicate, and accessories of valves, stand-pipes, etc. from a small concrete dam across the creek at an elevation of 7,728 ft., the pipe line drops down the narrow valley eastward, 5-1/2 miles, to an elevation of 6,980 ft, where it turns abruptly north, rising in 1 mile to a table-land, 7,215 ft. above sea level, across which it continues northward 5 miles to the storage reservoir, which is on the north edge of this elevated country. hereafter, this reservoir will be called the nogal reservoir, from the old mining village of nogal lying 1-1/2 miles to the north and 600 ft. below it. from this reservoir, the line drops abruptly to the carrizozo plain, and crosses the latter northward to coyote, at mile 156, on the railway, at an elevation of 5,810 ft., passing, on the way, 6 miles east of carrizozo, to which a branch pipe runs, carrizozo being 5,430 ft. above sea level. there is a 2,500,000-gal. reservoir at coyote, and a similar one at carrizozo. [illustration: fig 1. map of lines of el paso & southwestern system] this describes the gravity section of the line which brings the water from the mountain stream to the railway. from nogal reservoir to the latter, the capacity of the pipe is equal to the future daily requirements; from the source of supply to the reservoir, the pipe has twice as great a capacity, thereby storing surplus water. this section is 32 miles long, with a 6-mile branch line. the second, or pumping section, extends eastward along the railway, rising from an elevation of 5,810 ft. at coyote to 6,750 ft. on the corona summit, which is the water-shed line between the rio grande on the west and the rio pecos on the east. at coyote a pumping station lifts the water to luna reservoir and the pumps at mile 171, and the latter lift it to the reservoir on corona summit at mile 192-1/2. this section is 36-1/2 miles long. the third, or gravity section, extends from the reservoir on the corona summit to the rio pecos at mile 272, dropping from an elevation of 6,750 to 4,570 ft. in 80 miles. the pipe line extends to pastura, 58-1/2 miles from corona, as shown on plate v. where the pipe line passes a water tank on the railway, a 4-in. branch pipe is carried to the bottom of the tank and up to the top, where it is capped by an automatic valve. a gate-valve is placed in the branch pipe at its junction with the pipe line. there are regulating, relief, check, blow-off, and air-valves, air-chambers, and open stand-pipes on the line, too numerous to mention in detail. they are designed to keep the wood pipe full, regulate flow, prevent accumulation of pressure and water-hammer, and remove sediment. _water pipe_.--a study of the profile developed a system of hydraulic grades, pipe diameters, and open stand-pipes limiting the pressure to 130 lb. per sq. in., except on 19 miles of the pump main between coyote and corona where the estimated maximum pressure is 310 lb. investigation justified the assumption that wood pipe under a pressure of 130 lb. would give satisfactory service for 25 years, on which basis it would be less expensive than cast iron, and therefore it was used. cast iron was considered preferable to steel for pressures not exceeding 310 lb. on account of its greater durability. _wood pipe_.--machine-made, spirally-wound, wood-stave pipe, made in sections from 8 to 12 ft. long, with the exterior surface covered with a heavy coat of asphalt, was selected in preference to unprotected, continuous, stave pipe. the diameters were not so great as to require the latter. the first 40 miles of wood pipe was furnished by the wykoff wood pipe company, of elmira, n.y., and the michigan pipe company, of bay city, mich., delivered the remaining 76 miles. the pipe is wound with flat steel bands of from 14 to 18 gauge and from 1 to 2 in. wide. the machine winds at any desired pitch and tension. at each end the spiral wind is doubled two turns, the second lying over the first and developing a frictional resistance similar to that of a double hitch of a rope around a post. the ends of the band are held by screw nails or a forged clip, the latter being the better. it has two or three spikes on the under side which seat into the stave, and two side lugs on top which turn down over the band. the latter passes twice over the seat on the clip, the first turn holding the clip to the stave, while the second turn is held by the lugs which are hammered down over it. the end of the band is then turned back over the clip and held down by a staple. the staves are double-tongued and grooved and from 1-3/8 to 2 in. thick. the smaller thickness is sufficient. the exterior face of the staves should be turned concentric with the axis of the pipe and form a circle, so that the band will have perfect contact with the wood. the joints are formed by turning a chamber in one end of the pipe and a tenon on the other, or both ends are turned to a true exterior circle and driven into a wood or steel sleeve. the chamber and tenon were used in this work. finally, each piece of pipe is covered with as much hot asphalt as it will carry. _steel bands_.--the specifications required bands of mild steel, of 60,000 lb. strength, with an elastic limit half as great. the winding was spaced to limit the tension to 15,000 lb. per sq. in. if severe water-hammer is present, the ordinary working stress should be materially less than the latter, otherwise the spiral bands will stretch enough to permit the water to spurt out between the staves. this was determined to be true on 4,500 ft. of 12-in. pipe connecting the carrizozo reservoir with a water column at the roundhouse there. in pumping tests at the mills, attempts were made, at various times, to burst the pipe, but they never succeeded. before the elastic limit was exceeded, the water was running out between the staves as fast as the pump forced it in. on the following day, pipe thus tested would carry the pressure for which it was designed without leaking. except for defects in the band, pipe of this kind will not burst in the service for which it is properly designed. this is true, without exception, of the 100,000 pieces of pipe in this service. there has been some trouble with a number of the riveted splices on the banding. such a splice occurs for every spool of banding used. in every case where one of these splices has pulled apart, the break was the result of defective riveting, permitting the rivets to pull out. in no case has a rivet been found sheared off, and even one good rivet appears to be sufficient to prevent rupture. the explanation is found in the high frictional resistance between the band and the pipe, which distributes the weakness of a bad splice over several adjacent turns of the band around the pipe. the band loosens a few turns only on either side of a parted splice, generally not more than three. in no case has any pipe been removed from the trench, repairs being made without interruption to the flow of water. it is desirable to substitute welding for the riveting of these splices. the trouble is not present with the round band, the wrapped splice of the latter giving practically 100% efficiency. the flat band was chosen for this work because it is the more effectively buried in and protected by the asphalt, and will not crush the soft wood staves under high pressure. the longevity of either the flat or the round steel band is dependent primarily on effective protection against contact with corrosive elements. wrought iron should be used for this kind of service, and, for the same reason, for many other purposes. engineers and consumers should join in some comprehensive and effective plan to bring back the old-time production of high-grade wrought iron. _wood staves_.--the staves of this pipe are of michigan and canadian white pine. this pine cannot now be had of clear stuff or in long lengths in large quantities; otherwise, it is unexcelled. douglas fir and yellow pine, coarser and harder woods, have the advantages of clear lumber and long length. cypress is not as plentiful, and redwood is costly. the mill tests did not determine definitely the minimum degree of seasoning necessary, and press of time compelled the acceptance of some rather green lumber. service tests do not show that there is any abnormal leakage from pipe made of such lumber, and it could not now be distinguished in the trench by such tests. undoubtedly, however, thorough air seasoning should be required. _bored pipe_.--owing to its small size, a part of the 3-1/2-in. pipe was bored from the log. this was a mistake, for bored pipe has a rough interior and a reduced capacity. the inspection and culling are difficult and unsatisfactory, and imperfections readily apparent in a stave frequently escape detection in bored pipe. _pipe joints_.--the chamber and tenon of this pipe is an all-wood joint, 4 in. deep. an iron sleeve makes a better and stronger joint. it compensates for any lack of initial tension in the banding over the chamber of the wood joint, and secures full advantage of the swelling of the wood. cast iron is better than steel; it is more rigid, and its granulated surface breaks up the smoothness of the wood surface swelling against it. one objection to the cast-iron sleeve is that of cost, but it adds 4 in. to the effective length of every section of pipe, as compared with the wood joints. on the pacific coast, a banded wood-stave sleeve is used with success. _coating_.--to preserve the banding from corrosion and the wood from exterior decay, the pipe is thoroughly enveloped in refined asphalt having a flow-point adjusted to the prevailing temperature during shipment and laying. one grade can be used through a considerable range of temperature. this coating endured a 2,000-mile shipment successfully. each piece was carefully inspected along the trench, and any break in the coating was thoroughly painted with hot asphalt. enough of the latter came in barrels, with the pipe, from the factory. the first 37 miles of this pipe has been in service for two years. recent inspections show the coating to be in excellent condition and the steel underneath to be bright and clean. in some cases, where the initial pressure and leaking between the staves of the dry pipe were great, the escaping air and water lifted the coating into bubbles. at some points where this lifting was great enough to rupture the asphalt, and the soil is heavily charged with alkali, some corrosion has begun. the integrity and impermeability of this asphalt coat are quite as vital as constant saturation. this coating protects the entire pipe from exterior contact with destructive agencies. with such effective exterior protection, a constantly full pipe is not so imperative. in the exterior protection of the wood, this coated pipe has quite an advantage over continuous stave pipe. each piece of pipe goes directly from the winder to the asphalt rolls, then to an adjacent saw-dust table, then back to the rolls, then to the table again, and then to the dry finishing rolls at the opposite end of the table. the coating thus consists of two layers of asphalt and two of saw-dust. when the pipe leaves the finishing rolls, the coat is hard and smooth and about 1 3/16 in. thick. this describes the coating as done at bay city, mich. at elmira, n.y., one application of asphalt and saw-dust only, without a finishing dry roll, completed the work; but the band was run through a bath of hot asphalt as it was wound, thus coating its underside also. this initial treatment of the band on the wykoff pipe is necessary because the exterior of the stave is neither planed nor turned to a circle. the exterior of the pipe forms a polygon, and the band is in perfect contact only at the angles. the theory in regard to the michigan pipe is that the perfect contact of the band and the wood on the true exterior circle excludes air from the under surface of the metal, and prevents corrosion. experience appears to justify this theory. _cast-iron pipe_.--beginning at the first pumping plant at coyote, at mile 156, and running up to mile 166, and again commencing at the luna pumps, at mile 171, and extending up to mile 179, the minimum pressure on those portions of the pump main is more than the 130 lb. per sq. in. allowed for wood pipe, and the final estimated maximum pressures run up to 310 lb. the selection of iron pipe for these pressures was, first, as between steel and cast-iron; and, second, as between the lead joint of the standard bell and spigot pipe and the machined iron joint of the universal joint pipe. again, the choice was as between lead and leadite for the bell and spigot pipe. cast iron was selected because of the certainty of its long life, and the bell and spigot pipe was selected on the basis of comparative costs for pipe laid. the standard lead joint was chosen on the result of tests. this cast-iron pumping main has a diameter of 12 in. throughout. _pipe weights._--makers of standard bell and spigot pipe urged the usual heavy weights selected for municipal service and heavy water-hammer. three pressures, _viz_., 217, 260, and 304 lb., were used for the division of pipe weights, on which the standard pipe-makers specified shell thicknesses of 0.82, 0.89, and 0.97 in. eliminating water-hammer and adopting a working stress of 2,400 lb., the thicknesses are reduced to 0.54, 0.65, and 0.76 in. to make the latter conform to the specifications of the new england water-works association, the pipe was cast to 0.57, 0.65, and 0.77 in. the reduction in cost amounts to $52,811. by the provision of air-cushions, hereafter described, the writer's anticipation of no water-hammer on the pumping main has been fully realized. the pipe was manufactured and inspected under the above-mentioned specifications. _pipe joints_.--there was a question about the reliability of the lead joint at 300 lb. the writer had a section of 12-in. pipe, with standard joints containing 22 lb. of lead, laid and tested to 500 lb. without sign of failure or leakage. the joints were caulked down 3/16 in. below the face of the bell. of 8,700 joints thus made in the field, not one has blown out or failed. a few weeped slightly on top, and they were made permanently tight by additional caulking. the present maximum pressure is 278 lb. these joints are the standard joints specified by the new england water-works association. it should be borne in mind that there is no water-hammer on this line. in 8,700 joints, 198,000 lb. of lead and 3,200 lb. of oakum were used, or 22.76 and 0.37 lb. per joint. leadite was tested in competition with lead, but it leaked at 100 lb. and failed under a sustained pressure of 300 lb. it is a friable material, and cannot be caulked successfully. its principal ingredient appears to be sulphur. the failure was by slow creeping out of the joints. it is melted and poured, but not caulked. it has attractive features for low pressures and for lines not subject to movement or heavy jarring. _air-cushions_.--to prevent water-hammer on the pumping main, all pumps are provided with large air-chambers. in addition, and as the special feature for absorbing the shock of pumping under high pressure through a pipe 21 miles long, a large air-chamber in the form of a closed steel cylinder, 5 ft. in diameter and 15 ft. long, is mounted on the pumping main outside of the pump-house. this cylinder is set on its side, in concrete collars, directly over the pipe beneath, to which it is connected by a 12-in. tee, in which a 12-in. gate-valve is set. the cylinder is provided with a glass gauge, cocks, etc. it was designed for a working pressure of 300 lb., and, at each pumping plant, it has proved to be entirely air-and water-tight. as indicated by sensitive gauges on the pump main, just beyond these large air-chambers, the latter absorb all the water-hammer which gets beyond the air-chamber on the pumps. _air-pumps_.--each pumping plant is provided with four automatic air-charging devices, connecting to all air-chambers of the pumps and to the air-chamber on the pumping main. they are of the nordberg type, and have proved very efficient. they are operated only a part of the time; otherwise, they accumulate too much air in the chambers. _air-valves_.--on the entire line there are 144 automatic air-valves made by the united states metal manufacturing company, of berwick, pa. they are working satisfactorily. _gate-valves_.--in addition to the customary gate-and check-valves at the reservoirs and pumping stations, gate-valves are located at necessary points and elevations in the line to control the flow of water and keep the pipe full, even to the extent of closing all such valves tight and holding the line full without flow. this is for the purpose of delivering through a full pipe any desired quantity of water less than that required to keep the open pipe full. this, of course, is on account of the wood pipe. as the differences of elevations are very great on the gravity sections of the line, and as any one valve might inadvertently become closed tight when other valves above would be open, the bursting of the pipe under such conditions is prevented either by a pressure relief valve attached to and immediately above the gate-valve, or by an open stand-pipe erected on some suitable elevation between the valves. this is more clearly shown on the profile, plate v, of the ground line and the hydraulic grades of the pipe line. an inspection of this profile will show that these controlling valves are located so that, when closed, the pressure against them does not rise above the maximum pressure on the section above, due to the hydraulic grade of the line when carrying its full capacity. _safety valves_.--to prevent rupture of the pipe or injury to the pumps, in case the pumping mains should become obstructed, a 6-in. pop safety valve is mounted on the main just beyond the large air-chamber already described. these valves are set to release at the maximum working pressure of the pumps when the regular quantity of water is being pumped, and they are piped to the adjacent reservoir, so that there is no loss from them. _check-valves_.--check-valves are placed in the pumping main to prevent the backward flow of water. there is one near the pumps, and one at the upper end and outside of the reservoir into which the main discharges. _blow-off valves_.--these valves are located in all material valleys or depressions. _stand-pipes_.--between the gate-valves, at certain points where the maximum hydraulic grade is not more than 60 ft. above the surface of the ground, open stand-pipes are erected. if the grade line is too high, relief-valves are used, as stated. also at two points, where a steep grade ends near the ground surface and is followed by a flatter grade, stand-pipes are erected. these stand-pipes are of 6-in. iron pipe standing in a special casting in the pipe line and enclosed in a concrete base. they are, of course, open at the top, and vary in height from 15 to 60 ft., depending on the elevation of the hydraulic grade. they have given some checks on the position of this grade during the velocity measurements hereinafter described. their locations are shown on the profile, plate v. _nogal reservoir_.--nogal reservoir is the storage unit of the system, and is on the north edge of a table-land, 1,700 ft. above the railway, on the carrizozo plain, 15 miles away. it is 11-1/2 miles from the head of the pipe on bonito creek. this reservoir is a natural basin or bowl, 1/2 mile in diameter across the top, 1/4 mile on the bottom, and 36 ft. deep. a level line, 1,500 ft. long, drawn from its bottom, comes out to grade on the north declivity of the table-land. on this level line an open cut was made and the outlet pipe laid. the cut was then closed by a dam. the supply pipe from bonito creek delivers water into the basin over the top of its southern rim, the water, as it leaves the pipe, flowing over a standard weir, without end contractions, into a stone gutter. a by-pass pipe, with suitable valves, passes around the western side of the basin and connects to the outlet pipe. this comparatively small amount of work equipped a very good natural reservoir with a capacity of 422,000,000 gal., which can be increased to 1,000,000,000 gal. by embankments across low places in the rim. _service reservoirs_.--at coyote, an artificial service reservoir, 100 by 200 ft. on the bottom, with slopes of 1-1/2 on 1 and a total depth of 15 ft., serves as an equalizer of the flow to and away from the pumps at that point. the pump-house is built alongside this reservoir. the delivery pipe from the nogal reservoir runs directly to the pumps, but has a tee-branch, 50 ft. long, into the coyote reservoir. this branch passes through a valve chamber between the pump-house and the reservoir. in this chamber there are controlling valves and an automatic overflow. this overflow is provided against the contingency of a full reservoir and idle pumps. if the pipe line is delivering water faster than the pumps discharge it, the surplus goes into the reservoir. this arrangement is self-acting and controlling. there is a similar arrangement at the luna pumping plant, also at the carrizozo service reservoir, and at the regulating reservoir on the corona summit. each of the four service reservoirs is of the same size, and lined with 4 in. of 1:2:4 concrete. at luna and corona the concrete is reinforced with 3/8-in. round rods spaced 12 in. from center to center, both ways. this reinforcement should have been used in all the work. _pumping plants_.--the pumps at coyote and luna are nordberg duplex, cross-compound, condensing, crank-and-fly-wheel machines, with 6-in. plungers, traveling 600 ft. per min. at full normal speed, and designed to work against 300 lb. per sq. in. they have a guaranteed efficiency of 135,000,000 ft-lb. per 1000 lb. of steam at 150 lb. and superheated 75 degrees. the boilers are 125-h.p., sterling, water-tube, with foster superheaters, and 33-in. stacks, 100 ft. high. each plant is in complete duplicate pump and boiler units, only one set working at a time. the pump building is a substantial concrete, brick, and steel structure, 50 by 80 ft. in plan, with a fire-wall, with two steel doors dividing the floor space into an engine-room 50 by 50 ft., and a boiler-room 50 by 30 ft. a concrete coal-bin adjoins the exterior boiler-room door. coal is delivered directly from the car to the bin. the plant is lighted by a small, but very complete, engine and dynamo on one base and run by steam from the sterling boilers. the two plants are exactly alike throughout. _reservoir leakage_.--the nogal reservoir basin is covered with from 2 to 5 ft. of good clay, except where it is punctured by a dike, or washed down to the underlying sandstone by a few gullies. these punctures or washes were covered or filled with clay from 1 to 4 ft. deep. during the first season the leakage, above the 6-ft. contour, was at the rate of 2 in. per day. as the water fell, due to leakage, evaporation, and use, a herd of from 300 to 400 cattle were worked around the shore line. this reduced the leakage to 3/8 in. below 8 ft., and to nothing below 6 ft., above the outlet. as the flow line rises higher each season, the puddling will be continued to the top. the leakage at 12 ft. above the outlet, or 17 ft. above the bottom, is still approximately 1 in. per day. the total puddling, to date, covering two seasons, is equivalent to 11,150 days' work of one cow, and covers an area of 1,500,000 sq. ft. the clay packed densely, the final hoof marks being not more than 1/4 in. deep and remaining distinct under the water around the shore line for one year. apparently, the reservoir will finally become water-tight at all elevations. the soil in which the four service reservoirs on the railway are built proved to be about the worst for such work. in its natural state on the prairie, after the excavation for the reservoir was completed, it filtered water at the rate of 3 ft. per day. tamping and puddling still left a filtration of 12 in. per day, with a tendency to increase. enough water filtered through the concrete to produce settlement and cracks. finally, the concrete was water-proofed with two coats of soap, two of alum, and one of asphalt. this has made all the reservoirs water-tight. elaterite, an asphalt paint made by the elaterite paint and manufacturing company, of des moines, iowa, was used successfully on the luna reservoir. this paint is applied cold, and preliminary tests showed it to be quite efficient. the analysis of the soil is as follows: loss on ignition 3.35 silica 56.36 oxide of iron 2.93 oxide of aluminum 8.97 calcium oxide 15.95 magnesium oxide 0.98 oxides of sodium and potassium 0.47 carbonic acid 11.35 sulphuric acid 0.11 chlorine 0.04 manganese traces ----- 100.51 insoluble matter, 64.50 per cent. _pipe-line leakage_.--there is no measurable leakage from the iron pipe. by thorough inspection and measurement at the end of two years, leakage on the wood pipe, between coyote and bonito creek, from the 11-and 12-in. pipe, was found to be as follows: on 8.6 miles, 11-in. pipe, 146,600 gal. per day = 17,046 gal. per mile. " 4 " 12 " " 14,829 " " " = 3,702 " " " the 7-1/2-in. pipe on this section appears to be leaking less than the 12-in. pipe. inspection and measurement of it are to be made in a short time. there is no material leakage from the 10-and 16-in. pipe between bonito creek and nogal reservoir, as determined by velocity and volumetric measurements hereafter described. the greatest probable error in the velocity measurements would not exceed 1/2 per cent. if such error existed, and was all charged to leakage, it would amount to but 17,204 gal. per day, or 1,582 gal. per mile, out of a daily delivery of 3,784,000 gal.; but the measured discharge of the pipe, as determined by the velocity, was 5.84 sec-ft., while the mean maximum volume of this water over the weir at the end of the pipe is recorded by the weir as 5.88 sec-ft. from coyote, east along the railway, the wood pipe is remarkably tight. the rate of leakage from it, as determined by 600 observations uniformly distributed, was as follows: 11-in. pipe = 120 gal. per mile per day. 8-1/2 and 7-1/2-in. pipe = 268 " " " " " the maximum rate on 1 mile was 1,613 gal. the minimum found was zero. the observations were made by uncovering a joint and measuring the leakage therefrom for 10 min. a graduated glass measuring to drams was used. the rate of leakage varied from 5 drops to 45 oz. in 10 min. of the joints uncovered 57% was found to be leaking. it is rather remarkable that, in the large leakage of the 11-and 12-in. pipe between coyote and bonito, only one out of every eight joints was leaking. this indicates a physical defect in such joints. the largest leak found on one joint was at the rate of 17[,?]280 gal. per day. leakage between or through the staves is not measurable, as it is not fast enough to come away in drops unless there is some imperfection in the wood. the insignificant leakage of 120 gal., stated above, is from the 11-in. pipe in the pumping main between coyote and corona. the present maximum working pressure on it is 100 lb. per sq. in. all the figures given above include visible and invisible leakage, the latter being such as does not appear on the surface. the visible leakage is but a small part of the total. _stopping the leaks_.--generally, any ordinary leak is readily stopped by pine wedges. sometimes a loose joint requires individual bands bolted around it. bran or saw-dust is effective in stopping the small leaks which cannot be reached by the wedges. the good effect of the latter is likely to be destroyed by a rapid emptying of the pipe. if the water is drawn out faster than the air can enter through the air-valves, heavy vacuums are formed down long slopes, and the air forces its way in through the joints and between the staves. the result is that the pipe will frequently leak badly for some time after it is refilled, although it may have been tight previously. a full pipe and a steady pressure are highly desirable. this doubtless accounts to some extent for the extreme tightness of the wood pipe in the pumping main. _grade lines_.--the hydraulic grade lines, shown on plate v, were laid as best fitting the controlling elevations. the various diameters of pipe were determined by darcy's general formula, with _c_ = 0.00033 for wood and = 0.00066 for iron pipe, checking by kutter's formula, with _n_ = 0.01 for wood and = 0.012 for iron. these coefficients were taken as conservative and on the safe side, and such they proved to be. it was desired that the line should carry not less than 5 sec-ft. to nogal and half as much beyond. _velocities_.--the pipe line from bonito creek to the nogal reservoir affords excellent conditions for velocity and capacity measurements, there being no distribution service from it. beginning at the creek, it consists of 12,700 ft. of 10-in. wood pipe, with a hydraulic grade of 0.03338, followed by 48,000 ft. of 16-in. wood pipe, with a hydraulic grade of 0.0030625, ending on the south rim of the nogal reservoir. there is an open stand-pipe where the two pipes and grades join. when this section of the line was laid, the last car of 16-in. pipe was late in arriving and, as it was desirable to get water into the reservoir as soon as possible, 500 ft. of 10-in. pipe were laid in the lower part of the 16-in. line, near the reservoir, as indicated on fig. 2, which shows the hydraulic grades and the pipe diameters of this section of the line. when the first two velocity measurements, of march 10th and 31st, 1908, described below, were made (after the line had been put into service on february 20th, 1908), the 500 ft. of 10-in. pipe were still in the 16-in. line, and the hydraulic grade was defined by the solid line, _abcde_, fig. 2. when the third measurement, of may 12th, 1909, also described below, was made, the 10-in. pipe had been replaced by 16-in. pipe, and the hydraulic grade was defined by the solid line, _abe_. [illustration: fig. 2.] the dotted line, _afe_, is the approximate theoretical position which the grade, _abcde_, should have assumed when the 500 ft. of 10-in. pipe were taken out of the 16-in. line. on the contrary, it took the position of the grade line, _abe_. during the interval between march, 1908, and may, 1909, the water came to overflow from the stand-pipe at _b_, when the line was running under full pressure, indicating an increase of capacity in the 10-in. pipe greater than a corresponding increase in the 16-in. the alignment of the 10-in. line, vertically and horizontally, is more regular and uniform than the 16-in. line. the latter has many abrupt curves and bends, vertically and horizontally. it crosses nine sharp ridges and dips under as many deep arroyos. this introduces a fixed element of frictional resistance which does not decrease with the increasing smoothness of the interior surface of wood pipe, and probably accounts for the higher resistance of the 16-in. line. from fig. 2 it appears that, while the 10-in. line had an initial coefficient of roughness slightly greater than 0.009 and now equal to it, the 16-in. line had one equal at first but now slightly less than 0.01. the line from bonito creek to nogal reservoir was to have a capacity of 5 sec-ft. referring to the profile, it was determined that for the hydraulic grade of 33-1/3 ft. per 1000 ft., a 10-in. pipe was necessary, and that a 16-in. pipe was required for the grade of 3 ft. per 1000 ft. _test no. 1_.--on march 10th, 1908, a quantity of bran was poured into the upper end of the 10-in. pipe at _a_ (fig. 2), and the time of its appearance at the lower end of the 16-in. pipe at _e_ was noted. the time was 3 hours and 50 min. this gave: area of 10-in. pipe = 0.5454 sq. ft. " " 16 " " = 1.3960 " " length " 10 " " = 13,200 ft. " " 16 " " = 47,500 " time, = 13,800 sec. let _x_ = velocity of flow in 16-in. pipe, in feet per second, then 2.56 _x_ = velocity of flow in 10-in. pipe, in feet per second. from which: 13,200 47,500 ------+ ------= 13,800 2.56_x_ _x_ _x_ = 3.805 and 2.56_x_ = 9.740 the discharge is: for the 16-in. pipe, 1.396 x 3.805 = 5.31 cu. ft. per sec.; and, for the 10-in. pipe, 0.5454 x 9.74 = 5.31 cu. ft. per sec. the question arose as to whether or not the particles of bran in the water traveled as fast as the water flowed. it was also desired to check by observation the relative velocities in the two pipes, as above deduced. _test no. 2_.--to determine these points, a second test was made, on march 31st, 1908, twenty days after the first one. in this test, green aniline, red potassium permanganate, and bran were used. an observer was placed at the end of the 10-in. line at _b_ (fig. 2), and, by letting a small quantity of water run from a relief-valve there, he was able to note the time of the appearance of the colors and the bran. the green was started in the upper end of the 10-in. pipe, at _a_ (fig. 2), at 8.30 a.m. it appeared at _b_ in 22 min., and at _e_ in 3 hours and 52 min. the red was started at 8.45 a.m. it reached _b_ in 21-1/2 min., but it was so faded that the time of its appearance at _e_ could not be noted exactly. the bran was started at 9.00 a.m. it reached _b_ in 22 min., and appeared at _e_ in 3 hours and 51 min. from the average of these figures, the velocities were: in the 16-in. pipe, 3.792 ft. per sec. " " 10 " " 9.695 " " " and the discharges were: in the 10-in. pipe, 5.287 cu. ft. per sec. " " 16 " " 5.293 " " " " the application of the equation for equalized relative velocities, as in the first test, gives: velocity in 16-in. pipe = 9.705 " " 10 " " = 3.791 discharge of 16 " " = 5.292 " " 10 " " = 5.293 these last figures would check exactly, except for dropping figures in the fourth decimal place. the results of these two tests, considering that 20 days elapsed between them, are in very close agreement, and establish the fact that bran is an accurate medium of measurement. _test no 3_.--the 500 ft. of 10-in. pipe in the 16-in. line near the reservoir (fig. 2) were replaced by 16-in. pipe in the summer of 1908. on may 12th, 1909, green aniline was started through the pipe at _a_ at 11.00 a.m., 11.30 a.m., and 12.00 p.m. in each case it appeared at _e_ in 3 hours and 31 min. this time is 20 min. less than that observed in the tests of the previous year, and is due to the removal of the 10-in. pipe from the 16-in. line and to the increasing smoothness of the interior surface of the pipe. the relative velocities and discharges under the third test, using the nomenclature of the first and correcting the lengths of pipe on account of the removal of the 10-in. pipe near the reservoir, are: 48,000 + 12,700 ---- --------= 12,660 _x_ 2.56_x_ _x_ = 4.183 and 2.56_x_ = 10.708 and the discharges are: from the 10-in. pipe = 5.840 cu. ft. per sec. " " 16 " " = 5.839 " " " " _coefficients_.--on may 12th, 1909, the 10-in. line was working on a grade of 0.03338, and, with _n_ = 0.009, _c_ should have been 131. it was actually 138, making _n_ = 0.00866. the 16-in. line was working on a grade of 0.0030625, and, with _n_ = 0.009, _c_ should have been 145. it was actually 141, making _n_ = 0.0092. referring to the estimated hydraulic grade between coyote and corona (plate v), the coefficients, 0.01 and 0.012, were used for wood and iron, respectively, on which basis, the maximum pressure at coyote was expected to be 304 lb. and, at luna, 310 lb. per sq. in. the actual maximum at coyote, with pumps at full normal speed, was 270 lb., and, at luna, 278 lb., indicating that the values of the coefficients taken were too high. this checks with the tests between bonito and nogal. of course, the iron pipe will increase in roughness, and, in time the pumping pressure will approach the calculated amount. the interior of the iron pipe now has a smooth coat of asphalt. _pipe breakage_.--the breakage or damage to the wood pipe in shipment occurred on the ends, the tenons being most exposed to injury from shifting in the cars. the damage due to the shipment and handling of the elmira pipe was 1% and one-half as much for the bay city pipe. less than 6 pieces out of 100,000 laid have had to be removed from the trench. the iron pipe came from chattanooga, and was badly handled in transit. much of it was transferred en route, and 6% was broken when received. the breaks were generally cracks of the spigot end. of this broken pipe, practically all was cut and laid. the average cut was about 16 in. from the spigot end of 533 pieces. this cut pipe has caused no trouble in the trench. at least 27 pieces of cracked pipe got past the field inspectors and into the trench. this cracked pipe began blowing out at a pressure of 50 lb., and continued until the full normal pumping pressure was reached, when the breaks suddenly ceased. these pipes were broken out at the rate of 1 or 2 per day, with an occasional day between breaks. a 24-hour work-train service was maintained. the pipe gang soon became skilled, and could put in a new section of pipe in from 4 to 6 hours. each break generally caused an interruption of about 6 hours to the pumps on the section where it occurred. the best record was 3 hours and 50 min. from the stopping to the starting of the pumps. this strenuous life lasted 30 days. most of these breaks were in or near the middle of the pipe. evidently, the field inspectors were not expecting cracks in that locality. an inspection usually indicated that the pipe had been struck by the bell of another one in the vicinity of the break. all pipes were lifted from the car carefully and laid down at the trench along the track in a single movement by a logging crane, and were not broken in such handling. three breaks only have been reported as due to defective metal or casting. no break of a sound shell of full thickness has been found. _trenching_.--deep frosts are unknown in this section. the pipe was laid so that the top was about 1 ft. below the surface of the ground. the trenching was a simple matter. part of the work between bonito and the railway on the carrizozo plain was done by buckeye ditchers. all other ditching was done by a railroad plow followed by pick and shovel, or by the two latter tools only. the ditcher could open 2,000 ft. of trench per day, but averaged about 500. the plow and 35 men could open 3,500 ft. a chain about 6 ft. long separated the end of the plow beam and the double tree. in this way the trench was plowed to the bottom. two mules, two men, and a scraper could back-fill 3,500 ft. per day. _pipe laying_.--between bonito and the railway, one gang of ten men could lay 4,000 ft. of 12-in. pipe per day. the average was much less, owing to a variety of causes. at the end, the railway company added to the contractor's force, and laid the last 10 miles of pipe in 7 days, there being a half dozen separate gangs at work. along the railway, the day's record on wood pipe was 4,000 ft. of 11-in., 6,200 ft. of 7-1/2-in. and 8345 ft. of 3-1/2-in, pipe laid by a gang of eight men after the pipe was distributed along the trench. these eight men, of whom five were americans, laid 76 miles of pipe, and became expert. their operation was like the working of a clock. on the 12-in. iron pipe, the regular day's work was 96 joints, or 1,152 ft. of pipe laid and caulked. the record was 1,644 ft. two gangs laid 101,300 lin. ft. in 60 days. such a gang consisted of 1 foreman, 1 inspector, 8 caulkers, 4 yarners, 1 melter, 1 pourer, 1 helper, and 10 men putting pipe into the trench. _cost data_.--the pipe from bonito to the railway was laid by contract. the price was 18 cents per lin. ft. laid and back-filled from the railway to the nogal reservoir, and 28 cents from nogal to bonito. in addition, 50 cents per ton per mile was paid for hauling pipe, and extra compensation for setting valves. from coyote, east along the railway, the work was done by the railway company under the writer's direction. the total cost of laying 384,300 ft. of wood pipe, from 11 to 3-1/2 in. in diameter, was $18,156.77, or 4.72 cents per ft., divided as follows: ditching $0.0249 laying 0.0113 back-filling 0.0110 ------ total $0.0472 this includes unloading from the cars. train service cost 1/3 cent per ft. additional. the pipe gang, including back-filling, consisted of 1 foreman, at $100 per month, one assistant foreman at $75, and about 30 mexicans at $1 per day. the rates were the same in the ditching gang. the plow team cost $6 per day. including all general expense, the cost does not exceed 6 cents per lin. ft. the cost of laying 101,300 ft. of 12-in. cast-iron pipe was $23826.67, or 23.5 cents per ft., divided as follows: ditching $0.0249 laying 0.1180 back-filling 0.0110 lead 0.0790 oakum 0.0014 ------ total $0.2343 this includes train service and unloading pipe, but nothing for tools. the foreman and inspector received $100 per month, the caulkers, $3; pourer, $3; melter, $2.50; 2 pipe-men, $2, and laborers, $1 per day. professional caulkers wanted $5 per day. carpenters, blacksmiths, and boiler-makers made good caulkers; their work is standing perfectly under a 275-lb. service. the cost of the pumping plants complete per horse-power is as follows: pumps $79.00 boilers 18.70 building 41.70 ----- total $139.40 per h.p. the approximate cost per million gallons of storage capacity is as follows: nogal storage reservoir $103.00 carrizozo service " 3,040.00 coyote " " 2,880.00 luna " " 3,480.00 corona " " 2,720.00 to cover general expense, 3% should be added to all the costs above given. the costs per foot of pipe-laying include the setting of all specials, valves, and stand-pipes. the difference of cost in laying 11-in. and 3-1/2-in. wood pipe is not nearly as great as the difference in diameter or the total quantity laid on record days. while the record is 4,000 ft. and 8,345 ft., the 76 miles of pipe of all diameters were laid in a total time, including all delays, of 223 days, or an average of only 1723 ft. per day. the cost of the 11-in. pipe is covered by 7 cents per ft. the pipe was laid by a single gang as fast as it was received from the factory. the reduction from 7 to 3-1/2 in. at mile 230 (plate v) is on account of delivering water to the santa fã©'s new transcontinental low-grade line which crosses the el paso and southwestern railway at vaughn, and has a division point there. on its adjacent divisions, the santa fã© had the same trouble with local waters which compelled the el paso and southwestern to find a better supply. the bonito water is conducted to and used at points 160 miles from its origin on bonito creek. discussion g.e.p. smith, assoc. m. am. soc. c.e. (by letter).--the author has done great service to the west in demonstrating the practicability of transporting small water supplies to great distances. close association with the desert is required to appreciate fully its waterless condition. for most of the year there are no living waters on the surface. as a rule, ground-waters are concentrated beneath very limited areas of valley land. the great masses of valley fill in some places are underdrained to great depths and in other places are so compacted and cemented as to be impervious. wells sometimes are driven from 1,000 to 2,000 ft., without securing any supply at all. moreover, desert ground-waters are often exceedingly hard or alkaline, and, therefore, are unfit for many uses. in going to the high mountains for a supply, the author has struck a principle of wide application. in many of the mountains of the southwest there are springs and small streams of excellent water. often, as in the case discussed, very little storage is required. these streams, however, are absorbed or disappear before reaching even the mouths of the caã±ons, and the problem has been to convey the water to distant cities and mining camps at reasonable cost. there are several cities in arizona now possessing pumped water supplies, which have possible gravity supplies of superior quality. the writer believes that ultimately the gravity supplies will replace the pumping plants. in the bonita pipe line, wood-stave pipe was used for the gravity sections. in other localities, where the grade of the line is very uniform, as would be the case down a typical clinoplain, cement pipe is deserving of consideration. it would cost no more than wood stave, would be more durable, and, furthermore, it need have no greater leakage. its cost, however, increases rapidly when built to withstand high pressures. the use of bran for determining velocities is of interest. the results are in close accord with those obtained from the weir measurements. in the measurement of ground-water velocities by means of salts in solution, it is found that the velocities of different filaments of waters are extremely variable, and a quart of salt solution, after moving forward a few feet, is widely dispersed. it would be of value to know to what extent the bran was distributed during its 4-hour journey through the pipe line, and during how many minutes it was being discharged at the lower end of the line. was the first appearance, or the average time of appearance, accepted for computing the velocity of flow? kenneth allen, m. am. soc. c.e. (by letter).--from its lightness, toughness, flexibility, and the facility with which it can be laid, wood pipe has manifest advantages for use in inaccessible places and where handling is difficult; loss in transportation is almost negligible, it will stand much unequal settlement without cracking, and ordinary leaks are easily repaired. the coating of the bands is of such great importance that it should be inspected very thoroughly, in order to remedy defects before the back-filling is done. the writer has found durable metal coating an excellent preservative. bands coated with this preparation were buried in a salt marsh, and, after a year, the metal was found intact and the coating fresh and elastic. this coating, however, does not adhere very firmly to a smooth metal surface, so that, with careless handling, patches may become rubbed or torn off. there is no advantage in coating the surface of the pipe. to prevent decay, such pipe should carry water under pressure or be laid in a saturated soil, so that the wood of which it is made will always be saturated, and coating the wood may interfere with this. under these conditions the life of such pipe is not known, but it is evidently very great. large quantities of wood pipe have been removed from trenches in boston, new york city. philadelphia, baltimore, and elsewhere, usually in perfectly sound condition. it was commonly made of logs of spruce, yellow pine, or oak, from 12 to 18 ft. long, 12 to 24 in. in diameter, and with a bore from 3 to 6 in. in diameter. some 6-in. pipe taken up in philadelphia had an external diameter of 30 in. the ends were usually bound with wrought-iron collars, and adjacent lengths were connected by an iron thimble driven into the end of each piece. a few years ago the writer took up more than 2000 ft. of wood pipe of this kind, which had been laid in saturated soil about a century earlier. it was of southern pine logs, about 16 in. in diameter, 14-1/2 ft. long, and had a 5-in. bore. joints were made with tapering cast-iron ferrules 9 in. long, and connections to smaller service pipes were made with similar but smaller ferrules of cast brass. the wood was apparently as sound as when it was first laid. the use of flat iron for wrapping or banding pipe is believed to be wrong in principle. round iron furnishes the requisite strength with the least exposure to corrosion, and ensures a more perfect contact with the wood. in a 42-in. stave pipe laid by the writer for the water department of atlantic city, n.j., the lumber used was washington fir, cypress having been found difficult to procure in sufficient quantity, and redwood being more costly and no better. in this, his experience coincided with that of the author. cedar was considered, but could not be obtained in sufficient lengths or quantity, and long-leaf pine which would have passed the somewhat rigid specifications would have been difficult to secure. it is believed, however, that there is a field at least for long-leaf pine for such construction. washington fir was found admirable in every respect, and was moderate in cost at that time. the bands were bent in the field, and, after heating in an oven for about 3 min., were dipped in bunches of five into a kettle of melted mineral rubber at a temperature of about 400â° fahr., and then hung up for the coating to harden. this took place rapidly, as the work was done in winter. if the band were wound spirally, the coating would have to be done in the shop, but field coating is preferable, as it avoids injury to the coating during transportation. an advantage of wood pipe for conveying water is its low coefficient of friction. the results obtained by the author (_n_ = 0.00866 to 0.0092) appear to be very low as compared with determinations made for wood-stave pipe. kutter's coefficient for the latter varies from 0.0096 in the case of the 30-in. pipe at denver,[b] to from 0.012 to 0.015 as determined by messrs. marx, wing, and hoskins for the 72-in. pipe of the pioneer power plant of ogden.[c] probably 0.011 would be a fairly safe figure to use in designing new work. [illustration: fig. 3. details of old wood pipe.] j.l. campbell, m. am. soc. c.e. (by letter).--referring to mr. smith's question about the velocity measurements by bran, the first appearance of the bran and the colors was taken because the intervals of time given thereby were in close accord among themselves and with the weir measurements. the time from the first trace of bran or color until final disappearance varied between 15 and 20 min. bran in abundance or pronounced color showed in 2 min. after the first appearance, while the disappearance or fading was noticeable after a period of from 7 to 10 min. it required 2-1/2 min. to get the bran or colors into the intake at the head of the line and leave the water clear. [footnote b: _transactions_, am. soc. c.e., vol. xxxvi, p. 26.] [footnote c: _journal_, new england water works assoc., vol. xxii, p. 279.] mr. allen refers to the bored wood pipe laid many years ago in eastern cities. the writer's experience indicates that a bored pipe will not deliver as much water as a planed stave pipe, on account of the greater interior roughness of the former. referring to the profile, the 8-1/2-in. pipe between corona and duran had a theoretical capacity of 744,000 gal. per day. a recent test showed it to be delivering water at the rate of 759,000 gal. per day. the 3-1/2-in. pipe between vaughn and pastura had a theoretical capacity of 84 000 gal. per day. it delivers only 65,000 gal. per day. there are 5 miles of bored pipe on the upper end of this section. pressure gaugings show a hydraulic gradient in excess of the theoretical on the bored pipe, whereas the stave pipe on the lower end carries the 65,000 gal. on a flatter gradient than the theoretical one. experience on this pipe line indicates that _n_ = 0.009, in kutter's formula, closely approximates the capacity of planed wood stave pipes of 8 to 16 in. in diameter. the writer favors the use of 0.01 as conservative and economical. with equal exposure to corrosion, the round band is undoubtedly the better, but the flat band has the advantage of being completely buried in the protective coat of the particular kind of wood pipe under consideration. by the internet archive. transcriber notes text emphasis is denoted as _italics_ and =bold=. whole numbers and fractional parts denoted as: 33-3/4. u. s. department of agriculture farmers' bulletin no. 1279 plain concrete for farm use the successful and economical use of concrete involves the selection of suitable materials, the correct proportioning of mixtures in the development of qualities to meet specific requirements, the proper placing and the care of the green concrete. a concrete of great strength is uneconomical if a weaker mixture will serve and a cheap or weak concrete is costly if it does not fulfill all requirements. the cost of concrete depends not only upon the price of the materials and labor but also upon the judicious use of the two. lack of foresight in locating the mixing plant, in the design of forms, and in planning the successive operations may cause unnecessary expense, while neglect of any one of the precautions which should be observed is likely to result in unsatisfactory work. the bulletin discusses the requirements of good concrete and describes the making and placing of plain concrete according to the best practice. washington, d. c. issued october, 1922 plain concrete for farm use. t. a. h. miller, _agricultural engineer, division of agricultural engineering, bureau of public roads_. contents. page. introduction 1 materials 1 proportioning the materials 6 quantities of materials required 7 consistency 8 estimating 9 forms 10 mixing 13 placing 18 care of concrete 21 protection from freezing weather 21 contraction and expansion joints 23 lintels 23 surface finish 24 concrete exposed to fire 25 water-tight concrete 26 introduction. portland cement concrete is the mass formed by mixing portland cement, sand, gravel (or particles of other suitable materials), and water. the quality of concrete may be made to conform to certain requirements which vary with the purpose of the structure in which the material is to be used; economy, strength, water-tightness, fire resistance, or resistance to wear and shock may be the chief requisite. the character of the constituent materials, the proportions in which they are used, the consistency, the method of mixing, and the placing and curing of the concrete are important factors in securing the desired qualities of the finished product. total failure or a product which does not give the service expected is often the result of the nonobservance of practices recognized as necessary in the preparation and use of concrete. this bulletin is intended to assist the inexperienced in making and using concrete suitable for general farm construction and is confined to a discussion of the rudiments of plain (not reinforced) concrete work. materials. cement. portland cement is used because it is the only kind adapted to general construction. other cements are manufactured but they possess individual characteristics that restrict their use. the word portland is not a trade name, but signifies the kind and distinguishes it from the slag, natural, and other cements. a number of brands of portland cement are manufactured, most of which are made to meet the requirements of a fixed standard adopted by the united states government and the american society for testing materials. cement always should be tested for use in important work, but this is impractical for the user of small amounts and it is generally safe practice to omit the test if a reliable brand of portland cement of american manufacture is selected, especially if the dealer's or manufacturer's guaranty that it meets the standard is secured. the following simple test for soundness is easily made and is on the side of caution. make a ball, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter, if neat cement and water; place it under a wet cloth and keep it moist for 24 hours, then put the ball in a vessel of water; allow the water to come to the boiling point slowly and to boil for 3 hours. a good cement will not be affected, but an inferior one will check, crack, or go to pieces entirely. portland cement is shipped in paper bags, cloth sacks, and wooden barrels (sometimes in bulk). for the average user the cloth sack is the best container, as it is easier to handle; and while the manufacturers charge more for this kind of package, they allow a rebate for the return of the sacks in good condition. a sack of portland cement weighs 94 pounds and a barrel contains the equivalent of four sacks. storing. as cement readily absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, it should be stored in a dry place; if exposed to dampness it soon becomes lumpy, or even a solid mass, and in this condition it is useless and should be thrown away. the lumps caused by pressure in piling the sacks are not injurious. they can be pulverized easily, thus distinguishing them from those due to dampness. cement never should be stored on the ground. build a raised platform for it and keep it away from the sides of the shelter. as it is heavy, care should be taken not to overload the supporting floor. fine aggregate (sand). all grains, small pebbles, or particles of broken stone are considered as sand if they will pass through a wire screen with one-fourth inch meshes. the particles or grains should be hard and well graded and should vary in size, as a stronger concrete is thus obtained than when the size of the grains is nearly uniform. if a large proportion of the sand is very fine an extra quantity of cement should be used and if exceptionally fine it is advisable to use 25 per cent more cement. the sand should be clean; that is, free from vegetable matter, loam, or any considerable amount of clay. if the hands are soiled when a small quantity of sand is rubbed between them the following test should be made: put 4 inches of sand into a pint preserving jar, fill with clear water to within an inch of the top, fasten the lid, and shake the jar vigorously until the whole is thoroughly mixed. set the jar aside and allow the contents to settle. the sand will settle to the bottom with the clay and loam on top of it. if more than three-eighths of an inch of clay or loam shows, the sand should be rejected or washed. the difference in fineness and color shows clearly the line of division between the clay or loam and the sand. [illustration: fig. 1.--sand and gravel washing trough.] should sand require washing the simplest way for small quantities is to build a loose board platform from 10 to 15 feet long, with one end higher than the other. on the lower end and sides nail 2 by 6 inch boards. spread the sand over the platform in a layer 3 or 4 inches thick and wash with water. the water may be supplied by any means which will cause agitation of the sand and allow the lighter material to run off with the water. when pressure or a head is obtainable the water is most easily applied by means of a garden hose. the washing should be started at the higher end and the water allowed to run through the sand and over the 2 by 6 inch piece at the bottom. figure 1 illustrates a convenient trough for washing larger quantities. a small amount of clay, provided it is not in lumps, does not injure sand, but amounts over 10 per cent should be washed out. coarse aggregate (stone, gravel, etc.). the larger particles used in concrete may be gravel, broken stone, air-cooled blast-furnace slag, or other suitable materials. the coarse aggregate should be sound and clean, that is, free from disintegrated or soft particles, loam, clay, or vegetable matter. air-cooled blast-furnace slag should weigh at least 70 pounds per cubic foot. the best results are obtained from a mixture of sizes graded from those retained on a one-fourth inch screen to those passing a three-fourths to 2 inch ring, depending upon the work. ordinarily the greatest dimension of any particle should not be over one-fourth of the thickness of the concrete work. gravel. gravel which is too dirty for use usually can be detected by observation. it may be washed in the same manner as sand. lumps of clay should be eliminated and care should be taken to see that the gravel is not coated with a film of clay or loam which will prevent the bonding of the cement. broken stone. broken stone should be clean, hard, and of a size suited to the character of the work, and the same care in grading should be exercised as in the case of gravel. trap, granite, hard limestone, and hard sandstone are commonly used. the composition and physical character of the stones should be considered, as some possess qualities that limit their use under certain conditions (see substitutes for gravel). field stones are common in many localities and their use, when crushed, may be economical. the finer particles, after the dust is removed, can be used as sand. small stone crushers, operated by three or four horsepower gasoline engines, can be purchased at a relatively low price and may prove profitable if a large quantity of stone is needed. bank-run gravel. bank or creek gravel, which will answer the purpose of sand and gravel combined, sometimes can be obtained, and frequently it is used in small jobs of concrete work just as it comes from the pit or creek. although such gravel occasionally contains nearly the right proportions of sand and gravel, in the majority of sand pits and gravel banks there is a great variation in the sizes of the grains and pebbles or gravel and in the relative quantity of each. it is advisable to screen the sand and gravel and to remix them in the correct proportions, as well-graded aggregates make stronger concrete and, ordinarily, enough cement will be saved to pay for the cost of screening. experience has shown that it is advisable to screen bank gravel twice; first over a screen with large meshes to eliminate particles too large for use. the size of the mesh will depend upon the nature of the work involved (see coarse aggregate); then the material which has passed through this screen should be sifted again over a screen with one-fourth inch meshes. all material which passes the latter screen may be considered sand and should conform to the characteristics discussed under "fine aggregate." substitutes for gravel or stone. for general work gravel or broken stone always is preferred to other coarse aggregate. other materials at times are easier to obtain and, when used with discretion, will provide a satisfactory concrete. broken terra cotta, brick, and old concrete, if hard and strong, may be used for unimportant work where no great strength is required, but special care should be taken that the particles do not show on the finished surface. the maxim that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link applies to concrete. if the coarse aggregate is weaker than the cement mortar, as in the case of some sandstones, it should be used with caution. the aggregate may have properties that render it unsuitable for use under certain conditions; for instance, cinders should not be used if water-tightness or strength is expected, but they are useful for fireproofing. material that disintegrates or flakes when heated is undesirable in places exposed to high temperature; thus marble and some limestones should not be used in fireplaces. some aggregates when exposed at the surface of concrete are apt to cause discolorations, and when this would be objectionable aggregates of this type should be avoided. flat or elongated slab-like fragments should be avoided, as particles of this shape do not bond well; slate and shale are examples. cinders. cinders should be composed of hard, clean, vitreous clinkers, free from sulphides, soot, and unburned coal or ashes. as a precaution against the presence of small amounts of detrimental substances, cinders should be soaked thoroughly with water 24 hours before being used. if clean they will not discolor the hands when a small quantity is rubbed between the palms. cinder concrete, on account of its light weight, commonly is used for filling between sleepers of floors and grading roofs, and frequently for fireproofing, for which it is very effective. cinders should never be used when the concrete is to be subjected to heavy loads or abrasion. lava rock. lava rock varies widely in chemical composition and physical qualities. in some instances lavas are so light and frothy or contain so large a proportion of easily oxidizable material that they are wholly unsuited for concrete work. in general, the lava rock found in the northwestern states is a suitable substitute for gravel. rhyolite, a light colored volcanic rock, and many of the darker colored basaltic lavas can well be used for concrete for building purposes. water. water should be clean and free from strong acid and alkali. sea or brackish water should not be used if fresh water can be obtained. proportioning the materials. in mixing concrete various proportions of cement, sand, gravel, and water are employed, depending upon the purpose for which the concrete is to be used. the ideal mixture is one in which all the spaces or voids between the grains of sand are filled with the cement and all the voids in the gravel are filled with the cement-sand mortar. this perfection is seldom attained, because the voids in each lot of gravel and sand vary slightly, and in order to be absolutely safe a little more sand and cement than will just fill the voids are used. the strongest concrete is not required in every structure, and, in many instances, the cost of it would be unwarranted. for important work involving large quantities of materials of unknown qualities, tests should be made to determine the best proportions. such tests, being rather complicated, are made usually in a laboratory, and are not practical for the user of small quantities of concrete. various proportions have been tested by experienced engineers to determine which, under average conditions, will develop the greatest strength, best resist wear, and assure greatest impermeability or water-tightness. the mixtures given below have been found to meet the requirements indicated, and having been adopted as arbitrary standards, are recommended for use in farm concrete work. the amount of water required is discussed under "consistency." arbitrary mixtures. =rich mixture.=--used for concrete subject to high stresses or where exceptional water-tightness and resistance to abrasion are desired: 1:1-1/2:3; i. e., 1 part cement, 1-1/2 parts sand, and 3 parts gravel. =standard mixture.=--used generally for reinforced concrete and water-tight work: 1:2:4; i. e., 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, and 4 parts gravel. =medium mixture.=--used for plain concrete of moderate strength: 1:3:5; i. e., 1 part cement, 3 parts sand, and 5 parts gravel. leaner mixtures are sometimes used after a test has proved them to be suitable for the work at hand. it will be noticed that always in indicating the proportions the first number refers to the cement, the second to the sand, and the third to the gravel. the three materials must be measured by volume, using the same unit. the cubic foot is a convenient measure, because a sack of cement, weighing 94 pounds, is considered to contain 1 cubic foot. when the coarse aggregate (gravel, etc.) is omitted the mixture is generally spoken of as mortar and the proportions are indicated thus, 1:2, meaning 1 part cement and 2 parts sand. mortar is used for plastering, stucco, top coats of floors, and for laying masonry. quantities of materials required. more concrete can be made from given volumes of aggregates if the gravel used is graded from fine to coarse than if the particles are too nearly of one size, because the small stones help to fill the voids between the larger ones and less sand-cement mortar is required. the extra mortar thus adds to the volume of the concrete. a common mistake to be guarded against is to assume that the volume of concrete produced is equal to the quantity of sand plus the gravel as indicated in the proportion. for instance a 1:2:4 mixture will not produce 6 cubic yards of concrete, if 2 yards of sand and 4 yards of gravel are used, because the sand will lodge in the voids between the pebbles. if 6 cubic yards of concrete are desired it will be necessary to use 2.7 cubic yards of sand and 5.34 cubic yards of gravel. table 1 shows the quantity of cement, sand, and gravel required under average conditions for the indicated proportions. table 1.--_materials for 1 cubic yard of rammed concrete._ proportions. | | | | | | cement.| sand. | gravel.| cement. | sand. | gravel. -------+-------+--------+----------+----------+---------- | | | _sacks._ |_cu. yds._| _cu. yds._ 1 | 1 | -- | 19.20 | 0.74 | -- 1 | 2 | -- | 13.48 | 1.00 | -- 1 | 2-1/2| -- | 11.00 | 1.01 | -- 1 | 3 | -- | 10.40 | 1.16 | -- 1 | 1 | 2 | 10.52 | .39 | 0.78 1 | 1-1/2| 3 | 7.64 | .42 | .85 1 | 2 | 4 | 6.04 | .45 | .89 1 | 2-1/2| 5 | 4.96 | .46 | .92 1 | 3 | 5 | 4.64 | .52 | .86 1 | 3 | 6 | 4.24 | .47 | .94 -------+-------+--------+----------+----------+---------consistency. the quantity of water used in mixing has a very great influence on the strength of the concrete. an excess of water weakens the concrete, while an insufficient amount prevents thorough mixing. [illustration: fig. 2.--the result of using too dry a mixture, lack of spading and careless placing; note irregularity of layers and poor bonding.] therefore, only sufficient water should be used to produce a workable or plastic mixture. recent tests have proved that to secure the greatest strength the concrete should be mixed considerably drier than has heretofore been customary. of course, for thin walls containing closely placed reinforcement, or for water-tightness, a fairly wet mix is necessary. a little experience will show the proper amount of water to use. a very rough estimate of the quantity of water required in mixing for general work is 4 to 5 gallons to each sack of cement. three degrees of consistency (corresponding to different proportions of water) are used in general practice, namely, wet, medium, and dry. in the light of recent investigations it is thought the wet mixture of present-day practice contains too much water. the following definitions are therefore recommended: =wet mixture.= one that does not flow readily and yet can not be piled up. it is recommended for thin sections when reinforcement is closely placed. =medium mixture.= one that is between the wet and dry mixture. this consistency is recommended for general work. =dry mixture.= one about like damp earth. if a handful is squeezed it will retain its shape. this consistency requires thorough ramming to eliminate voids and is used when forms are to be removed immediately, but should not be used where a water-tight job is expected. the porous structure of the concrete in figure 2 is due to the fact that it was placed as a dry mixture. estimating. estimating concrete. in estimating the amount of concrete in a given piece of work and the quantities of materials required, the unit of measurement is usually the cubic yard (27 cubic feet). the following examples will explain best the method of determining the quantities required: =example 1.=--a wall 9 inches thick, 12 feet high, and 30 feet long has a door opening 3 feet wide and 6 feet high, also a footing 18 inches wide and 9 inches deep. the concrete is to be mixed in the proportions of 1:2:4. the volume of the footing is found by multiplying together the dimensions expressed in feet, thus, 1-1/2 ã� 3/4 ã� 30 = 33-3/4 cubic feet. similarly, the volume in the wall is 3/4 ã� 12 ã� 30, less the door opening 3/4 ã� 3 ã� 6 = 256-1/2 cubic feet. the total volume in footing and wall is 290-1/4 cubic feet = 10-3/4 cubic yards. to find the quantity of cement, sand, and gravel, multiply the amounts for 1 cubic yard, indicated in line 7 of table 1, by 10-3/4, and it will be found that 65 sacks of cement, 4.83 cubic yards of sand, and 9.56 cubic yards of gravel are necessary to build the wall. =example 2.=--a pavement 27 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 6 inches thick has a 5-inch base mixed in the proportions of 1:3:5 and a 1-inch surface mixed in the proportions of 1:2. the volume in the base is 27 ã� 4 ã� 5/12 = 45 cubic feet = 1-2/3 cubic yards. the volume in the top is 27 ã� 4 ã� 1/12 = 9 cubic feet = 1/3 cubic yard. multiplying the quantities in line 9 of table 1 by 1-2/3 and those in line 2 by it is found that the base requires 7.74 sacks cement; 0.86 cubic yard sand; 1.43 cubic yards gravel; and the top requires 4.49 sacks cement; 0.33 cubic yard sand. =example 3.=[1]--a tank 9 feet inside diameter has walls 6 inches thick and 4 feet high (above the floor). the floor is 6 inches thick, the concrete is to be 1:2:4. the volume in the floor is 10/2 ã� 10/2 ã� 22/7 ã� 1/2 = 39-2/7 cubic feet. the area of the larger circle is 5 ã� 5 ã� 22/7 = 78-4/7 cubic feet. the area of the smaller circle is 4-1/2 ã� 4-1/2 ã� 22/7 = 63-4/7 cubic feet. the area of the wall, therefore, is 15 cubic feet and the volume is 15 ã� 4 = 60 cubic feet. the total volume in the structure is 99-2/7 cubic feet or 3-2/3 cubic yards. multiplying the quantities in line 7 of table 1 by 3-2/3, it is found that the following material is needed: 22.14 sacks of cement; 1.65 cubic yards of sand; 3.27 cubic yards of gravel. [1] a practical rule in finding the area of a circle is to multiply one-half the diameter (radius) by itself and the product by 22/7. in finding the volume in the wall of a circular structure, such as a silo or tank, the area of the circle formed by the inside circumference is deducted from the area of the circle formed by the outside circumference and the remainder is multiplied by the height. forms. forms are required to hold the concrete in place until it has attained sufficient strength to sustain itself and the initial loads to which it may be subjected. concrete is plastic and will assume the shape of the form, thus any imperfection or impression on the face of the forms will be reproduced. wood is commonly used for forms, as it can be easily worked into different shapes, though various other materials sometimes are better adapted to special conditions. cast iron, for instance, is suitable for casting small objects that are to be reproduced in quantities, such as concrete block or tile; plaster of paris, glue, or moist sand are employed for casting ornaments or to produce a fine, smooth surface; sheet metal is suitable when the forms can be used repeatedly or for such circular structures as silos. when the sides of an excavation are not likely to cave in the earth may serve as a form. wood forms. wood for forms must be of a kind that is easily worked and that will retain its shape when exposed to the weather. white pine is the best wood, but is seldom used because of its cost. spruce, yellow pine, and fir are satisfactory woods for forms and are best, used partially green or unseasoned. the edges of boards should be surfaced, tongued and, grooved, or beveled in order to obtain a tight form, so that the soft mortar will not ooze out. a better surface* is secured if the boards are dressed on one side and are free of loose knots or other imperfections. as forms must be removed, they should be so planned that they can be taken down without destroying the lumber, especially if the boards are used for sheathing or again for forms. therefore the nailing of the boards to the support should be only sufficient to keep them in place until the concrete has hardened. greasing the surface next to the concrete with crude oil, soap solution, or linseed oil will prevent the concrete from adhering and facilitate removal. metal forms. metal forms can be used to advantage when the work involved is to be repeated many times. if it is known or if it is probable that the forms may have to be altered, the relative costs of wood and metal forms should be carefully determined. metal forms of various types and designs may be purchased. although the first cost may be high, yet their use may lower the total cost when the work is such as to warrant it. circular forms may be built as shown in figure 3. the sheathing is generally of wood 4 to 6 inches wide, or sheet metal, and, if of wood, is laid perpendicular to the battens. in forms of small diameter, sheet metal sheathing is necessary if a smooth surface is desired, as the 4-inch boards can not be made to conform to a true circle. the radius used for cutting the battens of the inner circle should be the thickness of the sheathing less than the inside radius of the structure and the same amount greater than the outer radius for the outside battens. removal of forms. the period of time after which forms may be removed varies according to conditions. rich and dry mixtures set quickly, and warm weather tends to hasten the setting of concrete. the character of the structural member and the loadings also must be considered. thus, an unloaded wall 12 inches or more thick may be stripped of forms in from 1 to 3 days, while the forms of thinner walls should remain in place from 2 to 5 days. slab forms and the sides of beam and girder forms may be removed in from 6 to 14 days if the span is not over 7 feet. the bottoms of beam and girder forms, even though of a span less than 7 feet, should remain in place and braced form 10 to 14 days and even longer. experience is the best guide to the time of removal, but if there is any doubt ample time should be allowed, especially in cold weather. [illustration: fig. 3.--suggestion for circular form.] building and setting forms. concrete, while plastic, exerts a great pressure on the confining walls, necessitating rigid tying and bracing of the forms to keep them from bulging out of alignment. the effect of the bulging of a form is corrected only at a considerable expense; hence it is advisable to pour the concrete to a depth of not more than 2-1/2 or 3 feet, allowing it to set or harden before pouring more. the form most used in concrete construction is that for a straight wall. the methods of building such a form apply in general to the forms for most structural work, though modifications may be necessary to meet particular conditions. [illustration: fig. 4.--form for basement or cellar wall. the earth may be used as an outside form if it is sufficiently firm.] the straight wall form may be built continuous (figs. 4 and 5), or in panels of a size convenient to handle, and from stock lengths of lumber (fig. 6). generally the face boards are placed horizontally and secured to studs or posts. the face boards may be 1 or 2 inches thick and from 6 to 10 inches wide, preference being given to the narrower widths, which are less liable to cup or warp. the thickness depends upon the spacing of the studs, the number of times the forms are to be used, and the depth of pouring. ordinary sheathing, if the joints are made tight, is satisfactory for foundations of dwellings, etc., and the studs, if 2 by 4 inches, should be spaced 18 inches on centers. the studs for a long, high form had best be 4 by 4 inches or 2 by 6 inches, spaced from 2 to 3 feet center to center. the studs of the inside and outside forms must be tied together to prevent spreading; this is conveniently done with no. 10 wire, as shown in figure 4, or with one-half or three-quarter inch bolts, which is the more expensive method. bolts should be greased to facilitate removal. temporary spacers of wood, 1 by 2 inches, of a length equal to the thickness of the wall, should be used to prevent drawing the forms together when the wire or bolt is tightened. they should be spaced at the ties, but need not be at every wire, and are knocked out and removed as the concreting progresses. [illustration: fig. 5.--straight wall form for level ground.] the ties should be spaced on each stud about 2-1/2 feet vertically. if more than 3 feet of concrete is poured at one time the ties should be closer together, vertically, at the bottom of each pouring. the thickness of the wall does not affect the number of ties. on removing the forms the wires should be clipped close to the face of the concrete and punched back, unless the surface is to be stuccoed. if a pit hole is caused by punching back the wire it should be pointed up with mortar, which then should be rubbed to make it blend with the general surface. mixing. preparation of plant. before starting to mix, annoyance and money may be saved by planning the location of the mixing plant with regard to convenience in depositing the concrete in the forms and ease of access to the materials. often the board can be located so that by moving it once or twice the bulk of the concrete may be shoveled directly into the forms. it is more economical to wheel material a distance of from 10 to 25 feet than to carry it in shovels. eight feet is about as far as it is profitable to shovel. when material is to be wheeled, runways of planks should be provided, because more material can be handled in a given time, and the wear and tear on men and equipment is not so great. the planks used in the runways should be thick enough to sustain the weight passing over them and should be 10 to 12 inches wide to permit foot room. they should be anchored securely and made rigid, as springy or loose boards retard progress of the work. smooth joints in the planking will prevent bumping and stumbling. [illustration: fig. 6.--sectional forms.] number of men. the number of men required is determined by the amount of concrete to be placed in a given time, the method of mixing, and the size of the batch; that is, the number of bags of cement mixed at one time. the amount of concrete one man can mix by hand in a day depends upon the experience of the man, the layout of the work, and other duties required of him. one man should average 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 cubic yards of concrete in eight hours, including mixing and wheeling not more than 50 feet. the gang for a one-bag batch may consist of 3 men, but a larger number make a more efficient force, for when the concrete is mixed by hand the men can take turns at the various tasks and will not tire so easily. the assigning of tasks so that each man's time fits into that of the others requires considerable study and is one of the chief factors making for loss or profit. machine mixing. good concrete can be mixed by hand or machine. the quantity of concrete work in prospect is the factor that determines the more economical method. a small amount (say 100 to 200 cubic yards) does not warrant the purchase of a machine, but it is often feasible and economical to hire a machine from a neighbor or contractor if the quantity of concrete to be placed is more than 15 cubic yards. a mixer should be purchased only after careful consideration of the amount and character of the work to be done and the conditions affecting its use. the two types of mixers most used are the batch mixer, which mixes and dumps a definite quantity, and the continuous, which discharges a constant stream of concrete. the continuous type is not adapted to farm work unless the concrete can be handled as fast as it is mixed, thus permitting the machine to work continuously. [illustration: fig. 7.--home made concrete mixer.] there are numerous types and various sizes of batch mixers. a one-bag batch machine is most suitable for general work, though there are smaller mixers that may prove handy. some of the smallest sizes are operated by hand, but the medium and large sizes are power operated. mixers can be had with or without the power plant attached and may be stationary or on wheels, which facilitate moving to different sites. engines used for sawing wood, the larger ones used for pumping water, and tractors furnish sufficient power to operate an average mixer. figure 7 shows a homemade mixer built of discarded farm implement parts and operated by the farm engine. directions for operating a mixer are generally furnished with the machine. the tendency is to use too much water in mixing concrete in a machine. the consistency of the mixture should be as described under the heading "consistency" on page 8. the mixing should be continued for at least a minute after the drum has been charged, but a better mixture is secured if two minutes are allowed. at the end of each day's work the machine should be thoroughly washed, and when not in use it should be well greased and covered. hand mixing. hand mixing is the more economical on the farm unless a large amount of work is to be done at one time. few tools need be purchased, and, as a rule, only farm help need be employed. the following tools will be needed in mixing and placing plain concrete: two or more square-end short-handled shovels, 1 heavy garden rake, 1 sprinkling can or bucket (if a hose is not available), 1 52-gallon barrel, 2 wheelbarrows with metal trays, 1 sand screen (fig. 8), 1 tamper (fig. 9), 1 wood float or trowel (fig. 10), measuring boxes (fig. 11), mixing board (fig. 12), 1 spader (fig. 13). the number of shovels and wheelbarrows needed will depend upon the size of the batch, number of men mixing, and the layout of the work. long-handled pointed shovels will be found more convenient at the sand and gravel piles. a bottomless box is necessary for convenient and accurate measurement of the sand and gravel. where wheelbarrow measurement of materials is practiced, as in charging a mixer, the capacity of the wheelbarrow should be determined by use of a measuring box. the box may be made as illustrated in figure 11, from boards 12 inches wide. the dimensions in table 2 are of boxes for use in measuring quantities for mixtures of various proportions, assuming that one bag of cement is used in a batch. if two bags are used in a batch the boxes should be filled twice. [illustration: fig. 8.--sand screen.] [illustration: fig. 9.--tampers.] [illustration: fig. 10.--wooden float.] [illustration: fig. 11.--measuring box.] [illustration: fig. 12.--mixing board.] [illustration: fig. 13.--spading tool.] table 2.--_inside dimensions of measuring boxes for various proportions._ [1-bag batch, box 12 inches deep.] proportion. box for sand. box for gravel. --------------------------------------- _feet._ _feet._ 1:1:2 1 by 1 1 by 2 1:1-1/2:3 1 by 1-1/2 1 by 3 1:2:4 1 by 2 2 by 2 1:2-1/2:5 1-1/4 by 2 2 by 2-1/2 1:3:5 1-1/2 by 2 2 by 2-1/2 1:3:6 1-1/2 by 2 2 by 3 a tight platform should be provided similar to that illustrated in figure 12 upon which to mix the concrete. for mixing 1 or 2 bag batches a platform 9 by 10 feet will serve. directions for hand mixing. the mixing board should be located in convenient relation to the supply of materials and the work and should be level. the sand box is placed on the board, about 2 feet from one of the longer sides, and filled level with sand; the box is then lifted away and the sand spread in a 3 or 4 inch layer. the cement is spread as evenly as possible on' top of the sand. two men with shovels, standing on opposite sides of the pile, turn the sand and cement in such a way that the materials axe thoroughly mixed. in turning the material it should not be simply dumped off the shovel, but should be shaken off the ends and sides, so that the two constituents will be mixed as they fall. the mass should be turned two or three times, or until it is of uniform color and there are no streaks of either sand or cement. a man with a hoe or rake may assist by raking the top over as the two men turn. when the sand-cement mixture is of a uniform color it should be spread out carefully in a layer and the gravel box placed on top. the box is filled with gravel and then removed, the gravel being spread over the sand-cement mixture. the mass is soaked with about one-half the quantity of water to be used, care being taken not to wash away any of the cement. the materials then should be turned over in much the same manner as was the sand-cement, except that instead of shaking them off the end of the shovel the whole load should be dumped and dragged back toward the mixer with the square end of the shovel. the wet gravel picks up the sand and cement as it rolls over when dragged back. the mixing should be continued until the mass is uniform, water being added to the dry spots during the mixing until the desired consistency is obtained. experience counts considerably in mixing concrete with the least amount of labor; ordinarily three or four turnings are required to mix the materials thoroughly. after the final turning the concrete should be shoveled into a compact pile and then is ready for placing in the forms. placing. placing concrete. the mixed concrete should be deposited in the forms within from 20 to 30 minutes from the time the water is added to the cement, as it begins to set or harden after this time. to disturb the concrete after the set has begun is risky, as it will lose some of its strength, the extent of the injury depending upon the seriousness of the disturbance. concrete which has set before it can be placed in the forms should not be tempered or softened with water, but should be discarded. to prevent delay in placing, all forms should be examined before the mixing is begun to see that they are properly braced, that all chips or loose particles are removed, that the surface of concrete which has set has been properly roughened and wetted to assure a bond, as described on page 20, and that all reinforcement, bolts, inserts, etc., are properly located and secured. at the lunch' period, or at the end of a day's work, the mixing board and equipment should be thoroughly washed, for if this is not done many pounds of heavy concrete are needlessly carried around by the men and the addition of a pound in the weight of tools will lower the efficiency of the workers. moreover, it will save time and wear and tear of equipment incident to cutting the surplus concrete away with a cold chisel. [illustration: fig. 14.--1592 showing result of leaky forms and poor placing. the soft cement mortar ran out, leaving areas of honeycombed surface not necessarily harmful but unsightly.] in depositing concrete in the forms care should be taken that the materials do not separate. if the mixing is done close to the place of depositing, the concrete may be shoveled into the forms directly or through a chute. if it is necessary to lift or transport the concrete, buckets and wheelbarrows are convenient containers. the concrete should be deposited in horizontal layers, preferably not over 6 inches thick, and a spade or paddle should be worked up and down against the forms to push the coarse material away from the surface, as illustrated in figure 13. the object of the spading is to eliminate impounded air that may form pockets in the mass and to insure a smoother and more impervious surface. in addition to being spaded, stiff concrete should be rammed until water flushes to the surface. tapping the forms with a hammer is a very effective way of securing a smooth surface. figure 14 shows the result of improper spading. fresh concrete will riot bond readily to concrete that has hardened and a seam may be formed that will permit water to trickle through. when bonding fresh concrete to that which has been in place for a short time it is usually sufficient to roughen the hardened surface with a pick or by other means so as to expose the gravel or stone, and to clean off all loose particles. the hardened concrete should be soaked with water, the excess water removed, and the surface then given a coat of grout (a mixture of cement and water) of the consistency of cream just before the new concrete is deposited. when pouring of a wall is to be discontinued for some time, provision for the bonding of future work should be made. this may be done by placing short steel dowels in the concrete when it is poured, or a rebated joint or groove may be made, as shown in figure 15. in bonding a new wall to old concrete, holes should be drilled for the dowels, which should be grouted in, and the old surface should be roughened, cleaned, and wetted; or a groove may be cut in the old wall to receive the new concrete. [illustration: fig. 15.--method of forming horizontal rebate.] placing under water. concrete can be placed under still water if proper precautions are taken. it should never be placed, while soft, in running water unless a form or cofferdam is used, as the cement will be washed out. when concrete is to be placed under water a form of tube or chute, known as a tremie (fig. 16), may be used advantageously. the tube should be of sheet metal, about 8 inches in diameter, with a hopper on top, and means should be provided for quickly raising and lowering it without jolts, so that the concrete will feed out at the bottom without breaking the seal. the lower end of the tube should rest on the bottom or on the concrete as it is built up and a continuous flow of concrete, mixed somewhat soft so that it will flow easily, should be maintained. scum or laitance is likely to form on concrete when placed under water, and unless all of the concrete is! poured in one operation and brought to a little above the water surface, seams or planes of weakness will occur. care of concrete. after the concrete has been poured, care should be taken that it does not dry out too quickly, and in hot weather it must be protected from the sun. exposed surfaces and objects made of dry concrete should be sprayed thoroughly with water twice or oftener each day for a week or 10 days. sometimes surfaces are shielded with canvas, paper, boards, or layers of moist sand. [illustration: fig. 16.--tremie for use in placing concrete under water.] protection from freezing weather. concreting in freezing weather. if suitable methods are used, good concrete work can be done in cold weather, but with more difficulty and at somewhat greater cost than when the weather is warm. ordinarily it is best not to attempt to do concrete work during freezing weather. however, the extra cost at times may be warranted by urgent need of the structure or the fact that other farm work is not so pressing during the winter and the concrete work may be carried on without seriously interfering with regular farm operations. concrete must be protected from alternate freezing and thawing until it has set. cold retards the setting and hardening of concrete; therefore, even though the temperature is not at the freezing point, the concrete should be protected and special care taken not to subject it to loads. the forms should be kept in place until there is no doubt that the concrete has properly hardened. hot water should be poured on the concrete to make sure that apparent hardness is real and not due to a frozen condition. just before the concrete is placed all ice and frost should be removed from the forms and reinforcement, if used, by warming the surfaces with steam or by other means. concrete that has been frozen once may, with proper care, attain its ultimate strength, but should it freeze a second time the chances of saving the work are very slight. exposed surfaces are apt to scale or pit if the concrete is allowed to freeze before it is thoroughly hardened. pleating the materials, protecting the green concrete, and the use of salt are precautions generally taken to prevent freezing. the use of salt. the use of salt is objectionable, as it forms a white efflorescence on exterior surfaces and is liable to corrode the steel in reinforced concrete work. the quantity of salt required varies with the temperature, but it should not exceed 10 per cent of the weight of the water used in mixing. a 10 per cent solution is eight-tenths (approximately 13 ounces) of a pound of salt per gallon of water and will prevent freezing at a temperature of 22â° f. lower temperatures would require a greater proportion of salt, which would impair the strength of the concrete, and hence is not practicable. a rule, frequently advocated, for varying the percentage of salt is to use 1-1/3 ounces per gallon of water for each degree fahrenheit below freezing. since it is impossible to foretell the exact drop in temperature, the exact quantity of salt can not be predetermined, so that provision should be made for several degrees lower than anticipated. the salt should be dissolved in the mixing water, and in order that the proportion be correct the amount of water required for each batch should be determined by trial and this quantity used throughout the work. the use of heat. perhaps the most satisfactory method of preventing freezing of concrete is to heat the materials and to inclose or cover the completed work for a few days or until most of the water has disappeared and sufficient strength has developed. in extreme weather protection may be needed for five or six days. when the weather is cold but not freezing, heating the materials will be sufficient. if a freeze is expected the concrete work should be protected by wood inclosures, paper, or canvas, over which, if the surface is horizontal, may be spread a 6 or 8 inch layer of straw. manure should not be used to protect fresh concrete, since the acids in it are destructive and cause unsightly stains. splits or other openings in coverings may admit cold, which may freeze parts of the work. as the temperature drops (to about 20â° f.) it will be necessary to arrange the covering so that live steam can be turned in between it and the concrete or that heat may be supplied from stoves or salamanders. mass work, except in very cold weather, will not require as careful protection as thin sections and, as a rule, the forms are sufficient if the exposed parts are covered. heating materials. the water can be heated sufficiently for use in concrete (approximately 150â° f.) in kettles on stoves or by steam from a boiler. a metal smokestack placed horizontally with a fire in one end makes an efficient heater for the sand and gravel. the materials are piled over the stack, but not so high that their weight will crush the pipe. small quantities of sand and gravel may be heated on top of metal plate with a fire under it. if a small boiler is available it may be economical to use steam for heating the sand and gravel. steam is effective when forced from nozzles into the piles or circulated through perforated pipes placed under the material. covering the piles with canvas or other material will retain much of the heat. contraction and expansion joints. concrete expands and contracts with changes in temperature, causing cracks to appear. contraction cracks occur in thin sections exposed to wide variations in temperature and are common in sidewalks; therefore, large stretches of concrete should not be laid without breaks or spaces to allow for the changes in size. the spaces should be filled with tar or some similar material that will yield or give when the concrete expands. a joint like that shown in figure 17 is frequently used for thick walls. a section of the wall is poured and before the next is poured the abutting end is covered with tar and paper, the thickness of the covering depending upon the length of the section and the exposure. sidewalks and similar work, when not cast in alternate blocks, should have a one-fourth inch space left at intervals of 40 feet. the joint may be filled with tar paper or tar. steel is used to take care of contraction in long or high walls and water-tight work. important structures in which temperature reinforcement is necessary should be designed by one experienced in concrete design. [illustration: fig. 17.--expansion joint showing rebate form removed and filler in place.] lintels. the subject of reinforced concrete is not within the province of this bulletin, but as openings of various widths are required in the walls of most farm structures, a general explanation is given of the reinforcement of lintels or that portion of concrete immediately above an opening, such as a floor or window. a lintel is a beam, and when a beam bends the lower part is stretched or pulled while the upper portion is compressed. good concrete will stand great pressure but is not capable of resisting any great pulling or tensile stress. for this reason steel is used in the lower portion to take care of the tensile or pulling force. it will be found generally satisfactory, where no heavy or concentrated load occurs over an opening and the span is not more than 4 feet, to place two rods three-eighths of an inch in diameter in the bottom of the lintel, so that there will be 1 inch of concrete below them. two diagonal rods should be placed at each top corner of a window or door, as shown in figure 18. when the opening is between 4 and 8 feet the rods should be bent up as shown in figure 19 and when between 8 and 12 feet, three one-half inch rods should be used, two of them being bent. barbed wire, old fencing, and scrap or rusty iron is not suitable for reinforcement. loose rust should be cleaned off the rods and they should be free of grease and oil. [illustration: fig. 18.--reinforcement of openings less than 4 feet wide.] [illustration: fig. 19.--reinforcement of openings more than 4 feet wide.] surface finish. joints and imperfections in the forms are reproduced on the concrete surfaces. patches of honeycomb and rough places are left where the mortar has run out of the forms or where the concrete has not been properly placed. such imperfections do not necessarily affect the strength of the concrete, but they do detract from the appearance (see fig. 14). too of ten the finishing of the concrete work in even the more important farm buildings is neglected. with little extra trouble exposed surfaces can be given a finish which will add to the attractiveness and hence the value of the completed work. rubbing off the form marks and pointing up depressions or holes greatly improves the appearance of the work. the rubbing may be done with a wooden float or hard-burned brick, using a little sand and water as an abrasive and a 1:2 mortar for pointing up. the surface can be worked best if the forms are removed within 24 hours or before the concrete has set too hard. after the concrete has hardened it may be necessary to use a carborundum block for rubbing. a pleasing finish can be secured by scrubbing the surface with a stiff fiber or wire brush, using plenty of water to wash off the loosened particles. the work must be done while the surface is workable for if the concrete is too green or soft the aggregate will break out and if too hard the work can not be done effectively. artistic effects can be secured by picking or tooling the surface with a bush hammer, toothed chisel, or pick. for such treatment the concrete should be two or three weeks old to prevent breaking out the aggregate. other finishes may be obtained by etching with acid to expose selected colored aggregates and by the application of stucco. the limitations of the bulletin do not permit of a discussion of these more elaborate treatments. concrete exposed to fire. concrete is practically fireproof in that it can not be consumed by fire, but unless properly made and of the right materials it will disintegrate, at least on the surface. to resist fire concrete should be mixed fairly rich, say, 1:1-1/2:3, or 1:2:4 and special care should be taken to grade the sand and gravel to secure a dense mixture. the aggregates should be selected with a view to their fire-resisting properties. the sand should be siliceous and the larger aggregate should not disintegrate when heated; hence, marble, granite, limestone, materials containing quartz, and some gravels are unsuitable. cinders are specially valuable, due to their non-conductivity, but can not be used where strength is required. trap rock will resist destruction by heat and produce a strong concrete. blast furnace slag is very good for this purpose. fireplaces and chimneys of dwellings[2] may be constructed of ordinary concrete but the back, jambs, and inner hearth, which are directly exposed to the heat of the fire, should be made of specially prepared concrete as described above or should be lined with firebrick, although concrete made with broken hard-burned brick or terra cotta has been used successfully. if suitable large-sized aggregate is not available a mixture of one part cement and three parts sand may be used. [2] see farmers' bulletin no. 1230, chimneys and fireplaces, u. s. department of agriculture. water-tight concrete. practical water-tightness in concrete may be secured by using a fairly rich mixture properly proportioned. foreign ingredients, membrane and surface coatings, or other means need not be used, except where poor workmanship is likely or where considerable damage and inconvenience may result in case of leakage. under such circumstances the membrane treatment used in addition to a properly proportioned concrete, while the most expensive method of waterproofing, probably will give the most reliable results. this treatment consists of layers of burlap or tar paper cemented to the surface and together with tar or asphalt. where the membrane is subject to injury it is sometimes protected by a coating of cement mortar or brick backing. first-class workmanship and special attention to details are required to secure water-tightness. the essential requisite is that the voids be filled. a lean mixture may be made more impervious by using hydrated lime which tends to fill the voids and makes the concrete flow easily. a little more cement in the mixture would serve the same purpose. the lime should not be in excess of 10 per cent of the weight of the cement and under no circumstances should unslaked lime be used. the materials for water-tight concrete must be well graded, so as to obtain a maximum density; that is, enough sand must be used to fill the spaces between the gravel or stone and enough cement to fill the spaces between the grains of sand. a 1:2:4 concrete will prove practically impermeable in ordinary construction, but if a head or pressure of water is to be resisted a 1:2:3 or richer mixture may be necessary. the consistency is very important. a sluggishly flowing consistency is best, for if the concrete is too wet the mortar may flow away from the stone, leaving leaky places and, if too dry, the mass may prove porous. the proportions and consistency must be accurately maintained for each batch and the concrete must be exceptionally well mixed. it is necessary to exercise great care in the placing of the concrete. where practicable, the structure or object should be poured in one operation to avoid leaky joints, but when this is not possible precautions should be taken to secure a tight joint between concrete of different ages. the surface of concrete which has set must be cleaned of dirt and scum down to the true concrete. this surface then should be well whetted and painted immediately with a creamy mixture of cement and water before placing the new concrete. a good plan, when discontinuing work on structures intended to hold liquids, is to embed a 6 or 8 inch strip of tin or thin sheet metal to half its width in the concrete so that the other half will project into the new concrete. a wall thick enough to resist the stresses put upon it will generally resist percolation of water, but 6 inches may be considered as a minimum. contraction and expansion must be controlled to avoid the occurrence of leaks. to guard against cracks due to unequal settlement or other causes, most concrete designed for water-tightness should be reinforced. in some mass work, special contraction joints, as described on page 23 may be necessary. rules for the use of reinforcement and contraction joints can not be given, as the requirements in each case vary with the conditions to be met. * * * * * organization of the united states department of agriculture october 21, 1929 _secretary of agriculture_ arthur m. hyde. _assistant secretary_ r. w. dunlap. _director of scientific work_ a. f. woods. _director of regulatory work_ walter g. campbell. _director of extension work_ c. w. warburton. _director of personnel and business w. w. stockberger. administration_ _director of information_ m. s. eisenhower. _solicitor_ r. w. williams. _weather bureau_ charles f. marvin, _chief_. _bureau of animal industry_ john r. mohler, _chief_. _bureau of dairy industry_ o. e. reed, _chief_. _bureau of plant industry_ william a. taylor, _chief_. _forest service_ r. y. stuart, _chief_. _bureau of chemistry and soils_ h. g. knight, _chief_. _bureau of entomology_ c. l. marlatt, _chief_. _bureau of biological survey_ paul g. redington, _chief_. _bureau of public roads_ thomas h. macdonald, _chief_. _bureau of agricultural economics_ nils a. olsen, _chief_. _bureau of home economics_ louise stanley, _chief_. _plant quarantine and control c. l. marlatt, _chief_. administration_ _grain futures administration_ j. w. t. duvel, _chief_. _food, drug, and insecticide walter g. campbell, _director of administration_ regulatory work, in charge_. _office of experiment stations_ e. w. allen, _chief_. _office of cooperative extension work_ c. b. smith, _chief_. _library_ claribel r. barnett, _librarian_. this bulletin is a contribution from _bureau of public roads_ thomas h. macdonald, _chief_. _division of agricultural engineering_ s. h. mccrory, _in charge_. u. s. government printing office: 1929 * * * * * transcriber notes all illustrations were moved so as to not split paragraphs. american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1156 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the terminal station-west.[a] by b.f. cresson, jr., m. am. soc. c.e. _location of work._--the area covered by the work of the terminal station-west is bounded as follows: by the east line of ninth avenue; by the south side of 31st street to a point about 200 ft. west of ninth avenue; by a line running parallel to ninth avenue and about 200 ft. therefrom, from the south side of 31st street to the boundary line between the 31st and 32d street properties; by this line to the east line of tenth avenue; by the east line of tenth avenue to the boundary line between the 32d and 33d street properties; by this line to the east line of ninth avenue. the area is approximately 6.3 acres. _house-wrecking._--the property between ninth and tenth avenues was covered with buildings, 94 in number, used as dwelling and apartment houses and church properties, and it was necessary to remove these before starting the construction. most of the property was bought outright by the railroad company, but in some cases condemnation proceedings had to be instituted in order to acquire possession. in the case of the property of the church of st. michael, fronting on ninth avenue, 31st and 32d streets, the railroad company agreed to purchase a plot of land on the south side of 34th street, west of ninth avenue, and to erect thereon a church, rectory, convent, and school, to the satisfaction of the church of st. michael, to hand over these buildings in a completed condition, and to pay the cost of moving from the old to the new buildings, before the old properties would be turned over to the railroad company. the house-wrecking was done by well-known companies under contract with the railroad company. these companies took down the buildings and removed all the materials as far as to the level of the adjacent sidewalks. the building materials became the property of the contractors, who usually paid the railroad company for the privilege of doing the house-wrecking. the work was done between april and august, 1906, but the buildings of the church of st. michael were torn down between june and august, 1907. the bricks were cleaned and sold directly from the site, as were practically all the fixtures in the buildings. the stone fronts were broken up and left on the premises. some of the beams were sold on the premises, but most of them were sent to the storage yards. some of the lath and smaller timber was sold for firewood, but most of it was given away or burned on the premises. _contracts and agreements._--the main contract, awarded to the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal on april 28th, 1906, included about 502,000 cu. yd. of excavation (about 90% being rock), 17,820 cu. yd. of concrete walls, 1,320,000 lb. of structural steel, 638,000 ft., b.m., of framed timber, etc., etc. this contract was divided into two parts: "work in and under ninth avenue" and "work between ninth and tenth avenues," and unit prices were quoted for the various classes of work in each of these divisions. the prices quoted for excavation included placing the material on scows supplied by the railroad company at the pier at the foot of west 32d street, on the north river; there was a clause in the contract, however, by which the contractor could be required to make complete disposal of all excavated material at an additional unit price, and this clause was enforced on january 1st, 1909, when about 94% of the excavation had been done. for the purpose of disposing of the excavated material in the easterly portion of the terminal, the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal had excavated under ninth avenue a cut which came to the grade of 32d street about midway between ninth and tenth avenues, and a trestle was constructed from this point over tenth avenue and thence to the disposal pier at the foot of west 32d street. on may 11th, 1906, the work of excavation was commenced on the east side of ninth avenue, and on july 9th, 1906, on the south side of 31st street, between ninth and tenth avenues. from the beginning, the excavation was carried on by day and night shifts, except on sundays and holidays, until january, 1909, except that during the period from november, 1907, to october, 1908, the night shift was discontinued. _geology._--the rock encountered may be classed as "gneiss"; its character varied from granite to mica schist. it was made up of quartz, feldspar, and mica, and there were also some isolated specimens of pyrites, hornblend, tourmaline, and serpentine. on the south side of the work, just west of ninth avenue, there were excellent examples of "contortions" of veins of quartz in the darker rock. on the east side of ninth avenue, near the north end of the work, glacial marks were found on the rock surface. the general direction of the stratification was north 5° west, and the general incline about 60° with the horizontal. as a rule, the rock broke sharply along the line of stratification. on the south side it broke better than on the north side, where it was usually softer and more likely to slide; and this, together with the fact that in winter it was subject to alternate freezing and thawing and in summer to the direct rays of the sun, made it rather difficult to get a good foundation for the retaining walls. work in and under ninth avenue. _general description._--the work involved the excavation of about 375 ft. of the full width of ninth avenue to an average depth of about 58 ft., and the construction over this area of a steel viaduct, the deck of which was about 24 ft. below the surface, for the ultimate support of the ninth avenue structures. the following estimated quantities appear in the contract: excavation of rock, 72,600 cu. yd.; excavation of all materials except rock, 9,300 cu. yd.; concrete (1:3:6) in abutments, etc., 1,680 cu. yd.; timber, 504,000 ft., b.m.; structural steel, 1,320,000 lb., etc. while this excavation was being done it was necessary to support and maintain the three-track elevated railway structure of the interborough rapid transit company, of which 18 columns, or a length of about 340 ft., were affected, the two-track surface railway structure of the new york city railway company, and various pipes, sewers, and conduits, and to maintain all surface vehicular and pedestrian traffic. all structures were left in place with the exception of the pipes, most of which were temporarily cut out. the 48-in. brick sewer in the center of ninth avenue was broken, and the sewage was pumped across the excavation through a smaller pipe. the general method adopted was as follows: the east and west sides of the avenue were closed, vehicular traffic was turned into the center, and a trestle for pedestrians was constructed west of the westerly elevated railway columns. all structures were then supported on transverse girders, running across the avenue, below the surface, and these rested on concrete piers on the central rock core. the sides of the avenue were then excavated to sub-grade, and the permanent steel viaduct was erected on both sides of the avenue as close as possible to the central rock core. the weight of all structures was then transferred to the permanent steel viaduct, erected on the sides of the avenue, by timber bents under the transverse girders resting on the permanent steel viaduct, and all weight was thus taken off the central rock core. this core was then excavated to sub-grade, the permanent viaduct was completed, and all structures were placed on its deck, using concrete piers and timber bents. the design and erection of the permanent steel viaduct and the permanent foundations on its deck were done under another contract, apart from the north river division work, and are not described in this paper. _elevated railway structure of the interborough rapid transit company._--the ninth avenue elevated railway was built between 1877 and 1880 as a two-track structure, the design being such as to permit a third or central track to be added later, and this was built in 1894. it is supported on columns under the outside tracks, about 43 ft. from center to center longitudinally and 22 ft. 3 in. from center to center transversely, the central track being carried by transverse girders between the columns. the columns carrying the structure are of fan top design, with the points of bearing near the extremities at the top; each of the outside tracks is supported on two longitudinal latticed girders and the central track on two plate girders; between the columns, transverse girders are spliced to the outside track cross-frames, and carry the central track system. it was not thought desirable to put brackets on the columns near the street level to support the structure temporarily, and, as there is an expansion joint at each column, and as the transverse girders carrying the central track system are not rigidly attached to the longitudinal girders carrying the outside tracks, the central track could not be supported by supporting the outside tracks; therefore, independent supports for each track, in the form of overhead girders, had to be provided. the columns rest on brick piers, each having four 2-in. anchor-bolts. the brick foundations on the west side are wide in order to allow a 24-in. water main to pass directly beneath the columns. the foundations are usually on rock. [illustration: plate xlvii, fig. 1.--tw 4, p.n.y. & l.i.r.r. terminal station west. view of 9th ave. looking northwest from 32nd street, prior to commencement of work. april 23, 06.] [illustration: plate xlvii, fig. 2.--tw 17, p.n.y. & l.i.r.r. terminal station west. view of east side of 9th ave. looking north from a point 100 feet south of 33rd st. showing condition of work. july 23, 06.] [illustration: plate xlvii, fig. 3.--tw 25, p.n.y. & l.i.r.r. terminal station west. view showing permanent and temporary supports of 9th ave. structures, looking northwest from 31st. st. april 24, 07.] [illustration: plate xlvii, fig. 4.--tw 28, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. east side of 9th avenue, north of 32nd st. looking west, showing rock excavation and supports of 9th avenue structures. aug. 17, 07.] fig. 1, plate xlvii, shows the elevated railway structure and the street surface prior to the commencement of the work. the east track is used for north-bound local trains, the west track for south-bound local trains, and the central track for south-bound express trains between 7 and 9.30 a.m. and for north-bound express trains between 2.30 and 7 p.m. it is said that an average of 90,000 passengers are carried over this structure every 24 hours. _surface railway structure of the new york city railway company._--this is an electric surface railway of the ordinary type, the rail and slot being bedded in concrete, with cast-iron yokes every 5 ft. there are manholes every 100 ft., and cleaning-out holes every 15 ft. power conduits are bedded in the concrete on the east side of the east track. _forty-eight-inch brick sewer._--this sewer was in the center of ninth avenue, with the invert about 12 ft. below the surface, and manholes about 100 ft. apart, and had to be abandoned in this position to allow the transverse girders to be put in place to carry all structures while the excavation was being done. _twenty-four-inch cast-iron water main._--this water main was laid under the west elevated railway columns, with its top about 3 ft. below the surface, a space being left for it in the brick foundations, and a large column base casting being used to span it. valves were installed, one north of 33d street and one south of 31st street, prior to excavating near the pipe, so that if it was broken the water could be shut off promptly. _street surface._--it was the original intention to close and excavate the east side of the avenue and to erect there a street-traffic trestle before closing the west side, but, at the contractor's request, both sides were closed, and all vehicular traffic was turned into the center. a light trestle on the west side of the avenue provided for pedestrian traffic. _other sub-surface structures._--there were various gas mains, water mains, electric conduits, manholes, hydrants, etc., in the avenue, and most of these were cut out temporarily, at the contractor's request, to be replaced subsequently. _supports for elevated railway structure._--as stated previously, the central track had to be supported independently. the overhead girders, known as girders "b", were therefore designed as shown on fig. 1, and put in place as shown on figs. 2 and 3. the outside tracks were blocked directly on these girders, and the central track was supported by blocking up the transverse girders on i-beams placed between the girders "b"; and no blocking was placed between the girders "b" and the longitudinal girders carrying the central track. the weight on each column was assumed to be 172,000 lb. [illustration: fig. 1. (full page image) details of steel girders, etc. supporting ninth avenue structures] _supports for surface railway structure._--a uniform load of 3,000 lb. per lin. ft. of single track, with the weight of a car at 39,000 lb., was assumed. several feet of earth, between the structure and the rock, were mined out, and the structure was supported on i-beams and posts, and ultimately on the transverse girders by using timber bents under the i-beams, as shown on fig. 3. _water mains and sewer._--cradles were designed for the support of the 48-in. and 24-in. water mains, resting on the transverse girders, and the 48-in. cast-iron sewer on the east side of the avenue was carried on i-beams bracketed to the ends of the transverse girders, as shown on figs. 1 and 2. [illustration: fig. 2. (full page image) method of supporting elevated railway structure] [illustration: fig. 3. (full page image) method of supporting tracks of new york city railway co.] _girders "c."_--the transverse girders below the street surface, referred to above, were known as girders "c," and they were put in place at first resting on concrete piers on the central core; the weight of all structures was placed on them while the sides of the avenue were being excavated, and the sides of the viaduct were being built. the ends of these girders were then picked up on the sides of the viaduct, and, spanning the central rock core, carried all structures while the core was being excavated and the viaduct completed. new foundations were then placed on the deck of the viaduct to carry all structures. fifty-four of these girders were required, each weighing about 19,000 lb. the bents carrying the ends of these girders on the sides of the viaduct are shown on fig. 2. they were of long-leaf yellow pine. these girders were located so that a cradle could be laid on them east of the elevated railway structure to carry a proposed 48-in. cast-iron water main. _girders "b."_--eighteen of these girders were required, each weighing about 6,000 lb. the timber bents supporting these girders, shown on fig. 2, were of long-leaf yellow pine. the total weight, including the elevated railway structure, surface railway structure, pipes, etc., supported during the work, amounted to about 5,000 tons. _details of the work._--the method in general is shown on figs. 4 and 5. at first the east side of the avenue was closed and excavated down to rock, the earth was mined out under alternate yokes of the surface railway structure, and temporary posts were placed under the yokes to support the structure while the remainder of the earth was being removed. then needle-beams and posts were placed under each yoke. the concrete forming the track structure was then enclosed with planking to prevent it from cracking and falling. i-beams were then placed under the needle-beams carrying the structures, and these were carried on posts; they were changed alternately until the excavation had been taken out to a depth of about 16 ft. below the surface. in placing these i-beams, heavier blocking was used in the center of the span than at the ends where the bents would come, to prevent the subsidence of the track owing to the sag in the i-beams. as much excavation, to a depth of about 20 ft., was taken out adjoining the elevated railway foundations as could be done with safety. fig. 2, plate xlvii, shows this condition of the work. the 48-in. brick sewer was broken, and the sewage was pumped across the excavation. the overhead girders "b" were then put in place, and two of the girders "c" were used as temporary shoring girders at each column. these, as shown by fig. 3, plate xlvii, were placed parallel to the elevated railway, with blocking between them and the girders "b." double bents, independent of each other, were placed under the ends of these temporary shoring girders, and these were braced securely to prevent possible dislodgment during the removal of the rock. the weight of the structure was then taken by jacking up the girders near the bents until the column was lifted off the old foundation; blocking was put in between the girders and the bents during the jacking, so that when the jacks were released the base of the column was still clear of the old foundation. one 80-ton jack was used for this purpose, and the general method is shown by fig. 1, plate lii. [illustration: fig. 4. (full page image) method of excavating ninth avenue plan and elevation showing various stages of the work] [illustration: fig. 5. (full page image) method of excavating ninth avenue sections showing various stages of work no. 1 condition prior to commencement of work no. 2 east side of avenue cut down about 20 ft. beams with supporting posts placed under surface railway tracks. girders _b_ and temporary shoring girders _c_ for supporting elevated ry. in place. no. 3 i's in place under surface ry. tracks. elevated ry. carried on temporary shoring girders, and girders _c_ in place. 24" water main carried on timber cradle and sewage carried through pipe _r_. foot walk carried on girders _c_ in place on west side of avenue. no. 4 elevated railway carried on bents under columns. temporary shoring girders removed and permanent bents resting on girders _c_ in place. bents in place on girders _c_ carrying surface railway. east and west sides of avenue excavated down to sub-grade and five rows of permanent steel in place on each side. bents erected on permanent steel to catch ends of girders _c_ while 2 outside concrete piers are removed and 6th row of permanent steel on each side is put in place. no. 5 two outside concrete piers removed and 6th row of permanent steel in place. girders _c_ carrying all structures now resting on bents on permanent steel. 48" c.l. sewer carried on brackets on girders _c_. no. 6 excavation completed. ] temporary raker braces were placed against the structure to prevent lateral movement. four sets of these temporary shoring girders were used in this manner, two sets starting at the north end and two sets at about the middle of the work, and these sets were moved south as they were released. the columns being thus supported on temporary shoring girders, the old foundations were removed and the excavation was taken down to a level about 16 ft. below the surface. two sets of three of the girders "c" were then put in place under the avenue at each column, each set being placed on four concrete piers 6 ft. square with spaces of 4 ft. between them, so that the outside of the outside pier would be 18 ft. from the center of the avenue and 32 ft. from the house line. this is shown on fig. 5 and on fig. 3, plate xlvii. four small piers were used, as they could be more easily removed than one continuous pier. the girders "c" were set to line and grade, and the piers were built under them, great care being taken to get the concrete well under the girders so as to give a firm bearing. after these girders "c" were in place it was necessary to remove the temporary shoring girders before the bents could be erected on girders "c" to support girders "b," being in the same plane; and provision had to be made to support the structure while this was being done. therefore, double bents were erected directly beneath the columns, as shown by figs. 2, 4, and 5, and by fig. 3, plate xlvii. these were built with their sills resting on the girders "c," and blocking was put in between the sills and the rock to carry the full weight of the structure. later, when the weight of the structure was carried on the permanent bents, this blocking was knocked out, but the bents were left in to carry the weight of the column itself, which was swinging more or less from the structure above. the weight of the structure was placed on these bents directly beneath the columns by jacking up the temporary girders again, putting blocking between the bents and the base of the columns, and taking out the blocking which had been put in previously under the temporary shoring girders. the 24-in. water main was carried over the excavation on cables from the temporary shoring girders, except when they were being jacked up, at which time posts were placed beneath it. anchor-bolts were put in place between the column bases and the bents directly beneath, in order to increase the lateral stiffness, and raker braces were also used. this having been done, the temporary shoring girders were moved south to the next column, where the process was repeated. the timber bents, shown in detail by fig. 2, were then put in place as shown by figs. 4 and 5, and by fig. 3, plate xlvii. these bents were framed as tightly as possible, using generally a 20-ton jack, and they were erected simultaneously at each pair of columns. the weight was taken on these columns by jacking up directly beneath the column base and taking out the blocking between this base and the bent directly beneath the column. on releasing the jack the weight was transferred to the permanent timber bents, and the east and west columns of each pair were transferred on the same day. one 80-ton jack was used on the easterly columns and two were necessary on the westerly columns, one on each side of the 24-in. water main. the raker braces of these permanent bents were not framed as tightly as the main posts, in order that the main post should carry the entire weight and the raker braces merely steady the structure. timber bents were erected on girders "c" to carry the i-beams under the surface railway structure, as shown on fig. 3, and all temporary posts under these i-beams were removed. the bents were framed with a jack, as tightly as possible, and very little settlement of the track occurred. a cradle was then built under the 24-in. water main and placed on girders "c," and, as a temporary footwalk had been constructed on the west side of the avenue, it will be seen that all structures were thus carried on girders "c." all structures were put on the girders "c" before continuing the excavation on the sides of the avenue because, in case of a slide of rock, there would be less danger than to individual structures. the outside piers, on which the girders "c" rested, might even be lost, without affecting the stability of the structure, and posting could readily be done beneath these girders in case of necessity. a very careful record of levels, taken on the elevated railway columns, was kept, observations being made during each jacking up and at least twice a week during the progress of the work. the columns were usually kept about 1/2 in. high so as to allow for compression in the timber bents. as a rule, no jacking of the elevated railway structure was done while trains were passing over, and trains were flagged during the operation. there was generally very little delay, as all jacking was done between 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., when the traffic was lightest, and frequently the jacking was done between trains, causing no delay whatever. steel clamps were placed, three on the top and three on the bottom of each set of the girders "c," to bind them together and cause them to act as a unit. all structures then being supported on girders "c," which were carried on four concrete piers resting on the central rock core, the excavation on the sides of the avenue was continued down to sub-grade and the east and west portions of the concrete north abutment were constructed. the central rock core was about 36 ft. wide on the top and 45 ft. wide on the bottom, and at the center of 32d street it was about 42 ft. high. it was the original intention to excavate a sufficient width of the sides of the avenue to erect six rows of the permanent steel viaduct, 5 ft. from center to center, and this was done on the south portion of the work. on the north portion, however, the rock was of poor quality, and it was thought best to excavate for only five rows at first, to erect the five rows of permanent steel and put the timber bents in place under the ends of the girders "c," in order to give them some support while the outside concrete piers were being removed and the excavation was being widened out to permit the erection of the sixth row. additional raker braces were put in these bents temporarily, and were removed when the sixth row of steel had been erected. this is shown on figs. 4 and 5. [illustration: plate xlviii, fig. 1.--tw 33, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. east side of 9th ave. looking north from 31st st., showing rock excavation and supports of 9th ave. structures. dec. 28, 07.] [illustration: plate xlviii, fig. 2.--tw 39, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. east side of 9th ave. looking north from 31st street, showing rock excavation and permanent steel work. march 24, 08.] [illustration: plate xlviii, fig. 3.--tw 73, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. west side of ninth ave. jacking up girders "c" at elevated railroad column 491, showing method of taking weight on permanent viaduct girders. nov. 14, 08.] [illustration: plate xlviii, fig. 4.--tw 58, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. east side of ninth ave. looking north from 31st st., showing underpinning of ninth ave. structures. aug. 10, 08.] fig. 4, plate xlvii, and fig. 1, plate xlviii, show the structures supported on the central rock core and the excavation on the east side to permit of the erection of the permanent viaduct girders. fig. 1, plate xlviii, shows also the easterly portion of the concrete north abutment. fig. 2, plate xlviii, shows five rows of the permanent viaduct girders erected on the east side of the work. the excavation of the sides of the avenue having been completed, and six rows of permanent viaduct girders erected on both sides, timber bents, as shown on figs. 2, 4, 5, and 6, were erected on this steel to support the ends of the girders "c" and carry the structure while the rock core was being excavated. fig. 3, plate xlviii, shows the method of taking the weight on these bents. four 80-ton jacks were used, and oak blocks were placed on the top of each jack to transmit pressure to a temporary oak cap under the girders "c" independent of the bents; all four of these jacks were operated simultaneously, and the girders "c" were lifted off the bents and clear of the concrete piers. oak filling pieces were then inserted between the bents and the girders "c," so that when the jacks were released the girders "c" were clear of the concrete piers. fig. 3, plate xlviii, shows that the girders have been lifted off the piers. elevations were taken on each set of girders during each operation, and careful observations were made on the elevated railway columns. where the rock was very close to these bents, the open space between the posts was filled with blocking so that there would be less danger of the bent shifting if struck by blasted materials. fig. 3, plate xlviii, shows one of these bents filled with blocking. all structures being carried on girders "c," which, in turn, were carried on the sides of the permanent viaduct, the central core was excavated. fig. 4, plate xlviii, and figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, plate xlix, show various views of the work at this stage. the central portion of the viaduct was then erected, and, using concrete piers and timber bents, all structures were placed on its deck. fig. 3, plate xlix, shows the piers under the elevated railway columns prior to the removal of girders "c." [illustration: fig. 6. (full page image) general arrangement of temporary and permanent structures] during the latter part of 1908 a 48-in. cast-iron water main was laid by the city on a cradle built by the railroad company on girders "c" on the east side of the avenue. this is part of the high-pressure system, and the location and elevation of this water main were taken into consideration when the underpinning was designed. this main, and the 48-in. cast-iron sewer bracketed to girders "c," are shown on fig. 4, plate xlviii. elevations had been taken on marks on the elevated railway columns between 30th and 34th streets at the time the original surveys were made, in 1902, and these marks were used to test the level of the structure during the progress of the excavation. at the extreme south end of the work the procedure was changed. the east side was excavated down to sub-grade, the east portion of the south abutment was constructed, and six rows of the permanent steel viaduct were erected. very little excavation had been done on the west side of the avenue at the south end of the work, and it would have delayed the completion of the work to have waited for the excavation for and the construction of the west portion of the south abutment and the erection of the steel; therefore, instead of supporting the girders "c" on the central rock core, the east ends were taken up on the permanent viaduct girders, and the west ends were supported on a concrete pier on the rock. the central portion of the avenue was excavated in advance of the west portion. the permanent viaduct girders were put in place from east to west across the avenue, and the girders "c" were supported on the deck of the permanent viaduct approximately under the west elevated railway columns before the west portion of the avenue was excavated, the central portion of the south abutment having been constructed before the west portion. this procedure was adopted only at the north girders "c" at elevated railway column no. 488, the south set of girders "c" being on the rock immediately south of the south abutment. figs. 2 and 4, plate xlix, and fig. 2, plate lii, show various stages of the work at the south end. [illustration: plate xlix, fig. 1.--tw 60, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. under ninth ave., looking south from north abutment, showing underpinning and excavation of rock core. aug. 13, 08.] [illustration: plate xlix, fig. 2.--tw 84, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. view looking toward ninth ave. from south side of 31st st., 200 feet west of ninth ave. jan. 28, 09.] [illustration: plate xlix, fig. 3.--tw 88, p.t. & t.r.r. co. n.r. div. terminal station west. center line of 32nd st., looking east from sta. 183+50, showing excavation under ninth avenue, permanent concrete piers under elevated railway columns and removal of temporary shoring girders "c". april 8, 09.] [illustration: plate xlix, fig. 4.--tw 95, p.t. & t.r.r. co. n.r. div. terminal station west. view under ninth avenue looking southward from 100 feet south of center line, showing underpinning of ninth avenue structure taken at sub-grade. may 25, 09.] it was made a practice all through the work to transfer the weight of the structures very positively from one support to another by lifting them bodily by jacks, and putting in filler pieces before releasing the jacks, not trusting to wedging to transfer the loads. in fact, apart from the boxing-in of the surface railway concrete, no wedges whatever were used. this appears to have been a decided advantage, for, with the constant pounding of trains on the elevated railway and the jarring due to heavy trucks on the pavement blocks, it is very likely that wedging would have become loosened and displaced, whereas, with blocking, there was little or no tendency toward displacement due to vibration. although the vibration of the structure, when a long length was supported on girders "c" resting on the permanent viaduct girders on the sides of the avenue, appeared to be considerable, not only vertically but transversely, very careful observation showed that the sag in the girder "c" due a live load of three elevated railway trains, one surface railway car, and one heavy truck, amounted to 1/8 in. the sideway vibration did not amount to more than 1/32 in. on either side of the normal position. more vibration was caused by heavy trucks and wagons going over the stone pavement than by the elevated railway trains or surface cars. no blasting was done near the supports of the elevated railway structure while trains were passing over it, and occasionally trains were stopped during a heavy or uncertain blast. a watchman on the surface, day and night, and at first one and later two flagmen on the elevated railway structure, were on duty at all times, reporting to the interborough rapid transit company, by whom they were employed. log mats and timber protection for the girders and the columns of the permanent viaduct were used, as shown by figs. 1 and 4, plate xlix, during the excavation of the rock core, and timber was also used to protect the face of the completed portions of the concrete abutments. in excavating the sides of the avenue, the rock broke better on the east than on the west side, where large seams developed and some slides occurred. _abutments._--as shown on fig. 7, the face of the north abutment has a batter of 2 in. to the foot, and the face of the south abutment has a variable batter, the base being on a grade and the bridge seat being level, and both maintaining a uniform distance from the center of the terminal yard. the back walls of the abutments were not built until the steel had been put in place. no attempt was made to water-proof these abutments, but, in the rear of the wall, open spaces were left, about 6 ft. from center to center, which were connected with drain pipes at the base of and extending through the wall, for the purpose of carrying off any water that might develop in the rock. these drains were formed by building wooden boxes with the side toward the rock open and the joints in the boxes and against the rock plastered with mortar in advance of the wall. a hose was used to run water through these drains during the placing of the concrete, for the purpose of washing out any grout which might run into them. each box was washed out at frequent intervals, and there was no clogging of the drains whatever. this method of keeping the drains open was adopted and used successfully for the entire work. the abutments were built of concrete, and the mixture was 1 part of cement, 3 parts of sand, and 6 parts of broken stone. the concrete was mixed in a no. 3 ransome mixer, and was placed very wet. no facing mixture or facing diaphragms were used, but the stone was spaded away from the face of the wall as the concrete was laid. chutes were used inside the form, if the concrete had to drop some distance. work was continued day and night, without any intermission, from the time of commencement to the time of completion of each section. the face of the concrete wall was rubbed and finished in a manner similar to that used on the walls between ninth and tenth avenues, as described later. fig. 2, plate lii, shows the east and central portions of the south abutment, completed and carrying the permanent viaduct, and the excavation completed for the west portion. work between ninth and tenth avenues. _general description._--the work involved the excavation of about 5.4 acres, between the west house line of ninth avenue and the east house line of tenth avenue, to an average depth of about 50 ft., the construction of a stone masonry portal at tenth avenue leading to the river tunnels, and the construction around the site of the concrete retaining and face walls. the following estimated quantities appear in the contract: excavation of rock in trenches, 3,400 cu. yd.; excavation of rock in pit, 377,000 cu. yd.; excavation of all materials except rock in trenches, 6,500 cu. yd.; excavation of all materials except rock in pit, 34,000 cu. yd.; concrete, 1:3:6, in retaining walls, 4,580 cu. yd.; concrete, 1:3:6, in face walls, 7,460 cu. yd.; concrete, 1:2:3, with 3/4-in. stone, in face walls, 4,100 cu. yd.; stone masonry in portal, 247 cu. yd., etc., etc. [illustration: fig. 7. (full page image) ninth ave. abutments & key plan] as previously stated, the contract price included the placing of all excavated material on scows at pier 62, north river. prior to this contract this pier had been used by the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, for the disposal of excavated material from east of ninth avenue. in order to get the material to the pier, the contractor had excavated a cut under ninth avenue which came to the grade of 32d street about midway between ninth and tenth avenues, and a trestle was constructed from this point over tenth avenue and thence to the pier. fig. 2, plate xlvii, shows the east end of this cut, and fig. 1, plate l, shows the trestle, looking east from tenth avenue. a 30-ton steam shovel was brought to the south side of the work, and commenced operating on july 9th, 1906. after working there about a month, the earth had been practically stripped off the rock, and the shovel was moved over to the north side where it excavated both earth and rock until august 10th, 1907. at three points south of 32d street and at one point north of 32d street near tenth avenue, cuts were made in the rock to sub-grade, and from these cuts, together with the cuts on the west side of ninth avenue, all widening out was done and the excavation was completed. fig. 1, plate l, shows the excavation of the three cuts on the south side of 32d street, the steam shovel operating on the north side of that street, and the material-disposal tracks and trestle. fig. 3, plate lii, shows the cuts joined up and the excavation along the south side practically completed. on the north side of the work, between stations 182 + 90 and 183 + 65, the rock was low, and provision had to be made for maintaining the yards to the north of the site. therefore a rubble-masonry retaining wall was built, with the face about 2 ft. north of the face of the proposed concrete wall which was to be put in later. on the same side of the work, between stations 188 + 24 and 188 + 46, the rock was exceedingly poor, and as a small frame house on the adjoining lot was considered to be in an unsafe condition, a rubble masonry retaining wall was built. as the building adjoining the south side of the work at tenth avenue was on an earth foundation, it was necessary to underpin it before the excavation could be done. the building was supported on needles, and rubble masonry was put in from the bottom of the old foundation to the rock. the foundation of 413 west 31st street, immediately west of the express building site, was of very poor masonry, and it was necessary to rebuild it prior to taking out the adjoining excavation. [illustration: plate l, fig. 1.--tw 23, p.n.y. & l.i.r.r. terminal station west. view looking eastward from tenth ave., showing work between ninth & tenth avenues. dec. 26, 06.] [illustration: plate l, fig. 2.--tw 35, p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. view looking northwest from sta. 184, 120 feet south of center line. dec. 31, 07.] [illustration: plate l, fig. 3.--tw 96, p.t. & t.r.r. co. n.r. div. terminal station west. view looking west from ninth avenue elevated railway, showing condition of work. may 26, 09.] [illustration: plate l, fig. 4.--tw 104, p.n.y. & l.i.r.r. terminal station west. view from tenth avenue looking east, showing progress of concrete walls. aug. 7, 09.] along the north side, between stations 186 + 50 and 187 + 50, the walls supporting the adjoining back yards were of poor quality and had to be renewed by the contractor before excavation could be done. the excavated material was loaded by derricks on cars at the top of the excavation, these cars being on tracks having a direct connection with the disposal trestle, as shown by fig. 1, plate l. as soon as it could be done, derricks were placed at the bottom of the excavation; tracks were then laid out there, and the excavated material was loaded on cars at the bottom and hoisted by derricks to cars on the disposal trestle. a locomotive was lowered to the bottom of the excavation on august 25th, 1907, and a derrick started operating at the bottom on august 27th, 1907. the commencement of this work by derricks at the bottom is shown by fig. 3, plate lii. in general, the disposal tracks were maintained about on the center line of 31st street until the excavation had been carried as close to them as possible, and on october 16th, 1907, they were shifted to the extreme north side of the work, as shown by fig. 2, plate l. a portion of the old trestle was left in place near tenth avenue, a derrick was erected thereon, and the tracks were used for cars to receive the excavated material hoisted from sub-grade. the disposal trestle was maintained in this position until such time as it would interfere with the excavation, and then the tracks were abandoned. this was done on november 11th, 1908. fig. 3, plate l, shows the finishing of the excavation on the north side of the work. on august 30th, 1908, a cut was made under ninth avenue at sub-grade, and cars could then be run from seventh to tenth avenue at sub-grade. on october 24th, 1908, the connection with the disposal trestle east of ninth avenue was abandoned, and all excavated material was hoisted from sub-grade at tenth avenue by derricks. as previously stated, the contractor was required to make complete disposal of all excavated material after january 1st, 1909, but was allowed the use of the pier until january 20th, 1909, after which date the materials were hoisted by derricks at tenth avenue, loaded on 2-horse trucks, and transported to the 30th street pier, north river, where it was loaded on scows by two electric derricks. a considerable amount of the rock excavation was broken up and used for back-fill. _earth excavation._--practically all the earth excavation, amounting to about 57,000 cu, yd., was done with steam shovels. the average quantity of earth excavated by a steam shovel per 10-hour shift was 180 cu. yd. this material was loaded on side-dump cars and taken to the disposal pier where it was dumped through chutes to the decks of scows. inasmuch as the quantity of earth excavation was small, as compared with the rock, the earth was used principally for the first layer on the scows for padding, so that small stones might be dumped through the chutes without injuring the decks. _rock excavation._--as previously stated, the rock broke better on the south than on the north side, where there were several slides, and considerable excavation had to be taken out beyond the neat line required in the specifications. the worst slide occurred at midnight on july 3d, 1909, at about station 188 + 50. the last blast, to complete the excavation to sub-grade at this point, had been fired in the afternoon of the same day, and the mucking was practically completed. great care had been taken in excavating near this point, as it was evident that the rock was not of a very stable character, but, when the excavation had been completed, it was thought that the rock remaining in place would stand. the volume of material brought down by this slide amounted to about 200 cu. yd. the rock on the south side broke very well, and there were no slides of any consequence. the drill holes were laid out by the blaster, and the general method of drilling for different classes of work was as follows: in breaking down, the holes were started about 8 ft. apart, on a slight batter, so that at the bottom they would be considerably less than 8 ft. apart. they were drilled about 10 ft. deep, and blasting logs were used, as it was necessary to load quite heavily in order to lift the material and start the cut. after the cut had been made, side holes were shot to widen out sufficiently to start another cut. after a side cut about 20 ft. deep had been made, the side holes were drilled 20 ft. deep, and the holes were loaded and tamped for the full 20-ft. cut. under the terms of the specifications, the contractor was required to complete the excavation on the sides by drilling broaching holes. the maximum length of drill steel was about 20 ft., and, where the excavation plane of broaching was more than 20 ft. in depth, the contractor was permitted to start the holes back of the broaching line, in order to allow for setting up the drills on the second lift. a distance of about 8 in. was usually allowed for setting up a drill. the broaching line was painted on the surface of the rock in advance of the drilling, and the batter of the drill was tested with a specially designed hand-level in which the bubble came to a central position when the face of the level was on the required batter. holes were also drilled in front of this broaching line, and, when the excavation had been taken out to within about 6 ft. in front of it, the holes immediately in front were loaded, and also about every third one of the broaching holes, and, unless the rock was very bad, it usually broke sharply at the broaching line. occasionally, the broaching holes which were not loaded were filled with sand, which gave rather better results than leaving them open. in the steam-shovel work on the east side of ninth avenue, spring holes were used. they were formed by drilling a 20-ft. hole and exploding at the bottom of it, without tamping, two or three sticks of dynamite, and repeating this process with heavier charges until there had been formed at the bottom of the hole a large cavity which would hold from 100 to 200 lb. of dynamite. face holes and breast holes were also drilled, and it was possible by this method to drill and break up a cut 20 ft. deep and 15 ft. thick. the only place where spring holes were used on this work was on the east side of ninth avenue where the heavy cutting was sometimes extended beyond the east house line. from the best records obtainable, the average progress in drilling was about 33 lin. ft. per 8-hour shift. the average number of cubic yards of excavation per drill shift was 13.9, and the average amount of drilling per cubic yard of excavation was 2.4 ft.; this covered more than 27,000 drill shifts. the dynamite was practically all 60%, and the average excavation per pound of dynamite was 2.2 cu. yd. the contractor employed an inspector of batteries and fuses, who, using an instrument for that purpose, tested the wiring of each blast prior to firing, in order to discover any short circuits, and thus prevent the danger of leaving unexploded dynamite in the holes. the average quantity of excavation per derrick shift of 10 hours, covering 7,400 shifts, 87% of the excavation being rock, was 50 cu. yd., and the average force per shift, including only foreman and laborers, was 13 men. it was found that a derrick operating at the top of a 20-ft. cut would handle about 40 cu. yd. per shift, whereas, if operating at the bottom of the cut, it would handle about 60 cu. yd. per shift. the elevator derricks at tenth avenue were very efficient, and each could take care of the material from four derricks at the bottom, hoisting 250 cu. yd. per shift a height of 60 ft. _concrete retaining and face walls._--it was essential to have the greatest space possible at the bottom of the excavation, and, inasmuch as the yard was to be left open, it was necessary to provide some facing for the rock on the sides in order to prevent disintegration, due to exposure, and give a finished appearance to the work. above the rock surface a retaining wall of gravity section was designed, the top being slightly higher than the yards of the adjoining properties. the face wall was designed to be as thin as possible, in order to allow the maximum space for tracks. the excavation, therefore, was laid out so that the back of the retaining wall would not encroach on the adjoining property, but would practically coincide with the property line at positions of maximum depth. the batter on the face of the wall was 2 in. per ft., and a bridge seat 3-1/2 ft. wide was formed at an elevation of 22 ft., minimum clearance, above the top of the rail. this bridge seat was made level. the maximum height of the south wall is 49 ft., and of the north wall 65 ft. the face walls were classed as "upper face walls," extending from the base of the retaining wall to the bridge seat, and as "lower face walls," extending from the bridge seat to the base of the wall. the general design is shown on fig. 8. in considering the design of the face wall it was felt that, the wall being so thin, ample provision should be made to prevent any accumulation of water and consequent pressure back of the wall; therefore, no attempt was made to water-proof it, but provision was made to carry off any water which might appear in the rock. box drains, 2 ft. wide and 6 ft. from center to center, were placed against the rock, so that, there being but 4 ft. between the drains, and the wall having a minimum thickness of 2 ft., any water in the rock would not have to go more than 2 ft. to reach a drain, and would probably pass along the face of the rock to a drain rather than through 2 ft. of concrete. these drains were connected with pipes leading through the wall at its base. [illustration: fig. 8. (full page image) retaining and face walls north side] these box drains occurred so frequently, and decreased the section of the wall so materially, that it was thought desirable to tie the wall to the rock. this was done by drilling into the rock holes from 6 to 15 ft. in depth, and grouting into each hole a 1-1/2-in. rod having a split end and a steel wedge. the outer end of each rod was fitted with a 12 by 12 by 1/2-in. plate and a nut, and extended into the wall, thus tying the concrete securely to the rock. the drains being 6 ft. from center to center, the tie-rods were placed midway between them, and 6 ft., from center to center, vertically and horizontally. fig. 8 shows the arrangement of these rods and drains. around the express building site, just west of ninth avenue, on the south side of the work, the bridge seat was omitted, and the face wall was designed 2 ft. thick from top to bottom. the batter on the 31st street wall was made variable, the top and bottom being constant distances from the center line and on different grades. the retaining walls were water-proofed with three layers of felt and coal-tar pitch, which was protected by 4 in. of brick masonry. a 6-in. vitrified drain pipe was laid along the back of the wall, with the joints open on the lower half, and this was covered with 1 ft. of broken stone and sand before any back-fill was placed on it. the arrangement of the drains was as follows: the 6-in. drain back of the retaining wall was connected with one of the box drains in the rear of the face wall by a cast-iron pipe or wooden box every 24 ft., and this ran through the base of the retaining wall. midway between these pipes, a connection was made at the bridge seat between the drain in the rear of the face wall and the gutter formed at the rear of the bridge seat to carry off rain-water coming down the face of the wall above. all the box drains, except those connected with the drains back of the retaining wall, were sealed at the elevation of the base of the retaining wall, as noted previously. the specifications required vitrified pipe to be laid through the retaining wall, but, owing to the difficulty of holding the short lengths of pipe in place during the laying of wet concrete, they were dispensed with, and either iron pipes or wooden boxes were used. _tie-rods._--when the excavation on the sides had been completed, movable drilling platforms were erected, as shown by fig. 4, plate l. the holes were drilled on a pitch of 2 in. per ft. with the horizontal. the depths of the holes were decided by the engineer, and were on the basis of a minimum depth of 5 ft. in perfect rock; the character of the rock, therefore, and the presence of seams, determined the depths of the holes. each hole was partly filled with grout, and the rod, with the steel wedge in the split end, was inserted and driven with a sledge so that the wedge, striking the bottom of the hole first, would cause the split end of the rod to open. each hole was then entirely filled with neat cement grout. _box drains._--various methods of forming the box drains were considered, such as using half-tile drains, or a metal form, or a collapsible form which could be withdrawn, but it was finally decided to build boxes in which the side toward the rock was open and the joints in the boxes and against the rock were plastered with cement mortar. these boxes were left in place. fig. 1, plate li, shows the tie-rods and box drains in place, and holes being cut near the bottom of the drains for the pipes leading through the wall. _forms._--fig. 1, plate li, shows the form used on the south side of the work. the materials were of good quality, and the form, which was about 50 ft. long, was used to build twelve sections, or about 600 ft. of wall. the form was tied in at the top and bottom by cables attached to rods drilled into the rock, and it was thought that, with the trusses to stiffen the middle section of the form, it would not be necessary to use raker braces against it. this would have been desirable, as the placing of the raker braces took considerable time. it was found, however, that the form was not sufficiently rigid, as it bulged at the middle section and could not be held by the trusses. two or three sets of raker braces, about 12 ft. apart, were used, and in addition, rods with turnbuckles were placed through the form and fastened to the tie-rods, and thus the form was held in place successfully. on the forms built later, the trusses were omitted, and raker braces, about every 6 ft., were used. the rods which screwed into the turnbuckles were removed before the form was moved. the photograph, fig. 4, plate lii, was taken inside the concrete form for the lower face wall on the north side, and shows the drains leading through the wall, the turnbuckles attached to the tie-rods, the cables attached to rods in the rock, and the braces to keep the form from coming in; these braces, of course, were removed as the concrete came up. the form was built low and wedged up into position. after a section of concrete had set sufficiently, the wedges were knocked out, the form was lowered and moved from the wall, and was then moved along the lowest waling piece by block and tackle to its new position. fig. 4, plate l, shows the forms used on the north side of the work. a section, 1 ft. square, at the top of the bridge seat of the lower face wall, was left out, so that the bottom of the form for the upper face wall could be braced against it. the top of this form was tied by cables attached to rods in the rock and by rods with turnbuckles running from back to front of the form; braces were also put in from the back of the retaining wall form to the walls of buildings along the property lines, when this could be done. the middle section of the form was held by rods with turnbuckles which passed through the form and were fastened to each of the tie-rods drilled into the rock, as was also done in the case of the lower face wall. it was generally possible to hold the form to true position in this manner, but occasionally it had a tendency to bulge; when this occurred, the rods leading through the form and fastened to the tie-rods were tightened up, the placing of the concrete was slowed up, and no serious bulging occurred. bulkheads at the ends of the sections were built of rough planking securely braced to the rock, except that a planed board was laid up against the face of the form to make a straight joint. at the end of each section a v was formed, as shown by fig. 1, plate li. at all corners, a "return," or portion of the wall running at right angles, was built, and no section of wall was stopped at a corner. _filling forms of lower face walls._--a temporary trestle was erected above the elevation of the bridge seat, and a track, leading from the mixer to the form to be filled, was laid on it. at the commencement of each section a layer of mortar (1 part of cement to 2-1/2 parts of sand) was deposited on the bottom. a 1:3:6 mixture of concrete was used; it was run from the mixer into dump-cars and deposited in the form through chutes, three of which were provided for each 50-ft. section, the average length. the concrete was mixed wet, and was not rammed; the stone was spaded back from the face, and no facing mixture or facing diaphragms were used. work on each section was continued day and night without any intermission from the time of commencement to the time of completion. at frequent intervals the box drains were washed out thoroughly with a hose, in order to prevent them from clogging up with grout. [illustration: plate li, fig. 1.--tw 66, p.n.y. & l.i.r.r. terminal station west. box drains and tie rods, south side, sta. 184+80 to 185+14. sept. 17, 08.] [illustration: plate li, fig. 2.] [illustration: plate li, fig. 3.--p 46. p.r.r. tunnels, n.r. div. sect. gy. west. disposal trestle just before demolition. view of south side showing chutes. jan. 21, 09.] [illustration: plate li, fig. 4.--a 54. p.r.r. tunnels, n.r. div. sect. gy. west & oj. view across north river on line of tunnels, looking from new york to new jersey. feb. 9, 07.] in the first few sections of wall, the form was filled to within 1 in. of the top of the bridge seat and allowed to set for about 2 hours; it was then finished to the proper elevation with a plaster of 1 part of cement to 1 part of sand. this did not prove satisfactory, as there were indications of checking and cracking, and, later, the form was filled to the required elevation and the surface floated. the form was allowed to remain in place for from 18 to 24 hours, depending on the weather. in most cases, immediately after the form had been moved, a scaffold was erected against the face of the wall, and the face was wet and thoroughly rubbed, first with a wooden float and then with a cement brick, until the surface was smooth and uniform. the section 1 ft. square at the top of the bridge seat, which was left out in order to brace the bottom of the form for the upper face wall, was filled in after the walls had been completed. the old concrete was very thoroughly cleaned before the new concrete was placed on it, and a gutter was formed at the rear connecting with the box drains back of the wall to carry off rain-water coming down the face of the upper walls. in hot weather the walls were thoroughly wetted down several times a day for several days after the form had been removed. _upper face and retaining wall._--in cases where the top of the retaining wall was at a higher elevation than the mixer, it was necessary to raise the concrete in a bucket with a derrick, and dump it into cars on the trestle above the top of the coping. concrete was deposited through chutes, as in the lower face wall, continuously from the bottom of the face wall to the top of the retaining wall. at the commencement of each section of the retaining wall a layer of mortar was put on the rock. a 1:2:3 mixture of concrete was used in the face wall, and a 1:3:6 mixture in the retaining wall. as the face walls were so thin, the number of batches of concrete per hour was reduced, for the form filled so rapidly that the concrete, before it set, exerted an excessive pressure against the form, and this tended to make it bulge. the proper rate at which to place the concrete behind a form 50 ft. long, with a wall 2 ft. thick, was found to be about fifteen 1/2-yd. batches per hour. _cracks in walls and longitudinal reinforcement._--before the concrete walls were started, the contractor suggested using forms 100 ft. long and building the walls in sections of that length; it was decided, however, to limit the length to 50 ft. the south walls, in sections approximately 50 ft. long, were built first, starting at tenth avenue and extending for about 500 ft. soon after the forms were removed, irregular cracks appeared in the walls between the joints in practically every section. it was thought that these cracks might be due to the wall being very thin and being held at the back by the tie-rods; there was also quite a material change in the section of the wall at each drainage box. although it was admitted that these cracks would have no effect on the stability of the wall, it was thought that, for appearance sake, it would be desirable to prevent or control them, if possible. the first method suggested was to shorten the sections to 25 ft., which would give an expansion and contraction joint every 25 ft., it being thought that sections of this length would not crack between the joints. this, however, was not considered desirable. an effort was then made to prevent cracks in a section of wall, about 46 ft. long, on the south side, by using longitudinal reinforcement. in the lower and upper face walls, 3/4-in. square twisted steel rods were placed longitudinally about 4 in. in from the face and about 1 ft. 4 in. apart vertically. the sections of these walls were finished on april 10th, and may 5th, 1909, respectively. at present there are no indications of cracks in these sections, and they are practically the only ones in the south walls which do not show irregular cracks. it was decided, however, that, inasmuch as the cracks did not affect the stability of the walls, the increased cost of thus reinforcing the remaining walls was not warranted. an effort to control the cracks was made by placing corrugated-iron diaphragms in the form, dividing each 50-ft. section into three parts. the diaphragms were 1 ft. wide, and were placed with the outer edge 1 in. in from the face of the wall, but in the copings they were omitted. the purpose of these diaphragms was to provide weak sections in the walls, so that if there was any tendency to crack it would occur along the line of the diaphragms. corrugated iron was used for the diaphragms instead of sheet iron as it was more easily maintained in a vertical position. the general arrangement of the diaphragms is shown on fig. 4, plate lii. the results obtained by using diaphragms have been quite satisfactory, and cracks approximately straight and vertical have usually appeared opposite the diaphragms soon after the forms were removed. diaphragms were used on all the remaining walls, with the exception of those between stations 187 + 07 and 188 + 83 on the north side, where the rock was of poor character and bad slides had occurred. between these points, in order to strengthen the wall, twisted steel rods, 1 in. square, were placed longitudinally, 6 in. in from the face of the wall and 2 ft. apart vertically, between elevations 295 and 335. [illustration: plate lii, fig. 1.--girders under 9th avenue elevated railroad.] [illustration: plate lii, fig. 2.--tw 100. p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. showing excavation of completion of south abutment 9th ave. and method of supporting elevated railway column 488. july 21, 09.] [illustration: plate lii, fig. 3.--tw 31. p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. view showing excavation 9th and 10th avenues south of 32nd st. looking west from sta. 184. aug. 17, 07.] [illustration: plate lii, fig. 4.--tw 101. p.t. & t.r.r. co. terminal station west. inside of concrete form for lower-face wall, showing drains, tie rods, diaphragms and methods employed for tying in the form in addition to braces outside. july 21, 09.] _tenth avenue portal._--the design of the tenth avenue portal is shown on fig. 9. the stone selected came from the millstone granite company's quarries, millstone point, conn., and is a close-grained granite. fig. 2, plate li, shows the completed portal. practically all the stone cutting was done at the quarry, but certain stones in each course were sent long and were cut on the ground, in order to make proper closures. drains were left behind the portal around the back of each arch, leading down to the bottom, and through the concrete base at each side of the portal and in the central core-wall; all these drains have been discharging water. _power-house._--the old church at no. 236 west 34th street, between seventh and eighth avenues, was turned over to the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal for a power-house to supply compressed air for use on the terminal station work between seventh and ninth avenues and the work below sub-grade as well as that on the terminal station-west. four straight-line compressors and one cross-compound corliss compressor were installed, the steam being supplied by three stirling boilers. three electrically-driven air compressors, using current at 6,600 volts, were also installed, and the total capacity of the power-house was about 19,000 cu. ft. of free air per minute compressed to 90 lb. per sq. in. _disposal pier._--the disposal pier (old no. 62 and new no. 72), at the foot of west 32d street, north river, was leased by the pennsylvania railroad company. the entire pier, with the exception of the piles, was taken down, and the piles which would be in the path of the proposed tunnel were withdrawn prior to the building of the tunnels and the construction of the pier for disposal purposes. subsequent to the driving of the tunnels there was a considerable settlement in the pier, especially noticeable at the telphers, and finally these had to be abandoned on this account. fig. 3, plate li, shows the chutes through which the earth was dumped on the decks of the scows to form a padding on which to dump the heavier rock. fig. 4, plate li, shows the derricks at the end of the pier. these were used, not only for loading heavy stones and skips, but also with a clam-shell bucket for bringing in broken stone and sand for use in the work. large quantities of pipe, conduits, brick, etc., were also brought to this pier for use on the work. [illustration: fig. 9. (full page image) portal, retaining and face walls, tenth avenue] organization of engineering force in field. the design and execution of the work were under the direction of charles m. jacobs, m. am. soc. c.e., chief engineer, and james forgie, m. am. soc. c.e., chief assistant engineer. the writer acted as resident engineer. [illustration: fig. 10.] the general organization of the engineering force in the field is shown by the diagram, fig. 10. the position of assistant engineer, in responsible charge of construction and records, has been filled in turn by messrs. a.w. gill, n.c. mcneil, jun. am. soc. c.e., and w.s. greene, assoc. m. am. soc. c.e. messrs. a.p. combes and t.b. brogan have acted as chief inspector and night inspector, respectively, in charge of outside work during the entire carrying out of the contract. base lines had been established on ninth and tenth avenues for the terminal work east of ninth avenue and for the tunnel work west of tenth avenue, and these lines, together with bench-marks similarly established, were used in laying out the terminal station-west work. prior to the commencement of the work, elevations were taken on the surface at 10-ft. intervals, and elevations of the rock surface were taken on these points as the rock was uncovered. cross-sections were made and used in computing the progress and final estimates. very careful records were kept of labor, materials, derrick performances, steam-shovel performances, quantity of dynamite used, etc., and, in addition, a diary was kept giving a description of the work and materials used each day; various tables and diagrams were also prepared. a daily report was sent to the chief office showing the quantities of excavation removed and concrete built, the force in the field, the plant at work, etc., during the previous day. at the end of each month a description of the work done during that month, with quantities, force of men employed, percentages of work done, etc., was sent to the chief office. two diagrams, showing cross-sections and contours of the excavation done and the progress of the concrete walls, were also sent. cost account. from the records of labor and material obtained in the field, and from estimated charges for administration and power, an estimate was made of the cost to the contractor for doing various classes of work. it was necessary to estimate the administration and power charges, as the contractor's organization and power-house were also controlling and supplying power to the terminal station work east of ninth avenue and also the work below sub-grade. the labor and material charges in the field were placed directly against the class of work on which they were used and the administration and general charges (which included superintendence, lighting, etc.) were apportioned to the various classes of work in proportion to the value of the labor done. statistics. the total weight of the structural steel used during the underpinning of ninth avenue was 1,475,000 lb. the total weight supported during the work under ninth avenue was about 5,000 tons. \u$1\ethe average daily traffic over the ninth avenue elevated railway was 90,000 passengers, and, during the progress of the excavation and underpinning, about 100,000,000 passengers were carried over that structure. the total excavation was 521,000 cu. yd., of which 87% was solid rock. the average drill performance was about 33 lin. ft. per 8-hour shift. the average number of cubic yards of excavation per drill shift was 13.9. the average number of feet of drilling per cubic yard of excavation was about 2.4. the average excavation per pound of dynamite was 2.2 cu. yd. the average amount of excavation per derrick shift of ten hours, 87% of the excavation being rock, was 50 cu. yd. the average derrick force per shift, including only foreman and laborers, was 13 men. the salaries of the engineering staff in the field and the expenses of equipping and maintaining the field office amounted to 2.8% of the cost of the work executed, 2.7% being for engineering salaries alone. footnotes: [footnote a: presented at the meeting of april 6th, 1910.] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1150 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. by charles w. raymond, m. am. soc. c. e.[a] some time before the appointment of the board of engineers which supervised the designing and construction of the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad, the late a. j. cassatt, then president of the company, said to the writer that for many years he had been unable to reconcile himself to the idea that a railroad system like the pennsylvania should be prevented from entering the most important and populous city in the country by a river less than one mile wide. the result of this thought was the tunnel extension project now nearly completed; but it is only in recent years that new conditions have rendered such a solution of the problem practicable as well as desirable. previously a tunnel designed for steam railroad traffic, to enter new york city near christopher street, was partly constructed, but the work was abandoned for financial reasons. then plans for a great suspension bridge, to enable all the railroads reaching the west shore of the north river to enter the city at the foot of 23d street, were carefully worked out by the north river bridge company. the pennsylvania railroad company gave this project its support by agreeing to pay its _pro rata_ share for the use of the bridge; but the other railroads declined to participate, and the execution of this plan was not undertaken. new operating conditions, resulting from the application of electric traction to the movement of heavy railroad trains, which had been used initially in tunnels by the baltimore and ohio railroad and was subsequently studied and adopted by railroads in europe, made it possible to avoid the difficulty of ventilation connected with steam traction in tunnels, and permitted the use of grades practically prohibitive with the steam locomotive. the practicability of the tunnel extension project finally adopted was thus assured. the acquisition of the control of the long island railroad by the pennsylvania railroad company, which occurred in 1900, introduced new and important elements into the transportation problem, from a freight as well as a passenger standpoint. previously, the plans considered had for their only object the establishment of a convenient terminus in new york, to avoid the delays and difficulties involved in the necessity of transporting passengers and freight across the north river. when the long island railroad became practically a part of the pennsylvania system, it was possible and desirable to extend the project so as to provide, not only for a great prospective local traffic from all parts of long island, but also for through passenger and freight traffic to the new england states, and to and from all points on the pennsylvania system, thus avoiding the long ferriage from jersey city around the harbor to the harlem river. this paper has for its subject the new york tunnel extension project, and is intended merely as an introduction to the detailed accounts of the construction of the various divisions of the line to be given in succeeding papers prepared by the engineers who actively carried out the work. the project, however, forms the most important part of the comprehensive scheme adopted by the pennsylvania railroad company for conducting its traffic into and through new york city, and a brief description of this general plan is therefore necessary in order that the relations of the tunnel line to the other parts of the transportation project may be clearly understood. general plan for traffic facilities at new york. the component elements of the general plan outlined by the late a. j. cassatt, president, in his open letter to the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners of the city of new york, dated january 18th, 1906, are indicated on fig. 1, and may be briefly summarized as follows: _1._--the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad, generally referred to as the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. this line begins near newark, n. j., crosses the hackensack meadows, and passes through bergen hill and under the north river, the borough of manhattan, and the east river to the large terminal yard, known as sunnyside yard, in long island city, borough of queens, new york. the line will be more fully described elsewhere. _2._--the electrification of the long island railroad within the city limits. _3._--the pennsylvania freight terminal yard and piers at greenville, n. j., connecting by ferry with the bay ridge terminal of the long island railroad. _4._--the bay ridge improvement of the long island railroad from east new york to bay ridge. _5._--yards for increasing the freight facilities in the boroughs of brooklyn and queens. _6._--the atlantic avenue improvement in brooklyn, involving the removal of the steam railroad surface tracks and the extensive improvement of the passenger and freight station at flatbush avenue. _7._--the new york connecting railroad, extending through a part of the borough of queens and crossing the east river by a bridge at ward's and randall's islands to port morris, n. y. _8._--the glendale cut-off of the long island railroad. _9._--new piers and docks in newtown creek at its confluence with the east river. _10._--electrification of the united railroads of new jersey division from newark to jersey city. the parts sustained by these elements in the work of transportation and distribution are briefly as follows: the new york tunnel extension is essentially a passenger line, although the company has not only the legal powers but also the facilities for making it a through route for freight if desired. it will transport passengers to and from the centrally located station at 33d street and seventh avenue in new york city, joining the long island system at sunnyside yard, and, by means of the new york connecting railroad, it will form a link in the through traffic line, connecting the whole pennsylvania system with the new england states. this line has been designed for the safe and expeditious handling of a large volume of traffic. the requirements include handling the heaviest through express trains south and west from the main line as well as the frequent and lighter local-service trains. for through service the locomotive principle of operation has been adhered to, that is, electric locomotives will take up the work of the steam locomotives at the interchange yard at harrison, n. j., and, for excursion and suburban service to nearby towns, provision will be made for electric locomotives, or by operation of special self-propelled motor cars in trains, the project being planned to give the greatest flexibility in method of operation to meet the growing demand in the best way. the new york connecting railroad has important functions both for freight and passenger service. when constructed it will be about 12 miles long, and will form a part of the line to the new england states for through passenger and freight service, and also carry local freight to and from sunnyside yard and brooklyn, and all points on long island. by means of this line it will be possible to make the brooklyn station at flatbush avenue a station on the through system for new england as well as the western states. [illustration: fig. 1. (full page image) map of the pennsylvania r. r. co's new york tunnel extension and connections.] the initial equipment of the western division of the long island railroad for electric traction has been made in advance of the opening of the tunnel line in order to take care of the requirements of the atlantic avenue improvement. this improvement involved the elimination of grade crossings within the city of brooklyn and the conversion of the railroad line which was previously on the surface of the streets to part subway and part elevated line from the flatbush avenue terminal to east new york station, a distance of 5-1/4 miles. one of the requirements of this improvement was that the motive power should be changed to some form of power not involving combustion. this led to the adoption of electricity, and, in order to meet operating necessities, involved the electrification of connecting lines beyond the improvement proper, so that local service could be handled to the end of the runs without changing the motive power. the extent of the electrification thus required was found to be about 100 single-track miles. this extensive electrification work was undertaken and completed in the summer of 1905, upon the completion of the atlantic avenue improvement proper, and since that time has been in successful operation. on the near approach of the construction of the new york terminal improvement, plans for additional electrification on the long island railroad were made, and the work is now in progress on the extensive additions required to couple up the tunnel extension with the various lines centering at the long island city terminus. the bay ridge improvement of the long island railroad comprises the readjustment of the right of way and the establishment of new grades in order to do away with grade crossings from the freight terminal at bay ridge to a junction with the new york connecting railroad at east new york, a distance of 10.4 miles. it also provides for the re-location of the line and the elimination of grade crossings on the branch running to manhattan beach, a distance of 3.7 miles. the work is being executed without interrupting traffic, and in all about 75 grade crossings will be abolished. this improvement became necessary in order to provide for the rapid extension of population into the suburban districts and for the present and future requirements of the section, to establish municipal conveniences and facilities, and to open additional streets across the right of way. to accomplish these ends, the line has been built in cuts and on embankments, there being about 6.4 miles of the former, 3.3 miles of the latter, and a tunnel, 3,500 ft. long, where the line crosses the atlantic avenue improvement. the atlantic avenue improvement, as mentioned above, involved the removal of the railroad tracks from the street surface for a distance of about 5-1/4 miles. this was done by constructing a series of elevated and subway structures, there being about 2.1 miles of the former, 2.4 miles of the latter, and 0.8 mile of approaches, eliminating more than 90 grade crossings. in the light of recent developments, it may be of interest to note that one of the reasons for establishing a combination elevated and subway line was that, at the time the improvement was projected, no underground railroad in the country, of similar length and carrying a heavy volume of local traffic, was operated by electricity, and public sentiment was against the operation of the entire length of the line underground by steam power. this improvement also provided for depressing the entire flatbush avenue station and a freight yard. as the work progressed, the original plans for the station were greatly enlarged, the remodeled station covering about 61 city lots. the main point of passenger distribution is the new york station. other important stations will be flatbush avenue, brooklyn; jamaica, long island, where the changes to and from electric motive power will be made; and newark, n. j. many other places, including the seaside resorts on long island and in new jersey, will feel the benefits of the direct tunnel railroad into and through new york city. the glendale cut-off will materially shorten the route and running time from new york through the tunnels to rockaway beach. the plans contemplate that passengers to and from the lower part of manhattan will be carried by the steam line between newark and jersey city and cross the north river by ferry or the cortlandt street tunnels of the hudson company. eventually, the old main line will be electrified and supersede the steam service between newark and jersey city. the greenville yard is the most important point for the receipt, transmission, and distribution of freight. from this point freight can be transported, without breaking bulk, by a comparatively short car-ferry to the long island railroad terminus at bay ridge, and thus a very large part of the pennsylvania railroad company's floatage in new york harbor and the east river will be abolished, the floatage distance being reduced in the case of the new england freight from about 12 to 3 miles. this traffic will be routed from bay ridge _via_ the long island railroad to a connection with and thence over the new york connecting railroad to the new york, new haven and hartford railroad at port morris, n. y. as the facilities for the handling of freight in the boroughs of brooklyn and queens had become insufficient for taking care of the prospective traffic, eleven new local delivery yards, having a combined area of about 2,153 city lots, have been established, and three existing yards are to be improved and enlarged so as to give a combined area of about 687 city lots. of these new yards, the bay ridge freight terminal, containing about 790 city lots, is the largest; its functions have been described above. there is a freight terminal at east new york 200 ft. wide and a mile long, containing about 566 city lots, which will be the distributing point of freight for the entire east new york section. this yard is depressed, and will be crossed by six viaducts carrying city streets. the north shore freight yard, containing 109 city lots, is connected with the montauk division by an overhead construction, known as the montauk freight cut-off, whereby all freight traffic to jamaica may be kept out of the way of the jamaica passenger traffic from the tunnels. it may be of interest to indicate briefly how much has already been accomplished in the execution of this general plan, and what still remains to be done for its completion. the larger part of the electrification of the long island railroad and the elimination of grade crossings within the built-up city limits, the atlantic avenue improvement, and the yard and piers at greenville, have been completed. the sunnyside yard and the glendale cut-off will be completed during the next twelve months. on the tunnel and terminal railroad the embankment and bridge work across the hackensack meadows and all the tunnels and excavation from the west side of bergen hill to long island city, except a short section near the eastern end of the line, have been completed. the new york station and other buildings and facilities connected therewith are well advanced. the laying of the track, the electrification of the line, and the installation of the signaling and lighting systems are under way. it is anticipated that the line will be ready for operation in the spring of 1910. report has been made to the public service commission that a large part of the right of way for the new york connecting railroad has been obtained, and more than $3,000,000 has been spent by this railroad. the piers and docks at newtown creek and the electrification of the line from newark to jersey city are not yet actively under way. estimated cost of the improvements. as appears from the foregoing statement, only parts of the improvements contemplated in the general scheme have been completed, others are in progress, and others have not yet been commenced. it is therefore impossible at the present time to make a close estimate of the total expenditure involved in the execution of the entire scheme. the following estimate of the cost of the pennsylvania railroad company's improvements in the new york district when fully completed is based on the best information now available: new york tunnel extension and station, including interchange yards at harrison, n. j., and sunnyside, l. i., p. t. & t. r. r. co. $100,000,000 long island railroad electrification, bay ridge and atlantic avenue improvements, glendale cut-off, freight yards, and new equipment 35,000,000 new york connecting railroad, to be built jointly by the pennsylvania r. r. co. and the new york, new haven and hartford r. r. co., about 14,000,000 pennsylvania railroad improvements in the state of new jersey, electrification of line from jersey city to park place, newark, greenville freight line and terminal on new york bay 10,000,000 ----------- total $159,000,000 corporate organization and franchise conditions. as the tunnel extension lies partly in the state of new jersey and partly in the state of new york, it was necessary to charter two companies, each covering the territory within the state to which it belonged. the new jersey corporation was entitled the pennsylvania, new jersey and new york railroad company, and the new york corporation, the pennsylvania, new york and long island railroad company. these organizations were completed early in 1902. subsequently, after the tunnels had been joined under the north river, the companies were consolidated, on june 26th, 1907, and thereby formed the present company under the name of the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company, a corporation of both states. mr. cassatt, president of the pennsylvania, new york and long island railroad company, made application in its behalf for a franchise to extend the lines of the pennsylvania railroad by tunnels under the north river to a passenger station to be erected in new york city and thence under the east river to a connection with the long island railroad, on may 5th, 1902. the franchise for that part of the tunnel line which is within the state of new york, that is, from the boundary line between new york and new jersey, in the hudson river, to the eastern terminus at sunnyside yard, long island, is contained in the certificate issued by the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners of the city of new york on october 9th, 1902. the essential features of the franchise have been summarized substantially as follows in the report of the committee of the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners of the city of new york, dated june 14th, 1902: _first._--a grant by the city in perpetuity of rights, subject, however, to a periodic readjustment of payments at intervals of twenty-five years, as follows: (_a_) to construct and operate a railroad of two tracks from the boundary between new york and new jersey under the hudson river opposite the westerly foot of thirty-first street, borough of manhattan, thence running under the hudson river and thirty-first street to the east river and under the east river to a terminus in queens borough. the company is permitted on notice within ten years to give up the right to these two tracks. (_b_) a like right for a railroad of two tracks beginning near the same point under the hudson river, thence running under thirty-second street to the east river, and under that river to the terminus in queens borough, with a right for two additional tracks in thirty-second street, west of ninth avenue, and one additional track between seventh and fifth avenues in manhattan. (_c_) a like right for a railroad of two tracks beginning at the station terminal site at thirty-third street and seventh avenue and thence running under thirty-third street and the east river to the terminal in queens borough, with a right for one additional track on thirty-third street, between seventh and fifth avenues. (_d_) a right to maintain a terminal station occupying the four blocks bounded by thirty-first street, seventh avenue, thirty-third street and ninth avenue, the lots on the east side of seventh avenue between thirty-first and thirty-third streets, and the underground portions of thirty-first and thirty-third streets, between seventh and eighth avenues and between eighth and ninth avenues, the company having itself acquired the land included in such four blocks and lots on the east side of seventh avenue. (_e_) to occupy for such terminal facilities all of thirty-second street lying between the westerly side of seventh avenue and the easterly side of eighth avenue, and between the westerly side of eighth avenue and the easterly side of ninth avenue. as soon as the statutory right of the city authorities to make the conveyance shall be put beyond doubt the railroad company is obliged to buy such two portions of thirty-second street, which will then become completely dedicated to the purposes of their station. (these portions of thirty-second street were subsequently purchased by the railroad company.) (_f_) to have along such routes the necessary facilities for the operation of passenger and freight trains, including telegraph wires and the various wires and cables for the distribution of power, heat, and light. _second._--the requirement of the consent of the mayor, the board of aldermen, the board of estimate and apportionment, and the other authorities of the city having control of the streets. _third._--the obligation of the pennsylvania company to begin construction within three months after obtaining the necessary consents and complete the railroad within five years after construction shall begin, except the route under thirty-first street, for the completion of which the company is allowed ten years after the completion of the remainder of the railroad. _fourth._--payments by the pennsylvania company for the first twenty-five years, as follows: a rental of $200 per annum for the right to occupy land under the hudson and east rivers outside of pier lines. a rental for ground within pier lines and for underground portions of streets in manhattan borough, at fifty cents per linear foot of single track per annum, for the first ten years, and during the next fifteen years one dollar per annum per linear foot. a rental for ground within pier lines and for underground portions of streets in queens borough at one-half the rates payable for manhattan borough. a rental for underground portions of thirty-first and thirty-third streets, between seventh and eighth avenues, and between eighth and ninth avenues (such portions extending almost up to the surface, except under the south sidewalk of thirty-first street and north sidewalk of thirty-third street) at $14,000 per annum for the first ten years, and at $28,000 per annum for the next fifteen years. for the portions of thirty-second street, between seventh and eighth avenues, and between eighth and ninth avenues, when the statutory power of the city to make a sale shall be put beyond doubt, the city is to sell and the railroad company is required to buy such portions for the sum of $788,600. the rentals for river and track rights begin at the date of operation. for the underground spaces under thirty-first and thirty-third streets, used for station extension, the rentals begin at the commencement of construction, or when the company entered thereon. such annual payments may be summarized as follows: +===============================================+=========================+ | | first 10 | next 15 | | | years. | years. | |-----------------------------------------------+------------+------------+ |for river rights | $200.00 | $200.00 | |for tunnel rights in manhattan borough, being | | | | 44,341 ft. (partly estimated) of single track | 22,170.00 | 44,341.00 | |for tunnel rights in queens borough, being | | | | 8,100 ft. (partly estimated) of single track | 2,025.00 | 4,050.00 | |for street rights on thirty-first and | | | | thirty-third streets, north and south of | | | | terminal | 14,000.00 | 28,000.00 | +-----------------------------------------------+------------+------------+ | in all, per annum | $38,395.00 | $76,591.00 | +===============================================+============+============+ if the route under thirty-first street be availed of, these amounts will be increased by $16,652.50 for the first ten years, and by $33,305 for the next fifteen years. the amounts to be paid are to be readjusted at the end of twenty-five years; and thereafter at intervals of twenty-five years. if the city and the railroad company shall not agree upon the readjusted rates, they are to be determined by the supreme court of this state. _fifth._--the railroad to be entirely in tunnel except where it approaches the surface at its eastern terminal near thomson avenue, in queens borough. the uppermost part of the tunnel is to be at least nineteen feet below the surface of the street; but this limitation does not apply to the portions of thirty-first and thirty-third streets opposite the terminal station between seventh and ninth avenues, where the company may occupy the underground portions of the street under the roadway to within thirty inches of the surface, and under the sidewalks on thirty-first and thirty-third streets opposite to the station to within five feet of the surface, the company to properly care for sewers, water, gas and other pipes and underground structures lawfully in the street. _sixth._--the company to make good all damage done to property of the city by its construction work or operations, and to abutting owners all damage done through any fault or negligence of the company, or of any contractor or sub-contractor engaged upon its work of construction or operation. the tunnel company to keep thirty-first and thirty-third streets opposite the station well paved with smooth pavement and in thoroughly good condition. _seventh._--tunnel excavations to be done without disturbing the surface of the street, except in the portions of thirty-first and thirty-third streets, and seventh, eighth and ninth avenues in front of the terminal station, and except in queens borough, with the power to the rapid transit board, wherever conditions elsewhere make surface excavation necessary for efficient construction, to grant the right for such excavation, subject to conditions to be then prescribed by the board. the tracks are to be constructed of the most approved plan so as to avoid noise or tremor. all plans for, and the method of doing, the work are made subject to the approval of the rapid transit board. _eighth._--the motive power to be electricity, or such other power not involving combustion as may be approved by the board. _ninth._--the company to have no power to carry on merely local traffic, except with the approval of the board and for additional consideration to be paid the city. traffic is defined as local which begins and ends in the city within five miles of the terminal station on seventh and ninth avenues. _tenth._--the railroad to be diligently and skillfully operated, with due regard to the convenience of the traveling public. _eleventh._--the city to have a lien upon the franchise and real property of the company to secure the payment of rental. _twelfth._--the rights of the city to be enforceable by action, for specific performance, or mandamus, or otherwise. _thirteenth._--the company not to oppose the construction of any rapid transit railroad along or across the same routes which do not actually interfere with the authorized structures of the company. _fourteenth._--the city to have an ample right of inspection of the railroad, and to enter upon it for examination, supervision, or care of city property, or for other purposes. _fifteenth._--the company to be bound to maintain and strengthen all parts of its railways under streets or avenues so that the same shall support safely any structures superimposed or which may hereafter be superimposed thereon by the city or under public authority. _sixteenth._--the company to have the right to convey or mortgage the franchise, but every grantee, whether directly or under a mortgage, to assume the obligations already assumed by the railroad company and the railroad company not to be relieved of such obligations by the grant. this franchise was passed by the board of aldermen on december 16th and approved by the mayor on december 23d, 1902. subsequently, an agreement, dated june 21st, 1907, was entered into by the city of new york, the tunnel company, and the long island railroad company covering the construction of the sunnyside yard, which forms the eastern terminus of the line. in pursuance of this agreement, the map or plan of the city of new york was changed by discontinuing or closing portions of fifty streets or avenues, and by changing the grades of sixteen streets or avenues, in the borough of queens, and the portions of streets and avenues thus discontinued and closed, most of which were not opened for public use, were sold to the railroad companies. the agreement, however, reserved to the city permanent and perpetual underground rights and easements to maintain in a reasonable manner, not inconsistent with the construction and operation of the railroad facilities of the companies, its existing sewers, drains, and other sub-surface structures in, under, and through the lands within the lines of the discontinued portions of each of such streets and avenues, including the right to repair, rebuild, and enlarge the same, and to construct in a reasonable manner, not inconsistent with the construction and operation of the railroad facilities of the companies, such additional sewers or drains in, under, or through the lands as may be hereafter required by the city, together with the right to enter upon the premises from time to time as may be necessary for the purpose of inspecting, repairing, constructing, or rebuilding the sub-surface structures. the agreement required the companies to construct at their expense, four viaducts or bridges over their tracks and terminal development, three with roadways 42 ft. wide, one with a roadway 60 ft. wide, and each to have two sidewalks 10 ft. wide, the work to include the paving of the roadways and sidewalks. the companies are further required to pay one-half the cost of the construction of the foundations, abutments, piers, superstructures, and approach of an additional viaduct or bridge over the sunnyside yard, to have a roadway not more than 60 ft. wide and two sidewalks each 10 ft. wide, and to grant the city of new york a perpetual easement for the continuance of the same in the location upon which it shall be constructed. the agreement further provides that the companies shall not injure the sewers or other substructures now existing or hereafter constructed under the streets and avenues, and, in case of injury, that they shall repair them or pay the cost thereof; that the viaducts shall be completed within the shortest time consistent with their safe and proper construction, and that during their construction temporary streets shall be provided for the accommodation of traffic. the companies are required to bear all the expense of changes of grade in the streets and avenues, except those made necessary by the construction of the viaduct or bridge to be paid for in part by the city; to indemnify the city against all liability for any and all damages which may accrue on account of any street which may be closed or the grades of which may be changed in pursuance of the agreement; to assume all liabilities by reason of the construction or operation of the railroads, or the construction of the viaducts, and to save the city harmless from any liability whatever, to either persons or property, by reason of the construction or operation of the railroads or the construction of the viaducts. the companies are also required to indemnify the city against and pay the cost of all alterations which may be required to the sewerage or drainage system or to any sub-surface structures and pipes laid in the streets or avenues on account of the construction and operation of the terminal, passenger yard, or freight yard of the companies, or on account of the changes in grades or street system. the companies are authorized, if they deem it necessary to the construction or to the efficient operation of the terminal passenger yard or freight yard, to depress, at their expense, any pipes or other sub-surface structures now under the surface of any of the portions of the streets or avenues discontinued or closed, or to elevate and carry the same upon any of the viaducts or bridges, the plans of such depression or elevation to be approved by the board of estimate and apportionment. all works within, upon, or over the public streets and avenues are subject to the supervision and inspection of the proper municipal officer or officers, under such regulations as he or they may determine and be authorized by law to impose; and the plans for the construction of viaducts or bridges are to be approved by the board of estimate and apportionment. the companies are required to cede to the city of new york perpetual easements for the right to continue and maintain the viaducts or bridges over the streets and avenues, sufficient for their control by the city for the purpose of police regulation and other control contemplated by the city ordinances for the case of streets or highways; reserving, however, the right to construct and maintain, at their own expense, such connections between the viaducts or bridges and their property as shall not interfere with the use of the viaducts or bridges for street purposes. the companies are also required to cede to the city, grade and curb, portions of five existing or proposed streets or avenues, and to pave portions of two other avenues. mr. a. j. cassatt, president of the pennsylvania railroad company, was president of the companies constituting the new york tunnel extension until his death on december 28th, 1906, and mr. james mccrea, president of the pennsylvania railroad company, was elected his successor, and is now president of the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company. mr. samuel rea, second vice-president of the pennsylvania railroad company, has served as vice-president since the incorporation of the enterprise. mr. a. j. county has been assistant to the president since june 26th, 1907, and prior thereto and from the incorporation of the tunnel enterprise served as secretary of the pennsylvania, new jersey and new york railroad company and as assistant secretary of the pennsylvania, new york and long island railroad company, which, as heretofore stated, constitute the pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company. engineering organization. mr. rea, vice-president, has general charge of all matters involved in the designing and execution of the project. _the board of engineers._--before the beginning of the work, the management appointed a board of engineers which was instructed to examine into the new york tunnel extension project; to pass upon the practicability of the undertaking; to determine upon the best plans for carrying it out; to make a careful estimate of its cost; and, if the work was undertaken, to exercise general supervision over its construction. president cassatt's letter appointing the board contains the following further instructions: "you are requested to procure all additional information that may be needed, sparing neither time nor any necessary expense in doing so, for i am sure it is not necessary for me to say that, in view of the magnitude and great cost of the proposed construction, and of the novel engineering questions involved, your studies should be thorough and exhaustive, and should be based upon absolute knowledge of the conditions." the board was organized on january 11th, 1902, when it held its first session, and continued in the performance of its duties until april 30th, 1909, when it was dissolved, its work having been completed. the board held regular and special sessions to receive progress reports from the chief engineers in direct charge of construction, and to consider questions relating to the plans and details of the work submitted by its members or referred to it by the management. it then reported its conclusions to the vice-president for approval before the work was undertaken. the management earnestly impressed upon the board throughout the whole period of its labors, that the tunnel extension and facilities were to be designed and constructed without regarding cost as a governing factor, the main considerations being safety, durability, and proper accommodation of the traffic. no expenditure tending to insure these conditions was to be avoided. the board, when organized, was composed as follows: col. charles w. raymond, corps of engineers, u. s. army, chairman; messrs. gustav lindenthal, charles m. jacobs, alfred noble, and william h. brown. mr. george gibbs was appointed a member of the board on april 9th, 1902. mr. lindenthal resigned on december 15th, 1903, and mr. brown resigned on march 1st, 1906. mr. rea and all the members of the board are members of the american society of civil engineers, and mr. noble is a past-president of the society. mr. william r. mead, of the firm of mckim, mead, and white, architects for the terminal station, was associated with the board for the consideration of architectural subjects. mr. robert h. groff, secretary of the company, was also secretary of the board until his resignation on january 31st, 1907. mr. william couper was acting-secretary from april 15th, 1907, to april 30th, 1909. s. johannesson, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e., was engineer assistant to the chairman from december 1st, 1905, to april 30th, 1909. _division of the work._--for the purposes of actual construction, the line was divided into four parts: the meadows division, the north river division, the terminal station, and the east river division. a chief engineer appointed by the management had charge of the construction of each division. the chief engineers exercised full authority in the organization of the working forces, and in the general conduct and management of the work of construction on their respective divisions, in accordance with the plans for such work approved by the board of engineers and the management. architects were employed to design the terminal station building and superintend its erection; and structural engineers to design and erect steel structures and facilities, and carry on the work under the direction of a chief engineer of the company. committees, consisting principally of officers of the pennsylvania railroad company, co-operating with the regular engineering organization, were appointed to consider the operating features of the project, so that the experience of the pennsylvania railroad company's organization might be utilized in the work. [illustration: plate i.--pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad. map and profile. bergen hill tunnel, new jersey to long island shaft, borough of queens] description of the line. the following summary description of the various divisions of the line is intended to give a comprehensive idea of the general features of the project. full details will be given in succeeding papers. the line and its respective divisions are shown on plate i. _meadows division._--chief engineer until march 1st, 1906, mr. william h. brown, chief engineer, pennsylvania railroad company, when he retired from active service with the latter company; since march 1st, 1906, mr. alexander c. shand, chief engineer, pennsylvania railroad company. this division consists of an "interchange yard" at harrison, near newark, n. j., adjoining the tracks of the present new york division of the pennsylvania railroad, and a double-track railroad across the hackensack meadows to the west side of bergen hill, a distance of 6.04 miles. the construction is embankment and bridge work, including bridges across the pennsylvania, erie, and lackawanna railroads, and the hackensack river. _north river division._--chief engineer, mr. charles m. jacobs. this division commences at the west side of bergen hill and passes through the hill in two single-track rock tunnels to a large permanent shaft at weehawken, near the west shore of the north river, and thence eastward a distance of 224 ft. to the weehawken shield-chamber. it then passes under the river through two cast-iron, concrete-lined, single-track tunnels, with outside diameters of 23 ft., to a point under 32d street, near eleventh avenue, in new york city, and thence through two single-track tunnels of varying cross-section, partly constructed in cut-and-cover, to the east side of tenth avenue. it then passes into the station yard and terminates at the east building line of ninth avenue. the work included the station yard excavation and walls from tenth avenue to ninth avenue, and the retaining walls and temporary underpinning of ninth avenue. the aggregate length of the line in this division is 2.76 miles. _new york station and approaches._--mr. george gibbs, chief engineer of electric traction and station construction. the station and its approaches extend from the east line of tenth avenue eastward to points in 32d street and 33d street, respectively, 292 ft. and 502 ft. east of the west line of seventh avenue. this division included the construction of subways and bridges for the support of 31st and 33d streets and seventh, eighth, and ninth avenues, the station building between seventh and eighth avenues, the foundations for the post office to be erected west of eighth avenue, the service power-house in 31st street between seventh and eighth avenues, the power-house in long island city, the traction system, tracks, signals, and miscellaneous facilities required in the physical construction of the entire terminal railroad ready for operation. messrs. mckim, mead, and white were the architects for the station and messrs. westinghouse, church, kerr and company executed the structural engineering work, both in the station and for the support of the streets, as well as the construction of the subways. the station is of steel skeleton construction with masonry curtain walls, all supported by a system of columns extending to a rock foundation. this building covers two city blocks and one intersecting street, and has an area of about 8 acres. it is 774 ft. long, 433 ft. wide, with an average height above the street of 69 ft., and a maximum of 153 ft. the main waiting-room is 277 ft. long, 103 ft. wide and 150 ft. high. the concourse is 340 ft. long and 210 ft. wide. the level of the track system below the street surface varies from 39 to 58 ft., and is from 7 to 10 ft. below mean high water in the harbor, thereby necessitating the establishment of an elaborate system of drainage over the entire station yard area. access to the street is gained by elevators and stairways. to accelerate the loading and unloading of the trains, high platforms will be constructed in the station on a level with the floors of the cars, in order to avoid the use of car steps and increase the traffic capacity of the station. there will be 21 standing-tracks at the station, and 11 passenger platforms, providing 21,500 ft. of platform adjacent to passenger trains. within the station area, which from tenth avenue to the normal tunnel sections east of seventh avenue comprises 28 acres, there will be a total of about 16 miles of track. the service plant for the installation of machinery for lighting, heating, and ventilating the station, and for operating the interlocking system, is located in an independent building south of the station. the power-house to supply the electrical energy for the operation of the tunnel line and the long island railroad is situated on property in queens borough adjoining the present long island railroad station near the east river, and was constructed under the chief engineer of electric traction and station construction. as at present designed, the dimensions of the structure are 200 ft. by 262 ft., outside measurement. it can accommodate six generating units of 5,500 kw., the standard adopted for future work, and two of 2,500 kw. for lighting the tunnels. the ultimate capacity of this station when extended will be about 105,000 kw. _east river division._--chief engineer, mr. alfred noble. this division begins at the eastern limits of the new york station at a point in 32d street, 292 ft. east of the west line of seventh avenue, and at a point in 33d street, 502 ft. east of the west line of seventh avenue, and also includes the excavation work and retaining walls for the station site and yard, to the track level, westward to ninth avenue. it extends eastward from the station under 32d and 33d streets through tunnels partly three-track and partly so-called twin tunnels to second avenue; thence the line curves to the left under private property to permanent shafts a few feet east of first avenue. four single-track, cast-iron, concrete-lined tunnels, with outside diameters of 23 ft., pass under the east river, and, after passing through permanent shafts near the bulkhead line, reach the surface in long island city from 3,000 to 4,200 ft. east of the east river. the tunnel portals are in sunnyside yard, which extends to woodside, the easterly end of the division, and the yard grading with its buildings and a number of city viaducts crossing it were executed under this division. the total length of the division is 4.48 miles. the total length of the entire line is 13.66 miles. there are 6.78 miles of single-track tube tunnels, and the average length of the tunnels between portals is 5.56 miles. [illustration: plate ii.--pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad. map and profile. harrison yard to bergen hill tunnel. meadow division july 30 1909] general considerations. details have been omitted from the foregoing description, as they can be treated better and more fully by the constructing engineers in succeeding papers. there are, however, some general considerations involved in the designing of the work, which may, perhaps, be referred to more conveniently in this introductory paper, and these will now receive attention. in all parts of the work problems were encountered requiring for their solution large expenditures and much engineering skill; but many of these difficulties had been frequently met in previous engineering experience, and the methods of overcoming them were well understood. thus, in the meadows division, a long and heavy embankment, part of which was on submerged meadow land, and many bridge foundations had to be constructed; in the bergen hill tunnels, very tough trap rock was encountered; in the tunnels under the city, the work was much complicated and its cost increased greatly by the necessity of caring for sewers, water and gas pipes, and the foundations of adjacent buildings; and many troublesome problems were met in the construction of the tunnels connecting the east river tunnels with the sunnyside yard. the novel features of the project, however, were the great tunnels extending the line under the north and east rivers. tunnels of the kind contemplated, to be used for heavy and rapid railroad traffic, had never been constructed through materials similar to those forming the beds of the north and east rivers. questions arising in connection with the design and method of construction of the tunnels will be considered later. here they are referred to only in their relation to the location and grades of the line, in which connection the conditions controlling their establishment were the most important elements. _location and grades._--it was desirable to make the tunnels between the bulkhead lines of the rivers as straight as possible, and it was necessary to place them at sufficient depth below the dredging plane of the war department (which in the north and east rivers is 40 and 26 ft. below mean low water, respectively) to insure them against possible injury from heavy anchors or sunken vessels. furthermore, they had to pass under the piers and bulkheads of manhattan at a depth sufficient to make it certain that they would not affect the stability of those structures. another consideration influencing the establishment of the depth of the tunnels below the bottoms of the rivers became important as soon as the method of construction by shields with compressed air was adopted, namely, the necessity of providing sufficient cover to guard, as far as possible, against blow-outs during construction. the tunnels under the city, connecting the sub-river tunnels with the terminal station, were located so as to give as favorable grades as possible. the provision of the franchise requiring the tops of the tunnels to be at least 19 ft. below the street surface, which had been suggested by the company to permit of future subways, had no effect on their location, as other conditions required them to be at a greater depth. the line extending westward from bergen hill had to be established so as to give ample head-room at the numerous bridges over the railroads and highways which it crosses. eastward from the east river tunnels, the grades were established so as to rise as uniformly as possible to the level of the sunnyside yard. the general features of the line, as finally adopted and constructed, are as follows: the maximum grade west of the terminal station occurs on the new york side of the north river, and is 2% in the west-bound and 1.93% in the east-bound tunnels. the ruling grades (for the ascending traffic) being 1.32% in the west-bound and 1.93% in the east-bound tunnels. in the tunnels east of the terminal station the ruling grade is 1.5% for both east-bound and west-bound traffic. there is, however, descending with the traffic, a short section on a grade of 1.9 per cent. these grades would be objectionable with steam locomotives under a heavy traffic, but the development of the electric locomotive has rendered possible the operation of grades which would have formerly been considered prohibitive. from the junction with the pennsylvania railroad, near harrison, n. j., to woodside, long island, a distance of 13.66 miles, there is an average of 1.5 curves per mile; the line having a total curvature of 230 degrees. the maximum curvature is 2 degrees. [illustration: plate iii.--p. t. & t. r. r. east river division. sunnyside yard] _method of construction of sub-river tunnels._--the character of the material through which the tunnels were to be constructed differed greatly in the two rivers. the bed of the north river, at the level of the tunnels, consists of silt composed principally of clay, sand, and water, while that of the east river is formed of a great variety of materials, such as quicksand, sand, boulders, gravel, clay, and bed-rock. when the method of construction had to be decided there were no thoroughly satisfactory precedents to follow in the case of either river, although the gas tunnel under the east river, the partly constructed hudson tunnels under the north river, the st. clair tunnel under the st. clair river, the blackwall and several other tunnels under the thames river at london, supplied much useful information. the smaller tunnels for a lighter traffic, since so successfully constructed under the north and east rivers, had not then been completed. under these circumstances, it was the desire of the management that the board should receive and consider proposed methods of construction from all available sources; and during the first year of its labors much of its time was devoted to the examination and discussion of projects submitted for its consideration by engineers and practical builders, some of these projects having decided merit. most of the methods proposed involved temporary structures, or the use of floating plant, in the navigable channels of the river. this was objectionable in view of the resulting obstruction to the enormous river traffic. after full consideration of the subject, it was decided to adopt the shield method with compressed air for the construction of the tunnels under both rivers, this being the only method recommended by the chief engineers, and having the great advantage of conducting all operations below the bottom of the river, thus avoiding obstruction of the channel. experience has shown, as was anticipated, that it is much more difficult to construct tunnels in such material as occurs in the east river and on the new jersey side of the north river, than in more homogeneous material such as is found in the greater part of the north river. during the progress of construction under the east river, there were frequent blow-outs through fissures opened in the river-bed, and the bottom of the river over the tunnel had to be blanketed continuously with clay, to check the flow of the escaping air. in view of the serious difficulties which it was thought might be encountered in the application of the shield method to the east river work, other methods for the execution of this part of the project received special consideration, one of the methods considered being the freezing process. it was proposed to drive a small pilot tunnel and freeze the ground for a sufficient distance around it by circulating brine through a system of pipes established in the tunnel. the pilot tunnel was then to be removed and the full-sized tunnel was to be excavated in the frozen material and its lining placed in position. by this means, it was intended to avoid the danger incident to the use of compressed air in material of greatly varying character. this method contained too many elements of uncertainty to justify its adoption; but as the management considered it desirable to have, if possible, an alternative method, an extended experiment was made with the freezing process. a pilot tunnel, 7 ft. 6 in. in diameter, was driven in the bed of the east river for a distance of 160 ft., circulating pipes were established in it, and brine at a very low temperature was passed through the pipes until the ground was frozen for a distance of about 11.5 ft. around the tunnel. observations to determine the rate of cooling and other important points connected with the process were carefully made. when it was found that the construction of the tunnels was progressing satisfactorily by the shield method, and that so much time was required to freeze the material that the freezing process could not be used to advantage in this particular case, the experiment was discontinued. _design of the sub-river tunnels._--the sub-river tunnels consist of a circular cast-iron shell, of the segmental, bolted type, having an outside diameter of 23 ft., lined with concrete having a normal thickness of 2 ft. from the outside of the shell. through each plate of the shell there is a small hole, closed with a screw plug, through which grout may be forced into the surrounding material. each tunnel contains a single track. a concrete bench, the upper surface of which is 1 ft. below the axis of the tunnel, is placed on each side of the track, the distance between benches being 11 ft. 8 in. these benches contain ducts for carrying electric cables. the main reason for adopting single-track tunnels instead of a larger tunnel containing two tracks was to avoid the danger of accidents due to the obstruction of both tracks by derailment or otherwise. the tunnels are made just large enough to allow the passage of a train with perfect safety, as it was believed that with such an arrangement thorough ventilation would be secured by the motion of the trains. experience seems to justify this assumption, but, in order to assure thorough ventilation under unusual conditions, such as the stoppage of trains in the tunnels, a complete ventilating plant will be provided for each tunnel. the rapidity and safety of construction were increased by making the tunnel as small as possible, one of the difficulties in the shield method of construction being the difference in hydrostatic pressure between the top and bottom of the shield, which increases with the diameter of the tunnel. the concrete lining was introduced to insure the permanency of the structure, strengthen it from outward pressure and guard it against injury from accidents which might occur in the tunnel. the side concrete benches were suggested by mr. cassatt, president, to confine the trains to the center of the tunnels in case of derailment, and to furnish sidewalks on each side of the trains so as to obviate the necessity of walking on the track. refuge niches are constructed in the side benches of the tunnels. manholes, splicing chambers, pump chambers, and other features for the handling of the electric cables and drainage, are established at intervals. at points where unusual stresses were anticipated, as for instance where the tunnels pass from rock to soft ground, the shell was composed of steel instead of cast-iron plates. in the north river tunnels the concrete lining in the invert and in the arch was reinforced by longitudinal steel bars, but these were not introduced in the east river tunnels. other details connected with the structures, including the drainage, lighting, ventilation, signaling, and electrification systems, will be given in succeeding papers. _stability of the sub-river tunnels._--one of the most important questions connected with the design of these tunnels was their probable stability under the long-continued action of a heavy and rapid railroad traffic. the tunnels are lighter than the materials which they displace even when the weight of the heavy live load is included. in the east river the character of the material seemed to justify the conclusion that the tunnels would not be displaced even under the action of the live load. in the north river, however, the tunnels are enveloped by a soft silt and it was at first apprehended that some system of supports would be advisable to carry the heavy traffic and insure the tunnels against displacement under its action. to meet this contingency, which was then believed to be a very serious one, it was proposed to sink cast-iron screw-piles through the bottom of each tunnel into and through the underlying silt until satisfactory bearing material was reached. the pile supports were worked out in sufficient detail to be embraced in the contract for the construction of these tunnels, with provision, however, for omitting them should it be determined subsequently that their use was undesirable. the contract plans contained provisions for sliding joints where the piles pass through the tunnel floor, so that the live load might be carried directly to the pile heads by a system of girders, and also for attaching the piles directly to the tunnel, the two plans being alternatives. investigations, made during the progress of the work to determine the physical character of the silt and its action on the tunnels, suggested the possibility that the use of pile supports might be inadvisable. this view was confirmed by actual experience in the operation of the tunnels of the hudson companies between hoboken, n. j., and morton street, manhattan, which were opened to traffic in february, 1908. the stability of these tunnels under traffic gave further assurance that supports were unnecessary under the north river tunnels of the pennsylvania railroad company, and they were therefore dispensed with. _cross-passages between the tunnels._--the bergen hill tunnels, the land portions of the north river tunnels and the tunnels under manhattan are connected by cross-passages at intervals varying from 50 to 300 ft. as it was the desire of the management to provide every arrangement possible to insure the safety of its passengers and employees and also to provide for the convenience of inspection, the question of establishing cross-passages between the tunnels under the rivers was given most careful consideration. the conclusion was finally reached that such passages as it was possible to construct between these tunnels might increase instead of diminish the danger in case of accident. no more cross-passages have therefore been constructed in the sub-river sections, except in the east river, where there is a cross-passage and pump chamber combined between each pair of tunnels about 750 ft. from the manhattan bulkhead line. probable results of the improvements. in preceding pages reference has been made to the general objects of the improvements included in the project of the pennsylvania railroad company for the new york district. while it is impossible, in this introductory paper, to analyze fully the transportation problem at new york, it seems desirable to indicate briefly some of the more obvious effects which the improvements may be expected to produce upon the distribution and handling of traffic. new york city owes its position as the business metropolis of the country mainly to its magnificent harbor and the extensive waterfronts on its deep, wide rivers, which furnish unrivaled facilities, at a short distance from the sea, for foreign and domestic water-borne commerce, its foreign commerce being about half the total for the whole country. the water-transportation facilities of the port and its tributaries, therefore, have always been guarded with jealous care, not only by the local commercial interests but also by the general government. during recent years, however, the population of the metropolitan district has increased so enormously that new york is now the greatest terminal passenger and freight traffic center in the country; and in manufactures it ranks first among american cities. the new commercial interests thus created are of at least equal importance with those of the water-borne commerce, although their existence and development are largely the result of the water facilities of the port. the local passenger and freight traffic of the pennsylvania and of other railroads reaching the west shore of the north river is conducted by car-floats and ferry-boats which deliver their loads at piers on the manhattan waterfront and elsewhere in the harbor. these boats obstruct and endanger the free navigation of the channels and occupy space along the waterfront greatly needed for the accommodation of the long-distance water-borne commerce, especially on the north river. in the east river the importance of ferry-boats as a means of traffic distribution has already been greatly reduced by the construction of bridges and tunnels which provide for the greater part of the passenger and vehicular traffic. the north river, however, by reason of its greater width and the comparative slowness of its currents, is by far the more important waterway for the use of ocean-going vessels of the larger classes. in this river the conditions for the construction of bridges, within the limits of commercial convenience, seem to be practically prohibitory. tunnels, for the transportation of passengers and the diversion of the freight traffic from the inner waters of the harbor, are apparently the only available means of relief. when the new line is in operation, a very large part of the new york passenger traffic of the pennsylvania railroad will be carried to the new york station at seventh avenue and 33d street and the rest will go to cortlandt street through the hudson company's tunnels. thus a large portion of the pennsylvania passenger ferry traffic, which amounts to more than 91,000 passengers daily, will be practically eliminated from the water-transportation problem. in addition, a large part of the long island railroad's passengers will use the station at seventh avenue and 33d street, and its ferry traffic will be reduced accordingly. the new arrangements for the transfer of freight from greenville to bay ridge will relieve the inner waters of the harbor of a large volume of obstructive car-float traffic. there appears to be no reason why this traffic should not be eventually conducted through tunnels under the outer harbor, should future transportation conditions justify the enormous cost of such structures. it is to be remarked that while these new arrangements greatly reduce the passenger and freight water transportation, they have no effect on the large vehicular traffic across the north river which must continue to be conducted by ferries until it can be otherwise provided for. as long as these conditions exist, ferry-boats must be used in large numbers and continue to obstruct the north river. this difficulty probably cannot be overcome by the construction of bridges, as in the case of the east river, but it does not seem too much to expect that, eventually, tunnels to provide for the vehicular traffic, like the blackwall tunnel under the thames, will be established under the north river. it would be interesting to estimate the increase in railroad traffic capacity resulting from these improvements, but the data required for this purpose are not available. some idea of the increase in passenger traffic capacity resulting from the establishment of the tunnel line may be obtained by comparing the proposed daily train-movements for the new station with the train-movements at other important railroad stations. the daily train-movements of six such stations are given in the following table: total trains movement in and out at for 24 hours. maximum hour. jersey city 281 29 broad street station, philadelphia 538 48 union station, st. louis 462 89 south terminal station, boston 861 87 grand central station, new york 357 44 pennsylvania station, new york[b] 500 50 footnotes: [footnote b: proposed train service when station is opened, the ultimate capacity of the station being in excess of 1,000 trains per day.] the freight capacity of the pennsylvania system at new york has been greatly enlarged by the construction of the greenville yard and the facilities connected therewith, but it is impossible to estimate the amount of this increase. however, it is worthy of remark that, during the period from 1900 to 1906, the freight traffic density on the directly-operated lines of the pennsylvania railroad company increased from 3,268,330 to 4,742,081 ton-miles per mile of road, a growth of nearly 50 per cent. doubtless the improved freight facilities of the new york district had a large influence in the development of this increase. one of the most interesting points connected with this development of traffic facilities is its influence on the relative distribution of population in the different parts of the metropolitan district. in 1907 the population per acre of the different divisions of greater new york was reported as follows: manhattan, 157; brooklyn, 29; bronx, 14; queens, 3; richmond, 2. the effect of new lines connecting some of these districts, and sections of new jersey not far from the north river, with the business center of the city will undoubtedly be to increase greatly their population-density. it does not seem probable that the population-density of manhattan will be sensibly reduced by these improvements, for they stimulate the increase of population, and apparently no increase of transportation facilities can keep up with the growth of the city. the population of a great commercial city must be congested near the business center. this is a necessary condition of its existence. all that can be done to meet this condition is to provide all possible facilities for moving the people into and out of the business districts and within its limits. during recent years the business population of the lower part of the borough of manhattan has become greatly congested. very high buildings, providing business accommodations for large numbers of people, have been constructed, and these people must move to and from their working places at about the same times, that is, at the "rush hours" in the morning and afternoon, at the beginning and ending of the working day. every effort has been made to provide for this immense and rapidly increasing local passenger traffic, by the construction of surface, elevated, and subterranean railways; but the demand for transportation has increased much faster than the facilities can be provided, and it is evident that the limit of down-town passenger traffic facilities has been very nearly reached. apparently, the only remedy for these conditions is the movement of business and the people transacting it up-town or to the boroughs of brooklyn and queens, which are now readily accessible by tunnels and subways. this movement, of course, is resisted by the great real estate and money interests centered in the lower part of the city, but, notwithstanding this resistance, the improvement has commenced and has rapidly advanced. the great retail houses are being established above 23d street; the banks and brokers' offices are rapidly appearing around the new business center of the city. the facilities afforded by the telephone and the subway for communication with the money center have doubtless greatly promoted this up-town movement. when the pennsylvania tunnel extension is in operation, the easiest and quickest way for the passenger to reach the city from newark will bring him into the pennsylvania station at seventh avenue and 33d street. the schedule fast time from newark to the new york cortlandt street station is now 25 min. this may be reduced to about 18 min. by the use of the hudson company's tunnels, and while this involves inconvenience in changing transportation at jersey city, yet it brings the traveler three blocks nearer broadway. the time from newark to the pennsylvania station will be about 17 min., and the trip will be made without change of transportation, so that, undoubtedly, by far the greater part of the pennsylvania's passenger traffic desiring to reach the shopping and hotel center of the city will go to the new up-town station. the effect of the tunnel extension in increasing the volume and rapidity of the up-town movement and the real estate values will be very great; indeed, its influence is already apparent, although the line is not yet opened for traffic. with the extension of the present subway down town on the west side with direct connections to brooklyn, and up town from 42d street to the bronx, with connections to permit convenient transfers between these two straightaway subways--one on the east side and the other on the west side of manhattan--the pennsylvania station will become a great center for receiving and distributing passenger traffic between all the boroughs of the city and outlying points. the new post office to be established adjacent to the terminal station will also greatly assist in accelerating the up-town movement. in concluding this account of the new york tunnel extension project, the writer desires to pay a tribute of admiration and respect to the memory of the late a. j. cassatt, president of the pennsylvania railroad company, to whom the conception, design, and execution of the project are mainly due. his education and experience as a civil engineer, his thorough knowledge of all the details of railroad construction, operation, and management, gained by long and varied service, the directness, clearness, and strength of his mind, and his great executive ability, placed him at the head of the railroad men of the country. in the consideration of great problems, whether of transportation, finance, commerce, or political economy, he was almost unequaled, owing to the breadth, originality, and decisiveness of his character; yet his manner to his subordinates was so direct and simple that he seemed unconscious of his own superiority. great as it is, the new york plan of improvement is only one item in a far-reaching scheme of development which became the policy of the pennsylvania railroad company through mr. cassatt's advice and influence, yet his strongest interest was doubtless centered in the new york works. it is the sincere regret of all connected with the design and execution of the project that he did not live to see its completion. footnotes: [footnote a: brigadier-general, u. s. army, _retired_; chairman, board of engineers, pennsylvania tunnel and terminal r. r. co.] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1158 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the cross-town tunnels.[a] by james h. brace and francis mason, members, am. soc. c. e. in this paper, it is proposed to describe the construction of the tunnels extending eastward from the easterly extension of the terminal station to the permanent shafts east of first avenue. they were located under 32d and 33d streets from the station to second avenue, and thence, curving to the left, passed under private property and first avenue to the shafts, as described in a preceding paper. typical cross-sections of the tunnels are shown on plate xii.[b] on may 29th, 1905, a contract was entered into with the united engineering and contracting company for the performance of this work. this contract provided that work on each pair of tunnels should be carried on from two shafts. the first, here referred to as the first avenue shafts, were located just east of that avenue and directly over the line of the tunnels; the other two, called the intermediate shafts, were located on private property to the north of each pair of tunnels in the blocks between fourth and madison avenues. it was originally intended to do all the work of construction from these four shafts. workings were started both east and west from the intermediate shafts, and those to the west were to be continued to the terminal station. after the change of plans, described in a previous paper, it was decided to sink a third shaft on each line. these were known as the west shafts, and were located between sixth and seventh avenues. finally, it was found necessary to build a portion of the tunnels on each line west of sixth avenue in open cut. the locations of the shafts are shown on plate xiv.[c] the first avenue shafts were built by s. pearson and son, inc., for the joint use of the two contractors, as described in the paper on the tunnels under the east river. while the shafts were being sunk, the full-sized tunnels were excavated westward by the contractor for the river tunnels for a distance of 50 ft., and top headings for 50 ft. farther. by this means, injury to the caissons and to the contractor's plant in the shafts by the subsequent work in the cross-town tunnels was avoided. the west half of the shaft was for the exclusive use of the contractor for the cross-town tunnels. contractor's plant. the method of handling the work adopted by the contractor was, broadly speaking, as follows: excavation was usually carried on by modifications of the top-heading and bench method, the bench being carried as close to the face as possible in order to allow the muck from the heading to be blasted over the bench into the full section. the spoil was loaded into 3-yd. buckets (designed by the contractor and hereinafter described), by steam shovels operated by compressed air, and hauled to the shafts by electric locomotives. electrically-operated telphers, suspended from a timber trestle, hoisted the buckets, and, traveling on a mono-rail track, deposited them on wagons for transportation to the dock. arriving at the dock, the buckets were lifted by electrically-operated stiff-leg derricks and their contents deposited on scows for final disposal. the spoil was thus transported from the heading to the scow without breaking bulk. when concreting was in progress, the spoil buckets were returned to the shafts loaded with sand and stone. the concrete materials were deposited in storage bins placed in the shafts, from which they were fed to the mixers located at the foot of the shaft about on a level with the crown of the tunnels. the concrete was transported to the forms in side-dump, steel, concrete cars, hauled by the electric locomotives. electrical power was adopted largely on account of the restricted area at the shaft sites, where a steam plant would have occupied considerable space of great value for other purposes. the installation of a steam plant at the intermediate shafts, which were located in a high-class residential district, would have been highly objectionable to the neighboring property owners, on account of the attendant noise, smoke, and dirt, and, in addition, the cost of the transportation of fuel would have been a serious burden. except for the forges and, toward the last, the steam locomotives, not a pound of coal was burned on the work. the use of the bucket and telpher also eliminated most of the objectionable noise incident to the transfer of spoil from tunnel cars to ordinary wagons at the shaft sites. power plants were installed at the north shaft near first avenue and at the rear of the 33d street intermediate shaft. _first avenue plant._--fig. 1, plate lviii, is a general view of the first avenue plant. the power-house at the corner of 34th street and first avenue supplied compressed air for operating drills, shovels, pumps, and hoists in the tunnels driven from the river shafts, and in it three laidlaw-dunn-gordon compressors were installed. the largest was a 32 by 20 by 30-in., two-stage, cross-compound, direct-connected to a fort wayne 480 h.p., 230-volt, direct-current, constant-speed motor run at 100 rev. per min. this compressor was rated at 2,870 cu. ft. of free air per minute at a pressure of 100 lb. it was governed by throttling the suction, the governor being controlled by the pressure in the air receiver and the motor running continuously at a constant speed. the two others were of similar type, one was 22-1/2 by 14 by 18-in., rated at 1,250 cu. ft. of free air at a pressure of 100 lb., the other was 16 by 10 by 18-in., rated at 630 cu. ft. they were fitted with 9-ft. fly-wheels, and were driven at 150 rev. per min. by 105-h.p., general electric, 220-volt, compound-wound, direct-current motors running at 655 rev. per min. the larger of these two compressors was driven by two of the motors belted in tandem, and the smaller was belt-connected to a third motor. the compressors were water-jacketed and had small inter-coolers, the water supply for which was itself cooled in a wheeler condenser and engineering company's water-cooling tower. the pump and the blower operating it were electrically driven. the telphers, used for hoisting muck from the tunnels and for lowering supplies, were each hung from single rails on a timber trestle, about 40 ft. high, spanning and connecting the two shafts. one machine was provided for each shaft, and where their tracks crossed 33d street they were separated sufficiently to permit the machines to pass each other. at this point, and covering the street, a large platform was provided, on which the trucks were loaded and unloaded (fig. 2, plate lviii), and from which they descended by an incline on first avenue leading south to 32d street. the platform also covered practically all the yard at the south shaft and materially increased the available working area. the telphers were built by the dodge cold storage company, and were operated by a 75-h.p. general electric motor for hoisting and a 15-h.p. northern electric company motor for propulsion. their rated lifting capacity was 10,000 lb. at a speed of 200 ft. per min. the carpenter shop and machine-shop, both of which served the entire work, were conveniently located in small buildings on the loading platform. in the former the saws were each run independently by small electric motors suspended under the platform. the heavy forms and form carriages used in lining the tunnels with concrete were fabricated and stored on the platform outside. the machine-shop lathes, etc., were all belted to one shaft driven by an 8-h.p. general electric motor. above the machine-shop was a locker-room and below it on the street level was the main blacksmith shop for the work. subsidiary blacksmith shops were located at each of the other shafts. the storeroom and additional locker-rooms were located above the power-plant in the north shaft yard, and isolated from the other structures was a small oil-house. additional storage space was provided by the contractor on 32d street just west of first avenue by renting three old buildings and the yards in the rear of them and of the railroad company's cement warehouse adjacent. here electric conduits, pipe, castings, and other heavy and bulky supplies were stored. during excavation the headings were supplied with forced ventilation through 12-in. and 14-in. no. 16, spiral-riveted, asphalted pressure pipes, canvas extensions being used beyond the ends of the pipes. a no. 4 american blower, located at the top of each shaft and driven by a 15-h.p. general electric motor, supplied the air. [illustration: plate lviii, fig. 1.--view of first avenue plant.] [illustration: plate lviii, fig. 2.--telpher structure and loading platform, first avenue shaft.] [illustration: plate lviii, fig. 3.--headworks at 33d street: intermediate shaft.] [illustration: plate lviii, fig. 4.--loading spoil on barges, 35th street pier.] a concrete-mixing plant was placed in each shaft, the mixer being located high enough to discharge into cars at about the level of the springing line of the arch. above the mixers were the measuring hoppers set in the floor of a platform which was large enough to carry half a day's supply of cement. at the south shaft the cement was delivered to this floor from the loading platform through a spiral steel chute; at the north shaft it was lowered in buckets by the telpher. the sand and stone were drawn into the hoppers through short chutes from the base of the storage bins which occupied the remaining height of the shaft--about 50 ft. at the south shaft the bins were of concrete and steel, about 6 by 12 ft. in section, and attached to the central wall of the caisson. sand and stone were delivered into them from dump-wagons on the loading platform. at the north shaft steel-plate bins were used, and were supplied with material by the buckets handled by the telpher. the mixers were no. 5 smith, belt-connected to 25-h.p. motors, and about 0.8 cu. yd. of concrete was mixed at a batch. the concrete cars were steel side-dumpers of the wiener or koppel type. in order to be able to continue concreting during the winter, when neither sand nor stone could be obtained by water, practically all the space under the loading platforms in the south shaft yards not occupied by the blacksmith shop was filled with these materials, which were placed in storage in the late fall. _intermediate-shaft plant._--the air-compressing plant was located at the rear of the 33d street intermediate shaft, and supplied air for driving the tunnels east and west from the intermediate shafts on both 32d and 33d streets. two compressors, the same as the large laidlaw-dunn-gordon machine at first avenue, were installed here, with a similar water-cooling tower. both shafts were on private property, owned by the railroad company, on the north side of the streets, and each was equipped with two telphers supported on timber trestles, similar to those at first avenue. here, however, the buckets were placed on wagons standing at the curb, as shown by fig. 3, plate lviii. blowers for ventilation were installed at each shaft, as at first avenue, and, after the excavation had proceeded some distance, small blacksmith shops, for sharpening drill steel and making minor repairs, were located in the tunnels near the shafts. the concrete plant in each shaft was similar in arrangement to those at first avenue, but the storage bins had wooden walls made of 2 by 4-in. and 2 by 6-in. scantling nailed flat on each other. the contractor's office on 33d street backed up against the 32d street shaft site, and the basement was used as a storeroom for supplies for both shafts. after the decision to do part of the work between sixth and seventh avenues in open cut, an 8-in. air main was laid in 33d street to the west shafts, and air was supplied from the intermediate shaft for work on both streets in that neighborhood. _west-shaft plant._--west of sixth avenue, between 32d and 33d streets and adjacent to the open-cut sections, the railroad company obtained from the hudson and manhattan railroad company the use of a large area from which the buildings had recently been removed, and gave the use of it to the contractor. this was of great value in prosecuting the west end of the work. the two west shafts were located in the streets and were supplied with short timber trestles similar to those at the intermediate shafts. one telpher was taken from each of the intermediate shafts to operate at each of the west shafts. in addition, a number of stiff-leg derricks were set up along the open-cut section, and were operated by lidgerwood or lambert air hoisting engines, or by electric motors, as circumstances dictated. a 15-ton bay city locomotive crane was also used along part of the open-cut work on 32d street. several concrete plants were installed at points along the open-cut section, and were moved from place to place, the same general arrangement being adopted as at the plants already described. no. 3 and no. 4 ransome mixers were used, and were generally set up at about the level of the top of the arch. the sand and stone storage bins were made of scantlings spiked together, and were necessarily rather shallow on account of the proximity of the tunnels to the street surface. _thirty-fifth street pier._--for the receipt and disposal of materials at the 35th street pier, four stiff-leg derricks, operated by electric hoisting engines, were installed. two were used in lifting the muck buckets from the wagons and dumping their contents on the scows for final disposal (fig. 4, plate lviii); and the other two were fitted with clam-shell buckets for unloading sand and broken stone from barges and depositing the materials in large hoppers, from which they were drawn into wagons for transportation to the various concrete plants. a large part of the cement (all of which was supplied by the railroad company) was also unloaded at the 35th street pier and hauled directly to the work, the surplus being stored temporarily in the company's cement warehouses on 32d, 33d and 35th streets, near first avenue, from which it was drawn as required. on the dock was located the main powder magazine, a small concrete structure. considerable use was also made of neighboring piers for unloading electric conduits, lumber, steel, etc. [illustration: fig. 1. special steel bucket plan of bucket end view side view of bucket section at a-a] _tunnel plant._--the spoil buckets, designed by d. l. hough and george perrine, members, am. soc. c. e., were a novel feature of the work. these buckets are shown in detail in fig. 1 and various photographs. they were of 3 cu. yd. capacity and were split longitudinally, the two halves being pinned at the apices of the ends. for lifting, they were suspended from eyes at that point, and, when dumping, trip ropes were hooked into eyes at the bottom of each side; lifting the trip ropes or lowering the hoisting rope split the bucket, as shown in fig. 4, plate lviii, and dumped the contents. they were transported in the tunnel on flat cars, and in the street on wagons, both cars and wagons being provided with cradles shaped to receive the bottom of the bucket. in the tunnels the loading was done with air-operated steam shovels, four (model 20) marion shovels being used at various points of the work. in fig. 1, plate lix, one of these is shown loading the bucket. the cars were hauled by general electric, standard, 10-ton, mine locomotives, the current for which was taken at 220 volts from a pair of no. 00 copper trolley wires suspended from the roof of the tunnel. the collector was a small four-wheeled buggy riding on the wires and connected to the locomotive by several hundred feet of cable wound on a reel for use beyond the end of the trolley wire. two 8-1/2-ton, davenport, steam locomotives were also used in 32d street, toward the end of the work, after the headings had been holed through and the tunnels would quickly clear themselves of gas and smoke. the steam shovels were supplemented by two browning, 15-ton, locomotive cranes, which handled the spoil in places where timbering interfered with the operation of the shovels. all tracks were of 3-ft. gauge throughout and laid with 40-lb. rails. practically all the heavy drilling was done with ingersoll drills (model e 52), the trimming being largely done with jap and baby drills. a large number of pumps were used at various points on the work, and practically all were of cameron make, the largest ones at the shaft being 10 by 5 by 13-in. the grout machines were of the vertical-cylinder, air-stirring type. shaft sinking. the sinking of the intermediate shafts was the first work undertaken by the contractor. the 33d street shaft was 34.5 ft. long, 21 ft. wide, and 83 ft. deep. the rock surface averaged 5 ft. below the ground surface. sinking was started on july 10th, 1905, and was completed on october 3d, 1905, the rock being hard and dry. the average daily rate was 0.73 ft. and an average of 17.1 cu. yd. were excavated per day, with two shifts of 8 hr. each. the first shift started at 6 a. m. and the second at 2.30 p. m., ending at 11 p. m. these hours were adopted in order to avoid undue disturbance during the night. [illustration: plate lix, fig. 1.--air-operated steam shovel used in tunnel.] [illustration: plate lix, fig. 2.--timbering in top headings above i-beams.] [illustration: plate lix, fig. 3.--first section of concrete lining at fifth avenue.] [illustration: plate lix, fig. 4.--timbering and rubble masonry over i-beams.] before blasting the first lift of rock, channel cuts 5 or 6 ft. deep were made along the sides of the shaft, in order to avoid damage to the walls of neighboring buildings. timbering was required for a depth of only 10 ft. below the surface of the ground. a drift, 30.6 ft. long, 17 ft. wide, and 27 ft. high, connected the south end of the shaft with the tunnels. the drift was excavated in three stages, a top heading and a bench in two lifts. while blasting the cut in the top heading, there was enough concussion to break glass in the neighboring buildings. the use of a radialax machine reduced the concussion somewhat, but it was very quickly abandoned on account of the length of time required for the drilling. the construction of the 32d street shaft was quite similar to the one on 33d street. it was 31.5 ft. long, 20.5 ft. wide, and 71 ft. deep. the depth of earth excavation averaged 19.5 ft. the rock in this shaft was seamy and not quite as hard or dry as that in 33d street, and timbering was required for practically the full depth to the crown of the drift. sinking was started on may 15th, 1905, and was completed on october 26th, 1905. the daily average rate was 0.30 ft. in earth and 0.52 ft. in rock. the drift was excavated in much the same manner as the one in 33d street, but the rock being softer the radialax machine was not used. tunnel excavation. during the early part of the work, the contractor devoted his entire attention to the work of excavation. nearly all the excavation east of fifth avenue was done before any of the lining was placed. at a number of points west of fifth avenue and at a few points to the east the nature of the rock was such that the two operations had to be done simultaneously. _single-tunnel method._--for an average distance of 350 ft. west from the first avenue shafts there were four single tunnels. the rock was sound and comparatively dry. a top heading of the full size of the tunnel and about 8 ft. high was first driven. it was drilled by four drills mounted on two columns, and was blasted in the ordinary way. the bench was about 13 ft. high. tripod drills, standing on the bench, drilled the usual holes, but, owing to the lack of head-room, steels long enough to reach the bottom of the bench could not be used. tripod drills were set as low as possible at the foot of the bench and drilled lifting holes. these holes were inclined downward from 10â° to 15â° to the horizontal, and were spaced to converge at the location of the drainage ditches. the heading was usually driven from 10 to 20 ft. in advance of the bench. at this distance a large part of the muck from the heading was shot backward over the bench. in the single tunnels the muck was loaded by hand. _twin-tunnel methods._--from the end of the single-track tunnel westward to fifth avenue on 33d street, and to madison avenue on 32d street, with some exceptions, each pair of tunnels was excavated for the entire width at one operation. three different methods of work were extensively used. they were the double-heading method, the center-heading method, and the full-sized-heading method, and these differed only in the manner of drilling and blasting. the bench was usually within 10 or 15 ft. of the face of the heading, and was drilled and fired in the same way as in the single tunnels. after the installation of the permanent plant, most of the muck was handled by steam shovels. in the double-heading method, shown on plate lvii, the top headings for each tunnel of the pair were driven separately, leaving a short rock core-wall between them. the headings were drilled from columns in the manner described for the single tunnels. the temporary rock dividing wall between the headings was drilled by a tripod drill on the bench of one of the headings, and was fired with the bench. in the center-heading method, also shown on plate lvii, only one heading was driven. it was rectangular in shape, about 8 ft. high and 14 ft. wide. it was located on the center line between the tunnels. in general, the face was from 6 to 12 ft., or the length of one or two rounds, in advance of the remainder of the face at the top. the center heading was drilled by four drills mounted on two columns. by turning these drills to the side, they were used for holes at right angles to the line of the tunnels, by which the remainder of the face of the heading was blasted. by turning the drills downward, the bench holes under the center heading were also drilled. the center heading explored the rock in advance of the full-width heading, and gave a good idea as to the care needed in firing. for the full-width-heading method, fig. 2, ten drills were mounted on five columns set abreast across the face. holes were drilled to form a cut near the center line between the tunnels. the remainder of the holes were located so that they would draw into the cut. the bench was frequently drilled from the same set-up of columns by turning the drills downward. in sound rock this method proved to be the most rapid of any. practically all trimming was left until immediately before the concreting. it was then taken up as a separate operation, but proved to be costly and tedious, and a hindrance to the placing of the lining. _materials encountered._--all the rock encountered was the familiar hudson schist, but it varied widely in its mineral constituents and in its physical characteristics. in many places where the rock surface was penetrated, a fine sand was found that was probably quicksand. the material above the rock in the open-cut sections was mostly sand. [illustration: fig. 2. method of excavating with full-width heading cross-town tunnels, manhattan side elevation front elevation plan showing position of columns for drilling face] the concurrence of the watercourse, shown on general viele's map of manhattan island (plate ix[d]), with the points where difficulties in the construction of the tunnels were encountered has been noted in a previous paper. in all cases where the course of this ancient stream was crossed (except at its final intersection of 33d street), the rock was found to be very soft and disintegrated, a large quantity of water was encountered, and heavy timbering was required. the construction at these localities will be taken up later. in addition, disintegrated rock, but of a less troublesome character, was invariably met under the depressions in the rock surface developed by the borings from the streets and test holes from the tunnels. many of these places required timbering, and no timbering was elsewhere necessary except at the portals. these coincident conditions were especially marked in 32d street, which for a long distance closely adjoins the course of the former creek. _disposal of spoil._--the materials excavated from the tunnels were dumped at the 35th street pier on barges furnished by the railroad company under another contract, and were towed to points near the bayonne peninsula where the spoil was used principally in the construction of the greenville freight yards and the line across the hackensack meadows to the tunnels. details of this work will be given in a subsequent paper. after december, 1907, when the excavation was about 85% completed, the contractor furnished the barges and effected the complete disposal of the spoil. _difficulties of excavation._--as stated in a previous paper, the excavation of the twin tunnel in 33d street was continued westward to the west line of fifth avenue on the original grade. at that point the contractor started three drifts in the three-track section. the relation of the drifts to each other and to the cross-section are shown by fig. 3. the center heading was driven a little in advance of those on the sides. at a distance of 65 ft. west of fifth avenue the rock surface was broken through in the top of the heading, and a very fine sand was encountered. for some distance east of this point the rock was badly disintegrated, and the heading required timbering. through the soft material, tight lagging was placed on the sides and roof of the heading, and the face was protected by breast boards. there was a moderate flow of water through the cracks, and, in spite of every effort, some of the fine sand was constantly carried into the heading. in one or two instances considerable ground was lost at the face. on the evening of december 14th, 1906, as a heavy coal wagon was passing along 33d street above the heading, the rear wheels dropped through the asphalt pavement. an examination disclosed a cavity under the pavement about 14 ft. long, 12 ft. wide and 14 ft. deep. evidently, the fine sand had gradually settled into the voids caused by the loss of material at the face, and the settlement broke the brick sewer over the heading. the sewer was temporarily repaired, and the hole in the street was filled before morning. a tight bulkhead was built across the heading, and work was abandoned at that point. the north drift was advanced to a point 108 ft. west of fifth avenue where sand was also encountered and a considerable run occurred. after that time all work on the three-track section was discontinued. the company then took up the consideration of changes in plan. to determine the difficulties of driving a twin tunnel at a lower elevation, an exploration drift, 8 ft. high and 12 ft. wide, was driven on the center line of the street as a top heading on the proposed new grade. test holes were drilled above this heading and to the sides. the results indicated that there was sufficient rock cover of fair quality to enable the twin tunnel to be driven without great risk. the new plan (continuing the twin tunnel westward at a lower grade) was adopted in march, 1907, and work was immediately resumed at fifth avenue. the relation between the cross-sections under the old and new plans at that point is shown by fig. 3. before the new section was excavated it was necessary to support the timber work in the old headings. the plan adopted is also shown by fig. 3. the rock was excavated under the center heading, as shown in cross-section, for a length of about 3 ft. a girder composed of two 18-in. i-beams was then put in position over each line and supported on the sides by posts. the ends at the center lines between the tunnels were supported on short posts bearing on the rock bench. the support of the timbering in the headings was then transferred to the girders by additional posts. blocking was also inserted between the tops of the beams and the rock walls between the headings. fig. 2, plate lix, gives a good idea of the timber work in the top headings above the i-beams. when the roof had been made secure, the removal of the bench was begun. as the work advanced it was necessary to replace the short posts at the center of the tunnel by others of full height, and there was considerable settlement in the i-beams during this operation. when the bench had been removed to a point 61 ft. west of fifth avenue, settlement was detected in the street surface above. bench excavation was suspended and a section of the permanent lining, 35 ft. long, was placed. the space between the lining and the beams and between the beams and the roof was filled with rubble masonry. grout pipes were built into the masonry and later all voids were filled with grout. fig. 3, plate lix, shows the first section of the concrete lining completed and part of the rubble in place; and fig. 4, plate lix, shows details of the work above the tunnels. a second section of bench was next removed and more lining was placed. work was continued in this way until all the roof at the old three-track headings had been secured. in this portion of the work the posts were embedded in the concrete. between fifth and sixth avenues there were two more sections of bad rock where it was necessary to support the roof with steel beams. at these latter points there were no complications with the excavation for the three-track tunnel, and the work was much simpler. to avoid leaving the center posts in the permanent work, two rows of temporary posts were placed, as shown by fig. 1, plate lx, the center wall and skewback were built, and the posts were removed, as shown by fig. 2, plate lx, before placing the remainder of the lining. in 32d street the normal progress of the excavation was frequently interrupted by encountering soft and unsound rock. in the excavation between the east river and the intermediate shafts it was possible to overcome these conditions by temporarily narrowing the excavation on one side and supporting the roof on 16 by 16-in. transverse timbers caught in niches in the rock at the sides, leaving sufficient room for the steam shovel to work through. in order to save time, the height of the excavation was not increased before placing these timbers, so that, previous to the concreting, they all required to be raised to clear the masonry lining and were then supported on posts on the center line between the tunnels. this permitted the remainder of the excavation to be made, and such additional timbering as was required was placed. at most of these sections a brick arch and water-proofing were used, on account of the presence of water. in certain places the center line posts were buried in the core-wall, and, in order to permit the placing of the water-proofing, were then cut off one by one flush with its top as the load was transferred to the completed masonry. in other cases the load was transferred to posts clear of the masonry and the center line posts were entirely removed. under such conditions the normal concrete methods, to be described later, could not be used, and special forms were substituted. [illustration: fig. 3. construction of twin tunnels, through excavation started for three-track tunnel in 33d street near 5th avenue] in this section of the work the most serious difficulties were encountered near fourth avenue a short distance east of the intermediate shaft, and beneath the site of the old pond shown on general viele's map. the rock cover was known from the boring to be very thin, and the presence of the subway overhead caused some anxiety. the excavation was at first taken out to practically full width and timbered, but the rock became so treacherous that the heading was narrowed to a width sufficient for one tunnel only. with this span the rock in the roof held without timbering. as the masonry lining approached, sufficient trimming was done to permit the placing of the core-wall and one arch. above the completed core-wall and brick arch the voids were filled solid with rubble masonry to give an unyielding support to the roof. the excavation of the remaining width of tunnel was then undertaken. near the west side of fourth avenue, the excavation broke out of rock at the top, and fine sand and gravel with a large quantity of water were encountered. the work of excavation was arduous, and proceeded very slowly, on account of the care with which it was executed. only a small amount of sand entered the tunnel, but the lining was placed as soon as the excavation was completed. rubble masonry packing and grout ejected through pipes built into the arch were used to fill the voids above the roof. as a further precaution against the settlement of the subway, 2-in. pipes were washed down from the street above the point where soft ground was exposed in the roof of the tunnel, and through them grout was forced into the ground at various depths. careful levels show that no settlement of the subway has taken place. west of the intermediate shaft the tunnel was excavated for full width until bad rock was encountered about 60 ft. west of madison avenue. (see general viele's map, plate ix.) timbering was used for a short distance, and then the heading and bench were narrowed to 18 ft., and steam-shovel excavation was abandoned. as the heading advanced the rock grew steadily softer, the difficult conditions in this locality culminating when a slushy disintegrated feldspar was met, requiring poling and breasting. thereafter the rock improved markedly, but near the east side of fifth avenue its thickness above the roof was found to be only 1-1/2 ft., and the advance was stopped, pending a decision as to a change of plan. [illustration: plate lx, fig. 1.--double row of posts under i-beams, supporting roof in bad rock section.] [illustration: plate lx, fig. 2.--center wall and skewback under i-beams, after removal of double row of posts.] [illustration: plate lx, fig. 3.--timbering in full-width heading of three-track tunnel.] [illustration: plate lx, fig. 4.--underpinning walls in open-cut section.] after some delay, an exploration drift, similar to the one already described, was driven through to sixth avenue, and a change in plan was made, substantially the same as for the 33d street tunnels. enlargement to full size was at once started, but, for 400 ft. the rock was very soft and poor, and required extremely careful handling. the exploration drift was widened out to the full twin-tunnel width, and i-beams were placed and supported, in much the same manner as in 33d street. the rock was so soft that it was frequently necessary to drive poling boards ahead as the face was mined out with picks and shovels. the load was very heavy, and the work the most difficult encountered in the tunnels. after this stage of the enlargement was reached, the excavation of the bench and the placing of the lining proceeded alternately, with the i-beams temporarily supported on long posts while the concrete core-wall was being built. considerable settlement took place while shifting the posts, and eventually showed on the street surface and in the adjacent sidewalk vaults, but no damage was done to the structural portions of the buildings. while the above work had been going on westward from fifth avenue, the excavation of the twin tunnel eastward from the end of the open-cut section at sixth avenue had been proceeding rapidly, and, toward the end of the difficult fifth avenue work, it was being attacked from both directions. progress of excavation. owing to the numerous sections of poor rock, interspersed throughout the work with stretches of sound rock, the progress of the excavation was very irregular, especially in 32d street. the rate of excavation in good ground is shown in table 1. in the sections of bad ground, the operations of excavation, timbering, and lining were often carried on alternately, and it is impracticable to include them in the table. table 1.--progress and methods of excavation in good ground. thirty-third street. ============================================================ 1 | 2 | 3 | -----------------------------+--------+--------------------+ | | | | | | type of excavation. |tunnels.| worked from: | | | | | | | -----------------------------+--------+--------------------+ full-sized single tunnel | b | 1st ave. shaft. | | | | full-sized single tunnel | a | 1st ave. shaft. | | | | full-sized twin tunnel |a and b | 1st ave. shaft. | | | | | | | | | | full-sized twin tunnel |a and b |intermediate shaft. | | | (west of shaft.) | | | | | | | full-sized twin tunnel |a and b |intermediate shaft. | | | (east of shaft.) | | | | | | | full-sized twin tunnel |a and b |intermediate shaft. | | | (east of shaft.) | | | | | | | exploration drift |a and b |intermediate shaft. | | | (west of shaft.) | | | | twin tunnel. enlargement |a and b | west shaft. | of exploration drift | | (east of shaft.) | =============================+========+===================== ====================================================================== 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ----------------------------------+--------+------------+------------+ | | length | average | dates. | time | tunnel | advance | ----------------------------------|elapsed,| excavated, | per day, | | | in | in | in | from | to | days. |linear feet.|linear feet.| ----------------------------------+--------+------------+------------+ feb. 28, 1906. |may 12, 1906. | 74 | 346 | 4.7 | | | | | | feb. 28, 1906. |apr. 30, 1906. | 62 | 255 | 4.1 | | | | | | aug. 23, 1906. |jan. 5, 1907. | 136 | 789 | 5.8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | apr. 4, 1906. |oct. 31, 1906. | 210 | 730 | 3.5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | apr. 4, 1906. |oct. 31, 1906. | 210 | 783 | 3.7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | nov. 1, 1906. |dec. 26, 1906. | 56 | 311 | 5.5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | mar. 1, 1907. |july 23, 1907. | 145 | 947 | 6.5 | | | | | | | | | | | sept. 6, 1907. |dec. 4, 1907. | 89 | 603 | 6.8 | | | | | | ===============+==================+========+============+============= ===================================================== 8 ---------------------------------------------------- methods and conditions. ----------------------------------------------------top heading and bench. muck loaded by hand. " " " " " " " " top full-width heading and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel. working exclusively on this heading. top center heading and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel. working alternately in headings east and west of the shaft. top center heading and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel. working alternately in headings east and west of the shaft. top full-width heading and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel working exclusively on this heading. exploration drift about 9 ft. by 12 ft. mucking by hand. fourteen timber bents were placed in march, and seven in april, 1907. drift excavated to full width and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel. ===================================================== thirty-second street. ============================================================ 1 | 2 | 3 | -----------------------------+--------+--------------------+ | | | | | | type of excavation. |tunnels.| worked from: | | | | | | | -----------------------------+--------+--------------------+ full-sized single tunnel | c | 1st ave. shaft. | | | | full-sized single tunnel | d | 1st ave. shaft. | | | | full-sized twin tunnel |c and d | 1st ave. shaft. | | | | | | | | | | narrowed twin tunnel | c |intermediate shaft. | | | (east of shaft.) | | | | | | | narrowed twin tunnel | c |intermediate shaft. | | | (east of shaft.) | | | | | | | | | | | | | full-sized twin tunnel |c and d |intermediate shaft. | | | (west of shaft.) | | | | exploration drift |c and d |intermediate shaft. | | | (west of shaft.) | | | | twin tunnel. enlargement }|c and d |{ eastward from | of exploration drift }| |{ open cut. | | | | twin tunnel. enlargement }|c and d |{ eastward from | of exploration drift }| |{ open cut. | | | | =============================+========+===================== ==================================+========+============+============= 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ----------------------------------+--------+------------+------------+ | | length | average | dates. | time | tunnel | advance | ----------------------------------|elapsed,| excavated, | per day, | | | in | in | in | from | to | days. |linear feet.|linear feet.| ----------------------------------+--------+------------+------------+ jan. 25, 1906.|apr. 30, 1906. | 95 | 367 | 3.9 | | | | | | jan. 27, 1906.|apr. 30, 1906. | 93 | 354 | 3.8 | | | | | | {may. 22, 1906.|july 24, 1906.[e]}| 173 | 810 | 4.7 | {aug. 11, 1906.|nov. 29, 1906. }| | | | | | | | | | | | | | mar. 19, 1906.|may 28, 1906. | 70 | 58 | 0.8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | {may 29, 1906.|july 3, 1906.[e]}| 208 | 1,206 | 5.8 | {july 18, 1906.|july 31, 1906. }| | | | {aug. 12, 1906.|nov. 23, 1906. }| | | | {jan. 15, 1907.|feb. 5, 1907. }| | | | {feb. 17, 1907.|mar. 21, 1907. }| | | | | | | | | dec. 1, 1905.|may. 10, 1906. | 161 | 225 | 1.4 | | | | | | | | | | | feb. 1, 1907.|sept.13, 1907. | 225 | 1,033 | 4.6 | | | | | | | | | | | }feb. 1, 1908.|feb. 14, 1908. | 14 | 65 | 4.6 | } | | | | | | | | | | }feb. 15, 1908.|apr. 14, 1908. | 59 | 524 | 8.9 | } | | | | | | | | | | ====================================================================== [footnote e: time and distance omitted while working through timbered stretches.] ======================================================= 8 ------------------------------------------------------ methods and conditions. ------------------------------------------------------top heading and bench. muck loaded by hand. " " " " " " " " double heading and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel. stretches aggregating 200 ft. narrowed to about 25 ft. and later enlarged are included. excavation about 30 ft. wide. top full-width heading and bench. muck loaded by hand. steam shovel not installed. excavation about 30 to 35 ft. wide. top full-width by hand and part by steam shovel. double heading and bench. part of the muck handled by hand and part by steam shovel. exploration drift about 10 ft. by 13 in. muck loaded by hand. 14 ft. timbered. at portal of twin tunnels. drift excavated to full width and bench. muck loaded by hand. 12 ft. timbered. drift excavated to full width and bench. muck loaded by steam shovel. full-width tunnel timbered for 26 ft. independently of the main excavation. ======================================================= three-track tunnel excavation. when it became evident that the work through the fifth avenue section would be extremely slow, shafts were sunk in each street between sixth and seventh avenues. the shafts, as shown on plate xiv, were located in the streets, but in such a way as to block only half of the roadway. at the same time it was decided to construct in open cut about 200 ft. of the three-track tunnel at the west end of the contract in 32d street, where the rock surface was below the top of the tunnel. it was hoped that the remainder of the work could be built without opening the street, but further investigation showed that this was impracticable, and eventually all the three-track tunnel in 32d street, except 120 ft. east of the shaft, was built in open cut. _thirty-second street work in tunnel._--following the sinking of the shaft, a drift was driven across the street at the crown of the tunnel, and a top heading on the south side was excavated in both directions. frequent cross-drifts to the north side showed that the rock was nowhere very sound and that, except for a short distance east of the shaft, it was distinctly unfavorable for the wide three-track excavation. in this stretch the north ends of these cross-cuts were connected by a second heading, and wall-plates and sets of three-segment arch timbering were set up to support the roof of the drifts. the cross-cuttings were gradually widened and timbered until the entire excavation had been made down to the level of the wall-plates, as shown in fig. 3, plate lx. the bench was then excavated in two lifts, leaving the wall-plates supported on narrow longitudinal berms, which were removed in short sections to permit the placing of posts under the wall-plates. _thirty-second street open-cut work._--before actual open-cut excavation was started, all buildings facing it were underpinned to rock. for this purpose, a trench was dug along the face of the buildings and of the same depth as their cellars. holes were cut in the front foundation walls through which long needle-beams (fig. 4, plate lx) were inserted and jacked up on blocking placed on the cellar floor and in the trench, until the weight of the building had been taken off its foundations. a close-sheeted trench was then sunk to rock under the front building walls, and a light rubble masonry retaining wall was built in it to support the building permanently. frequently, the excavation for the underpinning wall, which was taken out in sections from 30 to 40 ft. long, and in places was carried to a depth of 40 ft., was very troublesome on account of the large quantity of water encountered and the fineness of the sand, which exhibited a tendency to flow when saturated. the elevated railroad columns in sixth avenue, near the north and south lines of 32d street, were underpinned in a manner similar to the building foundations, while those on the center line of the street were supported by girders riveted to them close under the track level. the girders in turn were supported on posts footed on the new underpinning of the adjacent columns. on the completion of the tunnels, concrete piers were built up from the roof of the tunnel to form a permanent foundation for the center-line columns. the area to be excavated under sixth avenue was enclosed by a rubble masonry retaining wall constructed in a trench. open-cut excavation was started by planking over the street on stringers resting on transverse 12 by 12-in. caps. the caps were gradually undermined and supported on temporary posts which were then replaced by short posts resting on 12 by 12-in. sills about 7 ft. below the cap. the operation was then repeated and the sill was supported on another set of short posts resting on a second sill. when the excavation had been carried down in this manner to the level of the top of the tunnel, diagonal 3 by 10-in. timbers were cut in between the posts and sills to form a species of double a-frame, the legs of which rested in niches cut in the rock and on posts carried up the face of the underpinning wall, and the whole was stiffened with vertical tie-rods. this construction is shown by fig. 3, plate lxii. the brick sewer was replaced temporarily by one of riveted steel pipe. this pipe and the water and gas pipes and electric conduits were suspended from the timbers as the pipes were uncovered. excavation in rock was made by sinking a pit to sub-grade for the full width of the tunnel and advancing the face of the pit in several lifts, the muck being blown over the slope and loaded into buckets at its foot. the work was attacked at several places simultaneously, and the spoil was hoisted by derricks located at convenient points along the side of the cut. _thirty-third street work in tunnel and open cut._--the west 33d street shaft was similar to the one in 32d street, and was sunk during february, march, and april, 1907, through 10 ft. of earth, 21 ft. of soft rock, and 29 ft. of fairly hard rock. it was necessary to timber heavily the upper 30 ft. of the shaft. the timber later showed evidences of severe strain, and had to be reinforced. [illustration: plate lxi.--excavation and timbering in heavy ground of three-track tunnel of 33d st.] as soon as the shaft excavation was deep enough, a drift was driven part way across the tunnels, and top headings were started both east and west to explore the rock. the heading to the west was divided into two drifts, as shown on plate lxi. these two drifts were continued to the west end of the contract, and were then enlarged to a full-sized heading and timbered, as shown on plate lxi and fig. 3, plate lx. the rock near the shaft contained many wet rusty seams, and settlement was detected in the segmental tunnel timbering soon after the widening of the heading was completed. short props were placed under the timbers, and the street surface was opened with a view of stripping the earth down to the rock and thus lightening the load on the timbering. street traffic was maintained on a timber structure with posts eventually carried down to the rock surface, and the walls of the buildings on the north side of the street were underpinned to rock. the settlement of the tunnel timbering was checked for a time, and the bench was excavated as shown on plate lxi. in this work the cut in the center was first made, and the short props were replaced by struts, as shown; after this the berms were removed and the side posts were placed. while building the brick arches, holes were left in the masonry around the struts. after the masonry had hardened, piers were built on the arches to support the segmental timbers. the struts were then removed and the openings filled with masonry. the voids above the arch were packed with rock and afterward thoroughly grouted. the timbers near the shaft continued to settle, and, although they had been placed from 9 to 12 in. above the level of the top of the masonry, by october 1st, they encroached 9 in. within the line of masonry. it was then decided to remove the rock for a distance of 48 ft. west of the shaft, and build this portion of the tunnel in open cut. the posts supporting the deck forming the street surface were replaced by an a-frame structure similar to that developed for the 32d street open cut, without interruption of the street traffic. after making the open cut to the westward of the shaft, there was a slip in the rock north of and adjoining the shaft. fortunately, the timbers did not give way entirely, and no damage was done. the open cut was extended eastward for a distance of 46 ft., making the total length of tunnel built in open cut on this street 94 ft. east of the shaft, for a distance of about 125 ft., the rock was broken and could not be excavated to full size without timbering the roof, but between this section of poor rock and those already mentioned in connection with the work at fifth avenue, there was a stretch of 600 ft. of good rock where all the spoil was handled with a steam shovel. twin-tunnel lining. the masonry lining for the tunnels was not started until the late fall of 1906, after excavation had been in progress for a year and a half. at that time concreting was started in the single tunnels westward from the first avenue shafts, and by spring was in full swing in the twin tunnels. the plans contemplated the use of a complete concrete lining except where large quantities of water were encountered; in which case the arches, beginning at a point 15â° above the springing line, were to be built of vitrified paving brick. by reference to plate xii it will be seen that the water-proofing, which in the concrete-roof tunnels extended the full height of the sides to the 15â° line, was carried in the brick-roof tunnels completely around the extrados of the arch. the cross-sections also show the location of the electric conduits which were buried in the mass of the side and core-walls and which limited the height to which the concrete could be carried in one operation. the same general scheme of operations was used wherever possible throughout the twin-tunnel work, but was subject to minor modifications as circumstances dictated. concrete was first deposited in the bottom, to the grade of the flow line of the drains; after it had set, collapsible box forms, of 2-in. plank with 3-in. plank tops, were laid on it to form the ditch and the shoulders for the flagstone covers. the track, which had previously been blocked up on the rock between the ditches, was raised and supported on the ditch boxes above the finished floor level. at the same time, light forms were braced from the ditch boxes to the grade of the base of the low-tension and telephone-duct bank. after depositing the concrete to this level, the telephone ducts were laid. the forms for the water-proofing or sand-wall up to the 15â° line and for the main side-walls and core-walls were built in 30-ft. panels and were supported on carriages, which, traveling on a broad-gauge track above the ditches, moved along the tunnel, section by section, as the work advanced. the panels were hung loosely from joists carrying a platform on the top chord of the carriage trusses, and were adjusted transversely by bracing and wedging them out from the carriage. the small forms for the refuge niches, ladders, etc., were collapsible, and were spiked to the main panel forms just previous to the deposition of the concrete. the concrete was deposited from the platform on top of the carriage, to which the cars were elevated in various ways. plate lxi shows the details of the carriages, and is self-explanatory. the concrete for the sand-walls and the core-wall, to the level of the sidewalk, was deposited at the same time; two carriages in each tunnel, placed opposite each other, forming a 60-ft. length, were used at each setting. the floor section of the 4-in. tile drains had been laid with the floor concrete, and, as the sand-wall concrete was deposited, the drains were brought up simultaneously, broken stone being deposited between the tile and the rock to form a blind drain and afford access to the open joints of the tile for the water entering the tunnel through seams in the rock. the drains were spaced at intervals not exceeding 25 ft., depending on the wetness of the rock, and were placed at similar intervals in the core-wall under the lowest projecting points of the rock on the center line between the tunnels. a small ditch lined with loose 6-in. vitrified half pipe was provided in the top of the sand-wall to collect the water from the extrados of the arch and lead it to the top of the drains. great difficulty was experienced in maintaining these drains clear, and, on completion of the work, a large amount of labor was expended in removing obstructions from the floor sections, the only portion then accessible. after water-proofing the sand-walls and laying the low-tension ducts, a second pair of carriages, with panels on one side only, for 60 ft. of side-wall and skewback to the 15â° line, were set and braced against the core-wall. these forms are shown in connection with the carriage on plate lxi. they were concreted to the base of the high-tension duct bank, and, after the concrete had hardened and the bank of ducts had been laid, the concreting was completed in a second operation. in places where the roof was supported temporarily by posts and heavy timbering, such as at fifth avenue, the form carriages could not be used, and special methods were devised to suit the local conditions. usually, the panels were stripped from the carriages and moved from section to section by hand, and, when in position, were braced to the timbering. the arch centers were built up of two 5 by 3 by 3/8-in. steel angles, and, when set, were blocked up on the sidewalks opposite each other in the two tunnels. a temporary platform was laid on the bottom chord angles of the ribs, on which the concrete was dumped, the same as on the form carriages. the lagging used was 3 by 3-in. dressed pine or spruce 16 ft. long, and was placed as the concreting of the arch proceeded above the 15â° line on the side-wall and above the sidewalk on the core-wall. after the arch had reached such a height that the concrete could not be passed over the lagging directly from the main platform, it was cast on a small platform on the upper horizontal bracing of the centers, shown in fig. 3, plate lix, and was thence shoveled into the work. in the upper part of the arch the face of the concrete was kept on a radial plane, and, when only 3 ft. remained to be placed, it was keyed in from one end, the key lagging being set in about 5-ft. lengths. the arches were concreted usually in 60-ft. lengths. where brick arches were used, the core-wall skewback was concreted behind special forms set up on the sidewalks, or the arch ribs and lagging were used for forms, and the brick arch was not started until after the concrete had set. in laying the brick in the arch, the five courses of the ring were carried up as high as the void between the extrados and the rock would permit and still leave a working space in which to place the water-proofing. this was usually not more than 3 ft., except on the core-wall side. the felt and pitch water-proofing was then laid for that height, joined to the previous water-proofing on the side-walls, and was followed by the brick armor course over the water-proofing and by the rock packing, after which another lift of brick was laid and the operations were repeated. the large void (fig. 1, plate lxii) above the core-wall gave convenient access for working on top of the adjacent sides of the roof, and the keying of the arches and the water-proofing and rock packing above the core-wall were usually carried on from that point, the work progressing from one end. the concrete for all work above the floor was dumped on the platform of the carriages, to which it was transported in the early part of the work in cars running on a high-level track laid on long ties, resting on the finished sidewalks. this arrangement, although requiring a large amount of timber for the track, permitted the muck to be carried out on the low-level track without interference. later, when the advance of the heading had ceased and the heavy mucking was over, all concrete was transported on the floor level, and the cars were lifted to the carriage platforms by elevators and were hauled by hoisting engines up a movable incline. the latter method is shown by fig. 3, plate lix. _water-proofing._--the water-proofing referred to above was in all cases felt and pitch laid with six thicknesses of felt and seven of pitch. the sub-contractor for the work was the sicilian asphalt paving company. all joints were lapped at least 1 ft., and, where work was suspended for a time and a bevel lap could not be made, the edges of the felt were left unpitched for 1 ft. and the newer work was interlaced with the old. this method was not always successful, however, on account of the softening of the unpitched felt on long-continued exposure to the water. the felt used was mainly "tunaloid," together with some "hydrex." it weighed about 12 lb. per 100 sq. ft. when saturated and coated on one side only, and contained about 25% of wool. the coal-tar pitch used had a melting point of 100â° fahr. after the completion of the tunnel, the concrete arch showed some leakage and in places unsightly lime deposits. it was determined to attempt to stop these leaks by the application of a water-proof cement coating on the intrados of the arch. extended experimental application of two varieties of materials used for this purpose--"hydrolithic" cement and the u. s. water-proofing company's compound--have been made with apparent success up to the present time, and the results after the lapse of a considerable period are awaited with interest. _duct laying._--the position of the electric conduits, buried in the heart of the concrete walls, interfered greatly with the economical and speedy placing of the lining, and their laying proved to be one of the most troublesome features of the work. the power conduits were single-way, with the bank for high-tension cables separated in the side-walls from the low-tension bank, as shown on plate xii. the conduits for telephone and telegraph service were four-way, and were located in the core-wall. all ducts had 3/4-in. walls and a minimum clear opening of 3-3/8 in. square, with corners rounded. they were laid with joints broken in all directions, and in about 1/4-in. beds of 1:2-1/2 mortar. flat steel bond-irons, 2 by 1/8 in., with split and bent ends, were placed in the joints at intervals of 3 ft. and projected into the concrete 3 in. on each side, tying together the concrete on opposite sides of the ducts. the joints were wrapped with a 6-in. strip of 10-oz. duck saturated with neat-cement grout, and, in addition, the power conduits were completely covered with a 1/2-in. coat of mortar to prevent the intrusion of cement and sand from the fluid concrete. the four-way conduits were plastered only over the wraps. splicing chambers were provided at intervals of 400 ft. [illustration: plate lxii, fig. 1.--water-proofing over brick arches.] [illustration: plate lxii, fig. 2.--trestle used in concreting in three-track tunnel.] [illustration: plate lxii, fig. 3.--method of street support over open-cut excavation.] [illustration: plate lxii, fig. 4.--junction of twin and three-track tunnels.] three-track tunnel lining. in the three-track tunnels, a heavy brick arch was used for those portions constructed in tunnel, while, in the open-cut sections, the roof was of concrete. both were completely water-proofed on the roof and sides, and in the tunnel sections the space above the brick roof was filled with rock packing. on account of the unstable nature of the rock encountered throughout, the voids in the packing were afterward filled with grout. by reference to the cross-sections, plate xii, it will be seen that the haunches of the arch were tied together by steel i-beams anchored in the concrete, with the object of making the structure self-supporting in the event of the removal of the adjacent rock for deep cellar excavations. this construction materially influenced the contractor's method of placing the masonry lining. after depositing the floor concrete, by the same method that was used in the twin tunnels, a timber trestle (fig. 2, plate lxii) was erected to the height of the underside of the i-beam ties, the posts being footed in holes, about 3 in. deep, left in the concrete floor to prevent slipping. in the open-cut sections the sand-wall forms were of undressed plank tacked to the studding and braced from the trestle; in the tunnel section they were spiked to the face of the posts supporting the timbering. the side-wall forms were made up in panels about 3 by 10 ft., and were clamped to studs by u-shaped irons passing around the stud and bolted to the cleats on the back of the panels, the studs being braced from the trestle. the side-wall concrete was deposited in three sections. the first was brought up just above the sidewalk and formed the bench for the high-tension ducts; the second carried the wall up to the springing line. before placing the third section the i-beam ties were set in position (fig. 3, plate lxii) on top of the trestle, and the reinforcing rods in the haunch of the arch were hung from them. the concrete was carried up to a skewback for the arch, as shown in the brick-roof cross-section (plate xii) and embedded the ends of the ties. the centers for the arches stood on the i-beam ties, and the tops of the hangers, for the permanent support of the ties near their center, were inserted through the lagging. the brick arch, water-proofing, and rock packing were laid up in lifts, in the same manner as in the twin tunnel, with grout pipes built in at intervals of about 8 ft. the concrete arch was placed in sections, from 25 to 50 ft. in length, with a rather wet mixture and a back form on the steep slope of the extrados. the concrete for the sand-walls and lower part of side-walls was handled on tracks and platforms laid on cantilever beams at mid-height of the trestle, as shown by fig. 3, plate lxii. for the walls above the springing line, the tracks were laid on top of the i-beam ties, and some of the arch concrete, also, was delivered from the mixer at that level and hauled up an incline to the level of the top of the arch. by far the greater part, however, was turned out from mixers set on the completed arch, and was transported on tracks hung in part from the street timbering. _completion._--except in the heavily-timbered portions, such as at fifth avenue, where the load had to be transferred from posts to the completed masonry section by section, the lining of the tunnels presented no special difficulty. the large number of small forms to be set, and the mutual interference of the concreting and duct-laying operations proved to be the most troublesome features of the work. the restoration of the streets, public utilities, etc., at the open-cut sections was a slow and tedious operation, but the tunnels themselves were completed in march, 1909, 3 years and 10 months after the inception of the work. the finished tunnels are shown by the photograph, fig. 4, plate lxii, taken at the junction of the twin and three-track types. footnotes: [footnote a: presented at the meeting of december 1st, 1909.] [footnote b: of the paper by mr. noble.] [footnote c: of the paper by mr. noble.] [footnote d: of the paper by mr. noble.] [transcriber's note: table of contents was added.] minority report of the committee on railways in relation to the hoosac tunnel and the railroads leading thereto, with a bill to incorporate the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad; also the speech delivered by hon. e. p. carpenter, in the senate of massachusetts, june 3, 1873, in support of the same. boston: wright & potter, state printers, no. 19 province street. 1873. table of contents page minority report 3 the bill 12 speech 24 efforts to reduce the transportation tax. 29 the effect in our existing system. 31 the relative advantages of boston and new york. 34 the effect on the state of making boston an exporting city. 36 the hoosac tunnel. 37 position of the committee. 39 the bill of the majority. 40 regulation by special legislation. 46 control of the tunnel. 48 the purposes of the minority. 50 the minority bill. 51 the effect of state control of the tunnel line. 53 the popular feeling in favor of state control. 54 safety of the experiment. 55 the alleged danger of political corruption. 58 state pensioners. 63 the benefits of the proposed plan. 64 commonwealth of massachusetts. house of representatives, april 23, 1873. the undersigned, members of the committee on railways, to whom was referred "an act to provide for the consolidation of the hoosac tunnel line of railroads from boston to troy," and the petition of the boston and lowell railroad company for amendment of the charter of the great northern railroad, and many petitions and remonstrances relative to the disposal of the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, respectfully submit a minority report: the committee, after public notice to all parties in interest, commenced its hearings upon the subject-matter of these petitions on the twenty-ninth day of january, and finally closed them on the twenty-first day of march. under the authority granted by the legislature, a reporter was employed by the committee, by whom it verbatim report was made of all the testimony and arguments submitted to the committee. this has been printed for the use of the committee and of the legislature, and is now accessible to members. many parties were represented by counsel, and various plans were presented. the first proposal was that of the troy and boston, and vermont and massachusetts railroad companies, for a consolidation under one corporation of the direct line between boston and troy. the second, for a consolidation of the boston and lowell and fitchburg railroad companies, with authority to lease or purchase the lines to the tunnel and to ogdensburg, placing under the control of one corporation about fifteen hundred miles of railroad. third, the proposition was urged upon the committee to provide for the acquisition by the state of the tunnel line. the attendance before the committee was not limited to the representatives of corporations directly or indirectly interested in the result. committees of the board of trade and other commercial associations, and many private citizens to some extent represented the public interests; while the larger audiences in attendance upon the sessions of the committee attested the deep interest of the business community in the subject-matter under discussion. the problem before the committee was to determine how the people of this commonwealth could derive the greatest benefit from the construction of the tunnel which has involved so large a public expenditure. the relations of the state to this enterprise have greatly changed since its commencement. the tunnel was projected as a private enterprise, which was first aided by the state by a loan of its credit. it was doubtless then intended that the tunnel when completed should form a part of the through line over the fitchburg, vermont and massachusetts, troy and greenfield, and troy anti boston railroads, to be owned and controlled by these corporations like the rest of the line. this project failed. the troy and greenfield railroad company was unable with the state loan to complete the tunnel, and after great delays and difficulties, surrendered its railroad and the incomplete tunnel to the commonwealth, which has since carried on the work at the public charge. its completion within the current year may be expected, and the total expenditure from the treasury of the state will amount, including interest, to about $12,000,000. this expenditure is a charge upon the people and the property of the whole state. it seems improbable that any disposition can be made of the tunnel which can return to the treasury the whole sum expended, and it is for the legislature to determine how far a return can be made to the people of the state from this great public expenditure, in increased means of transportation and a reduction of rates which are now a burden upon the whole community. since the tunnel was projected, new lines of railroad have been built which give to nearly every portion of the state direct access to the tunnel and through it to the great west. in the progress of the hearing certain points were made tolerably clear. _first_, that the tunnel itself should be so far held and controlled by the state as to insure its use on equal terms by all parties. _second_, that some consolidation of the line or lines working through the tunnel was essential to secure efficiency of action, and to provide for the great business awaiting the completion of the tunnel. _third_, that to provide equipment and terminal facilities for such a business, the weak and disjointed separate corporations were inadequate, and that it was particularly desirable that some action should be taken at the present session of the legislature. the policy of direct state ownership was strongly pressed upon the committee by the railroad commissioners and other parties. the address of mr. adams, in behalf of the commissioners, upon this subject, is contained in the printed report, and is a clear and able statement in behalf of this policy. while the experiment has been tried in other states, and under other circumstances has failed, we do not think it is to be condemned for this reason. these experiments were tried before the development of the railroad system, and generally in thinly-peopled states, where state construction of railroads was a political necessity to supplement private capital that could see no inducement for investment. in the days when state management failed, corporation management failed to quite as great an extent. the statement of mr. adams, in regard to the results of the system in belgium, are very striking, and in england the current seems to be settling in favor of the assumption of the railroads by the government. to any careful observer of the railroad development of the past twenty-five years, there can be little doubt of a like progressive increase in this business in the future. if the benefit of this increase in business can be secured to the people who furnish the traffic, instead of to the corporations who provide the capital, an immense public benefit will follow. the most valuable experiment to be tried at the present day is to ascertain how cheaply railroad transportation can be afforded. corporations formed to make money for their stockholders, can hardly be expected to fairly try this experiment. the greatest need of this commonwealth is cheap transportation. to secure this the hoosac tunnel has been constructed at a cost of $12,000,000 of public money. we are fully convinced that to secure to the people the full advantages to be derived from the construction of this new avenue to the west, and to secure equal lights to all parties desiring to use it, the state must not part with the control of the tunnel. we are equally convinced that to secure efficiency in the lines working through the tunnel, consolidation is necessary, and that the tunnel itself must be worked and managed for all parties using it, by one head. it would follow that the state, retaining the tunnel, should operate it, and should also own or control one line of road between boston and the west, at the same time giving to all parties, without discrimination, equal advantages to the tunnel. the state management cannot afford to be unjust or to discriminate. no private corporation can be trusted when its own interests may conflict with the interests of other and perhaps rival corporations, to establish or to enforce rules for the transaction of such business. we therefore report and recommend the passage of the accompanying bill: "to incorporate the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad." its purpose is to form a corporation for the management of the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, with all the powers of a railroad corporation. it is to be composed of five trustees, to be appointed by the governor and council, each to hold office for five years, and one of whom shall be appointed annually. to these five state trustees are to be added not exceeding three, one by each of the railroad corporations whose property may be acquired or managed under the terms of the act. instead of directly purchasing the railroads constituting the direct line, provision is made for leasing these railroads by the new corporation upon terms which are fair and equitable for all parties. the returns to the railroad commissioners show that the average expense of operating the railroads of this state is seventy-five per cent. of the gross income. we therefore propose to set apart for the benefit of each of these corporations twenty-five per cent. of the gross income of its railroad, out of which shall be paid a yearly rental; and that they may not in any event be losers by the experiment, it is proposed to guarantee to them an amount sufficient to pay to their stockholders the dividends they are now paying, with liberty to increase to the maximum which law or custom permits our railroad corporations to pay. that such a lease would receive the assent of the companies interested, we have strong reasons to believe. it secures to the stockholders the dividends they are now receiving. it secures also to them the benefit of any increase of business likely to accrue from the completion of the tunnel, to as full an extent as they can hope to benefit by it. no railroad corporation ought ever to pay more than ten per cent. dividends, and the legislature would undoubtedly, under its power to regulate tolls, interfere to prevent greater dividends. while these corporations are thus interested in the earnings of the roads, the bill provides that they should be represented in their management. we shall thus secure the services of persons familiar with the local business and history of the separate roads, and although forming only a minority of the board of management, they must have an important influence in the direction of its affairs. the benefits to be gained by the state by this arrangement are obvious and manifold. it retains state ownership and management of the tunnel. it secures to all corporations desiring to use the tunnel equal rights. it secures to the commonwealth the full value of its investment, whatever future developments of business shall prove that value to be. it assumes the establishment of a strong corporation, able to provide all equipment and terminal facilities which any future increase of business may render necessary or advisable. it meets all the presumed advantages of state acquisition of the railroads, without that disturbance and removal of capital which must follow the purchase of the railroads by the state. it can furnish capital for the improvement of the line at a cheaper rate than any consolidated company can procure it; and cheap capital in disinterested hands secures cheap transportation. it enables the state to try fairly and fully the experiment of cheap transportation. it creates a corporation which cannot combine with other corporations, nor can its stock be purchased or in any way controlled by outside parties, and is strong enough to compete successfully with the powerful corporations of neighboring states. such a management we believe would be efficient and reliable beyond that of ordinary railroad corporations. it would combine to a great degree the advantages of state and corporate management. the governor and council could be depended upon to appoint suitable persons as trustees. the railroad corporations would naturally appoint their most efficient agents as trustees. such a board could find no difficulty in securing the services of the ablest railroad officers to direct and aid in the management. it remains to refer briefly to the other propositions before the committee. first, to that of the boston and lowell railroad company to unite with the fitchburg. this is a proposal to unite two lines in some degree rival and competing. they are rival lines to some extent for local business. they form parts of rival lines for distant business with the north and west. it is a new proposition in this commonwealth to unite rival and competing lines. this competition will be increased with the opening of the tunnel line. the lowell is the natural terminus of the northern line, and the fitchburg is the natural terminus of the tunnel line. whatever advantages may accrue to the corporations themselves from such a consolidation, the public results will be unmitigated evil. not one witness unconnected with the interested corporations appeared before the committee to testify in favor of such a consolidation. the evidence against it was strong and conclusive. the northern line by way of the lowell and vermont central was shown to be of great value to boston and to massachusetts. it is now in a measure consolidated under contracts having twenty years to run, and it is surely bad policy for the commonwealth, having expended $12,000,000 to create a new line, to commence its operations with the destruction of one in full and vigorous existence. moreover, such a consolidation threatens more than anything else state control of the tunnel itself. a powerful corporation, owning the whole line except the tunnel, would soon compel the transfer of that, and until such transfer, would throw upon the state as the owner of the tunnel the responsibility for all the sins and omissions of the line. the important question of an interchange of depots and tracks by the railroads entering boston on the north has been somewhat involved in this hearing. the avoidance of railroad crossings is undoubtedly of great importance, but it has no proper connection with the disposal of the tunnel. the eastern railroad company and boston and maine railroad are agreed what changes can and should be made to avoid these crossings. all that is essential to secure this end is to remove the passenger station of the fitchburg railroad west of the lowell, where it properly belongs. the legislature has full power in the premises. it can, independently of any consolidation, require the fitchburg railroad company to provide passenger accommodations west of the lowell station, and thus leave its present station on causeway street free for the use of the eastern railroad company. if the state acquires the fitchburg railroad under this act, it can easily provide for the change. the whole question of interchange of depots is independent of the far more important question of the disposition of the tunnel, and should not control it. if the lowell railroad can provide for the wants of the fitchburg railroad company in its passenger station after consolidation, it can do so without consolidation. respectfully submitted by e. p. carpenter, j. k. baker, t. w. wellington, william baker, _members of the committee on railways._ commonwealth of massachusetts. ------------in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three. ------------an act to incorporate the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad. _be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives, in general court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:_ sect. 1. the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall, as soon after the passage of this act as may be convenient, appoint five persons, citizens of this commonwealth, who shall, on or before the first day of july next, take the interest of the commonwealth in the troy and greenfield railroad, and the hoosac tunnel when it shall be completed by the contractors, and all the property and interest of the commonwealth in the southern vermont railroad company, and hold the same in trust for the purposes hereinafter named, one of whom shall hold his office for five years, one for four years, one for three years, one for two years and one for one year, from the ___________ day of ___________. before the first day of july in each year, one such trustee shall be appointed for the term of five years; upon the occurrence of a vacancy before the expiration of a term, an appointment shall be made for the remainder of such term. sect. 2. said trustees are hereby created a railroad corporation under the name of the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad, and shall have all the powers and privileges, and be subject to the duties, restrictions and liabilities set forth in the general laws relating to railroads, so far as the same may be applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. sect. 3. before entering upon their duties, said trustees shall be sworn to the faithful performance of the same. they shall organize by the election of a president, who shall be one of said trustees, a clerk and such other officers as shall be necessary, and they shall prepare by-laws in accordance with which their meetings shall be held. sect. 4. said board of trustees shall have sole charge, direction and control, subject to the provisions of this act, of the troy and greenfield railroad and of the hoosac tunnel, when said tunnel shall be completed by the contractors of the southern vermont railroad, and of such other railroads as may be leased or acquired under the provisions of this act. they shall appoint a treasurer, a general manager, whenever they deem such an officer necessary, one or more superintendents and such other agents as may be required for the operation of said railroads and tunnel, and they shall define the duties and fix the compensation of such officers and agents. they shall establish rates for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, and make contracts and arrangements with connecting roads in relation to joint rates and joint business, and they may do all other things, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act and the general laws in relation to rail roads, which may be necessary for the efficient and economical operation of said railroads and tunnel. sect. 5. said board of trustees shall hold in trust all moneys received from the operating of said railroads and tunnel, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the commonwealth for the completion, extension and improvement of said railroads and tunnel and for the equipment thereof, and shall faithfully apply the same. they shall annually pay into the treasury of the common wealth the net income received from said roads and tunnel after the payment of the expenses; and the same shall be set apart, under the direction of the governor and council, and applied in such manner and at such times as they shall direct to either or all of the following purposes: the extinction of any indebtedness, or payment of interest thereon, which the commonwealth may at any time incur to carry out the purposes of this act, or any act in addition to or amendment thereof; the extinction of the indebtedness, or payment of interest thereon, which has been or may be incurred in the construction of the hoosac tunnel; and the purchase of stock in any company which shall lease its franchises, railroad and property in perpetuity to the corporation herein before created. sect. 6. said board of trustees shall make a semi-annual report to the governor and council of their doings during the six months next preceding, and of their receipts and expenditures, and shall make an annual report to the board of railroad commissioners in the manner and form and at the time prescribed for railroad corporations. sect. 7. said trustees shall receive, in full compensation for their services as such, the sum of five thousand dollars each per annum, except the president of the board, who shall receive eight thousand dollars, which sums shall be charged to operating expenses. no trustee shall be appointed to any office in the employ of said board of trustees, except the president, but the general manager, when such officer shall be appointed, shall be _ex officio_ a member of the said board. sect. 8. said board of trustees is hereby authorized to re-locate, where necessary, the tracks of said troy and greenfield railroad, taking land therefor in the method prescribed by law in case of land taken for depot or station purposes, and to complete, extend and improve the construction and equipment of said railroad and tunnel, and to prepare the same in all respects for the reception of the traffic of a through line. sect. 9. the sum of five million dollars is hereby appropriated, to be expended under the direction of said board of trustees in carrying out the provisions of this act, to be paid to them from time to time as the same may be required and called for, by a two-thirds vote of said board of trustees, on the warrant of the governor. and for the purpose of providing for said appropriation the treasurer of the commonwealth is hereby authorized to issue scrip or certificates of debt in the name and on behalf of the commonwealth to an amount not exceeding five million dollars, to be sold or disposed of in such manner, and at such times, and in such amounts, as the governor and council shall direct. such scrip shall be redeemable in not less than twenty nor more than, forty years from the date thereof, shall bear interest not exceeding six per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, and shall be known as the "hoosac tunnel railroad loan"; and the property of the commonwealth in the troy and greenfield railroad is hereby set apart and pledged to the redemption of said scrip. sect. 10. said board of trustees is hereby authorized and directed to lease in perpetuity, or for such term of years as the governor and council may approve, the franchises and property, and thereafter to maintain, improve and, operate the railroad, with its branches, of the vermont and massachusetts railroad company, on the terms following: twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said leased railroad and property shall be reserved annually by said board of trustees as a specific fund out of which they shall pay to said company, first, a sum sufficient to pay the interest on the indebtedness of said company, at the date of said lease, as said interest becomes due, and, second, a yearly rental equal to ten per cent. on the present capital stock of said company, free of all taxes upon the stockholders or said company (and on any additional stock, when the same shall be issued for existing convertible bonds), or such a proportion of said rental, not exceeding said ten per cent. and said taxes as said reserved fund shall be sufficient to pay: _provided_, _however_, that in no year shall there be paid to said company a rental of less than four per cent. on said capital stock, and said taxes together with the amount of said interest; and to the payment of such minimum rental and interest said board of trustees is authorized to pledge the faith of the commonwealth. said board of trustees is also authorized to assume and make provision in said lease for the payment of the principal of said indebtedness. the surplus of said reserved fund shall be annually passed by said board of trustees to the account of earnings. when said lease shall have been executed, and while the same continues in force, said vermont and massachusetts railroad company may elect, from time to time, for a term not exceeding five years, one trustee, who shall be added to said board of trustees, and, upon being sworn to the faithful performance of his duties, shall become an incorporated member of the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad; and said company may fill vacancies for the remainder of the term. sect. 11. said board of trustees is hereby authorized and directed to lease in perpetuity, or for such term of years as the governor and council may approve, the franchises and property, and thereafter to maintain, improve and operate the railroad, with its branches, of the fitchburg railroad company, on the terms following: twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said leased railroad and property shall be reserved annually by said board of trustees as a specific fund, out of which they shall pay to said company a yearly rental equal to ten per cent. on the present capital stock of said company, free of all taxes upon the stockholders or said company, and also on an additional capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, which said company is hereby authorized to issue and hold for its own benefit, or such a proportion of said rental, not exceeding said ten per cent. and said taxes, as said reserved fund shall be sufficient to pay: _provided_, _however_, that in no year shall there be paid to said company a rental of less than eight per cent. on said capital stock and said taxes; and to the payment of such minimum rental, said board of trustees is authorized to pledge the faith of the commonwealth. the surplus of said reserved fund shall be annually passed to the account of earnings. when said lease shall have been executed, and while the same continues in force, said fitchburg railroad company may elect, from time to time, for a term not exceeding five years, one trustee, who shall be added to said board of trustees, and, upon being sworn to the faithful performance of his duties, shall become an incorporated member of the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad; and said company may fill vacancies for the remainder of the term. sect. 12. said board of trustees is hereby authorized and directed to lease the franchises and property, and thereafter to maintain, improve and operate the railroad, with its branches, of the troy and boston railroad company, and shall pay therefor an annual rental equal to twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said leased railroad and property. when said lease shall have been executed, and while the same continues in force, said troy and boston railroad company may elect, from time to time, for a term not exceeding five years, one trustee, who shall be added to said board of trustees, and upon being sworn to the faithful performance of his duties, shall become an incorporated member of the state board of trustees of the hoosac tunnel railroad; and said company may fill vacancies for the remainder of the term. sect. 13. in estimating what shall constitute the said twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said several leased railroads, out of which their rentals are to be paid, there shall be first deducted from twenty-five per cent. of their respective gross earnings, six per cent. per annum on all amounts expended by said board of trustees for the permanent improvement of said railroads respectively. sect. 14. said vermont and massachusetts, fitchburg, and troy and boston railroad companies are severally authorized to lease their franchises and property to said board of trustees. sect. 15. said board of trustees is further authorized, with the approval of the governor and council, to lease or purchase necessary terminal facilities, and also to lease any railroad now built, or that hereafter may be built, lying in the tunnel route between boston and lake ontario. sect. 16. in the carriage of through passengers and merchandise, the rates of transportation shall be estimated pro rata per mile, and the hoosac tunnel shall be estimated at such length in miles, not exceeding fifty, as shall seem equitable to the trustees. sect. 17. in the management of such railroads as shall come under the operation of said board of trustees, there shall be no unequal discriminations in freights, fares or facilities in favor of or against different persons, places or connecting railroads. sect. 18. in case of the lease of the fitchburg railroad under the terms of this act, the said board of trustees is authorized and directed to purchase terminal facilities in boston, westerly of the freight station of the boston and maine railroad and to arrange with the eastern railroad company for an interchange of stations in boston in such manner as to obviate the necessity of passenger trains on the eastern railroad, boston and maine railroad and fitchburg railroad crossing the tracks of the other, and the eastern railroad company is hereby authorized, with the assent of said trustees, to take or purchase all the land, depot property and buildings of the fitchburg railroad company, situated in boston south of the channel or passage-way for vessels through the fitchburg railroad bridge over charles river, said property to include all the draws and drawbridges over the passage-way for vessels. also all the property, land and buildings situated on the south-westerly side of the following line, to wit: beginning at a point on the northerly side of the above-mentioned passage-way for vessels twenty-two feet nine inches east of the easterly line of the roadway draw over said passage-way, and running northerly at right angles to said passage-way, one hundred and three feet five inches, to a point where said line intersects with the north-easterly line of said fitchburg railroad bridge over charles river; thence northerly, following and coinciding with said north-easterly line of bridge, eight hundred and forty-eight feet; thence turning and running westerly to a point in the north rail of the north passenger track of the fitchburg railroad, distant four hundred and sixteen feet seven inches from the south-easterly line of austin street, measured on said north rail of the north track. said point is also distant twenty-nine feet four inches at right angles from the southerly side of the wooden freight house (measured from a point sixty feet distant from the westerly end) belonging to the fitchburg railroad company, on front street; thence southerly, crossing the fitchburg passenger tracks at right angles to a point four feet distant south of the south rail of south passenger track; thence westerly on a curved line parallel with the south rail of the south passenger track, and four feet distant therefrom to the south-easterly line of austin street in charlestown. and if the eastern railroad company shall so fake the said property of the fitchburg railroad company, then the fitchburg railroad company shall take or purchase all the like property of the eastern railroad company lying between the crossing of the eastern and fitchburg railroads and causeway street in boston, except the parcel of land to be taken by the boston and maine railroad, as hereinafter provided; and in case of the taking or exchange of the tracks and property herein before described, or any part thereof, the said fitchburg railroad company shall locate and construct such tracks and bridge structures on the westerly side of the present line of the eastern railroad as may be necessary to connect its railroad and tracks with the tracks and property so purchased or taken by it; and shall not thereafter cross either said eastern railroad or said boston and maine railroad except for freight purposes. and the eastern railroad company shall locate and construct such tracks and bridge structures as shall be required to connect its present tracks northerly of its crossing with the boston and maine railroad with the tracks and property so purchased or taken by it, keeping at all times east of a line drawn from a point on the easterly side of its present location, distant southerly three hundred and fifty feet, measured on said line from its intersection with the southerly side of cambridge street to the point of intersection of the northerly line of the state prison wharf with the easterly line of the location of the boston and maine railroad, and thence keeping east of said easterly line of said location; and shall not thereafter cross the tracks of the boston and maine railroad. and the eastern railroad company shall take any lands now belonging to the boston and maine railroad in charlestown or somerville lying easterly of such new location; and the boston and maine railroad shall take all the road-bed, land and property of the eastern railroad company lying between the line above described for the westerly limitation of said new location of the eastern railroad and the westerly line of the old location of the eastern railroad, and the present northerly line of the fitchburg railroad: _provided_, _however_, that in case of the aforesaid taking and exchange of property by and between the eastern and fitchburg railroads, the boston and maine railroad shall release the eastern railroad company from all damages for its taking and occupation thereof and take from the said eastern railroad company so much of the premises described in the first section of the three hundred and fifty-sixth chapter of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two, as was taken from the said boston and maine railroad by said eastern railroad company under the provisions of that act; and said eastern railroad company shall, without other compensation therefor, release to said boston and maine railroad all their rights in said premises acquired by them, taking the same under said act; and _provided_, _further_, that any exchange of land made under the provisions of this section shall take effect simultaneously. all general laws relating to the taking of land for railroad purposes and to the location and construction of railroads, shall be applicable to and govern the proceedings in the taking and exchange of lands and property, and in the making of any new locations under the provisions of the foregoing sections, except that instead of the county commissioners three disinterested persons shall be appointed by the supreme judicial court for the county of suffolk as a board of commissioners to determine the values of the lands and property so taken and exchanged or over which any such location may be made, and to adjudicate the damages to be paid by any of the others upon the taking, exchange or locations aforesaid, from whose decision an appeal shall be to a jury in behalf of either party, as provided by law in the case of lands taken for railroad purposes. any sum of money received by the fitchburg railroad in said interchange of stations and tracks above the expense of necessary alterations shall be applied to procuring new terminal facilities and making improvements on said road or may be applied to the reduction of the capital stock of the fitchburg railroad company in such manner as may be agreed between the fitchburg railroad company and said board of trustees. sect. 19. this act shall take effect upon its passage. speech. mr. president: i am deeply impressed with the great importance of the question now before us for consideration. it is not local, not sectional, nor political, but a question that affects more or less directly the industrial, the mercantile, the manufacturing, and the commercial interests of the whole commonwealth. the proper solution of this great problem rests with us, as the representatives of the people; and it is a responsibility of no ordinary importance, and one that should control our serious and earnest attention and our candid and best judgment, unbiased by any local or personal interest, with a solemn regard to our oaths to support and maintain the constitutional rights of the people of the commonwealth. stern convictions of duty alone induce me to address this honorable body on this occasion--duty that i feel incumbent upon me, mr. president, from the honored position that i received at your hands. it is well known that i neither have or make any claims as a public speaker, and i must ask your indulgence for being somewhat dependent upon my notes in presenting to you an honest statement of my own convictions of this great question, having no other interest to serve but the state and her people. this important subject involves directly the whole question of the railroad policy of this commonwealth; and here in massachusetts the proper direction of the railroad policy is even more important than at the west, where it now engages the public attention almost to the exclusion of other interests. within the last fifty years this commonwealth has almost entirely changed its industrial position. half a century ago, agriculture, the fisheries, and commerce were the leading interests. now, manufactures engross the attention of our people, and have made all other interests subordinate. they have not excluded other interests, but in a measure supplemented them. our agriculture has changed and now finds its chief support in providing supplies for the manufacturing towns which have grown up in every part of the commonwealth. our commerce, both internal and external, is largely engaged in bringing to our doors the raw material for our laborers, and in spreading throughout the world the products of our manufacturing industry. we can raise but a small proportion of the food necessary to feed the people of the state; under such circumstances the transportation must weigh heavily upon our industry. we feel it in the increased cost of living, which increases the cost of every article we produce. we feel it in the increased cost of the raw materials of our manufactures, which makes us less able to compete successfully with more favored locations. we feel it finally in the increased cost of marketing our goods. this position has been so well stated by the railroad commissioners in their report of 1870, page 39, that i may repeat it here: "it may safely be asserted that there is no branch of massachusetts industry which is not carried on against competition more advantageously located. the state has very few natural advantages; but everything with her depends on the intelligence of her people, and the cost of transportation. the west, in producing cereals, has at least a soil of unsurpassed fertility: pennsylvania in manufacturing iron has the ore and the coal in close proximity to the furnace. the english mill-owner has his power and his labor in cheap profusion. almost every article, however, which enters into the industries of massachusetts has to be brought within her limits from a distance. her very water powers are subject to inclement winters and dry summers, while she has to make her ingenuity supply a deficiency in labor. her food is brought from the north-west: her wool and her leather from south america, texas, california and the central states: her cotton from the south: her ores from the adirondacks: her coal from pennsylvania; her copper from superior,--and the list would admit of infinite extension. massachusetts is thus merely an artificial point of meeting for all kinds and descriptions of raw material which is here worked up, and then sent abroad again to find a customer at every point, coming and going, and in process of manufacture, it has to be transported, and it has to bear all costs of transportation in competition with articles of the same description produced elsewhere and by others. every reduction of the transportation tax acts then as a direct encouragement to the industry of massachusetts, just as much so as if it were a bounty or bonus: it is just so much weight taken off in the race of competition." no words of mine can add any force to this plain statement of facts; but yet we are told that transportation is only _one_ element in the cost and price of goods, and frequently not that of the greatest consequence, but the importance of this _one_ element is fourfold, and often more, to the massachusetts manufacturer, making the transportation of more importance in many cases than the cost of materials transported. this transportation tax is the _very_ element that is to build up a competition in these favored localities that will either extinguish or transfer many classes of our industrial interests that we can ill afford to lose. it is only necessary for one to travel west and south and observe the great development and success of the manufacturing interest in these sections to be convinced that new england cannot long hold the prestige as the "workshop" of the country with so heavy a transportation tax imposed upon her industrial productions. the importance of this one element will be more fully realized by the eastern manufacturer when he finds that his southern and western rivals save it altogether by having the raw material at hand, and a home market with all the other elements (save skilled labor which can be transported) that make manufacturing industry profitable at a much less cost. a combination of our manufacturers to establish cheap transportation, and the sale of their goods upon a home market, would be far more to their interest and profit than the exaction of an extra hour's labor and would confer a great blessing upon their overtasked employees. efforts to reduce the transportation tax. since the railroad system was inaugurated in 1831, the statutes of this commonwealth bear yearly evidence of the persistent and liberal policy pursued by the legislature toward the railroads. it would be tedious to enumerate the many acts which have been passed loaning the credit of the state to aid the struggling corporations in establishing and completing their lines. almost all the leading lines in the state sought and obtained this aid, without which there must have been a great delay, if not failure in accomplishing these enterprises; and here let me say, that with the exception of the hartford and erie loan, and the losses arising from the repayment by the eastern, and norwich and worcester railroads in legal tender instead of gold, there has never been a dollar lost by the railroad loans of the state. the result has been to build up a system of railroads, centering in the city of boston, having no superior, if equal, for completeness on this continent. massachusetts has more miles of railroad in proportion to population and territory than any similar extent of territory in america. and there can be no question that the prosperity of the state has grown more from its railroad facilities, than from all other causes combined. there is another class of legislation to which we cannot look with equal satisfaction. every railroad charter contains provisions for the regulation of fares and freights; and yet since the railroads were established, no single act has been passed directly for this regulation. the question has involved so great difficulties that no legislature has yet ventured to grapple with it. the tendency of legislation in that direction is obvious. commissioners have been appointed to consider the subject and no result has followed. a board of railroad commissioners has been formed, which has been productive of great good both to the railroad corporations, and to the people. this board has been directed to fully consider and report some plan of regulating fares and freights; and has reported that it cannot recommend any means of reducing this transportation tax, by direct legislation, but strongly advises the trial of state ownership, as the only means of attaining the desired end. the effect in our existing system. while it may be said that under the present system of railroads, the commonwealth has been prosperous, there are drawbacks and defects which need careful examination, and if possible a remedy. to those who are familiar with the condition of our manufactures, the most striking want is the failure of our home market for our productions. we are tributary to new york in many ways. the great sale of our manufactured goods is made in new york, and goes to build up a rival city. our great commission houses have been compelled to establish branches in new york, which in a short time have surpassed in business and in importance the home establishments. if we could have kept at home the sale of our manufactured goods--have retained here in boston the great houses through which the exchanges are made--could have brought to new england the purchasers from the west and south, it would have vastly increased the prosperity of boston and of new england. business can be done cheaper in boston than in new york; and yet new york has drawn away from us a large proportion of our legitimate business,--the sale of our manufactured goods; and this loss can be directly attributed to a defect in our railroad system, which can and should be remedied. i say defect, but, more properly, the want of a strong and independent line of railroad through to the west, controlled in the interest of massachusetts. why, mr. president, if we could withdraw from new york the firms and business that represent the sale of massachusetts goods, it would more than cover the burnt district of this city, and double the business of boston; and new york would feel that her loss was much greater than the boston fire. and why is it that our goods are sent to new york to be sold? simply because new york has _three_ great trunk routes to the west, which control the transportation of the southern and western productions, and the owners, who are the merchants, follow their goods, and are the customers who purchase our manufactured goods of new york houses, and ship them in return over these same trunk lines, giving them a large and profitable business; which should be and can be controlled, by proper management, in the interest and for the benefit of a through line or lines from boston to the west. to-day boston is without a through and independent line to the west, and while we are shipping our goods to new york to be sold, to be transported over the great lines leading south and west, our _own_ western road, so called, in 1872, according to the annual report of the directors, carried through from boston to albany 112,071 tons of freight, and from albany to boston 556,202 tons--more than four times as much _from_ the west than is carried _to_ the west; which state of things would be reversed if the sale of our goods was made here instead of new york; but this can only be accomplished by a through line west, controlled in the interests of massachusetts, and not in the interest of new york. a line to the lakes in competition,--not with the boston and albany railroad, as that is dependent upon the new york central railroad in a great measure for its western freights,--but an independent line, so organized as to guard against any combination, that will force by competition the new york lines to give to the boston and albany and the boston, hartford and erie railroads less rates, making boston a competing point, thus securing the advantages of four competing western lines, including the great northern line, which must bring to our seaboard the products of the great west, and thus secure an exchange of trade that will increase the growth, and prosperity of massachusetts, that will equal the prophecies of those who are called _visionary theorists_. it was by competition of the three great trunk lines running to new york--discriminating against boston--that forced the removal of the sale of massachusetts productions to that city; and it is estimated these sales amount to more than two hundred and fifty millions of dollars per annum at the present time; and the golden opportunity is now at hand to restore in a great measure the advantages lost by not having a strong and efficient line of railroad leading to the great west, in the interest of the state. the relative advantages of boston and new york. the great advantages of new york arise from the fact that it is a great emporium of exportation and importation. a very large proportion of the exports of the country have been made from new york. she has gained control of the export trade--and the export trade governs the import trade. ships go where they can find a return cargo, and merchants follow their goods. the possession of the great bulk of the export trade, has given to new york the great bulk of importations, and equally the control of the domestic trade. how can we, in boston and massachusetts, get our fair share of the importing and domestic trade of the country? there is but one way--by reducing the transportation tax. in many respects boston has great advantages for the export trade. the chief exports of the country are to europe. we are two hundred miles nearer europe than any of the other of the great seaboard cities. we have a harbor unrivaled on the american coast for easy entrance--for depth of water--for protection from storms. its great water-front, at which vessels of burden may lie to an extent (as is stated by the harbor commissioners) of fifty miles--every foot of which is, or may be directly connected with our railroads. there is not a wharf along the whole circuit which may not, without great expense, be made available for the export of the productions of the country, brought by the railroad car to the side of the ship, which shall convey it to the freight market. if we can secure to boston a fair share of the export trade of the country, the import and domestic trade will follow, and we ensure the building of a city within the limits of my friend's annexation project, that will equal the greatest city of the continent. the effect on the state of making boston an exporting city. it is hardly necessary to allude to the close connection which boston holds to massachusetts. one-third of the population of the state and one-half its valuation are combined within a circle of five miles from this building. the prosperity of boston is inseparable from the prosperity of massachusetts. the recent calamity of boston was felt throughout the limits of the state. but the great benefit to the state from making boston an exporting city is not the prosperity of the city itself. it grows out of the condition which alone can make boston a city of export for the productions of the country. this can only result from a reduction in the transportation tax which will make such productions relatively cheaper in boston than in new york. in the profits of such a result the remotest corner of the state will directly share. transportation cannot be reduced to boston without a corresponding reduction upon every line of railroad leading to or from this city. it was with a hope of such a result that the state entered upon the project of building the hoosac tunnel, and it rests with us to say, now that this great enterprise is so near completion, whether this hope can be realized. the hoosac tunnel. it is needless to explain at any length what the hoosac tunnel is. there can be no member of this board who does not know that we in massachusetts are separated from the west by a mountain barrier extending from near long island sound to near the canada line. this barrier must be passed to bring us into connection with the west. it has been turned on the north by the vermont central, on the south by the hartford and erie. it has been passed over steep grades by the boston and albany. at north adams it is compressed into narrow limits in the hoosac mountain, and the bold conception was formed to pierce directly through it at this point. first, the effort was made to accomplish the great undertaking by private capital, aided by a state loan. the difficulties were underrated and the plan failed. finally, the state assumed the enterprise and has since, with varying fortunes but unfaltering energy, prosecuted it to a successful result. within the current year there can be little doubt of the completion of the work. the tunnel will be opened for traffic and a new line formed between boston and the west, shorter by eleven miles than any existing route; with easy grades, which, making the usual allowance for the obstruction caused by heavy grades to railroad traffic--will render it constructively shorter than any route by at least twenty miles, or ten per cent., between boston and albany. its cost to the state, including the troy and greenfield railroad, will be at least twelve millions, raised by loans, on which the interest is paid by taxation. since the plan of the tunnel was formed new lines of road have been projected and built, connecting it with every part of the state, and there is scarcely a town from berkshire to provincetown, which does not to-day stand in position to reap its share of the benefit expected to follow the completion of this great public enterprise. having expended so large a sum on the tunnel, the question arises, how shall we use it to derive the greatest good to the whole people? the state now holds, as owner substantially, the troy and greenfield railroad and the tunnel, at a cost of about twelve millions. its value depends wholly upon the future development of business, but its relations are such to other railroad interests, that i have no doubt that, if the state desires to sell the tunnel, notwithstanding its great cost, negotiations could be made to dispose of it at a price that would return to the state the moneys expended, but it would be at the risk of sacrificing the prosperity of its own industrial interests. there are various and conflicting opinions expressed in regard to the business that may be done. some parties who appeared before the committee declared that the completion of the tunnel could only be compared to the removal of a dam, to be followed by a flood of business beyond our power to properly care for; while others were equally confident that the traffic now flowing through other channels would be diverted to the new one only through the influence of time and energetic labor. all, however, agreed in the opinion that, under proper management it was destined to become, at no very distant day, perhaps, the great avenue for trade between the east and west. the eagerness with which various railroad corporations seek its control by "_ways_ and _means_," if honest, should be convincing proof of the great importance of the tunnel to the public, and if not honest, it should merit the condemnation of every honest man in the community. position of the committee. on certain points the committee were unanimous. _first:_ that the state should own and control the tunnel in such manner as to secure to the whole state the ultimate benefit to be derived from its construction, and to secure to all persons and corporations seeking to use it, equal rights. _second:_ that to attain the highest benefit to be derived from this new line, a corporation strong enough to provide sufficient equipment and terminal facilities should be formed, able to command connections with roads outside of the state and to compete with a fair share of success with the existing corporations. how best to attain these ends with a view to cheapness of transportation and efficiency of action the members of the committee differ. the majority reported a bill providing for the consolidation of the boston and lowell railroad company, the fitchburg railroad company, the vermont and massachusetts railroad company, the commonwealth and the troy and boston railroad company into one corporation, with authority to purchase or lease certain other roads, which will make a capital of not less than twenty-five to thirty millions and give control to about five hundred miles of railroad. from this plan the minority have dissented and reported a plan which will place the direct line from boston to troy substantially under one direction, and subject it not to state management but to _state control_. the bill of the majority. to the bill reported by the majority of the committee we have the strongest objections. _first._--it sanctions an enormous inflation of capital. it authorizes a consolidation upon the basis of an appraisal of the value of the several properties to be made by the parties themselves. the railroads of this commonwealth are prohibited by law from making stock dividends, and yet here stock dividends are allowed to such extent as the parties think proper. one of the greatest impositions ever practised upon the public, from which the people of this commonwealth now suffer, is the watered stock of the railroads between albany and chicago. the amount of stock in these roads issued without any equivalent, upon which our traffic is now taxed, is variously estimated at from forty-four millions to one hundred and five millions. the annual tax levied is from three millions to six millions, of which we pay a large share. the majority bill provides for just such a watering of stock, to the extent of perhaps ten millions, according to the appraisal by the parties in interest. we believe this to be all wrong, and should not be sanctioned by the commonwealth. _second._--we utterly dissent from the opinion of the majority in allowing the boston and lowell railroad to come into such a consolidation. the boston and lowell forms no part of the tunnel line. every witness before the committee, except the agents of the corporations themselves, was emphatic against such a consolidation. see governor claflin's testimony, 7th hearing, page 26. " j. t. joy " " " " 37. " c. f. adams, jr., " " " " " " n. c. nash " 9th " " 4. " q. a. vinal " 14th " " 10. " col. faulkner " " " " 12. " j. w. brooks " 17th " " 13. the northern line has been of very great value to the business of boston and massachusetts; more than any other it has effected that reduction of rates which has returned to boston within the past few years a portion of the export trade. it forms the shortest line at present existing between boston and the lakes, and while lake navigation is open substantially controls the rates over the other lines. mr. nathaniel c. nash says (9th hearing, page 6), "we have derived more advantage from that line than from any other source." (see railroad commissioners' report of 1870, page 36.) while the lowell railroad provided the terminus and the representation in this commonwealth, the other railroads in the line have cooperated in producing this result. it has cheapened food to the people of this commonwealth, and of all new england. the lowell railroad is bound by contracts to continue in this northern line for twenty years to come. although some of the corporations are under financial difficulties, this does not affect the operations of the line. the railroads still exist and must continue to do business, and so far as the advantage of the traffic extends, it matters little who owns or operates the railroads. so impressed are the majority of the committee with the importance of maintaining the northern line that they impose upon the lowell railroad company, as they say, the conditions of withdrawing from the northern line, and make provision for transfer of the business to another line--the boston and maine. they propose to do this in a manner which seems to us weak and futile. the majority bill provides for repeal of the charter of the great northern railroad company, passed in 1869, which authorized the boston and lowell railroad company to consolidate with certain companies in new hampshire, with authority to lease or purchase other railroads leading to ogdensburg and other points in the north and west, and lines of boats on the lakes. as all the other companies in this consolidated line are in new hampshire this charter was ineffective without the cooperation of new hampshire, and to this bill new hampshire has never assented--not from any hostility to through lines, but because it contained objectionable features, such as the consolidation of competing lines, the creation of a monstrous corporation with power to combine in one gigantic monopoly all the railroads within her borders. this charter is mere waste paper, and its repeal would have no more effect than the burning of waste paper. the lowell railroad remains bound by contracts to the northern line, and the majority bill effectually places the northern and tunnel lines under one control. the proposal to transfer the northern line and northern business to the boston and maine railroad seems to us an absurdity. the boston and maine is practically an eastern line; of its whole length, one hundred and twelve miles, only twenty-six could be used in connection with the northern line. it never could or would give that exclusive attention to the business necessary to make such a line successful. its only means of connection is over the manchester and lawrence railroad, the grades of which are too heavy for a successful freight business with the west. the boston and lowell railroad is the natural terminus of this northern line, and no legislation can remove it from this position. moreover the majority bill, placing the boston and lowell railroad and the fitchburg in the same control, and authorizing a lease of the cheshire, gives the consolidated company such a substantial control of the whole northern business that its transfer to the boston and maine would necessarily be followed by such disastrous competition as to preclude such a connection. it must inevitably result in a consolidation of the tunnel and the northern line under one management. in creating a new line we destroy one which already exists. our true policy is to maintain unimpaired our four routes to the west, and under whatever management they may be, at all events maintain that they shall be independent of each other. if a consolidation is to be made of the tunnel line we are clearly of the opinion that it should be of the direct line only between boston and troy, including the fitchburg, vermont and massachusetts, troy and greenfield, and troy and boston, and the massachusetts central if it desires to form part of such a line. the boston and lowell railroad, and nashua railroad should be studiously kept apart from such a line, because it forms no natural part, and does form a natural part of another line. it is urged that the possession of terminal facilities in boston should be allowed a controlling influence in this matter; that the boston and lowell railroad has obtained the only convenient terminus in boston for a great western line--more than is needed for its own business, or the business of the northern line, and therefore that the railroad policy of the commonwealth should be compelled to yield to its position. to this there are two answers. _first._--that these facilities were obtained for the northern line, and by urgent representations of its necessities, and if they are not needed for that business they should be transferred to other corporations that do need them. the commonwealth has full power in the case, and it is only necessary to invoke the same power which the majority bill gives the consolidation company to take property from the fitchburg, to take from the lowell railroad company the property which it now represents as not needed for its business which it has obtained under the representation of a public necessity. _secondly._--the question of terminal facilities is too unimportant in itself to be permitted to determine in the least degree the decision of a great state policy; other facilities can be obtained as good as the lowell. _finally._--we object to the plan of the majority because it continues the policy of placing our last remaining line to the west under the control and management of a stock corporation. it cannot be denied that there is great and wide-spread dissatisfaction with our present railroad system, and its management. we have tried in vain to control by special legislation, and it may well be acknowledged that the trial has not been very successful. regulation by special legislation. no system has ever been devised better calculated to introduce corruption into our state government than the present method of regulating railroads by special laws. every senator knows what influences are brought to bear to promote and defeat the various projects of special legislation. no! mr. president, i have over-stated--i am sure that no senator at this board does know _all_ the "ways and means" that are used to influence members to secure votes for the passage of various bills in the interest of railroads. every senator is aware how powerful and wide-spread is the pressure when public railroad legislation is under consideration. if these influences were confined to the questions of special or general railroad legislation, great as the evil is, it would not be irreparable. but unhappily the evil does not stop here. hardly a question of special or general legislation is decided by either branch of the legislature without being affected in a greater or less degree by these railroad questions. it prolongs our sessions and fills our lobbies with the advocates of private corporations, and these special guardians of the rights of the people in the service and pay of railroad corporations astonish the members from the rural districts by their disinterestedness in their "labors of love" and benevolence--making their stay at the capital so pleasant and agreeable without money, but not without price--as to create a strong desire to serve the "dear people" another term, and obligations are exchanged that demand the presence and service of these men. no i not men alone, but men and women at our town caucuses and conventions, that favors granted may be reciprocated in securing the nomination, and thereby the election of the men who are willing to be run by rail road interests. if this state of things does not corrupt legislators, it is because legislators are incorruptible. we know its results in other states, and we may well fear it here. special legislation has totally failed in securing the results intended, and left behind a train of unmitigated evils which must increase with the increased magnitude of the railroad interest, and the growth of railroad corporations. the establishment of such a corporation as is provided for in the majority bill may well be dreaded. the creature will be more powerful than its creator. control of the tunnel. the committee were clear and unanimous in the opinion that the state should under no circumstances part with the absolute control of the tunnel to a private corporation. the majority bill is the first step in giving up the control of the tunnel to a private corporation. it gives to that corporation control of the whole line, except the tunnel; and entrusts it with the operators of the tunnel itself. the pressure upon the state to part with the tunnel will grow with the increase of business; the whole power and usefulness of the line must rest in the hands of the corporation which owns the railroad entering the tunnel on either side. i am not old in railroad tactics--but, mr. president--with the bill reported by the majority of the committee, i think i should have no difficulty--with less than one-half of the amount of the money expended in the efforts to pass the bill--to capture the tunnel from the state in three years, and it would be accomplished in such a manner through the representatives of the people, that no one would presume to question my honesty. the commonwealth, owning the tunnel,--the most valuable portion of the line, the _key_ to the whole line,--has no voice in its management except a minority in the board of direction; no voice in fixing rates, no influence in its operations. this is all placed in the hands of a private corporation, governed by stockholders, whose stock is at all times in the market, and may be purchased at any time by any parties who deem it for their interest to control the line. the corporation may at any time combine with existing corporations to fix rates, and thus the main object sought by the state in constructing the tunnel--an independent and competing line--be defeated. the purposes of the minority. the minority of the committee in the plan which they propose to the legislature, have had two purposes in view. _first:_ absolute and perpetual control of the tunnel, built with the public money for the benefit of the people of the whole commonwealth; and _second:_ _state control_ of the tunnel line. i use the words _state control_ designedly, as distinguished from state ownership, or state management. state ownership of a railroad without state management is useless. state management may sink into political management which might be disastrous to the public, and to the railroad. but state control is a very different thing; precisely what legislatures have sought in vain to attain. we have endeavored to give it by special legislation, but all in vain; and yet just this is what we want. the idea is too firmly fixed in the public mind to be eradicated without a fair and conclusive trial, that fares and freights are now too high--that cheap transportation _is_ necessary, and can be furnished without interfering with a fair return for the capital invested. you cannot expect private corporations whose whole object is to make money for stockholders, to try this experiment fairly, and ascertain how cheaply transportation can be afforded. railroad corporations do sometimes compete, but the sole object and purpose of such competition is eventual combination, and in that combination, the public must suffer. we want to establish a corporation which shall compete to increase its business without any ulterior view of combination to raise rates, and such a corporation is found under the plan presented by the minority of the committee. the minority bill. this bill proposes first that the troy and greenfield railroad and tunnel shall remain the property of the state. _second._ that the state shall obtain by lease the control of the railroads forming the direct tunnel line. we have reason to believe that this can be effected. we have assurances that the fitchburg railroad company will assent to the terms of this bill. if the only result of this bill is to secure the control of the fitchburg railroad it will be worth the trial. the fitchburg railroad with its connection with the tunnel, has a commanding position with reference to the railroads of the state. what we want to secure is a free system of competition, without the power of combination, which is now the bane of our railroad system, in the hands of private corporations. rates are now fixed to a remarkable extent by combination, and not by competition. every business man knows that the freight rates between important points are fixed at meetings of freight agents, who consider not what is a fair price for rendering the service, but what will best pay the corporations which control the business. the great need of the business community of boston and massachusetts, is a line to the west, making the nearest connection with the lakes, which will do the business at fair and uniform rates, and which shall be managed in the interest of the public, and not of stockholders. such a line can be secured under the provisions of the minority bill, which will establish a through line with power to connect with lake navigation at oswego, on lake ontario, and be substantially under state control. the necessity of extending the line to oswego, to some point on the lake is obvious, because every other railroad communicating with the west, except the great northern route, is now under the control of new york. at any lake port navigation is open for seven or eight months in the year, and gives a direct communication with the great centres of western commerce. the tunnel line ending at troy can give little advantage over the present western line--the boston and albany railroad. the effect of state control of the tunnel line. one great purpose of controlling one important line, is the effect upon other lines. our system of railroads is so interwoven that all our railroads are to some extent competing, and the operation of one railroad by a corporation in the interest of the public will to a great extent control the whole railroad system of the state. the direct tunnel line probably now occupies the most important controlling position of any in the state. it can be made a regulator of the western business of the state. it can by its connections with the cheshire and other vermont and massachusetts railroads, largely control the northern lines. it will, by its many connections, bring the whole state in direct connection with the north and west. the great success of the so-called belgium system is founded on this principle,--the control of the whole by the direct operation of a small portion. the position of our massachusetts railroads is, in this respect, not unlike that of belgium. our railroads are so closely connected together that the state control of one road will be felt throughout the whole system. the popular feeling in favor of state control. it cannot be denied that the popular feeling has been steadily growing in favor of state operation of railroads in spite of all that has been said of the danger of corruption and of the inefficiency of state management. the people, confident in their own integrity and their own power, have not indistinctly shown their desire to fairly try the experiment, and the circumstances are more favorable for such an experiment than will probably again occur. the state now owns the important part of the line,--that part which is necessary to change the line from a disconnected local line of railroads to a great through line. it has been built at great cost. its opening gives great value to the connecting roads. if it was worth the cost of construction, this value can only be shown by a development of business which will require a series of years, and will be attended with corresponding advantages to all connecting roads. this development of business can hardly be expected without substantially giving up the control of the tunnel to the line which operates it. the majority bill does give such a control. we deem it the best way for the state retaining the tunnel to obtain upon fair terms the control of the connecting roads, and fairly try the experiment of operating a railroad to ascertain how cheaply transportation can be furnished, and yet return a fair remuneration for the capital employed. the public demands such an experiment to be tried, and a better opportunity to try can never exist. safety of the experiment. of this there can be no reasonable doubt, for a corporation formed under the provisions of the minority bill possesses all the advantages that can be obtained by consolidation under one private corporation, as authorized by the majority bill, and the additional advantages of state and corporate management combined, which would be efficient and reliable, beyond that of ordinary railroad corporations, inasmuch as their acts would be most carefully watched and criticised by others than stockholders, and the honor of securing a successful result to so great an experiment and enterprise in the interests of the people, would be a far greater incentive to even political ambition, than the compensation received; for "great deeds foreshadow great men," and the people are not slow in their rewards to those who are honest and earnest in their service. why, mr. president, if i had the ability to manage this enterprise, i should hold the _honor_ of making this enterprise in the interest of the state a success of more importance than the honor of being the governor of massachusetts. and when a man's reputation is thus at stake, he cannot afford to cheat himself by withholding from the state his best talents and energies. it has another and still greater advantage,--the endorsement of the commonwealth of massachusetts, which furnishes power and capital for terminal facilities, equipment and the improvement of the line at a cheaper rate than any consolidated company can procure it; and cheap capital in disinterested hands secures _cheap_ transportation. can there be any doubt that a corporation thus formed and managed will prove a financial success? if not a success, then we have great reason to distrust a private corporation; with far less advantages, and a larger capital, for doing the same business must prove a financial failure. to demonstrate this point in a more practical manner, we will assume a proposition and verify this proposition by figures. judging from the present local business now done on the several roads--forming what is anticipated as the tunnel line, and the testimony of eminent railroad men of the business that is sure to come to this great through route to the west--it is fair to assume that the whole will do a business that will average six millions a year for the first five years; twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of the leased roads, and property are reserved to provide for settlement of the conditions of the said leases; and as they are not guaranteed the payment of any amount beyond what their present business pays, can there be any doubt but what the twenty-five per cent. on the increased business will pay the six per cent. interest on the capital loaned to increase the facilities for extending the business over the line? the railroad commissioners report that the average expenses of all the railroads of the commonwealth is seventy-five per cent. of their gross earnings; but there is no doubt but what it can be proved that it cost less than seventy per cent. on the great trunk lines, and one of the oldest and most successful railroad managers assured me that this tunnel line could be run for sixty per cent., but we will call it seventy per cent., which makes with the twenty-five per cent. ninety-five per cent., leaving five per cent. for net profit on the whole business of six millions, which is $300,000. what next? we have for the credit of the corporation or state, twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of the business done on the troy and greenfield railroad and through the tunnel. calling the tunnel twenty-three miles in length,--which it is conceded it should be called for what it saves in distance and grades,--and with the troy and greenfield railroad, which is forty-four miles, we have one-third of the whole distance, and it is the judgment of practical railroad men that out of the six millions of business, two millions would pass over this division and through the tunnel; and twenty-five per cent. on two millions is $500,000 income, which, added to the $300,000, gives a net income of $800,000 to the state, which is nearly six per cent. on thirteen and one-half millions, the cost of the tunnel and troy and greenfield railroad, with an additional expenditure of one and one-half millions needed to make this division of the route what it should be as a part of the great through line. in proportion as the business increases, in that same proportion will the profits increase, and when the business shall amount to ten millions, which i have no doubt it will in less than ten years, you create a fund over and above the interest on the whole cost that can be used for extinguishing the debt, purchasing the stock of the leased roads, as the value is fixed by the terms of the lease, or for the reduction of rates of fares and freights. if this proposition will not bear investigation, pray tell me how the stockholders of the consolidated corporations are to receive dividends on their watered stock, with increased cost of improvements of the line, and equipment for doing the same business. the alleged danger of political corruption. a chief argument against the system proposed is the danger of political corruption likely to follow the employment of a large number of men in public business. _second._--it is alleged that the public management of any great public service is less efficient than private management. the purpose of the minority of the committee in proposing their plan, was to provide a corporate body removed as far as possible from political influence. the state trustees are appointed by the governor and council. they are appointed for _five_ years. a single vacancy occurs each year. they hold nearly the same position in regard to the operatives employed ill the operation of the corporation, as directors of corporations, and no one ever heard of directors exerting any great political influence, particularly state directors. i doubt if any director of any railroad corporation in the state ever knew or thought to influence the political vote of an operative. if they choose, the managers of any private corporation could exert a greater and more injurious political influence than these state trustees. if the power is dangerous in state trustees, who must be selected by your governor, it is far more dangerous in the hands of persons elected by stockholders of a private, money-making corporation, whose interests are in direct antagonism to the interests of the public. this argument applies to corporate management only with a much greater force. let corporate management be unmasked and it would make state management hide its face with shame. (see extract new york state committee on erie.) "if the principle is to be established that a few interested parties of stock-jobbers, having no permanent interest, can, by the corrupt use of money or by violence, take and hold possession of a great railroad corporation, and reimburse themselves out of its treasury, it is time the matter was understood by the public. as to the payment of money to influence legislation connected with said company, or other irregularities, the testimony was enough to show that the railroad companies have been in the habit of expending large sums from year to year, either to secure or defeat the passage of bills. it appears conclusive that a large amount, reported by one witness at $100,000, was appropriated for legislative purposes by the railroad interest in 1872, and that $30,000 was the erie's portion. in this connection the committee denounce the lobby roundly. it is further in evidence that it has been the custom of the managers of the erie railroad from year to year in the past to expend large sums to control elections and to influence legislation. in 1868 more than one million dollars was disbursed from the treasury for 'extra and legal services.' what the erie has done, other great corporations are doubtless doing from year to year. we have here simply an acknowledgment, of the fact. combined as they are, the power of the great moneyed corporations of this country are a standing menace to the liberties of the people. the railroad lobby flaunts its ill-gotten gains in the faces of our legislators, and in all our politics the debasing effect of its influence is felt." this cry of political corruption against state management is but the resurrection of the old party ghost which has always been retained in the service of all political parties to frighten people that are naturally timid and conservative; and this terrible spectre has often been the means of delaying and defeating enterprises that were for the best interests of the people. i remember, mr. president, when this ghost was exhibited by the democratic party in every town in this state; and the people were made to believe that the loan made by the state to the boston and albany (western) railroad would ruin the state; that every man's farm was mortgaged at nine dollars per acre; and men believed it, for that was in times when the people followed party leaders through faith; when it was said that the true test of the political faith of a new hampshire democrat was to wake him up with the inquiry, "who made you?" and if he answered promptly, "isaac hill, sir," he was to be trusted as one of the faithful. the effect of this great outcry was to destroy confidence in the enterprise and the stock at one time could not be _given_ away for fear of assessments. and if the people at that time could have been guaranteed that the loss of the state should not exceed the four million loaned, they would have gladly given another million as a guarantee. but they could not rid themselves of the supposed burden, and the result has been the development of a great enterprise in the interests of the state in spite of their fears. this was in a measure to the credit of state management. as to the efficiency of the plan, it remains to be tried; but in the language of the minority report we believe such a management would be efficient and reliable beyond that of ordinary railroad corporations. it combines state control with corporate management. the governor and council could be depended upon to appoint suitable persons as trustees. the railroad corporations would naturally appoint their most efficient agents as trustees. such a board could find no difficulty in securing the services of the ablest railroad officers to direct and aid in the management. as the plan has no precedent it cannot be judged from the record, and the prejudice existing against state management cannot fairly apply to this plan; but if it could have a fair trial we have no doubt of its efficiency and success; and we are not alone in this opinion, for this plan has received the full endorsement of eminent railroad managers, successful and prominent manufacturers and merchants, and the chairman of the railroad commissioners, together with many of our most enterprising and conservative citizens. state pensioners. it is urged that the plan proposed creates a large class of state pensioners to whom the revenues of the treasury are pledged. they are state pensioners in the same sense as any individual who leases property to the state for a fixed rent, is a state pensioner. every railroad charter contains a provision for the acquisition of the corporate property by the state, by payment of its presumed value. as well say that all these charters are pension bills. the minority bill simply provides that stockholders yielding their property to the state, shall have a remuneration for the property surrendered. it makes little difference to the individual whether his compensation comes in the form of the payment of a fixed sum or of an annual annuity. it does make some difference to the state, whether it increases a debt to payoff these stockholders at once, or pays such interest as the property acquired may be fairly presumed to earn. the guarantee does not exceed the dividends which the property may be expected to earn, and the advantage which a lease gives over a purchase by avoiding the transfer and changing of capital should not be overlooked. in a word, these stockholders are pensioners only in the sense that they become entitled to secure annuities from the state for which they pay beforehand a full equivalent into the treasury. the benefits of the proposed plan. it makes absolutely certain the perpetual control of the tunnel for the benefit of the people of the whole state. it secures to the people by whose money it has been built, the ultimate value of the enterprise, whatever that value may prove to be. it secures to the people an independent western line, to be managed for the benefit of the people, free from any danger of combinations by which rates are fixed. it secures to all corporations desiring to use the tunnel, equal rights. it secures a line stronger than any other, amply able to provide equipment and facilities, and to compete with powerful corporations in neighboring states. it fixes the capital of the corporation without danger of inflation, and without risk of speculative control. it enables the people to try fairly the experiment of cheap transportation. it provides equally with the plan of the majority for the interchange of depots, by which the crossings at the north side of the city may be avoided. if only one-half of these advantages can be gained the experiment is worth trying. if it succeeds and our expectations are fully realized, it will confer upon the people the greatest boon since the introduction of railroads. senators will bear me witness that i have never solicited their vote on any personal consideration, and in the decision of this great question, i can only appeal to you as legislators to record your votes in accordance with your convictions of duty to the people of this commonwealth, and for the protection of her six hundred millions of industrial interests; unbiased by any local or personal interest, keeping in mind that there is no power but that of the state that is safe to trust in the great exigency that now exists. * * * * * transcriber's notes: all obvious typos were corrected. hyphenation was standardized. the placement of quotation marks were not standardized; but left as in the original printed version. transcriber's note: this is paper 41 from the _smithsonian institution united states national museum bulletin 240_, comprising papers 34-44, which will also be available as a complete e-book. the front material, introduction and relevant index entries from the _bulletin_ are included in each single-paper e-book. italic emphasis denoted as _text_. whole numbers and fractions: shown as 1-1/2, 3-1/4, etc. please see the end of the book for corrections and changes made. smithsonian institution united states national museum bulletin 240 [illustration: smithsonian press] museum of history and technology contributions from the museum of history and technology _papers 34-44_ _on science and technology_ smithsonian institution · washington, d.c. 1966 * * * * * _publications of the united states national museum_ the scholarly and scientific publications of the united states national museum include two series, _proceedings of the united states national museum_ and _united states national museum bulletin_. in these series, the museum publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums--the museum of natural history and the museum of history and technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. copies of each publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects. the _proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in separate form, of shorter papers from the museum of natural history. these are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume. in the _bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related subjects. _bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on the needs of the presentation. since 1902 papers relating to the botanical collections of the museum of natural history have been published in the _bulletin_ series under the heading _contributions from the united states national herbarium_, and since 1959, in _bulletins_ titled "contributions from the museum of history and technology," have been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of that museum. the present collection of contributions, papers 34-44, comprises bulletin 240. each of these papers has been previously published in separate form. the year of publication is shown on the last page of each paper. frank a. taylor _director, united states national museum_ * * * * * contributions from the museum of history and technology. paper 41 tunnel engineering--a museum treatment _robert m. vogel_ introduction 203 rock tunneling 206 soft-ground tunneling 215 bibliography 239 footnotes index [illustration: figure 1.--mining by early european civilizations, using fire setting and hand chiseling to break out ore and rock. mht model--3/4" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-h.)] _robert m. vogel_ tunnel engineering--a museum treatment _during the years from 1830 to 1900, extensive developments took place in the field of tunneling, which today is an important, firmly established branch of civil engineering. this paper offers a picture of its growth from the historical standpoint, based on a series of models constructed for the hall of civil engineering in the new museum of history and technology. the eight models described highlight the fundamental advances which have occurred between primitive man's first systematic use of fire for excavating rock in mining, and the use in combination of compressed air, an iron lining, and a movable shield in a subaqueous tunnel at the end of the 19th century._ the author: _robert m. vogel is curator of heavy machinery and civil engineering, in the smithsonian institution's museum of history and technology._ introduction with few exceptions, civil engineering is a field in which the ultimate goal is the assemblage of materials into a useful structural form according to a scientifically derived plan which is based on various natural and man-imposed conditions. this is true whether the result be, for example, a dam, a building, a bridge, or even the fixed plant of a railroad. however, one principal branch of the field is based upon an entirely different concept. in the engineering of tunnels the utility of the "structure" is derived not from the bringing together of elements but from the separation of one portion of naturally existing material from another to permit passage through a former barrier. in tunneling hard, firm rock, this is practically the entire compass of the work: breaking away the rock from the mother mass, and, coincidently, removing it from the workings. the opposite extreme in conditions is met in the soft-ground tunnel, driven through material incapable of supporting itself above the tunnel opening. here, the excavation of the tunneled substance is of relatively small concern, eclipsed by the problem of preventing the surrounding material from collapsing into the bore. [illustration: figure 2.--hoosac tunnel. method of working early sections of the project; blast holes drilled by hand jacking. mht model--1/2" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-l.)] in one other principal respect does tunnel engineering differ widely from its collateral branches of civil engineering. few other physical undertakings are approached with anything like the uncertainty attending a tunnel work. this is even more true in mountain tunnels, for which test borings frequently cannot be made to determine the nature of the material and the geologic conditions which will be encountered. the course of tunnel work is not subject to an overall preliminary survey; the engineer is faced with not only the inability to anticipate general contingencies common to all engineering work, but with the peculiar and often overwhelming unpredictability of the very basis of his work. subaqueous and soft-ground work on the other hand, while still subject to many indeterminates, is now far more predictable than during its early history, simply because the nature of the adverse condition prevailing eventually was understood to be quite predictable. the steady pressures of earth and water to refill the excavated area are today overcome with relative ease and consistency by the tunneler. in tunneling as in no other branch of civil engineering did empiricism so long resist the advance of scientific theory; in no other did the "practical engineer" remain to such an extent the key figure in establishing the success or failure of a project. the hoosac tunnel, after 25 years of legislative, financial, and technical difficulties, in 1875 was finally driven to successful completion only by the efforts of a group who, while in the majority were trained civil engineers, were to an even greater extent men of vast practical ability, more at home in field than office. dewitt c. haskin (see p. 234), during the inquest that followed the death of a number of men in a blowout of his pneumatically driven hudson river tunnel in 1880, stated in his own defense: "i am not a scientific engineer, but a practical one ... i know nothing of mathematics; in my experience i have grasped such matters as a whole; i believe that the study of mathematics in that kind of work [tunneling] has a tendency to dwarf the mind rather than enlighten it...." an extreme attitude perhaps, and one which by no means adds to haskin's stature, but a not unusual one in tunnel work at the time. it would not of course be fair to imply that such men as herman haupt, brunel the elder, and greathead were not accomplished theoretical engineers. but it was their innate ability to evaluate and control the overlying physical conditions of the site and work that made possible their significant contributions to the development of tunnel engineering. tunneling remained largely independent of the realm of mathematical analysis long after the time when all but the most insignificant engineering works were designed by that means. thus, as structural engineering has advanced as the result of a flow of new theoretical concepts, new, improved, and strengthened materials, and new methods of fastening, the progress of tunnel engineering has been due more to the continual refinement of constructional techniques. a new hall of civil engineering in the museum of history and technology has recently been established a hall of civil engineering in which the engineering of tunnels is comprehensively treated from the historical standpoint--something not previously done in an american museum. the guiding precept of the exhibit has not been to outline exhaustively the entire history of tunneling, but rather to show the fundamental advances which have occurred between primitive man's first systematic use of fire for excavating rock in mining, and the use in combination of compressed air, iron lining, and a movable shield in a subaqueous tunnel at the end of the 19th century. this termination date was selected because it was during the period from about 1830 to 1900 that the most concentrated development took place, and during which tunneling became a firmly established and important branch of civil engineering and indeed, of modern civilization. the techniques of present-day tunneling are so fully related in current writing that it was deemed far more useful to devote the exhibit entirely to a segment of the field's history which is less commonly treated. [illustration: figure 3.--hoosac tunnel. working of later stages with burleigh pneumatic drills mounted on carriages. the bottom heading is being drilled in preparation for blasting out with nitroglycerine. mht model--1/2" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-m.)] the major advances, which have already been spoken of as being ones of technique rather than theory, devolve quite naturally into two basic classifications: the one of supporting a mass of loose, unstable, pressure-exerting material--soft-ground tunneling; and the diametrically opposite problem of separating rock from the basic mass when it is so firm and solid that it can support its own overbearing weight as an opening is forced through it--rock, or hard-ground tunneling. to exhibit the sequence in a thorough manner, inviting and capable of easy and correct interpretation by the nonprofessional viewer, models offered the only logical means of presentation. six tunnels were selected, all driven in the 19th century. each represents either a fundamental, new concept of tunneling technique, or an important, early application of one. models of these works form the basis of the exhibit. no effort was made to restrict the work to projects on american soil. this would, in fact, have been quite impossible if an accurate picture of tunnel technology was to be drawn; for as in virtually all other areas of technology, the overall development in this field has been international. the art of mining was first developed highly in the middle ages in the germanic states; the tunnel shield was invented by a frenchman residing in england, and the use of compressed air to exclude the water from subaqueous tunnels was first introduced on a major work by an american. in addition, the two main subdivisions, rock and soft-ground tunneling, are each introduced by a model not of an actual working, but of one typifying early classical methods which were in use for centuries until the comparatively recent development of more efficient systems of earth support and rock breaking. particular attention is given to accuracy of detail throughout the series of eight models; original sources of descriptive and graphic information were used in their construction wherever possible. in all cases except the introductory model in the rock-tunneling series, representing copper mining by early civilizations, these sources were contemporary accounts. the plan to use a uniform scale of reduction throughout, in order to facilitate the viewers' interpretation, unfortunately proved impractical, due to the great difference in the amount of area to be encompassed in different models, and the necessity that the cases holding them be of uniform height. the related models of the broadway and tower subways represent short sections of tunnels only 8 feet or so in diameter enabling a relatively large scale, 1-1/2 inches to the foot, to be used. conversely, in order that the model of brunel's thames tunnel be most effective, it was necessary to include one of the vertical terminal shafts used in its construction. these were about 60 feet in depth, and thus the much smaller scale of 1/4 inch to the foot was used. this variation is not as confusing as might be thought, for the human figures in each model provide an immediate and positive sense of proportion and scale. careful thought was devoted to the internal lighting of the models, as this was one of the critical factors in establishing, so far as is possible in a model, an atmosphere convincingly representative of work conducted solely by artificial light. remarkable realism was achieved by use of plastic rods to conduct light to the tiny sources of tunnel illumination, such as the candles on the miners' hats in the hoosac tunnel, and the gas lights in the thames tunnel. no overscaled miniature bulbs, generally applied in such cases, were used. at several points where the general lighting within the tunnel proper has been kept at a low level to simulate the natural atmosphere of the work, hidden lamps can be operated by push-button in order to bring out detail which otherwise would be unseen. the remainder of the material in the museum's tunneling section further extends the two major aspects of tunneling. space limitations did not permit treatment of the many interesting ancillary matters vital to tunnel engineering, such as the unique problems of subterranean surveying, and the extreme accuracy required in the triangulation and subsequent guidance of the boring in long mountain tunnels; nor the difficult problems of ventilating long workings, both during driving and in service; nor the several major methods developed through the years for driving or constructing tunnels in other than the conventional manner.[1] rock tunneling while the art of tunneling soft ground is of relatively recent origin, that of rock tunneling is deeply rooted in antiquity. however, the line of its development is not absolutely direct, but is more logically followed through a closely related branch of technology--mining. the development of mining techniques is a practically unbroken one, whereas there appears little continuity or relationship between the few works undertaken before about the 18th century for passage through the earth. the egyptians were the first people in recorded history to have driven openings, often of considerable magnitude, through solid rock. as is true of all major works of that nation, the capability of such grand proportion was due solely to the inexhaustible supply of human power and the casual evaluation of life. the tombs and temples won from the rock masses of the nile valley are monuments of perseverance rather than technical skill. neither the egyptians nor any other peoples before the middle ages have left any consistent evidence that they were able to pierce ground that would not support itself above the opening as would firm rock. in egypt were established the methods of rock breaking that were to remain classical until the first use of gun-powder blasting in the 17th century which formed the basis of the ensuing technology of mining. notwithstanding the religious motives which inspired the earliest rock excavations, more constant and universal throughout history has been the incentive to obtain the useful and decorative minerals hidden beneath the earth's surface. it was the miner who developed the methods introduced by the early civilizations to break rock away from the primary mass, and who added the refinements of subterranean surveying and ventilating, all of which were later to be assimilated into the new art of driving tunnels of large diameter. the connection is the more evident from the fact that tunnelmen are still known as miners. copper mining, b.c. therefore, the first model of the sequence, reflecting elemental rock-breaking techniques, depicts a hard-rock copper mine (fig. 1). due to the absence of specific information about such works during the pre-christian eras, this model is based on no particular period or locale, but represents in a general way, a mine in the rio tinto area of spain where copper has been extracted since at least 1000 b.c. similar workings existed in the tirol as early as about 1600 b.c. two means of breaking away the rock are shown: to the left is the most primitive of all methods, the hammer and chisel, which require no further description. at the right side, the two figures are shown utilizing the first rock-breaking method in which a force beyond that of human muscles was employed, the age-old "fire-setting" method. the rock was thoroughly heated by a fierce fire built against its face and then suddenly cooled by dashing water against it. the thermal shock disintegrated the rock or ore into bits easily removable by hand. [illustration: figure 4.--hoosac tunnel. bottom of the central shaft showing elevator car and rock skip; pumps at far right. in the center, the top bench is being drilled by a single column-mounted burleigh drill. mht model--1/2" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-n.)] the practice of this method below ground, of course, produced a fearfully vitiated atmosphere. it is difficult to imagine whether the smoke, the steam, or the toxic fumes from the roasting ore was the more distressing to the miners. even when performed by labor considered more or less expendable, the method could be employed only where there was ventilation of some sort: natural chimneys and convection currents were the chief sources of air circulation. despite the drawbacks of the fire system, its simplicity and efficacy weighed so heavily in its favor that its history of use is unbroken almost to the present day. fire setting was of greatest importance during the years of intensive mining in europe before the advent of explosive blasting, but its use in many remote areas hardly slackened until the early 20th century because of its low cost when compared to powder. for this same reason, it did have limited application in actual tunnel work until about 1900. direct handwork with pick, chisel and hammer, and fire setting were the principal means of rock removal for centuries. although various wedging systems were also in favor in some situations, their importance was so slight that they were not shown in the model. hoosac tunnel it was possible in the model series, without neglecting any major advancement in the art of rock tunneling, to complete the sequence of development with only a single additional model. many of the greatest works of civil engineering have been those concerned directly with transport, and hence are the product of the present era, beginning in the early 19th century. the development of the ancient arts of route location, bridge construction, and tunnel driving received a powerful stimulation after 1800 under the impetus of the modern canal, highway, and, especially, the railroad. the hoosac tunnel, driven through hoosac mountain in the very northwest corner of massachusetts between 1851 and 1875, was the first major tunneling work in the united states. its importance is due not so much to this as to its being literally the fountainhead of modern rock-tunneling technology. the remarkable thing is that the work was begun using methods of driving almost unchanged during centuries previous, and was completed twenty years later by techniques which were, for the day, almost totally mechanized. the basic pattern of operation set at hoosac, using pneumatic rock drills and efficient explosives, remains practically unchanged today. the general history of the hoosac project is so thoroughly recorded that the briefest outline of its political aspects will suffice here. hoosac mountain was the chief obstacle in the path of a railroad projected between greenfield, massachusetts, and troy, new york. the line was launched by a group of boston merchants to provide a direct route to the rapidly developing west, in competition with the coastal routes via new york. the only route economically reasonable included a tunnel of nearly five miles through the mountain--a length absolutely without precedent, and an immense undertaking in view of the relatively primitive rock-working methods then available. [illustration: figure 5.--burleigh rock drill, improved model of about 1870, mounted on frame for surface work. (catalog and price list: the burleigh rock drill company, 1876.)] the bore's great length and the desire for rapid exploitation inspired innovation from the outset of the work. the earliest attempts at mechanization, although ineffectual and without influence on tunnel engineering until many years later, are of interest. these took the form of several experimental machines of the "full area" type, intended to excavate the entire face of the work in a single operation by cutting one or more concentric grooves in the rock. the rock remaining between the grooves was to be blasted out. the first such machine tested succeeded in boring a 24-foot diameter opening for 10 feet before its total failure. several later machines proved of equal merit.[2] it was the baltimore and ohio's eminent chief engineer, benjamin h. latrobe, who in his _report on the hoosac tunnel_ (baltimore, oct. 1, 1862, p. 125) stated that such apparatus contained in its own structure the elements of failure, "... as they require the machines to do too much and the powder too little of the work, thus contradicting the fundamental principles upon which all labor-saving machinery is framed ... i could only look upon it as a misapplication of mechanical genius." [illustration: figure 6.--hoosac tunnel. flash-powder photograph of burleigh drills at the working face. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] latrobe stated the basic philosophy of rock-tunnel work. no mechanical agent has ever been able to improve upon the efficiency of explosives for the shattering of rock. for this reason, the logical application of machinery to tunneling was not in replacing or altering the fundamental process itself, but in enabling it to be conducted with greater speed by mechanically drilling the blasting holes to receive the explosive. actual work on the hoosac tunnel began at both ends of the tunnel in about 1854, but without much useful effect until 1858 when a contract was let to the renowned civil engineer and railroad builder, herman haupt of philadelphia. haupt immediately resumed investigations of improved tunneling methods, both full-area machines and mechanical rock drills. at this time mechanical rock-drill technology was in a state beyond, but not far beyond, initial experimentation. there existed one workable american machine, the fowle drill, invented in 1851. it was steam-driven, and had been used in quarry work, although apparently not to any commercial extent. however, it was far too large and cumbersome to find any possible application in tunneling. nevertheless, it contained in its operating principle, the seed of a practical rock drill in that the drill rod was attached directly to and reciprocated by a double-acting steam piston. a point of great importance was the independence of its operation on gravity, permitting drilling in any direction. while experimenting, haupt drove the work onward by the classical methods, shown in the left-hand section of the model (fig. 2). at the far right an advance heading or adit is being formed by pick and hammer work; this is then deepened into a top heading with enough height to permit hammer drilling, actually the basic tunneling operation. a team is shown "double jacking," i.e., using two-handed hammers, the steel held by a third man. this was the most efficient of the several hand-drilling methods. the top-heading plan was followed so that the bulk of the rock could be removed in the form of a bottom bench, and the majority of drilling would be downward, obviously the most effective direction. blasting was with black powder and its commercial variants. some liberty was taken in depicting these steps so that both operations might be shown within the scope of the model: in practice the heading was kept between 400 and 600 feet in advance of the bench so that heading blasts would not interfere with the bench work. the bench carriage simply facilitated handling of the blasted rock. it was rolled back during blasts. [illustration: figure 7.--hoosac tunnel. group of miners descending the west shaft with a burleigh drill. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] the experiments conducted by haupt with machine drills produced no immediate useful results. a drill designed by haupt and his associate, stuart gwynn, in 1858 bored hard granite at the rate of 5/8 inch per minute, but was not substantial enough to bear up in service. haupt left the work in 1861, victim of intense political pressures and totally unjust accusations of corruption and mismanagement. the work was suspended until taken over by a state commission in 1862. despite frightful ineptitude and very real corruption, this period was exceedingly important in the long history both of hoosac tunnel and of rock tunneling in general. the merely routine criticism of the project had by this time become violent due to the inordinate length of time already elapsed and the immense cost, compared to the small portion of work completed. this served to generate in the commission a strong sense of urgency to hurry the project along. charles s. storrow, a competent engineer, was sent to europe to report on the progress of tunneling there, and in particular on mechanization at the mont cenis tunnel then under construction between france and italy. germain sommeiller, its chief engineer, had, after experimentation similar to haupt's, invented a reasonably efficient drilling machine which had gone into service at mont cenis in march 1861. it was a distinct improvement over hand drilling, almost doubling the drilling rate, but was complex and highly unreliable. two hundred drills were required to keep 16 drills at work. but the vital point in this was the fact that sommeiller drove his drills not with steam, but air, compressed at the tunnel portals and piped to the work face. it was this single factor, one of application rather than invention, that made the mechanical drill feasible for tunneling. all previous effort in the field of machine drilling, on both sides of the atlantic, had been directed toward steam as the motive power. in deep tunnels, with ventilation already an inherent problem, the exhaust of a steam drill into the atmosphere was inadmissible. further, steam could not be piped over great distances due to serious losses of energy from radiation of heat, and condensation. steam generation within the tunnel itself was obviously out of the question. it was the combination of a practical drill, and the parallel invention by sommeiller of a practical air compressor that resulted in the first workable application of machine rock drilling to tunneling. [illustration: figures 8 & 9.--hoosac tunnel. contemporary engravings. as such large general areas could not be sufficiently illuminated for photography, the museum model was based primarily on artists' versions of the work. (_science record_, 1872; _leslie's weekly_, 1873.)] the sommeiller drills greatly impressed storrow, and his report of november 1862 strongly favored their adoption at hoosac. it is curious however, that not a single one was brought to the u.s., even on trial. storrow does speak of sommeiller's intent to keep the details of the machine to himself until it had been further improved, with a view to its eventual exploitation. the fact is, that although workable, the sommeiller drill proved to be a dead end in rock-drill development because of its many basic deficiencies. it did exert the indirect influence of inspiration which, coupled with a pressing need for haste, led to renewed trials of drilling machinery at hoosac. thomas doane, chief engineer under the state commission, carried this program forth with intensity, seeking and encouraging inventors, and himself working on the problem. the pattern of the sommeiller drill was generally followed; that is, the drill was designed as a separate, relatively light mechanical element, adapted for transportation by several miners, and attachable to a movable frame or carriage during operation. air was of course the presumed power. to be effective, it was necessary that a drill automatically feed the drill rod as the hole deepened, and also rotate the rod automatically to maintain a round, smooth hole. extreme durability was essential, and usually proved the source of a machine's failure. the combination of these characteristics into a machine capable of driving the drill rod into the rock with great force, perhaps five times per second, was a severe test of ingenuity and materials. doane in 1864 had three different experimental drills in hand, as well as various steam and water-powered compressors. success finally came in 1865 with the invention of a drill by charles burleigh, a mechanical engineer at the well-known putnam machine works of fitchburg, massachusetts. the drills were first applied in the east heading in june of 1866. although working well, their initial success was limited by lack of reliability and a resulting high expense for repairs. they were described as having "several weakest points." in november, these drills were replaced by an improved burleigh drill which was used with total success to the end of the work. the era of modern rock tunneling was thus launched by sommeiller's insight in initially applying pneumatic power to a machine drill, by doane's persistence in searching for a thoroughly practical drill, and by burleigh's mechanical talent in producing one. the desperate need to complete the hoosac tunnel may reasonably be considered the greatest single spur to the development of a successful drill. the significance of this invention was far reaching. burleigh's was the first practical mechanical rock drill in america and, in view of its dependability, efficiency, and simplicity when compared to the sommeiller drill, perhaps in the world. the burleigh drill achieved success almost immediately. it was placed in production by putnam for the burleigh rock drill company before completion of hoosac in 1876, and its use spread throughout the western mining regions and other tunnel works. for a major invention, its adoption was, in relative terms, instantaneous. it was the prototype of all succeeding piston-type drills, which came to be known generically as "burleighs," regardless of manufacture. walter shanley, the canadian contractor who ultimately completed the hoosac, reported in 1870, after the drills had been in service for a sufficient time that the techniques for their most efficient use were fully understood and effectively applied, that the burleigh drills saved about half the drilling costs over hand drilling. the per-inch cost of machine drilling averaged 5.5 cents, all inclusive, vs. 11.2 cents for handwork. the more important point, that of speed, is shown by the reports of average monthly progress of the tunnel itself, before and after use of the air drills. _year_ _average monthly progress in feet_ 1865 55 1866 48 1867 99 1868 - 1869 138 1870 126 1871 145 1872 124 [illustration: figure 10.--trinitroglycerine blast at hoosac tunnel. (_leslie's weekly_, 1873.)] the right portion of the model (fig. 3) represents the workings during the final period. the bottom heading system was generally used after the burleigh drills had been introduced. four to six drills were mounted on a carriage designed by doane. these drove the holes for the first blast in the center of the heading in about six hours. the full width of the heading, the 24-foot width of the tunnel, was then drilled and blasted out in two more stages. as in the early section, the benches to the rear were later removed to the full-tunnel height of about 20 feet. this operation is shown by a single drill (fig. 4) mounted on a screw column. three 8-hour shifts carried the work forward: drilling occupied half the time and half was spent in running the carriage back, blasting, and mucking (clearing the broken rock). [illustration: figure 11.--hoosac tunnel survey crew at engineering office. the highest accuracy of the aboveground and underground survey work was required to insure proper vertical and horizontal alignment and meeting of the several separately driven sections. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] the tunnel's 1028-foot central shaft, completed under the shanley contract in 1870 to provide two additional work faces as well as a ventilation shaft is shown at the far right side of this half of the model. completed so near the end of the project, only 15 percent of the tunnel was driven from the shaft. the enormous increase in rate of progress was not due entirely to machine drilling. from the outset of his jurisdiction, doane undertook experiments with explosives as well as drills, seeking an agent more effective than black powder. in this case, the need for speed was not the sole stimulus. as the east and west headings advanced further and further from the portals, the problem of ventilation grew more acute, and it became increasingly difficult to exhaust the toxic fumes produced by the black powder blasts. in 1866, doane imported from europe a sample of trinitroglycerine, the liquid explosive newly introduced by nobel, known in europe as "glonoïn oil" and in the united states as "nitroglycerine." it already had acquired a fearsome reputation from its tendency to decompose with heat and age and to explode with or without the slightest provocation. nevertheless, its tremendous power and characteristic of almost complete smokelessness led doane to employ the chemist george w. mowbray, who had blasted for drake in the pennsylvania oil fields, to develop techniques for the bulk manufacture of the new agent and for its safe employment in the tunnel. mowbray established a works on the mountain and shortly developed a completely new blasting practice based on the explosive. its stability was greatly increased by maintaining absolute purity in the manufacturing process. freezing the liquid to reduce its sensitivity during transport to the headings, and extreme caution in its handling further reduced the hazard of its use. at the heading, the liquid was poured into cylindrical cartridges for placement in the holes. as with the burleigh drill, the general adoption of nitroglycerine was immediate once its qualities had been demonstrated. the effect on the work was notable. its explosive characteristics permitted fewer blast holes over a given frontal area of working face, and at the same time it was capable of effectively blowing from a deeper drill hole, 42 inches against 30 inches for black powder, so that under ideal conditions 40 percent more tunnel length was advanced per cycle of operations. a new fuse and a system of electric ignition were developed which permitted simultaneous detonation and resulted in a degree of effectiveness impossible with the powder train and cord fusing used with the black powder. over a million pounds of nitroglycerine were produced by mowbray between 1866 and completion of the tunnel. [illustration: figure 12.--works at the central shaft, hoosac tunnel, for hoisting, pumping and air compressing machinery, and general repair, 1871. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] [illustration: figure 13.--hoosac tunnel. air-compressor building on hoosac river near north adams. the compressors were driven partially by waterpower, derived from the river. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] [illustration: figure 14.--west portal of hoosac tunnel before completion, 1868, showing six rings of lining brick. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] when the shanleys took the work over in 1868, following political difficulties attending operation by the state, the period of experimentation was over. the tunnel was being advanced by totally modern methods, and to the present day the overall concepts have remained fundamentally unaltered: the burleigh piston drill has been replaced by the lighter hammer drill; the doane drill carriage by the more flexible "jumbo"; nitroglycerine by its more stable descendant dynamite and its alternatives; and static-electric blasting machines by more dependable magnetoelectric. but these are all in the nature of improvements, not innovations. unlike the preceding model, there was good documentation for this one. also, the hoosac was apparently the first american tunnel to be well recorded photographically. early flashlight views exist of the drills working at the heading (fig. 6) as well as of the portals, the winding and pumping works at the central shaft, and much of the machinery and associated aspects of the project. these and copies of drawings of much of doane's experimental apparatus, a rare technological record, are preserved at the massachusetts state library. soft-ground tunneling so great is the difference between hard-rock and soft-ground tunneling that they constitute two almost separate branches of the field. in penetrating ground lacking the firmness or cohesion to support itself above an opening, the miner's chief concern is not that of removing the material, but of preventing its collapse into his excavation. the primitive methods depending upon brute strength and direct application of fire and human force were suitable for assault on rock, but lacked the artifice needed for delving into less stable material. roman engineers were accomplished in spanning subterranean ways with masonry arches, but apparently most of their work was done by cut-and-cover methods rather than by actual mining. not until the middle ages did the skill of effectively working openings in soft ground develop, and not until the renaissance was this development so consistently successful that it could be considered a science. renaissance mining from the earliest periods of rock working, the quest for minerals and metals was the primary force that drove men underground. it was the technology of mining, the product of slow evolution over the centuries, that became the technology of the early tunnel, with no significant modification except in size of workings. every aspect of 16th century mining is definitively detailed in georgius agricola's remarkable _de re metallica_, first published in basel in 1556. during its time of active influence, which extended for two centuries, it served as the authoritative work on the subject. it remains today an unparalleled early record of an entire branch of technology. the superb woodcuts of mine workings and tools in themselves constitute a precise description of the techniques of the period, and provided an ideal source of information upon which to base the first model in the soft-ground series. [illustration: figure 15.--centering for placement of finished stonework at west portal, 1874. at top-right are the sheds where the lining brick was produced. (_photo courtesy of state library, commonwealth of massachusetts._)] the model, representing a typical european mine, demonstrates the early use of timber frames or "sets" to support the soft material of the walls and roof. in areas of only moderate instability, the sets alone were sufficient to counteract the earth pressure, and were spaced according to the degree of support required. in more extreme conditions, a solid lagging of small poles or boards was set outside the frames, as shown in the model, to provide absolute support of the ground. details of the framing, the windlass, and all tools and appliances were supplied by agricola, with no need for interpretation or interpolation. the basic framing pattern of sill, side posts and cap piece, all morticed together, with lagging used where needed, was translated unaltered into tunneling practice, particularly in small exploratory drifts. it remained in this application until well into the 20th century. the pressure exerted upon tunnels of large area was countered during construction by timbering systems of greater elaboration, evolved from the basic one. by the time that tunnels of section large enough to accommodate canals and railways were being undertaken as matter-of-course civil engineering works, a series of nationally distinguishable systems had emerged, each possessing characteristic points of favor and fault. as might be suspected, the english system of tunnel timbering, for instance, was rarely applied on the continent, nor were the german, austrian or belgian systems normally seen in great britain. all were used at one time or another in this country, until the american system was introduced in about 1855. while the timbering commonly remained in place in mines, it would be followed up by permanent masonry arching and lining in tunnel work. overhead in the museum hall of civil engineering are frames representing the english, austrian and american systems. nearby, a series of small relief models (fig. 19) is used to show the sequence of enlargement in a soft-ground railroad tunnel of about 1855, using the austrian system. temporary timber support of tunnels fell from use gradually after the advent of shield tunneling in conjunction with cast-iron lining. this formed a perfect support immediately behind the shield, as well as the permanent lining of the tunnel. brunel's thames tunnel the interior surfaces of tunnels through ground merely unstable are amenable to support by various systems of timbering and arching. this becomes less true as the fluidity of the ground increases. the soft material which normally comprises the beds of rivers can approach an almost liquid condition resulting in a hydraulic head from the overbearing water sufficient to prevent the driving of even the most carefully worked drift, supported by simple timbering. the basic defect of the timbering systems used in mining and tunneling was that there was inevitably a certain amount of the face or ceiling unsupported just previous to setting a frame, or placing over it the necessary section of lagging. in mine work, runny soil could, and did, break through such gaps, filling the working. for this reason, there were no serious attempts made before 1825 to drive subaqueous tunnels. in that year, work was started on a tunnel under the thames between the rotherhithe and wapping sections of london, under guidance of the already famous engineer marc isambard brunel (1769-1849), father of i. k. brunel. the undertaking is of great interest in that brunel employed an entirely novel apparatus of his own invention to provide continuous and reliable support of the soft water-bearing clay which formed the riverbed. by means of this "shield," brunel was able to drive the world's first subaqueous tunnel.[3] [illustration: figure 16.--west portal upon completion, 1876. (_photo courtesy of new-york historical society._)] the shield was of cast-iron, rectangular in elevation, and was propelled forward by jackscrews. shelves at top, bottom, and sides supported the tunnel roof, floor, and walls until the permanent brick lining was placed. the working face, the critical area, was supported by a large number of small "breasting boards," held against the ground by small individual screws bearing against the shield framework. the shield itself was formed of 12 separate frames, each of which could be advanced independently of the others. the height was 22 feet 3 inches: the width 37 feet 6 inches. the progress was piecemeal. in operation the miners would remove one breasting board at a time, excavate in front of it, and then replace it in the advanced position--about 6 inches forward. this was repeated with the next board above or below, and the sequence continued until the ground for the entire height of one of the 12 sections had been removed. the board screws for that section were shifted to bear on the adjacent frames, relieving the frame of longitudinal pressure. it could then be screwed forward by the amount of advance, the screws bearing to the rear on the completed masonry. thus, step by step the tunnel progressed slowly, the greatest weekly advance being 14 feet. in the left-hand portion of the model is the shaft sunk to begin operations; here also is shown the bucket hoist for removing the spoil. the v-type steam engine powering the hoist was designed by brunel. at the right of the main model is an enlarged detail of the shield, actually an improved version built in 1835. the work continued despite setbacks of every sort. the financial ones need no recounting here. technically, although the shield principle proved workable, the support afforded was not infallible. four or five times the river broke through the thin cover of silt and flooded the workings, despite the utmost caution in excavating. when this occurred, masses of clay, sandbags, and mats were dumped over the opening in the riverbed to seal it, and the tunnel pumped out. i. k. brunel acted as superintendent and nearly lost his life on a number of occasions. after several suspensions of work resulting from withdrawal or exhaustion of support, one lasting seven years, the work was completed in 1843. despite the fact that brunel had, for the first time, demonstrated a practical method for tunneling in firm and water-bearing ground, the enormous cost of the work and the almost overwhelming problems encountered had a discouraging effect rather than otherwise. not for another quarter of a century was a similar project undertaken. the thames tunnel was used for foot and light highway traffic until about 1870 when it was incorporated into the london underground railway system, which it continues to serve today. the roofed-over top sections of the two shafts may still be seen from the river. a number of contemporary popular accounts of the tunnel exist, but one of the most thorough and interesting expositions on a single tunnel work of any period is henry law's _a memoir of the thames tunnel_, published in 1845-1846 by john weale. law, an eminent civil engineer, covers the work in incredible detail from its inception until the major suspension in late 1828 when slightly more than half completed. the most valuable aspect of his record is a series of plates of engineering drawings of the shield and its components, which, so far as is known, exist nowhere else. these formed the basis of the enlarged section of the shield, shown to the right of the model of the tunnel itself. a vertical section through the shield is reproduced here from law for comparison with the model (figs. 21 and 23). [illustration: figure 17.--soft-ground tunneling. the support of walls and roof of mine shaft by simple timbering; 16th century. mht model--3/4" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-j.)] [illustration: figure 18.--soft-ground tunneling. the model of a 16th century mine in the museum of history and technology was constructed from illustrations in such works as g. e. von löhneyss' _bericht vom bergwerck_, 1690, as well as the better known ones from _de re metallica_.] [illustration: figure 19.--the successive stages in the enlargement of a mid-19th century railroad tunnel, using the austrian system of timbering. mht model.] [illustration: figure 20.--m. i. brunel's thames tunnel, 1825-1843, the first driven beneath a body of water. mht model--1/4" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-f.)] the tower subway various inventors attempted to improve upon the brunel shield, aware of the fundamental soundness of the shield principle. almost all bypassed the rectangular sectional construction used in the thames tunnel, and took as a starting point a sectional shield of circular cross section, advanced by brunel in his original patent of 1818. james henry greathead (1844-1896), rightfully called the father of modern subaqueous tunneling, surmised in later years that brunel had chosen a rectangular configuration for actual use, as one better adapted to the sectional type of shield. the english civil engineer, peter w. barlow, in 1864 and 1868 patented a circular shield, of one piece, which was the basis of one used by him in constructing a small subway of 1350 feet beneath the thames in 1869, the first work to follow the lead of brunel. greathead, acting as barlow's contractor, was the designer of the shield actually used in the work, but it was obviously inspired by barlow's patents. the reduction of the multiplicity of parts in the brunel shield to a single rigid unit was of immense advantage and an advance perhaps equal to the shield concept of tunneling itself. the barlow-greathead shield was like the cap of a telescope with a sharpened circular ring on the front to assist in penetrating the ground. the diaphragm functioned, as did brunel's breasting boards, to resist the longitudinal earth pressure of the face, and the cylindrical portion behind the diaphragm bore the radial pressure of roof and walls. here also for the first time, a permanent lining formed of cast-iron segments was used, a second major advancement in soft-ground tunneling practice. not only could the segments be placed and bolted together far more rapidly than masonry lining could be laid up, but unlike the green masonry, they could immediately bear the full force of the shield-propelling screws. barlow, capitalizing on brunel's error in burrowing so close to the riverbed, maintained an average cover of 30 feet over the tunnel, driving through a solid stratum of firm london clay which was virtually impervious to water. as the result of this, combined with the advantages of the solid shield and the rapidly placed iron lining, the work moved forward at a pace and with a facility in startling contrast to that of the thames tunnel, although in fairness it must be recalled that the face area was far less. the clay was found sufficiently sound that it could be readily excavated without the support of the diaphragm, and normally three miners worked in front of the shield, digging out the clay and passing it back through a doorway in the plate. this could be closed in case of a sudden settlement or break in. following excavation, the shield was advanced 18 inches into the excavated area by means of 6 screws, and a ring of lining segments 18 inches in length bolted to the previous ring under cover of the overlapping rear skirt of the shield. the small annular space left between the outside of the lining and the clay by the thickness and clearance of the skirt--about an inch--was filled with thin cement grout. the tunnel was advanced 18 inches during each 8-hour shift. the work continued around the clock, and the 900-foot river section was completed in only 14 weeks.[4] the entire work was completed almost without incident in just under a year, a remarkable performance for the world's second subaqueous tunnel. [illustration: figure 21.--enlarged detail of brunel's tunneling shield, vertical section. the first two and part of the third of the twelve frames are shown. to the left is the tunnel's completed brick lining and to the right, the individual breasting boards and screws for supporting the face. the propelling screws are seen at top and bottom, bearing against the lining. three miners worked in each frame, one above the other. mht model--3/4" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-g.)] [illustration: figure 22.--broadside published after commencement of work on the thames tunnel, 1827. (mht collections.) open to the public every day (_sundays excepted_) _from seven in the morning, until eight in the evening_, the thames tunnel. fig. 1 shows a transverse section of the thames, and beneath it a longitudinal section of the tunnel, as it will be when completed; with the ascents in the inclinations in which they will be finished. fig. 2 shows the two arched entrances of the tunnel from the shaft. fig. 3 is a representation of the iron shield, and shows a workman in each of the compartments. the entrance to the tunnel is near to rotherhithe church, and nearly opposite to the london-docks. the nearest landing place from the river is church stairs. the greenwich and deptford coaches which go the lower road, start hourly from charing-cross, and gracechurch-street, and pass close by the works at rotherhithe. books relative to the tunnel may be had at the works. the public may view the tunnel every day (sundays excepted) from seven in the morning until eight in the evening, upon payment of one shilling each person. the extreme northern end of the tunnel is for the present secured by a strong wall; but visitors will find a dry, warm, and gravelled promenade, as far as to almost the centre of the river, and brilliantly lighted with oil gas. the entrance is from rotherhithe street, and by a safe, commodious, and easy stair case. h. teape & son, printers, tower-hill, london.] [illustration: figure 23.--vertical section through brunel's shield. the long lever, x, supported the wood centering for turning the masonry arches of the lining. (law, _a memoir of the thames tunnel._)] [illustration: figure 24.--thames tunnel. section through riverbed and tunnel following one of the break-throughs of the river. inspection of the damage with a diving bell. (beamish, _a memoir of the life of sir marc isambard brunel_.)] the tower subway at first operated with cylindrical cars that nearly filled the 7-foot bore; the cars were drawn by cables powered by small steam engines in the shafts. this mode of power had previously been used in passenger service only on the greenwich street elevated railway in new york. later the cars were abandoned as unprofitable and the tunnel turned into a footway (fig. 32). this small tunnel, the successful driving due entirely to greathead's skill, was the forerunner of the modern subaqueous tunnel. in it, two of the three elements essential to such work thereafter were first applied: the one-piece movable shield of circular section, and the segmental cast-iron lining. the documentation of this work is far thinner than for the thames tunnel. the most accurate source of technical information is a brief historical account in copperthwaite's classic _tunnel shields and the use of compressed air in subaqueous works_, published in 1906. copperthwaite, a successful tunnel engineer, laments the fact that he was able to turn up no drawing or original data on this first shield of greathead's, but he presents a sketch of it prepared in the greathead office in 1895, which is presumably a fair representation (fig. 33). the tower subway model was built on the basis of this and several woodcuts of the working area that appeared contemporaneously in the illustrated press. in this and the adjacent model of beach's broadway subway, the tunnel axis has been placed on an angle to the viewer, projecting the bore into the case so that the complete circle of the working face is included for a more suggestive effect. this was possible because of the short length of the work included. henry s. drinker, also a tunnel engineer and author of the most comprehensive work on tunneling ever published, treats rock tunneling in exhaustive detail up to 1878. his notice of what he terms "submarine tunneling" is extremely brief. he does, however, draw a most interesting comparison between the first thames tunnel, built by brunel, and the second, built by greathead 26 years later: first thames tunnel second thames tunnel (tower subway) brickwork lining, 38 feet cast-iron lining of 8 feet wide by 22-1/2 feet high. outside diameter. 120-ton cast-iron shield, 2-1/2-ton, wrought-iron shield, accommodating 36 miners. accommodating at most 3 men. workings filled by irruption "water encountered at almost of river five times. any time could have been gathered in a stable pail." eighteen years elapsed between work completed in about start and finish of work. eleven months. cost: $3,000,000. cost: $100,000. [illustration: figure 25.--transverse section through shield, after inundation. such disasters, as well as the inconsistency of the riverbed's composition, seriously disturbed the alignment of the shield's individual sections. (law, _a memoir of the thames tunnel_.)] [illustration: figure 26.--longitudinal section through thames tunnel after sandbagging to close a break in the riverbed. the tunnel is filled with silt and water. (law, _a memoir of the thames tunnel_.)] [illustration: figure 27.--interior of the thames tunnel shortly after completion in 1843. (_photo courtesy of new york public library picture collection._)] [illustration: figure 28.--thames tunnel in use by london underground railway. (_illustrated london news_, 1869?)] [illustration: figure 29.--placing a segment of cast-iron lining in greathead's tower subway, 1869. to the rear is the shield's diaphragm or bulkhead. mht model--1-1/2" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-b.)] beach's broadway subway almost simultaneously with the construction of the tower subway, the first american shield tunnel was driven by alfred ely beach (1826-1896). beach, as editor of the _scientific american_ and inventor of, among other things, a successful typewriter as early as 1856, was well known and respected in technical circles. he was not a civil engineer, but had become concerned with new york's pressing traffic problem (even then) and as a solution, developed plans for a rapid-transit subway to extend the length of broadway. he invented a shield as an adjunct to this system, solely to permit driving of the tunnel without disturbing the overlying streets. an active patent attorney as well, beach must certainly have known of and studied the existing patents for tunneling shields, which were, without exception, british. in certain aspects his shield resembled the one patented by barlow in 1864, but never built. however, work on the beach tunnel started in 1869, so close in time to that on the tower subway, that it is unlikely that there was any influence from that source. beach had himself patented a shield, in june 1869, a two-piece, sectional design that bore no resemblance to the one used. his subway plan had been first introduced at the 1867 fair of the american institute in the form of a short plywood tube through which a small, close-fitting car was blown by a fan. the car carried 12 passengers. sensing opposition to the subway scheme from tammany, in 1868 beach obtained a charter to place a small tube beneath broadway for transporting mail and small packages pneumatically, a plan he advocated independently of the passenger subway. [illustration: figure 30.--contemporary illustrations of tower subway works used as basis of the model in the museum of history and technology. (_illustrated london news_, 1869.) advancing the shield. fitting the castings.] [illustration: figure 31.--excavation in front of shield, tower subway. this was possible because of the stiffness of the clay encountered. mht model--front of model shown in fig. 29. (smithsonian photo 49260-a.)] under this thin pretense of legal authorization, the sub-rosa excavation began from the basement of a clothing store on warren street near broadway. the 8-foot-diameter tunnel ran eastward a short distance, made a 90-degree turn, and thence southward under broadway to stop a block away under the south side of murray street. the total distance was about 312 feet. work was carried on at night in total secrecy, the actual tunneling taking 58 nights. at the warren street terminal, a waiting room was excavated and a large roots blower installed for propulsion of the single passenger car. the plan was similar to that used with the model in 1867: the cylindrical car fitted the circular tunnel with only slight circumferential clearance. the blower created a plenum within the waiting room and tunnel area behind the car of about 0.25 pounds per square inch, resulting in a thrust on the car of almost a ton, not accounting for blowby. the car was thus blown along its course, and was returned by reversing the blower's suction and discharge ducts to produce an equivalent vacuum within the tunnel. [illustration: figure 32.--interior of completed tower subway. (thornbury, _old and new london, 1887, vol. 1, p. 126_.)] the system opened in february of 1870 and remained in operation for about a year. beach was ultimately subdued by the hostile influences of boss tweed, and the project was completely abandoned. within a very few more years the first commercially operated elevated line was built, but the subway did not achieve legitimate status in new york until the opening of the interborough line in 1904. ironically, its route traversed broadway for almost the length of the island. [illustration: figure 33.--vertical section through the greathead shield used at the tower subway, 1869. the first one-piece shield of circular section. (copperthwaite, _tunnel shields and the use of compressed air in subaqueous works_.)] the beach shield operated with perfect success in this brief trial, although the loose sandy soil encountered was admittedly not a severe test of its qualities. no diaphragm was used; instead a series of 8 horizontal shelves with sharpened leading edges extended across the front opening of the shield. the outstanding feature of the machine was the substitution for the propelling screws used by brunel and greathead of 18 hydraulic rams, set around its circumference. these were fed by a single hand-operated pump, seen in the center of figure 34. by this means the course of the shield's forward movement could be controlled with a convenience and precision not attainable with screws. vertical and horizontal deflection was achieved by throttling the supply of water to certain of the rams, which could be individually controlled, causing greater pressure on one portion of the shield than another. this system has not changed in the ensuing time, except, of course, in the substitution of mechanically produced hydraulic pressure for hand. [illustration: figure 34.--beach's broadway subway. advancing the shield by hydraulic rams, 1869. mht model--1-1/2" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-e.)] [illustration: figure 35.--vertical section through the beach shield used on the broadway subway, showing the horizontal shelves (c), iron cutting ring (b), hydraulic rams (d), hydraulic pump (f), and rear protective skirt (h). (_scientific american_, march 5, 1870.)] unlike the driving of the tower subway, no excavation was done in front of the shield. rather, the shield was forced by the rams into the soil for the length of their stroke, the material which entered being supported by the shelves. this was removed from the shelves and hauled off. the ram plungers then were withdrawn and a 16-inch length of the permanent lining built up within the shelter of the shield's tail ring. against this, the rams bore for the next advance. masonry lining was used in the straight section; cast-iron in the curved. the juncture is shown in the model. [illustration: figure 36.--interior of beach subway showing iron lining on curved section and the pneumatically powered passenger car. view from waiting room. (_scientific american_, march 5, 1870.)] enlarged versions of the beach shield were used in a few tunnels in the midwest in the early 1870's, but from then until 1886 the shield method, for no clear reason, again entered a period of disuse finding no application on either side of the atlantic despite its virtually unqualified proof at the hands of greathead and beach. little precise information remains on this work. the beach system of pneumatic transit is described fully in a well-illustrated booklet published by him in january 1868, in which the american institute model is shown, and many projected systems of pneumatic propulsion as well as of subterranean and subaqueous tunneling described. beach again (presumably) is author of the sole contemporary account of the broadway subway, which appeared in _scientific american_ following its opening early in 1870. included are good views of the tunnel and car, of the shield in operation, and, most important, a vertical sectional view through the shield (fig. 35). it is interesting to note that optical surveys for maintenance of the course apparently were not used. the article illustrated and described the driving each night of a jointed iron rod up through the tunnel roof to the street, twenty or so feet above, for "testing the position." the first hudson river tunnel despite the ultimate success of brunel's thames tunnel in 1843, the shield in that case afforded only moderately reliable protection because of the fluidity of the soil driven through, and its tendency to enter the works through the smallest opening in the shield's defense. an english doctor who had made physiological studies of the effects on workmen of the high air pressure within diving bells is said to have recommended to brunel in 1828 that he introduce an atmosphere of compressed air into the tunnel to exclude the water and support the work face. this plan was first formally described by sir thomas cochrane (1775-1860) in a british patent of 1830. conscious of brunel's problems, he proposed a system of shaft sinking, mining, and tunneling in water-bearing materials by filling the excavated area with air sufficiently above atmospheric pressure to prevent the water from entering and to support the earth. in this, and his description of air locks for passage of men and materials between the atmosphere and the pressurized area, cochrane fully outlined the essential features of pneumatic excavation as developed since. [illustration: figure 37.--the giant roots lobe-type blower used for propelling the car.] in 1839, a french engineer first used the system in sinking a mine shaft through a watery stratum. from then on, the sinking of shafts, and somewhat later the construction of bridge pier foundations, by the pneumatic method became almost commonplace engineering practice in europe and america. not until 1879 however, was the system tried in tunneling work, and then, as with the shield ten years earlier, almost simultaneously here and abroad. the first application was in a small river tunnel in antwerp, only 5 feet in height. this project was successfully completed relying on compressed air alone to support the earth, no shield being used. the importance of the work cannot be considered great due to its lack of scope. [illustration: figure 38.--testing alignment of the broadway subway at night by driving a jointed rod up to street level. (_scientific american_, march 5, 1870.)] in 1871 dewitt c. haskin (1822-1900), a west coast mine and railroad builder, became interested in the pneumatic caissons then being used to found the river piers of eads' mississippi river bridge at st. louis. in apparent total ignorance of the cochrane patent, he evolved a similar system for tunneling water-bearing media, and in 1873 proposed construction of a tunnel through the silt beneath the hudson to provide rail connection between new jersey and new york city. [illustration: figure 39.--haskin's pneumatically driven tunnel under the hudson river, 1880. in the engine room at top left was the machinery for hoisting, generating electricity for lighting, and air compressing. the air lock is seen in the wall of the brick shaft. mht model--0.3" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260.)] [illustration: figure 40.--artist's conception of miners escaping into the air lock during the blowout in haskin's tunnel.] it would be difficult to imagine a site more in need of such communication. all lines from the south terminated along the west shore of the river and the immense traffic--cars, freight and passengers--was carried across to manhattan island by ferry and barge with staggering inconvenience and at enormous cost. a bridge would have been, and still is, almost out of the question due not only to the width of the crossing, but to the flatness of both banks. to provide sufficient navigational clearance (without a drawspan), impracticably long approaches would have been necessary to obtain a permissibly gentle grade. haskin formed a tunneling company and began work with the sinking of a shaft in hoboken on the new jersey side. in a month it was halted because of an injunction by, curiously, the d l & w railroad, who feared for their vast investment in terminal and marine facilities. not until november of 1879 was the injunction lifted and work again commenced. the shaft was completed and an air lock located in one wall from which the tunnel proper was to be carried forward. it was haskin's plan to use no shield, relying solely on the pressure of compressed air to maintain the work faces and prevent the entry of water. the air was admitted in late december, and the first large-scale pneumatic tunneling operation launched. a single 26-foot, double-track bore was at first undertaken, but a work face of such diameter proved unmanageable and two oval tubes 18 feet high by 16 feet wide were substituted, each to carry a single track. work went forward with reasonable facility, considering the lack of precedent. a temporary entrance was formed of sheet-iron rings from the air lock down to the tunnel grade, at which point the permanent work of the north tube was started. immediately behind the excavation at the face, a lining of thin wrought-iron plates was built up, to provide form for the 2-foot, permanent brick lining that followed. the three stages are shown in the model in about their proper relationship of progress. the work is shown passing beneath an old timber-crib bulkhead, used for stabilizing the shoreline. the silt of the riverbed was about the consistency of putty and under good conditions formed a secure barrier between the excavation and the river above. it was easily excavated, and for removal was mixed with water and blown out through a pipe into the shaft by the higher pressure in the tunnel. about half was left in the bore for removal later. the basic scheme was workable, but in operation an extreme precision was required in regulating the air pressure in the work area.[5] it was soon found that there existed an 11-psi difference between the pressure of water on the top and the bottom of the working face, due to the 22-foot height of the unlined opening. thus, it was impossible to maintain perfect pneumatic balance of the external pressure over the entire face. it was necessary to strike an average with the result that some water entered at the bottom of the face where the water pressure was greatest, and some air leaked out at the top where the water pressure was below the air pressure. constant attention was essential: several men did nothing but watch the behavior of the leaks and adjusted the pressure as the ground density changed with advance. air was supplied by several steam-driven compressors at the surface. the air lock permitted passage back and forth of men and supplies between the atmosphere and the work area, without disturbing the pressure differential. this principle is demonstrated by an animated model set into the main model, to the left of the shaft (fig. 39). the variation of pressure within the lock chamber to match the atmosphere or the pressurized area, depending on the direction of passage, is clearly shown by simplified valves and gauges, and by the use of light in varying color density. in the haskin tunnel, 5 to 10 minutes were taken to pass the miners through the lock so as to avoid too abrupt a physiological change. despite caution, a blowout occurred in july 1880 due to air leakage not at the face, but around the temporary entrance. one door of the air lock jammed and twenty men drowned, resulting in an inquiry which brought forth much of the distrust with which haskin was regarded by the engineering profession. his ability and qualifications were subjected to the bitterest attack in and by the technical press. there is some indication that, although the project began with a staff of competent engineers, they were alienated by haskin in the course of work and at least one withdrew. haskin's remarks in his own defense indicate that some of the denunciation was undoubtedly justified. and yet, despite this reaction, the fundamental merit of the pneumatic tunneling method had been demonstrated by haskin and was immediately recognized and freely acknowledged. it was apparent at the same time, however, that air by itself did not provide a sufficiently reliable support for large-area tunnel works in unstable ground, and this remains the only major subaqueous tunnel work driven with air alone. [illustration: figure 41.--location of hudson river tunnel. (_leslie's weekly_, 1879.)] after the accident, work continued under haskin until 1882 when funds ran out. about 1600 feet of the north tube and 600 feet of the south tube had been completed. greathead resumed operations with a shield for a british company in 1889, but exhaustion of funds again caused stoppage in 1891. the tunnel was finally completed in 1904, and is now in use as part of the hudson and manhattan rapid-transit system, never providing the sought-after rail link. a splendid document of the haskin portion of the work is s. d. v. burr's _tunneling under the hudson river_ published in 1885. it is based entirely upon firsthand material and contains drawings of most of the work, including the auxiliary apparatus. it is interesting to note that electric illumination (arc, not incandescent, lights) and telephones were used, unquestionably the first employment of either in tunnel work. [illustration: figure 42.--st. clair tunnel. view of front of shield showing method of excavation in firm strata. incandescent electric illumination was used. 1889-90. mht model--1" scale. (smithsonian photo 49260-d.)] the st. clair tunnel the final model of the soft-ground series reflects, as did the hoosac tunnel model for hard-rock tunneling, final emergence into the modern period. although the st. clair tunnel was completed over 70 years ago, it typifies in its method of construction, the basic procedures of subaqueous work in the present day. the thames tunnel of brunel, and haskin's efforts beneath the hudson, had clearly shown that by themselves, both the shield and pneumatic systems of driving through fluid ground were defective in practice for tunnels of large area. note that the earliest successful works by each method had been of very small area, so that the influence of adverse conditions was greatly diminished. the first man to perceive and seize upon the benefits to be gained by combining the two systems was, most fittingly, greathead. although he had projected the technique earlier, in driving the underground city and south london railway in 1886, he brought together for the first time the three fundamental elements essential for the practical tunneling of soft, water-bearing ground: compressed-air support of the work during construction, the movable shield, and cast-iron, permanent lining. the marriage was a happy one indeed; the limitations of each system were almost perfectly overcome by the qualities of the others. the conditions prevailing in 1882 at the sarnia, ontario, terminal of the grand trunk railway, both operational and physical, were almost precisely the same as those which inspired the undertaking of the hudson river tunnel. the heavy traffic at this vital u.s.--canada rail interchange was ferried inconveniently across the wide st. clair river, and the bank and river conditions precluded construction of a bridge. a tunnel was projected by the railway in that year, the time when haskin's tribulations were at their height. perhaps because of this lack of precedent for a work of such size, nothing was done immediately. in 1884 the railway organized a tunnel company; in 1886 test borings were made in the riverbed and small exploratory drifts were started across from both banks by normal methods of mine timbering. the natural gas, quicksand, and water encountered soon stopped the work. [illustration: figure 43.--rear view of st. clair shield showing the erector arm placing a cast-iron lining segment. the three motions of the arm--axial, radial, and rotational, were manually powered. (smithsonian photo 49260-c.)] it was at this time that the railway's president visited greathead's city and south london workings. the obvious answer to the st. clair problem lay in the successful conduct of this subway. joseph hobson, chief engineer of the grand trunk and of the tunnel project, in designing a shield, is said to have searched for drawings of the shields used in the broadway and tower subways of 1868-9, but unable to locate any, he relied to a limited extent on the small drawings of those in drinker's volume. there is no explanation as to why he did not have drawings of the city and south london shield at that moment in use, unless one considers the rather unlikely possibility that greathead maintained its design in secrecy. [illustration: figure 44.--opening of the st. clair tunnel, 1891. (_photo courtesy of detroit library, burton historical collection._)] the hobson shield followed greathead's as closely as any other, in having a diaphragm with closable doors, but a modification of beach's sharpened horizontal shelves was also used. however, these functioned more as working platforms than supports for the earth. the machine was 21-1/2 feet in diameter, an unprecedented size and almost twice that of greathead's current one. it was driven by 24 hydraulic rams. throughout the entire preliminary consideration of the project there was a marked sense of caution that amounted to what seems an almost total lack of confidence in success. commencement of the work from vertical shafts was planned so that if the tunnel itself failed, no expenditure would have been made for approach work. in april 1888, the shafts were started near both riverbanks, but before reaching proper depth the almost fluid clay and silt flowed up faster than it could be excavated and this plan was abandoned. after this second inauspicious start, long open approach cuts were made and the work finally began. the portals were established in the cuts, several thousand feet back from each bank and there the tunneling itself began. the portions under the shore were driven without air. when the banks were reached, brick bulkheads containing air locks were built across the opening and the section beneath the river, about 3,710 feet long, driven under air pressure of 10 to 28 pounds above atmosphere. for most of the way, the clay was firm and there was little air leakage. it was found that horses could not survive in the compressed air, and so mules were used under the river. in the firm clay, excavation was carried on several feet in front of the shield, as shown in the model (fig. 42). about twelve miners worked at the face. however, in certain strata the clay encountered was so fluid that the shield could be simply driven forward by the rams, causing the muck to flow in at the door openings without excavation. after each advance, the rams were retracted and a ring of iron lining segments built up, as in the tower subway. here, for the first time, an "erector arm" was used for placing the segments, which weighed about half a ton. in all respects, the work advanced with wonderful facility and lack of operational difficulty. considering the large area, no subaqueous tunnel had ever been driven with such speed. the average monthly progress for the american and canadian headings totaled 455 feet, and at top efficiency 10 rings or a length of 15.3 feet could be set in a 24-hour day in each heading. the 6,000 feet of tunnel was driven in just a year; the two shields met vis-a-vis in august of 1890. the transition was complete. the work had been closely followed by the technical journals and the reports of its successful accomplishment thus were brought to the attention of the entire civil engineering profession. as the first major subaqueous tunnel completed in america and the first in the world of a size able to accommodate full-scale rail traffic, the st. clair tunnel served to dispel the doubts surrounding such work, and established the pattern for a mode of tunneling which has since changed only in matters of detail. of the eight models, only this one was built under the positive guidance of original documents. in the possession of the canadian national railways are drawings not only of all elements of the shield and lining, but of much of the auxiliary apparatus used in construction. such materials rarely survive, and do so in this case only because of the foresight of the railway which, to avoid paying a high profit margin to a private contractor as compensation for the risk and uncertainty involved, carried the contract itself and, therefore, preserved all original drawing records. while the engineering of tunnels has been comprehensively treated in this paper from the historical standpoint, it is well to still reflect that the advances made in tunneling have not perceptibly removed the elements of uncertainty but have only provided more positive and effective means of countering their forces. still to be faced are the surprises of hidden streams, geologic faults, shifts of strata, unstable materials, and areas of extreme pressure and temperature. bibliography agricola, georgius. _de re metallica._ [english transl. h. c. and l. h. hoover (_the mining magazine_, london, 1912).] basel: froben, 1556. beach, alfred ely. _the pneumatic dispatch._ new york: the american news company, 1868. beamish, richard. _a memoir of the life of sir marc isambard brunel._ london: longmans, green, longmans and roberts, 1862. burr, s. d. v. _tunneling under the hudson river._ new york: john wiley and sons, 1885. copperthwaite, william charles. _tunnel shields and the use of compressed air in subaqueous works._ new york: d. van nostrand company, 1906. drinker, henry sturgess. _tunneling, explosive compounds and rock drills._ new york: john wiley and sons, 1878. latrobe, benjamin h. report on the hoosac tunnel (baltimore, october 1, 1862). pp. 125-139, app. 2, in _report of the commissioners upon the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel_. boston, 1863. law, henry. a memoir of the thames tunnel. _weale's quarterly papers on engineering_ (london, 1845-46), vol. 3, pp. 1-25 and vol. 5, pp. 1-86. the pneumatic tunnel under broadway, n.y. _scientific american_ (march 5, 1870), pp. 154-156. _report of the commissioners upon the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel to his excellency the governor and the honorable the executive council of the state of massachusetts, february 28, 1863._ boston, 1863. storrow, charles s. report on european tunnels (boston, november 28, 1862). pp. 5-122, app. 1, in _report of the commissioners upon the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel...._ boston, 1863. the st. clair tunnel. _engineering news_ (in series running october 4 to december 27, 1890). footnotes [1] there are two important secondary techniques for opening subterranean and subaqueous ways, neither a method truly of tunneling. one of these, of ancient origin, used mainly in the construction of shallow subways and utility ways, is the "cut and cover" system, whereby an open trench is excavated and then roofed over. the result is, in effect, a tunnel. the concept of the other method was propounded in the early 19th century but only used practically in recent years. this is the "trench" method, a sort of subaqueous equivalent of cut and cover. a trench is dredged in the bed of a body of water, into which prefabricated sections of large diameter tube are lowered, in a continuous line. the joints are then sealed by divers, the trench is backfilled over the tube, the ends are brought up to dryland portals, the water is pumped out, and a subterranean passage results. the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel (1960-1964) is a recent major work of this character. [2] in 1952 a successful machine was developed on this plan, with hardened rollers on a revolving cutting head for disintegrating the rock. the idea is basically sound, possessing advantages in certain situations over conventional drilling and blasting systems. [3] in 1807 the noted cornish engineer trevithick commenced a small timbered drift beneath the thames, 5 feet by 3 feet, as an exploratory passage for a larger vehicular tunnel. due to the small frontal area, he was able to successfully probe about 1000 feet, but the river then broke in and halted the work. mine tunnels had also reached beneath the irish sea and various rivers in the coal regions of newcastle, but these were so far below the surface as to be in perfectly solid ground and can hardly be considered subaqueous workings. [4] unlike the brunel tunnel, this was driven from both ends simultaneously, the total overall progress thus being 3 feet per shift rather than 18 inches. a top speed of 9 feet per day could be advanced by each shield under ideal conditions. [5] ideally, the pressure of air within the work area of a pneumatically driven tunnel should just balance the hydrostatic head of the water without, which is a function of its total height above the opening. if the air pressure is not high enough, water will, of course, enter, and if very low, there is danger of complete collapse of the unsupported ground areas. if too high, the air pressure will overcome that due to the water and the air will force its way out through the ground, through increasingly larger openings, until it all rushes out suddenly in a "blowout." the pressurized atmosphere gone, the water then is able to pour in through the same opening, flooding the workings. index agricola, georgius, 215, 216 barlow, peter w., 221, 227 beach, alfred ely, 224, 227-229, 231, 237 brunel, marc isambard (the elder), 204, 205, 217, 218, 221, 224, 229, 231, 236 burleigh, charles, 212, 213 burleigh rock drill company, 212 burr, s. d. v., 236 cochrane, sir thomas, 231, 232 copperthwaite, william charles, 224 doane, thomas, 210, 212, 213, 215 drinker, henry s., 224, 237 greathead, james henry, 204, 218, 221, 224, 229, 231, 235-237 gwynn, stuart, 210 haskin, dewitt c., 204, 232, 234-236 haupt, herman, 204, 209, 210 hobson, joseph, 237 latrobe, benjamin h., 208, 209 law, henry, 218 mowbray, george w., 213, 215 nobel, alfred b., 213 putnam machine works, 212 shanley, walter, 212 shanley bros., 215 sommeiller, germain, 210 storrow, charles s., 210 tweed, william marcy (boss), 229 weale, john, 218 * * * * * transcriber's notes all obvious typographical errors corrected. formatting inconsistancies and spelling were standardized. paragraphs split by illustrations were rejoined. the text in the reproduced handbill for the thames tunnel was transcribed with a slight modification to the figure description portion. the index was extracted from the full publication index. transcriber's notes the fractions one half and three quarters were shown respectively as 1-2 and 3-4 which was retained herein. +=========================+ | | | facts and figures | | | | | | | | concerning | | | | | | | | the hoosac tunnel. | | | | | | ---------- | | by john j. piper. | | ---------- | | | | | | fitchburg: | | | | john j. piper, printer. | | | | 1866. | | | +=========================+ facts and figures concerning the hoosac tunnel. by john j. piper. fitchburg: john j. piper, printer. 1866. the hoosac tunnel. in his inaugural address to the legislature, governor bullock says, "there can be no doubt that _new facilities_ and new avenues for transportation between the west and the east are now absolutely needed. our lines of prosperity and growth are the parallels of latitude which connect us with the young, rich empire of men, and stock, and produce lying around the lakes and still beyond. the people of massachusetts, compact, manufacturing and commercial, must have more thoroughfares through which the currents of trade and life may pass to and fro, unobstructed and ceaseless, between the atlantic and the national granaries, or decay will at no distant period touch alike her wharves and her workshops. let us avert the day in which our commonwealth shall become chiefly a school-house for the west, and a homestead over which time shall have drawn silently and too soon the marks of dilapidation. any policy which is not broad enough to secure to us a new england, having a proper share in the benefits of this new opening era of the west, be assured, will not receive the approval of the next generation." this important recommendation is what the public had reason to expect from a man so keenly alive to the interests and welfare of the commonwealth as governor bullock, whose close observation and discernment had long since discovered the danger, and disposed him to take a deep interest in any adequate enterprise by means of which it could be averted. the reasons which have induced his excellency's convictions on this subject, and caused the apprehensions he has expressed, are very clearly set forth in the following articles from the buffalo commercial advertiser of november 25th and 28th, 1865:- "to-day, the western states are far more bountifully provided with avenues of transportation than the extreme east. this is peculiarly anomalous and inexplicable when we consider the boasted enterprise, wealth and shrewdness of new england, and the dependence which always exists upon the part of a manufacturing district toward that section which furnishes it with a market, and from which it obtains its breadstuff. it is fortunate for new england that it does not lie in the line of transit between the west and _its_ market, or it would have drawn about its head a storm of indignation which it could not have resisted. the state of new york has contributed an hundred fold what new england has towards providing the required facilities of traffic, for the great west. our yankee friends have done much toward facilitating intercommunication among themselves, but very little toward direct communication with the west. it is not a little strange that, with all the ambitious effort of boston to become a mercantile emporium, rivaling new york, and with its vast manufacturing interest, it should have but a single direct avenue of traffic with the west. yet such is the fact. the western railroad between albany and boston is the sole route now in existence except those circuitous lines via new york city or through canada. our down-east friends, usually so keen and enterprising, seem to have exhausted their energies in the construction of that road twenty-five years ago, and the consequence is that to-day the business interests of all new england are suffering for lack of the timely investment of a few millions. strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that boston is now virtually cut off from its trade communication with the west for want of facilities of transportation. for weeks past the grand trunk railroad has ceased to take boston freight, by reason of its being blocked up with other through and way freights at sarnia. the swollen tide of freight via the new york central has exceeded the capacity of the western road between albany and boston, and the consequence has been felt in an increased charge by the new york central of twenty cents a barrel above new york city rates, and, finally, that road has been obliged to refuse boston freight altogether, simply by reason of the accumulation and delay occasioned by the inability of the western road to forward it to its destination. in like manner, boston freight going forward by canal is hindered and accumulated at albany. a similar state of things exists in regard to most of the westward bound boston freight, as boston jobbers are finding out to their cost. merchants at the west, who purchase in boston, are six and eight weeks in getting their heavy goods. we are informed upon reliable authority that flour can be sent from chicago to new york, by lake and rail for $1.90 per barrel, while very limited quantities only can be sent to boston at $2.25, and that by the "red line" $3 a barrel is demanded. new england depends upon the west for its bread, and also for its market for its imports and manufactures. if the state of things to which we refer, continues much longer, it will be compelled to go to new york both for its bread and its customers. the west complains of new york, because, forsooth, it is tardy in enlarging its canals to meet the anticipated necessities of its future growth, and boston has had the assurance to join in the thoughtless and unfounded clamor. yet the great state of massachusetts has supinely stood still for twenty-five years without making an effort to overcome the barrier between it and the great west. during that time the western road has grown rich, and paid large dividends from a business which has been greater than it could transact, and to-day there exists an almost total blockade of boston freight at albany. surely, this does not reflect favorably on new england shrewdness and enterprise, neither does it tally with new england interest. besides, it is detrimental to the business interests of the west. as the case now stands the fault rests with massachusetts alone, in not providing railroad accommodations east of the hudson river. it is also nonsense to assert, as some will, that the capacity of the erie canal is inadequate. during the past season it has not been taxed to half its capacity, and yet it has found the western road unable to dispose of what boston freight was offered. western merchants and shippers ought to know where the fault lies, and to the end that they may be informed we have penned this article. their true remedy is to buy in new york, and to ship their produce to that city, until massachusetts shall provide adequate facilities of transportation. boston is the natural eastern terminus of the great northern line of transportation, and we should have been glad to have seen her citizens and those of the great state of massachusetts realize the fact. their supineness, however, has lost to them for the present, if not forever, the great commercial prize which nature intended for them. it remains to be seen whether they will realize their position, and make an effort to retrieve their "penny wise and pound foolish policy." * * * * * "in a recent article we took occasion to point out the importance to the country at large of the construction of adequate facilities for the accommodation of the traffic exchanges between the different sections; and to call the attention of our readers to the remarkable fact that while the whole country, and particularly the west, had undergone a wonderful development requiring for its accommodation a corresponding increase of commercial facilities, that new england had stood still for a quarter of a century. the fact that a great state like massachusetts, with a great emporium like boston, should have but a single line of direct communication with the west, and that it should supinely stand still and refuse to add to it, notwithstanding the yearly demonstrations of its growing inadequacy, seemed so strange as to justify remark. the other fact that the transit of freight to and from boston should be almost stopped by the inability of that single railroad to handle it--thereby increasing rates and compelling purchasers as well as sellers to go to new york--also seemed to be inconsistent with our traditional ideas of eastern shrewdness. our remarks have received additional force by the fact, subsequently learned by us, that there are at the present time between four and five hundred car-loads of boston-bound freight lying at albany and greenbush awaiting cars for its movement to its destination, while there exists no stoppage whatever of new york freight, thus demonstrating clearly the inadequacy of the western road to answer the demands made upon it. since that article was penned, information has reached us to the effect that our massachusetts neighbors have at last waked up to the importance of the subject, and are about to enter vigorously upon the work of providing another avenue of trade between boston and the west, by what is known as the greenfield route which embraces the long talked of hoosac tunnel. this great enterprise has enlisted the energies of the engineers and railroad men of massachusetts for more than thirty years, with constantly varying prospects of success, and at last seems in a fair way of being accomplished. the high range of hills which runs along the whole western line of massachusetts, for a long time baffled the efforts of railroad engineers; and the rival claims of competing routes distracted the popular mind, and delayed the construction of either. the most eminent engineers preferred the northern, or greenfield route--involving the hoosac tunnel--as being the most direct and feasible. in the struggle which followed, the southern route was successful, and the western road was built and opened in 1842. the other route was also constructed after a time, upon either side of the proposed tunnel, but for lack of the completion of that great work, has never been anything but an avenue for local travel and traffic. the whole length of the proposed tunnel is 25,574 feet, and the estimated cost of construction is about three and a quarter millions. when we consider the vital interest which the citizens of massachusetts have in the completion of this work, and the enormous interests to be served by it, the sum required seems absolutely trivial, and the withholding of it really parsimonious as well as foolish. we are pleased to learn that the state is at last about to lend a helping hand to this great enterprise, which will guaranty its speedy completion. this is an indication of wisdom upon the part of our neighbors, albeit it comes somewhat tardily. almost all the other states that lie between the great west and the ocean have pursued a very different policy from that of new england, and with very favorable results. new york, which was the pioneer in the matter of internal improvements, not only built her great canals, at a cost of over $62,000,000, but also aided largely in the construction of her great through lines of railroads. it contributed to the erie road $3,000,000, which is now seen to have been a good investment despite the fact that it was entirely lost to the state. the same policy was pursued by pennsylvania and maryland, with equally happy results. we congratulate our new england neighbors, and, especially, the citizens of boston, upon the improved prospect of the completion of the hoosac tunnel, and the opening of another great route to the west, through, instead of over the mountains which lie between them and us. we trust that the obstructions which have existed, and still exist, in the channels of commercial intercourse between new england and the west will speedily be removed, never again to be manifested in freight blockades or threatened diversions of trade." the statements contained in these two articles are substantially true; and they are not only interesting, but important, as throwing much light upon a subject which will, doubtless, occupy much of the attention and time of the legislature: for the western railroad managers have already opened their annual attack upon the hoosac tunnel, through their well known agents and tools, bird, harris and seaver, who shamelessly advocate the entire abandonment by the state of an enterprise to the completion of which her word, and bond, and honor are irrevocably pledged. the western railroad company was organized in january, 1836, and its road was completed in 1847, having received aid from the state, during the period of its construction, to the amount of five millions of dollars. the terms upon which state aid was granted were very liberal, as they should have been; for the opening of this line of road had become as much a necessity to the development of the commercial and industrial interests of massachusetts and the wants of her whole population, as the establishment of schools and churches had ever been to her moral or educational welfare. the involvement of the state in so great an enterprise was strenuously resisted by timid and narrow minded legislators; but the representations of those sagacious and far seeing men who had devoted themselves to the work, prevailed, and massachusetts was, thus early in the history of railroads, committed to a policy which has, within a few years, not only trebled her productions and wealth, but made her the first and foremost of all her sister states which are honored for enterprise, prudence and wisdom. many of the short sighted legislators, who voted against granting state aid to the western railroad company are now living, but we doubt if one can be found who is not ashamed of his action. the increase of business over the western road since the first year of its operation, would seem incredible, were it not so thoroughly established by the figures of its early and later annual reports. yet, with a double track nearly to albany, and every means which ingenuity can devise, or money procure, at their command, its managers are unable to meet the demand upon it--its _capacity_ is _nearly exhausted_--and _was_, long ago, so great is the pressure against our western border, from the overflowing granaries of the west. from a feeble association, begging for assistance at the doors of the state house, the western railroad company has become a powerful corporation. its certificates of stock, which, about the time the road went into operation, were a drug in the market at $40, now command $130 to $150. yet it is a fact that on the first day of last november, five hundred car loads of freight were delayed at albany, and could not be transported over the western road in less time than ten days. and the inability of this road to meet our public needs, and the demands made upon it, from the west, is no new thing; it has been so, _for years_, though four competing lines have opened since 1850, which, together, transport about the same amount of through freight as the western road. the bridge over the hudson at albany, the completion of the double track, and better management might afford a temporary and partial relief. but if these improvements had been already effected, they would not have prevented the freight blockade at albany last fall. should our friend of the salem gazette, or any of the editors who quote mr. f. w. bird, and write short paragraphs, more flippantly than intelligently, about the hoosac tunnel, chance to be at the freight yard of the fitchburg railroad in charlestown, on the arrival of a train of new york central railroad cars, laden with flour, grain, or other products of the west, he would doubtless be as much puzzled to know how they got there, as he would be, if, standing at the heading of the tunnel, he should endeavor to reconcile his situation (half a mile from daylight) with the calculations, statements and predictions of mr. bird and other opponents of the tunnel enterprise. if our friend were set down at the freight depot of the worcester and nashua railroad, in worcester, he would again be surprised to witness the arrival of freight-laden cars, bearing the same mark as those he saw at charlestown. upon inquiry of the freight agents he would learn that freight for boston and worcester, is transported from schenectady, over the washington and saratoga road, and from troy, over the troy and boston and western vermont, to rutland, vt., and thence, by the rutland and cheshire roads to fitchburg, and from there to boston and worcester over other roads. by glancing at a map the intelligent reader will at once observe what a circuitous and lengthened line of communication between the new york central road and the cities of boston and worcester is furnished by the connecting roads above named. the distance from schenectady to boston via rutland is 247 miles, while it is but 217 by way of the western road. the distance from the same point to worcester by the rutland route is 222 miles, and by the western road only 172. yet because the western road has not capacity to do the business, the produce dealers of eastern and central massachusetts are compelled to resort to this roundabout way of transportation as one of their means of relief. but this is not the only channel, nor the most indirect, which the irrepressible stream of western trade with the east has created, as it approaches its natural outlet, boston; as the mississippi, scorning the narrow embouchure which satisfied its youthful flow, now pours its resistless torrents, through numerous passes to the gulf. besides that already described, there are three other lines competing with the western road in the transportation of western freight to boston. these are the grand trunk, the ogdensburg, and the providence and erie. few persons know that cotton from st. louis, for supplying the mills of lowell and lawrence, is unladen in boston from vessels which received their cargoes at portland, but such is the fact, the cotton having been transported over the great western and grand trunk roads. but these four long, and indirect lines, with their single track, are in the frame situation as the western road; _their_ capacity is exhausted, so far as through freight is concerned, this part of the business of all the four hardly exceeding that of the western road. to prove the utter incapacity of these five lines of communication between us and the west, to supply our wants, and meet the demands made upon them, we need only state the fact that in november and december last, many of the produce dealers and grocers _in worcester_, were unable to supply their customers, on account of the detention of freight at albany, detroit and ogdensburg. we may add, by way of illustration, that the immense loss of property occasioned by the burning of a large freight depot at detroit, and by which so many new england consignees severely suffered, was one of the incidental consequences of the incapacity of these lines of new england railroads to do the work required of them. we shall have occasion to consider further the capacity of the western railroad, but the facts already given are sufficient to show the necessity of opening another through and direct route from the hudson to boston. the next question to be considered, if, indeed, there can be any question about it, is how shall the new route be located? we have shown that another is necessary in order to accommodate through business, to meet the demands of the west, and to promote the prosperity of the entire state. but this is not by any means the whole argument. central and southern massachusetts are covered with a net work of railroads, from cape cod bay to the new york border, yet northern massachusetts, from fitchburg westward, has but a single road, and that terminating at greenfield, nearly forty miles from north adams, where the broken line of communication is again taken up. hence it is, that, while villages have become large towns, and towns populous cities, all over the rest of the state, this section has remained comparatively undeveloped; and the whole tier of towns lying along the line of the vermont and massachusetts, though steadily growing, through the energy and enterprise of their skillful artisans and mechanics, and the facilities afforded them by the last named road, have yet suffered and languished for want of the material so abundant in this undeveloped region between greenfield and the mountain barrier beyond. the water power of the deerfield river is immense, its fall along the line of the troy and greenfield road being nearly six hundred feet; and this magnificent force is now idle, except at shelburne falls, though the finest privileges are scattered along the whole course of the river. messrs. lamson & goodnow, who employ four hundred men at shelburne falls, in manufacturing cutlery, state that the deerfield and north rivers, at that place, afford a one-thousand-horse power. along the course of miller's river, between athol and deerfield are also many excellent privileges unimproved. at montague are turner's falls, on the connecticut, with a power sufficient to operate the mills of lowell, lawrence and manchester. all these splendid privileges only await the opening of the tunnel route. many of them would be at once improved were the road completed to the mouth of the tunnel. messrs. lamson and goodnow state that they shall double their present force of four hundred men, as soon as it is open to shelburne falls. some fifteen or twenty miles from the eastern end of the tunnel lie extensive forests of spruce and pine, through which a highway has already been surveyed, and which will be built to the tunnel, as soon as the road is completed to that point. the whole surrounding region abounds in lumber of almost every description, which would become very valuable when the road is built, to say nothing of the extensive formations of stone, soapstone and serpentine which are found there. though the deerfield meadows afford some of the finest farms in new england, the tillage land will not compare in extent with that along the western road; but in every other respect the resources and latent wealth of the tunnel route are infinitely superior to those of the western line. six years ago, and _twenty-three years after the western road was opened_, the population lying west of springfield within ten miles of the western road on a distance of forty-four miles, was 42,050; while that west of greenfield, within ten miles of the tunnel line on the same distance, without any railroad at all was 32,146. according to the average rate of increase, the population along the tunnel line, would be more than doubled in twenty-three years. were the mountain barrier pierced, and communication opened with the west, and the magnificent water power of the deerfield made available, who doubts that this population would be increased fourfold in that space of time: or that more than one town would spring up between greenfield and the hoosac, in a few years, which would rival north adams in growth and prosperity; or that in far less time than it has taken lowell to acquire her present importance, a larger city than lowell would stand on the banks of the connecticut at turner's falls? with the requisite railroad facilities supplied, it is certain that the growth of a region so abounding in the most essential reliance of mechanical industry, as northwestern massachusetts, cannot be measured by the snail's pace which marks the progress of an agricultural district. the farmer's interests are indeed equally promoted with those of other industrial classes, by the opening of railroads, but these do not increase the number of farms or farmers within our borders, nor stimulate the growth of agricultural towns. it is mainly by her manufactures and commerce that massachusetts has become so prosperous and wealthy. it is because the commercial and industrial interests of the whole state require it, that another route to the west has become a necessity; and it is because such immense resources yet remain to be developed, and such a gigantic power to be employed, in northern massachusetts that the new route must pierce the hoosac mountain, if it is possible and practicable. that it is possible to tunnel the hoosac mountain cannot be doubted by any sane person who has inspected the half mile already excavated. all of the eminent engineers, whose reports upon the enterprise have been published, say it can be done; nor do any of its opponents pretend to question its practicability. but in order to estimate properly the magnitude of the work, its possible and probable cost, and the time within which it can be done, it is necessary to know what has been accomplished in this department of civil engineering. fortunately, this needed information is contained in mr. charles w. storrow's very able report on european tunnels. mr. storrow is a distinguished civil engineer, who made a journey to europe in the summer of 1862, by request of the hoosac tunnel commissioners, and with the approval of the governor and council, for the purpose of examining the most important tunnels there constructed, and, especially, the one in progress under the alps. he describes twenty-two tunnels which he visited, besides that of mt. cenis. fourteen of these are in england, seven in france, and one in switzerland. two of them are upwards of three miles long, and many of them between one and two miles. some of the shafts were nearly as deep as the central shaft of the hoosac. some of these excavations were made without the aid of shafts, others wholly by means of shafts, without working from the ends at all. it might be supposed that in the construction of so many subterranean ways, in such different sections of the continent, almost every conceivable geological formation must have been traversed; and so it appears from mr. storrow's report. granite, quartz, oolite, limestone, shale, slate, sandstone, gravel, sand, clay and marl, were the material through which with pick and spade, drill and shovel, the patient workmen made their way. not unfrequently, more than half the varieties of rock and earth we have named were met with in the same tunnel. sometimes the work would be interrupted and temporarily abandoned in consequence of an inundation of water; sometimes enormous masses of gravel and sand would work through into a shaft or tunnel, with disastrous and, in two instances, with fatal consequences. in many instances, work was discontinued for years, for want of funds, and then afterward renewed, with eventual success. in fact, about the average amount of those ordinary and inevitable obstacles which stand in the way of all great enterprises, were encountered by the engineers and contractors, in the building of these tunnels; but time, money, and skill, never failed to remove every difficulty. but we propose to extract, and condense from mr. storrow's report, a few of the main facts about some of the most important of these works; as the report has, not been read, or even seen by one in a hundred. the "box tunnel" between chippenham and bath is more than a mile and three quarters in length. nearly one half its length passes through a kind of limestone rock, and the other through clay, the clay end being lined with masonry. five shafts were sunk, the deepest being about three hundred feet. "during the construction of this tunnel, great difficulties were encountered from the excessive quantity of water which inundated the works, sometimes even occasioning their partial suspension, and powerful means were required to overcome the obstacles. at one time the water fairly got the mastery over the machinery used for its removal, and it was only after an additional set of pumps worked by a fifty horse power engine, that the work could be resumed." this tunnel was built in five years, and its cost was about $1,750,000, or about $547 a yard. the woodhead tunnel, on the manchester and lincolnshire railway, is upwards of three miles long. it was originally built for a single track, its dimensions being 14 feet wide at the head of the rails, and 18 feet 3 in. high from the rails to the under side of the arch; which are almost exactly the dimensions of the present section of the hoosac tunnel. after a few years of use, the increase of business required another track and so a second tunnel of exactly the same size was built parallel with the first. it is a double tunnel with a thick dividing wall between, pierced with twenty-one arched openings. five of the original shafts have been kept open. the deepest of these is more than six hundred feet, and the least about three hundred. the rock through which the tunnel passes consists of millstone grit, a hard material, and shale, a kind of indurated clay. the kilsby tunnel is more than a mile and a quarter long, and is built in roman or metallic cement, under a bed of quicksand, from which it took nine months to pump the water, through shafts on either side of the sand bed. during a considerable portion of that time, the water pumped out was two thousand gallons a minute. the quicksand extended over 1350 feet of the length of the tunnel. the watford tunnel is a mile and one tenth long, excavated entirely from chalk and loose gravel, the treacherous nature of which rendered it a work of great difficulty, streams of gravel and sand sometimes pouring through the fissures of chalk, like water. the netherton tunnel is one mile and three quarters long. for its construction 17 shafts were sunk, their total depth being 3,083 feet, the least depth of any one being 63 feet, and the greatest, 344 feet. there were 36 faces to work at, and the progress at each face was 10 1-2 feet per month. the tunnel was completed in two years. from these brief descriptions of a few of the tunnels in england examined by mr. storrow, one can form a pretty correct opinion of the ordinary difficulties in tunneling which have been met and overcome by the english engineers. mr. storrow says that tunnels are not considered there such formidable works as they have generally been esteemed in our northern states. they are so common that they have long ceased to attract the attention of travelers, more than eighty miles in aggregate length being already in use. mr. storrow estimates the average progress made in the construction of the english tunnels at about thirty feet per month on one face, and that the cost per yard varies from $125 to $250, for ordinary tunnels; but where peculiar difficulties were met, the cost has reached to from $500 to $750 per yard. the hauenstein tunnel in switzerland, one mile and an eighth in length, was from four to five years in being constructed. two shafts were sunk, one 417 feet, and the other 558 feet deep. portions of the shafts and tunnel were lined with masonry on account of the water and sand, and varying firmness of the strata passed through, all of which caused many difficulties and delays. the progress made between the intervals of obstruction, varied from fifty-six to one hundred and nine feet per month on a face. the cost was about $400 per running yard. the nerthe tunnel in france, is nearly three miles in length. for nine hundred and fifty yards of its length it is in rock cutting, where arching was unnecessary. the remainder is lined with masonry. twenty-four shafts were sunk, varying in depth from sixty-five to two hundred and sixty-two feet. the work was completed in three years, and cost $412 per running yard. the tunnel of rilly, on the line from paris to strasbourg, is a little more than two miles long. eleven shafts were commenced, two of which were abandoned on account of the abundance of water, the others were completed. in some of the shafts the water was so troublesome that it was necessary to use for curbs cast iron cylinders, five feet in diameter, and about three feet long, bolted together. the time consumed in the construction of this tunnel was three years and four months. it passes through a chalk formation, which was, in some places, so seamy, that great precaution was necessary to prevent the falling in of large masses. the cost was $432 per running yard. mr. storrow visited and examined several other french tunnels, and his reports upon them are full of interest; but the abstracts given are sufficient to show the various obstacles and difficulties encountered by the english and french engineers in the prosecution of their work, as well as the cost, and the success which rewarded their skill and perseverance. we now come to the great tunnel under the alps, the most remarkable and gigantic enterprise ever attempted in civil engineering. our facts in regard to it are derived from mr. storrow's report, (which it will be remembered was made in november, 1862,) and from a very able account in the edinburgh review of july, 1865. the object of this work is to connect france and italy, by a continuous line of railroad, by piercing the great alpine barrier which separates savoy from piedmont, and thus connecting the valleys of rochmolles and the arc. when the scheme was first suggested it seemed like a dream of enthusiasts. the distance would be more than seven miles. no shaft could be sunk, as it was estimated that it would take forty years to reach by that means the line of the axis of the tunnel. the gallery must then be constructed by horizontal cutting from the two ends. how were the workmen to breathe? what chasms, unfathomable abysses and resistless torrents might not be encountered? was it certain that the two sections commenced from the opposite ends would not miss and pass each other in the middle of the mountain? but as the subject was more thoroughly discussed, these doubts and fears seem gradually to have faded away, and a conviction took possession of the public mind that such a tunnel was practicable. this conviction at last assumed form and development through the genius of messrs. sommeiller, grattoni and grandis, three young italian engineers, who have won for themselves a nobler fame than that of either of the great generals who led their armies over the alps. it was their good fortune to have secured the confidence of one of the most enlightened statesmen of modern times, count cavour, the energetic minister of victor emanuel, who, throughout all the doubts, perplexities and embarrassments attending the first stage of a new and bold enterprise, exposed to criticisms, sometimes ignorant, sometimes malevolent, on the part of politicians and professional men, gave these engineers his "constant, earnest and sanguine support and encouragement." it appears that an english engineer had patented a machine for drilling by steam, by means of which the drills were darted forward against the opposing rock with great velocity and force. but steam could not be used in the tunnel, where the great desideratum is a supply of fresh air. in the meantime messrs. sommeiller, grattoni and grandis had turned their attention to the question of compressed air as a motive power, and after a long series of experiments; gave to the world as the result of their joint ingenuity, a machine which acts simply by the force of air reduced to one-sixth of its ordinary volume, by means of the pressure of water. the quick perception and practical genius of our three engineers soon enabled them to combine their machine with the perforating apparatus above named, so that the compressed air took the place of steam, and performed its work perfectly. this combination is the machine which has been in successful operation under the alps since june, 1861, and which, greatly improved and perfected by yankee ingenuity, is about to be applied to the hoosac mountain. before proceeding to give some account of the alps tunnel, it should be stated that it is a national work, and not a commercial speculation. it was originally undertaken by sardinia, within whose territorial limits it was then wholly included. the cession of savoy to france brought nearly half the tunnel into french territory, and by the convention establishing the new boundary between france and italy it was stipulated that this great national work should be continued, should remain exclusively under the control of the italian engineers, and that france should pay into the sardinian treasury its proportion of the cost, according to an estimate then made and considered final, and fixed at 3000 francs for each running metre, equivalent to $550 for each running yard of its length in french territory. the work has remained, therefore, as it was, under the exclusive direction of m. grattoni and m. sommeiller, the engineers; and a french commission visit the work from time to time, by order of the french government, to view its condition, ascertain its progress, and vouch for the amount to be paid to sardinia. it is hardly necessary to give a detailed description of the mode by which the compressed air is made to act on the perforating machines at mount cenis. the problem was how to get a constant equable supply of air compressed to one-sixth of its ordinary bulk. to effect this a reservoir was constructed at bardonneche, elevated to a height of eighty-two feet above the works, which furnishes a moving force of two hundred and eight horse power, that being all which is required to operate the drills and ventilate the tunnel. the reservoir is supplied by a never failing mountain stream. from the compressing works, the air is conveyed in a pipe into the tunnel to the drilling machines; another pipe conveying water to wash out the drill holes. at the fourneaux end of the tunnel, the reservoir is supplied with water by means of pumps. the compressed air and water being ready for their work, an iron frame containing the perforating needles moves along the rails and confronts the rock which is to be attacked in the gallery or heading. the frame is armed with nine or ten perforating machines arranged so that the greatest number of holes can be bored in the center of the opposing mass of rock. to each of these are attached flexible tubes, one containing the compressed air which drives the drills, and the other water, which is injected into the holes as they are bored. the machine consists of two parts; the one a cylinder for propelling the drill, by means of a piston, and the other a rotary apparatus for working the valve of the striking cylinder, and turning the drill on its axis at each successive stroke. to bore eight holes of the required depth, the piston rod gives 57,600 blows. the action of each machine is independent of the other, so that if one of them is broken, or gets out of order, that of the rest is not delayed. the drills act at different angles so as to pierce the rock in all directions, and when the requisite number of holes have been drilled, the iron frame is pushed back, and the central holes are charged and exploded. the smaller surrounding holes are then charged and fired. at each blast, a strong jet of compressed air is thrown into this advanced gallery to scatter the smoke and supply air for respiration. wagons are next pushed forward and filled with the fragments of broken rock, which are conveyed to the mouth of the tunnel and dumped down the side of the mountain. after each blast a fresh relay of workmen come in, and the same operation is repeated night and day. one of the objections urged against the use of compressed air as a motive of force was, that if it were conveyed a long distance it would lose so much of its elasticity or expansive power, that it would be unavailable for any practical purpose. but this conjecture was confuted by facts. it was found that the loss of pressure at the ends of the conduit pipes where the air is applied, as compared with the pressure in the reservoir is only one sixteenth of the whole. m. sommeiller calculates that in the center of the tunnel, a distance of three miles and three quarters from the reservoir, he will be able to apply the necessary pressure of six atmospheres. that m. sommeiller is correct in this opinion appears to be conclusively proved by the latest accounts from mt. cenis, which state that the work is steadily progressing, that one half of the entire length would be excavated by the first of january 1866, and that at a distance of nearly two miles from the reservoir, the drills were operating with as much force as ever, and that there was no appreciable loss of motive power. in the middle of the tunnel line beneath the rails, there is made at the same time with the excavation, a covered way or drain, in which are laid the pipes for gas, water, and compressed air. by this drain the waste water runs off, and it is also intended to serve as a means of escape for the workmen, in case of a fall of rock, or other accident which might block up the tunnel. of course the tunnel must be continually supplied with fresh air along its whole length, as well as at the heading. this is easily done from the compressed air tube in the covered drain. the whole length of the mt. cenis tunnel is through rock varying in hardness, and veined throughout with quartz. in many parts it is liable to flake off, and in some places considerable masses have broken away during the construction. the full section of the tunnel is twenty-six feet and three inches wide, and twenty feet and eight inches high. the heading is carried forward about eleven and a half feet wide and nearly ten feet high. at the time of mr. storrow's visit the drilling machines were used only in the heading. the whole of the enlargement was done by hand labor in the ordinary way. the drills when brought up to the work drill eighty holes before any blasting is done. about ninety workmen are employed at each end. it required from five to seven hours to drill the eighty holes. mr. storrow visited a workshop where some machines were ready, and a large block of stone was placed in front of them for trial. the air was let on and a drill put in motion. in 6 1-2 minutes it drilled 5 1-2 inches. the engineer stated that they would make better progress than that at the rock in the tunnel. the average progress made by hand was about sixty-six feet a month. that rate was about doubled by means of the machines; but since mr. storrow's visit these machines have been greatly improved, and the rate of progress latterly has been about two hundred feet a month. the opening of the mt. cenis tunnel was commenced in october, 1857. up to july, 1861, about 2142 feet had been excavated, the average progress being about sixty-six feet a month. the machines were then introduced, and at the present time, upwards of three miles have been excavated, and at the rate of progress now being made the tunnel will be completed in four years. mr. storrow's estimate of its cost is $640 per running yard. we have now placed before our readers such facts in relation to european tunnels, and more particularly in relation to that under the alps, as will enable them to judge for themselves of the feasibility of completing the hoosac tunnel, and of the weight of the objections which are urged against it by the opponents of the enterprise, as well as the nature of the obstacles which have been encountered, and the means of surmounting them. we shall next present a brief history of the work, the progress made, the delays which have occurred, and the causes; and the sources, nature, and motives of the opposition which has been made to it. in the course of this history we shall have occasion to expose the gross misrepresentations and deliberate falsehoods which have, from time to time, been put in print and scattered broadcast throughout the state, for the purpose of sustaining and extending a great railroad monopoly, already too powerful, against the vital interests and actual necessities of the commonwealth. the first section of the tunnel line obtained its charter in 1842, under an act incorporating the fitchburg railroad company, in spite of the strenuous opposition from boston, springfield, pittsfield, and the whole power of the western road, which a few years before, had only obtained its charter by the aid of some twenty-five members of the house, from northern massachusetts, who held the balance of power. of these twenty-five gentlemen, to whom the state was thus early indebted, one was hon. alvah crocker, of fitchburg, whose name in connection with the fitchburg, the vermont and massachusetts, the troy and greenfield roads, and with the hoosac tunnel, has since become "familiar as household words." the appeal of the late judge kinnicut, one of the pioneers of the western line, contains this passage: "assume if you please, that your route is better than the southern or western one; if you are willing to identify the commonwealth with such an enterprise, you establish a precedent, and the commonwealth, to be just, to be consistent with herself, must aid you in like manner. nay, every other section. she will never be partial, as you suppose, but fair to all. she will certainly go as far as she safely can, to develop and increase her growth." such appeals could not but prevail with fair minded men, and these twenty-five members, with a spirit of liberality and almost of self sacrifice, which should put to shame the narrow minded and selfish policy of the western railroad company in regard to the tunnel line, gave their voices and votes in favor of an enterprise, the commencement of which would otherwise have been deferred for years. the result was that by the first of january, 1843, the receipts of money by the western railroad company, from the stock and scrip of the state amounted to $5,565,610.86. as stated above, the fitchburg railroad company was authorized to build a road from boston to fitchburg, a distance of fifty miles, in spite of the strenuous opposition of the managers and attorneys of the western line. the intelligent legislator of 1866, who has passed over the fitchburg railroad, and observed the numerous trains of passenger and freight cars which daily follow each other over its double line of track, can but smile at the language of mr mills, a senator from hampden, a little more than twenty years ago "sir," said this zealous legislator, who, in his style and logic forcibly remind us of mr. bird, of walpole, "a six horse stage coach and a few baggage wagons will draw all the freight from fitchburg to boston." it is hardly necessary to give details of the history of the vermont and massachusetts road, and the struggles of its projectors against hostile legislation, and the intensified opposition of the western line. suffice it to say that this second section of the tunnel line, extending from fitchburg to greenfield, was commenced and finished, in spite of all opposition, without a dollar of that aid which mr. kinnicut said the state would have to furnish in order to be just and consistent. its stock, which could be bought for $9 a share, ten years ago, now commands upwards of $40. its gross receipts, last year, were $390,085.79, and its net income, $91,229.85. its debt has been reduced from upwards of a million to one half that sum, and this year it has paid its first dividend. the troy and greenfield road was chartered in 1848, the same old elements of opposition being combined against, and fighting it at every step. the managers of the western road clamorously declared that if this competing line were chartered, it would greatly diminish the security of the commonwealth, for its investment in their road, and that if the state should be compelled to sell its stock after the granting of such charter, she would lose a hundred and seventy thousand dollars; while, at the same time, they affected to deride the vermont and massachusetts as a "pauper road," and the region it traversed as a "god-forsaken country!" in 1858, the western end of the tunnel line, extending from the western base of the hoosac mountain to troy, had been completed through the enterprise of the citizens of that thriving city and those of north adams. the vermont and massachusetts was finished, and only thirty-seven miles of rail were needed to complete the direct connection of boston with the great west. then was the time and opportunity for the state to have continued the same liberal policy which it had adopted toward the western road, and to have extended her helping hand to the struggling corporation, which had undertaken the noble enterprise of piercing the barrier which was interposed between them and their "promised land." but their appeals for aid were met with sneers and derision; the work was bitterly opposed at every stage of its progress; the arts of demagogues, the cunning of lawyers, the fears of the timid, the credulity of the ignorant, and every conceivable influence which the well-filled treasury of the western road could purchase were enlisted and combined against it. but, at last, perseverance and a good cause prevailed, and in 1854, the legislature authorized a loan of the state credit to the amount of two millions of dollars, to the troy and greenfield railroad company, "for the purpose of enabling said company to construct a tunnel and railroad under and through the hoosac mountain, in some place between the 'great bend,' in deerfield river, and the town of florida, at the base of the hoosac mountain on the east, and the base of the western side of the mountain, near the east end of the village of north adams, on the west." but this loan was modified and restricted by such conditions, artfully introduced by the foes of the enterprise, that the work still languished, and its friends almost despaired even of ultimate success. the enabling act of 1857, would have greatly relieved them, but it was vetoed by gov. gardner. at the beginning of 1860, only $230,000 of the two millions had been advanced. in the legislature of that year, the original act was modified so that the balance of the loan might be divided between the road from greenfield and the tunnel, for the construction of both parts of the work simultaneously. provision was at the same time made for the appointment, annually, by the governor, of a state engineer, to examine the work, make monthly estimates, and impose such requirements upon the company and contractors as he and the governor and council might deem expedient. in the summer of 1860, colonel ezra lincoln of boston, was appointed state engineer, and resigning in the following autumn, on account of illness, was succeeded by c. l. stevenson, esq. in the meantime the company had contracted with messrs. haupt and cartwright to construct the road and tunnel. the first named gentleman was one of the most eminent and experienced engineers in the country. under the administration of the state engineers, messrs lincoln and stevenson, the existing location was approved, and certain prices were established, upon the basis of which contracts were made for labor and material, and rapid progress was made with the work. upon the accession of governor andrew in 1851, mr. stevenson was summarily removed, and mr. william s. whitwell appointed in his place. this gentleman at once proceeded to change the entire basis of work as established by his predecessors, reduced the prices under which extensive contracts had already been made, and cut down the estimates, so as to compel an entire suspension of the work. more than a thousand laborers and mechanics were discharged. mr. haupt states that at the time of this suspension, "the graduation of the whole line could have been completed in a few weeks. the iron and nearly all the ties and bridge material had been delivered; but little remained to be done except finishing the bridge and laying the track." after a warm and protracted discussion of the subject in the legislature of 1862, an act was passed, providing that the state should take possession of the road, tunnel, and all the property of the troy and greenfield company. a commission was also authorized to examine the work, ascertain the feasibility of completing it, and report to the next legislature. the commissioners appointed under this act, by governor andrew, were messrs. j. w. brooks and alexander holmes, of massachusetts, and mr. s. m. felton, of pennsylvania, two of them being eminent civil engineers, and all three gentlemen of large experience in railroad affairs. they entered upon the duties of their commission at once, and having dispatched mr. storrow to europe to examine the tunnels there, proceeded to take possession of the road and property of the company, which was surrendered to them in september of the same year. the elaborate and exhaustive report of the commissioners was submitted to the legislature in the latter part of february, 1863. the closing paragraph expresses their "opinion that the work should be undertaken by the commonwealth, and completed as early as it can be, with due regard to economy." the result of another discussion in the legislature was the adoption of the recommendation of the commissioners, and the responsibility of completing the tunnel and road was assumed by the state, in april of 1863, operations having been suspended nearly three years. since that time, the work has been conducted by the commissioners, under the immediate superintendence of mr. thomas doane, chief engineer, in such manner and with such progress as to give very general satisfaction to the friends of the enterprise, and promise its completion within a reasonable time. a very considerable portion of the labor and expenditures, since the operations were resumed, have been applied to preparing buildings and machinery, to the construction of a dam across the deerfield river, in order to secure power to operate the tunneling apparatus, and to an enlargement and an alteration of the grade of the eastern end of the tunnel, which had been excavated by haupt and cartwright. but before proceeding to consider the present condition and prospects of the tunnel, it is necessary to revert to the legislation of 1862 and 1863, in order to note the tactics of its enemies, who had by no means been idle, nor had in any degree relaxed their opposition. in fact, it was through this opposition that the act of 1862 was effected, the bill being a substitute for that reported by the committee, and generally regarded as a compromise between the friends and foes of the enterprise, though the latter believed they had, at last achieved a triumph, and exultingly whispered that the great hoosac tunnel scheme had received its death blow. they certainly did play their game with boldness and skill. while the contractors, messrs. haupt & co., had actually applied all their private means, to the extent of more than $200,000, to carry on the work, it was asserted that they were swindling the state and pocketing its funds to the tune of $300,000. they proclaimed that they were in favor of the tunnel, and only desired to take the work from the hands of swindling contractors and the control of a bankrupt and irresponsible corporation, in order that it might be assumed and prosecuted by the commonwealth; but they were secretly confident, and not without reason, that a board of commissioners would be appointed who would report against the prosecution of the work by the state. of the three gentlemen appointed, not one had expressed an opinion in favor of the enterprise, and mr. brooks, the president, was known to be opposed to it. both of the two resident members were from localities where the prevailing sentiment was against the tunnel. but this adroitness of the opposition was baffled, and its confident hope disappointed by the integrity and fairness of mr. brooks and his associates. the latter had no prejudices to conquer, and mr. brooks had not applied himself many weeks to the duties of his commission, before he was convinced of the feasibility of the work, and satisfied that the state ought to assume and complete it. when their report was made to the legislature in 1863, the old opposition manifested itself with more intensity than ever, and the same honest gentlemen, who, the year before, were so friendly to the enterprise, and only wanted to transfer it from the hands of rapacious contractors and a bankrupt corporation, to the fostering care of the commonwealth, threw off their masks, resorted to their old tricks and arts, and renewed their old clamor, against the "tunnel swindle;" yet, vainly, as the result proved. the name of mr. f. w. bird, of walpole, has been once or twice mentioned in this article, and not improperly, since he has gained that equivocal notoriety in connection with the hoosac tunnel, which attaches to the enemies of all great and noble undertakings. this gentleman has informed the public, that in 1847 and 1848, when he was in the legislature, he "voted for everything that the friends of the tunnel asked for." this action cannot have greatly embarrassed mr. bird during his subsequent career, since the only thing asked for by the friends of the tunnel, during those two years, was the charter, granted in 1848. mr. bird further informs the public, that "in 1862, we were overruled by the committee, but we defeated them before the legislature. in 1863, we were defeated, and the legislature sanctioned the resumption of the work." mr. bird also boasts that, while a member of the executive council, he "did resist the assumption by the chairman of the commission, of irresponsible control over the work, and did something to prevent the building of the road from greenfield to the mountain." in 1862, hon. w. d. swan represented the opposition to the tunnel in the senate. mr. bird, in a communication to the boston journal of nov. 3, 1862, says:- "the tunnel fight was organized and directed by three members of the third house. the tunnel matter came before the senate late in the session, when many important questions demanded the attention of the senate and rendered it very difficult for them to make personal investigations. as to mr. swan, he very frankly declared that the whole subject was so new to him that he must rely upon us for his materials. his published speeches upon the tunnel, upon which his fame as a practical legislator is based by his friends, were written substantially by one of us beforehand, and afterward revised by all of us for the press. we furnished every fact, made every calculation, prepared every table and arranged _every point and every argument logically and rhetorically_." one of the arguments which mr. bird confesses he and his associates "arranged," is expressed in the following extract from mr. swan's speech:- "i am aware, sir, that it may be said: 'you are going to stop a great enterprise.' no i am not. i have no such intention. i am in favor of the hoosac tunnel. if massachusetts has granted her aid for the accomplishment of any great purpose, i am for going through with it. i am for going through with the tunnel; but i am for going through with it understandingly; and if massachusetts is to do the work, let us know that we are to obtain something like an equivalent for our expenditure. we say, then, to the corporation, we will send intelligent commissioners to examine the road and tunnel, and if the report to us, or our successors, next year, is favorable to this great enterprise, we will go on with it; we will bore a a hole through the mountain, we will arch it, lay the track, and give you ten years in which to redeem the property." but it is not necessary to quote further from mr. bird himself; he has been well known for years as an agent of the western railroad company, and the leader of the combined elements of opposition to the tunnel. he is a man of ability, bold, and adroit in his management, but entirely unscrupulous in the choice of means to effect his objects. as a lobby member, as newspaper correspondent, as pamphleteer, as councilor, and in the numerous other characters which his protean genius has enabled him to assume, he has, by fair means and foul, diligently adhered to his boastful promise that he "should not desist from opposition till the work is stopped;" and he has lately reiterated his purpose of keeping that pledge, "with the help of god." those who know mr. bird well, entertain no doubt that he will continue to do his best to stop the work, whether with or without the divine assistance, and that he will literally fulfill his promise, since the work will, undoubtedly, be "stopped" when it is finished. one other gentleman has been associated with mr. bird, as a leader of the opposition to the tunnel enterprise, who, perhaps, deserves a passing notice in this article, mr. d. l. harris, president of the connecticut river railroad. he has less ability than mr. bird, but much more practical knowledge of railroad engineering and management. it has apparently been a part of the duty assigned him, to furnish mr. bird with the texts for his pamphlets and newspaper articles, and to supply such information, from time to time, as that gentleman's inexperience and ignorance required. he has also emulated the example of his associate by contributing to the anti-tunnel literature of the newspapers. while a member of the house, a few years since, he had the bad taste, in the course of discussion, to quote from one of his own anonymous articles. upon being accused of being the author of his quotation, he roundly denied the charge, but was convicted by the production of his own manuscript. his seat was vacant during the remainder of that session. whether this desertion of his post was occasioned by a conviction in the minds of anti-tunnel men and the western railroad managers that the exposure had impaired the influence of their agent, or whether he was impelled to retire by the stings of that remorse which a certain class of men experience only when they have been detected in a falsehood, the writer of this paper is unable to determine. the boston advertiser of october 5, 1865, contains an article over mr. bird's signature, which was soon after published in the form of a pamphlet, and profusely distributed throughout the state, having for a title, "the hoosac tunnel: its condition and prospects." it appears, that a few weeks previous, mr. bird and mr. harris visited the tunnel locality, and this pamphlet purports to be the result of mr. bird's "observations." it has been extensively read, and has, doubtless, inspired the minds of many timid and ignorant persons, with honest doubts of the practicability or expediency of ever completing the tunnel. it is considered "smart" by those who mistake denunciation and abuse for wit, and baseless assumption for truth. to those who are familiar with the history of the tunnel, and who understand its present condition, it is more remarkable for misrepresentation and disingenuousness, than even any previous effort of its author. he introduces his subject by stating that the commissioners, "since they commenced operations, have had unlimited and irresponsible power, and that, for all failures and blunders, they, and they alone, are responsible;" yet, within a month from the penning of this assertion, mr. bird boasted that _he_ did something, while a member of the council, to prevent the building of the road from greenfield to the mountain. the obstacles encountered at the west end of the tunnel, which had been foreseen and understood from the beginning, by the friends of the enterprise, appear to have first engaged the observation of our inspector, and are represented as a startling and recent discovery. the well known effect of water upon the soft material in this locality is described as "rock demoralized" into "porridge," and this "porridge" is represented as a difficulty of such serious nature that "the managers are at their wits' ends." mr. james laurie, an eminent civil engineer, employed by the commissioners to make a survey, in his able report in january of 1863, says "the portions of the hoosac tunnel embraced between the western entrance and the present shaft, a distance of 3008 feet, will, from all indications, be the most troublesome and expensive. the material consists of gravel, clay, sand, detached beds of quartzose sandstone, some of which is partly decomposed, and limestone. the whole formation is full of springs. _however bad the material may prove_, this part, under proper management, can be completed long before the rest of the tunnel." mr. bird says, "common men, and some uncommon men, too, look upon these difficulties as insuperable." those who can, for a moment, weigh the opinion of the accomplished and experienced engineer, mr. laurie, with that of mr. f. w. bird, of walpole, may relieve their doubts by referring to mr. storrow's report on the european tunnels, in a very large proportion of which the most formidable kind of "porridge" was encountered and subdued. mr. bird observed the western shaft. the work at the western face of this shaft was suspended on account of imminent danger of "porridge" and our observer's most important criticism here, is that they were, at the time of his visit, advancing on the eastern face of the shaft, at the rate of only "thirteen feet weekly," that is fifty-two _feet per month_. mr. storrow says the average progress in the european tunnels was about thirty _feet per month_. the central shaft was visited, and mr. bird does not appear to have observed anything which demanded an expression of his disapproval. the work was progressing at the rate of twenty-two feet a month, and the pumps gave a gallon and a half of water per minute. in constructing the kilsey tunnel, in england, mr. storrow says that during a considerable portion of nine months, the water pumped out was two thousand gallons a minute. mr. bird's report of progress at the east end was certainly very encouraging the heading having been advanced successfully during the two months preceding his visit, at the rate of sixty-five feet per month, and the work was being pushed with vigor and activity. the dam across the deerfield next claimed the observation of the inspector, who appears to have regarded it with much surprise, both on account of its cost and because it was thrown across a fitful mountain torrent, so feeble at the time of mr. bird's visit, that it was only allowed to run by night, for the reason, as he "guessed," that "if it was allowed to run by day, under the hot sun, it would all evaporate before it reached shelburne falls!" this _guess_ is associated in the same paragraph with an assertion that "there was not then in the river, and had not been for some weeks, and has not been since, (unless they have had heavy rains,) water enough to give under a thirty feet head, twenty, or even a ten-horse power, for twenty-four hours a day." it is as well established a fact that the deerfield river was never known to be so low as at one time during last year, as it is that wells all over the state were dry last autumn, which were never dry before. yet, at the time of mr. bird's visit, when the river was lowest, mr. doane, the chief engineer, states that the water was running at the rate of "thirty-four cubic feet per second. on a head of thirty feet this gives, theoretically, one hundred and sixteen, and, practically, eighty-seven horse power." the intelligent reader will not be at much loss to decide whether he will rely upon the guesses, observations and loose assertions of mr. bird, or the record and word of the careful and skillful engineer. mr. bird says, "it is discreditable that the precise quantity of water has not, so far as we know, been ascertained by actual measurement." such measurement had been made, and mr. bird _might_ have known it if he had taken pains to inquire of mr. doane or mr. hill. the testimony of messrs. lamson & goodnow, of shelburne falls, as to the power and reliability of the deerfield river, is that "this is the first season we have been at all troubled on account of the scarcity of water, but not as mr. bird stated it. we have not been compelled to stop our mills _except one half day_, and we employ four hundred men on cutlery." the same gentlemen (messrs. lamson & goodnow) state that the deerfield and north rivers furnish water enough, at shelburne falls, for one thousand horse power. the north river is a small stream, and deducting its contribution together with that of the brooks which find their way into the deerfield between shelburne falls and the mountain, at the high estimate of two hundred horse power, and there remains to the deerfield alone a force of eight hundred horse power, which is the estimate made by the commissioners. the measurements made by mr. doane and his assistants confirm their accuracy. yet mr. bird who boasts of "an intimate acquaintance of over thirty years with water power," asserts that for such a privilege, "ten thousand dollars would be an extravagant price!" would he sell even the puddle which works his paper mill at walpole, and which, we presume, has afforded all his knowledge of water power, for half that amount? the writer of this article has not enjoyed "an intimate acquaintance of over thirty years with water power," but he has resided exactly the same length of time as gov. gardner said he had been a temperance man, in the manufacturing town of fitchburg, and during that time has learned something about its _thirty-four_ water privileges and _five hundred and eighty-two feet head_ of water which they command, on the little nashua and its tributaries. his knowledge of this water power enables him to exhibit the gross absurdity of mr. bird's efforts to dry up the deerfield. one of these tributaries, which is less than eight miles long, affords a privilege with a head of twenty-one feet, of from seventy-five to one hundred horse power. the reader can form his own conclusions, by comparing this brook with that "fitful mountain torrent," the deerfield river, which has its sources in the town of stratton, vt., flows southward to the foot of the hoosac mountain, then turning eastward, finds its way into the connecticut, near greenfield, traversing in its course, a distance of more than sixty miles. the length of the "fitful torrent" above the hoosac dam, is about forty miles, and in that part of its course it is swelled by the contributions of numerous tributaries, several of which are respectively from twelve to eighteen miles long. a shrewd yankee, who is not a civil engineer, and has not even had the experience of running a small paper mill, might "guess" that such a stream would furnish, with a head of thirty feet, as much as an eight hundred horse power. but it is not eight hundred horse power, nor four hundred that is required to operate the drilling machinery and ventilate the tunnel; for two hundred and eight horse power is all that has ever been used or needed at mt. cenis. this leaves a pretty wide margin for drouths, _evaporation_, and other contingencies. in his observations upon the power required, mr. bird becomes severe and sarcastic. he assails the opinion of the commissioners that "the loss of power by carrying the compressed air through five miles of pipe will be quite insignificant;" and after asserting that there are no _data_ by which to test the correctness of this opinion, and claiming "some experience in such matters," prefers that such an "_experiment_" should be tried with somebody's money besides his own. it is gratifying to learn from mr. bird, himself, that he he has had experience in the matter of compressed air as a motive power, and that a "cussed furriner," as he elegantly phrases it is not to be allowed to bear off the palm of this great discovery uncontested. doubtless m. sommeiller will yield to the superior science and sagacity of mr. bird; but our countryman should lose no time in informing his fellow citizens of his investigations, experiments and success in arriving at the conclusion that compressed air cannot "be carried through five miles of pipe without a very serious loss of power through friction, leakage, &c." but, unfortunately for this view of the case, there are data establishing the fact that compressed air has been conveyed through more than two miles of pipe at mt. cenis, and then operated the drills without any appreciable loss of power. if there is no loss in two miles, how can there be in five? it is no longer an experiment, but an established scientific fact. the size of the present excavation next engages the attention of our observer, and he calls the commissioners to account because they have not followed their own recommendation to excavate the tunnel to its full dimensions as the work proceeds. since their recommendation was made in the winter of 1863, the commissioners have had much experience, and the price of labor has doubled. only a small number of men can work on a heading, but when a heading has been advanced a large number of workmen can follow rapidly in enlarging the excavation, and will soon overtake those engaged on the heading. at mt. cenis, the pneumatic drills are only used on the heading, and the enlargement is done by numerous laborers with hand drills. it is apparent that the commissioners have been actuated solely by motives of economy in prosecuting the heading alone, at the present high rates of labor. the work of enlargement is comparatively easy and rapid, and might well await a decline in the cost of labor, though it must be admitted that the importance of completing this noble work, ought to outweigh the consideration of _any possible_ cost. on the subject of pneumatic drills, mr. bird is emphatic. he says, "no intelligent man puts the slightest confidence in the successful working of any borer, or drill, in the rock of the hoosac mountain, unless operated by hand. in a strictly homogeneous rock, machine drills might work, but in a rock like the hoosac, where the drills, working generally in a comparatively soft material, are liable at any moment to strike veins of quartz, and where a part of the hole will be in the slate and the rest in quartz, no machine drill has yet been found to stand." this reckless and false assertion is made in utter defiance of mr. storrow's report and all other authorities upon the alps tunnel, which has now been excavated nearly four miles with machine drills on the heading. mr. storrow says that masonry is used because the rock "is not homogeneous in character. i stood at the front of the machines, watching them for three quarters of an hour. one drill was driving directly into hard quartz, advancing very slowly, and making the sparks fly at every stroke. others working in softer spots, were cutting rapidly." mr. bird has much to learn about pneumatic drills, and, without going beyond the borders of massachusetts, he can see a drill operate by compressed air, so indifferent as to the character of the rock it works upon, that it will penetrate the hardest granite and the composite rock of the hoosac with the same facility, and at a rate which would astonish even m. sommeiller. the figures upon which bird bases a "calculation" as to the time of completing the tunnel, are as far from being correct as his general statements are from the truth. one example is enough to illustrate, and by this the reader may fairly judge what the "calculation" is worth. he says the total length of the tunnel is 24,586 feet, when the _fact_ is that it is 25,586 feet. this is no mistake of the printer, for the figures repeatedly occur in the pamphlet, and always the same; and it is with this gross blunder that the "calculation" sets out. the truth is that any careful reader of this article, is a better judge of the whole subject than mr. bird, because he will have reliable dates, facts and figures, by the aid of which he can make a calculation for himself, or' form an opinion as to the time within which the work can be done, which will be quite as likely to be correct as any, "i undertake to say," of the oracular bird. on the 1st of december, 1865, the penetration at the east end was 2904 feet; at the east heading of western shaft, 414 feet; west heading of same shaft, 280 feet; at west end heading, 756--in the whole, 4354 feet. the central shaft had been sunk two hundred and twenty feet. the average progress on this shaft during the months of august, september, october and november was 18 3-4 feet per month. assuming this for the average in december, january and february the shaft was 275 feet deep, on the 1st of march, the whole depth to grade being 1037 feet. the average progress on the east face of western shaft was sixty-three feet per month. allowing that average for december, january and february, and the penetration on this face is now more than 600 feet. the average on east end was forty-four feet. add this average for the last three months, and the penetration at this end is now 3036 feet, and the total penetration 4675 feet, with 575 feet of shaft sunk. mr. laurie states in his report that in the ten tunnels which he names, in this country and europe, the average progress made on each face from a shaft was thirty-eight feet, and on the end faces fifty-four feet per month. let the intelligent man who forms opinions and conclusions for himself, compare the statistics which have been given in the course of this writing in relation to tunneling in europe and in this country, and then, taking into consideration the inadequate means which have, until recently, been applied to the hoosac enterprise, and surveying the progress which has been made whenever the work was prosecuted with vigor, let him judge how soon, and at what cost, the tunnel may be completed, even without the aid of machine drills. the concluding pages of the pamphlet contain a general charge against the commissioners, or rather mr. brooks, the chairman, of mismanagement. the only "_illustrations_" of this charge are, first, that mr. brooks declined to sell the 3,000 tons of railroad iron which had been purchased, and distributed along the graded track from greenfield to the mountain, and "other saleable property;" second, that he has "disregarding the advice of others, whose judgment was entitled to weight, put his own constructions upon the acts of the legislature relating to the powers and duties of the commissioners, in opposition to the construction and in defiance of the orders of the executive council;" third, he has seriously contemplated "the amazing folly of building the railroad from greenfield to the mountain!" it is gratifying to know from more reliable authority than the intimation of mr. bird, that mr. brooks did justify the opinion which is generally entertained, of his good sense and judgment, by contemplating that "amazing folly," and the only evidence of serious mismanagement on his part, which mr. bird can produce, is that he did not, at once execute his purpose, lay the rails and put the road in operation from greenfield to the mountain. the additional facilities which the completion of this road would have afforded for expediting the work, and reducing its cost, are too obvious to be enumerated. the extent and value of the resources and material of the region through which the road passes, and the importance of their speedy development, have already been shown. the distance from greenfield to the mountain is about thirty miles, by a very uneven and hilly road; and yet, in 1861, the amount of freight transported over it, was 12,350 tons, and the freight and livery receipts were nearly $50,000. with a good railroad in operation, in the place of a rugged highway, and the summer travel which it would induce, there can be no doubt whatever, that the local business alone would afford receipts very far beyond the estimates, upon which it is presumed the offer of the fitchburg and vermont and massachusetts companies to take a lease of the road was based, that is, $21,500 a year more than running expenses. whether mr. brooks is responsible for the delay in putting the road under contract, and for the waste and damage which have resulted from a neglect of three years, or whether mr. bird _did_ succeed, while a member of the council, in procuring an absolute injunction, the public cannot now well determine, for, as the reader has already observed, bird declares that mr. brooks had absolute power, that the whole responsibility rests with him, and yet boasts that he "did something" towards preventing the completion of the road. * * * * * since the foregoing pages were written, mr bird has published and distributed another pamphlet, the remarkable audacity of which challenges our attention. if one half of the assertions it contains were true, if one half of its calculations and estimates could be demonstrated, the hoosac tunnel ought to be abandoned at once, as the greatest folly of the nineteenth century, and its ruins sacredly preserved as a monument to coming generations of a monstrous popular delusion: and if the epithets--swindlers, tricksters, liars, plunderers, thieves, ingrates, rascals, traitors and fools--which mr. f. w. bird, of walpole, so freely and indiscriminately applies to everybody who has advocated or favored the building of this tunnel, were deserved; then a very large proportion of several legislatures, a majority of several executive councils, and many distinguished citizens and state officers, including the late governor and attorney general, ought to be lodged for the remainder of their days either in the state prison, or the asylums for idiots. this last publication of bird's is mainly a repetition, "with embellishments," of his previous pamphlet, with the addition of a preface purporting to be the history of tunnel legislation to the beginning of the present year, a string of calculations and conjectures as to the capacity of the western railroad to transport ( provided it were properly managed, and the double track completed) all the western freight and travel for all future time, and several pages of coarse denunciation of mr. brooks, chairman of the tunnel commissioners, and the manner in which he has managed the trust committed to him. the subdivisions of these subjects are:-1st. tunnel legislation. 2d. abuse of mr. brooks. 3d. power drills. 4th. the deerfield dam. 5th. "porridge." 6th. the western compared with the tunnel line. 7th. the possible capacity of the western road. 8th. the cost and time required to complete the tunnel. it is not our purpose to expose _all_ the misrepresentations and perversion of facts to which mr. bird has resorted in the treatment of his subject; but only enough of them to show what disreputable means the foes of the tunnel are capable of using in order to deceive the community. late results in the progress of work at the mountain, and in the perfection of machinery, will enable us to illustrate the utter absurdity of several of the most important of mr. bird's calculations, or rather speculations, and enable the reader to judge what reliance can be placed upon any of them. in a review of the history of tunnel legislation, as given in this pamphlet, passing by the frequent charges of "packed committees," "deceived legislatures," and "tricks of legislative legerdemain," we come to an account of the act of april, 1862, by which it appears that the bill passed was not materially different from that prepared by mr. bird, and offered by mr. swan. it was _entitled_, "an act for the more speedy completion of the hoosac tunnel," yet the anti-tunnel league considered its passage "a substantial defeat of the scheme," because they believed that governor andrew "was opposed to the tunnel," and would appoint commissioners whose opinions were in harmony with his own. and the virtuous and honest member of the "third house," through whose adroit management, a bill bearing a title so inconsistent with its purpose, was framed, affects a pious horror of legislative trickery! whatever mr. bird may have to say upon any of his various topics, he never forgets to abuse mr. brooks; "_carthago delenda est_" at any rate; and he returns to the assault at the beginning or end of almost every chapter, with renewed spitefulness. on page 21 it is represented that mr. laurie, the engineer who had been designated by the governor and council to make surveys, had a personal interview with mr. brooks, and that the following colloquy took place:- "i am here, mr. brooks, to make the surveys ordered." "what order? what surveys?" "the surveys ordered by the governor and council." "i have ordered no surveys and want none. when i need your services i will send for you. go about your business." even those who have never reckoned mr. bird a man of strict veracity will be surprised to learn that this story is a pure fabrication, that no such conversation, and no such interview ever took place. the communications between the two gentlemen were a letter from mr. laurie, who was at hartford, and a reply by telegraph from mr. brooks, who was in boston. mr. laurie wrote,--"presuming that you wish me to make these surveys, i will come to boston," &c. mr. brooks telegraphed,--"the new survey has not been acted upon by commissioners." on the same page of the pamphlet it is stated that mr. brooks, not being satisfied with mr. laurie's conclusions, "demanded the suppression of some portions of the report, and the modification of others." "mr. laurie, after making such concessions as he could honestly make, resolutely refused to yield to mr. brooks' imperious demands upon material points." now' this representation is just as false as the story about the colloquy. mr. brooks did not make any such demands. an exposure of both these fabrications is made in a communication to the boston advertiser of march 10th, which contains copies of all the correspondence on these subjects, between mr. brooks and mr. laurie. on page 23, we are requested to "look at the item of the amount of the people's money applied by _mr. brooks_ to the payment of mr. haupt's debts," than which "there never was a more atrocious swindle." by referring to the records of the executive council for may, june and july of 1863, it will be seen that the subject of paying these claims was referred to a committee of the council, consisting of alfred hitchcock, f. w. bird and joel hayden for special investigation. upon the question of the meaning and intent of the act of 1862, and its legal interpretation, the committee took counsel of dwight foster, emory washburn, and isaac r. redfield, lawyers who had been designated by the governor, as a commission to whom should be referred such questions upon legal points as might arise in prosecuting the work, and in accordance with the advice of these gentlemen, and their own convictions, a majority of the committee (mr. bird of course opposing) reported that the claims ought to be paid. a majority of the council and the governor being of the same opinion, the claims were paid. the part performed by mr. brooks and his associates was merely to audit and allow them. they could not draw a dollar from the state-treasury for any purpose except upon the governor's warrant. _if_ the payment of these claims was "an atrocious swindle," then the governor, a majority of his council, and the three lawyers, as well as the commissioners, were the atrocious swindlers. it would appear that the incorruptible and virtuous bird was the only person about the state house, at that time, who could make any pretension to honesty or fidelity. the motives of mr. bird, in these unscrupulous attempts to disparage the judgment and asperse the character of mr. brooks are best known to himself, but it will be remembered that when mr. brooks received his appointment he was thought to be opposed to the tunnel enterprise. he has proved to be one of its ablest and most resolute friends. the disappointment and grief of mr. bird may have been rendered more poignant by his defeat last fall as a candidate for the honor of representing his district in the legislature, a defeat which he has publicly attributed to the opposition of mr. brooks. the only noteworthy thing in this pamphlet concerning the deerfield dam, is an absurd attempt to misrepresent the commissioners' report of its cost. they state that it is $125,919.74. it was finished last fall. mr. bird says "the dam will have cost when finished, at least $275,000," and thereafter to the end of his chapter on that topic, assumes that sum to be the actual cost. he obtains these figures by adding to the real cost of the dam, that of all the canals; buildings and machinery which are being constructed between the dam and the tunnel. he might, with equal propriety, have added the cost of the walpole meeting house, or that of his own paper mill. in a supplementary note we are informed that the dam across the connecticut at holyoke, 1017 feet long, cost about $115,000. we may assume that mr. bird applies these figures to the present dam, and not to the one which gave way some years since. the cost of the first dam is not given, and the inquisitive reader might ask what that was, or whether the $115,000 should not with more propriety be considered as an expenditure for repairs of an old dam rather than the cost of a new one. however that may be, the cost of labor and material at the time the new dam was built, or the old one repaired, was less than one half of the cost of labor and material, at any time since the deerfield dam was commenced. it is possible that a cheaper structure might have been built, which would answer the purpose, but the commissioners and their engineers, warned perhaps, by the holyoke disaster, may be excused for constructing a work that will not be washed away, though done at some additional cost for its security. if there is one thing which mr. bird absolutely loves it is "porridge," and he returns to this topic with great vivacity. it may be briefly stated that in december last, after the heading from the west portal had been carried forward 111 feet, progress was stopped by an inlet of water from a brook overhead and a spring below. this water operating on the rotten rock, produced what mr. bird calls "porridge." it was a difficulty which had been foreseen, but was never regarded by the commissioners or engineers as of a formidable character. soon after work was suspended at this point, responsible parties came forward with an offer to construct an arch lined with solid masonry through the "porridge" to the western shaft, a distance of about 2000 feet, for less than $700,000; and to furnish satisfactory security for the performance of their contract. the offer was declined. when mr. bird learned that work at this point was suspended, he became jubilant. he has filled ten pages of his two pamphlets with "porridge," and excited some fears on the part of his friends that the stuff has found access to the thinking part of his own person, and "muddled" it badly. but of this the reader may judge by noting on page 34 of the last pamphlet an assertion that the distance from the west portal to the shaft is all demoralized rock; and on pages 36 and 37 a calculation that it will cost $5,430,300 _in gold_, to construct this section of 2000 feet! but "porridge" is unreliable, and that at the hoosac, has given out; and so mr. bird's hopes and calculations, which were based upon it, fall to the ground. work has been recently resumed, and twenty-seven feet beyond the point at which it was discontinued, solid rock was reached, in which the workmen are now drilling and blasting without molestation or fear of "porridge." the brook is passed, and in the artesian well about half way from the portal to the shaft, solid rock has been reached at 130 feet above grade. "porridge" has served its friends a mean trick and "well might _mr. bird_ exclaim in the language of woolsey (slightly altered,)" "had i but served _the truth_ with half the zeal i served my _porridge_, _it_ would not, in my need, have left me naked to mine enemies." the theoretical capacity of the western railroad is a fruitful subject for speculations and array of figures, but facts and demonstrated truths are what practical men wish to deal with. a comparison of the tunnel and western lines is of no significance, when both are urgently needed. in 1847, when the western road was opened to albany, it transported from albany to boston 88,438 tons of freight, and last year, only 87,254 tons, 1184 tons less. yet in 1847 it had no double track, and in 1865 it had 116 miles of double track. the greatest tonnage was 116,288, in 1864: and that same year, 588,207 tons of through eastward freight arrived at albany and troy, and the total amount to those two points was 3,866,025; nearly three fourths of which was transported on the erie canal, an institution which is entirely left out of mr. bird's calculations. more than six million tons of freight were brought from the west last year to the hudson river. of this vast amount only a little more than one sixtieth found its way to boston over the western road. in 1864, 471,919 tons of freight were transported from albany and troy to boston by the circuitous routes we have mentioned. mr. bird makes a calculation that the capacity of the western road can be so increased, by finishing the double track, increasing the rolling stock and adding special auxiliary force to draw its freight trains up the steep grades, that it can bring 1,797,120 tons of freight in a year. it may be presumed that he means both local and through freight. but his "calculation" is as baseless and flimsy as any of his numerous statistical bubbles which have already been pricked. the best answer to his whole argument is contained in a memorial of the albany board of trade to our legislature, with some extracts from which, our review of this topic will be closed. but a few more of mr. bird's misrepresentations must first be exposed. on page 56 he represents mr. brooks as claiming that the whole through freight from the west to boston_ eight years hence_, will amount to 448,101 tons. this estimate was made three years ago, and the words "eight years hence" were used at that time, and not now, as mr. bird represents. on page 50, is a list of names purporting to have been taken from the original subscription list of stockholders in the troy and greenfield railroad. mr. otis clapp is represented as having subscribed $200 in "services;" and daniel s. richardson's name is appended, with ciphers and exclamation points. the first of these misrepresentations has been exposed by mr. clapp, who writes to the boston advertiser that he never charged the company for any service, nor was ever credited by them for services, but that he did subscribe and pay $1151.43 for stock of the road. mr. richardson also writes to the advertiser, and mildly suggests that he was never in any way connected with the troy and greenfield railroad. on page 51, e. h. derby is represented as being president of the fitchburg railroad a pure fabrication; and alvah crocker as having "large investments" in the same road, when its books show that at that time he owned but six shares of stock. the truth is, mr. bird has no hesitation or scruple in using other people's names in the same manner as he uses figures and statistics in his calculations. mr. bird says lie never had any communication or correspondence with, and never received a dollar from, any person connected with the western railroad. that may be; but it is well known that mr. d. l. harris, president of the connecticut river railroad, has been for years the "_fidus achates_" of mr. bird in "fighting the tunnel," his colleague in the "third house," his companion at the hoosac mountain, and the guide of his inexperienced feet in the wilderness of facts and speculations of civil engineering. it is not so well known, but nevertheless true, that mr. harris is made director and president of the connecticut river railroad by the influence and vote of chester w. chapin, president of the western road. his zeal in the service of his benefactor has been manifested by an active hostility to the tunnel, as persistent and unscrupulous as that of mr. bird; and, were it possible for that gentleman ever to act from other than disinterested motives, or a sense of public duty, his intimate relations with mr. harris might justify a suspicion that the "sinews of war" might be supplied through that channel. at all events, we may be permitted to say that, if these two men have organized and led the opposition to the tunnel every winter for the last ten years, printed thousands and thousands of pamphlets, and spent a considerable part of each year in the lobby, and all this at their own cost, from a sense of public duty, then they have better deserved statues in front of the state house than webster or mann; and the western railroad management is even meaner than it has been generally considered. a corporation must indeed be without a soul, which can look upon such sublime virtue, and suffer it to pay its own expenses. but enough of mr. bird and his motives. the statements we have made in regard to the necessity of a new route are, in every particular fully confirmed by a memorial which has been recently addressed to our legislature from the albany board of trade, through a committee of seven of their number. the gentlemen comprising this board are not theorists, but practical, clear-headed and reliable business men, who have been compelled by the urgent demands of yearly increasing business, to appeal to the people of massachusetts for aid and relief. from a table in their memorial, it appears, that, while the increase, during the last fifteen years, of miles of railroad in eleven other states through which western products press to the seaboard, averaged 169 per cent, that of massachusetts was only 26 per cent. but we proceed to quote from the memorial:- "twelve years of experience have convinced us that the western railroad is wholly inadequate to the prompt, rapid and cheap transportation of the commodities so extensively consumed by the people of the new england states. to illustrate the diversion of trade from the natural route to boston via albany, occasioned by the incapacity of the western road to meet the wants of commerce, we call your attention to the article of flour. we collate our facts from reports of the boston board of trade and the official reports of the western railroad. in 1865, the western road, according to its own report, transported from albany and troy to boston, one hundred and fifty thousand barrels less than it did in 1847, nearly twenty years ago. during the thirteen years, including 1848 and 1860, the average of its transportation of this article, per annum, between the hudson and boston was 287,698 barrels. for the same period, there were received in boston, via other and more circuitous routes, an average per annum of 670,233 barrels. the next four years, including 1861 and 1864, the average per annum by the western road was 572,637 barrels. boston received from other routes an average, per annum for the same period, of 824,937 barrels. now, we hold that, by the natural laws of trade, most of this vast quantity of flour, which reaches boston in these roundabout ways, would have left the hudson river at albany and troy, had the requisite facilities for a cheap and rapid transportation been afforded. about one-fourth of the average quantity received in boston from other routes, for the four years named above, reached that place via the grand trunk railway and portland, aggregating 956,945 barrels. taking detroit as the starting point, the distance from there to boston via portland, is 228 miles greater than the route to boston via albany. yet, owing to the inadequate railroad facilities between albany and boston, the consignors of this flour prefer to send it via portland, and pay the charges on 228 miles of additional distance. what is true of the article of flour is equally true of all the staple commodities produced at the west and consumed by the new england states. large quantities were last year turned aside at rochester and other points in our own state, to say nothing of points west of buffalo, and sent to boston and contiguous localities via the new york and erie railroad. boston is even now receiving flour from albany, troy and schenectady, by way of rutland, a distance of some fifty miles further than by the western road. we have no words but of commendation for the noble work which your state is pushing with such energy to open a still shorter route to the hudson. we have no feelings of jealousy toward the new route, because it terminates in another city than albany; a healthy rivalry will do more than moral suasion, to wake up the old route from that lethargy which seems so near akin to death. had the hoosac tunnel been completed twelve years ago, we have reason to believe it probable that the people of massachusetts alone would have saved an amount in the way of cheap transportation, nearly if not quite sufficient to equal its cost. we have spoken more freely in this paper than might be considered becoming in us, but for the fact that in the day of its need, albany, along with massachusetts, came to the aid of the western railroad. and now that we are suffering so much from its insufficiency to meet the public want, we trust the presentation of these views and facts will not be regarded as obtrusive, but rather as properly coming from those, who, with you, aided to produce a common benefit, and are now suffering with you from a common cause." the cost of the whole work was estimated by the commissioners in their first report, at $5,719,330, the estimate being based upon ordinary labor at one dollar a day, and of materials at a corresponding rate. nothing has yet occurred to invalidate this estimate, excepting the advance of the cost of material and labor, an incidental misfortune common to every public, as well as private enterprise, requiring labor and material, which has been prosecuted during the last three years. it is certain that these high rates will greatly decline, perhaps nearly to their former level within a year; but admitting that the commissioners' estimate should be swelled through these incidental causes to the sum of eight millions, would such an increase of expense justify the abandonment of this great enterprise, upon which so much has already been expended, and at the very period in its progress when the most formidable obstacles in its way have been surmounted, and its success become a certainty? had the western railroad been utterly destroyed last year by a rebel raid, as were some southern roads by the march of sherman, or by any conceivable cause, would the consideration of twenty-five, or thirty, or even forty millions, prevent its being rebuilt at once? why then should two millions stand in the way of the tunnel line, which is now a greater necessity than the western road was at the time of its construction? the time required to complete the work, without the aid of machinery, was estimated by the commissioners at eleven years and four months; and with the aid of such machine drills and power as had already been applied with success at mt. cenis, at seven years and a half. the work at mt. cenis was commenced in 1857, and up to july, 1861, 2142 feet had been excavated by hand labor; the machine drills were then applied, and the italian government has recently announced that the work will be finished by the close of the year 1870. it will be seven and a half miles long. the hoosac tunnel will be about four and a half miles long, and at the present time it has been excavated 4675 feet, and shafts have been sunk to the depth of 575 feet. the machine drills will be applied in a few days; but they are drills which will do twice, and possibly three times the work of those at mt. cenis. to the sound judgment, energy, and untiring perseverance of mr. brooks, and the inventive genius and skill of mr. stephen f. gates, of boston, and mr. charles burleigh, of fitchburg, belongs the credit of perfecting a pneumatic drill, by means of which our great tunnel will be completed much within the time named by the commissioners, and with a reduction of their estimate of its cost by hand labor of several hundred thousand dollars. we have seen this drill operated by compressed air, at the rate of two hundred blows a minute, each blow given with a force of more than five hundred pounds, cut an inch and a quarter hole in a block of hoosac rock, thirty-eight inches in thirteen minutes, without changing its points. its superiority over the mt. cenis drill consists in its lightness, automatic feed, and smaller size. the mt. cenis drill is eight feet long, and weighs six hundred pounds, and the whole machine moves forward in feeding. the hoosac drill is four feet long, weighs two hundred and eight pounds, and can be handled by two men. in feeding, the drill alone advances, and in such manner as to accommodate itself to any kind of rock it may encounter, whether hard or soft. its points are sharpened in a die by half a dozen blows of the hammer. it will do the work of twenty men; and, finally, sixteen of them can be applied to a surface upon which only nine of the mt. cenis drills can be used. the operation of this drill has already been witnessed by hundreds of persons, among them machinists, engineers, and stone masons, and not one of them entertains a doubt that it will do all which is claimed for it by the inventors. but the carriages are nearly ready, and these little machines will shortly be put to their work. the friends of the tunnel have no fears of the result. * * * * * massachusetts has always led her sister states. at the call to arms, her sons have been first in the field, and first to die for the common good. her schools and colleges, her institutions of charity, and her statutes have furnished models for the new states of the great west, and for foreign republics. in her manufactures and mechanic arts, in the products of her inventive genius, in maritime enterprise, in the building of canals and railroads, and in every undertaking to develop the resources and promote the prosperity of the country, she has been first and foremost. with so proud a record, and with almost exhaustless means at her command, we do not believe our noble state is yet ready to abandon the lead; nor that the consideration of a few millions of dollars will prevent her from breaking down the barrier which divides us from the west, and by which the great stream of western traffic has been so long checked and diverted. rather let us trust that, by wise legislation, a liberal policy, and a cordial support of the gentlemen to whom the conduct of this enterprise is entrusted, the great work of de witt clinton will be perfected, and the noble design of loammi baldwin executed, by the completion of the hoosac tunnel, before it shall be announced from sardinia that the alps are pierced and france and italy have joined hands under the grand vallon. generously made available by the internet archive/american libraries.) the riverside biographical series andrew jackson, by w. g. brown james b. eads, by louis how benjamin franklin, by paul e. more peter cooper, by r. w. raymond thomas jefferson, by h. c. merwin _in preparation_ william penn general grant lewis and clarke each about 100 pages, 16mo, with photogravure portrait, 75 cents. houghton, mifflin & co. boston and new york [illustration: jas. b. eads] james b. eads by louis how houghton, mifflin and company boston: 4 park street; new york: 11 east seventeenth street chicago: 378-388 wabash avenue the riverside press, cambridge copyright, 1900, by louis how all rights reserved preface i must mention with particular gratitude several books that were invaluable in preparing this sketch, in supplementing the usual biographical dictionaries and naval histories. these are: captain mahan's "the gulf and inland waters;" boynton's picturesque "history of the american navy during the great rebellion;" mr. fiske's "mississippi valley in the civil war;" snead's "the fight for missouri;" mr. c. m. woodward's "history of the st. louis bridge;" mr. estill mchenry's edition of eads's "papers and addresses," with a biography; two memoirs by señores francisco de garay and ignacio garfias, of the mexican association of civil engineers; and, above all, several memoirs and addresses and the history of the jetties by mr. elmer l. corthell, c. e., without which i could scarcely have written this life. i must also cordially thank for kind personal aid and advice chancellor chaplin (of washington university), dr. william taussig, mr. albert bushnell hart, major george montague wheeler of the engineer corps (retired), messrs. winston churchill, william l. wright, c. donovan, e. l. corthell (who was as obliging as he was helpful), estill mchenry and john a. ubsdell, mrs. susan f. stevens, and especially my mother--to whose help and encouragement this life of her father is due. l. h. rockport, mass., july 30, 1900. contents chap. page i. early training 1 ii. the gunboats 22 iii. the bridge 49 iv. the jetties 75 v. the ship-railway 105 james b. eads i early training james buchanan eads was born in lawrenceburg, indiana, may 23, 1820. both the eads family, who came from maryland, and his mother's people, the buchanans, who were originally irish, were gentlefolk; but james's father never was very prosperous. the son, however, went to school, and he showed early a very special love for machinery, observing with great interest everything of that kind that he came upon. for a while the family lived in cincinnati; from there they removed in 1829 to louisville. in those days, when steamboats were the best of conveyances, the ohio river formed a natural highway between the two towns. on the trip the small boy of nine hung around the engine of the boat, considering it with so much wonder and admiration that finally the engineer, who found him an apt pupil, explained the various parts of the mechanism to him. he really had understood his lesson well, for two years later, in the little workshop that his father had fitted up for him, he made a small engine which ran by steam. besides he made models of sawmills, fire-engines, steamboats, and electrotyping machines. except such chance instruction as that which he found on the boat, he had had no teaching in mechanics, but worked with the ingenuity of many a bright boy; for he is by no means the only one who ever took apart and put together the family clock, or even a lever-watch, with no other tool than a penknife. one of his inventions, which shows not so much his talent as his true boyishness, was a small box-wagon, open only underneath and with a hole in front, which, suddenly produced before his mother and sisters, ran mysteriously across the room. the motive power concealed within this agreeable toy was found to be a live rat. so much is often said of the precocity of youthful geniuses, that it is good to know that young eads was after all a real flesh-and-blood boy, a boy so mischievous that, as he was the only son, his father hired a neighbor boy to come and play with him. certainly he was very clever; but that he had even better qualities than cleverness is shown by his first actions on his arrival at saint louis. his father, deciding to move farther west, had sent ahead the mother, the two daughters just grown, and the lad of thirteen, intending to follow with supplies for opening a shop. again the route was by river. arrived at saint louis, the boat caught fire; and early on a cold morning the family set foot, scarcely clothed, not only in the city of which the young boy was to be one day the leading citizen, but on the very spot, it is said, where he was afterwards to base one pier of his great bridge. on that bleak morning, however, none of them foresaw a bright future, or indeed anything but a distressful present. some ladies of the old french families of the town were very kind to the forlorn women; and once on her feet mrs. eads set about supporting herself and her children. in those days, when sometimes a letter took a week to go a couple of hundred miles, she was not the one to wait for help from her husband; so she immediately rented a house and took boarders. the boy, as resourceful and self-reliant as his mother, now showed his energy as well as his devotion by doing the first thing he found to help her. in going along the street he saw some apples for sale, and, buying as many of them as he could afford, he peddled them to the passers-by. that, of course, was no permanent occupation for a well-bred boy, whose associations and abilities were both high. nevertheless his family could no longer afford to have him at school, and it was necessary for him to do some sort of work. one of his mother's boarders, a mr. barrett williams, offered him a position in his mercantile house. before long this gentleman discovered his young employee's aptitude and overwhelming love for mechanics, and kindly allowed the lad the use of his own library. studying at night the scientific books which he found there, eads acquired his first theoretical knowledge of engineering. in this way, without teachers, he began, in a time when there was no free higher education, to educate himself; and both then and ever after he was a constant reader not only of scientific works, but of all kinds of books. this practical experience in helping to support his family and in getting his own education, while he was still so young a lad, was the school in which he learned self-reliance. it is pleasant to know that the earnestness of life did not take all of his boyishness away from him, for it must have been while he was hard at work that he built a real steamboat, six feet long, and navigated it on chouteau's pond. for five years he was a clerk in the dry-goods house. at the end of that time, probably because he was in poor health, he left that position for one that would take him more into the open air. though his health was not strong, he was by no means an invalid; for at nineteen his muscles were solid and his fund of nervous energy was inexhaustible. so, with the natural taste of a boy for a more exciting life, he took a position as clerk on a mississippi river steamboat. while he had nothing to do with actually running the boat, he certainly kept his eyes open to everything going on both on board and in the river; and began then to make an acquaintance with the stream which was later to be the scene of his greatest labors. if ever nature played a prominent part in the life of a man, the mississippi did in that of eads; for it became the opportunity for three of his chief works, and from it he learned perhaps more of the laws of science than from all the books he ever read. to understand his life, one must have some idea of the huge river, which seems to flow sluggishly or rapidly through his whole career. the mississippi river, with its branches, drains the larger part of the whole united states,--that is, from the alleghanies on the east to the rockies on the west. the main stream, 4200 miles long, and in some places over a mile wide, flows along with tremendous force, ceaselessly eating away its yellow clay banks. the water, full of sediment, is of a thick dull brown color. the clay that it washes off in the bends it deposits on the juts of land, thus forming greater and greater curves; so that often the distance between two points is very much less by land than by water. sometimes there are only a few yards across the neck of a peninsula, around which the channel distance is many miles; and on one side the level of the river is several feet higher than on the other. gradually the water keeps eating its way, until it forces a passage through the neck, and then the torrent rushes through in a cascade, with a roar that can be heard for miles. the banks dissolve like sugar, and the next day steamboats can cross where the day before were fields and may be houses. besides this, the current is constantly washing away and building up not only hidden bars on the river bottom, but even islands above its surface. in the fall and in the spring it rises with such terrifying rapidity that some years it quickly overflows its banks in certain reaches till it is sixty miles wide. houses and trees torn from their places, and wrecks of boats, float or protrude from the bottom of this brown lake. and when the flood subsides, the current often chooses a new and changed channel. amid the ever-varying dangers of such a river the only safety for steamboats is in a race of pilots so learned and so alert as to have the shifting bars and courses always in their minds. in 1839, when steamboats were the only means of rapid transit in the west, when there were more of them in the harbor of the little town of saint louis than to-day when it is a great city, this class of pilots was a large and a very respectable one. much of their knowledge of the river was what young eads learned while he was a clerk among them; and as time went on, he came to realize that although the mississippi seems so capricious in its terrible games that one would think them the result of chance, yet in truth, they "are controlled by laws as immutable as the creator." despite all care that could be used, steamboats were every week sunk and wrecked, and with their valuable engines, boilers, and cargoes were often left where they lay in the ceaseless brown current. after he had been for three years on the river, eads gave up his clerkship to go into the business of raising these boats, their machinery, and their freight. in 1842, at the age of twenty-two, he formed a partnership with case & nelson, boat-builders. his first appearance in the new business was an experience that well shows his quick inventive genius, his persistency, and his courage. while his diving-bell boat was building, a barge loaded with pig-lead sank in the rapids at keokuk, 212 miles from saint louis. a contract having been made with its owners, eads hurried up there to rescue the freight from fifteen feet of water. he had no knowledge himself of diving-armor; but he had engaged a skilled diver from the great lakes, who brought his own apparatus. they set out in a barge and anchored over the wreck; but, once there, they soon discovered that the current was so exceedingly rapid that the diver could do nothing in it. eads at once returned to keokuk, and, buying a forty-gallon whiskey hogshead, took it out to the wreck; and having knocked out one head, he slung pigs of lead round his improvised diving-bell, made a seat inside it, rigged it to his derrick and air-pumps, and then asked the diver to go down in it. the diver having very naturally refused, eads on the spot set himself a precedent which, during his after life, he never broke,--saying that he would not ask an employee to go where he would not trust himself, he got inside his hogshead and was lowered into the river. his assistants were unused to managing diving-bells, and when they came to haul him up the derrick got out of order. by main force they were able to raise the hogshead to the surface, but not above it. as the air-pump continued to work all the while, eads, though wondering what was amiss, sat patiently in his place, till finally he saw a hand appear under the rim of the hogshead. seizing this, he ducked under and got out. although the rough diving-bell worked thus awkwardly at first, it served well enough, and finally all of the lost freight was saved. a young man so fearless, so energetic, and so able to invent mechanical devices at sudden need, was bound to succeed in a business like this. and young eads did succeed. "fortune," he believed, "favors the brave;" and his motto was, "drive on!" the insurance companies were willing to give the wreckers a large interest, sometimes as much as a half, of the rescued cargoes; and there was a law by which a vessel or freight that had been wrecked for five years belonged to whoever could get it up. eads and his partners worked up and down the river for hundreds of miles. the first diving-bell boat was followed by a larger one, provided with machinery for pumping out sand, and for raising whole hulls. while in this hazardous business eads invented many new appliances for use in its various branches. because he was in charge of a boat people began to call the young wrecker captain eads, and that was the only reason for a title which clung to him always. he grew now to know the river as few have ever known it,--his operations extended from galena, illinois, to the balize at the river's very mouth, and even into the tributaries of the mississippi,--and he used to say that there was not a stretch of fifty miles in the twelve hundred between saint louis and new orleans in which he had not stood on the bottom under his diving-bell. with the same devotion to his parents as when he peddled the apples in the street, eads now bought them a farm in iowa, and provided in every way he could for their comfort. but beyond the ordinary desire of making a fortune for them, for himself, and for a new interest that was coming into his life, it does not appear that there were in his mind any unusual ambitions, any of the dreams of genius. as yet he was only a hard-working, earnest young man, extraordinarily clever to be sure, but founding on that cleverness no visions of great renown in the future. perhaps this was because he had enough to dream of in the present, enough hopes of purely domestic happiness to look towards. for he had fallen in love with a miss martha dillon, a young lady of about his own age, daughter of a rich man in saint louis. the father disapproved of the match, not only because he thought the suitor too young, too poor, too unknown, but because he wished to keep his daughter with him, and for other less reasonable causes. the letters between the engaged couple show eads at twenty-five as a keen, experienced, and yet an unsophisticated young man; generous, proud, brave, and courteous; a lover of nature, of poetry, of people, and of good books; an inveterate early riser; reverend in religion, and yet, while nominally a catholic, really a free-thinker; sentimental in his feelings almost as if he had lived a century sooner, and at the same time controlling his true and deep emotions, and showing his strong love only to those he loved. at last eads and miss dillon were married, he being over twenty-five at the time, she nearly twenty-four. eads then sold out his wrecking business and left the river. he probably made this change because he hoped thereby not only to be more with his wife, but also to support her in the comfort she had been used to, and to show her father that he could do so. the new enterprise, into which at least one of his old partners entered with him, and into which he put all his money, was the manufacture of glass; and they built the first glass factory west of the ohio river. he had to go to pittsburg--then a long journey by boat, stage, and rail--to get trained workmen and to learn the process himself. almost all of the necessary ingredients and apparatus had to be sent for to pittsburg, to cleveland, or to new york; and they were often slow in arriving and thereby made matters drag considerably. still there was always something to do, and eads, the only one of the partners who understood the trade, was forced to work extraordinarily hard. with his usual persistence he stuck to it pluckily, often staying up late into the night and rising the next day before dawn to oversee operations. he was also indispensable for his faculty of managing men; and a letter to his wife written on his twenty-seventh birthday (1847) shows how strong the man already was in that power of getting the most from a workman, which was afterwards to count for so much in his best work. an employer, he says, must "have constant control of his temper, and be able to speak pleasantly to one man the next moment after having spoken in the harshest manner to another, and even to give the same man a pleasant reply a few minutes after having corrected him. self must be left out of the matter entirely, and a man or boy spoken to only as concerns his conduct; and the authority which the controller has over the controlled, used only when absolutely necessary, and then with the utmost promptness." however, despite all his firmness and perseverance, the difficulties of the glassworks became greater and greater; and at last, after having been run two years, they were shut down. eads was left with debts of $25,000. the very unusual action of his creditors in this crisis shows what confidence they had in his integrity and in his ability; for they advanced him $1500 with which to go back into the wrecking business, and he at once rejoined his former partners. he now worked harder, if possible, than ever; for he felt, as he wrote to his wife, that "with a man in debt it cannot be said that his time is his own." powerful as he was physically, his health was not good, but even in sickness he scarcely ceased to toil during the first year or two; and at the end of ten years, not only had all his debts been long since paid, but his firm was worth half a million dollars. work, however, was to him only a means to an end. the real dignity of character he knew to lie in culture. to a small boy he sends, in one of his letters, the message that he should "be a good boy and study hard, as that is the only way to be respected when he is grown." even in his amusements his mind sought occupation: we find him at night on the diving-bell boat playing chess, and in later years he had become unusually adept at that game. the wrecking business was full of life and action. here and there, up and down the river, and into its branches, wherever a boat was wrecked or burned or run aground, the submarine hurried off to reach the spot before other wreckers. under their bell the divers got at the engines, boilers, and freight, while the pumps, worked from above, cleared away the sand; and sometimes by means of great chains and derricks the very hull itself would be lifted and towed ashore. but on that huge river, which at times would suddenly rise three feet in a single night, and whose strong current played such giant pranks as turning over a wreck in the chains that were raising it, there was need of eternal vigilance and agility. however, eads was more on his own ground on the river than on the shore, and his business so increased that he was soon running four diving-bell boats. in 1849 twenty-nine boats were burned at the levee in saint louis in one big fire, and most of their remains were removed by him. winter as well as summer the work went on; and the task of cutting out a vessel wrecked in an ice-gorge, or of raising one from beneath the ice, must have been as trying as walking the river bottom in search of a wreck. eads himself, years later, thus describes one of his many experiences: "five miles below cairo, i searched the river bottom for the wreck of the neptune, for more than sixty days, and in a distance of three miles. my boat was held by a long anchor line, and was swung from side to side of the channel, over a distance of 500 feet, by side anchor lines, while i walked on the river bottom under the bell across the channel. the boat was then dropped twenty feet farther down stream, and i then walked back again as she was hauled towards the other shore. in this way i walked on the bottom four hours at least, every day (sundays excepted) during that time." for a day's work the city of saint louis gave him $80, out of which he paid his own workmen. he was so prosperous that, as he wrote to his wife, there was no need for him to join the rush to california to get gold; and his success caused much envy among his rivals. he began to clear the channel of the mississippi from some of its obstructions and to improve the harbor of saint louis. in 1856 he knew his work so well that he went to washington and proposed to congress to remove all the snags and wrecks from the western rivers,--the mississippi, the missouri, the arkansas, and the ohio,--and to keep their channels open for a term of years. a bill to that purpose passed the house, but in the senate it was defeated by jefferson davis and others. the next year, on account of poor health, eads retired from business, but he carried with him a fortune. he had not succeeded in his purpose at washington, but his name was known there and remembered. meanwhile his wife had died, and two years later he had married the widow of a first cousin. with his second wife he made his first trip to europe,--the first of very many he was destined to make. in 1857, being thirty-seven years old, he retired, as i have said, from business. his youthful hopes, the ordinary ambitions of men, were realized. he had been a poor boy: at only thirty-seven he was rich,--very rich for the times and for the place. from his proposals to the government, we may imagine that he now had broader dreams of usefulness. but his first proposition toward river improvement had been checked. he had bought a large house and grounds. he made for himself a rose-arbor, and for four years he was as much unoccupied as his lively mind permitted. he was at any rate what is called a man of leisure. then, four years being passed, he received from washington, from his friend attorney-general bates, a letter written three days after the surrender of fort sumter, which said: "be not surprised if you are called here suddenly by telegram. if called, come instantly. in a certain contingency it will be necessary to have the aid of the most thorough knowledge of our western rivers, and the use of steam on them, and in that event i advised that you should be consulted." the government was thinking of placing gunboats to occupy and to defend the western waters. ii the gunboats at the beginning of the civil war the state of missouri and the city of saint louis were in a very confused condition. a border slave state, missouri contained a great many persons of southern birth and southern sympathies; and besides a good many strong northern men, saint louis had also a considerable german population, all stanch unionists. but excepting the germans and one or two dauntless clear-seeing men, who read the future, few persons in either party wished to fight if fighting could possibly be avoided. the governor, a southern man, while hesitating at actual secession, wished and tried to control the power of the state so that at need it might help the south; and while professing loyalty, he did all he could to prove his disloyalty to the union. the legislature, however, would not pass a bill to arm the state, thereby, says an historian, causing the south to sustain "a defeat more disastrous to its independence than any which thereafter befell its arms, down to the fall of vicksburg." in response to lincoln's call for troops, the governor refused to send any from missouri. an extraordinary state convention, called in this crisis, voted against secession. seeing that the governor, notwithstanding this, was covertly aiming at throwing himself and the state, so far as he could, in with the confederacy, young frank blair and general nathaniel lyon, carrying things with a high hand, seized and dispersed the state militia encamped in saint louis, got control of almost all the federal arms in the state, and with outside aid and help from the regular army, chased the governor from the capital, and held him at bay long enough for the convention to depose him and the general assembly, and to establish a state government loyal to the union. during all these lively events saint louis was in confusion. there were many minds in the town--secessionists, conditional and unconditional unionists, submissionists: some who wanted war, some who wanted only to preserve peace so that they might keep their homes and fortunes safe, even on condition of abandoning slavery. james b. eads did not own a slave, nor did he approve of slavery, but among his friends and associates there were many who did own them, and many secessionists. it is curious to observe how little a difference of opinion on these points, that had become so vital, was able to put personal enmity among men who were true friends. of course, among mere acquaintances there were many instances of bitterness and taunting. through it all, eads, with his rare tact and his exquisite manners, steered without collision, offending none of those who were not on his side. and yet we are presently to see what a deep interest his side had for him, and how much he was able and willing to do for it. between the election and the inauguration of lincoln, eads and three other prominent citizens of saint louis wrote a letter to him, expressing their fears that an attempt at secession would be made, and urging the policy of having a secretary of state from one of the slave states. and they recommended, for "purity of character, stern integrity, exalted patriotism, and enlightened statesmanship," edward bates, born in virginia, married into a south carolina family, and long resident in missouri. a first draught of this letter is in eads's handwriting. when the new cabinet was formed, bates, a personal friend of lincoln's as well as of eads's, was given a position in it, that of attorney-general. it was he who, three days after sumter was fired on, wrote the letter, already quoted, telling eads to expect a telegram calling him to washington for consultation on the best method of defending and occupying the western rivers. eads himself was by this time no believer in a defensive policy for the government. after sumter he had already written to bates advocating determined and vigorous measures. so, when the telegram soon followed the letter, he was glad to hasten to washington in order to be of use. there he was introduced to the secretary and to the assistant secretary of the navy. the importance of controlling the mississippi river was well seen by the great strategist, lincoln, who called it "the backbone of the rebellion"--"the key to the whole situation." if it could be held by the government, the confederacy could neither move its troops up and down it, nor--thus cut in half--could it bring over from texas and arkansas the many men and the quantities of food greatly needed by its armies east of the river. realizing this, the confederacy was already beginning to fortify the mississippi and the ohio with its branches. to dislodge the rebels bates proposed a fleet of gunboats. the secretary of war, however, thinking this idea of gunboats either useless or impracticable, showed at first no interest in the plan. but at the request of the secretary of the navy, who realized the importance of the subject, eads prepared a statement of his views, embodying bates's project. in it he also suggested, besides the best kind of boats for the service, batteries, to be erected at several points. commodore paulding, on reading this statement, at once reported in favor of it. suddenly, the secretary of war, when he saw that the scheme was coming to something, claimed jurisdiction over the whole matter, but finally he agreed to order the same officer already appointed for the purpose by the navy to go west with eads and purchase vessels to be armed. all necessary approvals having been made, the two went to cairo, where they examined the benton, one of the former snag-boat fleet. afterwards eads proposed the strong and swift missouri river steamboats. but neither of these suited his colleague, who at last went to cincinnati, and buying three boats there, armed them himself: and very useful boats they were. the gunboat scheme had been first proposed in april; it was now june, and excepting these three wooden boats, nothing seemed to have come of it. so in july the quartermaster-general advertised for bids for ironclad gunboats. in 1861 ironclads were a rather new thing. france and england had a few of them, but at the time the merrimac was begun no ironclad had been finished in america. on august 5, when the bids were opened, that of eads was found not only to be the lowest, but to promise the quickest work. on august 7 the contract was signed for seven gunboats to be delivered at cairo on october 10,--sixty-four days later. this contract, it has been said, would under ordinary circumstances have been thought by most men impossible to fulfill. and the circumstances then were anything but ordinary: it was a time of great financial distress; in the border slave states the pursuits of peace were interrupted; all was in turmoil and confusion; rolling-mills, machine-shops, foundries, forges, and sawmills were all idle, and many of the mechanics had gone to the war. the timber for the boats was still growing in the forests; the iron was not yet manufactured. and so short was the time that two or three factories alone, no matter how well equipped they might be, were not to be depended upon. yet eads had undertaken to start up the factories, to gather the materials, and to build his boats in two months. never were the self-reliance and the energy of the man better exhibited; but his keen business sense might have hesitated, had not his patriotism shown him that the union needed the boats quickly. most of the machine-shops and foundries of saint louis were at once set to work night and day; and for hours at a time the telegraph wires to pittsburg and to cincinnati were in use. twenty-one steam-engines and thirty-five boilers were needed. prepared timber was brought from eight different states, and the first iron plating used in the war was rolled not only in saint louis and cincinnati, but in small towns in ohio and kentucky. within two weeks 4000 men were at work in places miles apart,--working by night and seven days a week. to the workmen on the hulls who should stick to the task till it was done eads promised a "handsome bonus;" and in this way gratuitously paid out thousands of dollars. the building of this little fleet has been called "a triumph of sagacity, pluck, and executive ability unsurpassed by any exploit in the military or civil history of the times." to be sure, the seven boats were not finished at the time called for. that they were all launched within a hundred days of the signing of the contract is amazing enough, but if they had been built after designs of eads's own, so that he would not have been delayed by sudden changes necessitated when he found weaknesses in the plans furnished him, or when the designer changed the specifications, and if the government, harassed and driven as it then was, had been able to pay him according to its part of the contract, there is little doubt that he would have had the vessels finished in time according to his agreement. even as it was, it was legally decided later that he was not at fault. when he entered into the contract he was a rich man; and as he was not to receive his first payment from the government for twenty days, probably only a rich man could have had the credit necessary to put so much machinery into motion. as it proved subsequently, the government was so lax in its payment, and demanded work so much more expensive than the specifications called for, that before the work was finished eads was in a hard way financially. he had been much worried and distracted in obtaining funds: after exhausting his own fortune he had sought the aid of patriotic friends, and it was principally in order to pay them back that he made his appeal to the government. by the terms of his contract he might have delayed the work until his payments were received, and might thus have saved himself great distress and worry, but, as i have said, he realized how much the union needed the boats. he himself said that it was "of the utmost importance that these boats should be made as effective as possible, without reference to how i was to be affected by delays, ... and that their completion should be pushed with the utmost energy, whether the government failed in its part of the bargain or not." their rapid completion then was a proof not only of eads's masterful energy, but of his self-sacrificing patriotism as well. ultimately he was paid most of the money for the gunboats, and as a result of his patriotism won back the fortune he had risked; but at the time of course it hampered him intolerably to be without funds. he had, besides, other difficulties to contend with. at least one of his sub-contractors or head-workmen was a disappointed bidder for the gunboat contract, and was on a salary which ran till the boats were finished; and while eads would not mention such a suspicion in public, he suggested in a private letter that this had been an additional cause of delay. after all, the seven boats had been launched and were ready to be put into commission by flag-officer foote, before he had more than one third of the necessary crews ready for them. these seven, the saint louis (afterwards de kalb), the cairo, carondelet, cincinnati, louisville, mound city, and pittsburg, were all alike. the saint louis, as eads wrote to lincoln, when he sent him a photograph of her, "was the first ironclad built in america.... she was the first armored vessel against which the _fire of a hostile battery_ was directed on this continent; and, so far as i can ascertain, she was the first ironclad that ever _engaged a naval force_ in the world." in reading the descriptions of them, and in reading in the naval histories of their undeniable faults, it must be remembered that eads "had no part in the modeling of these boats, and is therefore relieved of all responsibility as to their imperfections." they were 175 feet long, 51-1/2 feet beam. their flat sides sloped upward and inward at an angle of about 35°, and the front and rear casemates corresponded with the sides, the stern-wheel being entirely covered by the rear casemate. it was a large paddle-wheel, placed forward of the stern so as to be protected. the whole thing was like a tremendous uncovered box, with its sides sloping up and in, and containing the battery, the machinery, and the paddle-wheel, while the smoke-stacks and the conical pilot-house stuck up out of the top. captain mahan says that they looked like gigantic turtles. underneath the water, they were simply like flat-bottomed scows. as they were intended always to fight bows on, they were built with that in view. in front they were accordingly armored two and a half inches over two feet of solid oak. the only other armor they carried was abreast of the boiler and engines. the stern, therefore, and the greater part of the sides were decidedly vulnerable. their armament consisted of three guns forward, four on each broadside, and two at the stern. when eads was given a chance to alter a boat from his own designs, he made it a much better one than these. it was a boat ordered by general fremont in september, 1861, in excess of the government appropriation for the river fleet. this was the same snag-boat which three months before had been suggested for alteration by eads, and refused by the army's agent. in this case, as in so many afterwards when eads knew himself to be right, he stuck persistently to his own opinion; and out of the heavy old boat, despised and objected to by so many persons, he fashioned the "old war-horse," the benton, which, slow as she was, spears, the naval historian, calls the most powerful warship afloat at that date. as a snag-boat, formerly used by eads, she had "had two hulls so joined and strengthened that she could get the largest kind of a cottonwood tree between them, hoist it out of the mud, and drag it clear of the channel." these hulls were now joined together; and while the boat was armored on the same general plan as the seven contract gunboats, she was so much more completely iron clad as to avoid the danger that they were exposed to of having their boilers burst and great damage and death caused thereby. her tonnage was twice that of the others; her size about 200 by 75 feet. she was entirely iron clad. in her gun-deck casemate the twenty inches of timber under the plating had "its grain running up from the water instead of horizontally, by which means [wrote eads] a ball will strike, as it were, _with the_ grain, and then be more readily deflected. on the same principle that a minie ball will penetrate five inches of oak, crossing the grain, while it will not enter one inch if fired at the end of the timber." this detail illustrates the care and interest with which eads built his boats. the eight of them, captain mahan says, "formed the backbone of the river fleet throughout the war," and "may be fairly called the ships of the line of battle on the western waters." he speaks also of their "very important services." this is milder praise than has been given them. commander stembel said that he had heard them called equal to 5000 men each; boynton, the naval historian, goes so far as to say that the permanent occupation of the south was rendered possible by the ironclad navy of the western waters. though the naval battles in the atlantic were perhaps more brilliant, he says, none, unless that between the merrimac and the monitor, had more important results. eads has been called as potent as a great general in clearing the upper mississippi. he did not, to be sure, build the entire gunboat fleet, but he did build, as captain mahan says, the backbone of it; and that the praises for that fleet, which i have quoted, are not altogether extravagant, is further shown by the comments of mr. john fiske. he says, "while it was seldom that they ["these formidable gunboats"] could capture fortified places without the aid of a land force, at the same time this combination of strength with speed made them an auxiliary without which the greater operations of the war could hardly have been undertaken." these eight boats figured in many a fight on the great river and its branches. they "were ever where danger was." a month and more before the merrimac and the monitor were finished, the important capture of fort henry "was a victory exclusively for the gunboats." it was the carondelet that ran the gauntlet past island number 10, a feat as full of romance and daring as any that the civil war tells us of. and these things were done with vessels still unpaid for and the personal property of their builder. their usefulness was a great satisfaction to eads, and he rejoiced, as he wrote to foote, with "the prideful pleasure of the poor armorer who forged the sword that in gallant hands struck down the foe." when the benton left her dock for cairo, foote requested eads to see her there in safety. eads, who was so deeply interested in his boats that on another occasion he was narrowly prevented from going into action with one of them, gladly agreed. before long the benton grounded. as eads was merely a guest, and as there were naval officers aboard, he did not feel called upon to interfere with any suggestions. but after the officers and crew had labored all night trying to float her, then with his aptitude for emergencies he used his scientific knowledge to suggest another scheme. the captain at once gave him leave to command the entire crew, and by means of hawsers tied to trees ashore and then strongly tightened, the vessel was floated. in this case the old river man knew more than the naval officers. in april, 1862, the navy department called eads to washington to make designs for more ironclads,--or rather boats made wholly of iron. these were to be of very light draught and turreted. he submitted plans for boats drawing five feet. the department insisted on lighter draught, but still on heavy plating. so he revised his designs once, and then once more. finally the draught was reduced to only three and a half feet. eads has himself described his going back to his room in the hotel, and in a few hours making over his designs. when these boats were finished they were found to draw even less than had been contracted for, so that extra armor was ordered for them, and three of them exceeded the contract speed. at first two boats were ordered, later four others. for the turrets eads submitted designs of his own, but as it was then only a month after the monitor's fight, ericsson's turrets were insisted on for the first two boats, although modifications were allowed. as the other four had two turrets each, eads was allowed on two of them to try one turret of his own, with the guns worked by steam, on condition of replacing them at his own cost with ericsson's in case of failure. this was the first manipulation of heavy artillery by steam. the guns were fired every forty-five seconds, or seven times as fast as in ericsson's turrets. in addition to the fourteen gunboats, eads also converted seven transports into musket-proof "tinclads," and built four mortarboats. "such men," says boynton, "deserve a place in history by the side of those who fought our battles." the career of some of the gunboats subsequent to the war is interesting. in 1880 the chickasaw and the winnebago, which were two of the six iron boats, and both of which took part in the naval campaign at mobile, had come into the hands of peru; and old as they were, they were used very effectively against some of the larger and more modern boats of the chileans. during those trying war times all of eads's tremendous energy had by no means been exhausted by the gunboats. in more ways than one he had been showing himself a good citizen and a kind-hearted man. much as his fortune had been drained by the boats, he still found money to give to the sufferers in the war. out of a belated partial payment on the benton he at once sent money to foote for use in relief work, and with characteristic persistence he sent several letters and telegrams to make sure of the money's arriving. a month or so later he sent a check from washington to saint louis to the sanitary commission, asking that its receipt might not be made public. in the letter sent with this he speaks of the war as "an accursed contest between brothers," but adds that the "cause is most worthy of the sacrifice." from the niece of the secretary of the navy we also find a letter of acknowledgment of money to be used in relief. but it was not only to the soldiers that he showed his tenderness: to foote, the gallant "christian commander" of his fleet, he sent various friendly gifts when that brave man lay dying,--grapes from his own vines, a portrait he had had painted of his friend. and even to those on the other side he showed an unusual consideration. towards the end of the war there seemed to be no means of feeding the many refugees in saint louis but by levying a tax upon southern sympathizers. eads, who foresaw what bitterness such a course would produce, offered, in the name of a bank in which he was a director, $1000 to start a subscription to be used instead, and the invidious assessment was never levied again. to his personal friends he was always generous and thoughtful, sending them many presents, defending them from misrepresentation, and helping them in their chosen careers. by means of his influence and tact he procured the release of an indiscreet person who had talked himself into mcdowell's college prison as a suspected enemy to the government. giving to others seemed a trait in eads's character which afforded him an intense pleasure; and though a man of great dignity, he used with his intimate friends a charming playfulness and affection. he could be extremely mild in correcting faults; and while he was inclined to bear with others, he could be stern. his manners were rather those one expects in a european gentleman of leisure and high breeding, than in a former steamboat clerk and a man who had worked hard most of his life. his hospitality was princely. in his large house in the suburbs of saint louis he received not only the young friends of his five daughters and his own friends, but also officers of the river fleet and of the army, officers sent west on inspection duty, and foreign officers following the course of the war and of the improvements in gunboat building. his mind was as active as his heart was generous, and the course of his life mirrored that activity. now he was at home, now in washington, now at cairo visiting the gunboats to see how they worked under fire. in washington he was busy with plans and projects. an intimate associate said of him in his later life that he was always inventing some new gun or gun-carriage; and we may be sure that if he ever was doing so, he was in those war times. besides inventing his own, he was also busy examining ericsson's inventions, in making improvements on them, in applying steam in novel ways to the working of artillery and to the rotating and raising of turrets; in sending models of his inventions here and there, at home and abroad, to germany, where the prussian minister, a friend with whom he often dined, "wished they could get some of his boats on the rhine;" having his turrets explained at a russian dinner in new york or washington; and receiving from the navy department an appointment as special agent to visit the navy yards in europe. at home he was just as busy. with his house so full of company, he nevertheless found time somewhere for solid reading apart from his work--the attorney-general sent him cicero's letters, and he lent the attorney-general king alfred's works. there is a curious interest in knowing what two men so engrossed, and upon such necessary duties, were reading at such a time. while he was building the second batch of gunboats, he wrote to bates in a personal letter that he believed he had the most complete and convenient works in the country for iron boat-building; that there and in other places he had as many as seventy blacksmith fires at work for him, and that his men were all sheltered from sun and rain. after those boats were finished, he went on planning others, and we have a letter from farragut in which the admiral asks if some of them are not for his use at mobile. eads, by this period in his strenuous life, knew a great many men, all of whom he treated with a uniform dignity and courtesy, even when they were unfriendly, and a few of whom he was on the most intimate terms with. among all of them he was admired; perhaps already he was as prominent a citizen as there was in saint louis, and as it was still in the good old times when the mayoralty there was a high honor to the best men, it was suggested to him that he hold the office. nor was this the first honor offered to be thrust upon him; early in the war bates had wanted him appointed commissary of subsistence at saint louis, and though it was unusual to appoint a civilian to that position, lincoln had been willing to do it to oblige bates,--but eads had not wished it. more than a year later he was given a commission of lieutenant-colonel by the governor, but he was never sworn in. like all men in those troublous times, he took a peculiar interest in politics; and on being asked privately in a joint letter from the editors of three saint louis papers (two of them german) exactly what his politics were, he replied that he was as strongly in favor of emancipation as he was opposed to slavery, and that he believed in no "kid-glove policy;" but he remarked incidentally that if he were to be offered the mayoralty he should refuse it. his work was for the whole country. while he was still too much engrossed with his turrets and his plans for new boats, he fell very ill. indeed there can be no question that he sacrificed his health to build the gunboats. never very robust, he was now so ill that eight doctors gave him up. his indomitable spirit pulled him through, but he was ordered away from his workshop to europe, he and his family. his overburden of labor had crushed him,--before this his eyes had been tired out. bates charged him to take care of himself; "the country can't spare you," he said "and i can't spare you." unless bates was a prophet, we may well think the first of these statements unduly strong. to be sure, when in a crucial moment the gunboats were needed, and needed quickly, eads's unparalleled haste in building them certainly did an inestimable service to the country. but so far in his career,--and he was over forty,--while he had shown a marked inventive talent, he had not as yet made clear his signal genius for engineering. and although he had exhibited wonderful executive ability and such true patriotism as made him a valued citizen, he had still to render himself indispensable to the development of the nation. iii the bridge eads was bred to the mississippi. he had mastered its secrets by hard experience; he had worked in successful opposition to its great wayward forces. but he was not to be content till he had tamed it, till he had saddled it, and, wild as it will always be, had made it nevertheless subservient to him. to his quietly stubborn spirit there was a delightful invigoration in using his brain to conquer the brute force of this capricious monster. for the river is the grandest power between our two oceans. niagara is more sublime; but niagara is constant, and therefore its immense strength has been easily set to a task. the mississippi is so irregular that one tends unconsciously to personify it by calling it tricky. to find the causes of its sudden changes one must go back hundreds of miles to the mountains east and west. seeming to delight in destruction, it tears down or eats away the checks that are put upon it. only a mind never discouraged, a mind capable of discovering and comprehending the laws that after all underlie the apparently blind and brutal jests of this untiring giant, can, by the use of those very laws, tame it. and such a mind eads had. "that everlasting brain of yours will wear out three bodies," said one friend. though indeed his body was strong, with iron muscles and a fierce nervous energy, yet it was not a big body, and his health was weak. again and again he worked beyond his strength, and only on the absolute order of his doctors would he go away from his work and rest. but he could not entirely rest. his brain would work. in his health tours to europe he was always open to new ideas, always studying new methods to carry back to his task. "your recreation," some one wrote him, "is monitor discussions with captain ericsson." another recreation was chess. had he not elected to be the leading engineer of his day, he might have been the chess champion. this game, never one for the slothful and unthinking, he made even more exacting than usual. he would play several games at the same time; or, without seeing the board which his opponent used, he would carry the game in his head. though it was his nature not to like to be beaten, yet he was as kindly as he was set in his purpose; and it was also his nature to take defeat gracefully: defeat seldom came. "never let even a pawn be taken," he gave me, a small boy, as a rule for the game. even in little things he liked thoroughness,--a capacity for painstaking which is, i think, characteristic of the "thoroughbred." his appearance showed his traits. not tall, and rather slight, he was always dignified. his wide and thin-lipped mouth shut so emphatically that it made plain his intention to do, in spite of all, what he believed could and should be done. some one said that it was a hundred horse-power mouth. it admitted no trifling. when it spoke seriously, it spoke finally. but his eyes, with their merry twinkle, showed that he could also speak humorously. he was indeed a famous story-teller, fond of all sorts of riddles and jests, and remembering all of them he heard. he used often to point his arguments with an anecdote, always a fresh one. believing with lamb that a man should enjoy his own stories, he would laugh at his in a most infectious way, till he was red in the face. indeed, he was the larger half of his stories. his face was thoughtful and stern. though he seldom found fault, he never did more than once; but he was by no means violent. his mildness was more forcible than anger. he wore a full beard, but no mustache, thus exhibiting his long, determined lip. at forty he was already bald, and after he was sixty he always wore indoors a black skull-cap. scrupulously cleanly, in his dress he was point-device. without the least ostentation, his clothes were invariably faultless. from young manhood he had thought that it is due to one's self and to one's friends to look one's best; and he had also realized the practical value of a good appearance. often impressing this on his wife and daughters, he would have them at all times well dressed. really he seems to have been a point too precise. he was just the opposite to those geniuses whose great brain shows itself by a sloppy exterior. eads was never sloppy, even at home. his great brain showed itself in its restless activity, in its grasp of laws and of details, in its fight to help and to better the country and the world. for it was not only the lusty pleasure of battling with nature that made him long for another struggle with the mississippi: he saw the value there was in it to commerce and to civilization. before the war he had long contended with stubborn currents, and with ice, and by his energy and his talent for inventing new devices he had become the most successful wrecker on the river. abandoning the peaceful but lively triumphs of snatching hulls and cargoes from the maw of the stream, he had offered the government to cleanse its course and thereby to increase its safety and usefulness. in war times, owing to his knowledge of the waterways and of science, he had been able to build, with a speed fairly romantic, a gunboat fleet to patrol the mississippi. already now greater schemes for improving this central highway of our country were in his mind, but as yet the fullness of the time was not come. still, he was no longer merely the careful son and father striving to protect his beloved ones and with no dreams of broader duties; he was no longer contented with rose-arbors for an occupation. the grim war had roused him; his years of rest were over; he was the well-known boat-builder,--engineer, perhaps some persons already called him,--and his mind was teeming with schemes of helpfulness. yet his ambition was not for fame, but to do in the perfect way the work that only he could do. in 1867 a grand convention for the improvement of the mississippi and its tributaries met in saint louis. even then people were beginning to see vaguely that the mississippi valley is destined to be the ruling section of the country. eads in his speech showed that he foresaw it plainly. he urged the convention to persuade the government to take steps to improve the river; showing that for less money than was paid by the river boats in three years for insurance against obstructions, those obstructions could be removed. there was not one of them, he said, that engineering skill and cunning could not master. two years later he urged upon the commercial convention at new orleans by letter the importance of introducing iron boats on the mississippi; saying that it was the fault of the tariff on iron that the saving they would effect was not taken note of. thirty years later this scheme has again been brought up. perhaps eads was before his time in advocating it. but it shows how he had the interests of commerce at heart. his convention speech is a good sample of his style. he was so painstaking that even in private letters he would insert words and change sentences and sometimes rewrite. there are first draughts with excisions of whole half pages, for he sought conciseness. he sought also a certain rhythm or grace or forcefulness, it is hard to tell exactly what, since in his letters it often resulted in a rather self-conscious formality or a stiff playfulness, and in his speeches in a prettiness or a floweriness of style. he sought too carefully. probably in delivery the speeches sounded better than we should imagine. in reading them, they seem florid. that was, however, the favorite style of the time. and while, by overdoing it, he often seems to lose force, he is almost always clear and always entirely logical. in contrast to his speeches his professional reports are models: simple and complete, written not faultlessly perhaps, but with a limpidity which makes one interested even in dry technical details. one of his most marked talents, often noted, was the ability to explain an abstruse subject so that it would be quite clear to anybody. and this he did nearly as well in writing as by word of mouth. he thus made clear his remarkable plans for the bridge; for in 1867 the long talked of bridge at saint louis was at last begun. in 1833, when eads had arrived at the town, it had about 10,000 inhabitants. though already seventy years old, it had not advanced very far beyond its original state of a french trading-post. with the introduction of steam and the waking up of the country, the growth of saint louis was rapid. in 1867 it had about 100,000 people. despite a commanding situation, it could be seen that a struggle would have to be made for it to maintain the leadership among the river towns. as early as 1839 there had been a project for a highway bridge; and we are told that "the city fathers stood aghast" at an estimated cost of $736,600. in the following years there were several more abortive schemes for bridging, one of which, it is even said, would have been carried out, had not its projector died. perhaps it is as well that he never lived to try it, for until eads no one seems to have realized how enormous the undertaking was. probably few others, realizing it, would have dared to go on. in the winter of 1865-66 a bill was brought up in congress to authorize the bridging of the mississippi at saint louis. dependence on ferries had become intolerable to the people, and often when the river was frozen even the ferries were blocked. a bridge was felt to be absolutely indispensable. however, the antagonism of rival commercial routes was so powerful that the bill was allowed to pass only after it had been so amended that it was supposed to require an impracticability. it declared that the central span of the contemplated bridge must be no less than 500 feet long, nor its elevation above the city directrix less than fifty feet. it was said at the time "that the genius did not exist in the country capable of erecting such a structure." still, a span of over 500 feet had been built in holland; and the fact that there was not a total doubt as to the practicability of doing as well in the mississippi valley is shown by the inauguration of two rival bridge companies about a year after the passage of the bill. one of these, which was located in illinois, after calling a convention of engineers, who considered the question for ten days, without an examination of eads's plans, adopted a plan for a truss bridge. the other, the saint louis company, from the first had eads as its chief engineer. for another year there was a sharp contest carried on between these two companies, confined, however, principally to the courts and the newspapers, until finally the illinois company sold out to the saint louis company. had the truss bridge been built, there is no knowing how long it might have stood, for the engineer who designed it did not arrange to base the foundations on the bed-rock of the river. afterwards it was shown how necessary it was to do this; but at the time many people thought it quite superfluous, and on that, as well as on many other points, eads met with opposition. in every case it turned out that he had been right. no one else knew so well as he the immense power and the waywardness of the mississippi. good engineers supposed that the greatest imaginable scour at the river bottom in extreme high water would not remove over twenty-two feet of sand, and it was believed that there were perhaps one hundred feet of it along the east shore. but eads had been sixty-five feet below the river's surface at cairo, and there he had found the river bottom to be a moving mass at least three feet deep; and in cutting through the frozen river to liberate his diving-bell boats, he had found that the floating ice which goes underneath solid ice, as well as the rising or "backing-up" of the water above ice-gorges, forces the undercurrents lower than even a flood does; and he had found on cutting a wreck out of the ice that she had been held up by the gorged ice underneath her, which must therefore have been packed to the bottom. knowing all this and much more about what goes on under the turbid surface of the river, he did not doubt that even beneath 100 feet of sand the bed-rock might at times be laid bare, and he was absolutely convinced that his bridge must be founded on it. moreover, he saw that on account of the exceptional force of the current in its rather narrow bed at saint louis, the masonry piers of his bridge must be made unusually big and strong to withstand it. since they must be so big and sunk so very deep, it was evident that they would be so costly that the fewer there need be of them the better. the central span was required to be 500 feet; with three spans about that length the river could be crossed, and three spans would require only four piers. steel trusses 500 feet long would have to be made extremely heavy; but eads showed that a steel arch the same length, while quite as strong, would be lighter and consequently much cheaper. when his opponents objected that there was no engineering precedent for such spans, while he pointed out their mistake, at the same time he expressed his conviction that engineering precedents had nothing to do with the question of length of span; that it was altogether a money question. therefore, since the cheapest method was to be carefully sought, he determined upon arches,--two abutment piers, two river piers, and three arches of respectively 502, 520, and 502 feet long. there were many opponents to this plan; some of them people who would have opposed any bridge, as, for example, the ferry and the transfer companies. to his own company he explained away every objection that came up, as he was bound to do, in view of their confidence in him. he made the clearest of explanations of the theories involved; and even such absurd predictions as that his superstructure would crush his huge stone piers, he took the trouble to blast sarcastically. to an engineering journal he wrote three letters correcting mistakes in its accounts of his work. but he seems to have wasted little of his energy in arguing with the newspaper public. it was a question only of time till everybody should be convinced. the most extraordinary care and pains were expended in every direction. the stone, granite, and steel were both hunted up and tested by experts, and by machines specially devised in the bridge works, though not by eads himself. for his assistants he chose men who were of real ability and well trained, and to them he invariably gave great credit for their part in the work. the plans, after being figured out in detail by them, were gone over by the mathematician chauvenet, then chancellor of washington university, who found not one single error in them. most of the big work, such as the masonry and steel, was given out on contract; and, as was natural, delays by the contractors often greatly delayed the progress of the bridge. the whole work occupied seven years. while eads had promised the company to prove by careful experiment, so far as was possible, everything connected with the bridge that had not already been fully demonstrated in practice, he did not pretend that in his main outlines he was without some examples. it was in his development of known ideas and his expedients for simplification that his genius perhaps most strikingly showed itself. again and again he contrived some device so simple that, like a great many strokes of genius, it seemed that anybody should have thought of it. the massive piers were sunk to the bed-rock by means of metal caissons. these were adapted in design from some he had seen in use in france, and had examined during a trip his doctors ordered him to make in 1868. eads himself compared them to inverted pans. they were open at the bottom, but perfectly air-tight everywhere else. they had several important features which were entirely original. such caissons, sunk to the bottom, have the masonry of the pier built on top of them even while they are sinking; and workmen inside them keep removing the sand from underneath, and throwing it under the mouths of pipes which suck it up to the surface of the river. evidently the caissons must be filled with compressed air to equalize the external pressure, which is constantly increasing as ever deeper water is reached; they must also have an opening connecting with the surface; and to admit of passing from the ordinary atmosphere to the denser one, there must be an air-lock. before this bridge was built, the air-lock had always been placed at the top of the entrance shaft, where, as the caisson sank and the shaft was lengthened, it had to be constantly moved up. eads placed it in the air-chamber of the caisson itself, where it never had to be moved; and thus, as the shaft was not filled with compressed air, less was needed, and there was less danger of leaks. another of his useful innovations was to build his shaft of wood, and another was to put a spiral stairway into it. indeed, in the last pier he put an elevator into the shaft. moreover, he was the first person to run his pipes for discharging the sand, not through the shaft, but through the masonry itself; and he invented a very simple and effectual new sand-pump, which was worked by natural forces without machinery. all these improvements and various others seem to have been thought of so easily, that we are inclined to wonder why clumsier methods had ever been in use. he described them all in his reports and his letters about the bridge in a style which is not only clear but actually fascinating even to a person who has scant scientific knowledge or taste. one of the piers was sunk 110 feet below the surface of the river, through ninety feet of gravel and sand. eads's theories were justified by finding the bed-rock so smooth and water-worn as to show that at times it had been uncovered. this was the deepest submarine work that had ever been done, and eads tells us in his reports many interesting experiments he made in the air-chambers. in their dense atmosphere a candle when blown out would at once light again. this was before the days of electric lighting: otherwise we may be sure that that would have been used, as so many other modern inventions were. for the first time in any such work, the last pier sunk had telegraphic communications with the offices on shore; which must have been comforting to workmen starting out to their labor in the dead of winter with two weeks' provisions. the dense air of the chambers caused not only discomfort to the ears, but also in the case of some of the workmen a partial paralysis. there was no previous experience to go by, but every precaution seen to be necessary was taken; the hours of work were made very short, the elevator was provided, medical attendance and hospital care were given free. after the first disasters no man was allowed to work in the air-chambers without a doctor's permit. and it is known that in helping the sufferers with his private means, eads was as charitable as ever. out of 352 men employed in the various air-chambers, 12 died. eads, with his wonted generosity of praise, printed in his yearly report the names of all the men who worked in the deepest pier from its beginning till it touched bed-rock. it is interesting to note in passing that of all the workmen in the blacksmith's yard only the head smith himself could lift a greater weight than the designer of the bridge. the superstructure consisted mainly of three steel arches, by far the longest that had ever been constructed; the first to dispense with spandrel bracing; and the first to be built of cast-steel. the "encyclopædia britannica" called them "the finest example of a metal arch yet erected." they were built out from the piers from both ends to meet in the middle; and were put into place entirely without staging from below,--once again, the first instance of such a proceeding. all the necessary working platforms and machinery were suspended from temporary towers built on the piers; and thus while the arches were being put up, navigation below was not interfered with. this throwing across of the 500-foot arches without the use of false works has been ranked with the sinking of the piers "through a hundred feet of shifting quicksands," as producing "some of the most difficult problems ever attempted by an engineer." one problem, caused by the fault of the contractors, presented itself when they came to insert the central tubes to close the arches. the tubes were found to be two and a half inches too long to go in, although they would be only the required length when they were in. it was left for eads to insert them. shortening them would of course have lowered the arch. eads, who was just starting for london on financial business of the bridge, cut the tubes in half, joining them by a plug with a right and left screw. then he cut off their ends, for the plug would make them any required length by inserting or withdrawing the screws a little. then he went away. as it would have been much cheaper not to use this device, his assistants tried for hours to shrink the tubing by ice applications, and thus to get the arches closed; and there is a popular tradition in saint louis that they succeeded; but it was excessively hot weather, and they did not succeed. the screw-plug tubes, of course, were easily put in. any part of this steel work can be at any time safely removed and replaced,--another structural feature original in this bridge. although eads took care to protect his special innovations by patent, he was most willing to explain them with care to other engineers and to have others profit by his improvements; and several of the mechanical novelties of his bridge are now in the commonest use, and have been taken advantage of even in such famous structures as the brooklyn bridge. during the building of the bridge eads spent many months in enforced absence, but while in europe he always had his labor in mind, and, as i have said, brought home from france one of his most useful appliances. during his absence he left absolutely trustworthy and efficient engineers in charge of the work, and before leaving home he provided for accidents that might occur. so much work was done in the winter that great barriers had to be built to keep it clear of floating ice. one curious detail connected with the bridge is that the milwaukee, one of the double-turreted gunboats which eads had built from his own plans, and which had been with farragut at mobile, was bought now from a wrecking company, and her iron hull used in making the caissons; so that her usefulness still continued in peace as in war. it has been said of eads that he grappled with great problems in engineering, and solved them as easily as a boy subtracts two from six. while this is true, it must not be forgotten that he had not the school-training of an engineer. nothing is more untrue than the statement that he was, like de lesseps, only a contractor. he was a very unusually brilliant engineer, and his ignorance of the higher mathematics served to show his brilliancy the more clearly. some persons have said that his chief talent was in explaining abstruse reasonings simply; but an engineer has told me that he thought eads's chief talent was his ability to arrive by some rough means at a certain conclusion to a given problem, which conclusion would in every instance be approximately the same that better trained mathematicians would reach by mathematics. by the time the bridge was finished, indeed from the time (1868) when his first report for it made a decided stir in the scientific world, both at home and abroad, eads was a very well-known engineer. in that same year a visit to europe for his health's sake gave him the opportunity to interview a french steel company, through whom he met a famous bridge-builder, and was led to examine the piers of the bridge then being constructed at vichy; and it was there that he found his new ideas for caissons. going home, by way of england, he explained his plans to the engineers there, and was by them proposed as a member of the royal society. even at home, in his own adopted state, he was not without recognition; for in 1872 the university of missouri conferred upon him the honorary degree of ll.d. from the general of engineers he received a request for suggestions for improvements in guns; and from his work on the subject of naval defenses it is plain that his mind still found time to run on this favorite topic. in 1874 the bridge was finished. after it had satisfactorily stood the severe tests put upon it, it was formally opened on the 4th of july. the celebrations of that day were the first public outburst of approval given to eads's work. and to-day the strong and graceful bridge stands as his most beautiful and lasting monument. and as even the great tornado of 1896 was unable to do the piers any serious damage, they are likely to last indefinitely, and thus make the bridge "endure," as its builder said, "as long as it is useful to man." to saint louis it has been so useful that while on the one hand the growth of the city was the cause of its being built, on the other it has been one great cause of the continued growth and prosperity of the city. but it had even broader results than that. "it made a radical change in the conditions of transportation east and west, and it made possible the memphis bridge and the future new orleans bridge." and in another direction yet it is peculiarly important. in bridge-building it marks an era, not only because of its strength and beauty and the daring of its design, but also because of its many labor-saving devices, the inventions of a thoroughly practical mind. a distinguished engineer calls it "a great pioneer in the art of sinking deep foundations and building spans over wide stretches of space, that astonished in its construction the entire civilized world." london "engineering" chose it, while building, as preëminently the "most highly developed type of bridge;" and says, "in that work the alliance between the theorist and the practical man is complete." in eads it finds its long-sighed-for dream, combining the highest powers of modern analysis with the ingenuity of the builder. iv the jetties the mississippi river is a great antimonopolist. as more and more railways have been built it has been less and less used. and yet, because it drains almost every corner of a valley which comprises over one third of the whole united states, it affords means of transportation to an immense area; and since it cannot be controlled by any one company or group of companies, its freight rates can hardly be arbitrarily fixed. still, so long as there are impediments to its free navigation in the shape of floods and bars, it cannot be depended on for shipping, and the magnificent opportunities it should offer to commerce are lessened. the vastest river system in the world, it shows in its various parts great contrasts. one large tributary flowing from the alleghanies, one from the rockies, one from the north, others from the southwestern plains, are each able to contribute their various products of grain, lumber, cattle, cotton, fruits, and so on. some branches freeze every winter; others never do. some are clear, others silt-bearing. from about cairo it flows southward through the greater delta, or land built up by its own action in ages past, and in all this part of its course both banks and bottom are of yielding alluvion. for some hundreds of miles "the crookedest of great rivers," it varies frequently in width and velocity and is full of shoals; then for hundreds more, though uniform in width, it often rises higher than its shores, and is confined in artificial levees, which it continually breaks down. finally, below new orleans, growing more sluggish, and dividing into several mouths, or "passes," it wanders through tracts of waste marsh-lands into the gulf, which it colors brown for miles around. blocking the end of each shallow mouth there was formerly a sand-bar; and these obstructions to navigation were the despair of the river commerce, and no less the despair of the government in its attempts to remove them. every one interested in trade or shipping realized what a very serious hindrance to the usefulness of the mississippi these choked-up mouths were, but no one realized it better than eads. understanding that the great valley is capable of supporting 400,000,000 people, and intent on doing all in his power for good, even before he had completed the bridge he was studying the problem of opening the river. its improvement and the welfare of its millions of people were cherished objects of his life. for some men one great undertaking at a time is enough, but eads's energies were such that his works overlapped one another. it is hard to see how one man can have time, even if he has brains, to do all he did. but apparently he never lived an idle day. the bridge, with its many extraordinary solutions of new problems, made its builder's permanent reputation. at the particular request of west point he had supplied that institution with writings, diagrams, and models. and so far afield had his fame spread that on one of his many trips abroad, he made plans, at the request of the sultan's grand vizier, for an iron bridge over the bosphorus. a change in viziers, however, prevented its being built. it seems as if the river-mouth problem had not always been so difficult. still, eads showed that the bars were inevitable; and it is probably only because, with the growing population and trade of the central states, the need for an outlet was greater, that the problem seemed more complicated. moreover, ocean vessels were increasing in size and draught, which also made an adequate channel more desirable. although the blockade had forced the construction of several expensive lines of railway, yet it was impossible to carry all the products of the valley by rail. millions of dollars' worth of merchandise were delayed at the bars. as early as 1726 attempts had been made to deepen the channels through the river's mouths by harrowing. but the first government effort was in 1837, when an appropriation was made for a survey and for dredging with buckets. again in 1852 another appropriation was made; and a board, appointed by the war department, recommended,- 1. stirring up the bottom. 2. dredging. 3. if both these methods failed, the construction of parallel jetties "five miles in length, at the mouth of the south west pass, to be extended into the gulf annually, as experience should show to be necessary." 4. "should it then be needed, the lateral outlets should be closed." 5. should all these fail, a ship canal might be made. dredging by stirring the bottom was tried, and produced a depth of eighteen feet. three years later this depth had entirely disappeared. in 1856 an appropriation was entered into, but the jetties were never completed. later than that dredging was tried again. up to 1875 more than eighteen feet of depth had never been obtained, and even that could not be steadily preserved. channels, opened in low water, were quickly filled up with sediment in high water, and sometimes a severe storm would wash in enough sand from the gulf to undo the result of months of dredging. as early as 1832 a ship canal near fort saint philip, which should cut through the river bank out to the gulf, had been planned, and this solution had been approved of by the louisiana legislature. that idea had been revived from time to time. and there had also more than once been new recommendations made for jetties, which by narrowing the channel should deepen it. finally congress ordered surveys and plans for the canal, and then appointed a board not only to report on them, but also to ascertain the feasibility of improving the channel of one of the natural outlets of the river. in 1874 this board reported in favor of the canal, and against the idea of jetties, which, in its opinion, could hardly be built, could not be maintained, and would be excessively costly. this, then, was the situation when eads appeared on the scene: "scratching and scraping" were going on in south west pass, but were doing little real and no lasting good; the government engineers had declared themselves in favor of a canal; and though in some quarters jetties had been advocated, scarcely any one thought they could be built, or that if they were they would last, or that they would do any good. eads, however, understood the river like a book, and he had studied this particular subject. he now came forward publicly, offering not only to build and to maintain jetties which would insure a twenty-eight foot channel, but to do all this for less than half the cost the board had estimated, and on a contract which should provide for his being paid only in case he succeeded. from this remarkable offer his own confidence in his plans may be inferred. a purpose which he had reasoned out as practical became an inspiration to him which nothing could shake, for his courage equaled his convictions. but so bold was his proposition that he was considered a wild enthusiast. never at a loss to solve any problem, again, as when he planned the bridge, he undertook to do what was commonly held to be impossible. of course, all the backers of the canal scheme opposed him bitterly. new orleans was of that faction. saint louis, on the other hand, upheld him because of his personal popularity and his signal success with the bridge. the army engineers were against him as a civil engineer. thus the controversy was sectional, personal, and professional. up to this time the government had invariably intrusted all works of river and harbor improvement to the military engineers; and to hand over the most important one it had ever undertaken to a private citizen, and to permit him to apply a method that had just been condemned in a report signed by six out of seven of the most distinguished army engineers, met with decided opposition. so the government hesitated. certainly this was a proposal to make them consider, promising, as it did, an open river mouth, at a cost much lower than that of the canal, and in case of failure leaving the total loss to fall upon the contractor. besides, several eminent civil engineers supported eads's theory. the house, nevertheless, passed the canal bill; but the senate, more thorough, after calling eads and two of his principal opponents to state their views before a committee, passed a bill appointing a commission to reconsider the entire subject once more. the discussion before the senate committee was one of the crises in eads's life. the fate of the jetty enterprise hung on the outcome of it. fortunately for himself and for the good of the country, he was a most magnetic and persuasive man. his theories and arguments were sound and logical, his experience of the river was vast; and beyond his aptitude for making technical reasoning simple and clear, his skill as a diplomatist was equal to his ability as an engineer. so the commission was appointed; and, ultimately, on account of the far-reaching importance of the question of river-mouth improvement, its members decided to go to europe to inquire into the matter. about the same time, and for the same purpose, eads also went abroad, and while there he made a careful study of the works at the mouths of the danube, the rhone, and several other european rivers. what he saw there served only to strengthen his confidence in his own plans. when he returned home, there had been a noteworthy change in public sentiment. though there still remained many either prejudiced or honest enemies to his plan, and although the newspapers were still noisy with their cheap and ignorant opposition, the country at large and congress were inclined to accept the offer, which promised them so much at no risk at all. the commission, returning too from europe, where it had made as careful investigations as those of eads, reported, by a majority of six to one, in favor of trying jetties in the south pass. this pass, the smallest of the three mouths, had a depth of only eight feet on its bar, and had besides a shoal at its head. the south west pass, the one which eads had proposed to use, is not only two or three times as big, both in width and in volume of water, but it had fourteen feet on the bar, and no shoal at its head. eads argued and implored with all his strength to be allowed to use the larger pass, as the only one adequate to the demands of commerce; and so convincing were his reasons that the house passed a bill which called for jetties in the larger pass. but the senate, again more conservative, was cautious in this experiment, and insisted on the small pass. finally, the bill went through, and the grant was made for the improvement of south pass. and notwithstanding the considerable difference in size, as well as preliminary conditions altogether less promising than in the pass eads had asked for, still, the depth of thirty feet was to be obtained,--the same result under harder circumstances. the payment promised, however, was not increased with the difficulty; but on the contrary was to be a good deal less than the estimate of the commission. the terms, which required certain specified depths and widths of channel to be obtained and then maintained during twenty years, were so arranged that eads should not receive any part of his payment till after the work covered by that part had been finished and approved. hard as these conditions were, they were based on his own proposal, and he was glad even on such terms to undertake the great work he had longed to do. he at once busied himself in raising money for beginning the jetties, and here again his peculiar talents helped him. one of his friends has said, "his powers of persuasion, his charm of address, and the magnetism of his personality opened the hearts and purses of whomever he pleaded with in support of his engineering devices. he was a most lovable man." moreover, he was an excellent business man. he had indeed a marvelous faculty for obtaining funds with which to carry on his works; and in that time of financial distress such a faculty was very necessary. the theory on which he based his jetties was really extremely simple. he said that, other things being equal, the amount of sediment which a river can carry is in direct proportion to its velocity. when, for any reason, the current becomes slower at any special place, it drops part of its burden of sediment at that place, and when it becomes faster again it picks up more. now, one thing that makes a river slower is an increase of its width, because then there is more frictional surface; and contrariwise, one of the things that make it faster is a narrowing of its width. narrow the mississippi then, at its mouth, said eads, and it will become swifter there, and consequently it will remove its soft bottom by picking up the sediment (of which it will then hold much more), and by carrying it out to the gulf, to be lost in deep water and swept away by currents; and thus, he said, you will have your deep channel. in other words, if you give the river some assistance by keeping its current together, it will do all the necessary labor and scour out its own bottom. today, since this theory has been proved, it seems as simple as a b c. and it is almost impossible to believe what opposition it then aroused. people were not only set on blocking the undertaking, but they were actually ignorant enough to deny that the velocity of water had any connection with its sediment-carrying power. even if the narrowing process should happen to give a channel through the present bar, they said, a new one would presently form beyond, and so the jetties would have to be extended every year. however, eads had his contract and his backers and his ideas and his faith in them; and he set to work on the little pass. the actual delta of the mississippi consists of nothing but water, marsh, and some sandy soil bearing willows. at the sea end of south pass eads extended the low banks out over the bar, by driving rows of guide-piles and sinking willow mattresses close alongside them on the riverside. the mattresses were sunk in tiers, and each tier was weighted well with rock, put in as soon as each mattress was in position. as usual he invented many of the requisite mechanical appliances and contrivances himself, and generally such good ones that his methods came to take the place of earlier ones. the south pass was not only the smallest and shallowest of the mouths, but it was besides more difficult than the other two in having a bar at its head as well as at its sea end. and although by his contract eads was not required to remove that bar, by the exigencies of the case he was. like the other it had to be attacked with water, guided by dikes and dams, which were similar in construction to the two parallel banks, the jetties proper. the scheme was always to force the river itself to do all the real work; and though there was, to be sure, a good deal of planning and building, the main idea, as already explained, is exceedingly simple. eads never pretended to have originated this idea. he had studied many jetties in europe. he had had the eye to see that they could be adapted to the mississippi, and the skill to adapt them. for simple as the bald theory is, there was need of the nicest appreciation of laws and forces in applying it, and the result has been called the greatest engineering feat ever accomplished. the problem of making the quantity of water needed run _up_ into the smallest pass "through a narrow, artificially contracted channel, located immediately between two great natural outlets,"--this problem being complicated by many "occult conditions,"--has been called, by no mean engineer, perhaps the most difficult problem ever dealt with successfully. "there is no instance, indeed, in the world where such a vast volume of water is placed under such absolute and permanent control of the engineer, through methods so economic and simple." to the non-mechanical mind the control of such a multitude of abstruse, minute, and exact details as combine in the making of a bridge seems perhaps more marvelous than the mere bending of nature's forces to serve the ends of man. in eads the power to do both existed. on piles in the marsh houses were built for the engineers and the workmen, and the jetties were begun. eads was not able to be there in person all the time, but as usual his choice of competent and faithful lieutenants was noteworthy. his plans were approved by an advisory board of very eminent engineers; and by the end of one year the value of the work began to show. as yet it was not very strong or solid, but it had deepened the water on the bar from nine to sixteen feet. none the less the storm of detraction continued. there were enough difficulties to meet without this, but none of them was met more forcibly. it was never eads's way to attack other people in a malicious spirit, for he was never jealous; nor did he often deign to answer purely personal attacks. but in defense of his undertakings, to protect them and the people who had put money into them, he was ready to fight. his defense commonly took the form of criticism of his critics, and in such writing his pen was decidedly trenchant. probably no man ever incurred more foolish criticism, and probably none ever pointed out more plainly how foolish it was. even "the ablest of his adversaries confessed themselves afraid of his pen." besides this parrying of attack, he was continually writing and talking to show the simplicity and feasibility of his method; and one man phrased what it is likely many exemplified, that a few minutes' conversation with eads had done more to convert him to the jetties than any amount of writing and of talking with other people could have done. always modest and unassuming, he was so thoroughly in earnest that he convinced others by his own conviction. never was a man less afraid to work. years before, in the diving-bell days, he had set himself the precedent of never asking an employee to do what he himself would fear to do. and, on the other hand, he did not hesitate to ask an employee to do as much work as he himself would have done. his former confidential clerk has told me that sometimes, after evenings of discussion, eads on starting to bed, perhaps at midnight, would say to him, "now, have that figured out for me in the morning," which meant three or four hours of scrupulous figuring or writing to be done by eight the next morning. undoubtedly he could not have worked so hard as he did himself had he not been able to throw aside his cares and problems when he was not actively engaged with them. a very sociable man, he liked not only to be with people, but to be making them enjoy themselves. thus he was both generous and jovial. no one loved more to give presents; no one knew more droll stories and more poetry. nor was his joviality by any means a descent; for not only before royalty was he dignified, but in the most democratic assembly. his was not, however, a forbidding dignity. simple-hearted as a child, he was fond of children, and they were fond of him. of course, he kept up his miscellaneous reading. he was specially devoted to poetry; and loved not only to recite verse upon verse aloud, but also to read to his friends and associates. as usual, his enthusiasm spread to others. one old lady has told me that she never had thought much of poetry till she heard him read it. burns and edwin arnold and tennyson were favorites; and there is a letter written by eads to tennyson, apparently to send him a clipping in which the one was described reciting from the other's poems. eads excuses himself for intruding with his tribute, and remarks that both of them have built works destined to outlive their authors. he says it quite modestly and candidly, "as equal comes to equal; throne to throne." yet despite the confidence of their builder, despite his cheerfulness, the jetties were not getting along well. to be sure, they were steadily deepening the channel, and thereby proving to all ingenuous persons who were undeceived that jetties were what had long been needed, and that they should be helped along and finished. but the jetties were situated far off in a remote marshland where few people saw them; consequently nearly everybody was either deceived or was disingenuous. people who had no business to interfere did interfere. every hitch was shouted abroad, every success was concealed or twisted. concrete difficulties were enormous. sudden storms at just the wrong time delayed and undid the work. the need for more money was pressing, and it could be borrowed only at exorbitant rates of interest. the newspapers were clamoring that the rash experiment was a failure; and though, of course, it was not a failure, still it might have fallen through, when one day the cromwell liner, hudson, drawing over fourteen feet of water, came in through the jetties, and they were saved. although the prestige of the undertaking was thus established, eads realized that his contract with the government was too severe. not that he asked to be paid beforehand for his work, but he did ask to be paid as the work was actually done. so evident were his energy, skill, and good faith that congress promptly voted him an advance of a million dollars. it also sent a commission to inspect and to report on the progress and efficiency of the works. this commission, while reporting favorably, advised against any further advance payments. but congress, nevertheless, voted him three-quarters of a million more. it is said that this is the only instance where the government has voted money to an individual in advance of the specific terms of his agreement. moreover, his contract was re-arranged so as to be less oppressive. it has been said that if eads had failed with the jetties he would not only have destroyed his reputation, but he would have been a beggar,--though, some one added, he would still have deserved everlasting gratitude for his efforts and sacrifices. and now he had already succeeded in changing the little pass into a grand channel of commerce sufficient for the largest shipping that visited new orleans. yet the violent opposition and the calumnies still continued. there was a wonderful persistency in the false reports which came from bitter opponents who would not be convinced. the foolishness and ignorance of their arguments are almost incredible. but however foolish, they had to be disproved; and eads set himself patiently to work to point out the errors in logic and in physics; and in doing so he wrote what those who know call one of the greatest works on river hydraulics. while there were so many men's hands against eads, it is pleasant to record that there were also many for him. it was the "scientific american" which first suggested his name for the presidency. it advocated him as a fearless, honest, and forceful man; but the peculiar compliment in it was that this was a technical paper that upheld him. the proposal was repeated in many newspapers, but eads had no more intention now than ever of going into politics. he knew in what line he could do most for his country, and had an ambition rather to be a supremely useful engineer than to be president. another of his admirers was the late emperor of brazil, dom pedro ii., who, after a visit to the jetties, first tried to persuade eads to go to brazil to do some very important work for him, and who then, failing that, sent him a personal letter asking him to recommend an engineer. and he engaged the one whom eads recommended. in 1879, a little over four years from the time the jetties were begun, the united states inspecting officer there reported the maximum depth of thirty feet and the required width and depths throughout the channel. thereupon all the remainder of the price agreed was paid over to eads, excepting a million dollars, which was kept, at interest, as a guarantee, during twenty years' actual maintenance of the channel. omitting from the count every day of deficient channel, these twenty years are now (1900) almost over; the results in the channel and in the part of the gulf just beyond the jetties have been precisely and entirely what the projector of the works predicted when he began them. the bar has never formed again. the jetties themselves, so far from having to be lengthened, are shorter than they were originally designed. in a word, the sole legitimate objection that can be made to them is that they do not furnish a great enough depth. of course they furnish the required depth, and as great a depth undoubtedly as can possibly be had in the little south pass. ships, however, now draw more water than they did twenty-five years ago, and a still deeper channel is needed. the best proof of the success of the present one is that the government is preparing to apply the same plan to the big south west pass, which eads begged to open and was not allowed to. it is said that in that pass he would have produced thirty feet in one year. but nothing is more useless to discuss than what might have been. what eads has accomplished with his jetties is certain. one result of his achievement was a quick improvement in prices. every acre, mill, farmhouse in the whole of the mississippi valley was increased in value by the impetus which the open river-mouth gave to commerce. new orleans rose from the eleventh to the second export city in the country. consequently there was a great increase in the number of lines of ships going there, and in their tonnage. and as a result of that there was a rapid increase in railway facilities. in twenty years from the commencement of the jetties there was a gain of one hundred per cent. in the total commerce of new orleans, nearly all of it due to these works. this boom has, despite the marvelous multiplication of railways, preserved the river traffic; and the river traffic, as always, has by competition lowered freight rates. the effect has spread to remote districts; and by this reduction in rates and prices there is no doubt that the jetties have made living cheaper on the atlantic seaboard as well as in the mississippi valley. even more: in another way they have made living cheaper. the half-rail-and-half-water route from the pacific coast to new york via new orleans, which the jetties first made possible, forced the transcontinental railways to cut down their time for shipping freight over one half. the tonnage by this newer route has increased enormously, and its competition has affected commerce by reducing all rates from the mississippi valley and the west and the pacific slope to the atlantic seaboard and to europe. as a consequence bread has been made cheaper to all the great populations that require the food products of the central zone and the pacific slope. another very different but curious change is probably largely due to the jetties. before their construction only very light-draught ships could safely reach new orleans; but it was so favorite a cotton port that many owners would build vessels of unusually light draught, in order that they might make one trip a year to new orleans with them, although the rest of the time they sailed to deeper ports. as soon as it became known over the shipping world that new orleans was now open to deep-draught vessels, a great many new ones were built. thus the jetties, as much as any other cause, brought in the era of great ships. it has been calculated from statistics, which it is not necessary to give here, that the annual saving to producers of the mississippi valley brought about by the fall of rates, the saving in marine insurance, and the saving in time, due to the jetties, is $5,000,000; and it is furthermore calculated that the annual money value of the jetties to the people of the country at large is, by a very conservative estimate, $25,000,000. even the jetties, however, were not the end of eads's efforts toward the improvement of the mississippi. for several years before their completion he had been delivering addresses urging the application of the same system to the entire alluvial basin of the river from the gulf to cairo. people were in despair as to what to do to prevent the breaking of the levees (the results of which are as "terrible to the dwellers on those flats as the avalanche to people who live on the sides of steep mountains"), and the distress and prostration created by the awful spring floods. most people thought there were two possible remedies,--to build more and higher levees, and to drain off some of the volume of the river through the louisiana bayous. but eads insisted that the requisite move was to reduce the excessive width of certain stretches of the river with willow mattresses; by uniformity of width to produce uniformity of depth, and consequently uniformity of current. this would facilitate the discharge of floods, and would tend to lessen the need of any levees, whereas drawing off any of the volume of water, he said, would increase the elevation of its surface slope, and thus necessitate higher levees. his arguments on the question are clear and forcible; and it is likely that his plan, if carried out, would solve the important question of the mississippi. but enough money to try it thoroughly has never been appropriated; and so little effect has patching had, that at this very day there are still advocates of the scheme of drawing off some of the water,--a scheme which eads blasted years ago. in 1879 the mississippi river commission was created, consisting of one civilian and six military and civil engineers, of whom eads was one. but for him the government would not have undertaken, at any rate at that time, its very comprehensive system of river improvement, founded primarily on his theory. besides giving a regular, deepened channel, and putting an end to overflows, he contended that his system would reclaim about 30,000 square miles of rich alluvial lands subject to inundation. for two years he served on this commission: for many years before he had been working and fighting for the same grand result,--grand though almost fruitless. "he had no selfish interest to subserve" in this; "no contract to execute; nothing himself to gain." but when, on returning from a trip to europe, he found that the work was no longer being carried on as he thought it should be, he resigned from the commission. deploring the wrong methods used, he still was most deeply interested in this great work up to the time of his death. if, some day, the mississippi is conquered, it will doubtless be through the means he pointed out. v the ship-railway when the jetties were finished and paid for, eads found himself in a very good situation. not only was his bold scheme proved to be a complete success, but it had in the end paid him well; and he was promised still further payment for maintaining his works twenty years longer. his reputation was world-wide. he was now fifty-nine years old. five years later, in 1884, he went to live in new york. it is not hard to imagine why so busy a man wished to be more in the centre of things, though, for that matter, he had not for some years past spent much of his time at home. there was too much to make him travel. besides the frequent voyages which he was ordered to take for the sake of his health,--and which, as he was a very bad sailor, he said were real medicine,--he was in demand here and there, in places miles apart, for professional services; and then, too, he visited many engineering works in various remote lands,--river improvements, docks, the suez canal. it was not alone that his curiosity was always healthy, but also that his education--the broad, useful education that he gave himself--was never ended. we have seen how he refused to go to brazil. he was also wanted at jacksonville, florida, where the citizens called him in 1878 to examine the mouth of the saint john's river, and to report on the practicability of deepening the channel through the bar with jetties. he went there, and, after a personal examination, presented a very elaborate report. in 1880 the governor of california had requested him to act as consulting engineer of that state, and he accordingly visited the sacramento river, and reported upon the plans for the preservation of its channel and the arrest of débris from the mines. in 1881 he was consulted by the canadian minister of public works on the improvement of the harbor of toronto, which he also examined. this was the first instance in which the canadian government had ever employed an american engineer. when he was in mexico, the government there asked him for reports on the harbors of vera cruz and tampico and suggestions for their improvement. although he did not examine these two harbors personally, he drew up plans on surveys furnished by engineers whom he sent there; and the work which has since been carried out after his instructions has proved eminently satisfactory. again, it was the people of vicksburg who sent for him to tell them how to better their harbor; and at another time he was consulted about the columbia river in oregon and about humboldt bay. in 1885 the brazilian emperor made a second attempt to secure his services for an examination of the rio grande del sul, but ill health and pressing business prevented his acceptance of the offer; nor was he able to undertake the examination of the harbor of oporto requested by the portuguese government. it seems superfluous to say that all the reports he did make "were exhaustive and eminently instructive in their treatment of the subjects discussed." perhaps the two most important professional cases submitted to him were those in 1884 on the estuary and bar of the mersey river and on galveston harbor. in the case of the mersey he was called in, at the solicitation of the mersey docks and harbor board of liverpool, to settle a dispute. appearing before a committee of the house of lords, he gave his testimony as to the effect which the proposed terminal works of the manchester ship canal would have upon the estuary of the mersey and the bar at liverpool. "he brought to the solution of this question that same keen insight into hydraulics and the same close application that had made him so successful in this country." he showed so plainly what would inevitably be the deleterious results of the proposed plans that the committee decided against them. subsequently they were changed to conform to his suggestions. for this report he received £3500, said to have been the largest fee ever paid to a consulting engineer. in the galveston case, the same year, he was requested, not only by the city but by the state legislature, to formulate a plan and to take a contract from the united states government for improving that harbor. the government had already been carrying on works there for several years and accomplishing nothing. indeed, it was the jetty method--by this time more highly thought of than ten years before--which was being attempted, but not in proper form. eads, after long and careful study of the situation, made a plan, which he offered to carry out on conditions very similar to those adopted in the case of the mississippi jetties, but congress was not willing to grant the contract. since then, however, the works there have been altered according to his suggestions, and have consequently been more successful. for a good many years, owing to the weakness of his lungs and to other illness, eads had not only had to travel much for his health, but to take special care of himself generally; and yet, to judge from the following account, in the first person, of how he had spent the year 1880, it seems that his wondrous energy had not failed: "i inspected the river danube about 800 miles of its course; and investigated the cause and extent of the frightful inundation at szegedin, in hungary, which involved an examination of 150 miles of the theiss river. i also examined the suez canal, to familiarize myself more thoroughly with the question of a ship canal across the american isthmus, having previously visited the amsterdam ship canal and the one at the mouth of the river rhone. as a member of the mississippi river commission i also aided in perfecting the plans for the improvement of that river, and the preparation of its report now under consideration before congress. as consulting engineer of the state of california i made a thorough inspection of the sacramento river, to consider the best method of repairing the injury to its navigation caused by the hydraulic mining operations there, and submitted a lengthy report upon it. on my way back i visited the wonders of the yellowstone park, crossing the rocky mountains in that excursion six different times. within this time i have thrice visited the jetties at the mouth of the mississippi, besides my visit to the city of mexico, tehuantepec, and yucatan.... i have also, at the request of the mayor and council of vicksburg, twice visited that city during the last year, to examine its harbor with a view to its improvement." in 1884 eads received perhaps the most distinguished honor of his career--the award of the albert medal. as it came only two or three months after the report on the mersey, it was undoubtedly due to that as its immediate cause, although the jetties were almost specifically named as the reason for this honor,--and eads had not by any means lacked even earlier appreciation in england. three years before, at a meeting of the british association, he had been urged, nay pressed, to deliver an impromptu address on his works, both completed and projected. nevertheless, it was not until after the mersey report that the albert medal was conferred upon him. this medal, founded in 1862 in memory of the prince consort, is awarded annually by the society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce. it was in eads's case awarded "as a token of their appreciation of the services he had rendered to the science of engineering," to the engineer "whose works have been of such great service in improving the water communications of north america, and have thereby rendered valuable aid to the commerce of the world." he was the second american citizen and the first native-born american to receive this medal. of course he belonged to many scientific organizations. he was a member of the engineers club of saint louis, and for two years president of the academy of science there; he was also a member of the american geographical society, of the institution of civil engineers, great britain, and of the british association, and of the society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce; a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science; and a member, fellow, and for a year vice-president of the american society of civil engineers. he was now a person whose return from europe, with plans for river improvement, and news about a fresh engineering scheme, was an item in the small as well as the large newspapers. for, since the jetties were finished, he had a new scheme,--a decidedly new one it seemed to most people,--though, as formerly, he made no pretense of having originated the idea. instead of resting content, now that he was almost sixty,--rich, and honored, and frail,--instead of resting content on his laurels of the gunboats, the bridge, the jetties, he was as active as ever, with the hope of opening more roads to commerce and prosperity. the publication of the proceedings of de lesseps's interoceanic canal congress in 1879 gave eads an opportunity to propose, in a letter to the new york "tribune," his own project for spanning the isthmus. the tehuantepec route from the gulf of mexico to the pacific would be, in the general lines of travel, about 2000 miles shorter than the panama route, or 1500 miles shorter than the nicaragua. and it was at tehuantepec that eads proposed building, not a canal, but a ship-railway. the proposition was astounding. it certainly suggested very picturesque visions of transportation; but at first sight it did not sound very practicable. however, eads held that it presented six great and purely practical advantages: first, it could be built for much less than the cost of a canal. secondly, it could be built in one quarter of the time. thirdly, it could, with absolute safety, transport ships more rapidly. fourthly, its actual cost could be more accurately foretold. fifthly, the expense of maintaining it would be less than for a canal. sixthly, its capacity could be easily increased to meet future requirements. in 1880 he appeared before a committee of the house, and in reply to de lesseps, who was advocating the panama canal, he stated his plan for the ship-railway. a few months later he went to mexico, where the government gave him, besides a very valuable concession for building the ship-railway, its cordial assistance in his surveys. it was at this time that mexico requested his aid in improving its two harbors, and when he returned home, sent him in the mexican man-of-war, the independencia. the next year he proposed to congress to build the ship-railway at his own risk, and to give the united states special privileges, which had been arranged for in his mexican charter, provided the government would, as he proved the practicability of his plan by actual construction and operation, guarantee part of the ship-railway's dividends. although this arrangement would have laid as little risk on the government as the jetty arrangement had, it was not accepted. strange and even unnatural as the idea itself appeared, it was adapted from perfectly simple ship-railways already in existence and in satisfactory use. science, he said, could do anything, however tremendous, if it had enough money. in the magnified form contemplated, the plan provided for a single track of a dozen parallel rails, and a car with 1500 wheels. on this car was to be a huge cradle into which any ship might be floated and carefully propped. the car having then been hauled up a very slight incline out of the water, and monster, double-headed locomotives hitched to it, by gentle grades it and the ship were to be drawn across to the other ocean a hundred miles away, where the ship could be floated again. to obviate any chance of straining the ships, all curves were to be avoided by the use of turn-tables. nevertheless, many people believed that such a journey would strain a ship so much that it would never float afterwards. on the other hand, there is so imposing an array of names of distinguished engineers, shipbuilders, and seamen, who declared that the plan was feasible in every particular, that it is hard to think they could all have been mistaken in thus supporting the leading engineer of the day. it may easily be supposed that every other imaginable and unimaginable objection was raised, but to one and all eads gave an answer that sounded conclusive. as usual he was willing to back up his ideas with money, and he had the most elaborate surveys made, and remarkable models prepared to show the working of the ship-railway. he preached this new crusade of science with his customary vigor. so many men were financially interested in the project, or were ready to be, that it would at all events have been tested, had not its leading spirit, the very life of it, died. even though he was at the same time engaged in investigations so important as those at the mersey and at galveston, eads devoted the last six years of his life mainly to this daring and tremendous enterprise. in 1885, after obtaining from the mexican government a modification of his concession, guaranteeing one third of the net revenue per annum, he had a bill introduced in congress, whereby, when the ship-railway should be entirely finished and in operation, the united states was to guarantee the other two thirds. though this bill was favorably reported, eads finally decided to withdraw it, and to ask after all for a simple charter, which would doubtless have been granted. during those six years there was perhaps not another man in the country who was so able to persuade others of the scientific, financial, commercial soundness of his projects. if, more than any one else, he could make a scheme appeal, it was not that it was in any sinister sense a scheme, but because his tact and his address were pleasing, his reputation firmly grounded for honesty and common-sense as well as for thorough scientific knowledge, so that his enthusiasm was contagious. his enemies might call him a lobbyist, but his sole means of persuasion were the soundness of his views, the clearness of his arguments, and the fervor of his wish to benefit his country. for this undertaking, as for his previous ones, eads invented many devices. all in all he held nearly fifty patents from the united states and england for useful inventions in naval warfare, bridge foundations and superstructure, dredging machines, navigation, river and harbor works, and ship-railway construction. in january, 1887, when his bill was to come up, he went to washington. he was in such poor health that he was not able to remain there, but on his doctor's advice he went with his wife and one daughter to nassau. while sick there, he was still at work on improvements for his ship-railway. he was wont to say to his intimate friends, "i shall not die until i accomplish this work, and see with my own eyes great ships pass from ocean to ocean over the land." but in nassau it was soon known that he was dying; and still he said, "i cannot die; i have not finished my work." he died march 8, 1887, not quite sixty-seven years of age. no one has finished his work. * * * * * in any career there are three main elements of success: talent, education, work. eads's life, like that of so many other self-made men, seems to show us that education is less important than the other two. but while it is true that he had not the formal education of an engineer, he had a certain very broad training gained in experience, and had read hard. education, after all, is nothing but a summary method of teaching the lessons of life; therefore, while less insistent, it is often swifter than practical experience. and there is no doubt that a man like eads would be the first to deplore a young man's failing to appreciate its value. when he himself was young, he never supposed that he was a genius; but if he had thought this, he would have striven to be the best-read and the best-equipped of geniuses; believing that though he might be mistaken about his talent he could make sure of his culture. the riverside press _electrotyped and printed by h. o. houghton & co.._ _cambridge, mass., u. s. a._ american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1157 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the site of the terminal station.[1] by george c. clarke, m. am. soc. c. e. the purpose of this paper is to describe the preliminary work for and the preparation of that portion of the site for the terminal station in manhattan, of the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad, which was constructed under the direction of the chief engineer of the east river division, including the disposal of material excavated from all parts of the terminal construction and the tunnels on the east river division. as outlined in the paper by brigadier-general charles w. raymond, m. am. soc. c. e., chairman of the board of engineers, the track yard of the station, plate liii, extends from the east line of tenth avenue eastward to points in 32d and 33d streets, respectively, 292 and 502 ft. east of the west line of seventh avenue. the width of the available area at track level at tenth avenue is 213 ft., continuing at this width to within 182 ft. of the west line of ninth avenue, where, by an offset toward the south, it is increased to 355 ft. this width is held to a point 5 ft. east of the east line of ninth avenue, where, by an offset toward the north, it is increased to 509 ft., which width continues to the west line of seventh avenue, where it divides into two fan-shaped areas. the north area has a width of about 170 ft. and the south one, 160 ft., at the house line, each area tapering gradually to the width of the standard three-track tunnel at the east ends, noted above in 33d and 32d streets. additional track room for four tail-tracks is gained by the construction of two double-track tunnels under ninth avenue at 33d street, their center lines being parallel to the street and 45.5 and 84.5 ft. distant, respectively, from the north house line. an additional width of 24.5 ft. is occupied on the north from 277.5 ft. to 543.5 ft. west of the west line of seventh avenue, where the buildings on the north side of 33d street have been torn down and the enclosing wall set back in anticipation of a future outlet to 34th street; and on the south, from 459 ft. to 597 ft. west of the west line of seventh avenue a rectangular offset of 124 ft. encloses the area occupied by the service building. the total area above outlined is the space occupied at track level, and amounts to 28 acres, of which the portion west of the east house line of ninth avenue and south of a line 107.3 ft. south of the south line of 33d street is a part of the north river division, and was constructed under the direction of the engineers of that division; the fan-shaped areas east of the west house line of seventh avenue were constructed under the direction of the chief engineer of electric traction and terminal station construction. [illustration: plate liii. pennsylvania station, new york city: plan showing area at track level] in june, 1903, when the writer's connection with the work began, the preliminary surveys had been completed and the location and extent of the terminal track area had been fixed, in so far as the city blocks to be occupied were concerned. this contemplated area, however, did not include the portion between ninth and tenth avenues, that being added subsequently. the elevation of the track level had also been fixed by the requirement in the agreement with the city that no part of the permanent structure should approach within 19 ft. of the surface under any avenue or under any street except within the terminal area. the nearest approach of the tracks to the surface is at a point 320 ft. east of eighth avenue, where the top of the rail is 40 ft. below the 31st street curb line. wash-borings. the general plan of enclosing the area in retaining walls having been adopted, wash-borings were taken, for the purpose of determining the best location for the walls, the depth of rock, and the nature of the material overlying it. these borings were made along both curb lines of seventh avenue, the east curb line of ninth avenue, the north curb line of 33d street, and the south curb line of 31st street. the borings, as a rule, were taken at intervals of approximately 100 ft., some deviation in these intervals being made in order to prevent injury to water, gas, and sewer connections, and, if the elevation of the surface of the rock, as determined by one of these borings, corresponded fairly well with the borings on either side of it, no intermediate borings were taken. when a discrepancy appeared, a boring was taken midway between the two non-corresponding ones, and if the information obtained from the intermediate boring failed to account for the discrepancy, others were taken at the quarter points of the original 100-ft. interval. the dotted lines on fig. 1 show the profiles of the surface of the rock underlying 31st and 33d streets, on the line of the borings, constructed from the elevations obtained by them; the solid lines show the profiles of the actual surface of the rock as found when uncovered. it will be noted that, except in three cases, borings 313, 328, and 333, the two profiles correspond very closely at the points where the borings were made, but they differ widely between those points, a variation of 5 ft. being common; there is a variation of 14 ft. between borings 324 and 327, and between nos. 337 and 340; and of 12 ft. between nos. 333 and 335, and between nos. 312 and 313, while an extreme variation of 17 ft. is shown between nos. 303 and 305. at each of the points where the variation is great the interval between borings is the full 100 ft., and it is quite apparent that, if a definite idea is to be obtained of the elevation of the surface of the rock in manhattan, borings must be taken at shorter intervals. the necessary width of trench for the construction of the retaining walls was determined by the elevation of the rock, as shown by the borings, and only in the case of the dip between borings 303 and 305 did the variation lead to any difficulty. the trench at that point had to be widened after rock was reached. this depression corresponded very closely in location to that of one arm of the creek shown on general viele's map of 1865,[2] the bed of that stream, or one in approximately the same location, being clearly marked across the excavation by smoothly-worn rock and well-rounded boulders. the original stream, however, seemed to have turned in a westerly direction under 31st street to eighth avenue instead of crossing, as shown on general viele's map. [illustration: fig. 1. profile of rock surfaces in thirty-first and thirty-third streets, between seventh and ninth avenues] sewers. the arrangement of the sewers in the streets in the vicinity of the terminal site, previous to the beginning of the construction, and the drainage area tributary to those sewers, is shown by fig. 2. the main sewer for this district was in eighth avenue, and was a 6-ft. circular brick conduit within the terminal area. the sewers leading to it from the west, in 31st, 32d, and 33d streets, were elliptical, 3 by 2 ft., and egg-shaped, 4 ft. by 2 ft. 8 in., although in no case did they drain more than one block, and they were on a heavy grade. draining into eighth avenue from the east, the one on 31st street was 4 ft. by 2 ft. 8 in., egg-shaped, and drained a length of two blocks, and those on 32d and 33d streets were circular, 4 ft. in diameter, and drained the territory for three blocks, or as far east as fifth avenue. there were no sewers in seventh avenue within the terminal area, except small vitrified pipes, each less than 200 ft. in length. it was desirable that the size and number of the sewers in the streets and avenues surrounding the terminal should be reduced to a minimum, on account of the difficulty of caring for them during construction and also to reduce the probability of sewage leaking into the underground portion of the work after its completion. with this in view, the plan was adopted of building an intercepting sewer down seventh avenue from north of 33d street to the 30th street sewer, which, being a 4-ft. circular conduit, was sufficiently large to carry all the sewage coming from east of seventh avenue and south of 34th street. it was decided to build this sewer of cast iron where it crossed the proposed construction work, and also to replace with cast iron the brick sewers on 31st, 32d, and 33d streets from seventh avenue to a point east of the west end of the standard tunnel section, and also the sewer on eighth avenue from the north side of 33d street to the south side of 31st street. this arrangement permitted: first, the removal of the sewer in 32d street between seventh and eighth avenues, which was necessary, as that street was to be excavated; second, the reduction of the sewer in eighth avenue from a 6-ft. to a 5-ft. circular conduit; and, third, assuming that the sewage and drainage from the terminal would be pumped directly to the sewers in the avenues, the reduction of the sewers in 31st and 33d streets, from seventh to ninth avenue, to 15-in. vitrified pipes, except west of the service building in 31st street, to accommodate which section, a larger sewer was required. the sewer in 32d street, from ninth to eighth avenue, of course, could be dispensed with in any arrangement, as all the area tributary to it was to be excavated. [illustration: fig. 2. plan showing layout of sewer in catchment area about terminal station] gas and water mains. a rearrangement of the gas pipes in the three streets crossing the terminal site was necessary. these pipes were of two classes: trunk mains and service mains. fortunately, there were but two trunk mains in the three streets, one a 20-in. in 31st street from east of seventh avenue to ninth avenue, the other a 16-in. in 32d street from east of seventh avenue to eighth avenue. the 20-in. main was relaid from seventh avenue and 31st street down seventh avenue to 30th street and through that street to ninth avenue. the 16-in. main was relaid from seventh avenue and 32d street north to 34th street and through that street to eighth avenue. the service mains in 32d street were no longer required, and were taken up and not replaced. the houses on 31st and 33d streets were provided with service by two 6-in. wrought-iron mains back of the retaining walls in each street, that location being chosen to avoid damage by gas drip to the water-proofing of the street bridges. as the permanent structures under the avenues were not to approach the surface nearer than 19 ft., only slight rearrangements, sufficient to permit the new sewers and water lines to be laid, were necessary. there were no large water mains to be cared for, in fact, those in the streets were too small for ample fire protection, being only 6 in. in diameter. the main in 32d street was taken up and not replaced, and those on 31st and 33d streets were replaced by 12-in. pipes laid back of the retaining walls. no changes were necessary in the mains in the avenues, but, before approving the rearrangement for the streets, the department of water supply, gas and electricity added a 48-in. main in eighth avenue to be laid as a part of this construction, the pipe being supplied by the city. location and design of retaining walls. the plans, from the earliest stages, contemplated founding the retaining wall on the surface of the rock, where of suitable quality, and afterward excavating the rock in front of the toe of the wall to sub-grade. this plan was definitely adopted soon after the borings were completed, on account of the great danger of blasting out large quantities of rock in timbered trenches close to buildings founded on soft material, and also to avoid the additional cost and delay that would have been caused by carrying the walls to sub-grade. the retaining walls in seventh avenue, south of the viaduct, and in ninth avenue, north of the viaduct, were not governed by the same conditions as in the streets. the dip and quality of the rock at both points required that the walls be carried to sub-grade, and they are, in fact, face walls; the ninth avenue wall, in particular, having little thrust to sustain, is very light. the results aimed at in the design and location of the retaining walls in 31st and 33d streets were: _first._--a perfectly stable wall under all conditions that might reasonably be expected; _second._--as much room as possible at the elevation of the top of rail; _third._--the least necessary interference with adjoining property during construction; and, _fourth._--the most economical wall that would fulfill the other conditions. as stated in the paper by alfred noble, past-president, am. soc. c. e., the third stipulation required the relinquishing of a portion of the space under these streets granted by the city, but it was finally decided not to approach the south house line of 31st street with the back of the walls nearer than 9 ft., while on 33d street the extreme position of the back was fixed at the north line, as there were no buildings, except those belonging to the railroad company, on the house line at the low points in the rock. the assumptions made in designing the wall were as follows: _first._--weight of concrete, 140 lb. per cu. ft. _second._--weight of material from the surface of the ground to a depth of 12 ft. (which was shown by tests made in bore-holes to be the elevation of the ground-water surface), 100 lb. per cu. ft.; and angle of repose, 30 degrees. the distance of 12 ft. below the surface was the depth of the inverts of the sewers, which undoubtedly drained the ground above them, thus accounting for the standing of the ground-water in planes practically parallel with the surface. _third._--weight of buildings back of wall neglected, as that of the present type will about equal the cellars filled with material at 100 lb. per cu. ft., and if large buildings are erected in the future they will undoubtedly be carried to rock. _fourth._--reaction from superstructure, live and dead load, 20,000 lb. per lin. ft. of wall. _fifth._--weight of materials below the 12-ft. line, 124 lb. per cu. ft., ascertained as follows: the material was considered as weighing 165 lb. per cu. ft. in the solid, and having 40% of voids filled with water at 62.5 lb. per cu. ft., the resulting weight being (165 × 60/100) + (62.5 × 40/100) = 124 lb. per cu. ft. various angles of repose were used for this material in the investigation, and it was finally decided that 30° was the greatest angle that could be expected, whereas the worst condition that could be anticipated was that the sand and water would act separately and give a pressure as follows: hydraulic pressure from liquid weighing 62.5 lb. per cu. ft. plus pressure from sand with angle of repose at 30° and weight as follows: weight of 1 cu. ft. in air = 165 × 60/100 = 99 lb. weight of water displaced by 1 cu. ft. = 60/100 × 62.5 lb. = 37.5 lb. weight in water, therefore = 61.5 lb. per cu. ft. these combined weights, of course, are equal to the weight of the combined material in the previous assumption. _sixth._--the usual requirement that the resultant of both horizontal and vertical forces should, at all points, fall within the middle third of the wall, or, in other words, that there should be no tension in the concrete. [illustration: plate liv. diagram showing widths of base of retaining wall required for different batters and pressures, pennsylvania station] with these assumptions, investigation was made of walls with various batters and differently designed backs. this investigation developed the fact that the reaction from the superstructure was so great that, for economy, both in first cost and space occupied, the batter must be sufficient to cause that reaction to fall within or very close to the middle third. nothing could have been gained by having that reaction fall back of the front of the middle third, as the wall was required to be stable against the full pressure before the superstructure was erected, and in case it should ever be removed; or, to state the matter more clearly, the reaction from the superstructure was so great in comparison to the weight of the wall, that, if it fell in front of the resultant of all the other forces, the width of base required would be greatly increased to make the wall stable after the superstructure was erected; whereas, if the reaction from the superstructure fell back of the resultant of all the other forces, the width of base could not be correspondingly decreased without danger of the wall being overturned before the superstructure was erected. the least batter that would answer those conditions was found to be 2 in. per ft. for convenience in designing, and economy in constructing, the steelwork, the faces of the bridge seat and of the backwall were laid parallel to the center line of the terminal, and in elevation on line parallel to the top of the curb and as near to it as the economical depth of steel would permit, without bringing the finished construction above the plane fixed in the ordinance. as there is a variation of 13 ft. in the elevation of the top of the curb of 31st street above the top of rail and a variation of 18 ft. in 33d street, a uniform batter, with the top parallel to the center line, would produce a toe varying in distance from it and from the other constructions. it was decided, therefore, for the sake of appearance, to make the face of the wall (or wall produced) at the top of rail parallel to the center line, and to vary the batter accordingly, using the 2-in. batter previously mentioned as the minimum. this gave a maximum batter of 3 in. per ft. the variation is so gradual that it is unnoticeable, and is not sufficient to introduce any complications in construction. the wall was designed with a stepped back, primarily to allow the water-proofing and brick protection to be held in position more readily. the first step was put at 13 ft. below the surface of the ground. this gave a vertical back above that point for a 3-in. battered face, and a slightly battered back for sections having a less batter in front. below that point a step was added for each 5 ft. of depth to the elevation of the top of rail, or to the foundation of the wall if above that elevation. as the horizontal distance of the heel of the wall, at its greatest width, from its face at the top of rail would determine the effective room to be occupied by the wall, it was determined to make the back vertical below the top of rail and gain the necessary increase in width below that point by making a heavy batter on the face. the type of wall having been thus determined, calculations were made of the width of base required for each ¼-in. batter from 2 to 3 in., inclusive, first for a depth of 13 ft. below the top of the curb and then for each 5 ft. below that elevation, to a depth corresponding to the distance between the top of the curb and the top of the rail at the point of greatest variation. these widths of wall were determined for the two pressures previously decided on, and curves were then plotted showing the thickness of wall required for each batter calculated and for each pressure. they are shown on plate liv. the curves in broken lines represent the widths required for saturated material, and the curves in dotted lines for hydraulic pressure. mean curves were then drawn between each broken and its corresponding dotted curve. these are shown in solid lines, and represent the widths of wall which were used in the construction. typical sections of the wall and pipes back of it are shown on fig. 3. the extreme positions of the back of the wall on the two streets having been determined, as previously stated, the width of base required at those points fixed the toe of the wall at the top of rail as 254.5 ft. south of the center line of the terminal in 31st street, and 258.5 ft. north of the center line in 33d street. [illustration: fig. 3. typical sections of retaining wall in thirty-first street] contracts. the construction was done under the following contracts: _1._--the principal contract, dated june 21st, 1904, was with the new york contracting and trucking company, later assigned by that company to the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, for the performance of the following works: (_a_).--the excavation for and construction of a retaining wall in seventh avenue, 31st street, ninth avenue, and 33d street. (_b_).--excavation over the area enclosed by the retaining wall. (_c_).--the building of sewers and the laying of water and gas pipes. (_d_).--the building of a timber trestle to support the surface of eighth avenue between the south side of 31st street and the north side of 33d street, and also the surface of 31st and 33d streets between seventh and ninth avenues. this refers to the trestles left in place on the completion of the work. (_e_).--the building of a trestle and bridging from a point near the west side of tenth avenue on the south side of 32d street, westward to the outer end of pier no. 62, at the foot of 32d street. _2._--the second contract, dated february 10th, 1905, was with the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, for the excavation for and construction of retaining walls for the manhattan terminal power station, and the excavation of the area thus enclosed. _3._--the third contract, dated october 2d, 1907, was with the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, for the construction of two twin tunnels under ninth avenue, and other work incidental thereto. sewers and gas mains laid outside the area covered by the foregoing contracts were constructed under the following agreements: an agreement, dated august 9th, 1904, between the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, and the new amsterdam gas company, for a 20-in. gas main from seventh avenue and 31st street to 30th street, and thence to ninth avenue, the new amsterdam gas company being remunerated for the cost by the tunnel company. a contract, dated august 24th, 1904, with the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, for the construction of sewers in seventh avenue and in 32d and 33d streets east of seventh avenue. a contract, dated november 24th, 1908, with the new york contracting company-pennsylvania terminal, for the construction of a 16-in. gas main from seventh avenue and 32d street to 34th street, and thence to eighth avenue. all these contracts required that the excavated material be delivered on board scows to be furnished by the company at the pier at the foot of 32d street, north river. these scows were furnished and the material was disposed of from that point by henry steers, incorporated, under a contract, dated august 9th, 1904, which called for the transportation to and placing of all material so delivered in the pennsylvania railroad company's freight terminal at greenville, n.y. the disposal of the excavated material was one of the principal features of the work, and, under the above contract, material from those portions of the terminal site east of seventh avenue and west of ninth avenue, and from all substructures work, was disposed of, as well as from the constructions herein described. the problem differed from that presented by the usual foundation excavations in new york city in magnitude only, and the methods were not unusual, but were adaptations of the usual ones to exceptionally large work. piers and trestle for disposal. the most rapid and economical handling of all excavated material to scows was made possible by the tunnel company procuring from the new york central and hudson river railroad company the pier at the foot of 32d street, north river, known in the earlier stages of the work as pier no. 62, but subsequently changed to pier no. 72, and thus referred to in this paper. this pier was occupied by a freight-shed used by the new york central railroad company, under a long-term lease from the city, and that company had to make numerous changes in their tracks and adjoining piers before no. 72 could be turned over; the contract for the excavation, therefore, required the contractor to procure any piers needed previous to and in addition to it. under this clause of the agreement, the contractor procured one-half of the pier at 35th street, north river, which was used for the disposal of all material excavated previous to may 22d, 1905, on which date pier no. 72 was first put in service. as the type of plant the contractor would elect to use could not be determined, previous to the letting of the contract, a general plan for pier no. 72 and the trestle approach, suitable for either trains or wagons, was attached to the contract, and the details were worked out afterward. the method adopted was by train, and a two-track approach to the pier was provided. beginning on the east side of ninth avenue, at the south line of 32d street, at an elevation of 20 ft. below the surface, crossing under ninth avenue and to the center line of 32d street, it rose on a 1.5% grade in open cut to the surface of 32d street at a point 500 ft. west of tenth avenue, from which point it rose above the surface of the street on a timber trestle to tenth avenue, which was crossed overhead. west of tenth avenue the line changed by a reverse curve to the south sidewalk of 32d street, and continued on a timber trestle, practically level, to the new york central yard tracks near eleventh avenue. these tracks and eleventh avenue were crossed overhead on a through-truss, steel bridge, and a column-and-girder construction on which the two tracks separated to a distance of 29 ft, between center lines, so as to bring them directly over the posts of special timber bents which spanned the two house tracks of the new york central south-bound freight shed, which the trestle here paralleled. this position was held to a point 25 ft. west of the east house line of twelfth avenue, where, by a system of cross-overs and turn-outs, access was had from either track to six tracks on the pier. four of these were on upper decks, two on the north and two on the south edge of the pier, at an elevation of 41 ft. above mean high tide, to carry earth and small rock to chutes from which it was dumped into barges. the other two tracks proceeded by a 5.3% grade down the center of the pier to the lower deck where, at a distance of 540 ft. from the bulkhead, and beyond the upper deck construction, they diverged into six, two on the north and two on the south edge of the pier for standing tracks to serve derricks, and two down the center for shifting purposes. a siding to the north of the two running tracks just west of the bottom of the incline served a bank of eight electric telphers. the arrangement of the pier is shown by fig. 4. the trestle east of the steel structure at eleventh avenue had simple four-post bents, as shown by bent "_a_," on fig. 5, all posts being vertical, to save room at the street level; the outside posts and the caps and sills were of 12 by 12-in. timber; the intermediate posts were of 8 by 12-in. timber; and single or double decks of 3 by 8-in. bracing were used, depending on the height of the bents. these bents were framed on the ground in position and raised by hand. west of tenth avenue, the sills of the bents rested on four 12 by 12-in. longitudinal timbers, each spanning two bays and breaking joints, for convenience in supporting the trestle while the tunnels were constructed in open cut beneath. these bents were placed 12 ft. on centers, with one 8 by 16-in. stringer under each rail, and one 6 by 16-in. jack-stringer supporting the overhang of the floor on either side. the bents along the new york central freight shed had but two posts of 12 by 14-in. yellow pine varying from 26 ft, to 31 ft. 9 in. from center to center; they had double caps of 12 by 14-in. yellow pine on edge, no bottom sills or bracing, and the vibration and wind pressure were taken care of by the top bracing and anchorage, as shown by bent "_g_," on fig. 6. [illustration: fig. 4. plant for disposal of excavated materials pier no. 72 n.r.] the method of erection was as follows: an excavation was made on the line of each post, 4 ft. deep and from 4 to 5 ft. square, depending on whether it was for a single or reinforced post; 6 in. of concrete was placed in the bottom, and on this were laid, at right angles to the center of the trench, three 8 by 12-in. timbers varying in length with the excavation from 3 to 4 ft. to these timbers was drifted one 12 by 12-in. timber of the same length as those in the bottom row, but at right angles to them. elevations were then taken on top of the 12 by 12-in. timber, and the bent was framed complete and of correct height. the framing was done south of the line of the trestle and west of the freight-house. the framed bents were picked up by a small two-boom traveler carrying two double-drum, electric, hoisting engines, and run forward into position. a hole had previously been made in the metal gutter and canopy of the freight-house, by an experienced roofer, and in the freight platform underneath, and, as soon as the bent had been dropped into position, it was firmly drifted to the foot-blocks, previously described, and the excavation made for them was filled with concrete well rammed about the blocks and rounded off 6 in. above the surface of the ground. secure flashings, in two sections, were then made about the posts to cover the holes made in the gutter and roof, the bottom sections being firmly soldered to the roof or gutter, and the top sections, which lapped over the bottom and cleared them 2 in. in all directions, were firmly nailed to the posts and the joints leaded. this arrangement allowed the bents to move slightly, and at the same time made the roof and gutter water-tight. these bents were placed 16 ft. on centers to correspond with the spacing of the doors of the freight shed. under the cross-overs near eleventh avenue, where the tracks had to be supported in different positions on the caps, and could no longer be kept over the posts, the caps were trussed and the posts were reinforced, as shown on bents "_j_," "_h_," and "_k_," fig. 5. [illustration: fig. 5. detail of bents for material trestle] the trusses for the through bridge over the tracks were erected on sunday, april 16th. the two trusses, one 122 ft. and the other 165 ft. 8 in. from center to center of end posts, had been assembled and riveted, lying flat on cribwork a few feet above the ground, south of the permanent position and between the new york central tracks and eleventh avenue. on the date stated, the contractor, having been given permission to block the central's tracks from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., erected a large steel gin pole just south of the correct position of the center of the north truss, which was then dragged, from the place where it had been assembled, across the railroad tracks until the center of the bottom chord was vertically under its true position, the truss still lying flat and about at right angles to the center line of the bridge. chains were made fast to the top chord at the middle panel of the truss, which was then turned up to a vertical plane, raised to its permanent position, and guyed. the gin pole was then shifted and the operation repeated with the longer truss, after which, half of the floor beams and a part of the top laterals were bolted in position and the guys were removed, the bridge being thus erected without the use of falsework of any kind. during the lifting there was no sag in either truss that could be noticed by the eye. fig. 1, plate lv, shows the bridge erected, with the exception of the tight timber fence. pier no. 72 is directly over the north river tunnels. when it was turned over by the new york central railroad company, the contractor for the construction of those tunnels tore down the shed and removed the deck and such piles as were in the path of the tubes. this left standing the four northernmost, the four southernmost and two centers rows of piles for the entire length of the pier. an additional row of piles was then driven on either side of the two center rows, and battered so that at the elevation of the tunnels they would be close to the center rows and leave as much clear space as possible. the pier, therefore, was constructed of three independent lines of four-post bents, which, however, rested on sills which were continuous throughout the width of the pier, as shown by figs. 2 and 3, plate lv. [illustration: fig. 6. detail of bents for material trestle.] the bents for the upper floors of the pier were double-decked, with 12 by 12-in. posts, sills, intermediate and top caps, and 3 by 8-in. longitudinal and cross-bracing. the bents for the incline were similar, except that those below 16 ft. in height were of single-deck construction. the spacing of the bents varied from 9 ft. 6 in. to 12 ft., except the three outer bays, which had a span of 23 ft., all to agree with the position of the pile bents. the double-deck construction extended for the full length of the original pier. a single-deck extension, of full width and 180 ft. in length, was subsequently built for the accommodation of four derricks for handling building material and large rock. the piles for this extension were driven in three sets of four rows each, similar to those in the old portion of the pier, except that the bents were driven with a uniform spacing of 15 ft. between centers. the three sets of bents were topped separately with 12 by 12-in. caps and 12 by 12-in. dock stringers; they were braced with both cross and longitudinal low-water bracing, and were tied together by a continuous 12 by 12-in. timber over the dock stringers and 12 by 12-in. packing pieces from stringer to stringer, each of these ties being supported in the center of the span over the tunnels by two 2-in. hog rods, section "_a-a_," fig. 4. the south side of the upper deck of the pier carried three sets of nine hoppers, each set covering 90 ft., a little less than the full length between bulkheads of the largest deck scows, with 70 ft. clear between sets, to allow for the length of a scow outside of the bulkhead and to permit the free movement of boats. each hopper occupied the full space between two bents, and, as the caps were topped by strips of timber of triangular section, with a width of 12 in. on the base and a height of 6 in., protected by a 6 by 6-in. steel angle, each set of hoppers presented 90 lin. ft. of continuous dumping room. the bottoms of the hoppers, set at an angle of 45°, were formed by 12 by 12-in. timbers laid longitudinally, running continuously throughout each set, and covered by 3-in. planking. the partitions were formed with 4-in. planks securely spiked to uprights from the floor of the hoppers to the caps; these partitions narrowed toward the front and bottom so as to fit inside the chutes. each hopper was lined on the bottom and sides with ½-in. steel plates, and the bottoms were subsequently armored with 2 by 1-in. square bars laid 3 in. on centers and bolted through the 12 by 12-in. flooring of the hoppers. the chutes, extending from the bottom of the hoppers, were 20 ft. long and 7 ft. wide, in the clear; they were formed entirely of steel plates, channels, and angles, and were supported from the upper deck of the pier by chains; their lower ends were 17 ft. above mean high tide and 14 ft. 6 in. from the string piece of the pier. the hoppers and chutes are shown by fig. 1, plate lvi. [illustration: plate lv. material trestle over n.y.c. & h.r.r.r. co.'s tracks; and construction of pier no. 72, north river fig. 1.--material trestle over n.y.c. & h.r.r.r. co.'s tracks. fig. 2.--material trestle under construction on pier no. 72, north river, showing clear water over tunnel location. fig. 3.--pier no. 72, north river, showing incline as reconstructed for locomotives.] a length of 150 ft. of the north side of the pier was for the use of the contractor for the north river tunnels; it was equipped with a set of nine chutes similar to those for the south side; they were used but little, and were finally removed to make room for a cableway for unloading sand and crushed stone. at the foot of the incline there was a bank of eight telphers running on rails securely bolted to the tops of 20-in. i-beams, which were hung from stringers resting on the upper caps. the beams were erected in pairs, each pair being securely braced together and to the trestle posts to prevent swaying. each telpher occupied the space between two bents, about 10 ft., so that the entire bank commanded a length of 80 ft., which was approximately the length of a rock scow between bulkheads. all supports for the telphers were provided as a part of the trestle, but the machines themselves were a part of the contractor's plant. four derricks were erected on the extension, two on the north and two on the south edge of the pier, supported on bents at a sufficient elevation above the floor to clear a locomotive. after most of the earth had been excavated, the out-bound set of hoppers on the south side of the pier was removed, and two derricks were erected in their place and used for unloading sand, crushed stone, and other building material. plant. as the use of the 35th street pier for the disposal of material required that the mode of transportation should be by dump-wagons drawn by horses, the plant in use by the contractor during that period necessarily differed in many respects from what it was later, when pier no. 72 was available. therefore, the nature of the plant during each period will be stated. the plant for each period will be divided into five classes: 1.--central plant: (_a_) power-generating plant. (_b_) repair shops. 2.--retaining-wall plant. 3.--pit-excavating plant. 4.--transportation plant. 5.--dock plant. horse-and-truck period: july 11th, 1904, to may 22d, 1905. _1._--_central plant._ (_a_).--_power-generating plant._--the contractor's first central generating plant was established in a 35 by 85-ft. steel-framed building covered with corrugated iron, the long side being parallel to ninth avenue and 15 ft. from the east house line, and the north end 43 ft. south of the south house line of 32d street. the foundations for the building and machinery were of concrete, resting on bed-rock, the floor being 20 ft. below the level of the ninth avenue curb. the south end of the building was the boiler-room and the north end the compressor-room, the two being separated by a partition. coal was delivered into a large bin, between the boiler-house and ninth avenue, its top being level with the street surface, and its base level with the boiler-room floor. at the end of the horse-and-truck period the plant consisted of: two rand, straight-line compressors, 24 by 30 in., having a capacity of 1,400 cu. ft. of free air per min. when operating at 86 rev. per min. and compressing to 80 lb. above atmospheric pressure. one 10 by 6 by 10-in., worthington, steam, plunger pump. three horizontal boilers of the locomotive type, each of 125 h.p. (_b_).--_repair shops._--the repair shops, which included blacksmith, machine and carpenter shops, were located on the first floor of a 40 by 70-ft. two-story frame structure, which was in the pit on the north side of 31st street, 48 ft. east of ninth avenue. the second floor was on the street level, and was used as a storehouse for hand-tools and small plant. the blacksmith shop contained: four forges with hand blowers, four anvils, and hand-tools. the machine shop contained: one drill press, one shaper (14-in. stroke), one 18-in. swing lathe, and one 6-in. bed lathe. the carpenter shop contained: one circular saw, one wood lathe, and hand-tools. the plant in both machine and carpenter shops was operated by one 7½-h.p. general electric motor, the current for which was obtained from the edison electric heat, light, and power company. [illustration: plate lvi. material trestle showing first chutes in operation; and views of east and west pits at terminal site fig. 1.--material trestle, showing first chutes in operation. fig. 2.--east pit, steam shovel loading excavated material on car. fig. 3.--west pit, showing condition on june 28th, 1905.] _2._--_retaining-wall plant._ three cableways, with 35-ft. towers of 12 by 12-in. yellow pine timber capable of spanning 350 ft., and operated by 7 by 10-in. double-drum lambert hoisting engines mounted with 25-h.p. lambert upright boilers. five stiff-leg derricks, with masts from 35 to 50 ft. long and booms from 45 to 60 ft. long, operated by 7 by 10-in. lambert double-drum and swinging gear engines, mounted with 25-h.p. upright lambert boilers. six cameron pumps, varying in size from 7 by 6 by 13 in. to 10 by 8 by 16 in. the first dimension referring to the diameter of the steam cylinder, the second to that of the water, and the third to the stroke. five rand sheeting drivers. two ransome ¾-cu. yd. concrete mixers, mounted on frame, with kerosene driving engine. drills drawn from pit plant as required. _3._--pit-excavating plant. one guy derrick, 50-ft. mast and 45-ft. boom, operated by a lambert two-drum and swing-gear hoisting engine, with lambert 25-h.p. upright boiler. three stiff-leg derricks, similar to those used on the retaining wall work. three bucyrus, 70-ton steam shovels with 3½-cu. yd. dippers. one traveling derrick, built with an a-frame of 12 by 12-in. timbers, 15-ft. mast, and 25-ft. boom; the traveler carried an engine and boiler similar to those used on the stiff-leg derricks, and was used on the seventh and eighth avenue sewers, as well as in the pit. ten rand-ingersoll rock drills, nos. 1, 3¼, and 4. one reliance stone crusher (nominal capacity 17 tons of crushed stone per hour) belt-driven by 50-h.p. engine. _4._--_transportation plant._ during the whole of the first period the transportation plant consisted of two-horse trucks and snatch teams as needed. the number varied greatly from 25 at the beginning and end of the period to an average of 135 from august 1st to december 1st, 1904, about 10% of the total number of teams being used as snatch teams. _5._--_dock plant._ the only machinery used on the dock during the horse-and-truck period was one stiff-leg derrick similar in size and operation to those described under the head of retaining-wall plant. the plant described above does not represent that which was used during the whole of the horse-and-truck period, but what had accumulated at the end of it. the power-generating plant might almost have been omitted from this period, as the first compressor did not begin running until february, 1905. previous to that time, the power for drilling, pumping, driving, sheeting, etc., was steam furnished by the boilers which subsequently drove the compressors, these being brought on the ground and fired as occasion required. train-disposal period, beginning may 22d, 1905. at the beginning of this period there had been excavated 242,800 cu. yd. of earth and 22,800 cu. yd. of rock, of the total excavation of 803,500 cu. yd. of earth and 804,000 cu. yd. of rock included in the principal contract, leaving to be excavated under that contract 560,000 cu. yd. of earth and 781,200 cu. yd. of rock, and an additional contract had been let to the new york contracting company for the terminal power station, which increased the earth by 16,500 and the rock by 15,500 cu. yd. during the year following, contracts for the east and west portions and the sub-structures were let, which brought the total to be excavated, after the beginning of the train-disposal period, up to 681,000 cu. yd. of earth and 1,494,000 cu. yd. of rock. the central plant, transportation plant, and dock plant were used indiscriminately on all these contracts, and, as no separation can be made which will hold good for any appreciable length of time, the plant in those classes will be stated in total. the retaining-wall and pit plant here given include that used on the principal contract and terminal power station only. the power-generating plant given under the horse-and-truck period was doubled at the beginning of the train-disposal period, but it was still insufficient for the work then under contract, and the additional contracts necessitated a greater increase. the location had also to be changed to permit the excavation of the rock under ninth avenue. the old stone church fronting on 34th street, between seventh and eighth avenues, a building 68 ft. wide and 92 ft. long, made a roomy and very acceptable compressor-house. the wooden floors and galleries were removed, and good concrete foundations were put in, on which to set the plant; the walls, which were cracked in several places, were trussed apart and prevented from moving outward by cables passed about the pilasters between the windows. the boilers were erected south of the church, an ash-pit being first built, the full width of it, with the floor on a level with the basement. the rear wall of the church formed the north wall of the ash-pit, and the south wall and the ends were built of concrete. the boilers were set with the fire-doors toward the rear wall of the building, and 7 ft. distant from it, and above this fire-room and the boilers there was erected a coal-bin of 500 tons capacity. the rear wall of the compressor-house formed the north wall of the bin, the section of which was an isosceles right-angled triangle. coal was delivered by dumping wagons into a large vault constructed under the sidewalk on 34th street, and was taken from there to the bin by a belt conveyor. the plant for the second period was as follows: _1._--_central plant._ (_a_).--_power-generating plant._--the plant in the engine-room consisted of: three rand straight-line compressors from the original power plant at ninth avenue and 32d street. one ingersoll straight-line compressor from the old power-house. one rand duplex corliss, 40 by 48-in. air-compressor, with both air and steam cylinders cross-compounded, and a capacity of 5,600 cu. ft. of free air per min. compressed to 80 lb. at 70 rev. per min. three rand duplex, 30 by 30-in., compressors, connected with 525-h.p., 6,600-volt, general electric motors, with a capacity of 3,000 cu. ft. of free air per min. compressed to 80 lb. at 125 rev. per min. two 10 by 6 by 10-in. worthington steam plunger pumps. one 7½-h.p. general electric motor for driving the robbins belt coal conveyor. one forced-draft fan (built by the buffalo forge and blower company), driven by an 8 by 10-in. buffalo engine. in the boiler-room there were three 500-h.p. sterling water-tube boilers. (_b_).--repair shops.--the repair shops remained in their old location until sufficient room had been excavated to sub-grade in the lot east of eighth avenue, and then they were moved to the old ninth avenue power-house which had been erected at that point. the contents of the blacksmith shop remained the same as for the first period. the equipment of the machine shop was increased by one 18-ton trip-hammer operated by air and one bolt-cutting machine, size 1 in. to 1½ in. the carpenter shop remained the same except that the electric motor was replaced by a 25-h.p. single-cylinder air motor; there was added to the repair shop a drill shop containing: four forges with compressed air blowers, four anvils, two ajax 20-ft. drill sharpeners, and one oil blower forge. _2._--_retaining-wall plant._ the retaining-wall plant was identical with that described for the first period, with the addition of two ransome 1-cu. yd., concrete mixers, with vertical engines mounted on the same frame, using compressed air. _3._--_pit-excavating plant._ the pit-excavating plant included that listed for the first period and, in addition, the following: one vulcan, 30-ton, steam shovel, with 1-cu. yd. dipper and a vertical boiler. one ohio, 30-ton, steam shovel, with 1-cu. yd. dipper and a vertical boiler. four guy derricks (50 to 80-ft. masts and 45 to 60-ft. booms), operated by lambert 7 by 10-in. engines, with two drums and swinging gear, mounted with 25-h.p. vertical boilers, but driven by compressed air. seventy ingersoll-rand rock drills, nos. 1, 3¼, and 4. two rand quarry bars, cutting 10 ft. in length at one set-up, and mounted with no. 4 drill using a z-bit. _4._--_transportation plant._ twenty-one h. k. porter locomotives, 10 by 16-in., and 36-in. gauge. three davenport locomotives, 9 by 16-in., and 36-in. gauge. one hundred and forty western dump-cars, each of 4 cu. yd. capacity. one hundred and sixty-five flat cars, with iron skips, each of 4 cu. yd. capacity. _5._--_dock plant._ four stiff-leg derricks on extension, having 35-ft. masts and 40-ft. booms, and each operated by a 60-h.p. lambert, three-drum, electric, hoisting engine. one stiff-leg derrick, on the south side of the pier on the upper deck, with a 28-ft. mast operated by a three-drum lambert engine and a 25-h.p. vertical boiler. one stiff-leg derrick, on the north side of the dock on the upper deck, used exclusively for bringing in brick, electric conduit, pipe, and other building material, operated when first erected by a three-drum, steam-driven, lambert, hoisting engine. this engine was later changed to the derrick on the south side of the dock, and a motor-driven lambert engine from that derrick was substituted. eight electric telphers. ninth avenue twin-tunnels plant. one stiff-leg derrick, previously used in retaining-wall work. one smith concrete mixer, 1 cu. yd. capacity, driven by attached air engine. two cableways taken from the retaining-wall plant and used for mucking out the tunnels after the center pier had been built; driven by air supplied to the original engine. one robbins belt conveyor, driven by a 30-h.p. engine run by air. three 1-cu. yd. hopple dump-cars. construction. ground was broken for work under the principal contract on july 9th, 1904, on which date the contractor began cutting asphalt for trench no. 1 in 31st street, and also began making a roadway from ninth avenue into the pit just south of 32d street. _excavation for retaining walls._--two essentially different methods were used in excavating for and building the retaining walls; one, construction in trench, the other, construction on bench. in general, the trench method was used wherever the rock on which the wall was to be founded was 12 ft. or more below the surface of the street; or, what is perhaps a more exact statement, as it includes the determining factor, where the buildings adjoining the wall location were not founded on rock. in the trench method the base of the wall was staked out on the surface of the ground, the required width being determined by the elevation of the rock, as shown by the borings. the contractor then added as much width as he desired for sheeting and working space, and excavated to a depth of about 5 ft. before setting any timber. in some cases the depth of 5 ft. was excavated before the cableway or derrick for the excavation was erected, the wagons being driven directly into the excavation and loaded by hand, but, usually, the cableway was first erected, and buckets were used from the start. after the first 5 ft. had been excavated, two sets of rangers and struts were set, the first in the bottom of the excavation and the second at the level of the street surface, supported by posts resting on the bottom rangers. the sheeting was then set, and all voids back of it were filled with clean earth and well tamped. the toe of the sheeting was kept level with the bottom of the excavation until the ground-water was reached, after which it was kept from 3 to 5 ft. ahead of the digging. the sheeting used was 3-in., in variable widths; it was always tongued and grooved on the side of the trench next to the buildings and in the deeper excavations on both sides of the trench, and was driven by wooden mauls above the ground-water level, but steam sheeting-drivers were used below that elevation. struts, rangers, and posts were generally 12 by 12-in. some exceedingly bad material was encountered in the deeper excavations, beds of quicksand being passed through, varying in thickness from 1 to 18 ft., the latter, in 31st street between seventh and eighth avenues, in the deepest excavation made. after encountering the fine sand in that trench, no headway was made until a tight wooden cylinder was sunk through the sand by excavating the material inside of it and heavily weighting the shell with pig iron. when this cylinder had reached the gravel, which lay below the sand, it was used as a sump, and the water level was kept below the bottom of the excavation, which permitted good progress. sand continued to flow under the sheeting to such an extent, however, that the front walls of four adjoining buildings were badly cracked and had to be taken down and rebuilt. all the stoops along this trench settled, and had to be repaired. the bench method of excavating for the retaining wall was very simple, and was used only where the rock lay near the surface and the adjoining buildings were founded on it, the overlying material being in such case dry, and consequently firm, little or no shoring was required. the method was to extend the pit excavation to a width of 2 or 3 ft. beyond the proposed back of the retaining wall, and to carry that width down to the depth required for its base, below which the excavation was narrowed to 1 ft. inside of the face of the wall and continued either before it was built or subsequently. _retaining-wall construction._--the concrete walls were built in sections 50 ft. in length, except where that spacing would bring an expansion joint under a girder pocket or just on line with a tier of struts, in which cases the section was shortened as required. trenches were never allowed to remain open at the full depth, the concreting being started as soon after the necessary length of rock had been uncovered as the forms and preliminary work for a section could be prepared. each section was a monolith, except in a few cases where very heavy rains made it impossible to hold the laborers. the various operations in building the concrete wall are shown on fig. 7. guide-planks, "_a a_," section "_a-a_," were securely spiked to alternate tiers of struts for the length of the section, the face of each guide-plank being set on line with the intended face of the concrete wall, and 2-in. tongued-and-grooved spruce plank were laid along the guide-plank to the height of the bottom strut and securely braced from the front sheeting. a 4-in. brick wall was built simultaneously on line with the back of the wall to the height of the first step. where the bottom strut was below that elevation, the brickwork was left low at that immediate point and built up when the strut was removed. the brick wall was then water-proofed on the side toward the concrete, and loose laps of the water-proofing were allowed to hang over the brickwork and at least 8 in. down the back. a 6-in. vitrified pipe drain was then laid along the surface of the rock just outside of the brick wall, the joints in the pipe being caulked with oakum saturated in cement, and pointed with cement mortar above a line 1 in. below the horizontal diameter, the remainder of each joint being left open. cross-drains were laid from tees in the back drain to the face of the wall at all low points in the rock and at least for every 25 ft. of wall length, the joints of these discharge pipes being caulked and cemented throughout. the surface of the rock was then washed and scraped clean, and was covered with about 1 in. of mortar, after which the section was ready for concrete. the building of monolithic sections in trenches required that the thrust from one set of struts be taken by the concrete before the set above could be removed, and necessarily caused slow progress, the rate at which concrete was deposited being just sufficient to prevent one layer from setting before the next layer above could be placed. the concrete used was mixed in the proportions of 1 part of cement to 3 parts of sand and 6 parts of stone, in 2-bag batches, in ¾-yd. and 1-yd. ransome portable mixers mounted with air-driven engines on the same frame. these mixers were placed at the surface, and were charged with barrows, the correct quantities of sand and stone for each batch being measured in rectangular boxes previous to loading the barrows. the concrete was discharged from the mixer into a hopper which divided into two chutes, only one of which was used at a time, the concrete being shoveled from the bottom of the chutes to its final position. facing mortar, 2 in. thick, was deposited simultaneously with the concrete, and was kept separate from it by a steel diaphragm until both were in place, when the diaphragm was removed and the two were spaded together. the bottoms of the guide-planks were cut off just above the concrete as it progressed, and, as soon as the wall had reached a strut at one end of the section, that strut was removed, the form was built up to the next strut, at front and back, and braced to the sheeting, so that, by the time the entire length of the section had been carried up to the level of the first line of struts, forms were ready at one end for the succeeding layers. the layers of concrete never exceeded 8 in. in height, and at times there were slight delays in the concreting while the carpenters made ready the next lift of forms, but such delays were rarely long enough to permit the concrete to take its initial set. [illustration: fig. 7. sketch showing forms for, and method of, concreting retaining walls in trench.] after a section of concrete had firmly set, both back and front forms were removed, and the thrust from the sides of the trench was transferred directly to the finished wall. the face of the wall was rubbed with a cement brick to remove the marks of the plank, and was then coated with a wash of thin cement grout. the water-proofing and brick armor were then continued up the back of the wall, the spaces between the lines of braces being first water-proofed and bricked, and the braces transferred to the finished surface, after which the omitted panels were completed. the water-proofing consisted of three layers of hydrex felt, of a brand known as pennsylvania special, and four layers of coal-tar pitch. the pitch contained not less than 25% of carbon, softened at 60° fahr., and melted at a point between 96° and 106° fahr. the melting point was determined by placing 1 gramme of pitch on a lead disk over a hole, 5/16-in. in diameter, and immersed in water which was heated at the rate of 1° per min.; the temperature of the water at the time the pitch ran through the hole was considered as the melting point. in order to prevent the water-proofing from being torn at the joint between sections when they contract from changes in temperature, a vertical strip of felt, 6 in. wide, was pitched over each joint, lapping 3 in. on each concrete section. the back of this strip was not pitched, but was covered with pulverized soapstone, so that the water-proofing sheet was free from the wall for a distance of 3 in. on either side of each joint. concreting was continued during the severest weather, one section being placed when the thermometer was 5° above zero. when the thermometer was below the freezing point both sand and stone were heated by wood fires in large pipes under the supply piles; the temperature of the mix was taken frequently, and was kept above 40 degrees. numerous tests made while the work was in progress showed that, while the temperature fell slightly soon after the concrete was deposited, it was always from 2° to 5° higher at the end of 2 hours. the face and back of the concrete were prevented from freezing by a liberal packing of salt hay just outside the forms. a vertical hog trough, 24 in. wide and 9 in. deep, was placed in one end of each section, for its full height below the bridge seat, into which the next section keyed, and, when the temperature at the time of concreting was below 50° fahr., a compression joint was formed by placing a strip of heavy deadening felt, 2 ft. wide, on the end of the completed section next to the face and covering the remainder of the end with two ply of the felt and pitch water-proofing; the one ply of deadening felt near the face was about the same thickness as the two ply of water-proofing, and was used to prevent the pitch from being squeezed out of the joint to the face of the wall. the excavation for the retaining walls in 31st and 33d streets were in all cases made of sufficient width to receive the sewers, which were laid as soon as the back-fill, carefully rammed and puddled, had reached the proper elevations; the back-filling was then completed, and the gas and water mains were afterward laid in separate trenches. [illustration: fig. 8. sketch showing forms and bracing for ninth avenue wall] the sections of concrete built in trench varied in height from 13 to 59 ft. from the base to the top of the back wall. with the exception of the seventh avenue wall, 50 ft. in height, and the ninth avenue wall, 62 ft. in height, none of those sections constructed by the bench method was more than 14 ft. the forms and bracing for these walls were substantially the same, except that the low walls were built in lengths of approximately 50 ft., while the forms for the seventh and ninth avenue walls were only 20 ft. long. the forms and bracing for the ninth avenue walls are shown on fig. 8. these forms were built in one piece and moved ahead from section to section, and they were firmly braced from the bottom with raker braces to a point 36 ft. above the base, the upper part being held in place by ¾-in. bolts passed through the forms and anchored by cables to bolts grouted into the rock behind. after the forms had been set and braced, an 8-in. brick wall was laid up the face of the rock, containing a vertical line of three-cell hollow tile block every 5 ft. of length, and laid to conform as nearly as possible to the face of the rock, all voids being filled with broken stone. water-proofing, similar to that described for the walls in the trench, was then applied to the brick and tile wall for the full height, and firmly braced to the front forms, the braces being removed as the concrete reached them. the concrete was mixed at the street level and deposited through chutes, as described previously. tables 1, 2, and 3 show the quantity of cement used in each section of retaining wall, and give figures by which the quantities of other materials may be determined. _pit excavation._--the pit excavation during the horse-and-truck period was largely preparatory work done to get the excavation in good shape for handling spoil trains after pier no. 72 and the trestle approach were finished. this required an open cut from ninth to seventh avenues at a sufficient depth below the sewers and other substructures in the avenues to clear a locomotive, and wide enough for both running and loading tracks, also the building of the cast-iron sewer in eighth avenue across the entire excavation, with enough of the temporary bridging to support it. the building of the trestle in eighth avenue was essentially a part of the pit excavation, as the progress of one depended greatly on that of the other. excavation was commenced on july 12th, 1904, for the crossing under ninth avenue, and in the pit east of ninth avenue along 32d street. the line chosen for the opening cut was down the center of the pit, as it was not safe to excavate near the bounding streets until after the completion of the enclosing retaining wall. the excavation was started by hand, but three 70-ton bucyrus steam shovels were put to work as soon as they could be delivered, the first on july 25th and the third on september 12th. the excavated material was loaded by the shovels on end-dump wagons, each having a capacity of 2 cu. yd., and was conveyed in them to the dumping board at 35th street. the average number of teams was 135, 10% being snatch teams to pull the wagons out of the pit and to assist them up the runway at the dumping board. the teams averaged only seven trips per day of 10 hours, considerable delay being caused by the trains of the new york central railroad at eleventh avenue. the number of teams was not sufficient, therefore, to keep the three shovels busy when they were all in good digging, but the dumping board was taxed to accommodate that number, and little would have been gained by increasing it. the digging was very good during this period, practically no rock being encountered, and the building foundations were too light to present any obstacle to such powerful shovels. the capacity of their dippers was 3½ cu. yd., so that one dipperful meant one truck loaded and running over. the output from august to november, inclusive, averaged 40,000 cu. yd. per month; one shift only was worked per day, and although the quantity was not large for three such powerful shovels, it was large to truck through the streets, and required that one team pass a given point every 18 sec. at the end of november the opening up of the pit had been accomplished, considerable rock had been stripped near ninth avenue, and the streets had become so icy that the cost of transportation was practically doubled; work in the pit, therefore, was much curtailed, and amounted to continuous work for one shovel from that time until the end of the period, may 22d, 1905, when pier no. 72 was put in service and transportation by train began. figs. 2 and 3, plate lvi, show the condition of the pit east and west of eighth avenue, respectively, on that date. [illustration: fig. 9. sketch showing typical bent of trestle supporting eighth avenue] the work of excavating for and building the temporary street bridge, a typical bent and bracing for which are shown on fig. 9, and the cast-iron sewer and water mains in eighth avenue, was commenced on september 3d, 1904. the trestle was a double-decked structure of yellow pine, with 10 by 10-in. posts and sills, 10 by 14-in. intermediate and top caps, and 2 by 10-in. longitudinal and cross-braces. the trestle was further stiffened longitudinally by four lines of 8 by 10-in. struts, butted between the intermediate caps, and held in position by 2 by 8-in. splice-plates resting on top of them. the intermediate caps were at an elevation of 15 ft. below the surface of the street, and above that line the longitudinal bracing was continuous, while below it the bents were braced in pairs, the bracing being omitted from every second bay. below the intermediate cap the bents were uniform for the entire width of the trestle, but the top cap was not continuous, being 5 ft. below the surface under the trolley tracks, and only 18 in., the depth of stringers and planking, beyond. the stringers under the trolley tracks were 8 by 16-in. yellow pine, spaced three to a track, and those for the driveway were 6 by 14-in., spaced 1 ft. 6 in. on centers, the planking being 4-in. yellow pine. the first step in the construction was to excavate a trench 15 ft. wide on the west side of the street, the east side of the trench being 4 ft. west of the westernmost trolley rail. while this work was in progress, all vehicular traffic was turned to that part of the avenue east of the westerly trolley rail. the trench was sheeted and timbered, and carried to a depth sufficient to receive the intermediate cap. that portion of the bent from the bottom of the intermediate cap to the bottom of the top cap was then erected for the width of the trench, after which the 60-in. cast-iron sewer and the 48-in. water main were laid in position and caulked. the top cap, stringers, and planking were then laid, for the full width of the trestle west of the trolley tracks. this work was finished and the sewage turned into the new sewer in april, 1905. as the planking was laid west of the trolley tracks, traffic was turned to that side of the street, and the material east of the tracks was excavated to its natural slope. trenches were then dug under the tracks on the line of the bents, and the caps were set in position on blocking. the material between these trenches was then removed, the tracks being supported meanwhile by blocking at least every 6 ft., and the stringers and planking were shoved into place. excavation was next made between the caps to a depth of about 5 ft. below them, needle-beams being placed under the caps, one or two at a time, and supported on posts erected in these excavations; the material on line of the bents was excavated to the depth of the intermediate caps, which were then set, together with the posts and bracing for the upper deck of the structure. this operation was repeated for the lower deck, about 10 ft. being gained for each change of posts, and three shifts, therefore, were required. at the beginning of the train-transportation period, may 22d, 1905, two shifts of 10 hours each were inaugurated, and the earth was handled at the rate of from 85,000 to 90,000 cu. yd. per month; but, by the end of august, when a little more than 60% of the total earth had been disposed of, the rock began to interfere very greatly with the progress. the strike of the rock was almost directly north and south, and its surface formed broken ridges running in that direction, with deep valleys between. the dip was almost vertical near ninth avenue, and about 70° toward the west near seventh avenue. this condition made it necessary to turn the shovels parallel to the ridges in order to strip the rock for drilling; and, as the ridges were very broken, the shovels continued to bump into them on all occasions, making it necessary to move back and start other cuts or stand and wait for the rock to be drilled and blasted. one small vulcan steam shovel, with vertical boiler and ¾-cu. yd. dipper, had been brought on the work to be used in stripping rock, and was moved from place to place so much more easily than the large ones that an ohio shovel of the same general type was purchased in october, and thereafter the stripping was done largely by the two small shovels and by hand, the large shovels being used almost exclusively in handling rock. the drilling necessary to remove the rock was very large in amount and also per yard excavated. in order not to damage the retaining walls and the rock underlying them, holes spaced at 5-in. centers were drilled 1 ft. away from the face of the walls and on the same batter. these breaking holes alone amounted to a total of 210,000 lin. ft., or 1 ft. of hole for each 3½ cu. yd. of rock excavated; and the regulations of the bureau of combustibles, which prevented springing, caused the blasting holes to be placed very close together and required a total of about 420,000 lin. ft., making 630,000 ft. if to this is added the block holes, for some of the rock broke very large, it will show at least 1 ft. of drill hole for each cubic yard of rock excavated, about ten times the average on general railroad work. [transcriber's note: the three numbered tables were originally printed at full width, with columns (1)-(13) displayed in a single row.] table 1a.--record of retaining-wall sections, terminal station. west thirty-first street from seventh avenue to ninth avenue. (1) section no. (2) stations. (3) contents of section, in cubic yards. (4) barrels of cement used for facing. (5) cubic yards of facing mortar equivalent. (6) barrels of cement used for bed mortar. (7) cubic yards of bed mortar equivalent. (8) cubic yards of embedded stone. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) _____________________________________________________________________ | 1 {165 + 05.8} | | | | | | | | {165 + 66.0} | 617.48 | 17.50 | 5.95 | ... | ... | ... | | 2 {165 + 66.0} | | | | | | | | {165 + 95.4} | 233.96 | 10.25 | 3.49 | ... | ... | ... | | 3 {165 + 95.4} | | | | | | | | {166 + 41.2} | 355.20 | 24.50 | 8.34 | ... | ... | ... | | 4 {171 + 03.4} | | | | | | | | {171 + 53.4} | 309.29 | 67.50 | 23.00 | ... | ... | ... | | 5 {177 + 44.0} | | | | | | | | {177 + 94.0} | 109.62 | 30.25 | 10.30 | ... | ... | ... | | 6 {171 + 53.4} | | | | | | | | {171 + 83.0} | 246.35 | 27.75 | 9.44 | ... | ... | ... | | 7 {166 + 41.2} | | | | | | | | {166 + 79.0} | 644.12 | 77.50 | 26.37 | ... | ... | ... | | 8 {171 + 83.0} | | | | | | | | {172 + 12.0} | 394.43 | 63.75 | 21.69 | ... | ... | ... | | 9 {166 + 79.0} | | | | | | | | {167 + 20.5} | 974.58 |103.75 | 35.30 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 7.96 | | 10 {170 + 16.6} | | | | | | | | {170 + 58.6} | 767.34 | 92.50 | 31.48 | 2.75 | 0.94 | ... | | 11 {170 + 58.6} | | | | | | | | {171 + 03.4} | 599.17 | 77.00 | 26.20 | 10.25 | 3.49 | ... | | 12 {167 + 20.5} | | | | | | | | {167 + 43.9} | 535.28 | 50.50 | 17.18 | 2.00 | 0.68 | 4.00 | | 13 {175 + 18.5} | | | | | | | | {175 + 61.8} | 553.04 | 62.00 | 21.10 | 5.25 | 1.79 | ... | | 14 {177 + 02.9} | | | | | | | | {177 + 44.0} | 305.12 | 49.25 | 16.76 | 4.50 | 1.53 | ... | | 15 {175 + 61.8} | | | | | | | | {176 + 91.7} | 429.88 | 50.00 | 17.01 | 1.50 | 0.51 | ... | | 16 {176 + 62.5} | | | | | | | | {177 + 02.9} | 675.64 | 77.50 | 26.37 | 6.25 | 2.13 | ... | | 17 {174 + 04.5} | | | | | | | | {174 + 29.6} | 162.98 | 29.00 | 9.87 | 3.50 | 1.19 | ... | | 18 {175 + 91.7} | | | | | | | | {176 + 21.5} | 698.88 | 46.25 | 15.72 | 4.50 | 1.53 | 15.86 | | 19 {176 + 21.5} | | | | | | | | {176 + 62.5} | 1,166.79 | 81.50 | 27.73 | 4.00 | 1.36 | 34.96 | | 20 {167 + 43.9} | | | | | | | | {167 + 92.6} | 975.53 | 95.75 | 32.58 | 3.25 | 1.11 | 36.99 | | 21 {172 + 12.0} | | | | | | | | {172 + 45.2} | 271.48 | 31.75 | 10.80 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 8.65 | | 22 {168 + 41.3} | | | | | | | | {168 + 72.6} | 316.30 | 44.00 | 14.97 | 5.25 | 1.79 | 7.18 | | 23 {173 + 63.6} | | | | | | | | {174 + 04.5} | 529.33 | 54.75 | 18.63 | 4.75 | 1.62 | 1.25 | | 24 {167 + 92.6} | | | | | | | | {168 + 41.3} | 1,010.64 | 66.00 | 22.46 | 5.50 | 1.87 | 10.16 | | 25 {173 + 21.2} | | | | | | | | {173 + 63.6} | 675.21 | 77.75 | 26.46 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 12.00 | | 26 {164 + 72.5} | | | | | | | | {165 + 05.8} | 458.22 | 40.00 | 13.61 | 5.50 | 1.87 | 22.37 | | 27 {172 + 81.9} | | | | | | | | {173 + 21.2} | 409.43 | 35.00 | 11.91 | 9.75 | 3.31 | 4.64 | | 28 {164 + 27.6} | | | | | | | | {164 + 72.5} | 658.46 | 72.00 | 24.50 | 1.50 | 0.51 | 16.40 | | 29 {172 + 45.2} | | | | | | | | {172 + 81.9} | 345.89 | 30.25 | 10.29 | 5.00 | 1.70 | 1.62 | | 31 {174 + 78.0} | | | | | | | | {175 + 18.5} | 507.50 | 35.75 | 12.17 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 17.09 | | 32 {174 + 29.6} | | | | | | | | {174 + 78.0} | 396.99 | 43.75 | 14.89 | 1.75 | 0.60 | 6.50 | | 43 {177 + 94.0} | | | | | | | | {178 + 44.1} | 194.07 | 30.00 | 10.21 | 2.00 | 0.68 | 8.35 | | pier {168 + 72.6} | | | | | | | | {168 + 81.1} | 106.52 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | 76 {178 + 44.1} | | | | | | | | {178 + 94.1} | 136.32 | 12.75 | 4.34 | 4.75 | 1.62 | ... | | 79 {178 + 94.1} | | | | | | | | {179 + 44.1} | 118.07 | 9.00 | 3.06 | 8.50 | 1.19 | ... | | 82 {179 + 44.1} | | | | | | | | {179 + 93.7} | 126.12 | 6.50 | 2.21 | 2.50 | 0.85 | ... | | 84 {179 + 93.7} | | | | | | | | {180 + 44.2} | 126.77 | 6.75 | 2.30 | 2.25 | 0.77 | ... | | 86 {180 + 44.2} | | | | | | | | {180 + 93.6} | 162.48 | 8.00 | 2.72 | 2.75 | 0.94 | ... | | 90 {180 + 93.6} | | | | | | | | {181 + 17.9} | 92.52 | 4.00 | 1.36 | 1.00 | 0.34 | ... | |___________________|__________|_______|_______|_______|______|_______| table 1b.--record of retaining-wall sections, terminal station. west thirty-first street from seventh avenue to ninth avenue. (1) section no. (2) stations. (9) cubic yards of concrete in section (net). (10) barrels of cement used in concrete. (11) barrels of cement per cubic yard of concrete. (12) concrete started. (13) concrete finished. (1) (2) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) ______________________________________________________________________ | 1 {165 + 05.8} | | | | | | | {165 + 66.0} | 611.53 | 731.50 | 1.20 | 11/4/04 | 11/20/04 | | 2 {165 + 66.0} | | | | | | | {165 + 95.4} | 230.47 | 277.25 | 1.20 | 11/21/04 | 11/27/04 | | 3 {165 + 95.4} | | | | | | | {166 + 41.2} | 346.86 | 398.25 | 1.15 | 11/26/04 | 12/3/04 | | 4 {171 + 03.4} | | | | | | | {171 + 53.4} | 286.29 | 360.50 | 1.26 | 12/2/04 | 12/10/04 | | 5 {177 + 44.0} | | | | | | | {177 + 94.0} | 99.32 | 120.75 | 1.22 | 12/28/04 | 12/30/04 | | 6 {171 + 53.4} | | | | | | | {171 + 83.0} | 236.91 | 292.50 | 1.23 | 1/2/05 | 1/11/05 | | 7 {166 + 41.2} | | | | | | | {166 + 79.0} | 617.75 | 737.00 | 1.19 | 1/13/05 | 2/4/05 | | 8 {171 + 83.0} | | | | | | | {172 + 12.0} | 372.74 | 420.75 | 1.13 | 1/14/05 | 1/28/05 | | 9 {166 + 79.0} | | | | | | | {167 + 20.5} | 930.47 | 1,066.25 | 1.14 | 2/18/05 | 3/13/05 | | 10 {170 + 16.6} | | | | | | | {170 + 58.6} | 734.92 | 852.50 | 1.16 | 1/31/05 | 2/25/05 | | 11 {170 + 58.6} | | | | | | | {171 + 03.4} | 569.48 | 689.75 | 1.21 | 3/11/05 | 3/23/05 | | 12 {167 + 20.5} | | | | | | | {167 + 43.9} | 513.42 | 611.75 | 1.19 | 3/9/05 | 3/26/05 | | 13 {175 + 18.5} | | | | | | | {175 + 61.8} | 530.15 | 630.50 | 1.19 | 3/15/05 | 3/29/05 | | 14 {177 + 02.9} | | | | | | | {177 + 44.0} | 286.83 | 340.25 | 1.19 | 3/26/05 | 3/31/05 | | 15 {175 + 61.8} | | | | | | | {176 + 91.7} | 412.36 | 472.50 | 1.15 | 3/28/05 | 4/14/05 | | 16 {176 + 62.5} | | | | | | | {177 + 02.9} | 647.14 | 788.00 | 1.22 | 4/1/05 | 4/17/05 | | 17 {174 + 04.5} | | | | | | | {174 + 29.6} | 151.92 | 182.50 | 1.20 | 5/3/05 | 5/6/05 | | 18 {175 + 91.7} | | | | | | | {176 + 21.5} | 665.77 | 801.00 | 1.20 | 5/9/05 | 5/19/05 | | 19 {176 + 21.5} | | | | | | | {176 + 62.5} | 1,102.74 | 1,354.50 | 1.23 | 5/15/05 | 5/28/05 | | 20 {167 + 43.9} | | | | | | | {167 + 92.6} | 904.85 | 1,012.75 | 1.12 | 5/25/05 | 6/3/05 | | 21 {172 + 12.0} | | | | | | | {172 + 45.2} | 251.18 | 311.50 | 1.24 | 5/29/05 | 6/3/05 | | 22 {168 + 41.3} | | | | | | | {168 + 72.6} | 292.36 | 338.75 | 1.16 | 6/5/05 | 6/10/05 | | 23 {173 + 63.6} | | | | | | | {174 + 04.5} | 507.83 | 587.25 | 1.16 | 6/5/05 | 6/13/05 | | 24 {167 + 92.6} | | | | | | | {168 + 41.3} | 976.15 | 1,038.75 | 1.07 | 6/8/05 | 6/21/05 | | 25 {173 + 21.2} | | | | | | | {173 + 63.6} | 635.90 | 776.25 | 1.22 | 6/16/05 | 6/24/05 | | 26 {164 + 72.5} | | | | | | | {165 + 05.8} | 420.37 | 532.00 | 1.26 | 6/23/05 | 6/28/05 | | 27 {172 + 81.9} | | | | | | | {173 + 21.2} | 389.57 | 450.00 | 1.16 | 6/27/05 | 7/7/05 | | 28 {164 + 27.6} | | | | | | | {164 + 72.5} | 617.05 | 726.25 | 1.18 | 6/29/05 | 7/7/05 | | 29 {172 + 45.2} | | | | | | | {172 + 81.9} | 332.28 | 384.00 | 1.16 | 7/11/05 | 7/19/05 | | 31 {174 + 78.0} | | | | | | | {175 + 18.5} | 477.22 | 567.50 | 1.19 | 7/29/05 | 8/6/05 | | 32 {174 + 29.6} | | | | | | | {174 + 78.0} | 375.00 | 434.25 | 1.16 | 8/5/05 | 8/12/05 | | 43 {177 + 94.0} | | | | | | | {178 + 44.1} | 174.83 | 219.75 | 1.26 | 11/9/05 | 11/12/05 | | pier {168 + 72.6} | | | | | | | {168 + 81.1} | 106.52 | 144.00 | 1.35 | 12/6/06 | 12/8/06 | | 76 {178 + 44.1} | | | | | | | {178 + 94.1} | 130.36 | 142.50 | 1.09 | 7/8/07 | 7/10/07 | | 79 {178 + 94.1} | | | | | | | {179 + 44.1} | 113.82 | 129.50 | 1.14 | 7/15/07 | 7/16/07 | | 82 {179 + 44.1} | | | | | | | {179 + 93.7} | 123.06 | 131.75 | 1.07 | 7/22/07 | 7/23/07 | | 84 {179 + 93.7} | | | | | | | {180 + 44.2} | 123.70 | 133.50 | 1.08 | 7/26/07 | 7/27/07 | | 86 {180 + 44.2} | | | | | | | {180 + 93.6} | 158.82 | 167.00 | 1.05 | 7/30/07 | 7/31/07 | | 90 {180 + 93.6} | | | | | | | {181 + 17.9} | 90.82 | 115.00 | 1.27 | 8/18/08 | 8/18/08 | |___________________|__________|__________|______|__________|__________| note.--the number of cubic yards of crushed stone used in any section can be found by multiplying the figure for that section in column 10 by 0.7778. the number of cubic yards of sand used in any section can be found by multiplying: the sum of the figures for that section in columns 4, 6, and 10 by 0.3889. remarks.--section no. 4. amount of sand cut down on a part of this section on account of dust in stone. section no. 8. o'rourke stone used on this section, large and full of dust. section no. 9. stone crushed on the work used on this section, large and full of dust. section no. 21. 1:3:5 mix was used in part of this section on account of stone being large. section no. 24. different sized stone was shipped on barge and mixed on the board for this section. section no. 25. 1:3:5 mix used in a small part of this section on account of stone being large. sections nos. 76, 82, 84, and 86. stone contained large amount of dust. table 2a.--record of retaining-wall sections, terminal station. west thirty-third street from seventh avenue to ninth avenue. (1) section no. (2) stations. (3) contents of section, in cubic yards. (4) barrels of cement used for facing. (5) cubic yards of facing mortar equivalent. (6) barrels of cement used for bed mortar. (7) cubic yards of bed mortar equivalent. (8) cubic yards of embedded stone. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) ___________________________________________________________________ | 30 {170 + 73.2} | | | | | | | | {171 + 16.1} | 364.72 | 42.50 | 14.46 | 4.00 | 1.36 | ... | | 33 {178 + 48.7} | | | | | | | | {178 + 84.1} | 180.40 | 29.50 | 10.04 | 3.50 | 1.19 | ... | | 34 {r 2 + 75.5} | | | | | | | | {170 + 03.5} | 214.12 | 38.00 | 12.93 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 1.50 | | 35 {171 + 16.1} | | | | | | | | {171 + 42.5} | 381.56 | 40.25 | 13.70 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 14.37 | | 36 {170 + 03.6} | | | | | | | | {170 + 25.0} | 150.16 | 20.50 | 6.98 | ... | ... | 6.25 | | 37 {171 + 42.5} | | | | | | | | {171 + 91.3} | 869.40 | 59.50 | 20.25 | 4.50 | 1.53 | 44.96 | | 38 {171 + 91.3} | | | | | | | | {172 + 19.2} | 233.49 | 22.75 | 7.74 | 2.75 | 0.94 | 14.45 | | 39 {179 + 27.2} | | | | | | | | {179 + 64.2} | 255.39 | 32.00 | 10.89 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 9.05 | | 40 {170 + 25.0} | | | | | | | | {170 + 73.2} | 500.73 | 44.25 | 15.06 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 29.64 | | 41 {169 + 50.8} | | | | | | | | {r 2 + 75.5} | 215.93 | 28.25 | 9.61 | 2.00 | 0.68 | ... | | 42 {178 + 84.1} | | | | | | | | {179 + 27.2} | 177.62 | 23.00 | 7.83 | 1.50 | 0.51 | 7.06 | | 44 {180 + 05.5} | | | | | | | | {180 + 44.2} | 936.15 | 58.75 | 19.99 | 10.50 | 3.47 | 73.84 | | 45 {180 + 44.2} | | | | | | | | {180 + 74.9} | 1,133.59 | 60.00 | 20.42 | 5.00 | 1.70 | 60.71 | | 46 {179 + 64.2} | | | | | | | | {180 + 05.5} | 477.14 | 35.00 | 11.91 | 3.75 | 1.28 | 24.58 | | 47 {169 + 00.1} | | | | | | | | {169 + 50.8} | 136.19 | 14.25 | 4.85 | 3.50 | 1.19 | 2.00 | | 48 {178 + 24.1} | | | | | | | | {178 + 48.7} | 192.78 | 21.25 | 7.23 | 2.00 | 0.68 | ... | | 49 {177 + 81.1} | | | | | | | | {178 + 24.1} | 241.51 | 25.25 | 8.59 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 1.33 | | 50 {168 + 03.6} | | | | | | | | {168 + 45.6} | 405.61 | 25.50 | 8.68 | 4.00 | 1.36 | 36.10 | | 51 {177 + 38.4} | | | | | | | | {177 + 81.1} | 100.54 | 12.75 | 4.34 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 0.78 | | 52 {168 + 45.6} | | | | | | | | {168 + 80.1} | 181.96 | 19.00 | 6.47 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 9.03 | | 53 {168 + 80.1} | | | | | | | | {169 + 00.1} | 41.32 | 3.50 | 1.19 | ... | ... | ... | | 55 {176 + 90.0} | | | | | | | | {177 + 38.4} | 92.41 | 11.25 | 3.83 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 3.68 | | 56 {167 + 62.1} | | | | | | | | {168 + 03.6} | 383.67 | 33.75 | 11.48 | 3.25 | 1.11 | 36.62 | | 59 {175 + 67.3} | | | | | | | | {175 + 98.9} | 175.61 | 15.50 | 5.27 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 9.37 | | 60 {176 + 49.0} | | | | | | | | {176 + 90.0} | 69.97 | 8.25 | 2.81 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 1.58 | | 61 {175 + 98.9} | | | | | | | | {176 + 49.0} | 104.56 | 8.00 | 2.72 | 3.50 | 1.19 | 3.72 | | 64 {175 + 30.3} | | | | | | | | {175 + 67.3} | 140.15 | 14.75 | 5.02 | 2.75 | 0.94 | ... | | 65 {174 + 85.4} | | | | | | | | {175 + 30.3} | 80.66 | 9.00 | 3.06 | 2.50 | 0.85 | ... | | 66 {174 + 47.9} | | | | | | | | {174 + 85.4} | 68.89 | 5.50 | 1.87 | 3.25 | 1.11 | ... | | 67 {174 + 21.1} | | | | | | | | {174 + 47.9} | 60.14 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 2.00 | 0.68 | 0.92 | | 68 {167 + 12.3} | | | | | | | | {167 + 62.1} | 379.94 | 23.50 | 8.00 | 5.00 | 1.70 | 19.34 | | 69 {173 + 85.6} | | | | | | | | {174 + 21.1} | 77.43 | 6.50 | 2.21 | 3.00 | 1.02 | ... | | 70 {166 + 75.6} | | | | | | | | {167 + 12.3} | 408.81 | 33.75 | 11.48 | 3.75 | 1.28 | ... | | 71 {173 + 46.5} | | | | | | | | {173 + 85.6} | 85.92 | 8.25 | 2.81 | 1.75 | 0.60 | ... | | 74 {172 + 19.2} | | | | | | | | {172 + 73.0} | 449.28 | 22.75 | 7.74 | 6.25 | 2.13 | ... | | 75 {172 + 73.0} | | | | | | | | {173 + 24.0} | 502.20 | 27.25 | 9.27 | 7.00 | 2.38 | ... | | 77 {164 + 77.0} | | | | | | | | {165 + 27.1} | 141.38 | 9.00 | 3.06 | 7.25 | 2.47 | ... | | 78 {168 + 83.4} | | | | | | | | {169 + 18.3} | 63.35 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 1.50 | 0.51 | ... | | 80 {165 + 27.1} | | | | | | | | {165 + 76.6} | 108.86 | 11.75 | 4.00 | 3.00 | 1.02 | ... | | 81 {168 + 45.6} | | | | | | | | {168 + 83.4} | 210.97 | 13.00 | 4.42 | 6.25 | 2.13 | ... | | 83 {165 + 76.6} | | | | | | | | {166 + 20.5} | 108.06 | 8.00 | 2.72 | 3.75 | 1.28 | ... | | 85 {166 + 20.5} | | | | | | | | {166 + 64.6} | 107.52 | 9.00 | 3.06 | 2.25 | 0.76 | ... | | 87 {166 + 64.6} | | | | | | | | {166 + 75.6} | 23.44 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 2.25 | 0.42 | ... | | 88 {164 + 26.3} | | | | | | | | {164 + 77.0} | 317.72 | 24.00 | 8.17 | 2.25 | 0.76 | ... | | 89 {173 + 20.8} | | | | | | | | {173 + 46.5} | 93.51 | 5.60 | 1.70 | 1.50 | 0.51 | ... | | 91 {180 + 74.9} | | | | | | | | {180 + 92.7} | 141.40 | 17.50 | 5.96 | ... | ... | ... | | 92 {180 + 92.7} | | | | | | | | {181 + 28.8} | 118.93 | 19.00 | 6.46 | ... | ... | ... | |_________________|__________|_______|_______|_______|______|_______| table 2b.--record of retaining-wall sections, terminal station. west thirty-third street from seventh avenue to ninth avenue. (1) section no. (2) stations. (9) cubic yards of concrete in section (net). (10) barrels of cement used in concrete. (11) barrels of cement per cubic yard of concrete. (12) concrete started. (13) concrete finished. (1) (2) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) ___________________________________________________________________ |30 {170 + 73.2} | | | | | | | {171 + 16.1} | 348.90 | 391.00 | 1.12 | 7/20/05 | 7/26/05 | |33 {178 + 48.7} | | | | | | | {178 + 84.1} | 169.17 | 188.00 | 1.11 | 8/7/05 | 8/11/05 | |34 {r 2 + 75.5} | | | | | | | {170 + 03.5} | 199.35 | 217.25 | 1.09 | 8/14/05 | 8/19/05 | |35 {171 + 16.1} | | | | | | | {171 + 42.5} | 353.15 | 400.25 | 1.13 | 8/16/05 | 8/22/05 | |36 {170 + 03.6} | | | | | | | {170 + 25.0} | 136.93 | 133.75 | 0.98 | 8/19/05 | 8/22/05 | |37 {171 + 42.5} | | | | | | | {171 + 91.3} | 802.66 | 909.00 | 1.13 | 8/22/05 | 9/6/05 | |38 {171 + 91.3} | | | | | | | {172 + 19.2} | 210.36 | 238.50 | 1.13 | 8/24/05 | 8/27/05 | |39 {179 + 27.2} | | | | | | | {179 + 64.2} | 234.43 | 270.25 | 1.15 | 8/29/05 | 9/2/05 | |40 {170 + 25.0} | | | | | | | {170 + 73.2} | 455.69 | 525.75 | 1.15 | 9/11/05 | 9/15/05 | |41 {169 + 50.8} | | | | | | | {r 2 + 75.5} | 205.64 | 236.50 | 1.15 | 10/3/05 | 10/6/05 | |42 {178 + 84.1} | | | | | | | {179 + 27.2} | 162.22 | 194.75 | 1.20 | 10/9/05 | 10/11/05 | |44 {180 + 05.5} | | | | | | | {180 + 44.2} | 838.85 | 987.00 | 1.18 | 11/17/05 | 11/27/05 | |45 {180 + 44.2} | | | | | | | {180 + 74.9} | 1,050.86 | 1,206.00 | 1.15 | 12/13/05 | 12/23/05 | |46 {179 + 64.2} | | | | | | | {180 + 05.5} | 439.37 | 535.00 | 1.22 | 1/15/06 | 1/19/06 | |47 {169 + 00.1} | | | | | | | {169 + 50.8} | 128.15 | 150.50 | 1.17 | 4/4/06 | 4/6/06 | |48 {178 + 24.1} | | | | | | | {178 + 48.7} | 184.87 | 226.00 | 1.22 | 4/24/06 | 4/30/06 | |49 {177 + 81.1} | | | | | | | {178 + 24.1} | 230.74 | 274.00 | 1.19 | 5/21/06 | 5/24/06 | |50 {168 + 03.6} | | | | | | | {168 + 45.6} | 359.47 | 406.00 | 1.13 | 6/13/06 | 6/18/06 | |51 {177 + 38.4} | | | | | | | {177 + 81.1} | 94.40 | 112.00 | 1.19 | 6/20/06 | 6/21/06 | |52 {168 + 45.6} | | | | | | | {168 + 80.1} | 166.12 | 190.00 | 1.14 | 6/25/06 | 6/28/06 | |53 {168 + 80.1} | | | | | | | {169 + 00.1} | 40.13 | 44.50 | 1.11 | 6/29/06 | 6/29/06 | |55 {176 + 90.0} | | | | | | | {177 + 38.4} | 84.05 | 98.25 | 1.17 | 8/17/06 | 8/18/06 | |56 {167 + 62.1} | | | | | | | {168 + 03.6} | 334.46 | 383.50 | 1.14 | 8/28/06 | 9/1/06 | |59 {175 + 67.3} | | | | | | | {175 + 98.9} | 160.12 | 186.00 | 1.16 | 10/15/06 | 10/16/06 | |60 {176 + 49.0} | | | | | | | {176 + 90.0} | 64.56 | 75.00 | 1.16 | 10/17/06 | 10/18/06 | |61 {175 + 98.9} | | | | | | | {176 + 49.0} | 96.93 | 108.00 | 1.11 | 10/19/06 | 10/20/06 | |64 {175 + 30.3} | | | | | | | {175 + 67.3} | 134.19 | 161.50 | 1.20 | 11/21/06 | 11/22/06 | |65 {174 + 85.4} | | | | | | | {175 + 30.3} | 76.75 | 92.75 | 1.21 | 12/14/06 | 12/15/06 | |66 {174 + 47.9} | | | | | | | {174 + 85.4} | 65.91 | 83.50 | 1.27 | 12/18/06 | 12/18/06 | |67 {174 + 21.1} | | | | | | | {174 + 47.9} | 57.52 | 67.50 | 1.17 | 12/21/06 | 12/21/06 | |68 {167 + 12.3} | | | | | | | {167 + 62.1} | 350.90 | 412.50 | 1.17 | 1/2/07 | 1/6/07 | |69 {173 + 85.6} | | | | | | | {174 + 21.1} | 74.20 | 91.00 | 1.23 | 1/29/07 | 1/30/07 | |70 {166 + 75.6} | | | | | | | {167 + 12.3} | 396.05 | 468.50 | 1.18 | 4/2/07 | 4/10/07 | |71 {173 + 46.5} | | | | | | | {173 + 85.6} | 82.51 | 95.75 | 1.16 | 4/17/07 | 4/19/07 | |74 {172 + 19.2} | | | | | | | {172 + 73.0} | 439.41 | 506.00 | 1.15 | 6/20/07 | 6/24/07 | |75 {172 + 73.0} | | | | | | | {173 + 24.0} | 490.55 | 579.00 | 1.18 | 7/8/07 | 8/25/07 | |77 {164 + 77.0} | | | | | | | {165 + 27.1} | 135.85 | 161.50 | 1.19 | 7/13/07 | 7/15/07 | |78 {168 + 83.4} | | | | | | | {169 + 18.3} | 61.82 | 73.00 | 1.18 | 7/13/07 | 7/14/07 | |80 {165 + 27.1} | | | | | | | {165 + 76.6} | 103.84 | 133.50 | 1.28 | 7/18/07 | 7/19/07 | |81 {168 + 45.6} | | | | | | | {168 + 83.4} | 204.42 | 255.75 | 1.25 | 7/20/07 | 7/23/07 | |83 {165 + 76.6} | | | | | | | {166 + 20.5} | 104.06 | 128.50 | 1.23 | 7/25/07 | 7/27/07 | |85 {166 + 20.5} | | | | | | | {166 + 64.6} | 103.70 | 144.50 | 1.39 | 7/29/07 | 7/30/07 | |87 {166 + 64.6} | | | | | | | {166 + 75.6} | 22.68 | 30.00 | 1.32 | 7/31/07 | 7/31/07 | |88 {164 + 26.3} | | | | | | | {164 + 77.0} | 308.79 | 370.00 | 1.20 | 8/8/07 | 8/11/07 | |89 {173 + 20.8} | | | | | | | {173 + 46.5} | 91.30 | 121.75 | 1.33 | 9/7/07 | 9/8/07 | |91 {180 + 74.9} | | | | | | | {180 + 92.7} | 135.44 | 203.50 | 1.50 | 11/18/07 | 11/20/0 | |92 {180 + 92.7} | | | | | | | {181 + 28.8} | 112.47 | 190.00 | 1.69 | 12/1/08 | 12/2/08 | |________________|__________|__________|______|__________|__________| note.--the number of cubic yards of crushed stone used in any section can be found by multiplying the figure for that section in column 10 by 0.7778. the number of cubic yards of sand used in any section can be found by multiplying the sum of the figures for that section in columns 4, 6, and 10 by 0.3889. remarks.--section no. 47. part of this section was removed on account of damage done by blasting and was replaced by section no. 78. section no. 52. all of this section was removed on account of damage done by blasting and was replaced by section no. 81. section no. 53. all of this section was removed on account of damage done by blasting and was replaced by sections nos. 78 and 81. table 3a.--record of retaining wall sections. (1) section no. (2) stations. (3) contents of section, in cubic yards. (4) barrels of cement used for facing. (5) cubic yards of facing mortar equivalent. (6) barrels of cement used for bed mortar. (7) cubic yards of bed mortar equivalent. (8) cubic yards of embedded stone. power-house. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) ________________________________________________________________ | a {l 2 + 75.3} | | | | | | | | {l 3 + 25.3} | 463.28 | 58.25 | 19.82 | 5.50 | 1.87 | 11.50 | | b {l 3 + 25.3} | | | | | | | | {l 3 + 74.9} | 114.78 | 23.00 | 7.83 | 1.75 | 0.60 | 1.50 | | c {169 + 30.8} | | | | | | | | {169 + 74.8} | 179.19 | 34.25 | 11.66 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 3.60 | | d {169 + 74.8} | | | | | | | | {170 + 28.8} | 114.38 | 27.25 | 9.27 | 0.25 | 0.09 | 0.07 | | e {168 + 83.6} | | | | | | | | {169 + 30.8} | 101.20 | 22.00 | 7.49 | 1.50 | 0.51 | 0.65 | | f {l 2 + 78.2} | | | | | | | | {l 3 + 19.6} | 358.80 | 39.50 | 13.44 | 0.75 | 0.26 | 9.50 | | g {l 3 + 19.6} | | | | | | | | {l 3 + 56.9} | 237.33 | 23.00 | 7.83 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 0.74 | | h {l 3 + 56.9} | | | | | | | | {168 + 83.5} | 25.55 | 6.25 | 2.13 | 0.75 | 0.26 | ... | |_________________|________|_______|_______|______|______|_______| seventh avenue. ________________________________________________________________ | 54 {164 + 27.6} | | | | | | | | {l 2 + 32.0} | 764.48 | 69.75 | 23.74 | 3.00 | 1.02 | ... | | 57 {l 2 + 10.3} | | | | | | | | {l 2 + 32.0} | 533.06 | 34.00 | 11.57 | 2.25 | 0.77 | ... | | 58 {l 1 + 87.1} | | | | | | | | {l 2 + 10.3} | 544.54 | 32.25 | 10.97 | 2.00 | 0.68 | 9.80 | | 62 {l 1 + 87.1} | | | | | | | | {l 1 + 64.4} | 575.67 | 30.00 | 10.21 | 3.00 | 1.02 | 6.20 | | 63 {l 1 + 42.4} | | | | | | | | {l 1 + 64.4} | 607.01 | 30.50 | 10.38 | 2.50 | 0.85 | 3.79 | | 72 {l 1 + 42.4} | | | | | | | | {l 1 + 19.6} | 631.97 | 30.00 | 10.21 | 1.75 | 0.60 | 1.18 | | 73 {l 1 + 19.6} | | | | | | | | {l 0 + 97.0} | 573.33 | 25.25 | 8.59 | 0.25 | 0.08 | 2.48 | |_________________|________|_______|_______|______|______|_______| table 3b.--record of retaining wall sections. (1) section no. (2) stations. (9) cubic yards of concrete in section (net). (10) barrels of cement used in concrete. (11) barrels of cement per cubic yard of concrete. (12) concrete started. (13) concrete finished. power-house. (1) (2) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) ________________________________________________________________ | a {l 2 + 75.3} | | | | | | | {l 3 + 25.3} | 430.09 | 482.75 | 1.12 | 5/18/05 | 5/25/05 | | b {l 3 + 25.3} | | | | | | | {l 3 + 74.9} | 104.85 | 125.50 | 1.20 | 6/14/05 | 6/16/05 | | c {169 + 30.8} | | | | | | | {169 + 74.8} | 163.59 | 183.00 | 1.12 | 7/10/05 | 7/13/05 | | d {169 + 74.8} | | | | | | | {170 + 28.8} | 104.95 | 119.25 | 1.14 | 7/14/05 | 7/19/05 | | e {168 + 83.6} | | | | | | | {169 + 30.8} | 92.55 | 107.25 | 1.16 | 7/26/05 | 7/28/05 | | f {l 2 + 78.2} | | | | | | | {l 3 + 19.6} | 335.60 | 397.75 | 1.18 | 9/19/05 | 9/24/05 | | g {l 3 + 19.6} | | | | | | | {l 3 + 56.9} | 228.42 | 278.00 | 1.22 | 9/26/05 | 9/29/05 | | h {l 3 + 56.9} | | | | | | | {168 + 83.5} | 23.16 | 28.00 | 1.21 | 9/29/05 | 9/29/05 | |_________________|________|________|______|__________|__________| seventh avenue. ________________________________________________________________ | 54 {164 + 27.6} | | | | | | | {l 2 + 32.0} | 739.72 | 907.50 | 1.23 | 8/6/06 | 8/15/06 | | 57 {l 2 + 10.3} | | | | | | | {l 2 + 32.0} | 520.72 | 610.75 | 1.17 | 9/10/06 | 9/15/06 | | 58 {l 1 + 87.1} | | | | | | | {l 2 + 10.3} | 523.09 | 588.25 | 1.12 | 9/24/06 | 9/28/06 | | 62 {l 1 + 87.1} | | | | | | | {l 1 + 64.4} | 538.24 | 639.50 | 1.19 | 10/24/06 | 10/29/06 | | 63 {l 1 + 42.4} | | | | | | | {l 1 + 64.4} | 581.99 | 678.50 | 1.17 | 11/5/06 | 11/11/06 | | 72 {l 1 + 42.4} | | | | | | | {l 1 + 19.6} | 619.98 | 719.50 | 1.16 | 4/25/07 | 4/30/07 | | 73 {l 1 + 19.6} | | | | | | | {l 0 + 97.0} | 562.18 | 685.75 | 1.22 | 5/13/07 | 5/18/07 | |_________________|________|________|______|__________|__________| note.--the number of cubic yards of crushed stone used in any section can be found by multiplying the figure for that section in column 10 by 0.7778. the number of cubic yards of sand used in any section can be found by multiplying the sum of the figures for that section in columns 4, 6, and 10 by 0.3889. channeling with a 10-ft quarry bar, carrying a no. 4 ingersoll-rand drill with z-bits, was attempted in place of the close drilling below the walls, but, as the rock stood so nearly vertical and was full of soft seams, very little could be accomplished, the average cut per day of 10 hours, counting the time of moving and setting up, was only 4 sq. ft., and, after a thorough trial, the bars were abandoned. _disposal._--the excavated material was hauled from the shovels to the pier in 10-car trains. the cars were of three classes: 4-yd. western dump-cars, flat cars without skips, and flats carrying specially designed steel skips having a capacity of 4 cu. yd. each. as far as practicable, earth, and rock containing 1 cu. yd. or less, was loaded on dumpers, medium-sized rock on the skips, and large rock on the bare flats. as a steam shovel must pick up what is nearest to it first, however, this classification could not always be adhered to, and many large rocks were loaded into dumpers. cars of this class which contained no material too large to dump were run at once to the hoppers, and were dumped and returned to the pit; others, together with the flat and skip cars, were run down the incline to the derricks and telphers, where the flats and skips were entirely unloaded, and the large rocks ware removed from the dumpers, after which they were run to the hoppers and emptied. the total quantity of excavated material handled at this pier from may 22d, 1905, to december 31st, 1908, amounted to 673,800 cu. yd. of earth and 1,488,000 cu. yd. of rock, place measurement, equal to 3,203,400 cu. yd., scow measurement; in addition to which 175,000 cu. yd. of crushed stone and sand and 6,000 car loads of miscellaneous building material were transferred from scows and lighters to small cars for delivery to the terminal work. all the earth and 570,000 cu. yd. of the rock, place measurement, were handled through the chutes, and the remainder of the rock, 918,000 cu. yd., and all the incoming material by the derricks and telphers. in capacity to handle material, one telpher was about equal to one derrick. a train, therefore, could be emptied or a boat loaded under the bank of eight telphers in one-fourth the time required by the derricks, of which only two could work on one boat. the telphers, therefore, were of great advantage where track room and scow berths were limited. as noted in the list of contracts under which the work was executed, the scows at both the 35th street dumping board and pier no. 72 were furnished, towed, and the material finally disposed of, by henry steers, incorporated. during the same period, this contractor disposed of the material excavated from both the cross-town tunnels, constructed by the united engineering and contracting company, and the tunnels under the east river, constructed by s. pearson and son, incorporated. as stated in other papers of this series relating to the construction of those tunnels, the material excavated by the united engineering and contracting company was delivered to barges at 35th street and east river and that by s. pearson and son, incorporated, at two points, one in long island city and the other at 33d street and east river, manhattan. the total number of cubic yards of material disposed of amounted to: place measurement. total barge earth. rock. measurement. 35th street and north river 242,800 22,800 281,500 pier no. 72, north river 673,800 1,488,000 3,203,400 from cross-town tunnels 570,400 from under-river tunnels 402,500 ---------- total 4,457,800 =========== the material was delivered as follows: to the freight terminal of the pennsylvania railroad company at greenville, n.j. 3,454,800 to the meadows division of the tunnel line between harrison, n.j., and the north river portals 711,900 to other points selected by the contractors 291,100 -------- total 4,457,800 ========= the handling of this large quantity of material required the loading of from 10 to 20 scows per day (and for more than two years the average was 14), and, as the average time spent in one round trip was 3 1/3 days, a fleet of more than 50 scows was required to keep all points supplied and allow for a few to be out of service undergoing repairs. all loaded scows were towed from the docks, with the ebb tide, to a stake boat anchored in the bay about one mile off shore at greenville; and were taken from there to the different unloading points, as required, by smaller tugs which also returned the empty scows to the stake. the unloading plants were similar at the different points, although that at greenville was much larger than the others. it included five land dredges and eight traveling derricks of two types, one floating and the other mounted on wheels and traveling on a track of 16-ft. gauge. the derricks handled the large rock, which was loaded at pier no. 72 by derricks and telphers. they were of the ordinary a-frame type, and were designed to handle 20 tons. they were operated by 9 by 10-in. lidgerwood double-drum and swinging-gear engines. the large rock was deposited by the derricks either in the channels along which they worked or in the fill along shore, without the use of cars. the land dredges were equipped with a 60-ft. boom and a 2½-yd. hayward bucket operated by a 14 by 18-in. double-drum lidgerwood dredging engine. they loaded into 9-yd., standard-gauge, side-dump cars, built by the contractor, and unloaded the scows to within about 1 ft. of the deck, a hayward bucket being unsuitable for closer work without greatly damaging the scows. the material remaining was loaded by hand into skips which were handled to the cars by small derricks, one of which was located at the rear of each dredge. the cars were taken to the dump and returned by 25-ton, standard-gauge, engines which had previously done service on the manhattan elevated railroad, but were spotted for loading by the engine on the dredge. in order to keep a record of the fleet of scows, which would show the available supply at a glance, a board, 10 by 15 in., and covered with a heavy sheet of ruled paper, was arranged as shown by fig. 10. it was divided into 12 vertical columns, the first of which was headed "scows," and contained the name or number of each scow in service. the next four columns denoted loading points, and were headed "pier no. 72," "thirty-third street, east river," "thirty-fifth street, east river," and "long island city," respectively; the sixth column was headed "greenville," the seventh "hackensack," the eighth "passaic," and the ninth "governors island," being unloading points, the tenth and eleventh, "stake boat" and "dry dock," respectively, while the twelfth was for "extra pins," not in use. to indicate the condition of the scows, small pins with colored heads were used; white indicated empty; blue, working; black, loaded; red, being repaired; and a pearl-colored pin, missing. thus a white-headed pin opposite the number 6 in the column headed pier no. 72 indicated that scow no. 6 was lying at that pier waiting to be placed in position for loading, whereas a black-headed pin at the same point meant that the scow had received its load and was ready to be towed. board recording location and condition of scows [transcriber's note: this chart was originally presented as an illustration, figure 10. it is shown here rotated from horizontal to vertical for readability. as in the original, only a partial board is shown; the number of scows was at least 8.] +---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | scows. | h.s. | h.s. | h.s. | h.s. | h.s. | h.s. / | | no. 1 | no. 2 | no. 3 | no. 4 | no. 5 | no. 6 / +---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | loading points | | | | | | / +--+------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | pier no. 72 | | | | | | / | +------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | thirty-third | | | | | | / | | street east r. | | | | | | / | +------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | thirty-fifth | | | | | | / | | street east r. | | | | | | / | +------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | long island city | | | | | | / +--+------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | unloading points | | | | | | / +--+------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | greenville. | | | | | | / | +------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | hackensack. | | | | | | / | +------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | passaic. | | | | | | / | +------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | governors island.| | | | | | / +--+------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | stake boat. | | | | | | / +---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | dry dock. | | | | | | / +---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------/ | | / | extra pins. | empty. white pins not in use placed here. / | | / +---------------------+-----------------------------------------------/ the scows were all taken from the general service about the harbor; some of them were practically new, while others had seen much service. they were of two general types, truss-framed or bulkhead-framed; all were flat-bottomed, with a rake of about 45° at bow and stern. the truss-framed scows were built with a cross-truss every 10 to 15 ft., on which rested, fore and aft, two classes of beams, main and intermediate. the main beams were built of timbers ranging from 10 by 10 in. to 14 by 14 in., were scarfed at the joints, and trussed with the bottom logs. the intermediate beams were of timbers varying from 6 by 6 in. to 10 by 12 in., had butt joints, and were dapped at the cross-trusses to give a convex surface to the deck, which was built of 3-in. and 4-in. plank, from 8 to 12 in. in width, running athwartship. the sides of the scows of this class were spiked and bolted to trusses similar to those running under the main beams. the bulkheaded boats had both sides and two longitudinal bulkheads placed so as to divide the scow into three sections of equal width, built of 8 by 8-in. or 10 by 10-in. timbers, laid one upon the other, and bolted through from top to bottom. the beams on these boats ran athwartship, rested on sides and bulkheads, and ranged from 6 by 10-in. to 10 by 12-in., spaced 2 ft. apart, and dressed to give a convex surface to the deck, which was usually 3 in., in some cases 4 in., in thickness, and made up of narrow plank from 4 to 6 in. in width. [illustration: fig. 11. diagram of deck showing bays] these boats had all been designed for lighter work than they were here required to perform, and a large amount of breakage occurred from the start. in order that the contractors for the excavation should be unhampered as to method of loading, the contracts provided that they should pay for all damage done to the scows in loading, other than ordinary and usual wear and tear, all other damage being at the expense of the contractor for the disposal. a rigid system of inspection was necessary to determine and record properly the damage for which each contractor was responsible; and, as much of the breakage could not be noticed from the exterior, a thorough examination of the interior of each scow was made before and after every loading. in order to keep proper records, the bays of each scow, formed by the cross-trusses, were numbered, beginning aft with number 1 and going forward to the bow, and the longitudinal bays formed by the main beams were lettered, beginning with "_a_" on the port side. a beam broken in "1-_a_," therefore, would be an intermediate beam in the stern port corner bay, and a beam broken in "10-_a-b_" would be a main beam at the bow end on the port side. the underside of each plank was marked with a number beginning with 1 at the stern and increasing by unity to the bow. fig. 11 is a diagram of a scow in accordance with this system. in addition to recording the date, location, extent, and party responsible for each damage, in a book kept for that purpose, the injured member was marked with paint, the color of which indicated the party responsible. the repairs were made by the contractor for the disposal of material, and the cost was assessed according to the marking in the boat. the careful inspection of the damage done to scows and the cost of their repairs enables a fairly accurate statement to be made of the amount at different points, and it is here given on the basis of cost of repairs per cubic yard, barge measurement, of material handled. cost, in cents per cubic yard. repairs of damage done in loading material from the terminal site 2.00 repairs of damage done in loading material from cross-town tunnels 1.32 repairs of damage done in loading material from under-river tunnels 1.77 repairs of damage done in transporting and unloading material from all points 1.81 the above figures do not include the expense due to scows which were overturned or sunk while in the service, which amounted to 0.4 cent per cubic yard, additional. _ninth avenue tunnels._--the two double-track tunnels under ninth avenue, constructed to obtain 100 ft. of additional tail room on each of four tracks, required an excavation 76 ft. wide, fig. 12. the rock, although fair, was not firm enough for so great a span, and, to obviate the necessity of timbering, the center wall was built before excavating for the full width. the dip of the rock at this point is almost 90°, and to prevent blowing away the entire face in excavating for the tunnel, the pit excavation was not carried west to the final face below the springing line, a 10-ft. bench being left at that elevation. a top heading 9 ft. high and 10 ft. wide was started above that bench and, after penetrating about 10 ft., was widened to 20 ft. a cross-heading was driven in each direction at the west end of the first heading; the bench was then shot down, and the first 10 ft. of the longitudinal heading was widened sufficiently to receive the center wall, fig. 12. after the middle wall had been concreted, any voids between its top and the rock were grouted through pipes left for that purpose; the wall was then protected by curtains of heavy round timber securely wired together, and the remainder of the excavation was made by widening the cross-headings toward the face. the muck was carried out by two cableways, one on each side of the completed middle wall, each of which was supported by a tower outside of the tunnel and a large hook-bolt grouted into the rock at the inner end of the tunnel. forms were built for each tunnel complete, and the concrete was delivered by a belt conveyor, running over the top of the lagging, and moved out as the tunnel was keyed. [illustration: fig. 12. terminal station sketch showing two track tunnels at ninth avenue and thirty-third street] footnotes [1: presented at the meeting of may 4th, 1910.] [2: reproduced as plate ix in the paper by mr. noble.] [text reference for footnote 2: "one arm of the creek shown on general viele's map of 1865" the article is asce 1152, the east river division, available from project gutenberg as e-text 18065] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [errata: table 2a | 87 {166 + 64.6} | | | | | | | | {166 + 75.6} | 23.44 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 2.25 | 0.42 | ... | _"2.25" is unclear; only ".25" is fully legible_] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1174 pressure, resistance, and stability of earth.[a] by j.c. meem, m. am. soc. c. e. with discussion by messrs. t. kennard thomson, charles e. gregory, francis w. perry, e.p. goodrich, francis l. pruyn, frank h. carter, and j.c. meem. in the final discussion of the writer's paper, "the bracing of trenches and tunnels, with practical formulas for earth pressures,"[b] certain minor experiments were noted in connection with the arching properties of sand. in the present paper it is proposed to take up again the question of earth pressures, but in more detail, and to note some further experiments and deductions therefrom, and also to consider the resistance and stability of earth as applied to piling and foundations, and the pressure on and buoyancy of subaqueous structures in soft ground. in order to make this paper complete in itself, it will be necessary, in some instances, to include in substance some of the matter of the former paper, and indulgence is asked from those readers who may note this fact. [illustration: fig. 1. sections of box-frame for sand-arch experiment] _experiment no. 1._--as the sand-box experiments described in the former paper were on a small scale, exception might be taken to them, and therefore the writer has made this experiment on a scale sufficiently large to be much more conclusive. as shown in fig. 1, wooden abutments, 3 ft. wide, 3 ft. apart, and about 1 ft. high, were built and filled solidly with sand. wooden walls, 3 ft. apart and 4 ft. high, were then built crossing the abutments, and solidly cleated and braced frames were placed across their ends about 2 ft. back of each abutment. a false bottom, made to slide freely up and down between the abutments, and projecting slightly beyond the walls on each side, was then blocked up snugly to the bottom edges of the sides, thus obtaining a box 3 by 4 by 7 ft., the last dimension not being important. bolts, 44 in. long, with long threads, were run up through the false bottom and through 6 by 15 by 2-in. pine washers to nuts on the top. the box was filled with ordinary coarse sand from the trench, the sand being compacted as thoroughly as possible. the ends were tightened down on the washers, which in turn bore on the compacted sand. the blocking was then knocked out from under the false bottom, and the following was noted: as soon as the blocking was removed the bottom settled nearly 2 in., as noted in fig. 1, plate xxiv, due to the initial compacting of the sand under the arching stresses. a measurement was taken from the bottom of the washers to the top of the false bottom, and it was noted as 41 in. (fig. 1). after some three or four hours, as the arch had not been broken, it was decided to test it under greater loading, and four men were placed on it, four others standing on the haunches, as shown in fig. 2, plate xxiv. under this additional loading of about 600 lb. the bottom settled 2 in. more, or nearly 4 in. in all, due to the further compression of the sand arch. about an hour after the superimposed load had been removed, the writer jostled the box with his foot sufficiently to dislodge some of the exposed sand, when the arch at once collapsed and the bottom fell to the ground. referring to fig. 2, if, instead of being ordinary sand, the block comprised within the area, _a u j v x_, had been frozen sand, there can be no reason to suppose that it would not have sustained itself, forming a perfect arch, with all material removed below the line, _v e j_, in fact, the freezing process of tunneling in soft ground is based on this well-known principle. [illustration: fig. 2.] [illustration: fig. 3.] if, then, instead of removing the mass, _j e v_, it is allowed to remain and is supported from the mass above, one must concede to this mass in its normal state the same arching properties it would have had if frozen, excepting, of course, that a greater thickness of key should be allowed, to offset a greater tendency to compression in moist and dry as against frozen sand, where both are measured in a confined area. if, in fig. 2, _e v j_ = [phi] = the angle of repose, and it be assumed that _a j_, the line bisecting the angle between that of repose and the perpendicular, measures at its intersection with the middle vertical (_a_, fig. 2) the height which is necessary to give a sufficient thickness of key, it may be concluded that this sand arch will be self-sustaining. that is, it is assumed that the arching effect is taken up virtually within the limits of the area, _a n_{1} v e j n a_, thus relieving the structure below of the stresses due to the weight or thrust of any of the material above; and that the portion of the material below _v e j_ is probably dead weight on any structure underneath, and when sustained from below forms a natural "centering" for the natural arch above. it is also probably true that the material in the areas, _x n_{1} a_ and _a n u_, does not add to the arching strength, more especially in those materials where cohesion may not be counted on as a factor. this is borne out by the fact that, in the experiment noted, a well-defined crack developed on the surface of the sand at about the point _u_{1}_, and extended apparently a considerable depth, assumed to be at _n_, where the haunch line is intersected by the slope line from _a_. [illustration: plate xxiv, fig. 1.--initial settlement in 3-ft. sand arch, due to compression of material on removing supports from bottom.] [illustration: plate xxiv, fig. 2.--final settlement of sand arch, due to compression in excess loading.] in this experiment the sand was good and sharp, containing some gravel, and was taken directly from the adjoining excavation. when thrown loosely in a heap, it assumed an angle of repose of about 45 degrees. it should be noted that this material when tested was not compacted as much, nor did it possess the same cohesion, as sand in its normal undisturbed condition in a bank, and for this reason it is believed that the depth of key given here is absolutely safe for all except extraordinary conditions, such as non-homogeneous material and others which may require special consideration. referring again to the area, _a n_{1} v j n a_, fig. 2, it is probable that, while self-sustaining, some at least of the lower portion must derive its initial support from the "centering" below, and the writer has made the arbitrary assumption that the lower half of it is carried by the structure while the upper half is entirely independent of it, and, in making this assumption, he believes he is adding a factor of safety thereto. the area, then, which is assumed to be carried by an underground structure the depth of which is sufficient to allow the lines, _v a_ and _j a_, to intersect below the surface, is the lower half of _a n_{1} v e j n a_, or its equivalent, _a v e j a_, plus the area, _v e j_, or _a v j a_, the angle, _a v j_, being 1 [phi] [alpha] = --( 90° [phi] ) + [phi] = 45° + -------. 2 2 it is not probable that these lines of thrust or pressure transmission, _a n_, _d k_, etc., will be straight, but, for purposes of calculation, they will be assumed to be so; also, that they will act along and parallel to the lines of repose of their natural slope, and that the thrust of the earth will therefore be measured by the relation between the radius and the tangent of this angle multiplied by the weight of material affected. the dead weight on a plane, _v j_, due to the material above, is, therefore, where _l_ = span or extreme width of opening = _v j_, _w_ = weight per cubic foot of material, and _w_{1}_ = weight per linear foot. 2 × (_l_ / 2) tan. [alpha] × _w_ _w_{1}_ = ---------------------------------= 2 1 / 1 \ --_l_ tan. { --(90° [phi]) + [phi] } _w_ = 2 \ 2 / _l_ [phi] ----tan. ( 45° + ------) _w_. 2 2 the application of the above to flat-arched or circular tunnels is very simple, except that the question of side thrust should be considered also as a factor. the thrust against the side of a tunnel in dry sand having a flat angle of repose will necessarily be greater than in very moist sand or clay, which stands at a much steeper angle, and, for the same reason, the arch thrust is greater in dryer sand and therefore the load on a tunnel structure should not be as great, the material being compact and excluding cohesion as a factor. this can be illustrated by referring to fig. 3 in which it is seen that the flatter the position of the "rakers" keying at _w_{1}_, _w_{2}_, and _w_, the greater will be the side thrust at _a_, _c_, and _f_. it can also be illustrated by assuming that the arching material is composed of cubes of polished marble set one vertically above the other in close columns. there would then be absolutely no side thrust, but, likewise, no arching properties would be developed, and an indefinite height would probably be reached above the tunnel roof before friction enough would be developed to cause it to relieve the structure of any part of its load. conversely, if it be assumed that the superadjacent material is composed of large bowling balls, interlocking with some degree of regularity, it can be seen that those above will form themselves into an arch over the "centering" made up of those supported directly by the roof of the structure, thus relieving the structure of any load except that due to this "centering." if, now, the line, _a b_, in fig. 4, be drawn so as to form with _a c_ the angle, [beta], to be noted later, and it be assumed that it measures the area of pressure against _a c_, and if the line, _c f_, be drawn, forming with _c g_, the angle, [alpha], noted above, then _g f_ can be reduced in some measure by reason of the increase of _g c_ to _c b_, because the side thrust above the line, _b c_, has slightly diminished the loading above. the writer makes the arbitrary assumption that this decrease in _g f_ should equal 20% of _b c_ = _f d_{1}_. if, then, the line, _b d_{1}_ be drawn, it is conceded that all the material within the area, _a b d_{1} g c a_, causes direct pressure against or upon the structure, _g c a_, the vertical lines being the ordinates of pressure due to weight, and the horizontal lines (qualified by certain ratios) being the abscissas of pressure due to thrust. an extreme measurement of this area of pressure is doubtless approximately more nearly a curve than the straight lines given, and the curve, _a r t i d_{ii}_, is therefore drawn in to give graphically and approximately the safe area of which any vertical ordinate, multiplied by the weight, gives the pressure on the roof at that point, and any horizontal line, or abscissa, divided by the tangent of the angle of repose and multiplied by the weight per foot, gives the pressure on the side at that point. [illustration: fig. 4.] the practical conclusion of this whole assumption is that the material in the area, _f e c b b_{1}_, forms with the equivalent opposite area an arch reacting against the face, _c b b_{1}_ and that, as heretofore noted, the lower half (or its equivalent, _b d_{1} g b_) of the weight of this is assumed to be carried by the structure, the upper half being self-sustaining, as shown by the line, _b_{iii} d_{iv}_ (or, for absolute safety, the curved line), and therefore, if rods could be run from sheeting inside the tunnel area to a point outside the line, _f b_{1}_, as indicated by the lines, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, etc., that the internal bracing of this tunnel could be omitted, or that the tunnel itself would be relieved of all loading, whereas these rods would be carrying some large portion at least of the weight within the area circumscribed by the curve, _d_{ii} i t g_, and further, that a tunnel structure of the approximate dimensions shown would carry its maximum load with the surface of the ground between _d_{iv}_ and _f_, beyond which point the pressure would remain the same for all depths. in calculating pressures on circular arches, the arched area should first be graphically resolved into a rectangular equivalent, as in the right half of fig. 4, proceeding subsequently as noted. the following instances are given as partial evidence that in ordinary ground, not submerged, the pressures do not exceed in any instance those found by the above methods, and it is very probable that similar instances or experiences have been met by every engineer engaged in soft-ground tunneling: in building the bay ridge tunnel sewer, in 62d and 64th streets, brooklyn, the arch timber bracing shown in fig. 1, plate xxvi, was used for more than 4,000 ft., or for two-thirds of the whole 5,800 ft. called for in the contract. the external width of opening, measured at the wall-plate, averaged about 19 ft. for the 14½-ft. circular sewer and 19½ ft. for the 15-ft. sewer. the arch timber segments in the cross-section were 10 by 12-in. north carolina pine of good grade, with 2 in. off the butt for a bearing to take up the thrust. they were set 5 ft. apart on centers, and rested on 6 by 12-in. wall-plates of the same material as noted above. the ultimate strength of this material, across the grain, when dry and in good condition, as given by the united states forestry department tests is about 1,000 lb. in compression. some tests[c] made in 1907 by mr. e.f. sherman for the charles river dam in boston, mass., show that in yellow pine, which had been water-soaked for two years, checks began to open at from 388 to 581 lb. per sq. in., and that yields of ¼ in. were noted at from 600 to 1,000 lb. as the tunnel wall-plates described in this paper were subject to occasional saturation, and always to a moist atmosphere, they could never have been considered as equal to dry material. had the full loading shown by the foregoing come on these wall-plates, they would have been subjected to a stress of about 25 tons each, or nearly one-half of their ultimate strength. in only one or two instances, covering stretches of 100 ft. in one case and 200 ft. in another, where there were large areas of quicksand sufficient to cause semi-aqueous pressure, or pockets of the same material causing eccentric loading, did these wall-plates show any signs of heavy pressure, and in many instances they were in such good condition that they could be taken out and used a second and a third time. two especially interesting instances came under the writer's observation: in one case, due to a collapse of the internal bracing, the load of an entire section, 25 ft. long and 19 ft. wide, was carried for several hours on ribs spaced 5 ft. apart. the minimum cross-section of these ribs was 73 sq. in., and they were under a stress, as noted above, of 50,000 lb., or nearly up to the actual limit of strength of the wall-plate where the rib bore on it. when these wall-plates were examined, after replacing the internal bracing, they did not appear to have been under any unusual stress. [illustration: plate xxv, fig. 1.--normal slopes and strata of newly excavated banks.] [illustration: plate xxv, fig. 2.--normal slopes and strata of newly excavated banks.] in another instance, for a distance of more than 700 ft., the sub-grade of the sewer was 4 ft. below the level of the water in sharp sand. in excavating for "bottoms" the water had to be pumped at the rate of more than 300 gal. per min., and it was necessary to close-sheet a trench between the wall-plates in which to place a section of "bottom." in spite of the utmost care, some ground was necessarily lost, and this was shown by the slight subsidence of the wall-plates and a loosening up of the wedges in the supports bearing on the arch timbers. during this operation of "bottoming," two men on each side were constantly employed in tightening up wedges and shims above the arch timbers. it is impossible to explain the fact that these timbers slackened (without proportionate roof settlement) by any other theory than that the arching was so nearly perfect that it relieved the bracing of a large part of the load, the ordinary loose material being held in place by the arching or wedging together of the 2-in. by 3-ft. sheeting boards in the roof, arranged in the form of a segmental arch. the material above this roof was coarse, sharp sand, through which it had been difficult to tunnel without losing ground, and it had admitted water freely after each rain until the drainage of a neighboring pond had been completed, the men never being willing to resume work until the influx of water had stopped. the foregoing applies only to material ordinarily found under ground not subaqueous, or which cannot be classed as aqueous or semi-aqueous material. these conditions will be noted later. [illustration: fig. 5.] [illustration: fig. 6.] the writer will take up next the question of pressures against the faces of sheeted trenches or retaining walls, in material of the same character as noted above. referring to fig. 2, it is not reasonable to suppose that having passed the line, _r f j_, the character of the stresses due to the thrust of the material will change, if bracing should be substituted for the material in the area, _w v j r_, or if, as in fig. 3, canvas is rolled down along the lines, _e g_ and _a o_, and if, as this section is excavated between the canvas faces, temporary struts are erected, there is no reason to believe that with properly adjusted weights at _w_ or _w_{2}_, an exact equilibrium of forces and conditions cannot be obtained. or, again, if, as in fig. 5, the face, _p q_, is sheeted and rodded back to the surface, keying the rods taut, there is undoubtedly a stable condition and one which could not fail in theory or practice, nor can anyone, looking at fig. 5, doubt that the top timbers are stressed more heavily than those at the bottom. the assumption is that the tendency of the material to slide toward the toe causes it to wedge itself between the face of the sheeting on the one hand and some plane between the sheeting and the plane of repose on the other, and that the resistance to this tendency will cause an arching thrust to be developed along or parallel to the lines, _a n_, _b m_, etc., fig. 2, which are assumed to be the lines of repose, or curves approximating thereto. as the thrust is greatest in that material directly at the face, _a o_, fig. 6, and is nothing at the plane of repose, _c o_, it may be assumed arbitrarily that the line, _b o_, bisecting this angle divides this area into two, in one of which the weight resolves itself wholly into thrust, the other being an area of no thrust, or wholly of weight bearing on the plane of repose. calling this line, _b o_, the haunch line, the thrust in the area, _a o b_, is measured by its weight divided by the tangent of the angle, _p q r_ = [phi], which is the angle of repose; that is, the thrust at any given point, _r_ = _r q_ ÷ tan. [phi]. the writer suggests that, in those materials which have steeper angles of repose than 45°, the area of pressure may be calculated as above, the thrust being computed, however, as for an angle of 45 degrees. in calculating the bending moment against a wall or bracing, there is the weight of the mass multiplied by the distance of its center of gravity vertically above the toe, or, approximately: 2 area, _a o b_ × weight per unit × --height, 3 where _h_ = height, _w_ = weight per cubic foot of material = 90 lb., 90° [phi] and [beta] = ------------ 2 _p_ = pressure per linear foot (vertically), _h_ 2 then _p_ = _h_ × ----(tan. [beta]) × _w_ × --_h_ = 2 3 1 --_h^{3}_ _w_ tan. [beta]. 3 when the angle of repose, [phi], is less than 45°, this result must be reduced by dividing by tan. [phi]; that is, 1 _h_ = --_h^{3}_ tan. [beta] ÷ tan. [phi]. 3 figs. 1 and 2, plate xxv, show recently excavated banks of gravel and sand, which, standing at a general angle of 45°, were in process of "working," that is, there was continual slipping down of particles of the sand, and it may be well to note that in time, under exposure to weather conditions, these banks would finally assume a slope of about 33 degrees. they are typical, however, as showing the normal slope of freshly excavated sandy material, and a slope which may be used in ordinary calculations. the steps seen in plate xxv show the different characteristics of ground in close proximity. in fig. 2, plate xxvi,[d] may be seen a typical bank of gravel and sand; it shows the well-defined slope of sand adjacent to and in connection with the cohesive properties of gravel. the next points to be considered are the more difficult problems concerning subaqueous or saturated earths. the writer has made some experiments which appear to be conclusive, showing that, except in pure quicksand or wholly aqueous material, as described later, the earth and water pressures act independently of each other. for a better understanding of the scope and purpose of this paper, the writer divides supersaturated or subaqueous materials into three classes: _class a._--firm materials, such as coarse and fine gravels, gravel and sands mixed, coarse sands, and fine sands in which there is not a large proportion of fine material, such as loam, clay, or pure quicksand. _class b._--semi-aqueous materials, such as fine sands in which there is a large proportion of clay, etc., pure clays, silts, peats, etc. _class c._--aqueous materials, such as pure quicksands, in which the solid matter is so finely divided that it is amorphous and virtually held in suspension, oils, quicksilver, etc. here it may be stated that the term, "quicksand," is so illusive that a true definition of it is badly needed. many engineers call quicksand any sand which flows under the influence of water in motion. the writer believes the term should be applied only to material so "soupy" that its properties are practically the same as water under static conditions, it being understood that any material may be unstable under the influence of water at sufficiently high velocities, and that it is with a static condition, or one approximately so, that this paper deals. a clear understanding of the firm materials noted in class a will lead to a better solution of problems dealing with those under class b, as it is to this class a that the experiments largely relate. the experiments noted below were made with varying material, though the principal type used was a fine sand, under the conditions in which it is ordinarily found in excavations, with less than 40% voids and less than 10% of very fine material. [illustration: fig. 7.] _experiment no. 2._--the first of these experiments, which in this series will be called no. 2, was simple, and was made in order to show that this material does not flow readily under ordinary conditions, when not coupled with the discharge of water under high velocity. a bucket 12 in. in diameter, containing another bucket 9 in. in diameter, was used. a 6 by 6-in. hole was cut in the bottom of the inner bucket. about 3 in. of sand was first placed in the bottom of the larger bucket and it was partly filled with water. the inside bucket was then given a false bottom and partly filled with wet sand, resting on the sand in the larger bucket. both were filled with water, and the weight, _w_, fig. 7, on the arm was shifted until it balanced the weight of the inside bucket in the water, the distance of the weight, _w_, from the pivot being noted. the false bottom was then removed and the inside bucket, resting on the sand in the larger one, was partly filled with sand and both were filled with water, the conditions at the point of weighing being exactly the same, except that the false bottom was removed, leaving the sand in contact through the 6 by 6-in. opening. it is readily seen that, if the sand had possessed the aqueous properties sometimes attributed to sand under water, that in the inside bucket would have flowed out through the square hole in the bottom, allowing it to be lifted by any weight in excess of the actual weight of the bucket, less its buoyancy, as would be the case if it contained only water instead of sand and water. it was found, however, that the weight, resting at a distance of more than nine-tenths of the original distance from the pivot, would not raise the inside bucket. on lifting this inside bucket bodily, however, the water at once forced the sand out through the bottom, leaving a hole almost exactly the shape and size of the bottom orifice, as shown in fig. 1, plate xxvii. it should be stated that, in each case, the sand was put in in small handfuls and thoroughly mixed with water, but not packed, and allowed to stand for some time before the experiments were tried, to insure the compactness of ordinary conditions. it is seen from fig. 1, plate xxvii, that the sand was stable enough to allow the bucket to be put on its side for the moment of being photographed, although it had been pulled out of the water a little less than 3 min. [illustration: plate xxvi, fig. 1.--types of arch timbers used in bay ridge tunnel sewer.] [illustration: plate xxvi, fig. 2.--normal slope of loose sand, gravel, and cemented gravel, in close proximity.] _experiment no. 3._--in order to show that the arching properties of sand are not destroyed under subaqueous conditions, a small sand-box, having a capacity of about 1 cu. ft., and similar to that described in experiment no. 1, was made. the bottom was cut out, with the exception of a ¾-in. projection on two sides, and a false bottom was placed below and outside of the original bottom, with bolts running through it, keying to washers on top of the sand, with which the box was partly filled. one side of the box contained a glass front, in order that conditions of saturation could be observed. the box of sand was then filled with water and, after saturation had been completed and the nuts and washers had been tightened down, the box was lifted off the floor. there was found to be no tendency whatever for the bottom to fall away, showing conclusively that the arching properties had not been destroyed by the saturation of the sand. the next three experiments were intended to show the relative pressure over any given area in contact with the water in the one case or sand and water in the other. [illustration: fig. 8.] _experiment no. 4._--the apparatus for this experiment consisted of a 3-in. pipe about 4-in. long and connected with a ¾-in. goose-neck pipe 17 in. high above the top of the bowl shown in fig. 8 and in fig. 2, plate xxvii. a loose rubber valve was intended to be seated on the upper face of the machined edge of the bowl and weighted down sufficiently to balance it against a head of water corresponding to the 17-in. head in the goose-neck. the bowl was then to be filled with sand and the difference, if any, noted between the weight required to hold the flap-valve down under the same head of water flowing through the sand. the results of this experiment were not conclusive, owing to the difficulty of making contact over the whole area of the sand and the rim of the bowl at the same time. at times, for instance, less than 1 lb. would hold back the water indefinitely, while, again, 2 or 3 lb. would be required as opposed to the 4½ lb. approximate pressure required to hold down the clear water. again, at times the water would not flow through the neck at all, even after several hours, and after increasing the head by attaching a longer rubber tube thereto. in view of these conditions, this experiment would not be noted here, except that it unexpectedly developed one interesting fact. in order to insure against a stoppage of water, as above referred to, gravel was first put into the bottom of the bowl and the flap-valve was then rubbed down and held tightly while the pipe was filled. on being released, the pressure of water invariably forced out the whole body of sand, as shown in fig. 2, plate xxvii. care was taken to see that the sand was saturated in each case, and the experiment was repeated numberless times, and invariably with the same result. the sand contained about 40% of voids. the deduction from this experiment is that the pressure of water is against rather than through sand and that any excess of voids occurring adjacent to a face against which there is pressure of water will be filled with sand, excepting in so far, of course, as the normal existing voids allow the pressure of the water to be transmitted through them. [illustration: plate xxvii, fig. 1.--experiment showing properties of sand.] [illustration: plate xxvii, fig. 2.--sand pushed up from bowl by water pressure through goose-neck.] if, then, the covering of sand over a structure is sufficiently heavy to allow arching action to be set up, the structure against which the pressure is applied must be relieved of much of the pressure of water against the area of sand not constituted as voids acting outside of the arching area. this is confirmed by the two following experiments: _experiment no. 5._--the same apparatus was used here as in experiment no. 2, fig. 7, except that the inside bucket had a solid bottom. the inside and outside buckets were filled with water and the point was noted at which the weight would balance the inside bucket at a point some 3 in. off the bottom of the outside bucket. this point was measured, and the bottom of the larger bucket was covered over with sand so that in setting solidly in the sand the inside bucket would occupy the same relative position as it did in the water. the same weight was then applied and would not begin to lift the inner bucket. for instance, in the first part of the experiment the weight stood at 12 in. from the pivot, while in the next step the weight, standing at the end of the bar, had no effect, and considerable external pressure had to be exerted before the bucket could be lifted. immediately after it was relieved, however, the weight at 12 in. would hold it clear of the sand. no attempt was made to work the bucket into the sand; the sand was leveled up and the bucket was seated on it, turned once or twice to insure contact, and then allowed to stand for some time before making the experiment. no attempt was made to establish the relationship between sands of varying voids, the general fact only being established, by a sufficient number of experiments, that the weight required to lift the bucket was more than double in sand having 40% of voids than that required to lift the bucket in water only. [illustration: fig. 9.] _experiment no. 6._--the apparatus for this experiment consisted essentially of a hydraulic chamber about 8 in. in diameter and 1 ft. high, the top being removable and containing a collar with suitable packing, through which a 2½-in. piston moved freely up and down, the whole being similar to the cylinder and piston of a large hydraulic jack, as shown in fig. 1, plate xxviii. just below the collar and above the chamber there was a ½-in. inlet leading to a copper pipe and thence to a high-pressure pump. attached to this there was a gauge to show the pressure obtained in the chamber, all as shown in fig. 9. the purpose of the apparatus was to test the difference in pressure on any object submerged in clear water and on the same object buried in the sand under water. it is readily seen that, if pressure be applied to the water in this chamber, the amount of pressure (as measured by the gauge) necessary to lift the piston will be that due to the weight of the piston, less its displacement, plus the friction of the piston in the collar. [illustration: plate xxviii, fig. 1.--apparatus for measuring loss of pressure in subaqueous materials.] [illustration: plate xxviii, fig. 2.--raising roof of battery tubes, in brooklyn, by "bleeding" sand through displaced plates.] now, if for any reason the bottom area of the piston against which the water pressure acts be reduced, it will necessarily require a proportionate amount of increase in the pressure to lift this piston. if, therefore, it is found that 10 lb., for illustration, be required to lift the piston when plunged in clear water, and 20 lb. be required to lift it when buried in sand, it can be assumed at once that the area of the piston has been reduced 50% by being buried in the sand, eliminating the question of the friction of the sand itself around the piston. in order to determine what this friction might be, the writer arranged a table standing on legs above the bottom of the chamber, allowing the piston to move freely through a hole in its center. through this table pipes were entered (as shown in part of fig. 9). the whole was then placed in the chamber with the piston in place, and the area above was filled with sand and water. it is thus seen that, the end of the piston being free and in clear water, the difference, if any, between the pressure required to lift the piston when in clear water alone and in the case thus noted, where it was surrounded by sand, would measure the friction of the sand on the piston. after several trials of this, however, it was clearly seen that the friction was too slight to be noted accurately by a gauge registering single pounds, that is, with a piston in contact with 6 in. of sand vertically, a friction of 25 lb. per sq. ft. would only require an increase of 1.8 lb. on the gauge. it is therefore assumed that the friction on so small a piston in sand need not be considered as a material factor in the experiments made. the piston was plunged into clear water, and it was found that the pressure required to lift it was about 4 lb. the cap was then taken off, a depth of about 2 in. of sand was placed in the bottom of the chamber, and then the piston was set in place and surrounded by sand to a depth of some 6 in., water being added so that the sand was completely saturated. this was allowed to stand until it had regained the stability of ordinary sand in place, whereupon the cap with the collar bearing was set in place over the piston, the machine was coupled up, and the pump was started. a series of four experiments, extending over a period of two or three days, gave the following results: _test 1._--the piston began to move at a pressure of 25 lb. the pressure gradually dropped to 7½ lb., at which point, apparently, it came out of the sand, and continued at 7½ lb. during the remainder of the test. _test 2._--the piston was plunged back into the sand, without removing the cap, and allowed to stand for about 2 hours. no attempt was made to pack the sand or to see its condition around the piston, it being presumed, however, that it had reasonable time to get a fair amount of set. at slightly above 20 lb. the piston began to move, and as soon as a pocket of water accumulated behind the piston the pressure immediately dropped to 9 lb. and continued at this point until it came out of the sand. _test 3._--the piston was plunged into the sand and hammered down without waiting for the sand to come to a definite set. in this case the initial pressure shown by the gauge was 17½ lb., which immediately dropped to 8 lb. as soon as the piston had moved sufficiently far to allow water to accumulate below it. _test 4._--the cap was again removed, the piston set up in place, the sand compacted around it in approximately the same condition it would have had if the sand had been in place underground; the cap was then set in place and, after an hour, the pump was started. the pressure registered was 25 lb. and extended over a period of several seconds before there was any movement in the piston. the piston responded finally without any increase of pressure, and, after lifting an inch or two, the pressure gradually dropped to 10 lb., where it remained until the piston came out of the sand. the sum and average of these tests shows a relation of 22 lb. for the piston in sand to about 8½ lb. as soon as the volume of water had accumulated below it, which would correspond very closely to a sand containing 40% of voids, which was the characteristic of the sand used in this experiment. the conclusions from this experiment appear to be absolutely final in illustrating the pressure due to water on a tunnel buried in sand, either on the arch above or on the sides or bottom, as well as the buoyant effect upon the tunnel bottom under the same conditions. while the apparatus would have to be designed and built on a much larger scale in order to measure accurately the pressures due to sands and earths of varying characteristics, it appears to be conclusive in showing the principle, and near enough to the theoretical value to be taken for practical purposes in designing structures against water pressures when buried in sand or earth. it should be carefully noted that the friction of the water through sand, which is always a large factor in subaqueous construction, is virtually eliminated here, as the water pressure has to be transmitted only some 6 or 8 in. to actuate the base of the piston, whereas in a tunnel only half submerged this distance might be as many feet, and would be a considerable factor. it should be noted also that although the area subject to pressure is diminished, the pressure on the area remaining corresponds to the full hydrostatic head, as would be shown by the pressure on an air gauge required to hold back the water, except, of course, as it may be diminished more or less by friction. the writer understands that experiments of a similar nature and with similar apparatus have been tried on clays and peats with results considerably higher; that is, in one case, there was a pressure of 40 lb. before the piston started to move. the following is given, in part, as an analysis and explanation of the above experiments and notes: it is well known that if lead be placed in a hydraulic press and subjected to a sufficient pressure it will exhibit properties somewhat similar to soft clay or quicksand under pressure. it will flow out of an orifice or more than one orifice at the same pressure. this is due to the fact that practically voids do not exist and that the pressure is so great, compared with the molecular cohesion, that the latter is virtually nullified. it is also theoretically true that solid stone under infinitely high pressure may be liquefied. if in the cylinder of a hydraulic press there be put a certain quantity of cobblestones, leaving a clearance between the top of the stone and the piston, and if this space, together with the voids, be filled with water and subjected to a great pressure, the sides or the walls of the cylinder are acted on by two pressures, one almost negligible, where they are in contact with the stone, restraining the tendency of the stone to roll or slide outward, and the other due to the pressure of the water over the area against which there is no contact of stone. that this area of contact should be deducted from the pressure area can be clearly shown by assuming another cylinder with cross-sticks jammed into it, as shown in fig. 10. a glance at this figure will show that there is no aqueous pressure on the walls of the cylinder with which the ends of the sticks come in contact and the loss of the pressure against the walls due to this is equal to the least sectional area of the stick or tube either at the point of contact or intermediate thereto. following this reasoning, in fig. 11 it is found that an equivalent area may be deducted covering the least area of continuous contact of the cobblestones, as shown along the dotted lines in the right half of the figure. returning, if, when the pressure is applied, an orifice be made in the cylinder, the water will at once flow out under pressure, allowing the piston to come in contact with the cobblestones. if the flow of the water were controlled, so as to stop it at the point where the stone and water are both under direct pressure, it would be found that the pressures were totally independent of each other. the aqueous pressure, for instance, would be equal at every point, while the pressure on the stone would be through and along the lines of contact. if this contact was reasonably well made and covered 40% of the area, one would expect the stone, independently of the water, to stand 40% of the pressure which a full area of solid stone would stand. if this pressure should be enormously increased after excluding the water, it would finally result in crushing the stone into a solid mass; and if the pressure should be increased indefinitely, some theoretical point would be reached, as above noted, where the stone would eventually be liquefied and would assume liquid properties. [illustration: fig. 10.] [illustration: fig. 11.] the same general reasoning applies to pure sand, sand being in effect cobblestones in miniature. in pressing the piston down on dry sand it will be displaced into every existing abnormal void, but will be displaced into these voids rather than pressed into them, in the true definition of the word, and while it would flow out of an orifice in the sides or bottom, allowing the piston to be forced down as in a sand-jack, it would not flow out of an orifice in the top of the piston, except under pressures so abnormally high as to make the mass theoretically aqueous. if the positions of cylinder and piston be reversed, the piston pointing vertically upward and the sand "bled" into an orifice in or through it, the void caused by the outflow of this sand would be filled by sand displaced by the piston pressing upward rather than by sand from above. it was the knowledge of this principle which enabled the contractors to jack up successfully the roof of a long section of the cast-iron lined tubes under joralemon street in brooklyn, in connection with the reconstruction of the battery tubes at that point, the method of operation, as partly shown in fig. 2, plate xxviii, being to cut through a section of the roof, 4 by 10 ft. in area, through which holes were drilled and through which again the sand was "bled," heavy pressure being applied from below through the medium of hydraulic jacks. by a careful manipulation of both these operations, sections of the roof of the above dimensions were eventually raised the required height of 30 in. and permanently braced there in a single shift. if water in excess be put into a cylinder containing sand, and pressure be applied thereto, the water, if allowed to flow out of an orifice, will carry with it a certain quantity of sand, according to the velocity, and the observation of this might easily give rise to the erroneous impression that the sand, as well as the water, was flowing out under pressure, and, as heretofore stated, has caused many engineers and contractors to apply the term "quicksand" to any sand flowing through an orifice with water. sand in its natural bed always contains some fine material, and where this is largely less than the percentage of voids, it has no material effect on the pressure exerted by the sand with or without water, as above noted. if, however, this fine material be largely in excess of the voids, it allows greater initial compression to take place when dry, and allows to be set up a certain amount of hydraulic action when saturated. if the base of the material be sand and the fill be so-called quicksand in excess of the voids, pressure will cause the quicksand to set up hydraulic action, and the action of the piston will appear to be similar to that of a piston acting on purely aqueous material. just here the writer desires to protest against considering semi-aqueous masses, such as soupy sands, soft concrete, etc., as exerting hydrostatic pressure due to their weight in bulk, instead of to the specific gravity of the basic liquid. for instance, resorting again to the illustration of cubes and spheres, it may be assumed that a cubical receptacle has been partly filled with small cubes of polished marble, piled vertically in columns. when this receptacle is filled with liquid around the piles of cubes there will be no pressure on the sides except that due to the hydrostatic pressure of the water at 62½ lb. the bottom, however, will resist a combined pressure due to the water and the weight of the cubes. again, assume that the receptacle is filled with small spheres, such as marbles, and that water is then poured in. the pressure due to the weight of the solids on the bottom is relieved by the loss in weight of the marbles due to the water, and also to the tendency of the marbles to arch over the bottom, and while the pressure on the sides is increased by this amount of thrust, the aqueous pressure is still that of a liquid at 62½ lb., and it is inconceivable that some engineers, in calculating the thrust of aqueous masses, speak of it as a liquid weighing, say, 120 or 150 lb. per cu. ft.; as well might they expect to anchor spherical copper floats in front of a bulkhead and expect the hydrostatic pressure against this bulkhead to be diminished because the actual volume and weight of the water directly in front of the bulkhead has been diminished. those who have had experience in tying narrow deep forms for concrete with small wires or bolts and quickly filling them with liquid concrete, must realize that no such pressures are ever developed as would correspond to liquids of 150 lb. per cu. ft. if the solid material in any liquid is agitated, so that it is virtually in suspension, it cannot add to the pressure, and if allowed to subside it acts as a solid, independently of the water contained with it, although the water may change somewhat the properties of the material, by increasing or changing its cohesion, angle of repose, etc. that is, in substance, those particles which rest solidly on the bottom and are in contact to the top of the solid material, do not derive any buoyancy from the water, while those particles not in contact with the bottom directly or through other particles, lose just so much weight through buoyancy. if, then, the vertical depth of the earthy particles or sand above the bottom is so small that the arching effect against the sides is negligible, the full weight of the particles in contact, directly or vicariously, with the bottom acts as pressure on the bottom, while the full pressure of the water acts through the voids or on them, or is transmitted through material in contact with the bottom. referring now to materials such as clays, peats, and other soft or plastic materials, it is idle to assume that these do not possess pressure-resisting and arching properties. for instance, a soft clay arch of larger dimensions, under the condition described early in this paper, would undoubtedly stand if the rods supporting the intrados of the arch were keyed back to washers covering a sufficiently large area. the fact that compressed air can be used at all in tunnel work is evidence that semi-aqueous materials have arching properties, and the fact that "blows" usually occur in light cover is further evidence of it. when air pressure is used to hold back the water in faces of large area, bracing has to be resorted to. this again shows that while full hydrostatic pressure is required to hold back the water, the pressure of the earth is in a measure independent of it. in a peaty or boggy material there is a condition somewhat different, but sufficiently allied to the soft clayey or soupy sands to place it under the same head in ordinary practice. it is undoubtedly true that piles can be driven to an indefinite depth in this material, and it is also true that the action of the pile is to displace rather than compress, as shown by the fact of driving portions of the tunnels under the north river for long distances without opening the doors of the shield or removing any of the material. the case of filling in bogs or marshes, causing them to sink at the point of filling and rise elsewhere, is readily explained by the fact that the water is confined in the interstices of the material, admitting of displacement but no compression. the application of the above to pressures over tunnels in materials of class a is that the sand or solid matter is virtually assumed to be a series of columns with their bases in such intimate contact with the tunnel roof that water cannot exert pressure on the tunnel or buoyancy on the sand at the point of contact, and that if these columns are sufficiently deep to have their upper portions wholly or partly carried by the arching or wedging action, the pressure of any water on their surfaces is not transferred to the tunnel, and the only aqueous pressure is that which acts on the tunnel between the assumed columns or through the voids. let _l_ = exterior width of tunnel, _d_ = depth of cover, as: _d_{w}_ = depth, water to roof, _d_{e}_ = " earth to roof, _d_{x}_ = " of cover of earth necessary to arching stability, that is: _l_ / 90° [phi] \ _d_{x}_ = ----( tan. { ------------} + [phi] ) = 2 \ 2 / _l_ [phi] ----tan. (45° + ------), 2 2 where [phi] = angle of repose, and _d_{w}_ > _d_{e}_ > _d_{x}_. then the pressure on any square foot of roof, as _v_{p}_ as at the base of any vertical ordinate, as 9 in fig. 2, = _v_{o}_, _w_{e}_ = weight per cubic foot of earth (90 lb.), _w_{w}_ = " " " " " water (62½ lb.), we have _v_{p}_ = _v_{o}_ × _w_{e}_ + _d_{w}_ × _w_{w}_ × 0.40 = 1 _v_{o}_ × 90 + _d_{w}_ × 62--× 0.4 = _v_{o}_ 90 + _d_{w}_ × 25. 2 and for horizontal pressure: _p_{h}_ = the horizontal pressure at any abscissa (10), fig. 2, = _a_{10}_ at depth of water _d_{w1}_ is _a_{10}_ × 90 1 _p_{h}_ = --------------+ _d_{w1}_ × 62--× 0.4 = tan. [phi] 2 _a_{10}_ × 90 --------------+ _d_{w1}_ × 25. tan. [phi] the only question of serious doubt is at just what depth the sand is incapable of arching itself, but, for purposes of safety, the writer has put this at the point, _f_, as noted above, = _d_{x}_, although he believes that experiments on a large scale would show it to be nearer 0.67·_d_{x}_, above which the placing of additional back-fill will lighten the load on the structure. we have, then, for _d_{e}_ < _d_{x}_, the weight of the total prism of the earth plus the water in the voids, plus the added pressure of the water above the earth prism, that is: the pressure per square foot at the base of any vertical ordinate = _v_{p}_ 1 _v_{p}_ = _d_{e}_ × 90 + _d_{e}_ × 62--× 0.40 + 2 1 ( _d_{w}_ _d_{e}_ ) × 62---. 2 to those who may contend that water acting through so shallow a prism of earth would exert full pressure over the full area of the tunnel, it may be stated that the water cannot maintain pressure over the whole area without likewise giving buoyancy to the sand previously assumed to be in columns, in which case there is the total weight of the water plus the weight of the prism of earth, less its buoyancy in water, that is 1 1 _v_{p}_ = _d_{w}_ × 62--+ _d_{e}_ × ( 90 62--), 2 2 which, by comparison with the former method, would appear to be less safe in its reasoning. [illustration: combined earth and water pressures. fig. 12.] next is the question of pressure against a wall or braced trench for materials under class a. the pressure of sand is first calculated independently, as shown in fig. 6. reducing this to a basis of 100 lb. for each division of the scale measured horizontally, as shown, gives the line, _b o_, fig. 12, measuring the outside limit of pressure due to the earth, the horizontal distance at any point between this line and the vertical face equalling the pressure against that face divided by the tangent of the angle of repose, which in this case is assumed to be 45°, equalling unity. if the water pressure line, _c f_, is drawn, it shows the relative pressure of the water. in order to reduce this to the scale of 100 lb. horizontal measurement, the line, _c e_, is drawn, representing the water pressure to scale, that is, so that each horizontal measurement of the scale gives the pressure on the face at that point; and, allowing 50% for voids, halving this area gives the line, _c d_, between which and the vertical face any horizontal line measures the water pressure. extending these pressure areas where they overlap gives the line, _b d_, which represents the total pressure against the face, measured horizontally. next, as to the question of buoyancy in class a materials. if a submerged structure rests firmly on a bottom of more or less firm sand, its buoyancy, as indicated by the experiments, will only be a percentage of its buoyancy in pure water, corresponding to the voids in the sand. in practice, however, an attempt to show this condition will fail, owing to the fact that in such a structure the water will almost immediately work under the edge and bottom, and cause the structure to rise, and the test can only be made by measuring the difference in uplift in a heavier-than-water structure, as shown in experiment no. 5. for, if a structure lighter than the displaced water be buried in sand sufficiently deep to insure it against the influx of large volumes of water below, it will not rise. that this is not due entirely to the friction of the solid material on the sides has been demonstrated by the observation of subaqueous structures, which always tend to subside rather than to lift during or following disturbance of the surrounding earth. the following is quoted from the paper by charles m. jacobs, m. am. soc. c. e., on the north river division of the pennsylvania railroad tunnels:[e] "there was considerable subsidence in the tunnels during construction and lining, amounting to an average of 0.34 ft. between the bulkhead lines. this settlement has been constantly decreasing since construction, and appears to have been due almost entirely to the disturbances of the surrounding materials during construction. the silt weighs about 100 lb. per cu. ft. * * * and contains about 38% of water. it was found that whenever this material was disturbed outside the tunnels a displacement of the tunnels followed." this in substance confirms observations made in the battery tubes that subsidence of the structure followed disturbance of the outside material, although theoretically the tubes were buoyant in the aqueous material. the writer would urge, however, that, in all cases of submerged structures only partially buried in solid material, excess weighting be used to cover the contingencies of vibration, oscillation, etc., to which such structures may be subjected and which may ultimately allow leads of water to work their way underneath. on the other hand, he urges that, in cases of floor areas of deeply submerged structures, such as tunnels or cellars, the pressure to be resisted should be assumed to be only slightly in excess of that corresponding to the pressure due to the water through the voids. the question of pressure, etc., in class b, or semi-aqueous materials will be considered next. of these materials, as already shown, there are two types: (_a_) sand in which the so-called quicksand is largely in excess of any normal voids, and (_b_) plastic and viscous materials. the writer believes that these materials should be treated as mixtures of solid and watery particles, in the first of which the quicksand, or aqueous portion, being virtually in suspension, may be treated as water, and it must be concluded that the action here will be similar to that of sand and pure water, giving a larger value to the properties of water than actually exists. if, for instance, it should be found that such a mixture contained 40% of pure water, the writer would estimate its pressure on or against a structure as (_a_) that of a moist sand standing at a steep angle of repose, and (_b_) that of clear water, an allowance of 60% of the total volume being assumed, and the sum of these two results giving the total pressure. until more definite data can be obtained by experiments on a larger scale, this assumed value of 60% of the total volume for the aqueous portion may be taken for all conditions of semi-aqueous materials, except, of course, where the solid and aqueous particles may be clearly defined, the pressures being computed as described in the preceding pages. as to the question of pure quicksand (if such there be) and other aqueous materials of class c, such as water, oil, mercury, etc., it has already been shown that they are to be considered as liquids of their normal specific gravity; that is, in calculating the air pressure necessary to displace them, one should consider their specific gravity only, as a factor, and not the total weight per volume including any impurities which they might contain undissolved. in order to have a clearer conception of aqueous and semi-aqueous materials and their action, they must be viewed under conditions not ordinarily apparent. for instance, ideas of so-called quicksand are largely drawn from seeing structures sinking into it, or from observing it flowing through voids in the sheeting or casing. the action of sand and water under pressure is viewed during or after a slump, when the damage is being done, or has been done, whereas the correct view-point is under static conditions, before the slump takes place. the following is quoted from the report of mr. c.m. jacobs, chief engineer of the east river gas tunnel, built in 1892-93: "we found that the material which had heretofore been firm or stiff had, under erosion, obtained a soup-like consistency, and that a huge cavity some 3 ft. wide and 26 ft. deep had been washed up toward the river bed." this would probably be a fair description of much of the material of this class met with in such work, if compressed air had not been used. the writer believes that in soft material surrounding submerged structures the water actually contained in the voids is not infrequently, after a prolonged period of rest, cut off absolutely from its sources of pressure and that contact with these sources of pressure will not again be resumed until a leak takes place through the structure; and, even when there is a small flow or trickling of water through such material, it confines itself to certain paths or channels, and is largely excluded from the general mass. the broad principle of the bearing power of soil has been made the subject of too many experiments and too much controversy to be considered in a paper which is intended to be a description of experiments and observed data and notes therefrom. the writer is of the opinion, however, that entirely too little attention has been given to this bearing power of the soil; that while progress has been made in our knowledge of all classes of materials for structures, very little has been done which leads to any real knowledge of the material on which the foundation rests. for instance, it is inconceivable that 1 or 2 tons may sometimes be allowed on a square foot of soft clay, while the load on firm gravel is limited to from 4 to 6 tons. the writer's practical observations have convinced him that it is frequently much safer to put four times 6 tons on a square foot of gravel than it is to put one-fourth of 2 tons on a square foot of soft clay. in connection with the bearing power of soil, the writer also believes that too little study has been given to the questions of the lateral pressure of earth, and he desires to quote here from some experiments described in a book[f] published in england in 1876, to which his attention has recently been called. this book appears to have been intended for young people, but it is of interest to note the following quotations from a chapter entitled "sand." this chapter begins by stating that: "during the course of a lecture on the suez canal by mr. john h. pepper, which was delivered nightly by him at the polytechnic institute in london, he illustrated his lecture by some experiments designed to exhibit certain properties of sand, which had reference to the construction of the suez canal, and it is stated that though the properties in question were by no means to be classed among recent discoveries, the experiments were novel in form and served to interest the public audience." further quotation follows: "when the suez canal was projected, many prophesied evil to the undertaking, from the sand in the desert being drifted by the wind into the canal, and others were apprehensive that where the canal was cut through the sand the bottom would be pushed up by the pressure on the banks * * *. "the principle of lateral pressure may now be strikingly illustrated by taking an american wooden pail and, having previously cut a large circular hole in the bottom, this is now covered with fine tissue paper, which should be carefully pasted on to prevent the particles of sand from flowing through the small openings between the paper and the wood * * * and being placed upright and rapidly filled with sand, it may be carried about by the handle without the slightest fear of the weight of the sand breaking through the thin medium. * * * "probably one of the most convincing experiments is that which may be performed with a cylindrical tube 18 in. long and 2 in. in diameter, open at both ends. a piece of tissue paper is carefully pasted on one end, so that when dry no cracks or interstices are left. the tube is filled with dry sand to a height of say 12 in. in the upper part is inserted a solid plug of wood 12 in. long and of the same or very nearly the same diameter as the inside of the tube, so that it will move freely up and down like the piston of an air pump. the tube, sand, and piston being arranged as described, may now be held by an assistant and the demonstrator, taking a sledge hammer, may proceed to strike steadily on the end of the piston and, although the paper will bulge out a little, the force of the blow will not break it. "if the assistant holding the tube allows it to jerk or rebound after each blow of the hammer, the paper may break, because air and sand are driven down by the succeeding blow, and therefore it must be held steadily so that the piston bears fairly on the sand each time. "a still more conclusive and striking experiment may be shown with a framework of metal constructed to represent a pail, the sides of which are closed up by pasting sheets of tissue paper inside and over the lower part. as before demonstrated, when a quantity of sand is poured into the pail the tissue paper casing at the bottom does not break, but if a sufficient quantity is used the sides formed of tissue paper bulge out and usually give way in consequence of the lateral pressure exerted by the particles of sand." the writer has made the second experiment noted, with special apparatus, and finds that with tissue paper over the bottom of a 2-in. pipe, 15 in. long, about 12 in. of sand will stand the blow of a heavy sledge hammer, transmitted through a wooden piston, at least once and sometimes two or three times, while heavy blows given with a lighter hammer have no effect at all. that this is not due in any large measure to inertia can be shown by the fact that more than 200 lb. can safely be put on top of the wooden piston. it cannot be accounted for entirely by the friction, as the removal of the paper allows the sand to drop in a mass. the explanation is that the pressure is transmitted laterally to the sides, and as the friction is directly proportional to the pressure, the load or effect of the blow is carried by the proportional increase in the friction, and any diaphragm which will carry the direct bottom load will not have its stresses largely increased by any greater loading on top. the writer believes that experiments will show that in a sand-jack the tendency will be for the sides to burst rather than the bottom, and that the outflow from an orifice at or near the bottom is not either greatly retarded or accelerated by ordinary pressure on top. the occurrence of abnormal voids, however, causes the sand to be displaced into them. the important consideration of this paper is that all the experiments and observations noted point conclusively to the fact that pressure is transmitted laterally through ground, most probably along or nearly parallel to the angles of repose, or in cases of rock or stiff material, along a line which, until more conclusive experiments are made, may be taken as a mean between the horizontal and vertical, or approximately 45 degrees. there is no reason to believe that this is not the case throughout the entire mass of the earth, that each cubic foot, or yard, or mile is supported or in turn supports its neighboring equivalent along such lines. the theory is not a new one, and its field is too large to encompass within the limits of a single paper, but, for practical purposes, and within the limited areas to which we must necessarily be confined, the writer believes it can be established beyond controversy as true. certain it is that no one has yet found, in ground free from water pressure or abnormal conditions, any evidence of greater pressure at the bottom of a deep shaft or tunnel than that near the surface. pressures due to the widening of mines beyond the limits of safety must not be taken as a controversion of this statement, as all arches have limits of safety, more especially if the useless material below the theoretical intrados is only partly supported, or is allowed to be suspended from the natural arch. the writer believes, also, that the question of confined foundations, in contradistinction to that of the spreading of foundations, may be worthy of full discussion, as it applies to safe and economical construction, and he offers, without special comment, the following observations: he has found that, in soft ground, results are often obtained with small open caissons sunk to a depth of a few feet and cleaned out and filled with concrete, which offer much better resistance than spreading the foundation over four or five times the equivalent area. he has found that small steel piles and coffer-dams, from 1-ft. cylinders to coffer-dams 4 or 5 ft. square, sunk to a depth of only 1 or 2 ft. below adjacent excavations in ordinary sand, have safely resisted loads four or five times as great as those usually allowed. he believes that short cylinders, cleaned out and filled with concrete, or coffer-dams of short steel piling with the surface cleaned out to a reasonable depth and filled with concrete horizontally reinforced, will, in many instances, give as good results as, and, in most cases, very much better than, placing the foundation on an equivalent number of small long piles or a proportionately greater spread of foundation area, the idea being that the transmission of pressure to the sides of the coffer-dam will not only confine the side thrust, but will also transfer the loading in mass to a greater depth where the resistance to lateral pressure in the ground will be more stable; that is, the greater depth of foundation is gained without the increased excessive loading, or necessity for deep excavation. as to the question of the bearing value and friction on piles, the writer believes that while the literature on engineering is full of experimental data relating to friction on caissons, there is little to show the real value of friction on piles. the assumption generally made of an assumed bearing value, and the deduction therefrom of a value for the skin friction is fallacious. distinction, also, is not made, but should be clearly drawn between skin friction, pure and simple, on smooth surfaces, and the friction due to pressure. too often the bearing value on irregular surfaces as well as the bearing due to taper in piles, and lastly the resistance offered by binding, enter into the determination of so-called skin friction formulas. the essential condition of sinking a caisson is keeping it plumb; and binding, which is another way of writing increased bearing value, will oftentimes be fatal to success. the writer believes that a series of observations on caissons sunk plumb under homogeneous conditions of ground and superficial smoothness will show a proportional increase of skin friction per square foot average for each increase in the size of caissons, as well as for increase of depth in the sinking up to certain points, where it may finally become constant, as will be shown later. the determination of the actual friction or coefficient of friction between the surfaces of the pile and the material it encounters, is not difficult to determine. in sand it is approximately 40% of the pressure for reasonably smooth iron or steel, and 45% of the pressure for ordinary wood surfaces. if, for instance, a long shaft be withdrawn vertically from moulding sand, the hole may remain indefinitely as long as water does not get into it or it does not dry out. this is due to the tendency of the sand to arch itself horizontally over small areas. the same operation cannot be performed on dry sand, as the arching properties, while protecting the pile from excessive pressure due to excessive length, will not prevent the loose sand immediately surrounding the pile from exerting a constant pressure against the pile, and it is of this pressure that 45% may be taken as the real value of skin friction on piles in dry sand. in soft clays or peats which are displaced by driving, the tendency of this material to flow back into the original space causes pressure, of which the friction will be a measured percentage. in this case, however, the friction itself between the material and the clays or peat is usually very much less than 40%, and it is for this reason that piles of almost indefinite length may be driven in materials of this character without offering sufficient resistance to be depended on, as long as no good bearing ground is found at the point. if this material is under water, and is so soft as to be considered semi-aqueous, the pressure per square foot will increase in diminishing proportion to the depth, and the pressure per area will soon approach and become a constant, due to the resistance offered by the lateral arching of the solid material; whereas, in large circular caissons, or caisson shafts, where the horizontal arching effect is virtually destroyed, or at least rendered non-effective until a great depth is reached, the pressure must necessarily vary under these conditions proportionately to the depth and size of the caisson in semi-aqueous material. on the other hand, in large caisson shafts, especially those which are square, the pressure at the top due to the solid material will also increase proportionately to the depth, as already explained in connection with the pressures of earth against sheeting and retaining walls. the writer believes that the pressure on these surfaces may be determined with reasonable accuracy by the formulas already given in this paper, and with these pressures, multiplied by the coefficient of friction determined by the simplest experiment on the ground, results may be obtained which will closely approximate the actual friction on caissons at given depths. the friction on caissons, which is usually given at from 200 to 600 lb. per sq. ft., is frequently assumed to be the same on piles 12 in. or less in diameter, whereas the pressures on these surfaces, as shown, are in no way comparable. the following notes and observations are given in connection with the skin friction and the bearing value of piles: the writer has in his possession a copy of an official print which was recently furnished to bidders in connection with the foundation for a large public building in new york city. the experiments were made on good sand at a depth of approximately 43 ft. below water and 47 ft. below an adjacent excavation. in this instance a 16-in. pipe was sunk to the depth stated, cleaned out, and a 14-in. piston connected to a 10-in. pipe was inserted and the ground at the bottom of the 16-in. pipe subjected to a loading approximating 28 tons per sq. ft. after an initial settlement of nearly 3 in., there was no further settlement over an extended period, although the load of 28 tons per sq. ft. was continued. in connection with some recent underpinning work, 14-in. hollow cylindrical piles 6 ft. long were sunk to a depth of 6 ft. with an ordinary hand-hammer, being excavated as driven. these piles were then filled with concrete and subjected to a loading in some cases approximating 60 tons. after a settlement ranging from 9 to 13 in., no further settlement took place, although the loading was maintained for a considerable period. in connection with some other pile work, the writer has seen a 10-in. pipe, 3/8 in. thick, 4 ft. below the bottom of an open cylinder, at a depth of about 20 ft., sustain in gravel and sand a load approximating 50 tons when cleaned out to within 2 ft. of the bottom. he has seen other cylindrical piles with a bearing ring of not more than ¾ in. resting on gravel at a depth of from 20 to 30 ft., cleaned out practically to the bottom, sustain a measured load of 60 tons without settlement. as to skin friction in sand, a case came under his observation wherein a 14-in. hollow cylindrical pile which had stood for 28 days at a depth of about 30 ft. in the sand, was cleaned out to its bottom and subjected to hydraulic pressure, measured by a gauge, and sunk 2 ft. into the sand without any pressure being registered on the gauge. it should be explained, however, that the gauge could be subjected to a pressure of 250 lb., equal to a total pressure of 7,000 lb. on the piston of the jack without registering, which corresponded, assuming it all as skin friction, to a maximum of not more than 78 lb. per sq. ft., but it should be noted that this included bearing value as well, and that the pressure was very far from 7,000 lb., in all probability, at the beginning of the test. in the case of the california stove-pipe wells driven by the board of water supply on long island, the writer is informed that one of these tubes, 12 in. in diameter, was sunk to a depth of 850 ft. in doing this work the pile was excavated below the footing with a sand pump and was then sunk by hydraulic pressure. assuming the maximum capacity of the jacks at 100 tons, which is not probable, the skin friction could not have amounted to more than 75 lb. per sq. ft. it cannot be assumed in this case that the excavation of the material below the pile relieved the skin itself of some of its friction, as the operation consumed more than 6 weeks, and, even if excess material was removed, it is certain that a large percentage of it would have had time to adjust itself before the operation was completed. [illustration: plate xxix, fig. 1.--a 14-gauge, 14-in., hollow (non-telescopic), california stove-pipe pile which met impenetrable material.] [illustration: plate xxix, fig. 2.--chenoweth pile, penetrating hard material.] in connection with this, the writer may call attention to the fact that piles driven in silt along the north river, and in soft material at other places, are sometimes 90 ft. in length, and even then do not offer sufficient resistance to be depended on for loading. this is due to the fact that the end of the pile does not bear in good material. the relation between bearing value and skin friction on a pile, where the end bearing is in good material, is well shown by a case where a wooden pile[g] struck solid material, was distorted under the continual blows of the hammer, and was afterward exposed. it is also shown in the case of a 14-in. california stove-pipe pile, no. 14 gauge, the point of which met firm material. the result, as shown by fig. 1, plate xxix, speaks for itself. fig. 2, plate xxix, shows a chenoweth pile which was an experimental one driven by its designer. this pile, after getting into hard material, was subjected to the blow of a 4,000-lb. hammer falling the full length of the pile-driver, and the only result was to shatter the head of the pile, and not cause further penetration. mr. chenoweth has stated to the writer that he has found material so compact that it could not be penetrated with a solid pile--either with or without jetting--which is in line with the writer's experience. the writer believes that the foregoing notes will show conclusively that the factor to be sought in pile work is bearing value rather than depth or skin friction, and, however valuable skin friction may be in the larger caissons, it cannot be depended on in the case of small piles, except in values ranging from 25 to 100 lb. per sq. ft. in conclusion, he desires to thank the following gentlemen, who have contributed to the success of the experiments noted herein: mr. james w. nelson, of richard dudgeon, new york; mr. george noble, of john simmons and company, new york; and mr. pendleton, of hindley and pendleton, brooklyn, n.y.; all of whom have furnished apparatus for the experiments and have taken an interest in the results. and lastly, he desires especially to thank mr. f.l. cranford, of the cranford company, for men and material with which to make the experiments and without whose co-operation it would have been impracticable for the writer to have made them. throughout this paper the writer has endeavored, as far as possible, to deduce from his observations and from the observations of others, as far as he has been able to obtain them, practical data and formulas which may be of use in establishing the relationship between the pressure, resistance, and stability of earths; and, while he does not wish to dictate the character of the discussion, he does ask that those who have made observations of a similar character or who have available data, will, as far as possible, contribute the same to this discussion. it is only by such observations and experiments, and deductions therefrom, that engineers may obtain a better knowledge of the handling of such materials. the writer believes that too much has been taken for granted in connection with earth pressures and resistance; and that, far too often, observations of the results of natural laws have been set down as phenomena. he believes that, both in experimenting and observing, the engineer will frequently find what is being looked for or expected and will fail to see the obvious alternative. he may add that his own experiments and observations may be criticized for the same reason, and he asks, therefore, that all possible light be thrown on this subject. a comparative study of much of our expert testimony or of the plans of almost any of the structures designed in connection with their bearing upon earth, or resistance to earth pressure, will show that under the present methods of interpretation of the underlying principles governing the calculations and designs relating to such structures, the results vary far too widely. too much is left to the judgment of the engineer, and too frequently no fixed standards can be found for some of the most essential conditions. until the engineer can say with certainty that his calculations are reasonably based on facts, he is forced to admit that his design must be lacking, either in the elements of safety, on the one hand, or of economy, on the other, and, until he can give to his client a full measure of both these factors in fair proportion, he cannot justly claim that his profession has reached its full development. table 1 gives approximate calculations of pressures on two types of tunnels and on two heights of sheeted faces or walls, due to four varying classes of materials. table 1.--pressures on typical structures under varying assumed conditions. [illustration: key to table of pressures, etc.] _h_ = exterior height, _l_ = exterior width, { [delta] = depth of cover, that is, { _d_{e}_ = earth, and _d_{w}_ = water depth, [phi] = angle of repose, and, for tunnels _d_{w}_ > _d_{e}_ a depth _l_ [phi] = ----( 45° + ------) 2 2 _w_{e}_ = weight of 1 cu. ft. of earth = 90 lb.; _w_{w}_ = weight of 1 cu. ft. of water = 62½ lb. conditions: 1 = normal sand, 2 = dry sand, 3 = supersaturated firm sand with 40% of voids, 4 = supersaturated semi-aqueous material, 60% aqueous, that is, 60% water and aqueous material. _______________________________________________________ | | | | | combined | | | | | assumed | _h_ | _l_ | [phi] | _d_{e}_ | conditions. | | | | | ______________|________|________|________|____________| | | | | | i_{1} | 20 | 30 | 45° | 40 | i_{2} | 20 | 30 | 30° | 40 | ii_{1} | 15 | 15 | 45° | 40 | ii_{2} | 15 | 15 | 30° | 40 | iii_{1} | 15 | | 45° | 15 | iii_{2} | 15 | | 30° | 15 | iv_{1} | 30 | | 45° | 30 | iv_{2} | 30 | | 30° | 30 | ______________|________|________|________|____________| ____________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | combined | | | | | | assumed | _h_ | _l_ | [phi] | _d_{e}_ | _d_{w}_ | conditions. | | | | | | ______________|________|________|________|____________|____________| | | | | | | i_{3} | 20 | 30 | 50° | 40 | 60 | i_{4} | 20 | 30 | 40° | 40 | 60 | ii_{3} | 15 | 15 | 50° | 40 | 60 | ii_{4} | 15 | 15 | 40° | 40 | 60 | iii_{3} | 15 | | 50° | 15 | 15 | iii_{4} | 15 | | 40° | 15 | 15 | iv_{3} | 30 | | 50° | 30 | 30 | iv_{4} | 30 | | 40° | 30 | 30 | ______________|________|________|________|____________|____________| approximate pressures on tunnels, per square foot. _________________________________________________________________________ | | | | || | | | pressure | i_{1}| i_{3}| i_{3}| i_{3} || i_{2}| i_{4}| i_{4}| i_{4} per square|earth.|earth.|water.|combined.||earth.|earth.|water.|combined. foot, at | | | | || | | | __________|______|______|______|_________||______|______|______|_________ | | | | || | | | a | 3,240| 3,690| 1,500| 5,190 || 2,325| 2,880| 2,250| 5,130 b | 2,745| 3,105| 1,500| 4,605 || 1,845| 2,385| 2,250| 4,635 c | 2,160| 2,475| 1,500| 3,975 || 1,350| 1,800| 2,250| 4,050 d | 450| 540| 1,500| 2,040 || 450| 450| 2,250| 2,700 e | 360| 360| 1,625| 1,985 || 450| 450| 2,438| 2,888 f | 270| 270| 1,750| 2,025 || 450| 360| 2,626| 2,986 g | 225| 225| 1,875| 2,100 || 360| 270| 2,814| 3,084 __________|______|______|______|_________||______|______|______|_________ _________________________________________________________________________ | | | | || | | | pressure |ii_{1}|ii_{3}|ii_{3}|ii_{3} ||ii_{2}|ii_{4}|ii_{4}|ii_{4} per square|earth.|earth.|water.|combined.||earth.|earth.|water.|combined. foot at | | | | || | | | __________|______|______|______|_________||______|______|______|_________ | | | | || | | | a | 1,485| 1,755| 1,500| 3,255 || 1,035| 1,305| 2,250| 3,555 b | 1,305| 1,485| 1,500| 2,985 || 945| 1,170| 2,250| 3,420 c | 1,125| 1,215| 1,500| 2,715 || 810| 990| 2,250| 3,240 d | 405| 405| 1,500| 1,905 || 540| 450| 2,250| 2,700 e | 405| 405| 1,625| 2,030 || 540| 450| 2,438| 2,888 f | 360| 360| 1,750| 2,110 || 540| 450| 2,626| 3,076 g | 315| 315| 1,875| 2,190 || 360| 360| 2,814| 3,174 h | 180| 225| 2,000| 2,225 || 180| 180| 3,000| 3,180 i | 90| 110| 2,175| 2,285 || 135| 135| 3,188| 3,323 __________|______|______|______|_________||______|______|______|_________ approximate pressures on sheeted trench faces or walls ___________________________________________________________________________ | | | | || | | | pressure |iii_{1}|iii_{3}|iii_{3}|iii_{3}||iii_{2}|iii_{4}|iii_{4}|iii_{4} per square|earth. |earth. |water. | total ||earth. |earth. |water. | total foot at | | | | earth || | | | earth | | | | and || | | | and | | | | water.|| | | | water. __________|_______|_______|_______|_______||_______|_______|_______|_______ | | | | || | | | a | 575 | 510 | 100 | 610 || 1,350 | 810 | 140 | 950 b | 400 | 350 | 190 | 540 || 900 | 540 | 260 | 800 c | 200 | 175 | 280 | 455 || 450 | 270 | 380 | 650 __________|_______|_______|_______|_______||_______|_______|_______|_______ ___________________________________________________________________ | | | | || | | | pressure |iv_{1}|iv_{3}|iv_{3}|iv_{3}||iv_{2}|iv_{4}|iv_{4}|iv_{4} per square|earth.|earth.|water.|total ||earth.|earth.|water.|total foot at | | | |earth || | | |earth | | | | and || | | | and | | | |water.|| | | |water. __________|______|______|______|______||______|______|______|______ | | | | || | | | a | 1,370| 1,210| 100 | 1,310|| 3,175| 1,910| 150| 2,060 b | 1,170| 1,030| 200 | 1,230|| 2,700| 1,610| 290| 1,900 c | 970| 855| 290 | 1,145|| 2,250| 1,355| 430| 1,785 d | 775| 680| 370 | 1,050|| 1,800| 1,100| 570| 1,670 e | 590| 515| 460 | 975|| 1,350| 820| 710| 1,530 f | 400| 350| 560 | 910|| 900| 540| 860| 1,400 g | 190| 170| 650 | 820|| 450| 275| 1,000| 1,275 __________|______|______|______|______||______|______|______|______ footnotes: [footnote a: presented at the meeting of may 18th, 1910.] [footnote b: _transactions_, am. soc. c. e., vol. lx, p. 1.] [footnote c: _engineering news_, july 1st, 1909.] [footnote d: from "gravel for good roads."] [footnote e: _transactions_, am. soc. c. e., vol. lxviii, pp. 58-60.] [footnote f: "discoveries and inventions of the nineteenth century," by robert routledge, assistant examiner in chemistry and in natural philosophy to the university of london.] [footnote g: _engineering news_, january 15th, 1909.] discussion t. kennard thomson, m. am. soc. c. e.--although the author deserves great credit for the careful and thorough manner in which he has handled this subject, his paper should be labeled "dangerous for beginners," especially as he is an engineer of great practical experience; if he were not, comparatively little attention would be paid to his statements. the paper is dangerous because many will read only portions of it, or will not read it thoroughly. for instance, at the beginning, the author cites several experiments in which considerable force is required to start the lifting of a weight or plunger in sand and water and much less after the start. this reminds the speaker of the time when, as a schoolboy, he tried to pick up stones from the bottom of the river and was told that the "suction" was caused by atmospheric pressure. the inference is that tunnels, etc., in sand, etc., are not in any danger of rising, even though they are lighter than water. toward the end of the paper, however, the author states that tunnels should be weighted, but he rather spoils this by stating that they should be weighted only enough to overcome the actual water pressure, that is, between the voids of the sand. it seems to the speaker that the only really safe way is to make the tunnel at least as heavy as the water displaced in order to prevent it from coming up, and to take other measures to prevent it from going down. the city of toronto, canada, formerly pumped its water supply through a 6-ft. iron pipe, buried in the sand under toronto bay and then under toronto island, with an intake in the deep water of the lake. during a storm a mass of seaweed, etc., was washed against the intake, completely blocking it, and although the man at the pumping station knew that something was wrong, he continued to pump until the water was drawn out of the pipe, with the result that about half a mile of the conduit started to rise and then broke at several places, thus allowing it to fill with water. eventually, the city went down to bed-rock under the bay for its water tunnel. another reason for calling this paper dangerous for beginners is that it is improbable that experienced engineers or contractors will omit the bracing at the bottom, although, since the paper was printed, a glaring instance has occurred where comparatively little bracing was put in the bottom of a 40-ft. cut, the result being a bad cave-in from the bottom, although all the top braces remained in place. most engineers will agree that nearly every crib which has failed slipped out from the bottom, and did not turn over. the objection to the angle of repose is that it is not possible to ascertain it for any material deposited by nature. it could probably be ascertained for a sand bank deposited by man, but not for an excavation to be made in the ground, for it is known that nearly all earth, etc., has been deposited under great pressure, and is likely to be cemented together by clay, loam, roots, trees, boulders, etc., and differs in character every few feet. a deep vertical cut can often be made, even in new york quicksand, from which the water has been drawn, and, if not subjected to jars, water, etc., this material will stand for considerable time and then come down like an avalanche, killing any one in its way. in such cases very little bracing would prevent the slide from starting, provided rain, etc., did not loosen the material. the author, of course, treats dry and wet materials differently, but there are very few places where dry material is not likely to become wet before the excavation is completed. in caisson work, if the caisson can be kept absolutely plumb, it can be sunk without having to overcome much friction, while, on the other hand, if it is not kept plumb, the material is more or less disturbed and begins to bind, causing considerable friction. the author claims that the pressure does not increase with the depth, but all caisson men will probably remember that the friction to be overcome per square foot of surface increases with the depth. in calculating retaining walls, many engineers add the weight of the soil to the water, and calculate for from 90 to 100 lb. per cu. ft. the speaker is satisfied that in the so-called new york quicksand it is sufficient to use the weight of the water only. if the sand increased the side pressure above the water pressure, engineers would expect to use more compressed air to hold it back, while, as a matter of fact, the air pressure used seldom varies much from that called for by the hydrostatic head. although allowance for water pressure is sufficient for designing retaining walls in new york quicksand, it is far from sufficient in certain silty materials. for instance, in maryland, a coffer-dam, excavated to a depth of 30 ft. in silt and water, had the bottom shoved in 2 ft., in spite of the fact that the waling pieces were 5 ft. apart vertically at the top and 3 ft. at the bottom, and were braced with 12 by 12-in. timbers, every 7 ft. horizontally. the walings split, and the cross-braces cut into the waling pieces from 1 to 2 in.; in other words, the pressure seemed to be almost irresistible. this is quite a contrast to certain excavations in brooklyn, which, without any bracing whatever, were safely carried down 15 ft. any engineer who tries to guess at the angle of repose, and, from the resulting calculations, economizes on his bottom struts, will find that sooner or later an accident on one job will cause enough loss of life and money to pay for conservative timbers for the rest of his life. so much for side pressures. as to the pressure in the roof of a tunnel, probably every engineer will agree that almost any material except unfrozen water will tend to arch more or less, but how much it is impossible to say. it is doubtful whether any experienced engineer would ever try to carry all the weight over the roof, except in the case of back-fill, and even then he would have to make his own assumption (which sounds more polite than "guess"). the author has stated, however, that when the tunnel roof and sides are in place, no further trouble need be feared. on the contrary, in 1885, the canadian pacific railroad built a tunnel through clayey material and lined it with ordinary 12 by 12-in. timber framing, about 2 or 3 ft. apart. after the tunnel was completed, it collapsed. it was re-excavated and lined with 12 by 12-in. timbers side by side, and it collapsed again; then the tunnel was abandoned, and, for some 20 years, the track, carried around on a 23° curve, was used until a new tunnel was built farther in. this trouble could have been caused either by the sliding or swelling of the material, and the speaker is inclined to believe that it was caused by swelling, for it is known, of course, that most material has been deposited by nature under great pressure, and, by excavating in certain materials, the air and moisture would cause those materials to swell and become an irresistible force. to carry the load, mr. meem prefers to rely on the points of the piles rather than the side friction. in such cases the pile would act as a post, and would probably fail when ordinarily loaded, unless firmly supported at the sides. the speaker has seen piles driven from 80 to 90 ft. in 10 min., which offered almost no resistance, and yet, a few days later, they would sustain 40 tons each. no one would dream of putting 40 tons on a 90-ft. pile resting on rock, if it were not adequately supported. it is the speaker's opinion that bracing should not be omitted for either piles or coffer-dams. charles e. gregory, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e.--in describing his last experiment with the hydraulic chambers and plunger, mr. meem states that, after letting the pressure stand at 25 lb., etc., the piston came up. this suggests that the piston might have been raised at a much lower pressure, if it had been allowed to stand long enough. the depth and coarseness of the sand were not varied to ascertain whether any relation exists between them and the pressure required to lift the piston. if the pressure varied with the depth of sand, it would indicate that the reduction was due to the resistance of the water when finely divided by the sand; if it varied with the coarseness of the sand, as it undoubtedly would, especially if the sand grains were increased to spheres 1 in. in diameter, it would show that it was independent of the voids in the sand, but dependent on dividing the water into thin films. the speaker believes that the greater part of the reduction of pressure on the bottom of the piston might be better explained by the viscosity of the water, than to assume that a considerable part of the plunger is not in contact with it. the water, being divided by fine sand into very thin films, has a tensile strength which is capable of resisting the pressure for at least a limited time. if the water is capable of exerting its full hydrostatic pressure through the sand, the total pressure would be the full hydrostatic pressure on the bottom of the piston where in contact, and, where separated from it by a grain of sand, the pressure would be decreased only by the weight of the grain. if a large proportion of the top area of a grain is in contact, as assumed by the author, this reduction of pressure would be very small. a correct interpretation can be obtained only after more complete experiments have been made. for horizontal pressures exerted by saturated sands on vertical walls, it has not been demonstrated that anything should be deducted from full water pressure. no matter how much of the area is in direct contact with the sand rather than the water, the full water pressure would be transmitted through each sand grain from its other side and, if necessary, from and through many other grains which may be in turn in contact with it. the pressure on such a wall will be water pressure over its entire surface, and, in addition, the thrust of the sand after correcting for its loss of weight in the water. the fact that small cavities may be excavated from the sides of trenches or tunnels back of the sheeting proves only that there is a local temporary arching of the material, or that the cohesion of the particles is sufficient to withstand the stress temporarily, or that there is a combination of cohesion and arching. the possibility of making such excavations does not prove that pressure does not exist at such points. that sand or earth will arch under certain conditions has long been an accepted fact. the sand arches experimented with developed their strength only after considerable yielding and, therefore, give no index of the distribution or intensity of stress before such yielding. furthermore, sand and earth in nature are not constrained by forms and reinforcing rods. mr. meem's paper is very valuable in that it presents some unusual phenomena, but many of the conclusions drawn therefrom cannot be accepted without further demonstration. francis w. perry, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e.--pressure-gauge observations on a number of pneumatic caissons recently sunk, through various grades of sand, to rock at depths of from 85 to 105 ft. below ground-water, invariably showed working-chamber air-pressures equal, as closely as could be observed, to the hydrostatic pressures computed, for corresponding depths of cutting-edge, as given in table 2. these observations and computations were made by the speaker in connection with the caisson foundations for the municipal building, new york city. table 2.--equivalent feet of depth below water per pound pressure. pressure, |equivalent |equivalent |observed | in |feet of |elevation |pressure. | pounds. |depth. |for water | | | |at--6.85. | | |___________|_____________| | | | | | |m.h.w. |ground-water.| | __________|___________|_____________|______________| | | | | 1 | 2.31 | 9.06 |practically | 2 | 4.63 | 11.48 |the same as | 3 | 6.94 | 13.79 |computed | 4 | 9.25 | 16.10 |for | 5 | 11.57 | 18.42 |ground-water. | 6 | 13.88 | 20.73 | | 7 | 16.19 | 23.04 | | 8 | 18.50 | 25.35 | | 9 | 20.82 | 27.67 | | 10 | 23.13 | 29.98 | | 11 | 25.44 | 32.29 | | 12 | 27.76 | 34.61 | | 13 | 30.07 | 36.92 | | 14 | 32.38 | 39.23 | | 15 | 34.70 | 41.55 | | 16 | 37.01 | 43.86 | | 17 | 39.32 | 46.17 | | 18 | 41.63 | 48.48 | | 19 | 43.95 | 50.80 | | 20 | 46.26 | 53.11 | | 21 | 48.57 | 55.42 | | 22 | 50.89 | 57.74 | | 23 | 53.20 | 60.05 | | 24 | 55.51 | 62.36 | | 25 | 57.82 | 64.67 | | 26 | 60.14 | 66.99 | | 27 | 62.45 | 69.30 | | 28 | 64.76 | 71.61 | | 29 | 67.08 | 73.93 | | 30 | 69.39 | 76.24 | | 31 | 71.70 | 78.55 | | 32 | 74.01 | 80.86 | | 33 | 76.33 | 83.18 | | 34 | 78.64 | 85.49 | | 35 | 80.95 | 87.80 | | 36 | 83.27 | 90.12 | | 37 | 85.58 | 92.43 | | 38 | 87.89 | 94.74 | | 39 | 90.20 | 97.05 | | 40 | 92.52 | 99.37 | | 41 | 94.83 |101.68 | | 42 | 97.14 |103.99 | | 43 | 99.46 |106.31 | | 44 |101.77 |108.62 | | 45 |104.08 |110.93 | | 46 |106.39 |113.24 | | __________|___________|_____________|______________| 34 note.--equivalent depth in feet = -----× pressure. 14.7 e.p. goodrich, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--this paper is to be characterized by superlatives. parts of it are believed to be exceptionally good, while other parts are considered equally dangerous. the author's experimental work is extremely interesting, and the writer believes the results obtained to be of great value; but the analytical work, both mathematical and logical, is emphatically questioned. the writer believes that, in the design of permanent structures, consideration of arch action should not be included, at least, not until much more information has been obtained. he also believes that the design of temporary structures with this inclusion is actually dangerous in some instances, and takes the liberty of citing the following statement by the author, with regard to his first experiment: "about an hour after the superimposed load had been removed, the writer jostled the box with his foot sufficiently to dislodge some of the exposed sand, when the arch at once collapsed and the bottom fell to the ground." the writer emphatically questions the author's ideas as to "the thickness of key" which "should be allowed" over tunnels, believing that conditions within an earth mass, except in very rare instances, are such that true arch action will seldom take place to any definite extent, through any considerable depths. furthermore, the author's reason for bisecting the angle between the vertical and the angle of repose of the material, when he undertakes to determine the thickness of key, is not obvious. this assumption is shown to be absurd when carried to either limit, for when the angle of repose equals zero, as is the case with water, this, method would give a definite thickness of key, while there can be absolutely no arch action possible in such a case; and, when the angle of repose is 90°, as may be assumed in the case of rock, this method would give an infinite thickness of key, which is again seen to be absurd. it would seem as if altogether too many unknowable conditions had been assumed. in any case, no arch action can be brought into play until a certain amount of settlement has taken place so as to bring the particles into closer contact, and in such a way that the internal stresses are practically those only of compression, and the shearing stresses are within the limits possible for the material in question. the author has repeatedly made assumptions which are not borne out by the application of his mathematical formulas to actual extreme conditions. this method of application to limiting conditions is concededly sometimes faulty; but the writer believes that no earth pressure theory, or one concerning arch action, can be considered as satisfactory which does not apply equally well to hydraulic pressure problems when the proper assumptions are made as to the factors for friction, cohesion, etc. for example, when the angle of repose is considered as zero, in the author's first formula for _w_{1}_, the value becomes ½ _w_{1}_, whereas it should depend solely on the depth, which does not enter the formula, and not at all on the width of opening, _l_, which is thus included. the author has given no experiments to prove his statement that "the arch thrust is greater in dryer sand," and the accuracy of the statement is questioned. again, no reason is apparent for assuming the direction of the "rakers" in fig. 3 as that of the angle of repose. the writer cannot see why that particular angle is repeatedly used, when almost any other would give results of a similar kind. the author has made no experiments which show any connection between the angle of repose, as he interprets it, and the lines of arch action which he assumes to exist. with regard to the illustration of the condition which is thought to exist when the "material is composed of large bowling balls," supposedly all of the same size, the writer believes the conclusion to be erroneous, and that this can be readily seen by inspection of a diagram in which such balls are represented as forming a pile similar to the well-known "pile of shells" of the algebras, in the diagram of which a pile of three shells, resting on the base, has been omitted. it is then seen that unless the pressures at an angle of 60° with the horizontal are sufficient to produce frictional resistance of a very large amount, the balls will roll and instantly break the arch action suggested by the author. consequently, an almost infinitesimal settlement of the "centering" may cause the complete destruction of an arch of earth. the author's logic is believed to be entirely faulty in many cases because he repeatedly makes assumptions which are not in accordance with demonstrated fact, and finally sums up the results by the statement: "it is conceded" (line 2, p. 357, for example), when the writer, for one, has not even conceded the accuracy of the assumptions. for instance, the author's well-known theory that pressures against retaining walls are a maximum at the top and decrease to zero at the bottom, is in absolute contradiction to the results of experiments conducted on a large scale by the writer on the new reinforced concrete retaining wall near the st. george ferry, on staten island, new york city, which will soon be published, and in which the usual law of increase of lateral pressure with depth is believed to be demonstrated beyond question. it must be conceded that a considerable arch action (so-called) actually exists in many cases; but it should be equally conceded by the advocates of the existence of such action that changes in humidity, due to moving water, vibration, and appreciable viscosity, etc., will invariably destroy this action in time. in consequence, the author's reasoning in regard to the pressures against the faces of retaining walls is believed to be open to grave question as to accuracy of assumption, method, and conclusion. the author is correct in so far as he assumes that "the character of the stresses due to the thrust of the material will" not "change if bracing should be substituted for the material in the area" designated by him, etc., provided he makes the further assumption that absolutely no motion, however infinitesimal, has taken place meantime; but, unless such motion has actually taken place, no arch action can have developed. an arch thrust can result only with true arch action, that is, with stable abutments, and the mass stressed wholly in compression, with corresponding shortening of the arch line. the arch thrust must be proportional to the elastic deformation (shortening) of the arch line. if any such arch as is shown in fig. 5 is assumed to carry the whole of the weight of material above it, that assumed arch must relieve all the assumed arches below. therefore each of the assumed arches can carry nothing more than its own mass. otherwise the resulting thrust would increase with the depth, which is opposed to the author's theory. turning again to the condition that each arch can carry only its own weight: if these arches are assumed of thicknesses proportional to the distance upward from the bottom of the wall, they will be similar figures, and it is easily demonstrated that the thrust will then be uniform in amount throughout the whole height of the wall, except, perhaps, at the very top. this condition is contrary to the author's ideas and also to the facts as demonstrated by the writer's experiment on the 40-ft. retaining wall at st. george. consequently, the author's statement: "nor can anyone * * * doubt that the top timbers are stressed more heavily than those at the bottom," is emphatically doubted and earnestly denied by the writer. furthermore, "the assumption" made by the author as to "the tendency of the material to slide" so as to cause it "to wedge * * * between the face of the sheeting * * * and some plane between the sheeting and the plane of repose," is considered as absolutely unwarranted, and consequently the whole conclusion is believed to be unjustified. nor is the author's assumption (line 5, p. 361), that "the thrust * * * is measured by its weight divided by the tangent of the * * * angle of repose" at all obvious. the author presents some very interesting photographs showing the natural surface slopes of various materials; but it is interesting to note that he describes these slopes as having been produced by the "continual slipping down of particles." the vast difference between angles of repose produced in this manner by the rolling friction of particles and the internal angles of friction, which must be used in all earth-pressure investigations, has been repeatedly called to the attention of engineers by the writer.[h] the writer's experiments are entirely in accord with those of the author in which the latter claims to demonstrate that "earth and water pressures act independently of each other," and the writer is much delighted that his own experiments have been thus confirmed. in experiment no. 3, the query is naturally suggested: "what would have been the result if the nuts and washers had first been tightened and water then added?" although the writer has not tried the experiment, he is rather inclined to the idea that the arch would have collapsed. with regard to experiment no. 5, there is to be noted an interesting possibility of its application to the theoretical discussion of masonry dams, in which films of water are assumed to exist beneath the structure or in crevices or cracks of capillary dimensions. the writer has always considered the assumptions made by many designing engineers as unnecessarily conservative. in regard to the author's conclusions from experiment no. 6, it should be noted that no friction can exist between particles of sand and surrounding water unless there is a tendency of the latter to move; and that water in motion does not exert pressures equal to those produced when in a static condition, the reduction being proportional to the velocity of flow. the author's conclusion (p. 371), that "pressure will cause the quicksand to set up hydraulic action," does not seem to have been demonstrated by his experiments, but to be only his theory. in this instance, the results of the writer's experiments are contrary to the author's theory and conclusion. the writer will heartily add his protest to that of the author "against considering semi-aqueous masses, such as soupy sands, soft concrete, etc., as exerting hydrostatic pressure due to their weight in bulk, instead of to the specific gravity of the basic liquid." again, similarly hearty concurrence is given to the author's statement: "if the solid material in any liquid is agitated, so that it is virtually in suspension, it cannot add to the pressure, and if allowed to subside it acts as a solid, independently of the water contained with it, although the water may change somewhat the properties of the material, by increasing or changing its cohesion, angle of repose, etc." on the other hand, it is believed that the author's statement, as to "the tendency of marbles to arch," a few lines above the one last quoted, should be qualified by the addition of the words, "only when a certain amount of deflection has taken place so as to bring the arch into action." again, on the following page, a somewhat similar qualification should be added to the sentence referring to the soft clay arch, that it would "stand if the rods supporting the intrados of the arch were keyed back to washers covering a sufficiently large area," by inserting the words, "unless creeping pressures (such as those encountered by the writer in his experiments) were exceeded." the writer considers as very doubtful the formula for _d_{x}_, which is the same as that for _w_{1}_, already discussed. the author's statement that "additional back-fill will [under certain circumstances] lighten the load on the structure," is considered subject to modification by some such clause as the following, "the word 'lighten' here being understood to mean the reduction to some extent of what would be the total pressure due to the combined original and added back-fill, provided no arch action occurred." the writer is in entire agreement with the author as to the probability that water is often "cut off absolutely from its source of pressure," with the attendant results described by the author (p. 378); and again, that too little attention has been given to the bearing power of soil, with the author's accompanying criticism. the writer cannot see, however, where the author's experiments demonstrate his statement "that pressure is transmitted laterally through ground, most probably along or nearly parallel to the angles of repose," or any of the conclusions drawn by him in the paragraph (p. 381), which contains this questionable statement. again the writer is at a loss as to how to interpret the statement that the author has found that "better resistance" has been offered by "small open caissons sunk to a depth of a few feet and cleaned out and filled with concrete" than by "spreading the foundation over four or five times the equivalent area." the writer agrees with the author in the majority of his statements as to the "bearing value and friction on piles," but believes that he is indulging in pure theory in some of his succeeding remarks, wherein he ascribes to arch action the results which he believes would be observed if "a long shaft be withdrawn vertically from moulding sand." these phenomena would be due rather to capillary action and the resulting cohesion. naturally, the writer doubts the author's conclusions as to the pressure at the top of large square caisson shafts when he states that "the pressure at the top * * * will * * * increase proportionately to the depth." again, the author is apparently not conversant with experiments made by the dock department of new york city, concerning piles driven in the hudson river silt, which showed that a single heavily loaded pile carried downward with it other unloaded piles, driven considerable distances away, showing that it was not the pile which lacked in resistance, as much as the surrounding earth. in conclusion, the writer heartily concurs with the statement that "too much has been taken for granted in connection with earth pressures and resistance," and he is sorry to be forced to add that he believes the author to be open to the criticism which he himself suggests, that "both in experimenting and observing, the engineer [and in this case the author] will frequently find what is being looked for or expected and will fail to see the obvious alternative." francis l. pruyn, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--mr. meem should be congratulated, both in regard to the highly interesting theories which he advances on the subject of sand pressures--the pressures of subaqueous material--and on his interesting experiments in connection therewith. the experiment in which the plunger on the hydraulic ram is immersed in sand and covered with water does not seem to be conclusive. by this experiment the author attempts to demonstrate that the pressure of the water transmitted through the sand is only about 40% as great as when the sand is not there. the travel of ground-water through the earth is at times very slow, and occasionally only at the rate of from 2 to 3 ft. per hour. in the writer's opinion, mr. meem's experiment did not cover sufficient time during which the pressure was maintained at any given point. it is quite probable that it may take 15 or 20 min. for the full pressure to be transmitted through the sand to the bottom of the plunger, and it is hoped, therefore, that he will make further experiments lasting long enough to demonstrate this point. in regard to the question of skin friction on caissons and piles, it may be of interest to mention an experiment which the writer made during the sinking of the large caissons for the williamsburg bridge. these caissons were about 70 ft. long and 50 ft. wide. the river bottom was about 50 ft. below mean high water, and the caissons penetrated sand of good quality to a depth of from 90 to 100 ft. below that level. on two occasions calculations were made to determine the skin friction while the caissons were being settled. with the cutting edge from 20 to 30 ft. below the river bottom, the calculations showed that the skin friction was between 500 and 600 lb. per sq. ft. the writer agrees with mr. meem that, in the sinking of caissons, the arch action of sand is, in a great measure, destroyed by the compressed air which escapes under the cutting edge and percolates up through the material close to the sides of the caissons. with reference to the skin friction on piles, the writer agrees with mr. meem that in certain classes of material this is almost a negligible quantity. the writer has jacked down 9-in. pipes in various parts of new york city, and by placing a recording gauge on the hydraulic jack, the skin friction on the pile could be obtained very accurately. in several instances the gauge readings did not vary materially from the surface down to a penetration of 50 ft. in these instances the material inside the pipe was cleaned out to within 1 ft. of the bottom of the pile, so that the gauge reading indicated only the friction on the outside of the pipe plus the bearing value developed by its lower edge. for a 9-in. pipe, the skin friction on the pile plus the bearing area of the bottom of the pipe seems to be about 20 tons, irrespective of the depth. after the pipe had reached sufficient depth, it was concreted, and, after the concrete had set, the jack was again placed on it and gauge readings were taken. it was found that in ordinary sands the concreted steel pile would go down from 3 to 6 in., after which it would bring up to the full capacity of a 60-ton jack, showing, by gauge reading, a reaction of from 70 to 80 tons. it is the writer's opinion that, in reasonably compact sands situated at a depth below the surface which will not allow of much lateral movement, a reaction of 100 tons per sq. ft. of area can be obtained without any difficulty whatever. frank h. carter, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--mr. meem has contributed much that is of value, particularly on water pressures in sand; just what result would be obtained if coarse crushed stone or similar material were substituted for sand in experiment no. 6, is not obvious. it has been the practice lately, among some engineers in boston, as well as in new york city, to assume that water pressures on the underside of inverts is exerted on one-half the area only. the writer, however, has made it a practice first to lay a few inches of cracked stone on the bottom of wet excavations in order to keep water from concrete which is to be placed in the invert. in addition to the cracked stone under the inverts, shallow trenches dug laterally across the excavation to insure more perfect drainage, have been observed. both these factors no doubt assist the free course of water in exerting pressure on the finished invert after the underdrains have been closed up on completion of the work. the writer, therefore, awaits with interest the repetition of experiment no. 6, with water on the bottom of a piston buried in coarse gravel or cracked stone. as for the arching effect of sand, the writer believes that mr. meem has demonstrated an important principle, on a small scale. it must be regretted, however, that the box was not made larger, for, to the writer, it appears unsafe to draw such sweeping conclusions from small experiments. as small models of sailboats fail to develop completely laws for the design and control of large racing yachts, so experiments in small sand boxes may fail to demonstrate the laws governing actual pressures on full-sized structures. for some time the writer has been using a process of reasoning similar to that of the author for assumptions of earth pressure on the roofs of tunnel arches, except that the vertical forces assumed to hold up the weight of the earth have been ascribed to cohesion and friction, along what might be termed the sides of the "trench excavation." the writer fails to find proof in this paper of the author's statement that earth pressures on the sides of a structure buried in earth are greater at the top than at the bottom of a trench. that some banks are "top-heavy," is, no doubt, a fact, the writer having often heard similar expressions used by experienced trench foremen, but, in every case called to his attention, local circumstances have caused the top-heaviness, either undermining at the bottom of the trench, too much banked earth on top, or the earth excavated from the trench being too near the edge of the cut. for some years the writer has been making extended observations on deep trenches, and, thus far, has failed to find evidence, except in aqueous material, of earth pressures which might be expected from the known natural slope of the material after exposure to the elements; and this latter feature may explain why sheeted trenches stand so much better than expected. if air had free access to the material, cohesion would be destroyed, and theoretical pressures would be more easily developed. with closely-sheeted trenches, weathering is practically excluded, and the bracing, which seemingly is far too light, holds up the trench with scarcely a mark of pressure. as an instance, in 1893, the writer was successfully digging sewer trenches from 10 to 14 ft. deep, through gravel, in the central part of connecticut, without bracing; because of demands of the work in another part of the city, a length of several hundred feet of trench was left open for three days, resulting in the caving-in of the sides. the elements had destroyed the cohesion, and the sides of the trenches no longer stood vertically. recently, in the vicinity of boston, trenches, 32 ft. wide, and from 25 to 35 ft. deep, with heavy buildings on one side, have been braced with 8 by 10-in. stringers, and bracers at 10-ft. centers longitudinally, and from 3 to 5 ft. apart vertically; this timbering apparently was too slight for pressures which, theoretically, might be expected from the natural slope of the material. just what pressures develop on the sides of the structures in these deep trenches after pulling the top sheeting (the bottom sheeting being left in place) is, of course, a matter of conjecture. there can be no doubt that there is an arching of the material, as suggested by the author. how much this may be assisted by the practical non-disturbance of the virgin material is, of course, indeterminate. that substructures and retaining walls designed according to the rankine or similar theories have an additional factor of safety from too generous an assumption in regard to earth pressure is practically admitted everywhere. it is almost an engineering axiom that retaining walls generally fail because of insufficient foundation only. for the foregoing reasons, and particularly from observations on the effect of earth pressures on wooden timbers used as bracing, the writer believes that, ordinarily, the theoretical earth pressures computed by rankine and coulomb are not realized by one-half, and sometimes not even by one-third or one-quarter in trenches well under-drained, rapidly excavated, and thoroughly braced. j.c. meem, m. am. soc. c. e. (by letter).--the writer has been much interested in this discussion, and believes that it will be of general value to the profession. it is unfortunate, however, that several of the points raised have been due to a careless reading of, or failure to understand, the paper. taking up the discussion in detail, the writer will first answer the criticisms of mr. goodrich. he says: "the writer believes that, in the design of permanent structures, consideration of arch action should not be included, at least, not until more information has been obtained. he also believes that the design of temporary structures with this inclusion is actually dangerous in some instances." if the arching action of earth exists, why should it not be recognized and considered? the design of timbering for a structure to rest, for instance, at a depth of from 200 to 300 ft. in normal dry earth, without considering this action, would be virtually prohibitive. mr. goodrich proceeds to show one of the dangers of considering such action by quoting the writer, as follows: "about an hour after the superimposed load had been removed, the writer jostled the box with his foot sufficiently to dislodge some of the exposed sand, when the arch at once collapsed and the bottom fell to the ground." he fails, as do so many other critics of this theory, to distinguish the difference between that portion of the sand which acts as so-called "centering" and that which goes to make up the sustaining arch. the dislodgment of any large portion of this "centering" naturally causes collapse, unless it is caught, in which case the void in the "centering" is filled from the material in the sustaining arch, and this, in turn, is filled from that above, and so on, until the stability of each arch is in turn finally established. this, however, does not mean that, during the process of establishing this equilibrium of the arch stresses, there is no arching action of any of the material above, but only that some of the so-called arches are temporarily sustained by those below. that is, in effect, each area of the material above becomes, in turn, a dependent, an independent, and finally an interdependent arch. if mr. goodrich's experience has led him to examine any large number of tunnel arches or brick sewers, he will have noted in many of them longitudinal cracks at the soffits of the arches and perhaps elsewhere. these result from three causes: _first._--in tunneling, there is more or less loss of material, while, in back-filling, the material does not at first reach its final compactness. therefore, in adjusting itself to normal conditions, this material causes impact loads to come upon the green arch, and these tend to crack it. _second._--no matter how tightly a brick or other arch is keyed in, there must always be some slight subsidence when the "centers" are struck. this, again, results in a shock, or impact loading, to the detriment of the arch. _third._--the most prolific cause, however, is that in tunneling, as well as in back-filling open cuts, the material backing up the haunches is more or less loosened and therefore is not at first compact enough to prevent the spreading of the haunches when the load comes on the arch. this causes cracking, but, as soon as the haunches have been pressed out against the solid material, the cracking usually ceases, unless the pressure has been sufficiently heavy to cause collapse. an interesting example of this was noted in the joralemon street branch of the rapid transit tunnel, in brooklyn, in which a great many of the cast-iron rings were cracked under the crown of the arch, during construction; but, in spite of this, they sustained, for more than two years, a loading which, according to mr. goodrich, was continually increasing. in other words, the cracked arch sustained a greater loading than that which cracked the plates during construction, according to his theory, as noted in the following quotation: "but it should be equally conceded by the advocates of the existence of such action that changes in humidity, due to moving water, vibration, and appreciable viscosity, etc., will invariably destroy this action in time." as to the correctness of this theory mr. goodrich would probably have great difficulty in convincing naturalists, who are aware that many animals live in enlarged burrows the stability of which is dependent on the arching action of the earth; in fact, many of these burrows have entrances under water. he would also have some difficulty in convincing those experienced miners who, after a cave-in, always wait until the ground has settled and compacted itself before tunneling, usually with apparent safety, over the scene of the cave-in. the writer quotes as follows from mr. goodrich's discussion: "in any case, no arch action can be brought into play until a certain amount of settlement has taken place so as to bring the particles into closer contact, and in such a way that the internal stresses are practically those only of compression, and the shearing stresses are within the limits possible for the material in question." further: "consequently, an almost infinitesimal settlement of the 'centering' may cause the complete destruction of an arch of earth." and further: "on the other hand, it is believed that the author's statement, as to the 'tendency of marbles to arch,' * * * should be qualified by the addition of the words, 'only when a certain amount of deflection has taken place so as to bring the arch into action.'" in a large measure the writer agrees with the first and last quotations, but sees no reason to endorse the second, as it is impossible to consider any arch being built which does not settle slightly, at least, when the "centers" are struck. regarding his criticism of the lack of arching action in balls or marbles, he seems to reason that the movement of the marbles would destroy the arch action. it is very difficult for the writer to conceive how it would be possible for balls or marbles to move when confined as they would be confined if the earth were composed of them instead of its present ingredients, and under the same conditions otherwise. mr. goodrich can demonstrate the correctness of the writer's theories, however, if he will repeat the writer's experiment no. 3, with marbles, with buckshot, and with dry sand. he is also advised to make the experiment with sand and water, described by the writer, and is assured that, if he will see that the washers are absolutely tight before putting the water into the box, he can do this without bringing about the collapse of the arch; the only essential condition is that the bottom shall be keyed up tightly, so as not to allow the escape of any sand. he is also referred to the two photographs, plate xxiv, illustrating the writer's first experiment, showing how increases in the loading resulted in compacting the material of the arch and in the consequent lowering of the false bottom. as long as the exposed sand above this false bottom had cohesion enough to prevent the collapse of the "centering," this arch could have been loaded with safety up to the limits of the compressive strength of the sand. to quote again from mr. goodrich: "furthermore, the author's reason for bisecting the angle between the vertical and the angle of repose of the material, when he undertakes to determine the thickness of key, is not obvious. this assumption is shown to be absurd when carried to either limit, for when the angle of repose equals zero, as is the case with water, this method would give a definite thickness of key, while there can be absolutely no arch action possible in such a case; and, when the angle of repose is 90°, as may be assumed in the case of rock, this method would give an infinite thickness of key, which is again seen to be absurd." mr. goodrich assumes that water or liquid has an angle of repose equal to zero, which is true, but the writer's assumptions applied only to solid material, and the liquid gives an essentially different condition of pressure, as shown by a careful reading of the paper. in solid rock mr. goodrich assumes an angle of repose equal to 90°, for which there is no authority; that is, solid rock has no known angle of repose. in order to carry these assumptions to a definite conclusion, we must assume for that material with an angle of repose of 90° some solid material which has weight but no thrust, such as blocks of ice piled vertically. in this case mr. goodrich can readily see that there will be no arching action over the structure, and that the required thickness of key would be infinite. as to the other case, it is somewhat difficult to conceive of a solid with an angle of repose of zero; aqueous material does not fulfill this condition, as it is either a liquid or a combination of water and solid material. the best illustration, perhaps, would be to assume a material composed of iron filings, into which had been driven a powerful magnet, so that the iron filings would be drawn horizontally in one direction. it is easy to conceive, then, that in tunneling through this material there would be no necessity for holding up the roof; the definite thickness of key given, as being at the point of intersection of two 45° angles, would be merely a precautionary measure, and would not be required in practice. it is thus seen that both these conditions can be fulfilled with practical illustrations; that is, for an angle of repose of 90°, that material which has weight and no thrust, and for an angle of repose of zero, that solid material which has thrust but no weight. mr. goodrich says the author has given no experiments to prove his statement that the arch thrust is greater in dryer sand. if mr. goodrich will make the experiment partially described as experiment no. 3, with absolutely dry sand, and with moist sand, and on a scale large enough to eliminate cohesion, he will probably find enough to convince him that in this assumption the writer is correct. at the same time, the writer has based his theory in this regard on facts which are not entirely conclusive, and his mind is open as to what future experiments on a large scale may develop. it is very probable, however, that an analytical and practical examination of the english experiments noted on pages 379 and 380, will be sufficient to develop this fact conclusively. the writer is forced to conclude that some of the criticisms by mr. goodrich result from a not too careful reading of the paper. for instance, he states: "'it is conceded' (line 2, p. 357, for example) when the writer, for one, has not even conceded the accuracy of the assumptions." a more careful reading would have shown mr. goodrich that this concession was one of the writer's as to certain pressures against or on tunnels, and, if mr. goodrich does not concede this, he is even more radical than the writer. and again: "'nor can anyone * * * doubt that the top timbers are stressed more heavily than those at the bottom' is emphatically doubted and earnestly denied by the writer." it is unfortunate that mr. goodrich failed to make the complete quotation, which reads: "nor can anyone, looking at fig. 5, doubt," etc. a glance at fig. 5 will demonstrate that, under conditions there set forth, the writer is probably correct in his assertion as relating to that particular instance. further: "for instance, the author's well-known theory that the pressures against retaining walls are a maximum at the top and decrease to zero at the bottom, is in absolute contradiction to the results of experiments conducted on a large scale by the writer on the new reinforced concrete retaining wall near the st. george ferry, on staten island." the writer's "well-known theory that pressures against retaining walls are a maximum at the top and decrease to zero at the bottom" applies only to pressures exerted by absolutely dry and normally dry material, and it seems to him that this so-called theory is capable of such easy demonstration, by the simple observation of any bracing in a deep trench in material of this class, that it ought to be accepted as at least safer than the old theory which it reverses. as to this "well-known theory" in material subject to water pressure, a careful reading of the paper, or an examination of fig. 12 and its accompanying text, or an examination of table 1, will convince mr. goodrich that, under the writer's analysis, this pressure does not decrease to zero at the bottom, but that in soft materials it may be approximately constant all the way down, while, in exceptionally soft material, conditions may arise where it may increase toward the bottom. the determination should be made by taking the solid material and drying it sufficiently so that water does not flow or seep from it. when this material is then compacted to the condition in which it would be in its natural state, its angle of repose may be measured, and may be found to be as high as 60 degrees. the very fine matter should then be separated from the coarser material, and the latter weighed, to determine its proportion. subtracting this from the total, the remainder could be credited to "aqueous matter." it is thus seen that with a material when partially dried in which the natural angle of repose might be 60°, and in which the percentage of water or aqueous matter when submerged might be 60%, there would be an increase of pressure toward the bottom. the writer does not know the exact nature of the experiments made at st. george's ferry by mr. goodrich, but he supposes they were measurements of pressures on pistons through holes in the sheeting. he desires to state again that he cannot regard such experiments as conclusive, and believes that they are of comparative value only, as such experiments do not measure in any large degree the pressure of the solid material but only all or a portion of the so-called aqueous matter, that is, the liquid and very fine material which flows with it. thus it is well known that, during the construction of the recent hudson and north river tunnels, pressures were tested in the silt, some of which showed that the silt exerted full hydrostatic pressure. at the same time, w.i. aims, m. am. soc. c. e., stated in a public lecture, and recently also to the writer, that in 1890 he made some tests of the pressure of this silt in normal air for the late w.r. hutton, m. am. soc. c. e. a hole, 12 in. square, was cut through the brickwork and the iron lining, just back of the lock in the north tube (in normal air), and about 1000 ft. from the new jersey shore. it was found that the silt had become so firm that it did not flow into the opening. later, a 4-in. collar and piston were built into the opening, and, during a period covering at least 3 months, constant observations showed that no pressure came upon it; in fact, it was stated that the piston was frequently worked back and forth to induce pressure, but no response was obtained during all this period. the conclusion must then be drawn that when construction, with its attendant disturbance, has stopped, the solid material surrounding structures tends to compact itself more or less, and solidify, according as it is more or less porous, forming in many instances what may be virtually a compact arch shutting off a large percentage of the normal, and some percentage even of the aqueous, pressure. that the pressure of normally dry material cannot be measured through small openings can be verified by any one who will examine such material back of bracing showing evidences of heavy pressure. the investigator will find that, if this material is free from water pressure, paper stuffed lightly into small openings will hold back indefinitely material which in large masses has frequently caused bracing to buckle and sheeting planks to bend and break; and the writer reiterates that such experiments should be made in trenches sheeted with horizontal sheeting bearing against short vertical rangers and braces giving horizontal sections absolutely detached and independent of each other. in no other way can such experiments be of real value (and even then only when made on a large scale) to determine conclusively the pressure of earth on trenches. as to the questions of the relative thrust of materials under various angles of repose, and of the necessity of dividing by the tangent, etc.; these, to the writer, seem to be merely the solution of problems in simple graphics. the writer believes that if mr. goodrich will make, even on a small scale, some of the experiments noted by the writer, he will be convinced that many of the assumptions which he cannot at present endorse are based on fact, and his co-operation will be welcomed with the greatest interest. among the experiments which he is asked to make is the one in dry sand, noted as experiment no. 3, whereby it can be shown very conclusively that additional back-fill will result in increased arching stability, on an arch which would collapse under lighter loading. the writer is indebted to mr. goodrich for pointing out some errors in omission and in typography (now corrected), and for his hearty concurrence in some of the assumptions which the writer believed would meet with greatest disapproval. in reply to mr. pruyn and mr. gregory, the writer assumed that the piston area in experiment no. 6 should be reduced only by the actual contact of material with it. if this material in contact should be composed of theoretical spheres, resulting in a contact with points only, then the theoretical area reduced should be in proportion to this amount only. the writer does not believe, however, that this condition exists in practice, but thinks that the area is reduced very much more than by the actual theoretical contact of the material. he sees no reason, as far as he has gone, to doubt the accuracy of the deductions from this experiment. regarding the question of the length of time required to raise the piston, he does not believe that the position of his critics is entirely correct in this matter; that is, it must either be conceded that the piston area is cut off from the source of pressure, or that it is in contact with it through more or less minute channels of water. if it is cut off, then the writer's contention is proved without the need of the experiment, and it is therefore conclusive that a submerged tunnel is not under aqueous pressure or the buoyant action of water. if, on the other hand, the water is in contact through channels bearing directly upon the piston and leading to the clear water chamber, any increase in pressure in the water chamber must necessarily result in a virtually instantaneous increase of the pressure against the piston, and therefore the action on the latter should follow almost immediately. in all cases during the experiments the piston did not respond until the pressure was approximately twice as great as required in clear water, therefore the writer must conclude either that the experiments proved it conclusively or that his assumption is proved without the necessity of the experiments. that is, the pressure is virtually not in evidence until the piston has commenced to move. mr. pruyn has added valuable information in his presentation of data obtained from specific tests of the bearing value of, and friction on, hollow steel piles. these data largely corroborate tests and observations by the writer, and are commended to general attention. mr. carter's information is also of special interest to the writer, as much of it is in the line of confirming his views. mr. carter does not yet accept the theory of increased pressure toward the top, but if he will examine or experiment with heavy bracing in deep trenches in clear sand, or material with well-defined angles of repose, he will probably find much to help him toward the acceptance of this view. the writer regrets that he has not now the means or appliances for further experiments with the piston chamber, but he does not believe that reliable results could be obtained in broken stone with so small a piston, as it is possible that the point of one stone only might be in contact with the piston. this would naturally leave the base exposed almost wholly to a clear water area. he does not believe, however, that in practice the laying of broken stone under inverts will materially change the ultimate pressure unless its cross-section represents a large area. mr. perry will find the following on page 369: "it should be noted also that although the area subject to pressure is diminished, the pressure on the area remaining corresponds to the full hydrostatic head, as would be shown by the pressure on an air gauge." this, of course, depends on the porosity of the material and the friction the water meets in passing through it. as to mr. thomson's discussion, the writer notes with regret two points: (_a_) that specific data are not given in many of the interesting cases of failures of certain structures or bracing; and (_b_), that he has not in all cases a clear understanding of the paper. for instance, the writer has not advocated the omission of bottom bracing or sheeting. he has seen many instances where it has been, or could have been, safely omitted, but he desires to make it clear that he does not under any circumstances advocate its omission in good work; but only that, in well-designed bracing, its strength may be decreased as it approaches the bottom. reference is again made to the diagram, fig. 12, which shows that, in most cases of coffer-dams in combined aqueous and earth pressure, there may be nearly equal, and in some cases even greater, loading toward the bottom. the writer also specifically states that in air the difference between aqueous and earth pressure is plainly noted by the fact that bracing is needed so frequently to hold back the earth while the air is keeping out the water. the lack of specific data is especially noticeable in the account of the rise of the 6-ft. conduit at toronto. it would be of great interest to know with certainly the weight of the pipe per foot, and whether it was properly bedded and properly back-filled. in all probability the back-filling over certain areas was not properly done, and as the pipe was exposed to an upward pressure of nearly 1600 lb. per ft., with probably only 500 or 600 lb. of weight to counterbalance it, it can readily be seen that it did not conform with the writer's general suggestion, that structures not compactly, or only partially, buried, should have a large factor of safety against the upward pressure. opposed to mr. thomson's experience in this instance is the fact that oftentimes the tunnels under the east river approached very close to the surface, with the material above them so soupy (owing to the escape of compressed air) that their upper surfaces were temporarily in water, yet there was no instance in which they rose, although some of them were under excessive buoyant pressure. it is also of interest to note, from the papers descriptive of the north river tunnel, that, with shield doors closed, the shield tended to rise, while by opening the doors to take in muck the shield could be brought down or kept down. the writer concurs with those who believe that the rising of the shield with closed doors was due to the slightly greater density of the material below, and was not in any way due to buoyancy. concerning the collapse of the bracing in the tunnel built under a side-hill, the writer believes it was due to the fact that it was under a sliding side-hill, and that, if it had been possible to have back-filled over and above this tunnel to a very large extent, this back-fill would have resulted in checking the sliding of material against the tunnel, and the work would thereafter have been done with safety. this is corroborated by mr. thomson's statement that the tunnel was subsequently carried through safely by going farther into the hill. as to the angle of repose, mr. thomson seems to feel that its determination is so often impracticable that it is not to be relied on; and yet all calculations pertaining to earth pressure must be based on this factor. the writer believes that the angle of repose is not difficult to determine, and that observations of, and experiments on, exposed banks in similar material, and general experience in relation thereto, will enable one to determine it in nearly all cases within such reasonably accurate limits that only a small margin of safety need be added. engineers are sent to europe to study sewage disposal, water purification, transit problems, etc., but are rarely sent to an adjoining county or state to look at an exposed bank, which would perhaps solve a vexed problem in bracing and result in great economy in the design of permanent structures. mr. thomson's general views seem to indicate that much of the subject matter noted in the paper relates to unsolvable problems, for it appears that in many cases he believes the engineer to be dependent on his educated guess, backed perhaps by the experienced guess of the foreman or practical man. the writer, on the contrary, believes that every problem relating to work of this class is capable of being solved, within reasonably accurate limits, and that the time is not far distant when the engineer, with his study of conditions, and samples of material before him, will be able to solve his earth pressure and earth resistance problems as accurately as the bridge engineer, with his knowledge of structural materials, solves bridge problems. the writer, in the course of his experience, has met with or been interested in the solution of many problems similar to the following: what difference in timbering should be made for a tunnel in ordinary, normally dry ground at a depth of 20 ft. to the roof, as compared with one at a depth of 90 ft.? what difference in timbering or in permanent design should be made for a horizontally-sheeted shaft, 5 ft. square, going to a depth of 45 ft. and one 25 by 70 ft., for instance, going to the same depth, assuming each to be braced and sheeted horizontally with independent bracing? what allowance should be made for the strength of interlock, assuming that a circular bulkhead of sand, 30 ft. in diameter, is to be carried by steel sheet-piling exposed around the outside for a depth of 40 ft.? what average pressure per square foot of area should be required to drive a section of a 3 by 15-ft. roof shield, as compared with the pressure needed to drive the whole roof shield with an area four times as great? to what depth could a 12 by 12-in. timber be driven, under gradually added pressure, up to 60 tons, for instance, in normal sand? what frictional resistance should be assumed on a hollow, steel, smooth-bore pile which had been driven through sharp sand and had penetrated soft, marshy material the bearing resistance of which was practically valueless? what allowance should be made for the buoyancy of a tunnel 20 ft. in diameter, the top of which was buried to a depth of 20 ft. in sand above which there was 40 ft. of water? it is believed by the writer that most of the authorities are silent as to the solution of problems similar to the above, and it is because of this lack of available data that he has directed his studies to them. the belief that the results of these studies, together with such observations and experiments as relate thereto, may be of interest, has caused him to set them forth in this paper. he desires to state his belief that if problems similar to the above were given for definite solution, not based on ordinary safe practice, and without conference, to a number of engineers prominently interested in such matters, the results would vary so widely as to convince some of the critics of this paper that the greater danger lies rather in the non-exploration of such fields than in the setting forth of results of exploration which may appear to be somewhat radical. further, if these views result in stimulating enough interest to lead to the hope that eventually the "pressure, resistance, and stability" of ground under varying conditions will be known within reasonably accurate limits and tabulated, the writer will feel that his efforts have not been in vain. footnotes: [footnote h: "lateral earth pressures and related phenomena," _transactions_, am. soc. c. e., vol. liii, p. 272.] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1159 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the east river tunnels.[a] by james h. brace, francis mason, and s. h. woodard, members, am. soc. c. e. this paper will be limited to a consideration of the construction of the tunnels, the broader questions of design, etc., having already been considered in papers by brig.-gen. charles w. raymond, m. am. soc. c. e., and alfred noble, past-president, am. soc. c. e. the location of the section of the work to be considered here is shown on plate xiii of mr. noble's paper. there are two permanent shafts on each side of the east river and four single cast-iron tube tunnels, each about 6,000 ft. long, and consisting of 3,900 ft. between shafts under the river, and 2,000 ft. in long island city, mostly under the depot and passenger yard of the long island railroad. this tube-tunnel work was naturally a single job. the contract for its construction was let to s. pearson and son, incorporated, ground being broken on may 17th, 1904. five years later, to a day, the work was finished and received its final inspection for acceptance by the railroad company. the contract was of the profit-sharing type, and required an audit, by the railroad company, of the contractor's books, and a careful system of cost-keeping by the company's engineers, so that it is possible to include in the following some of the unit costs of the work. these are given in two parts: the first is called the unit labor cost, and is the cost of the labor in the tunnel directly chargeable to the thing considered. it does not include the labor of operating the plant, nor watchmen, yardmen, pipemen, and electricians. the second is called "top charges," a common term, but meaning different things to different contractors and engineers. here, it is made to include the cost of the contractor's staff and roving laborers, such as pipemen, electricians, and yardmen, the cost of the plant and its operation, and all miscellaneous expenses, but does not include any contractor's profit, nor cost of materials entering permanent work. the contractor's plant is to be described in a paper by henry japp,[b] m. am. soc. c. e., and will not be dealt with here. the contractors carried on their work from three different sites. from permanent shafts, located near the river in manhattan, four shields were driven eastward to about the middle of the river; and, from two similar shafts at the river front in long island city, four shields were driven westward to meet those from manhattan. from a temporary shaft, near east avenue, long island city, the land section of about 2,000 ft. was driven to the river shafts. [footnote a: presented at the meeting of december 15th, 1909.] [footnote b: _transactions_, am. soc. c. e., vol. lxix. p. 1.] tunnels from east avenue to the river shafts. the sinking of the temporary shaft at east avenue was a fairly simple matter. rough 6 by 12-in. sheet-piling, forming a rectangle, 127 by 34 ft., braced across by heavy timbering, was driven about 28 ft. to rock as the excavation progressed. below this, the shaft was sunk into rock, about 27 ft., without timbering. as soon as the shaft was down, on september 30th, 1904, bottom headings were started westward in tunnels _a_, _b_, and _d_. when these had been driven about half the distance to the river shafts, soft ground was encountered. (see station 59, plate xiii.) as the ground carried considerable water, it was decided to use compressed air. bulkheads were built in the heading, and, with an air pressure of about 15 lb. per sq. in., the heading was driven through the soft ground and into rock by ordinary mining methods. the use of compressed air was then discontinued. west of this soft ground, a top heading, followed by a bench, was driven to the soft ground at about station 66. tunnel _c_, being higher, was more in soft ground, and at first it was the intention to delay its excavation until it had been well drained by the bottom headings in the tunnels on each side. a little later it was decided to use a shield without compressed air. this shield had been used in excavating the stations of the great northern and city tunnel in london. it was rebuilt, its diameter being changed from 24 ft. 8-1/2 in. to 23 ft. 5-1/4 in. it proved too weak, and after it had flattened about 4 in. and had been jacked up three times, the scheme was abandoned, the shield was removed, and work was continued by the methods which were being used in the other tunnels. the shield was rather light, but probably it would have been strong enough had it been used with compressed air, or had the material passed through been all earth. here, there was a narrow concrete cradle in the bottom, with rock up to about the middle of the tunnel, which was excavated to clear the shield, and gave no support on its sides. the shield was a cylinder crushed between forces applied along the top and bottom. with the exception of this trial of a shield in tunnel _c_, and a novel method in tunnel _b_, where compressed air, but no shield, was used, the description of the work in one tunnel will do for all. from the bottom headings break-ups were started at several places in each tunnel where there was ample cover of rock above. where the roof was in soft ground, top headings were driven from the points of break-up and timbered. as soon as the full-sized excavation was completed, the iron lining was built, usually in short lengths. it will be noticed on plate xiii that there is a depression in the rock between station 65 and the river shafts, leaving all the tunnels in soft ground. as this was directly under the long island railroad passenger station, it was thought best to use a shield and compressed air. this was done in tunnels _a_, _c_, and _d_, one shield being used successively for all three. it was first erected in tunnel _d_ at station 64 + 47. from there it was driven westward to the river shaft. it was then taken apart and re-erected in tunnel _c_ at station 63 + 63 and driven westward to the shaft. it was then found that there would not be time for one shield to do all four lines. the experience in tunnels _c_ and _d_ had proven the ground to be much better than had been expected. there was considerable clay in the sand, and, with the water blown out by compressed air, it was very stable. a special timbering method was devised, and tunnel _b_ was driven from station 66 + 10 to the shaft with compressed air, but without a shield. in the meantime the shield was re-erected in tunnel _a_ and was shoved through the soft ground from station 65 + 48 nearly to the river shaft, where it was dismantled. there was nothing unusual about the shield work; it was about the same as that under the river, which is fully described elsewhere. in spite of great care in excavating in front of the shield, and prompt grouting behind it, there was a small settlement of the building above, amounting to about 1-1/2 in. in the walls and about 5 in. in the ground floors which were of concrete laid like a sidewalk directly upon the ground. whether this settlement was due to ground lost in the shield work or to a compacting of the ground on account of its being dried out by compressed air, it is impossible to say. the interesting features of this work from east avenue to the river shafts are the mining methods and the building of the iron tube without a shield. excavation in all rock. where the tunnel was all in good rock two distinct methods were used. the first was the bottom-heading-and-break-up, and the second, the top-heading-and-bench method. the first is illustrated by figs. 1 and 2, plate lxiii. the bottom heading, 13 ft. wide and 9 ft. high, having first been driven, a break-up was started by blasting down the rock, forming a chamber the full height of the tunnel. the timber platform, shown in the drawing, was erected in the bottom heading, and extended through the break-up chamber. the plan was then to drill the entire face above the bottom heading and blast it down upon the timber staging, thus maintaining a passage below for the traffic from the heading and break-ups farther down the line. starting with the condition indicated by plate xiii, the face was drilled, the columns were then taken down and the muck pile was shoveled through holes in the staging into muck cars below. the face was then blasted down upon the staging, the drill columns were set up on the muck pile, and the operation was repeated. this method has the advantage that the bottom heading can be pushed through rapidly, and from it the tunnel may be attacked at a number of points at one time. it was found to be more expensive than the top-heading-and-bench method, and as soon as the depression in the rock at about station 59 was passed, a top heading about 7 ft. high, and roughly the segment of a 23-ft. circle, was driven to the next soft ground in each of the four tunnels. the remainder of the section was taken out in two benches, the first, about 4 ft. high, was kept about 15 ft. ahead of the lower bench, which was about the remaining 11 ft. high. excavation in earth and rock. about 2,500 ft. of tunnel, the roof of which was in soft ground, was excavated in normal air by the mining-and-timbering method. in the greater part of this the rock surface was well above the middle of the tunnel. the method of timbering and mining, while well enough known, has not been generally used in the united states. [illustration: plate lxiii] starting from the break-up in all rock, as described above, and illustrated on plate xiii, when soft ground was approached, a top heading was driven from the rock into and through the earth. this heading was about 7 ft. high and about 6 ft. wide. this was done by the usual post, cap, and poling-board method. the ground was a running sand with little or no clay, and, at first, considerable water, in places. all headings required side polings. the roof poling boards were about 2-1/2 or 3 ft. above the outside limit of the tunnel lining, as illustrated by figs. 3, 4, and 5, plate lxiii. the next step was to place two crown-bars, _aa_, usually about 20 ft. long, under the caps. posts were then placed under the bars, and poling boards at right angles to the axis of the tunnel were then driven out over the bars. as these polings were being driven, the side polings of the original heading were removed, and the earth was mined out to the end of these new transverse polings. breast boards were set on end under the ends of the transverse polings when they had been driven out to their limit. side bars, _bb_, were then placed as far out as possible and supported on raking posts. these posts were carried down to rock, if it was near, if not, a sill was placed. a new set of transverse polings was driven over these side bars and the process was repeated until the sides had been carried down to rock or down to the elevation of the sills supporting the posts, which were usually about 4 ft. above the axis of the tunnel. the plan then was to excavate the remainder of the section and build the iron lining in short lengths, gradually transferring the weight of the roof bars of the iron lining as the posts were taken out. this meant that not more than four rings, and often only one ring, could be built before excavation and a short length of cradle became necessary. before the posts under the roof bars could be built and the weight transferred to the iron lining, a grout dam was placed at the leading end of the iron lining, and grout was brought up to at least 45° from the top. such workings were in progress at as many as eight places in one tunnel at the same time. where there was only the ordinary ground-water to contend with, the driving of the top heading drained the ground very thoroughly, and the enlarging was done easily and without a serious loss of ground. under these conditions the surface settlement was from 6 in. to 2 ft. under borden avenue, there was more water, which probably came from a leaky sewer; it was not enough to form a stream, but just kept the ground thoroughly saturated. there was a continued though hardly perceptible flow of earth through every crevice in the timbering during the six or eight weeks between the driving of the top heading and the placing of the iron lining; and here there was a settlement of from 4 to 8 ft. at the surface. tunneling in compressed air without a shield. when it became evident that there would not be time for one shield to do the soft ground portions of all four tunnels under the long island railroad station, a plan was adopted and used in tunnel b which, while not as rapid, turned out to be as cheap as the work done by the shields. figs. 6 and 7, plate lxiii, and fig. 1, plate lxiv, illustrate this work fairly well. the operation of this scheme was about as follows: having the iron built up to the face of the full-sized excavation, a hole or top heading, about 3 ft. wide and 4 or 5 ft. high, was excavated to about 10 ft. in advance. this was done in a few hours without timbering of any kind; but, as soon as the hole or heading was 10 ft. out, 6 by 12-in. laggings or polings were put up in the roof, with the rear ends resting on the iron lining and the leading ends resting on vertical breast boards. the heading was then widened out rapidly and the lagging was placed, down to about 45° from the crown. the forward ends of the laggings were then supported by a timber rib and sill. protected by this roof, the full section was excavated, and three rings of the iron lining were built and grouted, and then the whole process was repeated. [illustration: plate lxiv, fig. 1.--tunneling in compressed air without shield.] [illustration: plate lxiv, fig. 2.--t-head air-lock.] [illustration: plate lxiv, fig. 3.--cutting edge of caisson assembled.] [illustration: plate lxiv, fig. 4.--caisson supported on jacks and blocks.] concrete cradles, hand-packed stone and grouting. had the east avenue tunnel been built by shields, as was contemplated at the time of its design, the space between the limits of excavation and the iron lining would have been somewhat less than by the method actually used, especially in the earth portions. this space would have been filled with grout ejected through the iron lining. the change in the method of doing the work permitted the use of cheaper material, in place of part of the grout, and, at the same time, facilitated the work. the tube of cast-iron rings is adapted to be built in the tail of the shield. where no shield was used, after the excavation was completed and all loose rock was removed, timbers were fixed across the tunnel from which semicircular ribs were hung, below which lagging was placed. the space between this and the rough rock surface was filled with concrete. this formed a cradle in which the iron tube could be erected, and, at the same time, occupied space which would have been filled by grout, at greater cost, had a shield been used. as soon as each ring of iron was erected, the space between it and the roof of the excavation was filled with hand-packed stone. at about every sixth ring a wall of stone laid in mortar was built between the lining and the rock to serve as a dam to retain grout. the interstices between the hand-packed stones were then filled with 1 to 1 grout of cement and sand, ejected through the iron lining. the concrete cradles averaged 1.05 cu. yd. per ft. of tunnel, and cost, exclusive of materials, $6.70 per cu. yd., of which $2.25 was for labor and $4.45 was for top charges. the hand-packed stone averaged 1-1/2 cu. yd. per ft. of tunnel, and cost $2.42 per cu. yd., of which $0.98 was for labor and $1.44 was for top charges. erection of iron lining. the contractors planned to erect the iron lining with erectors of the same pattern as that used on the shield under the river, mounted on a traveling stage. these will be described in detail in mr. japp's paper. two of these stages and erectors worked in each tunnel at different points. the tunnel was attacked from so many points that these erectors could not be moved from working to working. the result was that about 58% of the lining was built by hand. at first thought, this seems to be a crude and extravagant method, as the plates weighed about 1 ton each and about 20,000 were erected by hand. as it turned out, the cost was not greater than for those erected by machinery, taking into account the cost of erectors and power. this, however, was largely because the hand erection reduced the amount of work to be done by the machines so much that the machines had an undue plant charge. the hand erection was very simple. a portable hand-winch, with a 3/8-in. wire rope, was set in any convenient place. the wire rope was carried to a snatch-block fastened to the top of the iron previously built; or, where the roof was in soft ground, the timbering furnished points of attachment. the end of the wire rope was then hooked to a bolt hole in a new plate, two men at the winch lifted the plate, and three or four others swung it into approximate place, and, with the aid of bars and drift-pins, coaxed it into position and bolted it. where there was no timbering above the iron, sometimes the key and adjoining plates were set on blocking on a timber staging and then jacked up to place. long island shafts. the river shafts were designed to serve both as working shafts and as permanent openings to the tunnels, and were larger and more substantial than would have been required for construction purposes. plate x of mr. noble's paper shows their design. they consist of two steel caissons, each 40 by 74 ft. in plan, with walls 5 ft. thick filled with concrete. a wall 6 ft. thick separated each shaft into two wells 29 by 30 ft., each directly over a tunnel. circular openings for the tunnel, 25 ft. in diameter, were provided in the sides of the caissons. during the sinking these were closed by bulkheads of steel plates backed by horizontal steel girders. the shafts were sunk as pneumatic caissons to a depth of 78 ft. below mean high water. there have been a few caissons which were larger and were sunk deeper than these, but most large caissons have been for foundations, such as bridge piers, and have been stopped at or a little below the surface of the rock. the unusual feature of the caissons for the long island shaft is that they were sunk 54 ft. through rock. it had been hoped that the rock would prove sound enough to permit stopping the caissons at or a little below the surface and continuing the excavation without sinking them further; for this reason only the steel for the lower 40 ft. of the caissons was ordered at first. the roof of the working chamber was placed 7 ft. above the cutting edge. it was a steel floor, designed by the contractors, and consisted of five steel girders, 6 ft. deep, 29 ft. long, and spaced at 5-ft. centers. between were plates curved upward to a radius of 4 ft. each working chamber had two shafts, 3 ft. by 5 ft. in cross-section, with a diaphragm dividing it into two passages, the smaller for men and the larger for muck buckets. on top of these shafts were moran locks. mounted on top of the caisson was a 5-ton wilson crane, which would reach each shaft and also the muck cars standing on tracks on the ground level beside the caissons. circular steel buckets, 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 3 ft. high, were used for handling all muck. these were taken from the bottom of the working chamber, dumped in cars, and returned to the bottom without unhooking. work was carried on by three 8-hour shifts per day. the earth excavation was done at the rate of about 67 cu. yd. per day from one caisson. the rock excavation, amounting to about 6,200 cu. yd. in each caisson, was done at the rate of about 44.5 cu. yd. per day. the average rate of lowering, when the cutting edge of the south caisson was passing through earth, was 0.7 ft. per day. in rock, the rate was 0.48 ft. per day in the south caisson, and 0.39 ft. per day in the north caisson. at the beginning all lowering was done with sixteen hydraulic jacks. temporary brackets were fastened to the outside of the caisson. a 100-ton hydraulic jack was placed under each alternate bracket and under each of the others there was blocking. the jacks were connected to a high-pressure pump in the power-house. as the jacks lifted the caisson, the blocking was set for a lower position, to which the caisson settled as the jacks were exhausted. after the caisson had penetrated the earth about 10 ft., the outside brackets were removed and the lowering was regulated by blocking placed under brackets in the working chamber. the caisson usually rested on three sets of blockings on each side and two on each end. the blocking was about 4 ft. inside the cutting edge. in the rock, as the cutting edge was cleared for a lowering of about 2 ft., 6 by 8-in. oak posts were placed under the cutting-edge angle. when a sufficient number of posts had been placed, the blocking on which the caisson had rested was knocked or blasted out, and the rock underneath was excavated. the blocking was then re-set at a lower elevation. the posts under the cutting edge were then chopped part way through and the air pressure was lowered about 10 lb., which increased the net weight to more than 4,000,000 lb. the posts then gradually crushed and the caissons settled to the new blocking. the tilt or level of the caisson was controlled by chopping the posts more on the side which was desired to move first. the caisson nearly always carried a very large net weight, usually about 870 tons. the concrete in the walls, which was added as the caisson was being sunk, was kept at about the elevation of the ground. there was generally a depth of from 5 to 20 ft. of water ballast on top of the roof of the working chamber. the air pressure in the working chamber was usually much less than the hydrostatic head outside the caisson. for example, the average air pressure in the south caisson during january, 1906, was 16-1/2 lb., while the average head was 62.5 ft., equivalent to 27 lb. per sq. in. under these conditions, there was a continued but small leakage into the caisson of from 15,000 to 20,000 gal. per day. in the rock the excavation was always carried from 2 to 5 in. outside the cutting edge. as soon as the cutting edge was cleared, bags of clay were placed under it in a well-tiered, solid pile, so that when the caisson was lowered the bags were cut through and most of the clay, bags and all, was squeezed back of the cutting edge between the rock and the caisson. table 1 shows the relation of the final position of the caissons to that designed. the cost of rock excavation in the caisson was $4.48 per cu. yd. for labor and $10.54 for top charges. the bottom of the shaft is an inverted concrete arch, 4 ft. thick, water-proofed with 6-ply felt and pitch. as soon as the caisson was down to its final position and the excavation was completed, concrete was deposited on the uneven rock surfaces, brought up to the line of the water-proofing, and given a smooth 1-in. mortar coat. the felt was stuck together in 3-ply mats on the surface with hot coal-tar pitch. these were rolled and sent down into the working chamber, where they were put down with cold pitch liquid at 60° fahr. each sheet of felt overlapped the one below 6 in. the water-proofing was covered by a 1-in. mortar plaster coat, after which the concrete of the 4-ft. inverted arch was placed. while the water-proofing and concreting were being done, the air pressure was kept at from 30 to 33 lb. per sq. in., the full hydrostatic head at the cutting edge. after standing for ten days, the air pressure was taken off, and the removal of the roof of the working chamber was begun. the water-proofing was done by the union construction and waterproofing company. table 1.--relation of the final position of the caissons to that designed. ================================================================ location.| long island city. | ---------------------------------------------------------------shaft. | north. | south. | ---------------------------------------------------------------corner. | high. | east. | north. | high. | east. | north. | ---------------------------------------------------------------northeast|0.21 ft.|0.08 ft.|0.05 ft.|0.32 ft.|0.15 ft.|0.28 ft.| northwest|0.22 " |0.08 " |0.02 " |0.00 " |0.15 " |0.12 " | southwest|0.27 " |0.14 " |0.02 " |0.18 " |0.45 " |0.12 " | southeast|0.23 " |0.14 " |0.05 " |0.39 " |0.45 " |0.28 " | ================================================================ ============================================================================= location.| manhattan. | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------shaft. | north. | south. | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------corner. | high. | east. | south. | high. | east or west.|north or south.| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------northeast|0.23 ft.|0.74 ft.|0.38 ft.|0.00 ft.|0.06 ft. east.|0.04 ft. south.| northwest|0.00 " |0.74 " |0.22 " |0.08 " |0.06 " " |0.13 " north.| southwest|0.11 " |0.31 " |0.22 " |0.21 " |0.45 " west.|0.13 " " | southeast|0.46 " |0.31 " |0.38 " |0.04 " |0.45 " " |0.04 " south.| ============================================================================= the cost of labor in compressed air chargeable to concreting was $3.40 per cu. yd. after the roof of each working chamber had been removed, the shield was erected on a timber cradle in the bottom of the shaft, in position to be shoved out of the opening in the west side of the caisson. temporary rings of iron lining were erected across the shaft in order to furnish something for the shield jacks to shove against. the roof of the working chamber was then re-erected about 35 ft. above its original position and about 8 ft. above the tunnel openings. this time, instead of the two small shafts which were in use during the sinking of the caisson, a large steel shaft with a t-head lock was built. this is illustrated in fig. 2, plate lxiv. the shaft was 8 ft. in diameter. inside there was a ladder and an elevator cage for lowering and hoisting men and the standard 1-yd. tunnel cars. at the top, forming the head of the t, there were two standard tunnel locks. manhattan shafts. a permanent shaft, similar to the river shafts in long island city, was constructed at manhattan over each pair of tunnels. each shaft was located across two lines, with its longer axis transverse to the tunnels. plate xiii shows their relative positions. they were divided equally by a reinforced concrete partition wall transverse to the line of the tunnels. on completion, the western portions were turned over to the contractor for the cross-town tunnels for his exclusive use. _south shaft._--work on the south shaft was started on june 9th, 1904, with the sinking of a 16 by 16-ft. test pit in the center of the south half of the south shaft, which reached disintegrated rock at a depth of about 20 ft. starting in august, the full shaft area, 74 by 40 ft., was taken out in an open untimbered cut to the rock, and a 20 by 50-ft. shaft was sunk through the rock to tunnel grade, leaving a 10 or 12-ft. berm around it. (fig. 1, plate lxx.) the erection of the caisson was started, about the middle of january, on the rock berm surrounding the 20 by 50-ft. shaft and about 15 ft. below the surface. fig. 3, plate lxiv, shows the cutting edge of the caisson assembled. the excavation of the small shaft had shown that hard rock and only a very small quantity of water would be encountered, and that the caisson need be sunk only a short distance below the rock surface. therefore, no working-chamber roof was provided, the caisson was built to a height of only 40 ft., and the circular openings were permanently closed. the assembling of the caisson took 2-1/2 months, and on april 2d lowering was started. inverted brackets were bolted temporarily to the cutting-edge stiffening brackets, and the sinking was carried on by methods similar to those used at long island. the jacks and blocking supporting the caisson are shown in fig. 4, plate lxiv. as soon as the cutting edge entered the rock, which was drilled about 6 in. outside of the neat lines, the space surrounding the caisson was back-filled with clay and muck to steady it and provide skin friction. as the friction increased, the walls were filled with concrete, and as the caisson slowly settled, it was checked and guided by blocking. the cutting edge finally came to rest 31 ft. below mean high water, the sinking having been accomplished in about seven weeks, at an average rate of 0.50 ft. per day. the final position of the cutting edge in relation to its designed position is shown in table 1. a berm about 4 ft. wide was left at the foot of the caisson below which the rock was somewhat fissured and required timbering. the cutting edge of the caisson was sealed to the rock with grout on the outside and a concrete base to the caisson walls on the inside, the latter resting on the 4-ft. berm. following the completion of the shaft, the permanent sump was excavated to grade for use during construction. _north shaft._--the north shaft had to be sunk in a very restricted area. the east side of the caisson cleared an adjoining building at one point by only 1 ft., while the northwest corner was within the same distance of the east line of first avenue. as in the case of the long island shafts, the steelwork for only the lower 40 ft. was ordered at the start. this height was completely assembled before sinking was begun. the caisson was lowered in about the same manner as those previously described. the bearing brackets for the hydraulic jacks were attached, as at the south shaft, to the inside of the cutting-edge brackets. the east side of the caisson was in contact with the foundations of the neighboring building, while the west side was in much softer material. as a consequence, the west side tended to settle more rapidly and thus throw the caisson out of level and position. to counteract that tendency, it was necessary to load the east wall heavily with cast-iron tunnel sections, in addition to the concrete filling in the walls. soon after sinking was begun, a small test shaft was sunk to a point below the elevation of the top of the tunnels. the rock was found to be sound, hard, and nearly dry. it was then decided to stop the caisson as soon as a foundation could be secured on sound rock. the latter was found at a depth of 38 ft. below mean high water. with the cutting edge seated at that depth, the top of the caisson was only 2 ft. above mean high water, and as this was insufficient protection against high tides, a 10-ft. extension was ordered for the top. work, however, went on without delay on the remainder of the excavation. the junction between the cutting edge and the rock was sealed with concrete and grout. the caisson was lowered at an average rate of 0.53 ft. per day. the size of the shaft below the cutting edge was 62 ft. 7 in. by 32 ft. the average rate of excavation during the sinking in soft material was 84 cu. yd. per day. the average rate of rock excavation below the final position of the cutting edge was 125 cu. yd. per day. there were night and day shifts, each working 10 hours. excavation in earth cost $3.96 per cu. yd., of which $1.45 was for labor and $2.51 for top charges, etc. the excavation of rock cost $8.93 per cu. yd., $2.83 being for labor and $6.10 for top charges. the final elevations of the four corners of the cutting edge, together with their displacement from the desired positions, are shown in table 1. river tunnels. the four river tunnels, between the manhattan and long island city shafts, a distance of about 3,900 ft., were constructed by the shield method. eight shields were erected, one on each line in each shaft, the four from manhattan working eastward to a junction near the middle of the river with the four working westward from long island city. toward the end of the work it was evident that the shields in tunnels _b_, _c_, and _d_ would meet in the soft material a short distance east of the blackwell's island reef if work were continued in all headings. in order that the junction might be made in firm material, work from manhattan in those three tunnels was suspended when the shields reached the edge of the ledge. the shields in tunnel _a_ met at a corresponding point without the suspension of work in either. an average of 1,760 ft. of tunnel was driven from manhattan and 2,142 ft. from long island city. [illustration: plate lxv, fig. 1.--shield fitted with sectional sliding hoods and sliding extensions to the floors.] [illustration: plate lxv, fig. 2.--shield fitted with fixed hoods and fixed extensions to the floors.] tunnels driven eastward from manhattan. _materials and inception of work._--the materials encountered are shown in the profile on plate xiii, and were similar in all the tunnels. in general, they were found to be about as indicated in the preliminary borings. the materials met in tunnel _a_ may be taken as typical of all. from the manhattan shaft eastward, in succession, there were 123 ft. of all-rock section, 87 ft. of part earth and part rock, 723 ft. of all earth, 515 ft. of part rock and part earth, 291 ft. of all rock, and 56 ft. of part rock and part earth. the rock on the manhattan side was hudson schist, while that in the reef was fordham gneiss. here, as elsewhere, they resembled each other closely; the gneiss was slightly the harder, but both were badly seamed and fissured. wherever it was encountered in this work, the rock surface was covered by a deposit of boulders, gravel, and sand, varying in thickness from 4 to 10 ft. and averaging about 6 ft. the slope of the surface of the ledge on the manhattan side averaged about 1 vertical to 4 horizontal. the rock near the surface was full of disintegrated seams, and was badly broken up. it was irregularly stratified, and dipped toward the west at an angle of about 60 degrees. large pieces frequently broke from the face and slid into the shield, often exposing the sand. the rock surface was very irregular, and was covered with boulders and detached masses of rock embedded in coarse sand and gravel. the sand and gravel allowed the air to escape freely. by the time the shields had entirely cleared the rock, the material in the face had changed to a fine sand, stratified every few inches by very thin layers of chocolate-colored clayey material. this is the material elsewhere referred to as quicksand. as the shield advanced eastward, the number and thickness of the layers of clay increased until the clay formed at least 20% of the entire mass, and many of the layers were 2 in. thick. at a distance of about 440 ft. beyond the manhattan ledge, the material at the bottom of the face changed suddenly to one in which the layers of clay composed probably 98% of the whole. the sand layers were not more than 1/16 in. thick and averaged about 2 in. apart. the surface of the clay rose gradually for a distance of 40 ft. in tunnels _a_ and _b_, and 100 ft. in tunnels _c_ and _d_, when gravel and boulders appeared at the bottom of the shield. at that time the clay composed about one-half of the face. the surfaces of both the clay and gravel were irregular, but they rose gradually. after rock was encountered, the formations of gravel and clay were roughly parallel to the rock surface. as the surface of the rock rose they disappeared in order and were again encountered when the shields broke out of rock on the east side of the blackwell's island reef. east of the reef a large quantity of coarse open sand was present in the gravel formations before the clay appeared below the top of the cutting edge. in tunnels _c_ and _d_ this was especially difficult to handle. it appears to be a reasonable assumption that the layer of clay was continuous across the reef. wherever the clay extended above the top of the shield it reduced the escape of air materially. it is doubtless largely due to this circumstance that the part-rock sections in the reef were not the most difficult portions of the work. while sinking the lower portions of the shafts the tunnels were excavated eastward in the solid rock for a distance of about 60 ft., where the rock at the top was found to be somewhat disintegrated. this was as far as it was considered prudent to go with the full-sized section without air pressure. at about the same time top headings were excavated westward from the shafts for a distance of 100 ft., and the headings were enlarged to full size for 50 ft. the object was to avoid damage to the shaft and interference with the river tunnel when work was started by the contractor for the cross-town tunnel. [illustration: plate lxvi, fig. 1.--rear of shield showing complete fittings.] [illustration: plate lxvi, fig. 2.--shield with lower portion of bulkhead removed.] the shields were erected on timber cradles in the shaft, and were shoved forward to the face of the excavation. concrete bulkheads, with the necessary air-locks, were then built across the tunnels behind the shields. the shields were erected before the dividing walls between the two contracts were placed. rings of iron tunnel lining, backed by timbers spanning the openings on the west side, were erected temporarily across the shafts in order to afford a bearing for the shield jacks while shoving into the portals. the movement of the shield eastward was continued in each tunnel for a distance of about 60 ft., and the permanent cast-iron tunnel lining was erected as the shield advanced. before breaking out of rock, it was necessary to have air pressure in the tunnels. this required the building of bulkheads with air-locks inside the cast-iron linings just east of the portals. before erecting the bulkheads it was necessary to close the annular space between the iron tunnel lining and the rock. the space at the portal was filled with a concrete wall. after about twenty permanent rings had been erected in each tunnel, two rings were pulled apart at the tail of the shield and a second masonry wall or dam was built. the space between the two dams was then filled with grout. to avoid the possibility of pushing the iron backward after the air pressure was on, rings of segmental plates, 5/8 in. thick and 13-7/8 in. wide, were inserted in eighteen circumferential joints in each tunnel between the rings as they were erected. the plates contained slotted holes to match those in the segments. after the rings left the shield, the plates were driven outward, and projected about 5 in. when the tunnel was grouted, the plates were embedded. the bulkheads were completed, and the tunnels were put under air pressure on the following dates: line _d_, on october 5th, 1905; line _c_, on november 6th, 1905; line _b_, on november 25th, 1905; line _a_, on december 1st, 1905. this marked the end of the preparatory period. in the deepest part of the river, near the pier-head line on the manhattan side, there was only 8 ft. of natural cover over the tops of the tunnels. this cover consisted of the fine sand previously described, and it was certain that the air would escape freely from the tunnels through it. to give a greater depth of cover and to check the loss of air, the contractor prepared to cover the lines of the tunnels with blankets of clay, which, however, had been provided for in the specifications. permits, as described later, were obtained at different times from the secretary of war, for dumping clay in varying thicknesses over the line of work. the dumping for the blanket allowed under the first permit was completed in february, 1906. the thickness of this blanket varied considerably, but averaged 10 or 12 ft. on the manhattan side. the original blanket was of material advantage, but the depth of clay was insufficient to stop the loss of air. the essential parts of the shields in the four tunnels were exactly alike. those in tunnels _b_ and _d_, however, were originally fitted with sectional sliding hoods and sliding extensions to the floors of the working chambers, as shown by fig. 1, plate lxv. the shields in tunnels _a_ and _c_ were originally fitted with fixed hoods and fixed extensions to the floors, as shown in fig. 2, plate lxv. a full description of the shields will be found in mr. japp's paper. the shields in each pair of tunnels were advanced through the solid rock section about abreast of each other, until test holes from the faces indicated soft ground within a few feet. as the distance between the sides of the two tunnels was only 14 ft., it was thought best to let tunnels _b_ and _d_ gain a lead of about 100 ft. before tunnels _a_ and _c_ opened out into soft ground, in order that a blow from one tunnel might not extend to the other. work in tunnel _c_ was shut down on december 23d, 1905, after exposing sand to a depth of 3 ft. at the top, and it remained closed for seven weeks. work in tunnel _a_ was suspended on september 29th, 1905. by the time tunnel _b_ had made the required advance, it, together with tunnels _c_ and _d_, was overtaxing the capacities of the compressor plant. only a little work was done in tunnel _c_ until july, 1906, and work in tunnel _a_ was not resumed until october 22d, 1906. tunnels driven westward from long island city. _materials and inception of the work._--the materials met in tunnel a are typical of all four tunnels. from the long island shafts westward, in succession, there were 124 ft. of all-rock section, 125 ft. of part rock and part earth section, 22 ft. of all-rock section, 56 ft. of part rock and part earth section, 387 ft. of all-rock section, 70 ft. of part earth and part rock section, and 1,333 ft. of all-earth section. [illustration: plate lxvii] the materials passed through are indicated on plate xiii. the rock was similar to that of the blackwell's island reef, and was likewise covered by a layer of sand and boulders. the remainder of the soft ground was divided into three classes. the first was a very fine red sand, which occurred in a layer varying in thickness from 6 ft. to at least 15 ft. it may have been much deeper above the tunnel. it is the quicksand usually encountered in all deep foundations in new york city. the following is the result of the sifting test of this sand: held on no. 30 sieve 0.6% passed no. 30, " " no. 40 " 0.4% " no. 40, " " no. 50 " 0.7% " no. 50, " " no. 60 " 2.4% " no. 60, " " no. 80 " 14.9% " no. 80, " " no. 100 " 54.0% " no. 100, " " no. 200 " 8.0% " no. 200 " 19.0% ----- 100.0% this means that grains of all but 4% of it were less than 0.0071 in. in diameter. the 19% which passed the no. 200 sieve, the grains of which were 0.0026 in. or less in diameter, when observed with a microscope appeared to be perfectly clean grains of quartz; to the eye it looked like ordinary building sand, sharp, and well graded from large to small grains. this sand, with a surplus of water, was quick. with the water blown out of it by air pressure, it is stable, stands up well, and is very easy to work. it appears to be the same as the reddish quicksand found in most deep excavations around new york city. the second material was pronounced "bull's liver" by the miners as soon as it was uncovered. "bull's liver" seems to be a common term among english-speaking miners the world over. it is doubtful, however, if it is always applied to the same thing. in this case it consisted of layers of blue clay and very fine red sand. the clay seemed to be perfectly pure and entirely free from sand. it would break easily with a clean, almost crystalline, fracture, and yet it was soft and would work up easily. the layers of clay varied in thickness from 1/16 in. to 1 in., while the thickness of the sand layer varied from 1/4 in. to several inches. the sand was the same as the quicksand already described. the "bull's liver" was ideal material in which to work a shield. it stood up as well and held the air about as well as clay, and was much easier to handle. the third material was a layer of fine gray sand which was encountered in the top of all the tunnels for about 400 ft. just east of blackwell's island reef. it was very open, and had grains of rather uniform size. during the starting out of the tunnels from the shafts, and for more than a year afterward, the roof of the working chamber in the caissons and the locks previously described under the long island shafts took the place of the bulkhead across the tunnels for confining the air pressure. the first work in air pressure was to remove the shield plug closing the opening in the side of the shaft. this being done, the shield was shoved through the opening, and excavation begun. at the start the shields were fitted with movable platforms, but no hoods of any kind were placed until after the rock excavation was completed. methods of excavation. the distribution of materials to be excavated, as previously outlined, divided the excavation into three distinct classes, for which different methods had to be developed. these three classes were: _first._--all-rock section. _second._--rock in the bottom, earth in the top. _third._--all-earth section. the extent of the second and third classes was much greater than that of the first, and they, of course, determined the use of the shield. shields had not previously been used extensively in rock work, either where the face was wholly or partly in rock, and it was necessary to develop the methods by experience. the specifications required that where rock was present in the bottom, a bed of concrete should be laid in the form of a cradle on which to advance the shield. _all rock._--at different times, three general methods were used for excavating in all-rock sections. they may be called: the bottom-heading method; the full-face method; and the center-heading method. the bottom-heading method was first tried. a heading, about 8 ft. high and 12 ft. wide, was driven on the center line, with its bottom as nearly as possible on the grade line of the bottom of the tunnel. it was drilled in the ordinary manner by four drills mounted on two columns. the face of the headings varied from 10 to 30 ft. in advance of the cutting edge. after driving the heading for about 10 ft., the bottom was cleared out and a concrete cradle was set. the width of the cradles varied, but was generally from 8 to 10 ft. the excavation was enlarged to full size as the shield advanced, the drills being mounted in the forward compartments of the shield, as shown by fig. 1, plate lxvii, which represents the conditions after the opening had been cut in the bulkhead, but before the new methods, mentioned later, had been developed. [illustration: plate lxviii] the sides and top were shot downward into the heading. the area of the face remaining behind the heading was large, and a great number of holes and several rounds were required to fire the face to advantage. as soon as firing was started at the face, the heading was completely blocked, and operations there had to be suspended until the mucking was nearly completed. the bottom-heading method was probably as good as any that could be devised for use with the shields as originally installed. all the muck had to be taken from the face by hand and handled through the chutes or doors. by drilling from the shield, some muck was blasted on to the extensions of the floors and could be handled from the upper compartments. at best, however, the shield with the closed transverse bulkhead was a serious obstacle to rapid work in rock sections. the full-face method was only used where the rock was not considered safe for a heading. a cut was fired at the bottom, together with side holes, in a manner quite similar to that adopted in the first set of holes for a bottom heading. the cradle was then placed, in lengths of either 2.5 or 5 ft., after which the remainder of the face was fired in the same manner as for the bottom-heading method. the closed transverse bulkhead with air-locks, as shown in fig. 1, plate lxvi, was placed in the shield in the hope that it would only be necessary to maintain the full air pressure in the working compartments in front of the bulkhead. it was also thought that some form of bulkhead which could be closed quickly and tightly would be necessary to prevent flooding the tunnel in case of blows. while no attempt was ever made to reduce the pressure behind the shield bulkhead, it was obvious from the experience with tunnels _b_ and _d,_ while working in the sand between manhattan and the reef, that the plan was not practicable, and that the closed bulkhead in the bottom was a hindrance instead of a safeguard. as soon as rock was encountered in those tunnels at the west edge of the reef, the contractor cut through the bulkheads and altered them, as shown in fig. 2, plate lxvi. taking advantage of the experience gained, openings were cut through the bulkheads in shields _a_ and _c_, while they were shut down near the edge of the manhattan ledge. in erecting the shields at long island city in may and june, 1906, openings were also provided. these shields had to pass through about 700 ft. of rock at the start, the greater portion of which was all-rock section. it was at that point that openings were first used extensively and methods were developed, which would not have been possible except where ears could be passed through the shield. the bottom-heading method was first tried, but the working space in front of the shield was cramped, and but few men could be employed in loading the cars. to give more room, the heading was gradually widened. the enlargement at the top, when made from the shield, blocked all work at the face of the heading while the former operation was in progress. to reduce the delays, the heading was raised, thus reducing the quantity of rock left in the top, and the bottom was taken out as a bench. to avoid blocking the tracks when firing the top, a heavy timber platform was built out from the floors of the middle working compartments. most of the muck from the top was caught on the platform and dropped into cars below. this method of working is shown by fig. 2, plate lxvii. the platforms were not entirely satisfactory, and, later, the drills in the heading were turned upward and a top bench was also drilled and fired, as shown by fig. 3, plate lxvii. there was then so little excavation left in the top that the muck was allowed to fall on the tracks and was quickly cleared away. the method just outlined is called the center-heading method, and was the most satisfactory plan devised for full-rock sections. _excavation in part rock and part earth._--this was probably the most difficult work encountered, particularly when the rock was covered with boulders and coarse sharp sand which permitted a free escape of air. it was necessary, before removing the rock immediately under the soft ground, to excavate the earth in advance of the shield to a point beyond where the rock was to be disturbed, and to support, in some way, the roof, sides, and face of the opening thus made. the hoods were designed mainly for the purpose of supporting the roof and the sides. with the fixed hood it was necessary either to excavate for the distance of the desired shove in front of it or else to force the hood into the undisturbed material. to avoid this difficulty, the sliding hoods were tried as an experiment. in using the sliding hood, which will be described in detail in mr. japp's paper, the segments commencing at the top were forced forward by the screw rod, one at a time, as far as possible into the undisturbed material. just enough material was then removed from underneath and in front of the section to free it, and it was again forced forward. these operations were repeated until the section had been extended far enough for a shove. as soon as two or three sections had been pushed forward in this way, the face near the advance end of the sliding hood was protected by a breast board set on edge and braced from the face. gradually, all the segments were worked forward, and, at the same time, the whole soft ground face was sheeted with timber. at times polings were placed over the extended segments in order to make room for a second shove, as shown on plate lxviii. when the shield was advanced the nuts on the screw rods were loosened and the sections of the hoods were telescoped on to the shield. the idea was ingenious, but proved impracticable, because of the unequal relative movements of the top and bottom of the shield in shoving, bringing transverse strains on the hood sections. [illustration: plate lxix] with the fixed hood, poling boards were used to support the roof and sides, and the face was supported in the manner described for the sliding hoods. the polings were usually maple or oak planks, 2 in. thick, about 8 in. wide, and 6-1/2 ft. long. in advancing the face, the top board of the old breast was first removed, then the material was carefully worked out for the length of the poling. the latter was then placed, with the rear end resting over the hood and the forward end forced as far as possible into the undisturbed material. when two or three polings had been placed, a breast board was set. after several polings were in position, their forward ends were supported by some form a cantilever attached to the hood. plate lxix shows one kind of supports. in this way all the soft material was excavated down to the rock surface, and the roof, sides, and face were sheeted with timber. in shoving, the polings in the roof and sides were lost. it was found that the breast could usually be advanced 5 ft. with safety. the fixed hood made it possible to set the face about 7 or 8 ft. in front of the cutting edge without increasing the length of the polings. this distance was ample for two shoves, and was generally adopted, although a great many faces were set for one shove only. fixed hoods were substituted for those of the sliding type, originally placed on shields _b_ and _d_ at manhattan, at about the time the latter encountered the rock at the reef. in placing the polings and breasting, all voids behind them were filled as far as possible with marsh hay or bags of sawdust or clay. to prevent loss of air in open material, the joints between the boards were plastered with clay especially prepared for the purpose in a pug mill. the sliding extensions to the floors of the working compartments were often used, in the early part of the work, to support the timber face or loose rock, as shown in fig. 1, plate lxviii. at such times the front of the extensions was held tightly against the planking by the pressure of the floor jacks. while shoving, the pressure on the floor jacks was gradually released, allowing the floors to slide back into the shield and still afford support to the face. the extensions also afforded convenient working platforms. they were subject to severe bending strains while the shield was being shoved, however, and the cast-iron rams were frequently broken or jammed. the extensions did not last beyond the edge of the ledge at manhattan, nor more than about half through the rock work at long island city. the fixed extensions originally placed on shields _a_ and _c_ at manhattan were not substantial enough, and lasted only a few days. wherever the rock face was sufficiently sound and high, a bottom heading was driven some 20 or 30 ft. in advance of the shield. the heading was driven and the cradle placed independently of the face of the soft ground above, and in the manner described for all-rock sections. the remainder of the rock face was removed by firing top and side rounds into the bottom heading after the soft ground had been excavated. great care had to be taken in firing in order not to disturb the timber work or break the rock away from under the breast boards. if either occurred, a serious run was likely to follow. the bottom-heading method is shown by figs. 1, 2, and 3, plate lxviii, and the breasting and poling by fig. 2, plate lxx. in the early part of the work, where a bottom heading was impracticable, the soft ground was first excavated as described above, and the rock was drilled by machines mounted on tripods, and fired as a bench. by this plan no drilling could be done until the soft ground was removed. this is called the rock-bench method. later the rock-cut method was devised. drills were set up on columns in the bottom compartments of the shield, and the face was drilled while work was in progress on the soft ground above. the drilling was done either for a horizontal or vertical cut and side and top rounds. the drillers were protected while at work by platforms of timber built out from the floors of the compartments above. this plan, while probably not quite as economical of explosives, saved nearly all the delay due to drilling the bench. [illustration: plate lxx, fig. 1.--small shaft sunk to rock.] [illustration: plate lxx, fig. 2.--breasting and poling in front of shield.] [illustration: plate lxx, fig. 3.--shutters on front of shield.] [illustration: plate lxx, fig. 4.--hydraulic erector placing segment.] _all-earth section._--as described by messrs. hay and fitzmaurice, in a paper on the blackwall tunnel,[c] the contractor had used, with marked success, shutters in the face of the shield for excavating in loose open material. he naturally adopted the method for the east river work. when the shields in tunnels _b_ and _d_, at manhattan, the first to be driven through soft ground, reached a point under the actual bulkhead line, work was partly suspended and shutters were put in place in the face of the top and center compartments. the shutters in the center compartments in shield _d_ are shown in fig. 3, plate lxx, while the method of work with the shutters is shown by figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, plate lxviii. fig. 4 on that plate shows the shield ready for a shove. as the pressure was applied to the shield jacks, men loosened the nuts on the screws holding the ends of the shutters, and allowed the latter to slide back into the working compartments. at the end of the shove, the shutters were in the position shown in fig. 5, plate lxviii. in preparing for a new shove, the slides in the shutters were opened, and the material in front was raked into the shield. at the same time, the shutters were gradually worked forward. the two upper shutters in a compartment were generally advanced from 12 to 15 in., after which the muck could be shoveled out over the bottom shutters, as shown on fig. 6, plate lxviii, and fig. 3, plate lxx. no shutters were placed in the bottom compartments, and as the air pressure was not generally high enough to keep the face dry at the bottom, these compartments were pretty well filled with the soft, wet quicksand. just before shoving, this material was excavated to a point where it ran in faster than it could be taken out. much of the excavation in the bottom compartment was done by the blow-pipe. during the shove the material from the bottom compartment often ran back through the open door in the transverse bulkhead, as shown by fig. 5, plate lxviii. in the blackwall tunnel the material was reported to have been loose enough to keep in close contact with the shutters at all times. in the east river tunnels this was not the case. the sand at the top was dry and would often stand with a vertical face for some hours. in advancing the shutters, it was difficult to bring them into close contact with the face at the end of the operation. the soft material at the bottom was constantly running into the lower compartment and undermining the stiff dry material at the top. the latter gradually broke away, and, at times, the actual face was some feet in advance of the shutters. under those circumstances, the air escaped freely through the unprotected sand face. the joints of the shutters were plastered with clay, but this did not keep the air from passing out through the lower compartments. this condition facilitated the formation of blows, which were of constant occurrence where shutters were used in the sand. in tunnels _b_ and _d_, at manhattan, the shutters were used in the above manner clear across to the reef. in tunnel _c_, which was considerably behind tunnels _b_ and _d_, the shutters, although placed, were never used against the face, and the excavation was carried on by poling the top and breasting the face. the change resulted in much better progress and fewer blows. the excavation through the soft material in tunnel _c_ had just been completed when tunnel _a_ was started, and the gangs of workmen were exchanged. the work in soft ground in tunnel _a_ thus gained the benefit of the experience in tunnel _c_. shutters were placed only in the top compartments in this tunnel, and, as in tunnel _c_, were never used in contact with the face. the method of work is shown by figs. 1, 2, and 3, plate lxxi. the result was still more rapid progress in tunnel _a_, and although the loss of air was fully as great in this tunnel as in the other three, there was only one blow which caused any considerable loss of pressure. in tunnels _a_ and _c_ the diaphragms in the rear of the center compartments of the lower tiers of working chambers were removed before the shields entered the soft ground. the change was not of as much advantage in soft ground as in rock, but it facilitated the removal of the soft wet sand in the bottom. in tunnel _a_, after encountering gravel, a belt conveyor was suspended from the traveling stage with one end projecting through the opening into the working compartment. the use of the conveyor made it possible to continue mucking at the face while the bottom plates of the iron lining were being put in place, and resulted in a material increase in the rate of progress. [illustration: plate lxxi] the shutters were not placed on the long island shields at all. just before the shields passed into all soft ground, a fixed hood was attached to each. the method of working in soft ground from long island city is illustrated by plate lxxii. the full lines at the face of the shield show the position of the earth before a shove of the shield, and the dotted lines show the same after the shove. the face was mined out to the front of the hood and breasted down to a little below the floor of the top pockets of the shield. in the middle pocket the earth was allowed to take its natural slope back on the floor. toward the rear of the bottom pockets it was held by stop-planks. the air pressure was always about equal to the hydrostatic head at the middle of the shield, so that the face in the upper and middle pockets was dry. in the lower pockets it was wet, and flowed under the pressure of shoving the shield. by this method 4,195 lin. ft. of tunnel was excavated by the four long island shields in 120 days, from november 1st, 1907, to march 1st, 1908. this was an average of 8.74 ft. per day per shield. the rate of progress, the nature of the materials, and the methods adopted are shown in table 2. _preparations for junction of shields._--as previously mentioned, the manhattan shields were stopped at the edge of the reef. before making the final shove of those shields, special polings were placed with unusual care. the excavation was bell-shaped to receive the long island shields. the arrangement of the polings is shown by figs. 4 and 5, plate lxxi. after the shields were shoved into final position, as shown at the right in fig. 5, the rear end of the polings rested over the cutting edge and allowed room for the removal of the hood. after the latter had been accomplished, the temporary bulkheads of concrete and clay bags were built as a precaution against blows when the shields were close together. an 8-in. pipe was then driven forward through the bulkhead for distances varying from 30 to 100 ft., in order to check the alignment and grade between the two workings before the shields were actually shoved together. the errors in the surveys were negligible, but here, as elsewhere, the shields were not exactly in the desired position, and it took careful handling to bring the cutting edges together. the long island shields were driven to meet those from manhattan. table 2.--rate of progress, nature of materials, and methods adopted in construction of east river tunnels. line a, long island. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ all rock |bottom heading | 69+39.9 | 69+79 |aug. 2, '06|sept 25, '06| | | | | | | all rock |center heading | 69+79 | 70+64 |sept 25, '06|nov. 21, '06| | | | | | | earth and rock|center heading | 70+64 | 71+34 |nov. 21, '06|dec. 30, '06| | | | | | | earth and rock|bottom heading | 71+34 | 71+89 |dec. 30, '06|feb. 13, '07| | | | | | | all rock |bottom heading | 71+89 | 72+11 |feb. 13, '07|feb. 21, '07| | | | | | | earth and rock|center heading | 72+11 | 72+67 |feb. 21, '07|mar. 19, '07| | | | | | | all rock |center heading | 72+67 | 76+54 |mar. 19, '07|sept 6, '07| | | | | | | earth and rock|going out of rock| 76+54 | 77+24 |sept 6, '07|oct. 4, '07| | | | | | | all earth |soft ground | 77+24 | 90+57.3 |oct. 4, '07|mar. 26, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ all rock | 54 | 39.1 | 0.724 | | | | | | | all rock | 57 | 85 | 1.49 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 39 | 70 | 1.79 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 45 | 55 | 1.22 | | | | | | | all rock | 8 | 22 | 2.75 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 26 | 56 | 2.15 | | | | | | | all rock | 171 | 387 | 2.26 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 28 | 70 | 2.50 | | | | | | | all earth | 174 |1,333.3 | 7.66 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line b, long island. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ all rock |bottom heading | 69+29.6 | 70+46 |oct. 16, '06|nov. 20, '06| | | | | | | earth and rock|bottom heading | 70+46 | 71+95 |nov. 20, '06|feb. 23, '07| | | | | | | all rock |bottom heading | 71+95 | 72+25 |feb. 23, '07|mar. 6, '07| | | | | | | earth and rock|center heading | 72+25 | 72+60 |mar. 6, '07|mar. 24, '07| | | | | | | all rock |going out of rock| 72+60 | 76+57 |mar. 24, '07|aug. 7, '07| | | | | | | earth and rock|soft ground | 76+57 | 77+30 |aug. 7, '07|sept 5, '07| | | | | | | all earth |soft ground | 77+30 | 90+49.6 |sept 5, '07|mar. 19, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ all rock | 35 | 116.4 | 3.33 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 95 | 149 | 1.57 | | | | | | | all rock | 11 | 30 | 2.73 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 18 | 35 | 1.94 | | | | | | | all rock | 136 | 397 | 2.92 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 29 | 73 | 2.52 | | | | | | | all earth | 196 |1,319.6 | 6.73 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line c, long island. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ all rock |bottom heading | 68+61.9 | 69+93 |june 11, '06|oct. 16, '06| | | | | | | earth and rock|bottom heading | 69+93 | 71+65 |oct. 16, '06|feb. 7, '07| | | | | | | all rock |bottom heading | 71+65 | 71+91 |feb. 7, '07|feb. 13, '07| | | | | | | all rock |center heading | 71+91 | 75+81 |feb. 13, '07|july 20, '07| | | | | | | earth and rock|going out of rock| 75+81 | 76+56 |july 20, '07|aug. 25, '07| | | | | | | all earth |soft ground | 76+56 | 90+44.4 |aug. 25, '07|mar. 17, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ all rock | 127 | 131.1 | 1.03 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 114 | 172 | 1.51 | | | | | | | all rock | 6 | 26 | 4.33 | | | | | | | all rock | 157 | 390 | 2.48 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 36 | 75 | 2.08 | | | | | | | all earth | 205 |1,388.4 | 6.77 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line d, long island. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ rock |bottom heading | 68+50.6 | 69+77 |june 2, '06|oct. 24, '06| | | | | | | earth and rock|bottom heading | 69+77 | 71+22 |oct. 24, '06|jan. 13, '06| | | | | | | all rock |bottom heading | 71+23 | 72+00 |jan. 13, '07|mar. 3, '07| | | | | | | all rock |center heading | 72+00 | 75+73 |mar. 3, '07|july 10, '07| | | | | | | earth and rock|going out of rock| 75+73 | 77+63 |july 10, '07|sept 25, '07| | | | | | | all earth |soft ground | 77+63 | 90+38.6 |sept 25, '07|mar. 7. '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ rock |144 | 126.4 | 0.87 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 81 | 145 | 1.79 | | | | | | | all rock | 49 | 78 | 1.59 | | | | | | | all rock |129 | 373 | 2.89 | | | | | | | earth and rock| 77 | 190 | 2.47 | | | | | | | all earth |164 |1,275.6 | 7.78 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line a, manhattan. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ {|top heading |108+43 |107+74 |july 20, '05|aug. 3, '05| rock {|top lift of bench|108+43 |107+74 |aug. 8, '05|aug. 23, '05| {|bottom lift of |108+43 |107+74 |aug. 30, '05|sept 27, '05| {| bench | | | | | | | | | | | rock {|bottom heading |107+74 |107+21 |sept 27, '05|oct. 23, '05| {|bottom heading |107+74 |107+21 |nov. 30, '05|dec. 29, '05| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading |107+21 |106+99 |oct. 26, '06|nov. 20, '06| | | | | | | mixed |rock bench |106+99 |106+34 |nov. 20, '06|jan. 13, '07| | | | | | | earth |poling and |106+34 | 99+11 |jan. 13, '07|apr. 17, '07| | breasting | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 99+11 | 93+96 |apr. 17, '07|oct. 24, '07| | | | | | | rock |bottom heading | 93+96 | 93+58 |oct. 24, '07|nov. 14, '07| | | | | | | rock |center heading | 93+58 | 92+42 |nov. 14, '07|dec. 27, '07| | | | | | | rock |bottom heading | 92+42 | 91+05 |dec. 27, '07|feb. 24, '08| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 91+05 | 90+57 |feb. 24, '08|mar. 20, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ {| 14} | | {|excavation in normal air, and before | rock {| 15}57| 69 | 1.21 {|advance of shield. | {| 28} | | {| | {| | | {| | | | | | | rock {| 26}55| 53 | 0.96 {|bottom heading timbered to avoid the | {| 29} | | {|possibility of a break. | | | | | | mixed | 25 | 22 | 0.88 |bottom heading timbered. | | | | | | mixed | 54 | 65 | 1.20 | | | | | | | earth | 94 | 723 | 7.69 | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |190 | 515 | 2.71 | | | | | | | rock | 21 | 38 | 1.81 | | | | | | | rock | 46 | 116 | 2.52 | | | | | | | rock | 59 | 137 | 2.32 | | | | | | | mixed | 25 | 48 | 1.92 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line b, manhattan. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ {|top heading |108+35 |107+87 |july 6, '05|july 27, '05| {|top lift of bench|108+35 |107+87 |aug. 3, '05|aug. 14, '05| rock {|bottom lift of | | | | | {| bench |108+35 |108+15 |aug. 26, '05|aug. 30, '05| {|bottom lift of | | | | | {| bench |108+15 |107+87 |sept 11, '05|sept 26, '05| | | | | | | rock |bottom heading |107+87 |107+00 |oct. 23, '05|jan. 17, '06| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading |107+00 |106+64 |jan. 17, '06|feb. 12, '06| | | | | | | mixed |rock bench |106+64 |106+31 |feb. 12, '06|mar. 1, '06| | | | | | | earth |poling and |106+31 |105+58 |mar. 1, '06|apr. 3, '06| | breasting | | | | | | | | | | | |shutters in | | | | | earth | contact with |105+58 | 99+19 |apr. 9, '06|nov. 1, '06| | face | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |rock bench | 99+19 | 98+44 |nov. 1. '06|dec. 29, '06| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading | 98+44 | 97+76 |dec, 29, '06|feb. 12, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 97+66 | 93+84 |feb. 12, '07|aug. 6, '07| | | | | | | rock |full face | 93+84 | 93+21 |aug. 6, '07|sept 2, '07| | | | | | | rock |center heading | 93+21 | 92+30 |sept 2, '07|oct. 12, '07| | | | | | | rock |bottom heading | 92+30 | 90+99 |oct. 12, '07|dec. 6, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 90+99 | 90+49.6 |dec. 6, '07|jan. 3, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ {| 21} | | {| | {| 11} | | {| | rock {| }51| 48 | 0.94 {|excavation done in normal air and | {| 4} | | {|before advance of shield. | {| } | | {| | {| 15} | | {| | | | | | | rock | 86 | 87 | 1.01 | | | | | | | mixed | 26 | 36 | 1.38 | | | | | | | mixed | 17 | 33 | 1.94 | | | | | | | earth | | | | | | 33 | 73 | 2.21 | | | | | | | | | | | | earth |206 | 639 | 3.10 | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed | 58 | 75 | 1.30 | | | | | | | mixed | 45 | 68 | 1.51 | | | | | | | mixed |175 | 392 | 2.24 | | | | | | | rock | 27 | 63 | 2.33 | | | | | | | rock | 40 | 91 | 2.28 | | | | | | | rock | 55 | 131 | 2.38 | | | | | | | mixed | 28 | 49.4 | 1.76 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line c, manhattan. --------------+-----------------+-------------------+-------------------------+ | | station: | date: | | |---------+---------+------------+------------+ | | | | | | material. | method. | from | to | from | to | --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ {|top heading |107+79.03|107+69 |dec. 20, '04|dec. 27, '04| {|top heading |107+69 |107+23 |jan. 1, '05|jan. 15, '05| rock {|excavating bench |107+79 |107+23 |jan. 21, '05|feb. 28, '05| {|bottom heading |107+23 |106+72 |mar. 1, '05|mar. 11, '05| {|bottom heading |107+23 |107+15 |oct. 12, '05|oct. 27, '05| {| | | | | | | | | | | | rock |bottom heading |107+15 |106+62 |nov. 6, '05|dec. 2, '05| | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading |106+62 |106+55 |dec. 2, '05|dec. 23, '05| | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading |106+55 |106+17 |feb. 12, '06|mar. 22, '06| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut |106+17 |105+85 |apr. 2, '06|apr. 20, '06| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut |105+85 |105+55 |july 27, '06|aug. 26, '06| | | | | | | | | | | | | earth |breasting and |105+55 | 99+40 |aug. 26, '06|jan. 2, '07| | poling | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 99+40 | 98+70 |jan. 2, '07|feb. 6, '07| | | | | | | rock |full face | 98+70 | 98+60 |feb. 6, '07|feb. 12, '07| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading | 98+60 | 98+39 |feb. 12, '07|mar. 6, '07| | | | | | | rock |bottom heading | 98+39 | 98+17 |mar. 6, '07|mar. 15, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 98+17 | 95+68 |mar. 15, '07|july 30, '07| | | | | | | rock |middle heading | 95+68 | 94+61 |july 30, '07|aug. 21, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 94+61 | 93+56 |aug. 21, '07|oct. 3, '07| | | | | | | rock |middle heading | 93+56 | 92+73 |oct. 3, '07|nov. 11, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 92+73 | 90+55 |nov. 11, '07|feb. 13, '08| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 90+55 | 90+44.4 |feb. 25, '08|mar. 3, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ {| 7} | | {|stopped to brace portal. no work done | {| 14} | | {|from march 12th to october 11th, 1905,| rock {| 38} | 54 | 0.77 {|except a little trimming in september.| {| 10} | | {|all work up to this date done in | {| 15} | | {|normal air. heading advanced to 106+70| {| } | | {|and bulkheaded. | | | | | | rock | 26 | 53 | 2.04 | | | | | | | | | | {|heading advanced to 106 + 40. shut | mixed | 21 | 7 | 0.33 {|down in order that line d might have a| | | | {|lead. | | | | | | mixed | 38 | 38 | 1.00 {|shut down on account of air shortage. | | | | | | mixed | 18 | 32 | 1.78 |shut down on account of air shortage. | | | | | | mixed | 30 | 30 | 1.00 |shut down april 20th to july 27th, | | | | |1906. | | | | | | earth |127 | 615 | 4.84 | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed | 35 | 70 | 2.00 | | | | | | | rock | 6 | 10 | 1.66 | | | | | | | mixed | 22 | 21 | 0.95 | | | | | | | rock | 9 | 22 | 2.44 | | | | | | | mixed |110 | 249 | 2.26 |heading advanced to 97+82. | | | | | | rock | 49 | 107 | 2.18 | " " " 94+35. | | | | | | mixed | 43 | 106 | 2.46 | | | | | | | rock | 39 | 83 | 2.13 | | | | | | | mixed | 94 | 218 | 2.32 |shut down until line d shields met. | | | | | | mixed | 6 | 11 | 1.83 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ line d, manhattan. --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ {|top heading |107+70.49|107+16 |dec. 9, '04|jan. 31, '05|} {|removing bench |107+70.49|107+35 |jan. 1, '05|jan. 27, '05|} rock {|bottom heading |107+35 |106+80 |jan. 30, '05|feb. 10, '05|} {|trimming |107+70 |106+80 |mar. 29, '05|apr. 12, '05|} {|trimming |107+70 |106+80 |aug. 31, '05|sept 19, '05|} | | | | | | rock |bottom heading |106+80 |106+67 |oct. 5, '05|nov. 8, '05| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading |106+67 |106+39 |nov. 8, '05|dec. 23, '05| | | | | | | |sliding hood and | | | | | mixed |breasting. rock |106+29 |105+70 |dec. 23, '05|jan. 24, '06| |bench | | | | | | | | | | | earth |poling and |105+70 |104+61 |jan. 24, '06|feb. 27, '06| |breasting | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | earth |poling, breasting|104+61 |103+90 |mar. 2, '06|mar. 31, '06| | and shutters | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | earth |shutters |103+90 | 99+41 |apr. 20, '06|sept 3, '06| | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |bottom bench | 99+41 | 99+17 |sept 3, '06|sept 23, '06| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading | 99+17 | 98+50 |oct. 2, '06|nov. 24, '06| | | | | | | | | | | | | rock |bottom heading | 98+50 | 97+72 |nov. 24, '06|jan. 16, '07| | | | | | | mixed |bottom heading | 97+72 | 97+27 |jan. 16, '07|feb. 10, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 97+27 | 95+72 |feb. 10, '07|apr. 23, '07| | | | | | | rock |middle heading | 95+72 | 95+57 |apr. 23, '07|may 11, '07| | | | | | | rock |middle heading | 95+57 | 94+65 |may 23, '07|june 17, '07| | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed |middle heading | 94+65 | 94+41 |june 17, '07|june 25, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 94+41 | 94+03 |june 25, '07|july 13, '07| | | | | | | rock |middle heading | 94+03 | 92+64 |july 13, '07|sept 12, '07| | | | | | | mixed |middle heading | 92+64 | 92+54 |sept 12, '07|sept 20, '07| | | | | | | rock |middle heading | 92+54 | 92+50 |sept 20, '07|sept 21, '07| | | | | | | mixed |rock cut | 92+50 | 90+38.66|sept 21, '07|jan. 8, '08| --------------+-----------------+---------+---------+------------+------------+ --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | | |rate of | | |number| |progress| | | of | linear |in feet | | material. | days.| feet. |per day.| remarks | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ {| | | | | {| | | | | rock {|123 | 90 | 0.73 |in normal air. | {| | | | | {| | | | | | | | | | rock | 34 | 13 | 0.40 |bottom heading timbered. | | | | | | mixed | 45 | 38 | 0.84 | | | | | | | | | | | | mixed | 32 | 59 | 1.84 | | | | | | | | | | | | earth | 31 | 109 | 3.41 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |three days' delay to set shutters in | earth | 29 | 71 | 2.45 |top. shut down 20 days to permit | | | | |consolidation of the river bed and to | | | | |repair broken plates. | | | | | | earth |136 | 449 | 3.40 |four days of 136, delay account of | | | | |flood. | | | | | | mixed | 20 | 24 | 1.20 | | | | | | | mixed | 53 | 67 | 1.27 |thirteen days' shut-down to put on | | | | |hood. | | | | | | rock | 53 | 78 | 1.47 | | | | | | | mixed | 25 | 45 | 1.40 | | | | | | | mixed | 72 | 155 | 2.15 | | | | | | | rock | 18 | 15 | 0.83 | | | | | | | rock | 25 | 92 | 3.68 |twelve days' delay to repair cutting | | | | |edge. | | | | | | mixed | 8 | 24 | 3.00 | | | | | | | mixed | 18 | 38 | 2.11 | | | | | | | rock | 61 | 139 | 2.28 | | | | | | | mixed | 8 | 10 | 1.25 | | | | | | | rock | 1 | 4 | 4.00 | | | | | | | mixed |109 | 211.34| 1.94 | | --------------+------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------+ openings were made between the headings as follows: tunnel _d_, february 20th, 1908; tunnel _b_, march 3d, 1908; tunnel _c_, march 5th, 1908; tunnel _a_, march 18th, 1908. it was necessary to cut away the projecting floors of the working compartments before the cutting edges could be shoved together. _contractor's organization._--tunnel operations were carried on continuously for thirteen days out of fourteen, regular work being shut down for repairs on alternate sundays. when the required pressure was more than 32 lb., four gangs of laborers were employed, each gang working two shifts of 3 hours each, with an intermission of 3 hours between the shifts. when the pressure was less than 32 lb., three gangs were employed, each gang covering 8 hours, but with an intermission of about 1/2 hour in low pressure for lunch. _air pressures required._--during the greater portion of the work in soft ground, pressure was maintained which would about balance the hydrostatic head at the axis of the tunnel. this required a pressure varying from 30 to 34 lb. per sq. in. above that of the atmosphere. in tunnels _b_ and _d_, at manhattan, during the work in soft ground, pressures as high as 37 lb. were maintained for considerable periods of time; in the firm material near the reef 28 lb. was often sufficient. while removing the broken plates, the pressure was raised for a short time to 42 lb., and was maintained between 37-1/2 and 40 lb. for a little more than one month. _air supply._--for regular operation the contractor furnished four compressors on each side of the river, each having a rated capacity of 5,000 cu. ft. of free air per minute delivered at 50 lb. above normal, when running at the rate of 100 rev. per min. an additional compressor of the same capacity was supplied on each side of the river, in compliance with the requirement for 25% excess capacity; the additional compressors had also high-pressure air cylinders which could be connected at will, and in which the pressure could be increased to 150 lb., and the air used to supply rock drills, grouting machines, etc. the entire combination on each side of the river, therefore, was rated at 25,000 cu. ft. of free air per minute, or a mean of 6,250 cu. ft. per heading. its safe working capacity was not far from 20,000 cu. ft. per min. the shields broke through rock surface in tunnels _b_, _c_, and _d_, at manhattan, in november and december, 1905. the consumption of air in the four tunnels soon exceeded 15,000 cu. ft. for 24 hours, and in tunnel _d_, on several occasions, it exceeded 7,000 cu. ft. for a like period. blows had become frequent, and it was evident that the air plant was inadequate for driving four tunnels at once in the open material east of the manhattan rock. work in tunnel _a_, therefore, was not resumed, after the suspension on december 29th, for about ten months, and tunnel _c_ was also closed down for more than four months of the time between december, 1905, and july, 1906. during this period the capacity of the plant was increased from the rated 25,000 cu. ft. of free air per minute, to 35,000. in tunnel _d_ the material had gradually become firmer, with more clay and less escape of air, as the blackwell's island reef was approached, and, at the end of the period, the rock surface was within 3 ft. of the top of the shield; in tunnel _b_, the rock of the reef was still a little below the shield, but the overlying material contained a large proportion of clay and held air very well. tunnel _c_ was still in open material, but, with two lines safe and with the increased air plant, it was deemed best to resume work in tunnel _a_, which was done on october 23d, 1906. thenceforward work was continuous in all headings until the meeting points with the long island shields were reached. this period, january to october, 1906, inclusive, was the most strenuous of the entire work, particularly the first six months. with one and, at times, two tunnels closed down, the consumption of air in the headings from manhattan was an average of more than 20,000 cu. ft. per min. for periods of from 30 to 60 days; it was often more than 25,000 cu. ft. for 24 hours, with a maximum of nearly 29,000 cu. ft., and doubtless this was exceeded considerably for shorter periods. on several occasions the quantity supplied to a single tunnel averaged more than 15,000 cu. ft. per min. for 24 hours. the greatest averages for 24 hours were obtained later in tunnel _a_, after the resumption of work there, and exceeded 19,000 cu. ft., but the conditions in the headings of the other lines were then so favorable that the work was carried on continuously in all. the deficiency in the original plant at manhattan was so marked, and the need of driving all headings from long island simultaneously so clear, that it was decided to increase the rated capacity of the long island compressor plant to 45,400 cu. ft. of free air per minute, which was 10,400 cu. ft. greater than the capacity of the manhattan plant after the latter had been augmented. [illustration: plate lxxii] the earth encountered on emerging from rock, when driving westward from long island, was far more compact and less permeable to air than on the manhattan side, but for a distance of from 400 to 600 ft. immediately east of the reef, it was a clean open sand, and, while the shields were passing through this, the quantity of air supplied to the four headings seldom fell below 20,000 cu. ft. per min.; it was usually more than 25,000 cu. ft., with a recorded maximum of 33,400 cu. ft. although this was greater than ever used on the manhattan side, it was more uniformly distributed among the several headings, and in none equalled the maximum observed on the manhattan side, the largest having been 12,700 cu. ft. per min. for 24 hours; it must be remembered, however, that at one time only two tunnels were in progress in the bad material in the tunnels from manhattan. from the foregoing experience, it would seem that the plant finally furnished at long island, having a rated capacity of 45,400 cu. ft. of free air per minute, would have been a reasonable compliance with the original actual needs on the manhattan side and _vice versa_; the plant finally developed on the manhattan side, having a rated capacity of 35,000 cu. ft. of free air per minute, would have sufficed for the long island side. the total quantity of free air compressed for the supply of the working chambers of the tunnels and the long island caissons was 34,109,000,000 cu. ft., and, in addition, 10,615,000,000 cu. ft. were compressed to between 80 and 125 lb. for power purposes, of which at least 80% was exhausted in the compressed-air working chambers. the total supply of free air to each heading while under pressure, therefore, averaged about 3,550 cu. ft. per min. the quantity of air escaping during a sudden blow-out is apparently much smaller than might be supposed. investigation of a number of cases, showing large pressure losses combined with a long stretch of tunnel supplying a relatively large reservoir of air, disclosed that a maximum loss of about 220,000 cu. ft. of free air occurred in 10 min. this averages only a little more than 19,000 cu. ft. per min., the maximum recorded supply to one tunnel for a period of 24 hours. of this quantity, however, probably from 30 to 40% escaped in the first 45 seconds, while the remainder was a more or less steady loss up to the time when the supply could be increased sufficiently to maintain the lowered pressure. very few blows showed losses approaching this in quantity, but the inherent inaccuracy of the observations make the foregoing figures only roughly approximate. [footnote c: _minutes of proceedings_, inst. c. e., vol. cxxx, p. 50.] special difficulties. the most serious difficulties of the work came near the start. in tunnel _d_ blows and falls of sand from the face were frequent after soft ground was met in the top. about six weeks after entering the full sand face, and before the shutters had been installed, the shield showed a decided tendency to settle, carrying the tunnel lining down with it and resulting in a number of badly broken plates in the bottom of the rings. notwithstanding the use of extremely high vertical leads,[d] the sand was so soft that the settlement of the shield continued for about fifteen rings, the maximum being nearly 9 in. below grade. the hydrostatic head at mid-height of the tunnel was 32-1/2 lb., and the raising of the air pressure to 37 lb., as was done at this time, was attended with grave danger of serious blows, on account of the recent disturbance of the natural cover by the pulling and re-driving of piles in the reconstruction of the long island ferry slips directly above. it dried the face materially, however, and the shield began to rise again, and had practically regained the grade when the anticipated blow-outs occurred, culminating with the entrance of rip-rap from the river bed into the shield and the flooding of the tunnel with 4 ft. of sand and water at the forward end. the escape of air was very great, and, as a pressure of more than 28 lb. could not be maintained, the face was bulkheaded and the tunnel was shut down for three weeks in order to permit the river bed to consolidate. this was the most serious difficulty encountered on any part of the work, and, coming at the very start, was exceedingly discouraging. during the shut-down the broken plates were reinforced temporarily with steel ribs and reinforced concrete (fig. 1, plate lxxiii) which, on completion of the work, were replaced by cast-steel segments, as described elsewhere. practically, no further movement of iron took place, and the loss of grade caused by the settlement of the shield, which was by far the largest that ever occurred in this work, was not sufficient to require a change in the designed grade or alignment of the track. work was resumed with the shutters in use at the face as an aid to excavation. the features of extreme seriousness did not recur, but for two months the escape of air continued to be extremely large, an average of 15,000 cu. ft. per min. being required on many days during this period. [illustration: plate lxxiii, fig. 1.--temporary reinforcement of broken plates and removal of a plate in sections.] [illustration: plate lxxiii, fig. 2.--heavy cast-steel patch attached to bent segment of cutting edge.] [illustration: plate lxxiii, fig. 3.--inflow of soft clay through shield.] [illustration: plate lxxiii, fig. 4.--reinforcement of broken plate with long polt and twisted steel rods.] in tunnel _b_, after passing out from under the bulkhead line, in april, 1906, the loss of air became very great, and blow-outs were of almost daily occurrence until the end of june. at the time of the blows the pressure in the tunnel would drop from 2 to 8 lb., and it generally took some hours to raise the pressure to what it was before the blow. during that time regular operations were interrupted. in the latter part of june a permit was obtained allowing the clay blanket to be increased in thickness up to a depth of water of 27 ft. at mean low tide. the additional blanket was deposited during the latter part of june and early in july, and almost entirely stopped the blows. by the end of the month the natural clay, previously described, formed the greater portion of the face, and, from that time forward, played an important part in reducing the quantity of air required. during april and the early part of may the work was under the ferry racks of the long island railroad. the blanket had to be placed by dumping the clay from wheel-barrows through holes in the decking. in tunnel _a_ a bottom heading had been driven 23 ft. in advance of the face at the time work was stopped at the end of 1905. during the ten months of inactivity the seams in the rock above opened. the rock surface was only from 2 to 4 ft. below the top of the cutting edge for a distance of about 60 ft. over the rock there were large boulders embedded in sharp sand. it was an exceedingly difficult operation to remove the boulders and place the polings without starting a run. the open seams over the bottom heading also frequently caused trouble, as there were numerous slides of rock from the face which broke up the breasting and allowed the soft material from above to run into the shield. there were two runs of from 50 to 75 cu. yd. and many smaller ones. [footnote d: the lead of the shield is the angular divergence of its axis from the axis of the tunnel and, in this tunnel, was measured as the offset in 23 ft. it was called + when the shield was pointed upward from grade, and when pointed downward.] guiding the shields. little difficulty was experienced at any time in driving the shield close to the desired line, but it was much harder to keep it on grade. in rock section, where the cradle could be set far enough in advance to become hard before the shield was shoved over it, there was no trouble whatever. where the cradle could be placed only a very short time before it had to take the weight of the shield, the case was quite different. the shield had a tendency to settle at the cutting edge, and when once pointed downward it was extremely difficult to change its direction. it was generally accomplished by embedding railroad rails or heavy oak plank in the cradle on solid foundation. this often had to be repeated several times before it was successful. in soft ground it was much easier to change the direction of the shield, but, owing to the varying nature of the material, it was sometimes impossible to determine in advance how the shield should be pointed. it was found by experience at manhattan that the iron lining remained in the best position in relation to grade when the underside of the bottom of the shield at the rear end was driven on grade of the bottom of the iron, but if the rate of progress was slow, it was better to drive the shield a little higher. in the headings from long island, which, as a rule, were in soft ground, the cutting edges of the shields were kept from 4 to 8 in. higher, with respect to the grade line, than the rails. the shields would then usually move parallel to the grade line, though this was modified considerably by the way the mucking was done and by the stiffness of the ground at the bottom of the shield. on the average, the shields were shoved by from ten to twelve of the bottom jacks, with a pressure of about 4,000 lb. per sq. in. the jacks had 9-in. plungers, which made the average total force required to shove the shield 2,800,000 lb. in the soft ground, where shutters were used, all of the twenty-seven jacks were frequently used, and on several occasions the pressure exceeded 6,000 lb. per sq. in. with a unit pressure of 6,000 lb. per sq. in., the total pressure on the shield with all twenty-seven jacks in operation was 5,154 tons. injuries to shields. there were only two instances of damage to the essential structural features of the shields. the most serious was in tunnel _d_ where the cutting edge at the bottom of the shield was forced up a slightly sloping ledge of rock. a bow was formed in the steel casting which was markedly increased with the next few shoves. work was suspended, and a heavy cast-steel patch, filling out the bow, was attached to the bent segments, as shown in fig. 2, plate lxxiii. no further trouble was experienced with the deformed portion. the other instance was in tunnel _b_, from long island, where a somewhat similar but less serious accident occurred and was treated in a like manner. _bulkheads._--at manhattan, bulkheads had to be built near the shafts before the tunnels could be put under pressure. after 500 ft. of tunnel had been built on each line, the second bulkheads were constructed. the air pressure between the first and second bulkheads was then reduced to between 15 and 20 lb. when the shields had been advanced for 1,500 ft., the third set of bulkheads was built. nearly all the broken plates which were removed were located between the first and third bulkheads at manhattan. before undertaking this operation, the doors of the locks in the no. 3 bulkheads were reversed to take pressure from the west. by this means it was possible to carry on the work of dismantling the shields under comparatively low pressure simultaneously with the removal of the broken plates. at long island city the roofs of the caissons served the purpose of the no. 1 bulkheads. two other sets of bulkheads were erected, the first about 500 ft. and the second about 1,500 ft. from the shafts. settlement at surface of ground. the driving of such portions of the river tunnels, with earth top, as were under the land section, caused a settlement at the surface varying usually from 3 to 6 in. the three-story brick building at no. 412 east 34th street required extensive repairs. this building stood over the section of part earth and part rock excavation where the tunnels broke out from the manhattan ledge and where there were a number of runs of sand into the shield. in fact, the voids made by those runs eventually worked up to the surface and caused the pavement of the alley between the buildings to drop 4 or 5 ft. over a considerable area. the tunnels also passed directly under the ferry bridges and racks of the long island railroad at east 34th street. tunnels _b_ and _d_ were constantly blowing at the time, and, where progress was slow, caused so much settlement that one of the racks had to be rebuilt. tunnel _a_, on the other hand, where progress was rapid, caused practically no settlement in the racks. clay blanket. as previously mentioned, clay was dumped over the tunnels in varying depths at different times. a material was required which would pack into a compact mass and would not readily erode under the influence of the tidal currents of the river and the escape of the great volumes of air which often kept the water in the vicinity of the shields in violent motion. suitable clay could not be found in the immediate vicinity of the work. materials from shooter's island and from haverstraw were tried for the purpose. the government authorities did not approve of the former, and the greater portion of that used came from the latter point. although a number of different permits governing the work were granted, there were three important ones. the first permit allowed a blanket which roughly followed the profile of the tunnels, with an average thickness of 10 ft. on the manhattan side and somewhat less on the long island city side. the second general permit allowed the blanket to be built up to a plane 27 ft. below low water. this proved effective in checking the tendency to blow, but allowed considerable loss of air. finally, dumping was allowed over limited and marked areas up to a plane of 20 ft. below low water. wherever advantage was taken of this last authority, the excessive loss of air was almost entirely stopped. after all the shields had been well advanced out into the river, the blanket behind them was dredged up, and the clay used over again in advance of the shield. soundings were taken daily over the shields, and, if marked erosion was found, clay was dumped into the hole. whenever a serious blow occurred, a scowload of clay was dumped over it as soon as possible and without waiting to make soundings. for the latter purposes a considerable quantity of clay was placed in storage in the pidgeon street slip at long island city, and one or two bottom-dump scows were kept filled ready for emergencies. mr. robert chalmers, who had charge of the soundings for the contractor, states that "the depressions in the blanket caused by erosion due to the escape of air were, as a rule, roughly circular in plan and of a curved section somewhat flat in the center." satisfactory soundings were never obtained in the center of a violent blow, but the following instance illustrates in a measure what occurred. over tunnel _b_, at station 102+80, there was normally 36 ft. of water, 7 ft. of clay blanket, and 20 ft. of natural cover. air was escaping at the rate of about 10,000 cu. ft. per min., and small blows were occurring once or twice daily. on june 22d, soundings showed 54 ft. of water. a depth of 18 ft. of the river bottom had been eroded in about two days. on the next day there were taken out of the shield boulders which had almost certainly been deposited on the natural river bed. clay from the blanket also came into the shields on a number of occasions during or after blows. the most notable occasion was in september, 1907, when the top of the shield in tunnel _d_ was emerging from the east side of blackwell's island reef. the sand in the top was very coarse and loose, and allowed the air to escape very freely. the fall of a piece of loose rock from under the breast precipitated a run of sand which was followed by clay from the blanket, which, in this locality, was largely the softer redredged material. mucking out the shield was in progress when the soft clay started flowing again and forced its way back into the tunnel for a distance of 20 ft., as shown in fig. 3, plate lxxiii. ten days of careful and arduous work were required to regain control of the face and complete the shove, on account of the heavy pressure of the plastic clay. the clay blanket was of the utmost importance to the work throughout, and it is difficult to see how the tunnels could have been driven through the soft material on the manhattan side without it. the new material used in the blanket amounted to 283,412 cu. yd., of which 117,846 cu. yd. were removed from over the completed tunnels and redeposited in the blanket in advance of the shields. a total of 88,059 cu. yd. of clay was dumped over blows. the total cost of placing and removing the blanket was $304,056. iron lining. the standard cast-iron tunnel lining was of the usual tube type, 23 ft. in outside diameter. the rings were 30 in. wide, and were composed of eleven segments and a key. the webs of the segments were 1-1/2 in. thick in the central portion, increasing to 2-3/8 in. at the roots of the flanges, which were 11 in. deep, 2-1/4 in. thick at the root, and 1-1/2 in. at the edge, and were machined on all contact faces. recesses were cast in the edge of the flanges, forming a groove, when the lining was in place, 1-1/2 in. deep and about 3/8 in. wide, to receive the caulking. the bolt holes were cored in the flanges, and the bosses facing the holes were not machined. the customary grout hole was tapped in the center of each plate for a standard 1-1/4-in. pipe. in this work, experience indicated that the standard pipe thread was too fine, and that the taper was objectionable. each segment weighed, approximately, 2,020 lb., and the key weighed 520 lb., the total weight being 9,102 lb. per lin. ft. of tunnel. fig. 1 shows the details of the standard heavy lining. in addition to the standard cast-iron lining, cast-steel rings of the same dimensions were provided for use in a short stretch of the tunnel, when passing from a rock to a soft ground foundation, where it was anticipated that unequal settlement and consequent distortion and increase in stress might occur, but, aside from the small regular drop of the lining as it passed out of the tail of the shield, no such settlement was observed. two classes of lighter iron, one with 1-in. web and 8-in. flanges and the other with 1-1/4-in. web and 9-in. flanges--the former weighing 5,166 lb. per lin. ft. of tunnel and the latter, 6,776 lb.--were provided for use in the land sections between east avenue and the long island city shafts. two weights of extra heavy segments for use at the bottom of the rings were also furnished. the so-called _xx_ plates had webs and flanges 1/4 in. thicker than the standard segment and the _yy_ plates were similarly 1/2 in. heavier. the conditions under which they were used will be referred to later. all the castings were of the same general type as shown by fig. 1. rings tapering 3/4 in. and 1-1/2 in. in width were used for changes in alignment and grade, the former being used approximately at every fourth ring on the 1° 30' curves. the 1-1/2-in. tapers were largely used for changes in grade where it was desired to free the iron from binding on the tail of the shield. still wider tapers would have been advantageous for quick results in this respect. no lug was cast on the segments for attachment to the erector, but in its place the gadget shown on fig. 4, plate lxx, was inserted in one of the pairs of bolt holes near the center of the plate, and was held in position by the running nut at one end. in the beginning it was expected that the natural shape of the rings would not show more than 1 in. of shortening of the vertical diameter; this was slightly exceeded, however, the average distortion throughout the tunnels being 1-7/16 in. the erectors were attached to the shield and in such a position that they were in the plane of the center of the ring to be erected when the shove was made without lead and just far enough to permit placing the segments. if the shield were shoved too far, a rare occurrence, the erection was inconvenienced. in driving with high vertical leads, which occurred more frequently, the disadvantage of placing the erector on the shield was more apparent. under such conditions the plane of the erector's motion was acutely inclined to the plane of the ring, and, after placing the lower portion of the ring, it was usually necessary to shove the shield a few inches farther in order to place the upper plates. the practical effect of this action is referred to later. [illustration: fig. 1.] at first the erection of the iron in the river tunnels interfered somewhat with the mucking operations, but the length of time required to complete the latter was ample for the completion of the former; and the starting of a shove was seldom postponed by reason of the non-completion of a ring. after the removal of the bottom of the diaphragms, permitting the muck cars to be run into the shield and beyond, the two operations were carried on simultaneously without serious interference. the installation of the belt conveyor for handling the soft ground spoil in tunnel _a_ was of special benefit in this respect. preparatory to the final bolt tightening of each ring as erected, a 15-ton draw-jack, consisting of a small pulling-jack inserted in a light eye-bar chain, was placed on the horizontal diameter, and frequently the erectors were also used to boost the crown of the iron, the object being to erect the ring truly circular. before shoving, a 1-1/4-in. turn-buckle was also placed on the horizontal diameter in order to prevent the spreading of the iron, previous to filling the void outside with grout. the approach of the supports for the upper floor of the trailing platform necessitated the removal of these turnbuckles from all but the three leading rings, but if the iron showed a tendency to continue distortion, they were re-inserted after the passage of the trailing platform and remained until the arch of the concrete lining was placed. the cost of handling and erecting the iron varied greatly at different times, averaging, for the river tunnels, $3.32 per ton for the directly chargeable labor of handling and erecting, to which must be added $7.54 for "top charges." the cost of repairing broken plates is included in this figure. _broken plates._--during the construction of the river section of the tunnels, a number of segments were found to have been broken while shoving the shield. the breaks, which with few exceptions were confined to the three or four bottom plates, almost invariably occurred on the advanced face of the ring, and rarely extended beyond the bottom of the flange. a careful study of the breaks and of the shoving records disclosed several distinct types of fracture and three principal known causes of breakage by the shield. in the first case, the accidental intrusion of foreign material between the jack head and the iron caused the jack to take its bearings on the flange above its normal position opposite the web of the ring, and resulted usually in the breaking out of a piece of the flange or in several radiating cracks with or without a depression of the flange. these breaks were very characteristic, and the cause was readily recognizable, even though the intruding substance was not actually observed. in the second case, the working of a hard piece of metal, such as a small tool, into the annular space between the iron and the tail of the shield, where it was caught on the bead and dragged along as the shield advanced, was the known cause of a number of broken segments. such breaks had no particular characteristic, but were usually close above the line of travel of the lost tool or metal. their cause was determined by the finding of a heavy score on the underside of the segment or the discovery of the tool wedged in the tail of the shield or lying under the broken plate when it was removed. it is probable that a number of breaks ascribed to unknown causes should be placed in this class. the third cause includes the largest number of breaks, and, while difficult to define closely, is the most interesting. broadly speaking, the breaks resulted from the movements of the shield in relation to the position of the tunnel lining. while shoving through soft ground, it was frequently difficult to apply sufficient power to the lower jacks to complete the full shove of 30 in. on the desired alignment. the shield, therefore, was driven upward at the beginning of the shove, and, as the sand packed in front of the shield and more power was required, it was furnished by applying the upper jacks. the top of the shield was slowly pushed over, and, at the close of the shove, the desired position had been obtained; but the shield had been given a rocking motion with a decided lifting of the tail toward the close of the shove. a similar lifting of the tail occurred when, with high vertical leads, the top of the shield was pushed over in order to place the upper plates of the ring. again, when the shield was driven above grade and it was desired to descend, the passage of the shield over the summit produced a like effect. in all these movements, with the space between the tail of the shield and the iron packed tight with pugging, the upward thrust of the shield tended to flatten the iron in the bottom and occasional broken plates were the result. the free use of the taper rings, placed so as to relieve the binding of the lining on the tail of the shield, forces the tunnel to follow the variations in the grade of the shield, but reduces greatly the injuries to the rings from this action. in tunnel _d_, where very high vertical leads were required through the soft sand, combined with a marked tendency of the shield to settle, the shield was badly cramped on the iron and dragged along it at the top. the bearing of the iron on its soft foundation tended to thrust up the bottom in this case also, as shown by the opening of the bottom cross-joints when the bolts were slackened to relieve the strain during a shove. the anticipated cracks in the crown plates, which have been more frequently observed in other tunnels, did not occur here, and were not found elsewhere except in one place in tunnel _b_ where they were traced to a similar action of the shield. the cracks resulting from the movements of the shield, as briefly described above, in this third case were not confined to any particular type, but occurred more frequently at the extreme end of the circumferential flange than at any other point. the number of broken plates occurring in the river tunnels was 319, or 0.42% of the total number erected. of these, 52 were found and removed, either before or immediately after a shove, by far the greater number being broken in handling before or during erection. the remaining 267 are considered below. _repair of broken plates._--on the completion of a shove, the tail of the shield lacked about 5 in. of covering the full width of the last ring, and the removal of a plate broken during the shove, therefore, would have exposed the ground at the tail of the shield. with a firm material in the bottom, this introduced no particular difficulties, and, under such conditions, a broken plate was usually removed at once. in the sand, however, and especially on the manhattan side where it was quick and flowing, the removal of a plate was attended with some danger, and such plates were usually left to be removed on the completion of the tunnel. many of these had been reinforced by the use of _xx_, _yy_, and steel segments placed adjacent to the break in the following rings. after the meeting of the shields, the postponed replacement of the broken segments was taken up. the pressure was raised sufficiently to dry thoroughly the sand outside the segments, which were drilled and broken out usually in quarters as shown on fig. 1, plate lxxiii. a steel segment was then inserted in the ring and drawn into place by turnbuckles. the application of the draw-jack, with a pull of about 30 tons to each end successively, brought the plate to a firm bearing on the radial joints at the ends. where the broken plate was isolated and was reinforced by steel or extra heavy segments in the adjacent ring, the crack, if slight, was simply caulked to insure water-tightness. if, however, the crack was opened or extended to the web of the plate, the cross-flanges were tied together by a 1-1/2-in. by 7-ft. bolt, inserted through the bolt holes nearest the broken flange. the long bolt acted in the nature of a bow string, and was provided at its ends with two nuts set on opposite sides of the cross-joints to replace the standard bolts removed for its insertion. fig. 4, plate lxxiii shows one of these bolts in place. in addition, all broken plates remaining in the tunnel were reinforced with 1-in. twisted-steel rods in the concrete lining, also shown in fig. 4, plate lxxiii. _special construction at river shield junctions._--dismantling the shields was started as soon as they came to rest in their final position with the cutting edges together. the plans contemplated their entire removal, with the exception of the cylindrical skins and cast-steel cutting edges. inside the former the standard tunnel lining was erected to within 4 ft. of the heels of the cutting edges. spanning the latter, and forming the continuous metal tunnel lining, the special construction shown by fig. 2 was built. this consisted of a 1-1/4 in. rolled-steel ring, 7 ft. long, erected inside the cutting edges, with an annular clearance of 1 in., and two special cast-iron rings shaped to connect the rolled-steel ring with the normal lining. one flange of the special cast-iron rings was of the standard type, the other was returned 9 in. in the form of a ring, the inside diameter of which was the same as the outside diameter of the rolled-steel ring to which it was bolted. the space between the standard and special construction was of varying width at the various shields, and was filled with a closure ring cast to the lengths determined in the field. fig. 2 shows the completed construction. hook-bolts, screwed through threaded holes and buried in 1 to 1 portland cement grout ejected through similar holes, reinforced the rolled-steel ring against external water pressure. in two of the tunnels the concrete lining was carried completely through the junction, and covered the whole construction, while in the remaining two tunnels it was omitted at the rolled-steel ring, leaving the latter exposed and set back about 3 in. from the face of the concrete. [illustration: fig. 2.] grouting. except as previously noted, the voids outside of the tunnel lining were filled with grout ejected through the grout holes in each segment. the possibility was always present that portland cement, if used for grout in the shield-driven tunnels, would flow forward around the shield and set hard, "freezing" the shield to the rock or the iron lining, or at least forming excrescences upon it, which would render its control difficult. with this in mind, the contractors proposed to substitute an english blue lias lime as a grouting material. grout of fresh english lime containing a moderate quantity of water set very rapidly in air to the consistency of chalk. its hydraulic properties, however, were feeble, and in the presence of an excess of water it remained at the consistency of soft mud. it was not suitable, therefore, as a supporting material for the tunnel. an american lime, made in imitation of the lias lime, but having greater hydraulic properties, was tried, but proved unsatisfactory. two brands of natural cement were also tried and rejected, but a modified quick-setting natural cement, manufactured especially for this work, was eventually made satisfactory, and by far the largest part of the river-tunnel grouting was done with this material mixed 1 to 1 by volume. east of the long island shafts the work which was built without shields was grouted principally with portland cement and sand mixed 1 to 1 by volume. in the river tunnels large quantities of the english lime were used neat as grout over the top of the tunnel in attempts to stop losses of air through the soft ground. it was not of great efficiency, however, in this respect until the voids outside of the lining had been filled above the crown. its properties of swelling and quick setting in the dry sand at that point then became of value. the use of dry lime in the face, where the escaping air would carry it into the voids of the sand and choke them, was much more promptly efficacious in checking the loss. with the exception of the english lime, all grout was mixed 1 to 1 with sand in a cockburn continuous-stirring machine operated by a 3-cylinder air engine. the grout machine was placed on the lower floor of the trailing platform shown on plate lxxii, while the materials were placed on the upper platform, and, together with the water, were fed into the machine through a hole in the upper floor. the sand was bagged in the yard, and the cars on which the materials were sent into the tunnels were lifted by an elevator to the level of the upper floor of the trailing platform before unloading. great difficulty was experienced in preventing the waste of the fluid grout ahead of the shield and into the tail through the space between it and the iron lining. in a full soft ground section, the first condition did not usually arise. in the full-rock sections the most efficient method of checking the waste was found to be the construction of dams or bulkheads outside the lining between it and the rock surface. for this purpose, at intervals of about 30 ft., the leading ring and the upper half of the preceding one were disconnected and pulled forward sufficiently to give access to the exterior. a rough dam of rubble, or bags of mortar or clay, was then constructed outside the iron, and the rings were shoved back and connected up. in sections containing both rock and soft ground, grout dams were built at the cutting edge at intervals, and were carried up as high as circumstances permitted. the annular space at the tail of the shield was at all times supposed to be packed tight with clay and empty bags, but the pugging was difficult to maintain against the pressure of the grout. for a time, 1/2-in. segmental steel plates, slipped down between the jackets and the iron, were used to retain the pugging, but their displacement resulted in a number of broken flanges, and their use was abandoned. in their place, 2-in. segmental plates attached to the jack heads were substituted with more satisfactory results. notwithstanding these devices, the waste of grout at the tail was very great. the soft ground material on various portions of the work acted very differently. the clay and "bull's liver" did not cave in upon the iron lining for several hours after the shield had passed, sometimes not for a day or more, which permitted the space between it and the iron to be grouted. the fine gray or beach sand and the quicksand closed in almost at once. the quicksand has a tendency to fill in under the iron from the sides and in places to leave a cavity at about the horizontal diameter which was not filled from above, as the sand, being dried out by the air, stood up fairly well and did not cave against the iron, except where nearly horizontal at the top. the total quantity of grout used on the work was equivalent in set volume to 249,647 bbl. of 1 to 1 portland cement grout, of which 233,647 bbl. were ejected through the iron lining, an average of 14.93 bbl. per lin. ft. the cost of grout ejected outside of the river tunnels was 93 cents per bbl. for labor and $2.77 for "top charges." east of the long island shaft the corresponding costs were $0.68 and $1.63, the difference being partly due to the large percentages of work done in the normal air at the latter place. caulking and leakage. up to august, 1907, the joints between the segments of the cast-iron lining were caulked with iron filings and sal ammoniac, mixed in the proportion of 400 to 1 by weight. with the air pressure balancing the hydrostatic head near the tunnel axis, it was difficult to make the rust-joint caulking tight below the axis against the opposing water pressure; this form of caulking was also injured in many places by water dripping from service pipes attached to the tunnel lining. a few trials of lead wire caulked cold gave such satisfactory results that it was adopted as a substitute. pneumatic hammers were used successfully on the lead caulking, but were only used to a small extent on the rust borings, which were mostly hand caulked. immediately before placing the concrete lining, all leaks, whether in the rust borings or lead, were repaired with lead, and the remainder of the groove was filled with 1 to 1 portland cement mortar, leaving the joints absolutely water-tight at that time. the subsequent development of small seepages through the concrete would seem to indicate that the repair work should have been carried on far enough in advance of the concreting to permit the detection of secondary leaks which might develop slowly. the average labor cost chargeable against the caulking was 12 cents per lin. ft., to which should be added 21.8 cents for "top charges." unfortunately, it was necessary to place the greater part of the concrete lining in the river tunnels during the summer months when the temperature at the point of work frequently exceeded 85°; and the temperature of the concrete while setting was much higher. this abnormal heat, due to chemical action in the cement, soon passed away, and, with the approach of winter, the contraction of the concrete resulted in transverse cracks. by the middle of the winter these had developed quite uniformly at the ends of each 30-ft. section of concrete arch as placed, and frequently finer cracks showed at about the center of each 30-ft. section. while the temperature of the concrete was falling, a like change was taking place in the cast-iron lining, with resulting contraction. the lining had been erected in compressed air, the temperature of which averaged about 70° in winter and higher in summer. compressed air having been taken off in the summer of 1908, the tunnels then acquired the lower temperature of the surrounding earth, slowly falling until mid-winter. the contraction of the concrete, firmly bedded around the flanges of the iron, and showing cracks at fairly uniform intervals, probably localized the small corresponding movements of the iron near the concrete cracks, and resulted in a loosening of the caulking at these points. with the advent of cold weather, damp spots appeared in numerous places on the concrete, and small seepages showed through quite regularly at the temperature cracks, in some cases developing sufficiently to be called leaks. only a few, however, were measurable in amount. early in january small brass plugs were firmly set on opposite sides of a large number of cracks, and caliper readings and air temperature observations were taken regularly throughout the winter and spring. the widths of the cracks and the amount of leakage at them increased with each drop in temperature and decreased as the temperature rose again, but until spring the width of the cracks did not return to the same point with each return of temperature. the leakage was similar in all four tunnels, but was largest in amount in tunnel _d_, where, at the beginning of february, the ordinary flow was about 0.0097 cu. ft. per sec., equivalent to 0.00000347 cu. ft. per sec. per lin. ft. of tunnel. of this amount 0.0065 cu. ft. per sec. could be accounted for at eight of the cracks showing measurable leakage, leaving 0.0032 cu. ft. per sec. or 0.00000081 cu. ft. per sec. per lin. ft. of tunnel to be accounted for as general seepage distributed over the whole length. it was not feasible to stop every leak in the tunnel, most of which were indicated simply by damp spots on the concrete; a rather simple method was devised, however, for stopping the leaks at the eight or ten places in each tunnel where water dripped from the arch or flowed down the face of the concrete. the worst leak in any tunnel flowed about 0.0023 cu. ft. per sec. to stop these leaks, rows of 1-in. holes, at about 4-in. centers, were drilled with jap drills through the concrete to the flange of the iron. these rows were from 3 to 18 ft. long, extending 1 ft. or more beyond the limits of the leak. the bottoms of the holes were directly on the caulking groove and the pounding of the drill usually drove the caulking back, so that the leak became dry or nearly so after the holes were drilled. if left alone the leaks would gradually break out again in a few hours or a few days and flow more water than before. they were allowed to do this, however, in only a few cases as experiments. after the holes were drilled, the bottom 4 in. next the flange was filled with soft neat cement mortar. immediately on top of this was placed two plugs of neat cement about 2-1/2 in. long, which were 5 or 6 hours old and rather hard. each was tamped in with a round caulking tool of the size of the hole driven with a sledge hammer. on top of this were driven in the same way two more plugs of neat cement of the same size, which were hard set. these broke up under the blows of the hammer, and caulked the hole tight. when finished, the tamping tool would ring as though it was in solid rock. great pressure was exerted on the plastic mortar in the bottom of the hole, which resulted in the re-caulking of the joint of the iron. no further measurable leakage developed in the repaired cracks, during a period of four months, and the total leakage has been reduced to about 0.002 cu. ft. per sec. in each tunnel, an average of 0.00000051 cu. ft. per sec. per lin. ft. sump and pump chambers. to take care of the drainage of the tunnels, a sump with a pump chamber above it was provided for each pair of tunnels. the sumps were really short tunnels underneath the main ones and extending approximately between the center lines of the latter. they were 10 ft. 9-1/2 in. in outside diameter and 44 ft. long. the water drops directly from the drains in the center lines of the tunnels into the sumps. above the sumps and between the tunnels, a pump chamber 19 ft. 5 in. long was built. above the end of the latter, opposite the sump, a cross-passage was constructed between the bench walls of the two tunnels. this passage gives access from either tunnel through an opening in the floor to the pump chamber and through the latter to the sump. from the preliminary borings it was thought that the sumps were located so that the entire construction would be in rock. this proved to be the case on tunnels _c_ and _d_, but not on tunnels _a_ and _b_. the position of the rock surface in the latter is shown by fig. 3. after the excavation was completed in tunnel _b_, january 1st, 1908, the plates were removed from the side of the tunnel at the cross-passage, and a drift was driven through the earth above the rock surface across to the lining of tunnel _a_. the heading was timbered as shown by fig. 3. there was practically no loss of air from the drift, but the clay blanket had been removed from over this locality and the situation caused some anxiety. in order to make the heading as secure as possible, the 24-in. i-beams, shown on fig. 3, were attached to the lining of the two tunnels. the beams formed a support for the permanent concrete roof arch of the passage, which was placed at once. at the same time plates were removed from the bottom in tunnel _b_ over the site of the sump, and a heading was started on the line of the sump toward tunnel _a_. as soon as the heading had been driven beyond the center line of the pump chamber, a bottom heading was driven from a break-up westward in the pump chamber and a connection was made with the cross-passage. the iron lining of the pump chamber was next placed, from the cross-passage eastward. the soft ground was excavated directly in advance of the lining, and the ground was supported by polings in much the same manner as described for shield work. on account of bad ground and seams of sand encountered in the rock below the level of the cross-beams, the entire west wall of the pump chamber was placed before enlarging the sump to full size. this was also judicious, in order to support as far as possible the iron lining of the tunnels. the sump was then excavated to full size. the iron lining of the sump and the east wall of the pump chamber were placed as soon as possible. the voids outside the iron lining of the sump and the pump chamber were filled as completely as possible with concrete, and then thoroughly grouted. finally, the concrete lining was put in place inside of the iron. as shown by fig. 3, the excavation of these chambers left a considerable portion of the iron lining of the tunnels temporarily unsupported on the lower inner quarter. to guard against distortion, a system of diagonals and struts was placed as shown. the floor of the pump chamber was water-proofed with felt and pitch in a manner similar to that described for the caissons at long island city. it was not possible to make the felt stick to the vertical walls with soft pitch, which was the only kind that could be used in compressed air, and, therefore, the surfaces were water-proofed by a wall of asphalt brick laid in pitch melting at 60° fahr. forms were erected on the neat line, and the space to the rock was filled with concrete making a so-called sand-wall similar to that commonly used for water-proofing with felt and pitch. the bricks were then laid to a height of four or five courses. the joints were filled with pitch instead of mortar. sheets of tin were then placed against the face of the wall and braced from the concrete forms. as much pitch as possible was then slushed between the brick and the sand-wall, after which the concrete in the main wall was filled up to the top of the water-proofing course. the tin was then withdrawn and the operation repeated. this method was slow and expensive, but gave good results. ordinary pitch could not be used on account of the fumes, which are particularly objectionable in compressed air. the 60° pitch was slightly heated in the open air before using. [illustration: fig. 3.] the sump and pump chamber on tunnels _c_ and _d_ differed from the one described only in minor details; but, being wholly constructed in rock, presented fewer difficulties and permitted a complete envelope of water-proofing to be placed in the top. concrete lining. the placing of concrete inside the iron tube was done by an organization entirely separate from the tunneling force. a mixing plant was placed in each of the five shafts. the stone and sand bins discharged directly into mixers below, which, in turn, discharged into steel side-dump concrete cars. all concrete was placed in normal air. the first step, after the iron lining was scraped clean and washed down and all leaks were stopped, was the placing of biats, marked _b_ on plate lxxiv. these were made up of a 6 by 12-in. yellow pine timber, 17 ft. long, with two short lengths of the same size spliced to its ends by pieces of 12-in. channels, 3 ft. 9 in. long, clamped upon the sides. these biats were placed every 5 ft. along the tunnel in rings having side keys. next, a floor, 13 ft. wide, was laid on the biats and two tracks, of 30-in. gauge and 6-1/2-ft. centers, were laid upon the floor. there were three stages in the concreting. fig. 2, plate lxxiv, shows the concrete in place at the end of the first, and fig. 3, plate lxxiv, at the end of the second stage. the complete arch above the bench walls was done in the last operation. two 3 by 10-in. soldiers (_ss_ in figs. 1 and 2, plate lxxiv) were fastened to each biat and braced across by two horizontal and two diagonal braces. to each pair of soldiers a floor template, _t_, was then nailed. the form for the center drain was then suspended as shown in fig. 1, plate lxxiv. three pieces of shuttering, _fff_, 20 ft. long, were then nailed to the bottom of the soldiers. one is all that would have been needed for the first concrete placed, but it was easier to place them at this stage than later, when there was less room. three rough shutters were also nailed to the curved portion for the floor template. opposite each biat, a bracket, _bb_, was then nailed, which carries a set of rough boards which formed the risers for the duct steps. everything was then ready for concreting except that, where refuge niches occurred, a form for the portion of the niche below the seat was nailed to the shuttering. this form is shown at _r_ in fig. 1, plate lxxiv. [illustration: plate lxxiv] the concrete was dumped down on each side from side-dump cars standing on the track, and, falling between the risers for the duct steps, ran or was shoveled under the forms and down into the bottom. the horizontal surface on each side the center drain was smoothed off with a shovel. the workmen became very skillful at this, and got a fairly smooth surface. this concrete was usually placed in lengths of 45 or 60 ft. after setting for about 24 hours, the brackets, _bb_, were removed, together with the shuttering on the steps. the triangular pieces, _t_ in fig. 1, plate lxxiv, were not removed until later. instead, a board was laid upon this lower step on which the duct layers could work. this and the triangular piece were not removed until just before the bench concrete was placed. this was important, as otherwise the bond between the old and new concrete would be much impaired by dirt ground into the surface of the old concrete. the ducts were then laid, as shown in fig. 2, plate lxxiv. the remaining shutters for the face of the bench walls were then placed. the remainder of the forms for the refuge niches, _rr_, in fig. 1, plate lxxiv, were nailed to the shutters, the steel beam over the niche was laid in place, the forms for the ladders, _l_ in fig. 2, plate lxxiv, which occur every 25 ft., were tacked to the shutters, the shutters and forms were given a coat of creosote oil, and then all was ready for placing the bench concrete. the specifications required a 2-in. mortar face to be placed on all exposed surfaces and the remainder to be smoothed with a trowel and straight-edge. after about 48 hours, the biats were blocked up on the bench, and all forms between the bench walls below the working floor were removed. the centering for the arch concrete consisted of simple 5 by 3-1/2 by 5/16-in. steel-angle arch ribs, curved to the proper radius, spaced at 5-ft. intervals. each rib was made up of two pieces spliced together at the top. two men easily handled one of these pieces. after splicing, the rib was supported by four hanger-bolts fastened to the iron lining as shown in fig. 3, plate lxxiv. in the early part of the work, two additional bolts were used about half way up on the side between the upper and lower hanger-bolts. it was soon found that by placing the strut between the tunnel lining and the crown of the rib, these hanger-bolts could be dispensed with. the lagging was of 3-in. dressed yellow pine, 12 in. wide, and in 15-ft. lengths. each piece had three saw cuts on the back, from end to end, allowing it to be bent to the curve of the arch; it was kept curved by an iron strap screwed to the back. the arches were put in, either in 15, 30 or 45-ft. lengths, depending on what was ready for concrete and what could be done in one continuous working. the rule was that when an arch was begun, the work must not stop until it was finished. an arch length always ended in the middle of a ring. the lagging was placed to a height of about 6 ft. above the bench before any concreting was done. when the concrete had been brought up to that point, lagging was added, one piece at a time, just ahead of the concrete, up to the crown, where a space of about 18 in. was left. when the lagging had reached the upper hanger-bolts, they were removed, which left only the two bottom bolts fixed in the concrete. most of these were unscrewed from the eye and saved, as tin sleeves were placed around them before concreting. two cast-iron eyes were lost for every 5 ft. of tunnel. to place the key concrete, a stage was set up in the middle of the floor, and, beginning at one end, about 2 ft. of block lagging was placed. over this, concrete was packed, filling the key as completely as possible. this was done partly by shoveling and using a short rammer, and partly by packing with the hands by the workmen, who wore rubber gloves for the purpose. another 2 ft. of lagging was then placed, and the operation was repeated, and thus working backward, foot by foot, the key was completed. this is the usual way of keying a concrete arch, but in this case the difficulty was increased by the flanges of the iron lining. it was practically impossible to fill all parts of the pockets formed by these flanges. to meet this difficulty, provision was made for grouting any unfilled space. as the concrete was being put in, tin pipes were placed with their tops nearly touching the iron lining, and their bottoms resting on the lagging. each pocket was intended to have two of these pipes, one to grout through and the other to act as a vent for the escape of air. each center key ring had six pipes, and each side key had eight. the bottoms of the pipes were held by a single nail driven half way into the lagging. this served to keep the pipes in position and to locate them after the lagging was taken down. the cost of labor in the tunnels directly chargeable to concrete was $1.80 per cu. yd. the top charges, exclusive of the cost of materials (cement, sand, and stone), amounted to $3.92. electric conduits. in one bench wall of each tunnel there were fifteen openings for power cables and in the other, between the river shafts, there were forty openings for telephone, telegraph, and signal cables. east of the long island shaft, the number of the latter was reduced to twenty-four. the telephone ducts were all of the four-way type. the specifications required that the power ducts should have an opening of not less than 3-1/2 in., nor more than 3-7/8 in., and that after laying they should pass a 4-ft. mandrel, 3-3/8 in. at the leading end and 2-5/8 in. at the other. the outside dimension was limited between 5 and 5-3/8 in. the openings of the four-way ducts were required to be not less than 3-3/8 in., nor more than 3-5/8 in., and after laying to pass a 5-ft. mandrel, 3-1/4 in. at the leading end and 2-1/2 in. at the other. the outside dimensions were limited between 9 and 9-1/2 in. all were to be laid in 1/4-in. beds of mortar. the specifications were not definite as to the shape of the opening, but those used were square with corners rounded to a radius of 3/8 in. the four-ways were 3 ft. long, and the singles, 18 in. a study of the foregoing dimensions will show that the working limits were narrow. such narrow limits would not pay for the ordinary conduit line in a street, where there is more room. in the tunnel greater liberality meant either reducing the number of conduits or encroaching on the strength of the concrete tunnel lining. the small difference of only 1/8 in. in the size of the mandrel, or a clearance of only 1/16 in. on each side, no doubt did increase the cost of laying somewhat, though not as much as might at first be supposed. all bottom courses were laid to a string, in practically perfect line and grade, and all joints were tested with mandrels which were in all openings, and pulled forward as each piece of conduit was laid. as the workmen became skillful, the progress was excellent. all costs of labor in the tunnel chargeable to duct laying amounted to $0.039 per ft. of duct; top charges brought this up to $0.083. the serious problem was to guard against grout and mortar running into the duct opening through the joints from the concrete, which was a rather wet mixture. each joint was wrapped, when laid, with canvas, weighing 10 oz. per sq. yd., dipped in cement grout immediately before using. these wraps were 6 in. wide, and were cut long enough to go around the lap about the middle of the duct. as soon as all the ducts were laid, the entire bank was plastered over with fairly stiff mortar, which, when properly done, closed all openings. the plastering was not required by the specifications, but was found by the contractor to result in a saving in ultimate cost. the concrete on the two sides of the bank of ducts was bonded together by 2 by 1/8-in. steel bonds between the ducts, laid across in horizontal joints. both ends were split into two pieces, 1 in. long, one of which was turned up and the other down. these bonds projected 1-1/2 in. into the concrete on either side. where the bond came opposite the risers of the duct step, against which the ducts were laid, recesses were provided for the projecting bond. this was done by nailing to the rough shutters for the steps a form which when removed left a dove-tailed vertical groove. this form was made in two pieces, one tapering inward and the other with more taper outward. as the bonds were placed, these grooves were filled with mortar. the ducts usually received their final rodding with the specification mandrel a month or more after they were laid, after which all openings into splicing chambers were stopped by wooden plugs, 8 in. long tapering from 3-3/4 in. at one end to 2-3/4 in. at the other end, and shaped to fit the opening tightly. at first the plugs were paraffined, to keep them from swelling and breaking the ducts, but were not successful, as the paraffin lubricated them so that they would not stay in place. they were expensive, and there was some swelling in the best that were obtained. a better plug was made by using no paraffin, but by making six saw cuts, three horizontal and three vertical, in the larger end, cutting to within about 2 in. of the smaller end. the swelling of the wood was then taken up by the saw cuts and the spring of the wood. the splicing chambers are at 400-ft. intervals. they are 6 ft. long, 4 ft. 9 in. high, with a width varying from 3 ft. 2 in. at the top to 1 ft. 2 in. at the bottom. transcriber's notes: italic text is denoted by _underscores_. notation for whole and fractional part is 55-416/1000 * * * * * senate...... ......no. 59. ======================================== report on the hoosac tunnel and troy and greenfield railroad, by the joint standing committee of 1866. ---- boston: wright & potter, state printers, no. 4 spring lane. 1867. commonwealth of massachusetts. hon. joseph a. pond, _president of the senate_. sir:--i herewith transmit to the legislature the report of the joint standing committee of 1866 on the hoosac tunnel and troy and greenfield railroad. i am very respectfully your obedient servant, tappan wentworth, _chairman_. report. the joint standing committee of 1866 on the hoosac tunnel and the troy and greenfield railroad, authorized to visit the tunnel and railroad, examine into the condition and progress of the work, and to report fully the result of such examination respectfully report: that since the adjournment of the legislature the committee in a body visited the tunnel and railroad in june, and again in october, and they continued their examination of the condition and progress of the work by sub-committees in the months of july, august, september, november and december; (one of the examinations being exclusively devoted to the operations on the railroad which were commenced late in october;) the others to the tunnel and the various structures and mechanical operations connected therewith, including an examination of the existing contracts, and an inquiry into the general organization adopted to carry out the laws and purposes of the state in regard to the enterprise. the committee have also examined the records and the doings of the directors of the troy and greenfield railroad from the organization of the corporation until the surrender of the railroad to the state, and have made extracts from the records to show the financial condition of the corporation, its dealings with the contractors for constructing the road and tunnel, and also the embarrassed condition of the contractors and corporation from 1855 to 1861, which finally led to the practical abandonment of the contract on the part of messrs. h. haupt & company, and the surrender of the road to the state under the mortgages which had been given to secure the loan advanced by the commonwealth in aid of the road and tunnel. these extracts from the records, with extracts from some of the laws passed upon the subject of the railroad and tunnel, together with remarks of the committee upon the legislation of the state, the doings of the directors, and their efforts and those of the contractors to prosecute the enterprise being too long for the body of this report, will be found in the appendix at a. and a synopsis of the action and condition of the corporation at the time of, and previous to the surrender of the road, and the relation of the contractors to the corporation and to the state, will be stated before entering upon the particular description of the condition and progress of the work the present year, as observed by the committee. the charter of the troy and greenfield railroad was granted in 1848, authorizing the construction of a railroad from a "point on the vermont and massachusetts railroad, at or near greenfield," to the line of the states of new york or vermont, to connect with any railroad that might be constructed from or near the city of troy in new york. its capital stock was limited to $3,500,000. authority was given in the charter to contract with any contiguous railroad leading from either of the above-named states, for the use of the same or any part thereof, or for operating the two roads conjointly, or for hiring such other railroad, or for letting their own railroad to the owners of any other road which should compose a part of the railroad line between troy and boston, of which the troy and greenfield railroad should be a part. the corporation was organized june 1, 1848. april 11, 1849, the directors voted an assessment of three per cent. upon its capital stock, and this assessment was the only one that was substantially collected, and on the first day of october, in the same year, they voted to put the construction of the road under contract as soon as sufficient subscription should be obtained therefore, commencing at pownal, vermont, and greenfield. in january, 1850, $2,203.94 had been received into the treasury, and $2,203.57 had been expended with the approbation of the president of the corporation, leaving in the treasurer's hand $0.37. sundry assessments was voted from time to, time, the last vote being in may, 1852, amounting in all to 75 per cent. upon the subscriptions, but they were rescinded in july, 1858, and a new series of assessments were afterwards made which the committee understand were as unproductive of beneficial results as were the former, upon which only partial payments had been made by a portion of the subscribers. a contract for constructing the road was made with messrs. gilman and carpenter in october, 1850. at the close of the year 1850, stock to the amount of $250,800 had been subscribed, of which $72,000 was payable in land damages, and $50,000 was taken by the contractors. at this period in the history of the corporation, with $138,800 of available cash subscription, of which three per cent. had been paid, the corporation applied to the state for aid by a loan to enable it to prosecute the enterprise it had assumed, and this application was continued without success until 1854, when the legislature passed the act authorizing a loan of $2,000,000, upon conditions which are particularly set forth in the loan act, (see appendix a and b,) which, modified by subsequent legislation, discloses the policy of the state in granting its assistance to the undertaking. it is proper to state, that at the time this loan was granted, there was no prospect of opening this line of travel by individual efforts, and the amount of the loan, taking into consideration the then assumed estimates of its probable cost, shows that the state assumed to defray the cost of an enterprise to the completion of which available individual means had proved inadequate. in 1855, a contract for the construction of the road and tunnel was made with e. w. serrell. the capital stock of the corporation was fixed at $1,500,000. this contract was changed two or three times, and finally ended in one executed by h. haupt and henry cartwright. for an account of these changes, and of the votes and transactions of the directors and the contractors, reference is made to appendix a, where the same will be found in detail. upon a careful examination of these votes and transactions, the committee come to the conclusion that the financial embarrassments of the corporation from the year 1855, when the first contract with e. w. serrell was made to the time of the suspension of the works under the last contract with h. haupt & co., are apparent. and it is also apparent that during the same time, the contractors assumed, to a very great extent, the control and responsibility of the enterprise. under the first contract, and on the day of its acceptance, the direction of the engineering operations within the tunnel was left with the contractor; excepting measuring for estimates and the final acceptance of the work; and on his subscribing $600,000 to the capital stock, $800,000 (less the new subscriptions,) was added to the contract prices for the work. under the second contract with serrell, haupt & co., the directors voted to substitute bonds for stock in payment of the work until 2,000 feet of the tunnel was completed, and to pay the discounts and losses to which the contractors might be required to submit, not exceeding fifteen per cent. per annum; and also, to issue to the contractors bonds to the amount of $100,000 in addition to payments. said bonds were to be sold or pledged by haupt & co., to enable them to raise means to carry on their operations under the contract. on the dissolution of the firm of serrell, haupt & co., in july 1856, serrell resigned his office as director and was chosen consulting engineer. at the same time, w. a. galbraith, one of the contractors in the following contract, was chosen a director. thereupon a new contract was made with h. haupt, w. a. galbraith, c. b. duncan and henry cartwright. under this contract the estimates were to be made by the company's engineer. in july, 1857, the records show that no payments had been made the contractors for more than a year, and that the work could be carried on only by the continued efforts and personal credit of the contractors. in february, 1858, the contract was again changed, and messrs. haupt and cartwright engaged with the corporation to complete the road and tunnel. at this time, the records show that no payments had been made under the previous contracts "for more than two years; that the work could only be carried on by the continued efforts, increased expenditures, and personal credit of the contractors." by a provision of this contract, any revenue arising from the use of the road, or any portion of it, was assigned to the contractors until their claims upon the company were adjusted; and the payment of all the company's debts was to be deferred until that of the contractors was satisfied; and haupt & co. agreed to maintain the organization of the corporation, pay its bills for printing, and advance therefore a sum not less than $500,000. the same year the rensselaer iron company was allowed a lien on the iron delivered to the contractors until the same was paid for. in 1859, h. haupt relinquished his pecuniary interest in the contract, and was appointed chief engineer of the corporation. (see appendix a, page 62.) these transactions in which the contractors participated, (one of whom was on the board of directors,) show conclusively that they were fully apprized of the condition of the corporation, from the date of their first connection with the work to the time of its "suspension," no claim during the whole period having been made by them against the commonwealth for any work done for the corporation. the existence of the mortgages to the state were of course well known to the contractors. they were given in pursuance of laws passed by the legislature, and for security of the payments received by the contractors for their services. the right of the commonwealth to take possession of the railroad under the mortgages, must have been well understood. further, the corporation, in surrendering the road to the state, did no injury to the contractors, for the act of surrender did not take place until after the contractors had suspended work upon both road and tunnel, and practically abandoned the enterprise; thus leaving to the state the alternative, either to take possession of the work and complete the road and tunnel, or to abandon it; and, in addition to the loss of the advances already made, forego the anticipated benefits of an additional avenue for western traffic. the treasurer's books do not show any settlement between haupt and company and the corporation. the account standing upon the ledger shows a large balance against the contractors; but the committee are informed that subsequent to may 30, 1863, a settlement was made upon the basis of mr. stevenson's report (see appendix a,) and that mr. haupt received, in conformity with the contract of h. haupt & co. with the troy and greenfield corporation, payment for all labor done and material furnished by said h. haupt & co., for the corporation, and that all matters between the parties have been adjusted. although the accounts between the contractors and the corporation are understood to be settled, it may be interesting to examine the account of the commonwealth with the enterprise and compare the value of the work done by the contractors at the time of its abandonment by them, with the payments made to them therefore, from the treasury of the state. the amount paid from the state treasury for work and materials upon the tunnel, $170,131 95 amount paid upon the road west of the tunnel, 50,000 00 amount paid upon the road east of the tunnel, 505,256 92 ---------- $725,388 87 amount earned by contractors under the contract upon the tunnel, $129,475 00 amount earned by contractors under the contract, upon the road west of tunnel, 50,000 00 amount earned by contractors under the contract, upon the road east of tunnel, including temporary work, 410,204 00 ---------- 589,679 00 ---------- $135,709 87 overpayment in reckoning sterling exchange, say, 44,000 00 ---------- overpayment when the work stopped in july, 1861, $179,709 87 further payments made upon the work by the state from july 1861 to january 1867, 140,226 95 ---------- total amount paid more than earned, $319,936 82 from the foregoing statement it appears that the contractors with the troy and greenfield railroad corporation, have received from the state, three hundred and nineteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-six dollars and eighty-two cents more than the value of the work which the corporation surrendered under the mortgage, and that the state has lost that amount of money in its efforts to assist in the construction of the work. it is proper to add as the judgment of the very intelligent chairman of the commissioners (mr. j. w. brooks,) from whose statement to the committee the foregoing figures are taken, that the loss to the state in the transaction by the failure of messrs. b. haupt & co., to perform their contract in a proper manner, will reach the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. (see statement, appendix c.) the commonwealth having taken possession of the road and tunnel, and by the legislation of 1862 and 1863 undertaken their construction with the free consent of the corporation, the directors by an appropriate vote, expressed their concurrence with the proceeding, and their reliance upon the "good faith of the legislature" to complete the enterprise which had exhausted the resources of its immediate projectors. the last act of the corporation, as appears by the records, was the choice of officers in august, 1865, when alvah crocker was chosen president and wendell t. davis, clerk and treasurer. description of the tunnel. the tunnel enters the eastern side of the hoosac mountain, in the town of florida, a few rods from the right bank of the deerfield river. the eastern summit of the mountain is 2,210 feet above tide-water, 1,499 feet above the deerfield river, 1,429 feet above the grade of the railroad, and is distant from the east portal of the tunnel 6,100 feet. the western summit is 2,510 feet above tide-water 1,788 feet above the hoosac river, 1,718 feet above the grade of the railroad, and 6,700 feet distant from the west portal. each portal of the tunnel is 766 feet above tide-water. the summits are 2-41/100 miles distant from each other, and the valley between them at its lowest depression is 801 feet above the grade of the railroad. the length of the tunnel, from the east end to the west end, as commenced by mr. haupt, is 4-84/100 miles. its base is, at the east end, 70 feet above the deerfield river, and at the west end, 70 feet above the hoosac river. its grade, from the east end to the central shaft, is 18 feet per mile; from the west end to west shaft, 26-4/10 feet per mile; and from the west shaft towards the central shaft, 21-12/100 feet per mile. these grades are calculated to allow the free passage of water from the centre. should the quantity of water found in the tunnel render feasible a reduction of this grade, a change is contemplated. [illustration: profile of the hoosac mountains] the dimensions of the tunnel areas follows: the rock cutting is 24 feet high and 24 feet wide. the brick-work is 26 feet high and 26 feet wide. the bottom of the tunnel will contain a culvert three feet deep at the centre. through this culvert the water from the tunnel is to be discharged. it now receives, in addition to the water accumulating in the tunnel, a 12-inch pipe, to carry air at a low pressure for ventilation; an 8-inch pipe to carry air for driving the drilling machines; and a 3-inch pipe for carrying water for use in the holes which are being drilled. should it be found advisable to use gas in carrying on the work, provision is made for a 4-inch pipe to carry the gas from the place of manufacture. the track is to be placed 3-1/2 feet above the bottom of the rock tunnel, and 4-1/2 feet above the bottom, where lined with brick. the distance by the highway, from the town of north adams, or from the west end to the east end of the tunnel, is about nine miles. from the first named points to the central shaft is about five miles, and from the central shaft to the east end the distance is six miles. the time necessary to travel from the west end to the east end, is two hours. loaded teams from either end to the other perform the distance and return in a day. _organization of the forces employed in the construction of the hoosac tunnel, june, 1866._ chief engineer thomas doane, salary, $4,000 00 two assistant engineers, salary each, 1,350 00 one " " " 1,017 25 one " " " 900 00 [the assistants were assigned to different points upon the work.] one messenger, 469 50 one man in the stable, 626 00 paul hill, superintendent, salary, 2,400 00 one clerk, 1,200 00 one master mechanic, 1,800 00 one mechanical draftsman, 1,350 00 one pattern maker, 939 00 _for materials and supplies:_ one cashier and paymaster, $1,200 00 one purchasing agent, 1,200 00 one freight clerk and assistant paymaster, 1,000 00 one store-keeper at east end, 1,200 00 one assistant store-keeper at east end, 780 00 one store-keeper at west end, 1,000 00 one assistant store-keeper at west end, 900 00 one helper for do. at west end, 469 50 one store-keeper at central shaft, 720 00 the above were contained on the engineer's pay-roll. since the first visit of the committee to the tunnel, many important changes have been made in the force above mentioned, to wit: the salary of the chief engineer was reduced to $3,600, he to provide his transportation to various points upon the work. one of the assistant engineers resigned and retired, and the office of two of them has been abolished. the salary of the superintendent has been increased to $3,000. the office of freight clerk has been abolished, and its duties transferred to that of paymaster and cashier. the salaries of store-keepers and their assistants were not a charge to the state, but were paid from the profit of their respective stores. at the commencement of the work, it was deemed necessary to provide stores at the three points where the operations were carried on, to supply the workmen readily with necessaries, so that no time might be lost by them in the important duty of making provision for their families. but in the present state of the enterprise, it is probable that private individuals would readily establish such stores, and relieve the state from a duty which, although it involved no pecuniary charge, diverted to some extent the attention of officers from their more legitimate avocations. foremen and others under the superintendent. _at west end._ one foreman of labor, $3.00 per day " of brickyard, 5.82 " " " of carpenters, 3.00 " " one time-keeper, 2.50 " " _west shaft._ one captain, $3.50 per day. two statisticians, who keep an account of articles delivered to the workmen, and also perform the electrical firing, 2.50 " " _central shaft._ one captain, $5.00 per day. one time-keeper--acting statistician, 2.25 " " _east end._ one time-keeper, $3.00 per day. one statistician, 2.50 " " one " 8.00 " " one foreman of masons at the east end, and inspector of do. at west end, 5.00 " " one foreman of carpenters, 3.00 " " of this list the foreman of the brickyard is a temporary appointment. the foreman of carpenters at the west end has finished his work and retired. the foreman of masons was discharged by the commissioners, and has entered into the employ of mr. farren at the west end. there are nine foremen of the heading gangs, two of whom have $100 per month, and the remainder $3.00 per day. the heading gangs consist of eleven drillers each, including the foreman, and from three to five rockmen for removing stone. they work by shifts of eight hours, relieving each other at 8 a. m., 4 p. m., and 12, midnight. the blasts are made about the time of relief. the men working on the enlargement under private contractors make two shifts a day, each shift working ten hours. the committee made a special examination of the number of men employed under the engineer and superintendent, with a view of considering whether the force actually engaged was necessary to an economical prosecution of the enterprise, intending to suggest any reform that might occur to them as essential; but learning that the engineer would in the course of the year make some reduction in the number of the men as well as of the teams employed upon the work, the committee deferred taking up the subject until the anticipated reductions should have been made. and now understanding that the commissioners have the whole matter under consideration, and that they have already to some extent, acted thereon, the committee for reasons that would be obvious, withhold any recommendations or remarks upon this point. system of operations. the general superintendence of the labor on the work is vested in mr. hill. the reports are made to the engineer. the captains in the tunnel report weekly the proceedings of each day under the following heads, as follows:- number of days' work. of holes drilled. of inches of holes drilled. of drills dulled. of pounds of powder used. of feet of fuse used. of sheets of paper used. of pounds of soap used. of pounds of candles used. of quarts of oil used. of lamps used. of pounds of wicking used. the captain at the shafts four times a month reports,- the days' work of the engine-men. the revolutions of the engine. number of pounds of coal used. of feet of wood used. of gallons of sperm oil used. of gallons of kerosene oil used. of pounds of tallow used. of pounds of waste used. of pounds of tar used. of cages raised. of cars of stone raised. size of pump-plunger used. length of stroke. number of strokes. of gallons of water raised. of boilers in use. the materials furnished for the construction of the work are charged in their distribution to twenty-three accounts, as will be seen by the tabular statement of its cost. requisitions for materials are signed by the immediate overseer, captain or foreman; they are handed to the superintendent for approval, and by him forwarded to the engineer. if the requisition is approved by both, the materials are ordered, and when furnished the applicant signs upon a duplicate his receipt for the same. this course is pursued as well for materials taken from the state lands as for those purchased. suitable blanks for returns, requisitions, &c., are furnished to the several points, and the evidence of all the transactions is preserved in the office of the engineer. in addition to the above, a return of all material broken, or laid aside, is made to the engineer, at whose office a substantial account of all materials on hand, either in use, or out of use, may be found. the organization of the working force, and the mode adopted for supplies and expenditures at the various points, appear well adapted to an efficient and economical prosecution of the enterprise. divisions of the work. _east end._ _deerfield dam._--this structure is completed. flashboards to be used in low stages of water may have to be occasionally renewed. the canal is finished as far as wheelpit no. 3. the machine-shop is about 72 feet long, and 36 feet wide. it has three turbine wheels. a fourth wheel is designed, but is not required at the present time, and the pit to receive it is not completed. in the basement of the machine-shop are two compressors. the first was put in january, 1866. it has four cylinders 13 inches in diameter, and 20 inches stroke. this compressor is used to drive the drills, and furnish air for the blacksmith shop. the second compressor was put in some time in october. it has four cylinders 25 inches in diameter, and 24 inches stroke, and is used for ventilation one-fourth of the time, two hours after each blast, viz., from 8 to 10, a. m., from 4 to 6, p. m., and from 12 to 2, a. m. the compressors work satisfactorily. the loss of power in the transmission of air from the machine-shop to the drills, a distance of 4,500 feet, being hardly perceptible. in addition to the compressors, there is in the machine-shop the following machinery, viz.: three lathes, one of them worked by hand; a drilling machine; a planer; a bolt-cutting machine and a saw-table. sixty horse-power is required to carry the machine-drills, the machines in the shop, and to furnish air for the blacksmith shop. when the large compressor is used, 75 additional horse-power is required. a circular saw at the east end of the machine shop, is occasionally used, driven by power derived from the turbine wheels. the blacksmith shop, near the entrance of the tunnel, contains three forges. the hand-drills are made, and, together with the machine drills, sharpened at this shop. the ordinary repairs of the drilling machines are done in the machine shop. new parts of the same are furnished from fitchburg. the heading in the tunnel at this end when driven by hand was about 15 feet wide by 6 feet high. when driven by the machines it is 16 feet wide and 8 feet high. its location is in the centre of the tunnel, 4-1/2 feet above subgrade, and 1-1/2 feet above the road bed. the force employed at this point in july last was- mechanics in iron, 4 engine-men, 2 masons, 10 manual labor, 58 engine and compressor men, including firemen, 6 carpenters, 5 blacksmiths and helpers, 8 statisticians, 2 runners of machine-drills, 6 sawyer, 1 manual laborers, 63 -- total in july, 165 the first day of november there were employed here 115 men. there are at this point, besides the shops and saw mill above mentioned, 2 small offices, 1 boarding-house, 2 carpenters' shops, 2 powder-houses, 1 temporary blacksmith's shop, 1 temporary horse-stable, 3 sheds, 1 engine-house, 1 barn, 1 instrumental station-house (all used by the state,) and 2 cottages; 6 first-class shanties, 13 common shanties, 10 temporary shanties, 1 store under school-room; with 1 cottage, 1 old store and 8 shanties, built by h. haupt & company, which are rented. the cost of the shanties at the east end, excluding the deerfield dam, was, in july, 1866, . . . . . . . $28,052 94 in november, 1866, . . . . . . . 31,688 99 the rents at the east end received by the state from shanties are, . . . . . . . 1,698 00 per annum. all rents are collected monthly. a resident engineer was stationed at the east end in charge of the work. the progress of the excavations at the east end heading for the year ending december, 1866, has been 569 feet; at the rate of 47.42 per month. the progress during the six months ending may, 1866, was 338 feet; an average per month of 56 feet 4 inches. one week was lost in june in introducing the machine-drills, in consequence of which the progress that month was reduced to 50 feet 6 inches. during the five months ending november 30, the progress has been 219-1/2 feet; being an average of 43.9 feet per month. it will be seen by the table, that in july, the first month after the introduction of the drill machines, the progress attained was only 26.5 feet. as the men became better acquainted with them, the progress was increased to 48 feet in august, and in september it rose to 54.5, having nearly attained the average progress of the six months preceding their introduction. had there been an adequate supply, there can be little doubt that the progress would have continued to increase, and would have shown the superiority of the machine-drill over hand-labor; but the supply fell off, and the progress in october was reduced to 34 feet and 6 inches. _table showing the progress at east end heading, from november 1, 1865, to january 1, 1867._ =========================================== | distance from | progress. date. | portal. | ----------------+---------------+--------- nov. 1, 1865, | 2,839.0 | dec. 1, 1865, | 2,904.0 | 65.0 jan. 1, 1866, | 2.950.5 | 46.5 feb. 1, 1866, | 3,005.0 | 54.5 mar. 1, 1866, | 3,052.0 | 47.0 april, 1, 1866, | 3,115.0 | 63.0 may 1, 1866, | 3,176.5 | 61.5 june 1, 1866, | 3,227.0 | 50.5 july 1, 1866, | 3,253.5 | 26.5 aug. 1, 1866, | 3,301.5 | 48.0 sept. 1, 1866, | 3,356.0 | 54.5 oct. 1, 1866, | 3,394.5 | 38.5 nov. 1, 1866, | 3,431.0 | 36.5 dec. 1, 1866, | 3,473.0 | 42.0 =========================================== the central shaft. there is at this point, used by the state in the prosecution of the work, the shaft-building, a carpenter's shop, a blacksmith's shop, a saw-mill, powder-house, gas-house, ash-house, wood-shed, and a barn; and in connection with the work, a store, a boarding-house, the thacher farm-house and out-buildings, 4 first-class and 7 common shanties. the cost of buildings at the central shaft in july, 1866, was $11,080.13. the cost in november, 1866, was $12,026.83. the annual rent of that portion leased to operatives is $736. a farm, containing 250 acres of land, with a dwelling-house and barn, has been purchased, adjoining the central shaft, for the sum of $3,000. the land was well covered with timber, about one-half of which has been cut for the purposes of the shaft and tunnel. there is estimated to be one million feet of hemlock timber still standing, which will be wanted in the progress of the work. this purchase was an advantageous one for the state, there having been already realized from it an amount equal to its cost. the working force at the central shaft in july, 1860, was comprised of- engine-men and firemen, 5 mechanics in iron, 4 carpenters, 5 blacksmiths and helpers, 4 pump men, 1 manual laborers, 39 - total in july, 58 on the first day of november there were employed at this point, in all, 81. of this number, 40 were engaged out of the shaft, and 41 in the shaft. the above enumeration does not include the resident engineer and time-keeper, stationed here in november. the depth of central shaft, when completed, will be 1,037 feet from the surface; its form is an ellipse, whose axes are 27 and 15 feet. on the fifth day of may it had reached the depth of 300.5 feet. at this time the hoisting apparatus was removed from the shaft, and the work of excavation ceased. the new hoisting apparatus was fitted on the first day of august, and the drilling commenced at midnight on that day. previous to the change in the hoisting apparatus, the monthly progress had averaged about 18-1/2 feet per month. the advance in october and november was 46 feet; the gain over the previous rate of progress is attributable to the practice of simultaneous blasting. on the first day of january, 1867, the shaft had been sunk 393 feet, leaving for excavation 644 feet. _table showing the progress at central shaft from november 1, 1865, to december 1, 1866._ ======================================== date. | distance | progress. | down. | ==================+==========+========== nov. 1, 1865, | 200.8 | dec. 1, 1865, | 220.1 | 19.3 jan. 1, 1866, | 232.5 | 12.4 feb. 1, 1866, | 250.7 | 18.2 mar. 1, 1866, | 264.1 | 13.4 apr. 1, 1866, | 280.9 | 16.8 may 1, 1866, | 297.1 | 16.2 may 5, 1866, | 300.5 | 3.4 june 1, 1866,[a] | 300.5 | july 1, 1866,[a] | 300.5 | aug. 1, 1866,[a] | 300.5 | sept. 1, 1866, | 311.9 | 11.4 oct. 1, 1866, | 331.1 | 19.2 nov. 1, 1866, | 354.0 | 22.9 dec. 1, 1866, | 377.0 | 23.1 ======================================== [a] work suspended to put in new hoisting apparatus. the present hoisting apparatus is expected to be sufficient to finish the shaft. it has two wire ropes, each 1,260 feet long. the time for a round trip is seven minutes. the engine here is of 100 horse-power. the blacksmith shop contains two forges. at the small machine shop the repairs required here are made, as also some repairs for the west shaft. the central shaft, though designed to aid in ventilating the tunnel, was intended also to accelerate its construction by affording to the process of excavation four faces instead of two during some portion of the work; and the former chairman of the commissioners expected by the aid of machine-drilling, the shaft might be completed in one year from the time such drilling should commence within it. in this anticipation, ten vertical drilling machines were constructed to work in the shaft area and a compressor with two cylinders was provided to furnish the power for operating them. the want of drilling machines at the east end became so urgent, that these vertical ones were changed to horizontals, and used at that point, and the sinking of the shaft by hand-drilling still continues. but if the experiments now in progress at the east end with the new drilling machine shall demonstrate its superiority over hand labor, the machine will doubtless be introduced into the shaft. west shaft. this shaft has an area of about 8 by 13 feet, and was excavated by messrs. h. haupt & co. its depth is 316 feet. the buildings here used by the state are the west shaft house, the new shaft building, a blacksmith shop containing two forges, a powder-house, a horse-shed, ash-house and tank-house. the buildings owned by the state and leased to operatives are a boarding-house and four old shanties built by h. haupt & co., four first-class shanties, eight common shanties, and a double cottage. the buildings at the west end, are connected on the books with those at the west shaft, and will be here enumerated. they consist of a carpenter's shop, time-keeper's office, a blacksmith shop containing one forge, tool-house, powder-house, horse-shed, brickyard shed, brickyard, engine-house, artesian wells nos. 3 and 4, buildings, and two-thirds of a barn, which are occupied by the state. one boarding-house, store, one-third of a barn, the harrington farm-house, barn and out-buildings, twenty-seven common shanties and brickyard boarding shanty. these buildings, with part of blacksmith shop, part of carpenter's shop and time-keeper's office, are rented to operatives and to mr. farren, the contractor for constructing the brick arch. the cost of the structures, as reported in july, at both places, was $35,550 94 as reported in november, 40,010 13 this large increase was mainly occasioned by the construction of a double cottage and necessary buildings at the brickyard and west end. the amount of rents at these two points is $2,462.60 per annum. fifteen of the tenements at the west end are leased to mr. farren, in accordance with his contract. the working force at the west shaft in july was,- engine-men and firemen, 4 carpenters, 2 blacksmith and helpers, 8 masons, 2 truckman, 1 pump-man, 1 manual laborers, 105 -- total, 123 november 1st the working force at this point, including one resident civil engineer, was 103 at this point there is one engine of 100-horse power and one of 40-horse power, and one compressor having four cylinders of a diameter of 13 inches and 24 inches stroke. the west heading from this shaft was advanced 293 feet, and the east heading 1,042, on the first day of december, 1866. the progress for the year ending november 1, 1866, at the heading at this point was 636.7, being a fraction over 53 feet per month. for the last four months, ending december 1, 1866, the progress was 322.1, being a fraction over 64 feet per month, which exceeds by four feet per month the highest estimate for hand-drilling by the engineers in 1862, and by thirty and one-third feet the estimate of mr. latrobe. the progress of the work at this heading during the last six months, making allowance for the influx of water in november, having exceeded the highest estimate for hand-drilling, should be regarded as evidence alike of the skill of the miners and the good management of the engineer and his subordinates. _table showing the progress at west shaft, east heading, from november 1, 1865, to december 1, 1866._ ======================================= date. distance from progress, shaft, feet. feet. -------------------------------------- nov. 1, 1865, 367.5 dec. 1, 1865, 414.4 46.9 jan. 1, 1866, 459.4 45.0 feb. 1, 1866, 503.0 43.6 mar. 1, 1866, 546.5 43.5 april 1, 1866, 584.8 38.3 may 1, 1866, 623.3 38.5 june 1, 1866, 682.1 58.8 july 1, 1866, 746.1 64.0 aug. 1, 1866, 810.5 64.4 sept. 1, 1866, 871.4 60.9 oct. 1, 1866, 945.4 74.0 nov. 1, 1866, 1,004.2 58.8 dec. 1, 1866, 1,042.0 37.8 ======================================= the west heading at this shaft was at first driven 6 feet by 11. it has been found advisable to enlarge it to the dimension of 10 feet 6 inches by 15 feet. this work has been performed by contract. the first letting was at the rate of four dollars per cubic yard, the state furnishing the materials used and removing the stone. the contractors at this rate could not pay their expenses. it was raised to six dollars per yard which was found not to pay, and in july the price was advanced to seven dollars and fifty cents. the state pay the men, charging the same to the contractors, and keep their time. good progress is made and the work is done to the satisfaction of the engineer. the east heading at this point was being enlarged also by contract, from 6 feet by 15, to 10-1/2 by 15. the work commenced on the 15th of july, 1866; the price paid is seven dollars per cubic yard; the contractors load their own stone and also that coming from the heading. the state provides the materials used, and hoist the stone to the surface. while the work of the miners at the east heading and of the contractors upon both enlargements was progressing in a very satisfactory mariner, the whole was arrested by an unexpected and somewhat sudden influx of water in the tunnel. on the 27th of november the miners working east from the west shaft struck a seam running across the stratification of the mountain. water soon issued from the seam at the rate of twenty-three gallons per minute. on the 29th, the water had risen at the foot of the shaft to two and a half feet above grade, and the work was stopped. the usual speed of the engine working the pump was forty-two revolutions per minute; it was increased to fifty-six, and at that rate it succeeded in preventing any further rise of the water. it became necessary to increase the power of the pumps. the plunger was enlarged from eight to ten inches, and a third lift pump was added. to affect this arrangement the pumps were stopped from 9 o'clock, a. m., december 7th, to 3-1/2 p. m. on the 8th. at this time the water was four feet and eight inches above grade. on the 12th the water was so much reduced that the miners recommenced work. the next day, at 2 p. m., the water was struck in large quantities, the whole flow from the heading being 100 gallons per minute. on the 14th, the work was again suspended, and unsuccessful attempts made to stop the water by means of wooden plugs driven into the seam. the pumps working with the longest stroke and at increased speed, were just able to keep the water from rising. on the 19th, at 10.30 a. m., one of the trunnions of the pump-bob broke, and seriously injured the pump gearing and boxes. on the 21st a new trunnion was put in, and the pump was attached to the small hoisting engine, the water now being seven feet above grade. on the 28th, at noon, the breakages being all repaired, the large engine was again attached to the pumps, the water then being nine feet and eight inches above grade. and, on the first day of january, at 4 p. m., the water stood nine feet ten inches above grade at the foot of the shaft.[b] [b] at the time of the presentation of this report, the committee understood that the water was entirely removed from the shaft and tunnel. the new shaft. this shaft is located about 264 feet westerly of the west shaft. its dimensions are six feet by thirteen in the clear. the rock to be removed from an area of eight feet by fifteen. the labor is done by contract. the first price was $40 per foot; increased july 1, 1866, to $50 per foot. the state furnishes all the materials for construction, and the power to raise the stone and water from the shaft. the depth of the shaft will be 277 feet when open to grade. on the first day of december, the miners working down had progressed 180 feet, and those working from the tunnel up 45 feet. it was then calculated that the shaft would be excavated in two months. plans for permanent pumps had been prepared; to furnish the pumps according to the plans, would take several mouths. in the meantime, a temporary pump was to be made at north adams, under the direction of the engineer. on the first day of january, about thirty-eight feet of stone remained for excavation in this shaft. the water in the tunnel stopped the work from below, and the work is driven upon one face only at the present time. there are two small engines at this point, one of fourteen and one of ten horse power. the pumps at this shaft, if constructed agreeably to the design of the engineer, will discharge sixty-five gallons to a stroke and are to be worked by a bull engine. the lift of the water will be eighty feet less than at west shaft, being discharged about 40 feet below the surface. the west end. the work at the west end of the tunnel is under contract. mr. b. n. farren of doylestown, bucks county, pennsylvania, by an agreement dated may 1, 1866, contracted to put in a stone and brick arch of the dimensions before stated, 26 feet by 26, for the following prices, viz.:--earth excavation $3.50 per yard; brick masonry, $12 per perch; stone masonry, $6 per perch. contractor planks the bottom and sides when necessary at $15 per lineal foot. the state furnishes the bricks at $9 per thousand and the timber at $16 per thousand for hemlock, and $18 for spruce and hard-wood. the length of arch contracted for is 174 feet, the whole of which is open. the state also furnishes the cement, which costs in troy, new york, from $1.65 to $1.70 per barrel, to which is to be added the freight at 30 cents per barrel. a barrel of cement is used for a perch of masonry. the contractor agrees to construct two hundred feet of under ground tunnel, and as much more as he can before august 1, 1867, at the following prices, viz.:--earth excavation at $6.50 per yard; brick masonry at $13 per perch; stone masonry at $6.50 per perch. the timbering, from $40 to $50 per foot, lineal, depending upon the thickness of the wall. he may, under permission from the engineer, take stone and sand from the state's premises, without making compensation. payments are to be made about the 12th of each month for the work done the preceding month, at the rate of 80 per cent. of the finished work. the decision of the engineer as to the method, quality, quantity and classification of the work to be final and conclusive. in order to facilitate the progress of the work and with a due regard to economy, the state has purchased the following lots of land in the vicinity of the west end, to wit:--a wood lot, containing sixty acres, at a cost of $9,900; the harrington farm; 130 acres with the buildings, inclosing the west end and west shaft; and running half way up the mountain. this purchase was made january 26, 1866, price $3,000. the kingsley lot, purchased march 16, 1866, at $2,793.87. the timber used by mr. farren is obtained from these lots. the tops of the trees are cut into wood and used at the brickyard. about five hundred cords of wood has been cut on the harrington, and one thousand cords on the kingsley lot, for the use of the brickyard, and is now on hand. the necessity of making the bricks required for the arch tunnel is apparent. they could not be furnished by individuals at north adams. 120,000, before the yard at the west end was fitted up, were purchased at springfield at $9 per thousand; the freight of which to north adams was $6, and the teaming to the west end $2 per thousand. if to these prices be added the depreciation and waste from handling, the cost will reach $18 for all that could be used in the work. it is the opinion of the engineer and superintendent of labor, that the bricks made by the state will cost less than $9 when delivered to the contractor. mr. farren began work under his contract june 7, 1866, and early in december the brick-work at the top of the arch had entered the mountain. the masonry was commenced about, twenty-five feet west of the point first selected, so that the open masonry will in fact be 200 feet long. about thirty feet of invert is left uncovered the present season, under an apprehension that the bricks on hand will only supply what will be wanted in the drift, in order to prosecute the work with dispatch. the invert has been properly protected, and its preservation may be expected. at the beginning, the invert and the sides to the spring of the arch was laid with five courses of brick, and the arch with six. the masonry has been strengthened to meet the effect of the soft ground and increased pressure to eight bricks thick all round. where rocks are found, it will be reduced at the bottom, and perhaps at the top. the excavation of the drift is in progress and is carried on with two galleries. the lower one is of timber, and is at the bottom three feet below the grade of the road. this gallery is ten feet wide and ten feet high. the upper gallery, also of timber, is ten feet wide and four feet high, and the space between the galleries is about ten feet. as the arch is driven in, the top of the invert is 4-1/2 feet below the grade of the road, and 18 inches below the timber of the lower gallery. the top timbers of the upper gallery constitute the top timbers of the tunnel during the excavation. they are supported above the masonry and the arch is turned under them. side drains, six feet high and four feet wide, are excavated ahead of the galleries, to assist the drainage of the ground through which the galleries and tunnel are driven. the water from these drains is let into the tunnel through its sides, and runs out with the general drainage upon the invert below the road-bed. holes are left in the invert at proper intervals to facilitate this drainage. the side drains are hereafter to be filled with stone, which will constitute a blind drain, and also afford a proper support to the masonry. the work at this point is of difficult prosecution, but the performance of the contract may be confidently expected. the brickyard. the expenditures at the brickyard on the first day of july, 1866, had reached, $15,091 98 of this amount the brick machines, shafting, gearing, &c., cost $5,048 68 and the engine, 2,255 50 -------- $7,304 18 twenty-four thousand bricks can be moulded daily. the drying yard is 300 feet long and 120 feet wide. the kiln shed is 300 feet long and 50 feet wide, and of capacity to burn all the bricks that can be moulded. there are six brick machines, four of which are in use. they are driven by an engine, and used alternately, two each day. the making of bricks at the yard commenced june 26 and closed october 24, 1860. about 1,700,000 bricks were made, of which 80 per cent. are sufficiently hard for use in the tunnel, which is estimated to be sufficient to complete the 374 feet of tunnel now under contract. the clay for the bricks is found near the yard, and hitherto a sufficiency of sand has been found in the vicinity; but it is less abundant than the clay. miscellaneous. in addition to the property enumerated under the preceding heads, the state has at north adams, a freight house, cashier's office, engineer's office, stable and two coal sheds, and opposite the west end on the pittsfield and north adams railroad, an additional freight house. there are also two instrumental station houses on the east and west summits respectively, all of which are occupied by the state for the purposes of the enterprise. there is also one seven-horse engine and three small compressors. tho state has also four mule teams, three of four, and one of two animals, making fourteen in all. there were also used on the work in the early part of the year, twelve or fourteen horses, employed in hauling clay, sand, wood, &c. six of these have been sold to mr. farren, and the remainder are to be disposed of. to this enumeration should be added five horses and three or more carriages kept at the stable at north adams for the transportation of the engineers, superintendent, master mechanic, &c., from point to point along the line of operations wherever their presence and services might be needed. the expense of the stable, including the pay of the keeper, for the past year, was, $1,900 00 which covers the price of three carriages, $500 00 and one harness, 40 00 ------ 540 00 -------- leaving, $1,360 00 for the expense of keeping five horses, and the repairs; which is about five dollars per week in all. the charge for keeping horses at the stable in north adams, is five dollars per week for feed; and the cost for the use of one horse and wagon from north adams to the east end, is four dollars. these horses were also used to transport the commissioners and the committee visiting the tunnel, when required for that purpose. the road between the tunnel and north adams. it is proposed to change the course of, the road as it emerges from the tunnel, and two lines have been surveyed, which, diverging near the approach cut, unite again about midway from thence to the village. the difference in length is about thirty feet. the northerly line is the least expensive to construct, and best favors the landholders on the route. it has the recommendation of the engineer, and the approval of the consulting engineer, and will probably be selected. there are reasons for an early location of this portion of the road which call for a prompt action in this behalf on the part of the commissioners, which will undoubtedly be taken. the following table shows the expense of the tunnel and the land and works connected therewith under the administration of the commissioners, as found november 1, 1866:- deerfield dam, $127,982 80 race, 23,417 54 excavation and masonry at east end of dam, 12,802 46 wheel pits, 70,723 23 gates and overflow, 9,986 26 --------- $244,912 29 east end heading, 103,731 45 east end enlargement, 80,317 10 east end heading enlargement, 17,559 46 central shaft, 144,423 75 west shaft, 179,041 69 west approach, 247,900 75 building east end, 31,688 99 building west end and shaft, 40,010 13 building central shaft, 12,026 83 building general account, 9,537 37 engineering and superintendent, 84,840 48 machinery west shaft, 57,111 73 machinery east end, 87,032 38 machinery central shaft, 51,364 01 machinery deerfield dam, 10,820 93 machinery general account, 62,600 76 machinery west end, 539 89 land and land damages, 17,513 21 ------------ $1,482,973 20 the following table shows the cost of the works under the classification of outside and inside expenditures, as given by the consulting engineer. _outside expenditures._ deerfield dam, $244,912 29 buildings east end, $31,688 99 buildings west end and west shaft, 40,010 13 buildings central shaft, 12,026 83 buildings general account, 9,637 37 --------- 93,263 32 machinery east end, $87,032 38 machinery west end, 539 89 machinery west shaft, 57,111 73 machinery central shaft, 51,364 01 machinery deerfield dam, 10,820 93 machinery general account, 62,600 76 --------- 269,469 70 land damages and land, 17,513 21 engineering and superintendence, 84,840 48 ---------- total outside expenditures, $709,999 00 _inside expenditures._ east end heading, $103,731 45 east end enlargement, 17,559 46 east end bottom, 80,317 10 ---------- $201,608 01 central shaft, 144,423 75 west shaft headings, &c., 179,041 69 west end approach cut, drifting and arching, 247,900 75 total inside expenditures, --------- 772,974 20 ------------ total expenditures to november 1, 1866, $1,482,973 20 the exact correctness of any classification of the expenditures is not very important, inasmuch as the sum total is chargeable to the construction of the tunnel; but the committee do not see the propriety of charging the engineering and superintendence exclusively to the outside expenditure. they have seen a classification which gave,- amount put into buildings machinery, &c., $673,531 24 spent in the work, 809,441 96 ------------ total, $1,482,973 20 general summary of the force employed on the tunnel, november 1, 1866. thomas doane, chief engineer, salary, $3,600 00 he providing his horses. paul hill, superintendent of labor, 3,000 00 his horse furnished to him. _in the chief engineer's office._ h. g. burgess, master mechanic, soon to leave, $1,800 00 john christiansen, mechanical draftsman, 1,500 00 austin bond, clerk, &c., 1,500 00 edward stowell, temporarily engaged in making fuse, 1,000 00 roswell houghton, hostler in village, $2.00 per day. charles p. bradley, hostler at t. doane's house, $18 per month. roger tappan office boy and rod-man for mr. granger, $1.50 per day. _west end._--wages from $1.25 to $3 per day, 5 _brick-yard._--wages from $2 to $5.89 per day, 13 _new shaft._--wages from $1.78 to $3 per day, 31 _west shaft._--wages from $1.50 to $3.50 per day, 102 w. p. granger, civil engineer, is resident in charge of west shaft, new shaft and west end. salary $1,350, 1 _central shaft._--wages from $1.50 to $5, 83 this number includes the time-keeper and h. g. coolidge, resident engineer. _east end._--wages from $1.50 to $:1.25, 115 f. w. d. holbrook, resident engineer, in charge at a salary of $1,350, 1 add force in general charge and not confined to any particular point, 8 --- total in the employ of the state, 359 add at the west end in mr. farren's employ, about 100 --- total employed upon the tunnel, 459 experiments. the interest awakened by the magnitude of the undertaking to tunnel the hoosac mountain, and the anxiety manifested for its early completion, prompted the commissioners to the discovery of means to accelerate the progress of the work. their attention was naturally directed to the operation of drilling, and with a view of improving upon the machine drill used at mont cenis; scientific mechanics have been employed to devise and construct a drill that should attain that end. as a first step gouch's patent of the hollow piston-rod, was purchased for new england, for the sum of five hundred dollars. after which, a mr. gardner was employed to construct a drill; but his efforts failed of success after an expenditure of thirteen hundred dollars. a mr. butler was engaged to devise a machine, but in the course of studying the subject, his health failed and his services were lost. a mr. hanson completed a machine which promised some success; but on trial it proved a failure. a second machine called the brooks, burleigh and gates drill, was made under the direction of the commissioners at fitchburg. this machine was put upon the works and used for several months. a third machine, called the burleigh drill, an improvement upon the preceding one, was next produced, which is now at the works on the east heading. about $13,000 was spent upon these experiments, resulting in the construction of the brooks, burleigh and gates drill, and the manufacture of four of them. about one-half of this expenditure may be charged to these last drills; the other was unproductive of anything of value. the brooks, burleigh and gates drill was patented, but the commonwealth has the right to use them in the construction of the tunnel. these machines will now be described. the hanson machine. this machine has a cylinder and valve motion, similar to a steam-engine. the piston is hollow, the drill-bar which may be of any required length, passing through it, is moved with the piston, by means of four wedges or cams on each end of the piston; these cams are pressed on the drill-bar by means of sliding collars forced upon them by a complex arrangement operating alternately. the drill-bar is rotated by means of a ratchet operated by a spiral groove in the shield of the machine. the main difficulty in this machine was in the complex arrangement for forcing the collars upon the cams or wedges. it did not work well in a horizontal position. the machine consisted of one hundred and twenty pieces, and weighed five hundred and ninety-five pounds. the brooks, burleigh and gates machine. this machine has a hollow piston, the drill-holder being a screw passing through the piston, moving with it, and fed through it, by means of a nut on the end of the piston-rod. this nut is held by means of a cap or union nut, as it is called, the union nut being screwed on to the coupling, and the coupling nut screwed to the piston-rod. the feed-nut protrudes through the union nut, and is allowed to turn round in it. on the end of this feed-nut is a ratchet gear covered by a ratchet-band with an arm upon it, all moving with the piston. the ratchet arm moves up and down in a spiral groove, the groove being in a shield attached by screws to the cylinder; on the ratchet-band there is a pall and two springs, one under the other. one of the springs holds the pall in gear, the other holds it out of gear. as the piston moves down, the outer spring comes in contact with a trip which is on the shield and is lifted up, allowing the under spring to throw the pall into the ratchet, and as the piston is moved back, turns the nut round, thereby feeding the screw forward. at the extremity of its backward stroke, the pall comes in contact with another trip on the shield which lifts it out of gear, the outer spring having a catch upon it which holds the pall when thus lifted out. the rotary motion is given by a ratchet on the coupling-nut, covered by a ratchet-band the arm of which moves in a spiral groove in the shield similar to the other, only having a spring to hold the pall in the ratchet; this rotates all the parts on the piston except the ratchet-bands and cross-head. the latter is held between two check-nuts on the coupling-nut. to this cross-head is attached a bar which communicates with a valve which opens the port when the piston moves back, and shuts it when it moves forward; the air is always on during its backward stroke. the piston having a greater area on the forward than on the backward stroke, overcomes the backward pressure and moves the piston ahead, and when cut off, the continued pressure forces the piston back. this machine is automatic; generally running until some portion of it is destroyed. no part of the machine has been found strong enough to withstand the friction upon it for any considerable portion of time. the union nut has proved its weakest point, and the breaking of this generally destroys that part of the piston to which it is attached. another point of weakness is the feed ratchet-band, the springs of which are almost continually breaking. the machine consists of eighty pieces; twenty-three of which are screws, fifteen pins, and seven pieces of cast iron. it weighs 240 pounds, runs about 200 strokes per minute, and costs about $400. its longest run without breaking has been five days. the run of one of them two days without breaking during the time, is considered fortunate. the average breaking is more than one a day. a table showing the list of breakages will follow this description. the piston-head of this machine has a diameter of 4-5/8 inches. the diameter of the piston-rod is 4 inches at the large end and 2-1/4 at the small end. so there are 12-87/100 square inches of air area to drive the drill ahead into the rock, and 4-23/100 to draw it out; but as the air is not taken off from the front end, the actual pressure is upon an area of the difference between the two, or 8-64/100 square inches. table showing number of drilling-machines broken, &c. column headers a. no. machines broken. b. cross heads c. cylinder flanges. d. coupling nuts. e. feed springs. f. feed palls. g. ratchet covers. h. valve stems. i. new packing. j. tapper bars. k. screw spindles. l. union coupling nuts. m. feed nuts. n. shields. o. piston heads. ====================================================================== 1866. [a] [b] [c] [d] [e] [f] [g] [h] [i] [j] [k] [l] [m] [n] [o] --------------------------------------------------------------------- july 21, 32 5 2 4 3 2 2 1 10 7 31, 67 7 2 1 10 4 5 2 18 14 2 3 aug. 7, 75 4 1 18 15 8 4 39 6 4 14, 76 6 5 25 17 11 3 10 1 6 1 1 21, 65 7 1 3 28 15 13 7 12 1 2 31, 102 1 1 9 64 7 18 2 10 2 4 5 1 sept. 7, 65 1 1 27 4 24 5 2 1 1 14, 60 2 5 23 2 12 2 10 3 2 1 1 21, 56 1 1 1 28 6 13 3 1 2 2 30, 56 3 2 1 31 3 16 2 4 1 9 1 oct. 7, 54 7 39 2 7 1 9 3 1 2 14, 53 5 1 2 28 5 10 1 9 1 4 6 2 21, 58 3 28 4 13 9 3 4 2 31, 77 7 1 2 63 4 11 2 12 1 2 6 2 nov. 7, 38 2 2 19 3 13 8 2 3 4 14, 40 1 1 17 2 9 8 3 2 4 21, 44 1 32 1 4 7 1 1 1 31, 66 34 2 11 13 8 1 1 1 ------------------------------------------------------------- 1,084 62 20 30 517 98 200 27 80 151 25 30 47 20 1 ====================================================================== about forty of the brooks, burleigh and gates machines have been used at the tunnel; of these eight or ten were originally vertical, and intended for use at the central shaft. at the commencement of their use, the machines were new and had their best wear in them; there were from twenty to twenty-four at the beginning. in a short time they began to break down, but by putting on a large repair force and converting the vertical machines into horizontal ones, a fair supply was kept up for from two to three months, at the end of which time the greatest machine progress was attained, viz., fifty-four feet and six inches, in september. after that the progress diminished very much, and in proportion to the giving out of the machines. it is the opinion of the engineer that if a constant supply of machines could have been furnished, that the progress would have reached a point much beyond that obtained by hand labor; but with the stoppage of the supply, the number of machines that could be kept in working order was daily reduced, and at last it fell down to two or three, and finally, at times, none were in condition to work. the frames were, however, kept in the tunnel to await the completion of the burleigh machine, the reception of which was retarded till late in october; much beyond the time anticipated by the commissioners, although the work of their construction was carried on continuously night and day. they came at intervals of several weeks, two at a time; the first of which were put into the tunnel on the thirty-first day of october. through the month of december, four of these machines were at work. the burleigh machine. has a solid piston (so called,) which has a hole in its back end to allow the feed-screw to pass in without touching; the drill is secured to this piston. on the back end of the piston is a section of a ball used as a cam, which works the valve and the feed-motion. the valve is rotated by a rod lying on the band of the cylinder; upon this rod are two cams which perforate the band of the cylinder. the action of the piston brings the ball on its end in contact with these cams, rocking them up and down; the rod to which they are secured being connected with the valve, imparts to that its motion. this machine is fed altogether on ways, or a bed-piece, upon which is the feed-screw; the feed-nut is upon the end of the cylinder-band. to this feed-nut is attached a feed-ratchet, which is held between two collars, allowing it to turn round. upon the cylinder-band is a lever, one end of which passes through the band; upon the other end is a pall. the motion of the piston raises the lever up, pressing the end containing the pall against the ratchet which turns the nut on the feed-screw, thus moving the machine forward. the rotating ratchet is in the band of the cylinder and has a spline in it, and a pall on its outside. the piston having a spiral groove is turned by this ratchet as it moves down. on the return of the piston, the pall drops into the ratchet and then the piston is turned. the piston is not encumbered with any machinery, and moves alone; its area of air is greater on the forward than on the backward stroke; the alternation of the valve admits the air. the machine, like the one last described, contains eighty pieces; it has the same number of screws and pins, and weighs 372 pounds including the ways or bed-piece; without the ways its weight is 212 pounds. its number of strokes is about 300 per minute, and its blow somewhat lighter than that of the other. this machine is not entirely automatic; the feed-motion not working regular; when it does not, it is fed by hand, which is a simple process. these machines stand the work much better than those first made at fitchburg. their average time in the tunnel without repairs in the interval, is about five days; they have needed repairs in two days; one remained at work fourteen days. they accomplish double the work without repairs that those do which were made after the previous pattern. there is a further advantage in using the burleigh machines; their breaking, when it occurs, is not very serious, the injured parts consisting mainly of cams, can generally be replaced at the tunnel; whereas for the repairs on the brooks, burleigh and gates machine, the dependence to a very great extent has been upon the machine shop at fitchburg. the piston-head of this machine has a diameter of 4-25/100 inches. the diameter of the piston-rod is at the large end, 3 inches, at the small end, 2-75/100 inches. so the number of inches of air area, is 8-20/800 when the drill is propelled upon the rock, and 7-7/100 when returning from it. a full complement of men to work the machines first used, would be, perhaps, thirteen. mr. gates, who superintended their operation in the first instance, began with fourteen, but they were reduced to thirteen. the burleigh machine practically requires feeding, and a full set at work would probably demand fifteen men for their successful operation. the value of these machines has not yet been ascertained. the committee are of opinion that when a full complement shall have been obtained, so that the workmen can have at all times a full supply upon the frames, that greater progress can be obtained by them than by hand drilling; and after a few months operation, the cost of using them, in comparison with hand labor, can be fairly tested. but as the brooks, burleigh and gates machine has been abandoned, no useful results would be obtained by comparing the expenses within the tunnel during the months of july, august and september, with three corresponding months when hand drilling was carried on, and no satisfactory comparison can be made between the working of the burleigh machine and hand drilling, until a sufficient number of machines has been introduced into the tunnel to keep the men fully employed. it is to be hoped that machines sufficient to make the test may be soon obtained, and that this desirable information may be made known. the introduction of the first machine into the tunnel, before its capacity, strength, and expense of working had been fully tested, was unfortunate, inasmuch as its use there delayed the progress of the work. the second machine gives such promise of success, that it will be continued in use in the tunnel until a fair test has been made. but should the burleigh machine prove unsuccessful, and further attempts with machines be attempted, the committee recommend that their usefulness be tested outside of the tunnel, and meanwhile the excavation with hand drills be resumed. experiments with dr. ehrhardt's powder. the first blast was fired in the tunnel at the east end on the 20th of november, but owing to the presence of charcoal or some other substance in the article, a poisonous gas was evolved which effected the miners disagreeably, and drove them from the work. the subsequent experiments at this point were not satisfactory, and were discontinued, and subsequently resumed at the central shaft, where it was used most of the time for a week, varying its composition from time to time. at the close of the week, while preparing for the last blast, a premature explosion took place, resulting in the death of one of the miners, and the injury of three or four others. the material result of this experiment was as follows:--with 261 days' work and 139-1/2 lbs. of powder, 202 buckets of stone were removed; while in the preceding week, using common powder (schaghticoke) with 251-3/4 days' labor and 236 lbs. of powder, 168 buckets of stone were taken out. the cost of the experimental powder is about twice as expensive as the common powder, and its superior strength is apparent from the above result. experiments with nitro-glycerine. during the summer, some experiments have been made with this explosive agent. a quantity, costing $934.29, was brought to the works by colonel schaffner, who exhibited the action of the material in various ways, with a view of testing its power, and the comparative safety of introducing it instead of powder. after repeated trials outside of the works, during which about three-fifths of the material was consumed, it was introduced into the tunnel at the west shaft with the following result: it was used for three days at the east heading of the west shaft; the advance made in the heading was for the time, 14-1/2 feet;--being an advance of 4.82 feet per day, and at the rate of 125.33 feet per month. in these three days there were taken out of the enlargement 151.76 yards of stone. to remove this quantity with powder would cost, on an average, per yard, $9 84 actual cost with glycerine, 6 20 ---- difference, $3 64 multiplied by 151.76, gives. $552 40 in the same time there was removed of heading 60.15 yards. to remove an equal amount by powder costs, per yard, $16 25 actual cost with glycerine, per yard, 6 05 ----- difference, $10 20 $10.20 multiplied by 60.15, gives 613 53 ------- $1,165 93 cost of the glycerine used during the three days, being 2/5 of $934.29, 350 36 ------- saved, by using glycerine, in three days, $815 57 which is a saving by the use of glycerine, per day, of $276 85.4 and allowing three hundred successful working days in the year, an annual saving of $81,557 40 the progress made at the west shaft on the east heading the present year, ending december 31, 1866, is 626 feet and 8 inches. this progress was somewhat lessened by the influx of water in december. the monthly advance has been 52 feet and 2 inches. the average of the eleven months ending with november is 53 feet and 6 inches. assuming the progress made with glycerine during the three days of its use to be obtainable throughout the year, the monthly progress, using that material, would be 120 feet and 10 inches, on a calculation of twenty-five days to a month, which would give an annual advance of 1,450 feet. without vouching for results so favorable to the progress of the work, it is impossible to overlook the importance of the experiment; and the committee are of opinion that this material, if it can be procured, should be introduced into the tunnel and shafts, and a thorough experiment made, in order to determine whether it can be used with an advantage even approximating to that shown by the first trial. experience has proved that the rock at the hoosac mountain is of a peculiar character: comparatively easy to drill, but extremely hard to displace, and that its advantageous excavation requires a strong explosive agent. the difference in the use of weak and strong powder is at once observed, and the effect of simultaneous blasting, by the aid of electricity, is proved by the increased progress of the work since it has been used. it would seem evident, then, without the aid of experiment, that an explosive agent, possessing eight times the power of common powder, would be a valuable auxiliary to this undertaking; and that if such an one could be obtained, and safely used, no time should be lost in procuring a supply. the use of nitro-glycerine in england is not uncommon; its components are well known; and the committee are informed that it might be advantageously manufactured at any point where it is used. electrical firing. the experiment of simultaneous blasting by electricity has been made with admitted success. the increased progress in the central shaft from an average of about 18-1/2 to 23 feet per month, demonstrates its utility, and will undoubtedly insure the continuance of that mode of firing in preference to the method formerly practised. the troy and greenfield railroad. the completion of the railroad from greenfield to the tunnel has been contracted for with b. n. farren, for the sum of $545,000, exclusive of the cost of depot buildings, turn-tables, and engineering expenses. the road to be opened for travel to shelburne falls by the 15th of november, 1867, and to the tunnel by the 15th of july, 1868. a lease of the same has been executed to the fitchburg and the vermont and massachusetts railroad companies, at a rent of $30,000 per year, to expire on the completion of the tunnel, or whenever the work on the same shall be stopped, by competent authority. mr. farren commenced work under his contract about the 20th of october. at this time there were about four miles of track,--exclusive of that which had to be removed with the trestle-bridges,--built by mr. haupt. some portions of the track were in fair condition; but the larger part of it must be relaid. many of the ties are of hemlock; they are all decayed and must be removed, and new ones substituted. none of the bridges were strong enough to be used, and the timber of which they were constructed is too much decayed to be used for building purposes: there is on hand in addition to the track laid, chairs, or connecting joints, sufficient to lay five miles of rails; also about ten thousand chestnut ties. such of these as had been properly piled are sound. many of them, however, are so much decayed, as to be unfit for use. the road-bed has in many places been injured by rain and frost. at exposed points near the river, it is entirely destroyed. comparatively speaking, there was little masonry on the line. with the exception of one pier, the bridge masonry at green river will be taken down. all the deep ravines were crossed by trestle work, and consequently there were but few culverts. of these some small ones are still standing in good condition. of the bank wall built, about one-half remains,--the remainder has either fallen down, or will be taken down and rebuilt. very little alteration will be made in the general location of the line or its gradients. the curvature will be very much modified and improved. some sharp and reversed curves will be entirely saved by the substitution of straight lines. others, where the expense of reduction is not very heavy, will be materially changed. the alterations below shelburne falls are substantially as follows:- a straight line substituted for one 2â°, one 4â° and one 6â° curve. one 2â° curve substituted for one 4â° curve. four 4â° " " " four 6â° " one 3â° " " " one 6â° " three 3â° " " " three 6â° " five 5â° 30' " " " five 6â° " one 3â° 30' " " " two 6â° " one 4â° and two 2â° curve substituted for three 6â° curve, saving 45â° and 60 feet. one 5â° 40' curve substituted for one 7â° curve. one 6â° " " " one 7â° " three 7â° " " " three 8â° " one 5â° " " " two 5â° and one 6â° curve. two 3â° " " " two 6â° curve, saving 30â° and 40 feet. the same plan for improving the line above the falls will be pursued, so that when completed, the road combining the alignment with the gradients will, in the judgment of the engineer, be "superior for doing economically a heavy traffic, to any railroad in new england which runs east and west." at green river there will be substituted for mr. haupt's bridge of 700 feet built on a curved line one of 470 feet, to be constructed on a straight line. the remainder of the ravine to be made a solid embankment. all the bridges on the line are to be "howe's truss," and equal in strength and durability to any in new england. the trestle-work has been removed, and the ravines where it was placed are being filled with substantial masonry and solid embankments. on the first day of november mr. farren had about fifty men employed; on the first day of december, two hundred and seventy-five, and on the 14th of december, when one of the committee visited the line, he had over three hundred. about one-third of the masonry for green river bridge has been built, and the stone is quarried for the other bridges. nearly one thousand yards of culvert masonry and three hundred yards of bank wall have been constructed, and from forty to fifty thousand yards of earth removed. the timber for green river bridge is sawed and will be framed in january. the material for all the bridges below shelburne falls has been contracted for, to be delivered early in the spring. twenty thousand ties have been purchased, together with posts and boards for fences. the work at the rock-cut near shelburne falls will be commenced in the month of january. on the line below shelburne falls, there will remain in the road, the following sharp curves, to wit: in the track as laid and not disturbed, four of six degrees, and in the remainder of the line, six of six degrees, three of seven, and two of eight. one of the eight degree curves, is through a long heavy cut, and cannot be reduced without great expense. the other is near the deerfield river crossing, where all trains will be required to run slow. it cannot be avoided without a tunnel or a curve over the entire bridge. the three seven degree curves occur in heavy rock-cuttings, and these are all the sharp curves that are contained in a space of thirteen miles. above shelburne falls the alignment and grades are more favorable. from the tunnel to the deerfield river crossing, below shelburne falls, a distance of twenty-two miles, there is but one ascending grade going east; its location is about two miles west of the falls; it is one-half mile in length, and is thirty-five feet to the mile. within the same space going east, there are the following descending grades, to wit: one of forty-five feet per mile for 2,000 feet, one of forty feet for 6,000 feet, one of twenty-eight feet for 2,500 feet, and one, near the village of shelburne falls, of fifty feet per mile for 5,300 feet. the remaining grades are from five to twenty feet per mile. the sharp curves remaining after the proposed improvements will be as follows, to wit: near the depot grounds at shelburne, and running through the village, there is necessarily one eight degree curve, and on the seventeen miles between the falls and the tunnel, there occur thirteen six degree curves. a slight change in laying the track will increase the radius of these curves to 1,000 feet. this in some cases can be done. the county commissioners have been called out and have made an adjudication in regard to the public crossings and alterations of highways between greenfield and shelburne falls. the whole work below the falls is under good progress, and is being prosecuted with great vigor. the laying of the track can be commenced as early in the spring as the season will admit, and its extension to shelburne falls, may, in the opinion of the engineer, be expected early in october. it appears from the foregoing, that of the work now in progress on the road and tunnel, their is performed by contract,--the construction of the railroad from greenfield to the east end of the tunnel; the enlargements east and west in the tunnel at the west shaft; the excavation of the new shaft; and the arch masonry and excavation at the west end; while the work at the east end, at the central shaft, the heading and lifting at the west shaft, the lifting at the new shaft, and the work at the brickyard has been performed by the state. no criterion has been afforded enabling the committee to determine upon the comparative economy of the different modes of operation. the commissioners in their able report in 1863, speaking of the manner of constructing the tunnel, say: "it would not be wise nor according to any precedent for the state to expect to get the work done at the contract price if it should turn out to cost more. it would certainly get no abatement if the price was found to be exorbitant. we are clearly of the opinion that it should not be constructed by contract, excepting in so far as parts of the work may be in detail to the men actually at work upon it, and even such contracts should' not be permanent in their character." that the commissioners in april last entertained the idea of inaugurating and continuing the contract system so far as the same should prove economical for the state, satisfactorily appears in the following letter: boston april 25, 1866. hon. tappan wentworth, _chairman of hoosac tunnel and troy and greenfield railroad committee._ dear sir:--hearing that questions have arisen in regard to the propriety of contracting the work upon the hoosac tunnel, it may not be improper for me to say that that subject (contemplated in the act of 1863,) has for a long time engaged the serious attention of the commissioners, who have already a contract for constructing a portion of the west end, before the governor and council, awaiting their approval under section 3 of chapter 214 of the acts of 1863. when the economic value of their new facilities shall be demonstrated, they expect further to avail of this system 80 far as the interest of the state (as represented by the rapid, economical and certain progress of the work,) shall warrant. while the high prices now prevailing will probably render the letting of large jobs at this time injudicious, they are not of short contracts, or of letting portions of the work to the miners by the piece. very truly yours, j. w. brooks, _chairman_. the committee coincide with the views of the commissioners. and the justness of their remarks, that the state must not expect to have the work done at less than its cost, is borne out by the operations under the contract for the west end enlargement, where the state has increased the contract from four to seven dollars and fifty cents a perch, in order to insure the miners a compensation for their labor. it may be proper to state in this connection, that the labor done upon the road and tunnel by early contractors, has not tended to a "rapid, economical and certain progress of the work," and that if even the whole work should be put under contract, the interest of the commonwealth would require the continuance of a commission, and the services of an engineer of the highest skill and integrity to superintend its performance in order to avoid a loss and damage similar to that which occurred to the state while the work was under the nominal control of the troy and greenfield railroad corporation. the retirement of all the gentlemen who comprised the board of commissioners, first appointed under the legislation of 1862, affords the committee an opportunity to acknowledge the eminent talent and ability which they respectively possessed for the discharge of the important duties assigned to them, and to bear testimony to the industry and intelligence displayed in their elaborate and comprehensive report upon the subject of the railroad and tunnel in 1863. it was fortunate for the state in that crisis in the affairs of this enterprise to be able to command so much practical information upon a question so interesting and important, and at the same time so difficult of solution. but in addition to the duty of furnishing an opinion of the feasibility and mode of constructing the tunnel, and of the propriety of opening this line of railway communication with the west, the commission was instituted to carry on and superintend a most important and difficult public work, involving the expenditure of several million dollars. yet each of the gentlemen composing the board was engaged in other duties requiring substantially their whole time and attention. under these circumstances their personal observance of the progress of the work could not be given to a degree satisfactory to the public, or essential to the interests of the state, and the responsibility of the operations came to devolve upon the engineer at the works, and the chairman of the commissioners in boston. these irksome labors were discharged with diligent faithfulness, and as the event has proved with a physical suffering to one of them that has called forth a general expression of regret and sorrow. by chapter 214 of the acts of 1863, the governor is authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer for such sums as may be required, from time to time, by the commissioners, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of law for the completion of the tunnel and railroad. the commissioners under this enactment have made monthly requisitions upon the governor, transmitting at the same time vouchers for the expenses of the preceding month; and upon this information and requisition the warrants have been drawn. by the 293 chapter of the acts of 1866, a general supervision of the work is vested in the governor and council, with power to "correct abuses, remedy defects, and impose and enforce requirements in such manner as the interests of the commonwealth shall, in their judgment, require." as the commissioners exercise a delegated power, there would have been a manifest propriety in requiring of them, from time to time, a report upon the progress of the work, and of their own doings even under the act 1863, so that the governor might have been more fully provided with information touching the necessity of the requisitions. but under the act of 1866, it appears essential that the commissioners should report monthly to the governor and council the general plan of operations pursued, the progress of the work, and the manner and extent of their own superintendence of the same. the committee are therefore of opinion that the commission should be reorganized in such manner that the state could command the whole time of its members: that a greater degree of personal attention should be given by them to the work than it has heretofore received: that the commissioners should keep minutes of their doings which shall be open to the inspection of the governor and council, and the appropriate legislative committee: that their monthly communications to the governor and council should embrace, in addition to the past, and the requisition for the current month, a report of the operations, the progress of the work during the previous, month, and the manner and extent of their own superintendence of the same. the committee are also of opinion that a due regard to economy in conducting the enterprise requires that the commissioners should at once, by experiment, ascertain the probable time required to excavate the enlargement of the tunnel, and that the work upon the enlargement be regulated and pursued with a view of avoiding any unnecessary delay in operating the road after the heading is removed. * * * * * in concluding this report, the committee cannot forbear to express their obligations to mr. doane, the engineer in charge of the work, for the assistance rendered by him in aid of their labors, nor withhold their approbation of the faithful and able manner in which he has discharged the duties of his office, so far as they have come under their observation. the committee are indebted to mr. hill, the superintendent of labor, for his uniform attention during their examinations, and they fully recognize his capacity for his position, and his interest in the operations. they are likewise indebted to mr. hall, the intelligent master of the machine shop, for very valuable information concerning his particular department. and also to mr. field, the able and efficient engineer of the railroad, for a very satisfactory report upon that portion of the work under his direction. tappan wentworth, -----------,[c] william l. reed, _of the senate._ moses kimball, george b. loring, sylvander johnson, b. f. taft, e. h. chisholm, silas jones, james r. gladwin, _of the house._ [c] hon. alvah crocker has not acted on the committee since his appointment upon the commission. appendix. [a.] _sketch of the proceedings of the troy and greenfield railroad corporation, from its organization to the surrender of the road under the mortgage, and the adoption of the work by the commonwealth._ the charter of the troy and greenfield railroad, was granted in 1848, and authorized the construction of a railroad with one or more tracks, from a point on the vermont and massachusetts railroad, at or near greenfield, to some point on the line of new york or vermont, convenient to meet or connect with any railroad that may be constructed from any point at or near the city of troy, on the hudson river in the state of new york. its capital stock was limited at $3,500,000. the corporation was authorized to contract with the owners of any contiguous railroad leading into or from either of the states of vermont or new york, for the use of the whole or any part thereof, or for the running and operating the two railroads conjointly, or for the leasing of such contiguous road, or for any other road, or for the letting or hiring of their own road to the owners of such contiguous road, or of any other road which composes a part of the railroad line between the cities of boston and troy, of which the troy and greenfield railroad shall be a part. the first meeting under the charter was held june i, 1848, at which subscription papers were voted to be issued and circulated, in order to organize the corporation. in 1849, march 16, the subscribers to the stock held their first meeting, and organized under the charter. at the annual meeting, february 6, 1850, the stock was apportioned among the neighboring towns as follows: ashfield, 60 shares. charlemont, 400 " colrain, 150 " conway, 50 " greenfield, 700 " hawley, 120 " heath, 120 " leyden, 30 " monroe, 50 " rowe, 100 " shelburne, 400 " buckland, 150 " florida, 120 " adams, 1,000 " williamstown, 800 " clarksburg, 40 " hancock, 50 " deerfield, 150 " bernardston, 40 " gill, 80 " whitingham, 00 " reedsborough, 00 " stansford, 00 " 0,000 shares. it was also voted to apportion the directors among the towns in the following manner, to wit:-north adams, 3; florida, rowe, heath and monroe, 1; colrain, buckland and hawley, 1; shelburne, 1; greenfield, deerfield and conway, 3; williamstown and whitingham, 2; charlemont, 1; and one director at large. before the annual meeting in 1850, the directors had voted to assess three per cent. upon each share of the capital stock. this vote was passed april 11, 1849, and on the first day of october in the same year, they voted that the construction of the road from the state line at pownal, vermont, to adams, and from greenfield to shelburne falls, be put under contract as soon as sufficient subscription shall have been obtained therefore, and that the two ends aforesaid shall be constructed simultaneously. 1850, january 28, the treasurer had received the sum of $2,203.94, and had paid out on bills approved by the president, $2,203.57, leaving a balance in the treasury of $0.37. sundry assessments amounting in all to 75 per cent. upon the subscriptions, were afterwards voted, the last on the 6th of may, 1852. these assessments were rescinded by a vote passed july 23, 1858, and it also voted that the several amounts heretofore paid by individual stockholders, except on assessment laid april 11, 1849, be credited to their several accounts on assessments now or hereafter to be made. 1850, october 28, the contract with messrs. gilman and carpenter, was ratified, and on the 29th, the president was authorized to execute it. the committee have not found this contract nor any record stating its provisions. december 27, 1850, a committee reported that the whole amount of stock subscribed, was $250,800, of which $7,200 was payable in land damages and materials for the road; and that messrs. gilmore and carpenter had subscribed for 500 shares of stock, to wit, $50,000. on the 7th day of january, 1851, the directors voted to break ground the next day, and on the 27th of may in the same year, they voted to expend a sum not exceeding $25,000, in experiments upon the east side of the mountain, at or near the mouth of the proposed tunnel. in 1851, the corporation petitioned the legislature for a loan of the state credit for two million dollars; but the application was unsuccessful. the failure to secure the aid of the commonwealth, appears not to have discouraged the corporation, for on the 7th of august, 1851, the directors voted that they would proceed forthwith from adams to the new york line, and simultaneously incur all the necessary expenses to make thorough experiments with such machines as promise to facilitate the construction of the tunnel, and when the road is begun from greenfield, it shall be after an arrangement is made to construct it to the foot of the mountain in florida and connect in some way with the road at north adams. the troy and greenfield railroad corporation having directed its attention to a connection with the troy and boston railroad company through a portion of the state of vermont, and a charter having been obtained from the legislature of vermont, incorporating the southern vermont railroad company, whereby such connection could be made, a committee of the directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company and of the southern vermont railroad company made an agreement, subject to the modification or ratification of the stockholders of each company, "that the stock of both of said companies and their franchises from said greenfield to the west line of pownal, in the state of vermont, shall become and be one joint, consolidated stock and interest, with equal and common rights and privileges to the stockholders of both companies;" it being understood that an application shall be made to the legislature of vermont for a change of the name and style of the joint corporation mentioned in the said act of the vermont legislature. this report was made to the board of directors, and it was voted that the same "be accepted and adopted, recorded and placed on file." subsequently the southern vermont railroad was leased to the troy and greenfield corporation on a perpetual lease for $12,000 per year; and the 21st of april, 1860, it was purchased by the troy and greenfield corporation for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, with money advanced to the last named corporation by the commonwealth. in the report of the commissioners on the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, the southern vermont railroad is estimated to have cost from $110,000 to to $125,000 only. in 1858, another application was made to the legislature for a loan, but with the same result as in 1851. in both instances, committees reported in favor of the application. in 1854, the application was renewed, and was successful. the act was passed on the fifth day of april, 1854. by the first section, the treasurer was authorized to issue scrip, as certificates of debt, for the sum of two million dollars, to be expressed in the currency of great britain or in federal currency, as the directors of the troy and greenfield railroad should elect, to bear an interest of five per cent., payable semi-annually, and redeemable in thirty years, for the purpose of enabling the troy and greenfield company to construct a tunnel and railroad under and through the hoosac mountain, in some place between the "great bend" in deerfield river, in the town of florida, at the base of hoosac mountain, on the east, and the base of the western side of the mountain, near the east end of the village of north adams, on the west. the scrip was to be delivered to the treasurer of said troy and greenfield railroad company in the manner and upon the conditions following:--$100,000, when it should appear to the satisfaction of the governor and council that said company had obtained subscriptions to their capital stock in the sum of $600,000, and twenty per cent. upon each and every share of said six: hundred thousand dollars should have actually been paid in, and seven miles of their railroad and one thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel under the hoosac, in one or more sections, of size sufficient for one or more railroad tracks, should have been completed. $100,000, when ten miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and ten thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed. $100,000, when fifteen miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and three thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed. $100,000, when twenty miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and four thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections should be completed. $100,000, when twenty-five miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and five thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed. $100,000, when thirty miles of their railroad, in one or two sections, and six thousand lineal feet of their tunnel, should be completed. $100,000, when thirty-two miles of their railroad, in one or two sections, including all the line east of florida, and seven thousand lineal feet of their tunnel, in one or more sections, should be completed; and for each additional portion or portions of said tunnel of fifteen hundred feet, in one or more sections, completed by said company, $100,000, subject to the condition that the last $200,000 should be reserved until said company, or their successors, should open their railroad for use from greenfield to the line of the state in williamstown; and subject also to the condition, that, prior to the second delivery of scrip, thirty per cent. of the same shall have been paid in cash to the treasurer of the company by the stockholders thereof, in addition to the $120,000 to be paid prior to the delivery of any scrip; and that upon each application for scrip, in pursuance of the law, and prior to the delivery thereof, thirty per cent. of the scrip then applied for shall have been paid by the stockholders to the treasurer of the company until the $600,000 subscribed for has been paid by the stockholders. the act further provided, that the treasurer of the company, within three months from the receipt of any scrip, should pay to the commissioners of the sinking fund created by the act, ten per cent. on the amount of scrip so taken as a sinking fund; and after the road should be opened for use, twenty-five thousand dollars should be annually paid to said commissioners for the same purpose. the act further provided, that the said company should execute an assignment, as a pledge or mortgage on the railroad, with its franchise property and income, conditioned to pay the principal sum of said scrip, or so much thereof as the sinking fund should be insufficient to pay, and the interest, as the same became due; and that said company should assign all the interest it then had, or might afterwards obtain, in the southern vermont railroad company. in 1855, the legislature authorized certain towns on the line,--to wit: ashfield, buckland, conway, colrain, charlemont, deerfield, greenfield, hawley, heath, rowe, shelburne, adams, florida, and williamstown,--to subscribe three per cent. on their valuation, respectively, to the capital stock. this act was not fully complied with on the part of the towns, and $125,000 only is reported to have been realized from that source. in 1855 a contract with e. w. serrell to construct the work was reported to and accepted by the directors. this contract does not appear among the papers of the corporation, and its terms cannot be stated. at the same time the capital stock of the corporation was by a vote increased to $1,500,000, and a location designated as the east line on the railroad near cheapside was adopted. this singular resolution was also passed:-_resolved_, that the direction of the engineering operations within the hoosac tunnel after the location of the line is adopted, and plans perfected for the same, be left with the contractor, excepting the measurements for monthly and final estimates and the final acceptance of the work. 1855, july 18. mr. serrell having proposed to subscribe the sum of $600,000 (less the amount of the new subscription made by others,) provided the company would make such allowances as would enable him to dispose of the proposed issue of $900,000 of bonds advantageously, the directors voted to add $300,000 to the contract prices of the work, and that said $900,000 bonds as provided by the contract should be issued as soon as authorized by the stockholders, and placed in bank by the trustees to the credit of such persons as shall deposit against the same cash or railroad iron equal in value to sixty-five cents on the dollar. the said bonds to be taken by said serrell at par and so estimated in his contract. at this time sixteen hundred and thirty-five shares of new stock had been subscribed, amounting to $163,500. the trustees alluded to in the foregoing vote were selected by a committee appointed for the purpose, and with power to execute to them a mortgage. they were j. v. c. smith, paul adams and john g. davis, all of boston. the mortgage was executed, and is known in the history of the road as the "smith mortgage." a resolution explanatory of this transaction was passed august 16, 1855, in the following words:-"_resolved_, that, whereas by the terms of the provisions of the resolution of july 18, 1855, by which it is provided that the bonds of the company to be issued, are to be placed in bank, &c.; therefore, as explanatory thereto, be it _resolved_, that it is not intended thereby to prevent the operation of the contract, but that the said bonds are to be delivered to serrell & co., on the warrant of the engineer, countersigned by the president and treasurer, whenever the engineer shall draw therefore on monthly or final estimates." 1856, february 7. the president reported to the directors that a contract had been redrafted and concluded with messrs. serrell, haupt & co., which was read, accepted and ratified, and the committee discharged. this contract was probably dated january 31, 1856, but the committee have not been able to find it among the papers of the corporation. 1856, may 22. the directors voted, that in case messrs. serrell, haupt & co., would enter into an agreement to carry on the work of the troy and greenfield railroad company, in compliance with the terms and conditions of the loan act, until 2,000 feet of the tunnel should be completed, the corporation would substitute bonds instead of stock in all payments to be made on account of work to be done to that time. the treasurer was authorized to give the acceptance or notes of the company, to an extent equal to the whole indebtedness of the company to said contractors, upon which to raise money to carry on the work. that the company would pay or allow to said contractors all discounts or losses to which they might be required to submit, provided such discounts or losses did not exceed the rate of 15 per cent. per annum. that the trustees of the mortgage bonds should deliver to mr. herman haupt one hundred thousand dollars in the bonds of the company in addition to payments due for work, said bonds to be sold or hypothecated by him, and the proceeds applied to the work. the bonds to be charged on account of the contract if not returned when the second payment from the state shall have been made. 1856, july 28. h. haupt and w. a. galbraith notified a dissolution of the firm of serrell, haupt & co., and proposed to enter into a new contract. e. w. serrell notified that messrs. haupt and galbraith were authorized to surrender the old contract. the stock subscription of edward w. serrell and e. w. serrell & co., was transferred to h. haupt & co., the latter to furnish a guarantee that the assessments due and to become due should be paid. e. w. serrell resigned his office as a director in the company, and was appointed consulting engineer. w. a. galbraith was chosen a director. 1865, july 30. a contract was made with herman haupt, william a. galbraith, c. b. duncan and henry cartwright for the construction of the road and tunnel. the firm name of the contractors was h. haupt & co. by the provisions of the contract all work done under previous contracts with e. w. serrell or serrell, haupt & co., was to be credited to h. haupt & co., and all payments under said contracts were to be charged to h. haupt & co., and credited to the troy and greenfield railroad. "the road from the eastern terminus at or near greenfield from some convenient point on the vermont and massachusetts line, as the same now is or hereafter be located," is assumed to be in all about forty-two miles in length. "this contract includes the graduation, tunneling, masonry and bridging, superstructure, fencing, depot buildings, switches, turn-tables, water and fixtures, and in fine all labor and materials necessary for the construction of the road are included in this contract." the right of way to be provided and paid for by the railroad company. the work to be completed and finished in the best manner, for which the troy and greenfield railroad company agreed to pay h. haupt & co., "the sum of three millions eight hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars in manner following, to wit: two millions of dollars in the bonds of the state of massachusetts, to be issued under the act by which the credit of the said state is loaned to said corporation, nine hundred thousand dollars in the six per cent. mortgage bonds of said company, five hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars in the capital stock of said troy and greenfield railroad company, and three hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars in cash." the work of constructing and completing the road was to be done in compliance with the loan act of april, 1854. one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be expended by the contractors in depot buildings and necessary rolling stock, cars, engines, &c. under the direction of the board of directors. the stock subscription of e. w. serrell and of serrell & co., amounting to five thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven shares, was to be transferred and assumed by haupt & co., payable in compliance with said loan act with the understanding that the assessments on the stock were to be paid by the performance of this contract in stock credits as provided in the contract, and the stock taken by the contractors at par. this contract further provided, that on the receipt of the several installments of state bonds, the contractors should pay to the sinking fund the ten per cent. specified in the loan act, in consideration of which haupt & co. should retain whatever sums was realized from the exchange and premium on the bonds. the payments were to be made monthly, on estimate of the company's engineer. the cost of the materials and work upon the line, exclusive of the hoosac tunnel and its approaches, was assumed to be one million eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and the estimates were to be made in the relative proportion that the part done bore "to the whole amount of materials and work to be furnished, and done at the price named." the hoosac tunnel and its approaches were estimated at two million dollars for a double track, and the monthly estimates were to be in proportion to the amount of work done on the approaches, and the length of tunnel excavated. the contract further provided, that, with the assent of both parties, the tunnel might be constructed for a single track, in which case no abatement was to be made for the first three thousand feet; but for the excavation beyond that point, the sum of twelve dollars per lineal foot was to be deducted from the contract price. the above are the essential provisions of the contract under which h. haupt & co. performed their work upon the road and tunnel until february 18, 1858, except as the same was modified and changed by votes of the directors. the contract was reported to the board of directors, and approved by them august 6, 1856. on the same day the directors voted to request the trustees to recognize h. haupt & co. as contractors, instead of e. w. serrell, and to issue the bonds to said h. haupt & co. on the estimate of the engineer and the order of the trustees. they also voted to change the location of the road at the west end, in accordance with plans marked a and b. under date of july 10, 1857, there appears upon the records the following:-a preamble, "stating that the efforts to raise money for building the road had proved unsuccessful; that no payments had been made the contractors for more than a year, * * * *; that the work could only be carried on by the continued efforts * * * * and personal credit of the contractors. "therefore voted, that the whole of the state bonds that may be issued in aid of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall be exclusively appropriated to work done, or to be done, upon the tunnel, in compliance with the terms and conditions of the act authorizing the loan of credit, and with such other conditions and modifications as the legislature may, from time to time, make and establish; but said h. haupt & co. shall not be held subject to any other conditions whatever, so far as respects the work done upon the tunnel; and any state scrip that may at any time be delivered to the treasurer of the company, shall be promptly handed to the contractors; the contractors, on their part, to comply with the conditions of the present act, and with such other conditions or modifications as may be introduced, and to have the benefit of any extension of time or increase of compensation by the state. second. any new or additional subscription that may be obtained, shall be applied to payment of the present contractors for work done, or to be done, by them, and to no other object; and any subscriptions that may be collected west of the hoosac mountain, shall be applied exclusively to the completion of that portion of the road. third. the present subscription east of the hoosac mountain may be collected and applied to the payment of other liabilities of the corporation, and the treasurer is requested to prepare, without delay, a full and complete list of all such liabilities. fourth. any commissions for procuring or collecting subscriptions shall be paid by h. haupt & co., in consideration of which, and also of the premises, the payment of graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure on the road, exclusive of the tunnel, shall be two million dollars, with the addition of such sums as may be required for the right of way, if this item shall be paid by the contractors. of this amount, nine hundred thousand dollars shall be in mortgage bonds of the company, and the balance in cash, to as great an extent as can be procured, the remainder in stock at par; and the directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall use their best endeavors to increase the cash subscriptions as much as possible. if new parties be introduced, or desired by h. haupt & co., the contract may be redrafted, and these conditions and changes incorporated; the committee for this purpose shall consist of the president and alvah crocker, with power to execute it finally, if not inconsistent with the present contract, or with the changes hereby authorized. it is further agreed and understood, that nothing herein contained shall be so constrained as to invalidate the existing contract with said haupt & co., or vary its conditions, except so far as herein expressed or necessarily implied." on the 18th of february, 1858, another agreement was made by herman haupt and henry cartwright with the troy and greenfield railroad company, and such others as might be associated with them; and who upon signing the contract were to be considered as parties to the same; as it bears the signatures of d. n. carpenter, president for the troy and greenfield railroad company, and h. haupt & co., by h. haupt, and no others, it may be presumed that messrs. haupt and cartwright are the only persons comprising the party of the first part. this contract recites that every attempt to procure new or to collect old subscriptions to the capital stock of the company, since the execution of the former contract with h. haupt & co., have proved unsuccessful; that the contractors had prosecuted the work for more than two years without any payment having been made to them as required by existing contract; that there appeared no possibility of procuring means for the further prosecution of the work, except by the continued efforts, increased expenditures, and personal credit of the contractors themselves; and that h. haupt & co. propose to release the troy and greenfield railroad company from the cash payments required by the contract, and to assume themselves the labor of procuring and collecting subscriptions, and of carrying on and completing the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel in such manner as will comply with all the conditions of the loan act. the parties therefore agreed. that h. haupt & co. should comply with all the conditions of the act, approved april 5th, 1854, whereby a loan of credit was given by the state of massachusetts in aid of the construction of the hoosac tunnel, and should have the benefit of any changes that may hereafter be obtained, or extensions of time that may be granted; but they shall be subject to no other conditions or restrictions other than those expressed in this contract. that the road shall be so constructed that its gradients should not exceed those in each direction which exist or may hereafter exist permanently on other portions of the line between troy and boston; that sharper curves than were in ordinary use in other parts of the line were to be changed at the expense of the contractors, and trestle work or temporary bridging was to be replaced by permanent structures at the expense of the contractors as soon as practicable after the completion and opening of the whole line. that h. haupt & co. should have the benefit of all existing subscriptions, and of all they might procure; also of any revenue that might arise from the use of the road, or any portion of it when completed, until their claims on the company were discharged and paid; and to secure this end, the payment of all other debts of the corporation was to be deferred until that of the contractors was satisfied. the real estate of the corporation not required for the purposes and use of the road, was to be sold or applied to meet present liabilities of the company; and haupt & co. were to maintain the organization of the corporation and pay its necessary printing expenses, by paying to the treasurer annually a sum not less than five hundred dollars. the state bonds were to be appropriated exclusively to the construction of the tunnel. the state scrip delivered to the treasurer of the company was to be promptly handed to the contractors. the compensation to be allowed to h. haupt & co. was to be as provided in the resolutions of the directors, passed july 10, 1857. the payment for graduation, bridging, masonry, and superstructure on the road, exclusive of the tunnel, was fixed at two million dollars, exclusive of any payments that might be made for the right of way. of this amount, nine hundred thousand dollars was to be paid in mortgage bonds of the company; the balance in cash, to as great an extent as cash subscriptions could be secured; the remainder in stock at par. the bonds and stock of the company to be issued to h. haupt & co. when required, to an amount equal to the work done, estimating it by the proportion it bore to the whole amount performed and to be performed. h. haupt & co. were authorized to collect subscriptions to the capital stock of the company, and their receipt for money was to be accepted by the company as evidence of payment. by the execution of this agreement all former contracts between the same parties were agreed to be annulled and cancelled. h. haupt & co. was recognized as the firm name under which the parties of the first part were associated, and then to be conducted. copies of this and the preceding contract will be found printed verbatim in a report of a committee of the house of representatives in 1860, of which mr. kimball, of boston, was chairman. it was reprinted in 1861, and is house document no. 406, of last year; and it may be profitably consulted for other valuable information touching the doings of the troy and greenfield corporation and the contractors therewith. 1858, may 25, the directors assented that the iron delivered by the rensselaer iron company for the road should remain the property of the iron company until the same was paid for, in accordance with an agreement of h. haupt & co. with the iron company. from a report of a committee of the directors made to the board july 23, 1858, it appears that at the date of the report, seven thousand four hundred and fifteen, shares were subscribed for unconditionally by parties who appeared to have been solvent at the time of subscribing. that three thousand four hundred and fifty shares had been subscribed for conditionally, or, by parties who were not solvent, or whose subscriptions could not be collected. that of the conditional subscriptions, the greater part had been or would be complied with; of these nine hundred and thirty-nine were subscribed by the towns not included in the published lists. upon two thousand four hundred and thirty shares of the unconditional subscriptions, including those of gilmore and carpenter, twenty per cent. only had been paid. that upon six thousand five hundred and nine shares, subscribed for unconditionally, twenty per cent. or more had been paid in cash. at this date it appears that the whole number of shares subscribed for conditionally and unconditionally, was ten thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. at this meeting of the board the clerk was directed to place upon the record the names of all the stockholders, with the number of shares held by each, on which twenty per cent. or more had been paid. the record shows the number of shares to be six thousand six hundred and forty-eight, and the amount paid on the same two hundred and sixty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty-nine dollars. against the name of h. haupt & co. was set the number of five thousand shares. at this meeting the directors also voted to fix the capital stock at one million five hundred thousand dollars. 1858, september 3. the last vote was reconsidered, and it was voted that the capital stock be fixed at [note: amount missing] as represented by the list of stock reported at the previous meeting. the directors also voted as they had previously done, to rescind all the assessments heretofore voted, except the assessment of three per cent. laid april 11, 1849, and then voted an assessment of ten per cent. upon each and every share in the capital stock of the company, payable in thirty days. between this date and september 14, 1859, nine other assessments were voted, the whole amounting to eighty-eight per cent. of the par value of the stock. by another entry upon the records, under date of november 3, 1858, it appears that williamstown and adams subscribed to the capital stock of the troy and greenfield railroad, ninety-three thousand dollars, upon condition that the payment should be made in town scrip, maturing in thirty years, and to be issued whim the road was completed between adams and troy; half the interest on the scrip to be paid by the troy and boston railroad company. mortgage bonds of the troy and greenfield railroad company, in amount equal to said subscription, were to be deposited in the adams bank as security against loss of stock from such a contingency as a sale of the road by the _bona fide_ holders. immediately following this entry upon the records are recorded these votes:-_voted_, to accept the subscription on the condition stated, that the contract with the troy and boston railroad company be altered to allow said company to pay the interest on the scrip directly to the treasurers of the towns; that bonds to the amount of ninety-three thousand dollars be prepared ready for delivery, and that mr. haupt and the treasurer be a committee to carry this vote into effect, as also any change of contract with the troy and boston railroad company. _voted_, that the trustees of the mortgage bonds of this corporation be, and hereby are, requested to deliver to mr. h. haupt and the treasurer, ninety-three bonds of one thousand dollars each, to be deposited by them in the adams bank, in compliance with the conditions and requirements of the votes of towns of adams and williamstown, &c., &c.; sixty bonds to be appropriated as security for adams, and thirty-three for williamstown. under date of may 20, 1859, appears the following record:-whereas, satisfactory evidence has been afforded to the board of directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company that h. haupt has, by an instrument of writing, duly executed, formally relinquished, for himself, his heirs, executors and administrators, all pecuniary interest in any profits that may be realized in the construction of the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, and that the use of his name in connection with the firm is merely nominal, to avoid the inconvenience and embarrassment resulting from a change of title: _voted_, that in the opinion of this board, no impediment exists to prevent the said h. haupt from performing the duties of chief engineer of the troy and greenfield railroad company, and that he be, and hereby is, appointed to said office. 1859, december 26. _voted_, that the treasurer be, and hereby is, directed to hand over to h. haupt & co., as soon as received by him, the bonds of the commonwealth, hereafter to be issued in aid of the road or tunnel, taking their receipt therefore. in 1859, application was made to the legislature to reduce the size of the tunnel in order to facilitate its completion, and by chapter 117, of the acts of that year, it was provided that the tunnel might be constructed of the height of eighteen feet, and fourteen feet wide, and the payments were changed so as to depend upon the construction of the railroad, the excavation of the tunnel, and also of the heading, which was to be driven of the width of fourteen feet at the bottom, and the height of six feet in the middle, with a proviso that no more than seventeen hundred thousand dollars (in addition to the six hundred thousand dollars of scrip,) of stock subscriptions, and the anticipated scrip from the towns before, mentioned, all of which was to be considered as unconditional subscriptions, should be paid until the whole of the tunnel through the hoosac mountain shall have been completed, and the payments by the state were not to commence until twenty per cent. of the stock subscription should "have been actually paid in." the provisions of this act, in regard to advances by the state for progress actually made in excavating the tunnel and constructing the road, were substituted for those of the act of 1854, the second section of which was repealed. by chapter 184 of the acts of 1860, the city of boston was authorized, with the consent of the legal voters, to subscribe five hundred thousand dollars to the capital stock of the troy and greenfield railroad; but the consent was not given. the legislation of 1859 did not meet the exigencies of the corporation, and application for assistance was again made. to relieve still further the difficulties of the company, the act of 1860, chapter 202, was passed, in which it was provided that the undelivered portion of the loan of two million of dollars, authorized by chapter 226 of the acts of 1854, amounting to one million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars, should be apportioned between the railroad and tunnel, and for the construction of each respectively, and six hundred and fifty thousand dollars was set apart for the completion of the unfinished portion of the railroad, extending from its eastern terminus, near greenfield, to within half a mile of the eastern end of the hoosac tunnel, and one million one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to the completion of the tunnel. the act provided for the execution to the commonwealth of such further bond and mortgage as the attorney-general should prescribe, and that such bond and mortgage, as well as all bonds, mortgages or other assurances heretofore made to the commonwealth by said company, should have priority and be preferred before any and all attachments or levies on execution heretofore or hereafter made. the act further provided that payments hereafter to be made for work done upon the road and tunnel, should be so made upon estimates of a state engineer, whose appointment and duties were prescribed in the act. such estimates were to be based upon a "width of road-bed, at grade, of fifteen feet on embankments, seventeen and a half feet in side cots, and twenty feet in through cuts; in the heading of the tunnel, upon dimensions fourteen feet wide and six feet high in the middle, and in the finished excavation of the tunnel, of fourteen feet wide and eighteen feet high in the middle." and the deliveries of scrip were to be at the rate of fifty dollars for each lineal foot of tunnel, divided between heading and full-sized tunnel, in the proportion of thirty dollars for each lineal foot of heading, and twenty dollars per lineal foot for the remaining excavation, and of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the whole of the graduation, masonry, bridging and superstructure of the road east of the tunnel. the weight of the rails was fixed at not less than fifty-six pounds to the lineal yard; the capital stock of the corporation at two millions and a half dollars, including all shares before issued. by the eighth section of the act the corporation was authorized to purchase the entire road franchise, stock, bonds, and other property or the southern vermont railroad company, together with its lease to the troy and boston railroad company, and subject to its provisions, for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. this act repealed all prior legislation inconsistent with its provisions, with a saving of the security which the commonwealth had, by virtue of its mortgage on the franchise, railroad and property of the troy and greenfield railroad company, and was approved april 4, 1860. 1860, july 3. a committee was appointed to execute the mortgage to the commonwealth required by chapter 202, of the acts of 1860. 1861, july 30. the directors voted that mr. haupt be a committee to appear before the council in reference to the withholding the scrip now due the road; and january 16, 1862, it was voted that mr. haupt be authorized to act as the agent and representative of the company in any relation that the company may be brought before the present legislature or any committee thereof. previous to the vote of july, 1861, suspicion was excited that messrs. h. haupt & co. were not performing their work in a manner conformable to the requirements of the statute, and it was deemed imprudent to make any further advance of scrip under the act of 1859, until the work was examined and the condition of the corporation better understood. an inquiry was instituted, a new state engineer appointed, and an investigation of the proceedings of the contractors and corporation was had. the facts disclosed in the examination induced the governor and council to withhold the issue of any more scrip, under the last mentioned law, and the legislature by chapter 156 of the acts of 1862, passed april 28, assumed the duty of completing the road and tunnel. the first section of the act is as follows:-"the governor, with the advice of the council, is hereby authorized and directed to appoint three able, impartial and skilful commissioners, to investigate the subject of finishing the troy and greenfield railroad, and of tunneling the hoosac mountain, whose duty it shall be to report to the governor and council, what in their judgment, will be the most economical, practical and advantageous method of completing said road and tunnel; the estimated cost of fitting the same for use; the time within which the tunnel can be completed, and what contracts can be effected and with what parties for completing said tunnel and road and the probable cost of the same; the probable pecuniary value of the road and tunnel when completed; the sources and amount of traffic and income, and all other facts, in their opinion, useful to assist the governor and council in determining the best method of securing a continuous railroad communication between troy and greenfield." by the second section the troy and greenfield railroad company was authorized to surrender to the state the property mortgaged. by the third section the commissioners were authorized to audit and allow all just claims for labor, service, materials and land damages incurred between april 6, 1860 and july 12, 1861, in carrying on the work, and to procure the release and discharge of all attachments and liens upon said materials. $175,000 was appropriated to pay the claimants under the approval of the governor and council. by the fourth section the commissioners were authorized to use or run that portion of the road east of the mountain or lease the same to the "vermont and massachusetts," the "fitchburg," the "troy and boston railway company," or either of them, until the completion of the tunnel. by the fifth section the commissioners were authorized to continue the work on the hoosac tunnel, and by contract or otherwise, to expedite its completion. on the 18th of august 1862, is recorded on the records of the corporation the following votes:-1. "the directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company hereby instruct the president to transfer to the commonwealth of massachusetts, under the several mortgages held by said commonwealth, all the property of said corporation. 2. "_voted_ to call a meeting of the stockholders to see if they would ratify the above vote. 3. "_voted_, that the treasurer be directed to make no further delivery of the stock or bonds to the contractors without the written order of all the finance committee." at the commencement of the session of the legislature in january, 1863, his excellency governor andrew, after stating the general provisions of the act of april, 1862, and the appointment of the commissioners under it, "each of whom was carefully selected as being, in the words of the act, at once 'able, impartial and skilful,'" and after alluding to the labors of the commissioners, and the reports of the distinguished engineers appointed to "assist them, closes his remarks upon the enterprise in the following words:-"the report of the commissioners to the governor and council is not yet made, but it is understood to be in rapid preparation. i am unable, therefore, to communicate to the legislature at the beginning of its present session so fully as i have hoped on the subject of this important and interesting enterprise of establishing a new avenue for our trade with the west, piercing the green mountain range, and opening up to greater activity the economical resources of our northern tier of towns. i trust that the conclusions and reasoning of the commissioners when published will settle conflicting opinions in the minds of the people, and, if favorable to the active pursuit of the enterprise, that its prosecution will enjoy an unanimous support. the work can be pursued, relieved from all factitious embarrassments, and contracts can be made by those in the sole interest of the commonwealth, superintended by citizens of the highest experience and capacity." in communicating the report of the commissioners to the legislature on the 12th of march, 1863, after analyzing and commenting upon its statements and reasonings, the governor concludes his address in these words: "i congratulate thee general court and the people upon the rescue of the commonwealth, and especially of this great experimental enterprise, from a position inconsistent with economical, safe, or even possible success in piercing its mountain barrier. "i earnestly and respectfully invite your most candid and thoughtful consideration, not only of the specific facts and figures which elucidate or express the details of information bearing most immediately upon the work contemplated, but i also venture to commend to your deliberate judgment the arguments and reasonings drawn from liberal and enlightened views of public policy and of public economy, which finally lift this subject above all merely local interests or antagonisms into the sphere of statesmanship. and having attentively watched the progress of the report of the commissioners, and the documents by which it is accompanied through the press, i am prepared to give my own assent to the opinion with the expression of which the commissioners conclude their discussion:-"'by the time the tunnel can be completed, the public interest requiring it will have grown large enough to pay for the outlay. the impulse given to business by the new facility, would soon fill up the new line, and make up the temporary loss felt by any other. "'considering the large sum which the commonwealth has already invested in this work, which must be sunk if it is not completed; the reasonable protection from loss which is offered by the other companies interested in the line; the more intimate relations it may promote between massachusetts and the west; and the benefits which such a facility promises to the city and state, we are of opinion that the work should be undertaken by the commonwealth, and completed as early as it can be with due regard to economy.'" the surrender of the road by the directors to the commonwealth, was followed by the following vote, passed january 7, 1863:-_voted_, that mr. stevenson, formerly state engineer of the troy and greenfield railroad, be requested to return an estimate of the payments and credits to which haupt & co. were entitled, under their contract, at the time of the suspension of the work, and that the amount allowed by such estimate be passed to the credit of h. haupt & co.; also, that the stock and bonds to which they are entitled be issued without further order, when legal impediments are removed. under the vote, mr. stevenson made the following report:- _engineer's office, bunker hill bank building,;_} charlestown, mass., feb. 10, 1863.} d. n. carpenter, esq., _president, pro tem., t. & g. r. r; co._ dear sir:--by a vote passed on the 7th of january last, i am requested to return an estimate of the payments and credits to which h. haupt & co. were entitled under their contract at the time of the suspension of the work on the troy and greenfield railroad. the contract thus alluded to recites that "the compensation to be allowed to h. haupt & co. shall be as provided in the resolutions of the board of directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company, passed july 10, a. d. 1857, to wit: "the whole of the state bonds that may be issued in aid of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall be exclusively appropriated to work done, or to be done, upon the tunnel, in compliance with the terms and conditions of the act authorizing the loan of credit; and any state scrip that may,' at any time, be delivered to the treasurer of the company shall be promptly handed to the contractors. "the payments for graduation, bridging, masonry, and superstructure of the road, exclusive of the tunnel, shall be two millions of dollars, with the addition of such sums as may be required for right of way, if this item shall be paid by the contractors. of this amount, nine hundred thousand dollars shall be in the mortgage bonds of the company, and the balance shall be in cash, to as great an extent as cash subscription can be procured; the remainder in stock, at par. "the bonds and stock of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall be issued to h. haupt & co. whenever required, but not to a greater extent than they would be entitled to receive for the work done, estimating' it by the proportion which it bears to the whole amount done and to be done." this contract is so clear and precise in its terms that but one construction can be placed upon it, though it is evident that such terms were predicated upon a different state of affairs than existed at the time of suspension. by this contract, all state payments are to be exclusively appropriated to the work on the tunnel, while the stock and bonds are as exclusively devoted to the graduation, bridging, masonry, and superstructure of the railroad. the amount of compensation the contractors would thus be entitled to, is the issue of state scrip from july 10th, 1857, to the time of suspension, and the $2,000,000 of stock and bonds, less the amount required to finish the railroad. from this must be deducted such payments as may have been made from time to time, concerning which i have no data, but which your treasurer's books must show. any sums that may have been paid by the contractors for right of way, are to be added to the amount due. the cost of finishing the railroad must be estimated. for the road east of the tunnel, my estimate of the cost of finishing was, september 12, 1861, $102,394; to this we should add one-half mile of railroad and bridge over the deerfield, $20,000. for the unfinished portion west of the tunnel, i have no data of my own; i have, therefore, taken for the purpose the estimate of d. l. harris, which is the highest i can find--$40,000. we thus have as the cash cost of completing the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of the road, $162,394, which is to be deducted from the $2,000,000 of stock and bonds, leaving the amount the contractors are entitled to, $1,857,606, less payments made, plus the amount of right of way, &c. this is in exact accordance with the strict construction of the contract which i previously have remarked was predicted upon a different condition of affairs than existed at the time of suspension. i deem it my duty in this connection respectfully to suggest whether, in view of the changes made in the issue of state scrip, which was paid upon the road as well as upon the tunnel, the contractors should not make proper reductions of the stock and bonds due them, taking into consideration as an offset to this such losses as they have been subjected to by the adverse action of the state authorities. this suggestion, however, is volunteered. my duty under the vote of the board is simply to decide what amount the contractors are entitled to receive under an exact and literal construction of the contract. l. stevenson, _civil engineer_. mr. haupt was present at the meeting of the directors at which the vote of january 7 was passed, and the 30th day of may he addressed the following letter to the treasurer of the corporation:- may 30, 1863. w. t. davis, esq., _treasurer, &c._ dear sir:--i find the statement of payments on road in senate document, no. 82, 1863, page 17 communication of j. w. brooks to governor, viz:- oct. 8, 1860, $64,090 00 dec. 12, 1860, 112,190 00 jan. 5, 1861, 30,355 00 feb. 18, 1861, 23,270 00 march 7, 1861, 19,890 00 april 14, 1861, 19,175 00 may 7, 1861, 65,555 00 june 26, 1861, 34,645 00 july 9, 1861, 90,064 00 ---------- $455,234 00 omitting for the present any consideration of offsets, and deducting this whole amount for a temporary settlement, the items to be filled up will be as follows:- whole amount of credit on road per stevenson's estimate, . . . . . . . . . . . $1,800,000 00 deduct stock already issued as per certificates delivered, number, . . . . . . . . shares, . . . . . . . . . . . . bonds delivered, number, . . . . . . . dates of delivery, . . . . . . . . . total bonds and stock delivered, . . . . balance stock to be delivered, . . . . . in addition to this, h. haupt & co. have credits on the books of the company for cash payments made on company accounts as follows:- * * * * * amounting to say, . . . . . . . $90,000 00 yours, &c., haupt. stock to be delivered hereafter instead of bonds. you can with these dates make out this statement in an hour, please do so and send to me at washington. some people in massachusetts will find out that i am not quite dead yet, they may feel me kicking before long. help field all you can to get releases on payment of the 85 per cent. i will not forget you. haupt. previous to the receipt of mr. haupt's letter to the treasurer, but subsequent to the message of the governor, from the foregoing, extracts have been made, to wit: on the first day of april, 1863, the following preamble and resolutions were passed by the directors. "on motion of mr. brigham, seconded by mr. cheever, the following resolutions were adopted:-"_whereas_, the stockholders of this company at their annual meeting held september 2, 1862, unanimously acquiesced in the action which the legislature had taken in regard to the affairs of this company, and voted to surrender the property of the corporation to the commonwealth in the expectation that the railroad and tunnel should be completed in conformity with the avowed intention of the legislature. it is "_resolved_, that this board of directors see no reason to regret the step which this corporation has taken, but in the kindly interest shown by his excellency the governor in this enterprise, and in the able report of the commissioners appointed to examine the subject, they perceive every indication that the great work will be prosecuted with vigor and arrive at an early completion. "_resolved_, that having released the property to the commonwealth, we recognize the state as having entire and complete control over the same; our only claim being that the state shall carry out in good faith the recommendations of the commissioners as contained in their report, and in the address of the chief magistrate of the commonwealth. "_resolved_, that the clerk be requested to furnish copies of the above vote to the friends of the road in the senate and house of representatives, to be used if necessary to show the views of the directors." on the 29th day of april, 1863, the legislature, passed an act entitled "an act in addition to an act, providing for the more speedy completion of the troy and greenfield railroad, and hoosac tunnel," which is chapter 214 of the acts of 1863. by the provisions of this act, the commissioners appointed under chapter 156 of the previous year, were authorized, subject to the advice and approval of the governor and council, to construct, complete and equip the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, and to make such alterations in the line of the road as may be deemed necessary to render it suitable and proper for part of a through line from troy to boston. also such alterations in the location and dimensions of said tunnel as will render it suitable and proper for use, in accordance with the spirit and intent of the 224th chapter of the acts of 1854. by the legislation of 1862 and 1863, and the vote of the directors and of the corporation in the same years, the corporation surrendered to the state the road and tunnel, and the state took possession of the same with the express understanding on both sides, that they would proceed in the construction and completion of both works. the enterprise having fallen into the hands of the state, and the work having been assumed by the state government, no further vote of importance appears upon the records of the directors. their last meeting was held august 30, 1865, when alvah crocker was chosen president, and wendell t. davis, clerk and treasurer. [b.] _principal acts of the legislature relating to the hoosac tunnel and troy and greenfield railroad._ [1848--chapter 307.] an act to incorporate the troy and greenfield railroad company. _be it enacted, &c._ sect. 1. george grennell, roger h. leavitt, samuel h. reed, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the troy and greenfield railroad company, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, liabilities, and restrictions set forth in the forty-fourth chapter of the revised statutes, and in that part of the thirty-ninth chapter thereof relating to railroad corporations, and in all other general laws which have been, or shall be hereafter passed, relative to railroad corporations. sect. 2. said company are hereby authorized to locate, construct, and maintain a railroad, with one or more tracks, from some convenient point on the vermont and massachusetts railroad, at or near the termination of said railroad in greenfield, through any or all of the following towns, viz.:--greenfield, deerfield, conway, shelburne, buckland, coleraine, charlemont, hawley, rowe, and monroe, in the county of franklin, and savoy, florida, adams, clarksburg, and williamstown, in the county of berkshire, to some point on the line of the state of new york or of vermont, convenient to meet, or connect with, any railroad that may be constructed from any point at or near the city of troy, on the hudson river, in the state of new york. sect. 3. the said company may, with their railroad, unite with, and enter upon, the vermont and massachusetts railroad, at or near the termination thereof, as aforesaid, and may likewise enter upon, cross, and use, the railroad of the connecticut river railroad company, in and near the town of greenfield, (not, however, interfering with the depot buildings of either of said companies,) on such terms as may be agreed upon between the corporation hereby created and the aforesaid companies respectively, or as may be prescribed by law. sect. 4. the capital stock of the said company shall consist of not more than thirty-five thousand shares, the number of which shall, from time to time, be determined by the directors thereof; and no assessment shall be laid of a greater amount thereon, in the whole, than one hundred dollars on each share. and the said company may purchase and hold such real and personal estate, as may be necessary for the purposes of their incorporation. sect. 5. if the location of said road shall not be filed within two years, in the manner prescribed by law, or if the said railroad shall not be constructed within seven years from the passage of this act, then the same shall be void. sect. 6. the legislature may authorize any railroad company to enter, with their railroad, upon the troy and greenfield railroad, on such terms as may be agreed upon by said companies, or as may be prescribed by the provisions of law. sect. 7. the legislature may, after the expiration of five years from the time when such railroad shall be opened for use, from time to time, alter and reduce the rate of toll, or profits, upon said road; but said toll shall not be so reduced, without the consent of said company, as to produce, with said profits, less than ten per cent. per annum, upon the investments of the said company. sect. 8. the said corporation may contract with the owners of any contiguous railroad leading into or from either of the states of vermont or new york, for the use of the whole or any part thereof, or for the running and operating the two railroads conjointly, or for the leasing of such contiguous road, or for the letting or hiring of their own road to the owners of such contiguous road, or of any other road which composes a part of the railroad line between the cities of boston and troy, of which the railroad hereby authorized shall be a part. sect. 9. the troy and greenfield railroad company shall, within one year after the opening of their road for use, purchase and take an assignment of the lease and contract of transportation, made and executed between the western railroad corporation and the pittsfield and north adams railroad corporation, on the thirteenth day of january, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six; and shall have all the advantages, and assume all the liabilities, accruing under and by virtue of said lease: provided, that the said western. railroad corporation shall perform their covenants in said lease, to keep said road, and other property therewith connected, in repair, until such assignment; and shall, within six months after the said troy and greenfield railroad company shall have filed the location of their road, according to law, and shall have raised, by subscription, one million of dollars, for the construction of the same, signify, in writing, their election to make such assignment: and provided, that, at the time of such assignment, there shall be secured to said western railroad corporation, by a proper instrument, a lien or mortgage upon all their rights in said pittsfield and north adams railroad, as collateral security for the performance of all the obligations of said corporation, contained in said lease and contract of transportation: and, provided also, that, after the completion of the said troy and greenfield railroad, the said western railroad corporation shall assign and convey, to the said troy and greenfield railroad company, the said contract of transportation, according to the terms of this section, if the said troy and greenfield railroad company shall so elect. sect. 10. this act shall take effect from and after its passage. [_may 10, 1848._ [1852.--chapter 291.] an act concerning the troy and greenfield railroad company. _be it enacted, &c._ sect. 1. the troy and greenfield railroad company and the southern vermont railroad company, a corporation established by the laws of vermont, are hereby authorized by a vote of the stockholders now, or to be, passed, to unite themselves in one corporation; and such vote having been passed, they shall thereupon become one corporation, and all the franchises, property, powers, and privileges now enjoyed by, and all the restrictions, liabilities, and obligations imposed upon, said two corporations, by virtue of their respective charters, shall appertain to said united corporation in the same manner as if the same had been contained in or acquired under an original charter. such corporation, so formed by such union, shall be called by the name of the troy and greenfield railroad company. sect. 2. if the troy and greenfield railroad company shall unite with said southern vermont railroad company, then, and in that case, one or more of the directors of such corporation, formed by such union, shall be an inhabitant of this commonwealth, on whom processes against such corporation may be legally served, and said company shall be held answerable to answer in the jurisdiction where the service is made and the process returnable. sect. 3. the said company and the stockholders therein, so far as they are situate in massachusetts, shall be subject to all the duties and liabilities of railroad corporations in massachusetts, and to the general laws of this commonwealth in relation to railroad corporations. [approved by the governor, may 20, 1852. [1854.--chapter 226.] an act authorizing a loan of the state credit to enable the troy and greenfield railroad company to construct the hoosac tunnel. _be it enacted, &c._ sect. 1. the treasurer of the commonwealth is hereby authorized and instructed to issue scrip, or certificates of debt, in the name and in behalf of the commonwealth, and under his signature and the seal of the commonwealth, for the sum of two millions of dollars, which may be expressed in the currency of great britain, and may be payable to the bearer thereof in london, and bearing an interest of five per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually in london, on the first days of april and october; or the said scrip may be issued in federal currency, payable in boston, as the directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall elect when they apply for each and every issue of said scrip, with warrants for the interest attached thereto, signed by the treasurer; which scrip or certificates, in the currency of great britain, shall be redeemable in london, and those in the federal currency, at boston, at the end of thirty years from the date thereof, and the same shall bear date on the first day of april or october which shall precede the issue of each portion of said scrip; and all such scrip shall be countersigned by the governor of the commonwealth, and be deemed a pledge of the faith and credit of the commonwealth, for the redemption thereof; and the treasurer of the commonwealth, under the conditions hereinafter provided, shall deliver the same to the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad company for the purpose of enabling the said company to construct a tunnel and railroad under and through the hoosac mountain, in some place between the "great bend" in deerfield river, in the town of florida, at the base of hoosac mountain on the east, and the base of the western side of the mountain, near the east end of the village of north adams, on the west. sect. 2. whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the governor and council, that the troy and greenfield railroad company shall have obtained subscriptions to their corporate stock, in the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, and twenty per cent. on each and every share of said six hundred thousand dollars shall have been actually paid in, and shall have completed seven miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and one thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel under the hoosac, in one or more sections, of size sufficient for one or more railroad tracks, a portion of said scrip, to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have completed, in one or two sections, ten miles of their said railroad, and two thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, another portion of said scrip, to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have completed fifteen miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and three thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have completed twenty miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and four thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have completed twenty-five miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and five thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have completed thirty miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, and six thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have completed thirty-two miles of their said railroad, in one or two sections, including all their line to be constructed east of the town of florida, and seven thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel, in one or more sections, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and for each additional portion or portions of said tunnel, of fifteen hundred lineal feet, in one or more directions, completed by said company, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; subject, however, to this proviso, that the last two hundred thousand dollars of said scrip shall be reserved until said company, their successors or their representatives, have opened said railroad for use through the hoosac, and laid a continuous railroad from greenfield to the line of the state in williamstown, when the same shall be delivered: provided, that prior to the second delivery of scrip to the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad corporation, according to the provisions of this section, evidence shall be furnished, satisfactory to the governor and council, that a sum, equal to thirty per cent. of the amount of the scrip then applied for, shall have been actually paid to the treasurer of said corporation; in cash, by the stockholders thereof, in addition to the hundred and twenty thousand dollars to be paid prior to the delivery of any scrip. and that on each application for scrip, in pursuance of the provisions of this section, and prior to the delivery thereof, satisfactory evidence shall be furnished to the governor and council, that a sum, equal to thirty per cent. of the amount of scrip then applied for, has been actually paid to the treasurer of said corporation, until six hundred thousand dollars subscribed for have been paid by the stockholders. and no scrip shall be delivered till satisfactory evidence of such payment is, from time to time, furnished to the governor and council. sect. 3. whenever the treasurer of said company shall receive any of said scrip, he shall, within three months from the receipt of the same, pay to the commissioners of the sinking fund, by this act hereafter established, ten per cent. on the amount of scrip so taken, as a sinking fund; after the whole of said road is open for us, twenty-five thousand dollars annually, shall be set apart from the income of said road and paid to said commissioners, and the whole thereof shall be added to said sinking fund, and shall be managed, invested and appropriated, as is, or shall be provided by law, in relation thereto. sect. 4. the treasurer of the commonwealth, the auditor of accounts of the commonwealth, and the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad company for the time being, shall be the commissioners of the sinking fund of the troy and greenfield railroad company. the said commissioners shall have the care and management of all the moneys, funds and securities at any time belonging to said sinking fund, and shall invest the same; but the moneys not invested, and all the securities of said fund, shall be in the custody of the treasurer of said commonwealth. sect. 5. this act shall not take effect until said company, at an annual meeting, or at a special meeting duly notified for that purpose, shall have assented to the provisions thereof, and shall have executed to the commonwealth a bond, in such form as the attorney-general prescribed on the issuing of scrip to the western railroad corporation, conditioned, that the troy and greenfield railroad company shall comply with the provisions of this act, and shall faithfully expend the proceeds of said scrip as herein provided, and shall indemnify and save harmless, the commonwealth, from all loss or inconvenience on account of said scrip, and that said company shall well and truly pay the principal sum of said scrip, punctually when the same shall become due and payable, or such part thereof as the sinking fund aforesaid shall be insufficient to pay, and the interest thereon semi-annually, as the same shall fall due, and shall also assign to the commonwealth, by suitable instrument or instruments, of the same form with that or those prepared by the attorney-general on the issuing of scrip to the western railroad corporation, the entire railroad, with its income, and all the franchise and property to them belonging, the whole thereof to be held by the commonwealth as a pledge or mortgage to secure the performance of all the conditions of said bond: _provided_, _however_, that the commonwealth shall not take possession of said pledged or mortgaged property, or any part thereof, under or by virtue of said mortgage, unless for some substantial breach of some condition of said bond. sect. 6. in addition to the security provided in the preceding section, the said company shall assign all the interest they now have, or may hereafter obtained, in the southern vermont railroad company. sect. 7. the troy and greenfield railroad company are authorized, and at any time prior to the execution of said mortgage, and within one year from the passage of this act, to alter the present location of their road: provided, that the tunnel shall be located and constructed within the limits prescribed by the first section of this act. sect. 8. the time for completing the troy and greenfield railroad is hereby extended, for the additional term of six years. sect. 9. when the commonwealth shall have advanced to said company, said bond or scrip to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars, the legislature may elect two directors of said company, who shall hold office for the same time, be elected in the same manner, and receive compensation to the same amount as the state directors of the western railroad corporation, but neither of them, while holding such office, shall serve as a director of any other railroad company. [_approved by the governor, april 5, 1854._ [1855.--chapter 394.] an act to authorize certain towns in the counties of franklin and berkshire to subscribe to the capital stock of the troy and greenfield railroad company. _be it enacted, &c._ sect. 1. that each of the several towns of ashfield, buckland, conway, coleraine, charlemont, deerfield, greenfield, hawley, heath, monroe, rowe, and shelburne, in the county of franklin, and each of the several towns of adams, florida and williamstown, in the county of berkshire, be, and hereby is, authorized to subscribe for and hold shares in the capital stock of the troy and greenfield railroad company, to any amount of money not exceeding three per centum on the amount of its last valuation: provided, the inhabitants of such town or towns, at a legal town meeting duly called for that purpose, shall vote by a two-thirds vote to subscribe for such shares in accordance with the terms of this act, to pay for the same out of the town treasury, and to hold the same as town property, subject to the disposition of the town, for public purposes, in like manner as any other property which it may possess. sect. 2. said towns are hereby authorized to raise, by loans or taxes, any sums of money which shall be required to pay the instalments on their respective subscription to said stock and interest thereon. sect. 3. this act shall take effect from and after its passage. [_approved by the governor, may 18, 1855._ [1859.--chapter 117.] an act in addition to, an act authorizing a loan of the state credit, to enable the troy and greenfield railroad company to construct the hoosac tunnel. _be it enacted, &c., as follows:_ sect 1. the terms of the act authorizing a loan of the state credit to enable the troy and greenfield railroad company to construct the hoosac tunnel, are hereby modified as follows, viz.: whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the governor and council, that the troy and greenfield railroad company shall have actually obtained unconditional subscriptions to their corporate stock in the sum of six hundred thousand dollars, and twenty per cent. on each and every share of said six hundred thousand dollars shall have been actually paid in, and shall have completed seven miles of their road, in one or two sections, and one thousand lineal feet of their said tunnel under the hoosac mountain, in one or more sections, of size sufficient for one or more railroad tracks, a portion of said scrip, to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and whenever said company shall have, excavated, in addition to the amount of tunnel above provided for, one thousand lineal feet, in one or more sections, of heading or gallery of fourteen feet width at the bottom, and six feet in height in the middle, and of suitable proportion and form, or (if excavated by machinery) circular, and with a diameter of not less than eight feet, another portion of said scrip, amounting to fifty thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of said company; and when said company shall have excavated two thousand feet of their said tunnel, of the size above specified, another portion of said scrip, amounting to thirty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company in addition to said two thousand feet, shall have excavated one thousand lineal feet of heading, in one or more sections, and of the size above specified, and shall have graded three miles of road, commencing on the bank of green river, at the present location of the crossing of said stream, or north thereof, and extending towards shelburne falls, on the same side of green river and deerfield river as the present location, said three miles being all situated within four miles of the point of commencement, another portion of said scrip, amounting to eighty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever in addition to the grading of said three miles as above, said company shall have excavated three thousand lineal feet of tunnel as above specified, another portion of said scrip, to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company, in addition to the three thousand feet above specified, shall have excavated, in one or more sections, one thousand lineal feet of heading, as above specified, and shall have graded six miles of road in location and otherwise as aforesaid, said six miles of road being all situate within seven miles of the point of commencement at green river, another portion of said scrip, amounting to eighty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and when said company, in addition to the grading of six miles of road above specified, shall have excavated four thousand feet of tunnel as above, another portion of said scrip, amounting to twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company, in addition to the above, shall have excavated, in one or more sections, one thousand lineal feet of heading as aforesaid, and shall have graded nine miles of road, in location and otherwise as aforesaid, between greenfield and shelburne falls, another portion of said scrip, to the amount of eighty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company, in addition to the above nine miles of graded road, shall have excavated five thousand feet of tunnel as aforesaid, another portion of said scrip, amounting to twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company shall have excavated, in one or more sections, one thousand lineal feet of heading as aforesaid, in addition to the five thousand feet of tunnel above specified, and shall have graded the road between greenfield and shelburne falls, crossing the green river upon the present location, or at a point north thereof, another portion of said scrip, amounting to eighty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company, in addition to the grading of the road between greenfield and shelburne falls as aforesaid, shall have excavated six thousand feet of tunnel as aforesaid, another portion of said scrip, amounting to twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever in addition to the grading and tunnel above specified, the said company shall have excavated as aforesaid, one thousand lineal feet of heading, another portion of said scrip, to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever in addition to the grading above specified, the said company shall have excavated seven thousand feet of tunnel as aforesaid, another portion of said scrip, to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and for each additional thousand feet of heading that shall be excavated of dimensions as aforesaid, another portion of said scrip, amounting to thirty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and for each additional one thousand feet of tunnel that shall be excavated of dimensions as aforesaid, another portion of said scrip, amounting to twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company shall have completed the graduation and superstructure of the road between greenfield and shelburne falls, on the route herein before specified, and shall have put the same in running order, another portion of said scrip, to the amount of forty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and whenever said company, in addition to the road between greenfield and shelburne falls above specified, shall have completed the graduation and superstructure of two continuous miles of road, commencing at the western termination of the above road, another portion of said scrip, amounting to eighty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid; and for the graduation and superstructure of each additional mile of road, graded and laid continuously through either of the towns of buckland, charlemont, rowe or florida, another portion of said scrip, amounting to twenty thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid: _provided_, that when the rails shall have been laid and the road put in running order, between greenfield and the east end of the hoosac tunnel, excepting that portion of the road which is to be made from the material to be furnished by the tunnel itself, another portion of said scrip, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid: and _provided_, _also_, that whenever the aggregate amount of scrip that shall have been delivered to the treasurer of said company shall have reached the sum of one million seven hundred thousand dollars, no further delivery of scrip shall be made until the whole of the tunnel through the hoosac mountain shall have been completed, of size not less than fourteen feet in width and eighteen feet in height from the bottom to the top of the excavation, and until the facades of the said tunnel and such portions as may require arching shall be finished with good substantial stone or brick masonry, and until the rails shall have been laid over the whole length of the road, including the tunnel, and the same constructed in such manner, and the necessary connections with other roads 80 finished, as will permit the convenient use of the same in the transportation of passengers and freight between the cities of boston and troy; but when such connections shall have been made, the tunnel fully completed and the road constructed as herein before provided, the balance of said scrip, amounting to three hundred thousand dollars, shall be delivered as aforesaid: and _provided_, _also_, that until the rails shall have been laid and the road put in running order between greenfield and shelburne falls, the aggregate payments under this act shall not exceed one million of dollars: and _provided_, _also_, that prior to the second delivery of scrip to the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad corporation, according to the provisions of this section, evidence shall be furnished, satisfactory to the governor and council, that a sum equal to thirty per cent. of the amount of the scrip then applied for, shall have been actually paid to the treasurer of said corporation, (in cash,) by the stockholders thereof, in addition to the one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to be paid prior to the delivery of any scrip, and that on each application for scrip, in pursuance of the provisions of this section, and prior to the delivery thereof, satisfactory evidence shall be furnished to the governor and council that a sum equal to thirty per cent. of the amount of scrip then' applied for, has been actually paid to the treasurer of said corporation, until the six hundred thousand dollars subscribed for shall have been paid by the stockholders; and no scrip shall be delivered until satisfactory evidence of such payment is, from time to time, furnished to the governor and council; and provided, also, no scrip shall be delivered to the treasurer of said corporation until satisfactory evidence shall be furnished to the governor and council, that said corporation have expended in a reasonable manner, in excavating and completing said tunnel, and in grading, constructing and completing the line of road, a sum at least equal to the amount of all the preceding issues of scrip. sect. 2. the preceding section of this act shall not be so constructed as necessarily to delay the opening of the road between greenfield and shelburne falls, until after the completion of six thousand feet of tunnel; but whenever any portion of not less than three miles of said road shall have been graded between greenfield and shelburne falls, as herein before provided, a portion of scrip, amounting to fifty thousand dollars, shall be delivered to the treasurer of the said company; and in case such payments shall have been previously made upon the road, the payments upon the completion of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth thousand feet of tunnel shall be reduced to thirty thousand dollars for each thousand feet of heading, and twenty thousand dollars for each thousand feet of tunnel of the required dimensions; but no portion of said scrip shall be delivered for any portion of said heading or tunnel, until the corresponding portion of the road shall have been graded as is herein before provided. sect. 3. whenever the treasurer of said company shall receive any of said scrip, he shall offer the scrip, 80 received, to the treasurer of the commonwealth for sale; and if the treasurer of the commonwealth shall so require, being thereunto authorized by law, the treasurer of said company shall sell and dispose of the same to the treasurer of the commonwealth, at the fair market value thereof, to be determined by the governor and council. if the treasurer of the commonwealth shall decide to buy as aforesaid, then the treasurer of the company shall forthwith pay, to the commissioners of the sinking fund, ten per cent. on the amount of the scrip so taken, as a sinking fund. if the treasurer of the commonwealth shall decide not to buy, as aforesaid, then the treasurer of the company, within three months after the receipt of any of said scrip, shall pay to the commissioners of the sinking fund, ten per cent. on the amount of the scrip so received, as a sinking fund. after the whole of said road is open for use, twenty-five thousand dollars annually, shall be set apart from the income of said road, and paid to said commissioners; and the whole thereof shall be added to said sinking fund, and shall be managed; invested and appropriated, as is or shall be provided by law in relation thereto. sect. 4. the preceding sections shall be in lieu of and be substituted for sections two and three of chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and the second section of said act is hereby repealed. sect. 5. the time for completing the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, is hereby extended until december thirty-first, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. sect. 6. subscriptions, the instalments upon which are payable in cash, or in the scrip of the towns authorized to subscribe to the stock of the troy and greenfield railroad company, under the provisions of chapter three hundred and ninety-four of the acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, shall be considered as unconditional subscriptions, in compliance with the requirements of this act; and payment in the bonds of said towns shall be considered as cash. sect. 7. this act shall take effect, whenever said company shall file, in the office of the secretary of state, a certified copy of any vote or votes accepting the same, which may be passed at any regular meeting of the stockholders of said company, or at any meeting specially called for that purpose. _approved march 26, 1859._ [1860.--chapter 202.] an act in addition to an act authorizing a loan of the state credit to enable the troy and greenfield railroad company to construct the hoosac tunnel. _be it enacted, &c., as follows:_ sect. 1. the troy and greenfield railroad company shall forthwith make and file in the proper offices a location of their entire road and tunnel, which location shall be made on that side or sides of the deerfield river which will afford the most direct and eligible route between the village of shelburne falls and a suitable terminus in the town of deerfield or greenfield, to be determined by the state engineer appointed as hereinafter provided. the grades of any part of the road hereafter to be constructed shall not exceed forty feet to the mile ascending eastward, and fifty feet to the mile ascending westward; and the limits of grade and curvature of said road, included within said location; and not graded, shall be such that the maximum resistance to the passage of trains, in either direction, shall not exceed the maximum resistance in the same direction on the fitchburg and vermont and massachusetts railroads; and before any location made by the chief engineer of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall be filed, a copy of the alignment and a table of grades, verified by the oath of said engineer, shall be submitted to a state engineer appointed as hereinafter provided, who shall certify that the limits of grade and curvature herein before prescribed have not been exceeded, and the said table of grades so certified shall be filed with the location. sect. 2. no further deliveries of scrip shall be made to said company upon the conditions authorized in former acts, but the undelivered portions of the loan of two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four, amounting to one million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars, shall be divided and apportioned between the railroad and tunnel, and for the construction of each, respectively; six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the completion of the unfinished portion of railroad extending from the eastern terminus of said road near greenfield to within half a mile of the eastern-end of hoosac tunnel, and one million one hundred and twenty thousand dollars for the completion of the tunnel, which shall be delivered upon the conditions and in the manner hereinafter declared, subject however to the provisions of the third section of chapter one hundred and seventeen of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-nine. no delivery of any portion of said scrip shall be made until said company shall, at a special meeting duly authorized for the purpose, have assented to the provisions of this act, nor until said company shall have duly made and located their line of road as aforesaid, and shall have executed to the commonwealth such further bond and mortgage, or other assurances of title on their franchise, railroad, or other property, as the attorney-general shall prescribe, for the further security of the commonwealth; and said bond and mortgage, and other assurances, and all bonds, mortgages, or other assurances heretofore made to the commonwealth by said company, shall have priority to and be preferred before any and all attachments or levies on execution heretofore or hereafter made. sect. 3. the governor and council shall annually appoint a state engineer for the purpose of examining and determining monthly the amount and value of the work done, and materials delivered on the railroad and tunnel of the troy and greenfield railroad company, who shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, payable quarterly. the state engineer shall forthwith fix permanent marks in each end of the hoosac tunnel, marking the progress of the work up to february twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty, from which to determine the progress subsequently made. he shall also determine by suitable notes, marks, or observations, the amount and value of all grading, bridging, masonry, or other work done, or iron, or other materials delivered on the road east of the hoosac tunnel prior to december twenty-second, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and fix data from which to determine the value of any work, or materials delivered subsequent to the date last named. he shall monthly, immediately after the first day of each month, estimate the proportion which the work done upon the road, since the preceding estimate, bears to the whole of the work required to be done in the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of said railroad east of the hoosac tunnel, and also the work done in the excavation of said tunnel, which he shall certify separately to the governor, together with the amount of state scrip to which the company is entitled under the provisions of this act. such monthly estimates shall be based upon a width of road-bed at grade of fifteen feet, on embankments, seventeen and a half feet in side-cuts, and twenty feet in thorough-cuts; in the heading of the tunnel, upon dimensions fourteen feet wide and six feet high in the middle, and in the finished excavation of the tunnel of fourteen feet wide and eighteen feet high in the middle. the deliveries of scrip shall be at the rate of fifty dollars for each lineal foot of tunnel, divided between heading and full sized tunnel, in the proportion' of thirty dollars for each lineal foot of heading and twenty dollars per lineal foot for the remaining excavation; and of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the whole of the graduation, masonry, bridging and superstructure of the unfinished portion of the road east of the tunnel. the scrip shall be delivered on the road in the proportion which the value of the work done and the materials delivered each month bears to the estimated cost of the whole work and materials required on the portion of road aforesaid. no expenditures shall be required merely for the purposes of ornament, but the work shall be substantially performed, and the rails shall weigh not less than fifty-six pounds to the lineal yard; for any defective materials or work, a proportionate amount of scrip shall be withheld. the governor and council shall have a general supervision of the work, and for that purpose shall visit and inspect the same at least once in each year, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient; and they shall have power to correct abuses, remedy defects, and enforce requirements, by withholding scrip or imposing new requirements in such manner as the interest of the commonwealth shall in their judgment require. if the governor, upon the receipt of the monthly estimates and certificates of the state engineer, shall approve thereof, he shall transmit the same and his approval thereon to the state treasurer, and the state treasurer shall thereupon deliver the amount of scrip so certified for, to the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad company, or to his order, subject to the provisions hereafter mentioned. if he shall not approve thereof he shall submit the same to the council, and their approval transmitted to the state treasurer as aforesaid shall authorize such delivery. sect. 4. the company shall at least thirty days before any interest on any state scrip delivered to said company becomes payable, transmit the amount thereof, with costs of exchange, to the treasurer of the state, and he shall in all cases and at the charge of said company, pay at maturity all interest and costs of exchange which become payable on said scrip where the same is payable; and if said interest and exchange and all interest and costs thereon, or any payments required to be made into the sinking fund, or interest thereon, or any part thereof, remain unpaid when said company becomes entitled to the next delivery of state scrip, then the state treasurer shall deduct the amount so remaining unpaid, with all costs and interest thereon, from the amount of scrip then deliverable. sect. 5. the troy and greenfield railroad company may construct their railroad across the public highways at grade, in cases where the county commissioners of the county do not determine such manner of crossing to be detrimental to the public safety and convenience; but whenever they do so determine, said company shall construct the same in such manner as the county commissioners direct. sect. 6. the legislature shall immediately after the passage of this act, elect two directors of the troy and greenfield railroad company, to hold their office for one year, or until others are elected by the legislature; and any city, town or corporation that may subscribe not less than one hundred thousand dollars, shall have the right to elect annually one director; and any city that may subscribe not less than five hundred thousand dollars, shall have the right to elect annually by their council two directors in said company, which election may be held at any time after such subscription is made. sect. 7. the capital stock of the troy and greenfield railroad company shall consist of twenty-five thousand shares of the par value of one hundred dollars each, in which shall be included all shares heretofore issued or subscribed for, conditionally or unconditionally, or payable in work, an accurate account of which shall be made by the company, and recorded in the records of the directors. and the residue of said shares, and all shares which may revert to said company, shall be hereafter issued only at par value, and for cash, or town or city scrip, or for the bonds of the company. sect. 8. the troy and greenfield railroad company is hereby authorized and required to purchase the entire road, franchise, stock, bonds, and other property of the southern vermont railroad company, together with the income, benefits and reversion of its lease to the troy and boston railroad company, and subject to its provisions, for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars; and for the purpose of enabling them to make such purchase, and transfer the same to the commonwealth as additional security to the commonwealth for its whole loan, a further issue and loan of state scrip in federal currency; of the description specified in chapter two hundred and twenty-six, of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, is hereby authorized to be made, to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars, deliverable as follows, namely: whenever all the capital stock of the southern vermont railroad, excepting not exceeding twenty shares, of one hundred dollars each, and one hundred thousand dollars of its mortgage bonds, with coupons attached, the whole amount being one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, payable in twenty years from the date of issue, with six per cent. interest, payable semi-annually at the bank of commerce, in the city of new york, and the aforesaid lease of said company to the troy and boston railroad company, together with the rent reserved therein of twelve thousand dollars per annum, payable semi-annually, shall have been transferred to the treasurer of the commonwealth, for the future security of the commonwealth for its whole loan of credit to the troy and greenfield railroad company, in such manner as the attorney-general shall prescribe, and to the satisfaction of the governor and council, the state treasurer shall deliver one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of said scrip to the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad company; and when the remaining portion of said bonds, with the coupons attached, shall be in like manner delivered to the state treasurer, he shall deliver to the treasurer of the troy and greenfield railroad company the balance of said scrip, amounting to seventy-five thousand dollars: _provided_, that if any holders of said bonds, not exceeding ten thousand dollars in all, shall refuse to surrender the same at par, the troy and greenfield railroad company shall not be required to purchase the same, but the state treasurer shall withhold an equal amount of state scrip at par in lieu thereof. the semi-annual payments of the coupons, with the balance of the income from the lease of the southern vermont railroad, shall be collected by or paid to the state treasurer, who shall therefrom pay the interest on the two hundred thousand dollars of five per cent. scrip herein authorized to be issued, and shall pay the balance to the commissioners of the sinking fund of the troy and greenfield railroad loan, to be by them from time to time invested as is now by law required. the troy and greenfield railroad company shall, as soon as may be after the passage of this act, procure from the legislature of the slate of vermont the requisite authority for purchasing, holding and mortgaging to the commonwealth the franchise, railroad and property of the southern vermont railroad company, according to the provisions of this act; and in case such authority shall not be granted, and any want of security by reason thereof accrue to the commonwealth, the governor and council shall withhold from the troy and greenfield railroad company portions of scrip constituting the last deliveries to be made on the completion of the tunnel, to such amount, not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, as may be required for further security. sect. 9. all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed: _provided_, _however_, that such repeal shall not, and nothing contained in this act shall, have effect or be construed in anyway to release or impair any security which the commonwealth now has or may hereafter have by force of the bond and mortgage now held by the commonwealth on the franchise, railroad and property of the troy and greenfield railroad company. _approved april 4, 1860._ [1862.--chapter 156.] an act providing for the more speedy completion of the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel. _be it enacted, &c., as follows:_ sect. 1. the governor, with the advice of the council, is hereby authorized and directed to appoint three able, impartial and skilful commissioners to investigate the subject of finishing the troy and greenfield railroad, and of tunneling the hoosac mountain, whose duty it shall be to report to the governor and council what, in their judgment, will be the most economical, practical and advantageous method of completing said road and tunnel, the estimated cost of fitting the same for use, the time within which the tunnel can be completed, and what contracts can be effected, and with what parties, for completing said tunnel and road, and the probable cost of the same, the probable pecuniary value of the road and tunnel when completed, the sources and amount of traffic and income, and all other facts in their opinion useful to assist the governor and council in determining the best method of securing a continuous railroad communication between troy and greenfield. sect. 2. the troy and greenfield railroad company is hereby authorized to surrender to the slate, the property now mortgaged; but the right of redemption shall not be barred until ten years have elapsed after said road and tunnel are completed and the same open for use. the said commissioners shall immediately, in the name of the commonwealth, take complete possession under the mortgages to the commonwealth, given by the troy and greenfield railroad company, of all property, rights and interests intended to be conveyed by said mortgages, or either of them, and then shall, without unnecessary delay, cause the said railroad to be completed and put into running order, and supplied with suitable depots, turn-tables and other usual and necessary appliances for the reception of freight and passenger cars, from the eastern terminus of the troy and greenfield railroad to the hoosac tunnel. sect. 3. said commissioners shall audit and allow all just claims for labor, service, materials, land-damages incurred after april sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty, and before july twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, in carrying on the work of constructing the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel, and may procure the release of all attachments and discharge all liens on said materials. the accounts thus audited shall be transmitted to the governor, and, if approved by the governor and council, the governor is hereby directed to draw his warrant upon the treasurer in favor of the claimants, for the amounts thus allowed, to an amount not exceeding one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. sect. 4. said commissioners are hereby authorized, with consent of the governor and council, to use or run that portion of said road east of the hoosac mountain, or lease the same to the "vermont and massachusetts," the "fitchburg," the "troy and boston railroad company," or either of them, until the completion of the said tunnel. sect. 5. said commissioners shall have authority, with the approval of the governor and council, to continue the work on the hoosac tunnel, and by contract or otherwise, to expedite the completion of said tunnel. sect. 6. all the net earnings and income derived from said railroad, including the tunnel, shall be held by the commonwealth in trust: first, for the payment and reimbursement of the interest on all loans, advancements and disbursements of the commonwealth, on account of said railroad or tunnel: second, for the payment and reimbursement to all parties having a legal right thereto. sect. 7. the governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the commonwealth, for such sums as may be required from time to time by the commissioners for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, and the amount of the same is hereby appropriated therefore; and the treasurer of the commonwealth is hereby authorized to issue scrip, or certificates of debts, in the name and in behalf of the commonwealth, to an extent sufficient to secure the required funds, which scrip shall bear such rate of interest, as is allowed at the time on state scrip issued for other purposes, and shall be redeemable at the end of thirty years from the date thereof; and he shall sell or otherwise use the same at his discretion, to procure the sum necessary to meet the payments in this act provided: provided, that all expenditures and advances made under and by virtue of this act, shall be on account, and form part of the two millions of dollars, authorized to be loaned in state scrip to the troy and greenfield railroad company by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four; and said expenditures and advances, together with all sums hitherto advanced to said company, excepting the sums advanced on account of the "southern vermont railroad," shall not exceed in amount the said two millions of dollars. such changes may be made in the location and grades of the road, as may be necessary to improve the same; and no lease shall be made of the portion of the road east of the tunnel for a term exceeding six years; nor shall such portion be constructed without the approval of the governor and council. sect. 8. all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. sect. 9. this act shall take effect upon its passage. _approved april 28, 1862._ [1863.--chapter 214.] an act in addition to "an act providing for the more speedy completion of the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel." _be it enacted, &c., as follows:_ sect. 1. the commissioners appointed under the one hundred and fifty-sixth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, are hereby authorized, subject to the advice and approval of the governor and council, to construct, complete and equip the troy and greenfield railroad and hoosac tunnel; and to make such alterations in the line of said road as may be deemed necessary to render it suitable and proper for part of a thorough line from troy to boston; also such alterations in the location and dimensions of said tunnel as will render it suitable and proper for use, in accordance with the spirit and intent of the two hundred and twenty-sixth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four. sect. 2. the governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the commonwealth for such sums as may be required from time to time by said commissioners for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, and the act or acts to which this is in addition; and there is accordingly hereby appropriated for the purpose of constructing and completing said tunnel and railroad and equipping the the same, and paying interest upon such scrip, as has been or may be issued during the progress of the work, the unexpended balance of the two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and referred to in chapter one hundred and fifty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two. and the treasurer of the commonwealth is hereby authorized, upon the warrant of the governor drawn as aforesaid, to issue scrip or certificates of debt to the amount of said appropriation, which shall be expressed in such currency and shall bear such rate of interest as the governor and council may direct, and shall be redeemable at the end of thirty years from the date thereof: and said treasurer shall sell or otherwise dispose of the same as he may deem proper, subject to the approval of the governor and council. sect. 3. said commissioners', and their successors in office, shall be removable by the governor, with the advice of the council, and in case of any vacancy occasioned by death; resignation or removal, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment of the governor, with the advice of the council; and said commissioners shall, once in three months, and oftener if required, present to the governor and council an account of all contracts entered into by them as such commissioners, and of all payments and charges by them made, by virtue of their commission, with their vouchers therefore, which vouchers and accounts shall be examined, and if found correct, and in good faith, shall be allowed by the governor and council; but no lease of any part of said railroad, nor any contract amounting to more than ten thousand dollars shall be made by said commissioners without the of the governor and council. sect. 4. said commissioners in altering the location of the line of said road shall have the same power as railroad corporations have in making locations under existing laws, and may take, by purchase or otherwise, such lands, or easements therein, as may be needed for any purposes connected with the construction of said tunnel, and all titles or easements so taken shall vest in the commonwealth; and all parties aggrieved by any action of said commissioners, under this section, may have their damages assessed in the manner provided by law for the assessment of damages against railroad corporations; and all damages so assessed shall be paid from the treasury of the commonwealth to the party entitled thereto, upon the warrant of the governor, drawn pursuant to the provisions of this act. sect. 5. said commissioners, subject to the approval of the governor and council, shall have the power to use a part of the money appropriated by this act, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to extinguish any liens or claims, or rights of redemption which any person or corporation may have, in order to perfect the title of the commonwealth to said railroad and tunnel. sect. 6. the contract executed by the troy and boston railroad company, on the eighteenth day of february, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by the vermont and massachusetts railroad company on the twentieth day of said february, and by the fitchburg railroad company on the twenty-third day of said month, printed on pages eighty-eight to ninety-four, inclusive, of the report of said commissioners made on the twenty-eighth day of february, aforesaid, and referred to in the message of the governor, dated the twelfth day of march, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, is hereby approved, ratified and confirmed. sect. 7. the compensation or said commissioners shall be fixed by the governor, with the advice of the council; but the compensation of the chairman of said commissioners shall in no event exceed the sum of five thousand dollars per annum, nor shall the entire compensation of all of said commissioners exceed the sum of seven thousand dollars per annum. _approved april 29, 1868._ [c.] _statement of j. w. brooks, esq., chairman of the commissioners, made to the committee during the session of the legislature, 1866._ the first act for loaning the credit of the state to the troy and greenfield railroad company, dated april 5, 1854, provides, besides other conditions, that when seven miles of the road in one or two sections is completed, and 1,000 feet of the tunnel, in one or more sections, sufficient for one or more tracks is completed, then $100,000 of scrip shall be delivered to the company. the size of the tunnel required by this act is not definitely stated, nor what proportion of the $100,000 of scrip is loaned on account of the tunnel. the act of april 4, 1860, defines the size the tunnel to be 14 feet wide and 18 feet high. if this means excavation and not completed tunnel, then the room required for the ballast and drainage would reduce the height to about 16 feet above the rails; a size absurdly small enough to be regarded as certainly not above the minimum intended by the act. the same act provides that $30 per foot shall be allowed on account of heading, and $20 on account of the enlargement, making $50 per foot for the completed tunnel; $50,000 of the first advance may therefore be considered as on account of the first 1,000 feet of completed tunnel, and the remainder, say $50,000, on account of the road which had been then completed west of the tunnel. the second delivery of scrip was on account of the tunnel, and under the provisions of the' act of 1859, which provides that $50,000 may be advanced upon the completion of 1,000 feet of heading. the heading was done and $49,777.78 delivered october 4, 1859. the third delivery of scrip was under the provisions of the same act, and was on account of grading three miles of road, in detached pieces, near greenfield. for this, $50,222.22 was delivered january 3, 1860. the fourth delivery was under the same act, and for completing the second 1,000 feet of tunnel, for which $30,222.22, was delivered march 1, 1860. an act changing the terms of the loan was passed april 4, 1860. section 2 divides the scrip remaining undelivered, as follows: "no further deliveries of scrip shall be made to said company upon the conditions authorized in former acts, but the undelivered portions of the loan of two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four, amounting to one million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars, shall be divided and apportioned between the railroad and tunnel, and for the construction of each, respectively: 'six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the completion of the unfinished portion of railroad extending from the eastern terminus of said road near greenfield, to within half a mile of the eastern end of hoosac tunnel." section 3 contains the following provisions: "the governor and council shall annually appoint a state engineer for the purpose of examining and determining monthly the amount and value of the work done, and materials delivered on the railroad and tunnel of the troy and greenfield railroad company, who shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, payable quarterly. the state engineer shall forthwith fix permanent marks in each end of the hoosac tunnel, marking the progress of the work up to february twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty, from which to determine the progress subsequently made. he shall also determine by suitable notes, marks or observations, the amount and value of all grading, bridging, masonry, or other work done, or iron, or other materials delivered on the road east of the hoosac tunnel, prior to december twenty-second, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and fix data from which to determine the value of any work, or materials delivered subsequent to the date last named. he shall monthly, immediately after the first day of each month, estimate the proportion which' the work done upon the road, since the preceding estimate, bears to the whole of the work required to be done in the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of said railroad east of the hoosac tunnel; and also the work done in the excavation of said tunnel, which he shall certify separately to the governor, together with the amount of state scrip to which the company is entitled under the provisions of this act. such monthly estimates shall be based upon a width of road-bed at grade of fifteen feet, on embankments, seventeen and a half feet in side cuts, and twenty feet in through cuts; in the heading of the tunnel upon dimensions fourteen feet wide and six feet high in the middle, and in the finished excavation of the tunnel of fourteen feet wide and eighteen feet high in the middle. "the deliveries of scrip shall be at the rate of fifty dollars for each lineal foot of tunnel, divided between heading and full-sized tunnel, in the proportion of thirty dollars for each lineal foot of heading and twenty dollars per lineal foot for the remaining excavation; and of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the whole of the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of the unfinished portion of the road east of the tunnel. "the scrip shall be delivered on the road in the proportion which the value of the work done and the materials delivered each month bears to the estimated cost of the whole work and materials required on the portion of road aforesaid. "no expenditures shall be required merely for the purposes of ornament, but the work shall be substantially performed, and the rails shall weigh not less than fifty-six pounds to the lineal yard; for any defective materials or work, a proportionate amount of scrip shall be withheld. "the governor and council shall have a general supervision of the work, and for that purpose shall visit and inspect the same at least once in each year, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient; and they shall have power to correct abuses, remedy defects, and enforce requirements, by withholding scrip or imposing new requirements in such manner as the interest of the commonwealth shall in their judgment require." under the provisions of this act scrip to the amount of $455,034.70 has been delivered on account of the railroad and $40,131.95 on account of the tunnel. state scrip was delivered in sterling up to and including the delivery of march 7, 1861, and afterwards in dollar bonds. in this statement the sterling is changed into dollars, to show it all in one currency, and the pound sterling is reckoned, as by the state treasurer when the deliveries were made, at $4.44-44/100. the certificates for amounts due on account of the railroad or tunnel were for irregular sums, and the scrip delivered was in round amounts; the fractional difference sometimes in excess and sometimes below the amount of the certificates is divided between the tunnel and railroad in proportion to the amount due on account of each. stated and divided as above, the scrip which has been delivered on account of the railroad and tunnel, is as follows:- ========================================================================= | | on account | on account of| date. | on account | of road west| road of east | total. | of tunnel. | of tunnel.| of tunnel. | ------------------+------------+-------------+--------------+----------- 1858, october, 6, | $50,000 00 | $50,000 00 | | $100,000 00 1859, october 4, | 49,777 78 | | | 49,777 78 1860, january 3, | | | $50,222 22 | 50,222 22 1860, march 1, | 80,222 22 | | | 80,222 22 1860, october 8, | 15,829 79 | | 64,170 21 | 80,000 00 1860, dec. 12, | 5,580 37 | | 112,197 40 | 117,777 77 1861, january 5, | 2,781 99 | | 30,601 34 | 38,883 83 1861, february 18,| 2,545 83 | | 23,281 95 | 25,777 78 1861, march 7, | 2,052 82 | | 19,724 95 | 21,777 77 1861, may 8, | 5,061 65 | | 80,438 35 | 85,500 00 1861, june 27, | 2,831 89 | | 84,668 11 | 37,500 00 1861, july 12, | 3,497 61 | | 90,002 39 | 93,500 00 +------------+-------------+--------------+----------- |$170,131 95 | $50,000 00 | $505,256 92 | $125,388 87 ========================================================================= the amount of state scrip which according to statutes, had been earned by the progress made towards constructing the tunnel before the surrender of the property to the state, may be stated as follows:-strictly considered, no portion of the tunnel at the east end was cut to the required size of 14 feet wide and 18 feet high, much of it was less than 12 feet wide, and some of it only about 13 feet high. at the entrance the excavation was so nearly sufficient that only a small amount more was required to bring it to full size, and had all the rest been well done, a not very exacting inspector might have passed 25 feet of this as completed. the remaining 2,964 feet of penetration at this end could form no ground whatever for a claim as completed work. at the west shaft the heading had been driven in both directions 56-1/2 feet. at the west end the total penetration had been 543 feet. of this distance 26 feet had been arched with stone--40 feet is in rock, standing without support, and 477 feet is temporarily supported with timbers. under the assumption that the 40 feet left unsupported is safe enough to be left permanently 80, then 66 feet was completed at this end, giving at all points a total penetration of 3,588-1/2 feet, of which, 91 feet was completed. it is clear that the payment of $50,000, under the act of april 5, 1854, for 1,000 feet of completed tunnel, was not earned. under the act of 1859, scrip to the amount of $50,000 was to be delivered upon the completion of 1,000 feet of heading, and though the prior conditions of this act had not been complied with, this amount may fairly be considered as having been earned. the next payment of $30,222.22 for the completion of the second 1,000 feet of tunnel was clearly not earned. all subsequent payments were made under the act of april 4, 1860, providing for the payment of $30 per foot for heading and $20 per foot for the enlargement. the total amount according to the several acts is as follows:- under the act of 1859,- for 1,000 feet of heading, $50,000 00 under act of 1860,- for balance of heading, say 2,588-1/2 feet, at $30 per foot, 77,655 00 for 91 feet of enlargement, at $20 per foot, 1,820 00 ---------- total amount earned, $129,475 00 the amount of state scrip which under the statute had been earned by the progress made in constructing the railroad may now be considered. the first payment of $50,000 under the act of 1854, should have been for seven miles of completed railroad. the certificate of the engineer, upon which it was paid, gave (see page 82 of house document no. 185 for 1860,) the length of rails laid as upwards of seven miles; nothing in the certificate showed then any part of it was completed road, and upon investigation then made it proved that while most of it was done, a part near the west end of the tunnel "was not ten feet wide," and would cost several thousand dollars to complete it. it is clear that this payment had not then been earned in the manner provided by the statute. the second payment was on account of the road, under the act of 1859, for grading three miles of road, "said three miles being all situated within four miles of the point of commencement;" page 30 of house document no. 185 for 1860 says of this grading, "the continuous line is interrupted by fourteen gaps of cuts and fills;" it is thus made up of fifteen separate pieces, avoiding all but the cheapest part of the work, and costing, as the contractor who did the work certifies, between $8,000 and $9,000. under, to say the least, a somewhat liberal construction of the act, $50,000 was said to have been earned by doing this grading. all further deliveries of scrip have been under the act of 1860, which provides that the $650,000 to be delivered on account of the road east of the tunnel shall be in proportion to the progress made upon the work. on page 15, (senate document no. 93 for 1863,) the cost of the work done and materials furnished upon the road east of the tunnel is stated at $463,047 90 deduct amount first expended, as testified by the contractor, for which the $50,000 was paid, say 8,500 00 amount expended under the $650,000 appropriation, including the cost of worthless bridging and masonry, $454,547 90 the cost of completing the grading, bridging, masonry and superstructure upon this part of the road, as estimated by mr. laurie in 1862, was $370,970 80 deduct the cost of a small change in the line, and of embankment washed away by the deerfield river, 5,275 00 sum required to complete the road upon the old line where the work stopped, $365,695 80 amount already expended under the $650,000 appropriation, 454,547 90 amount expended and to be expended at the then prices, $820,243 70 of which 55 per cent. had been done when the work stopped, in july, 1861. 55-416/1000 per cent. therefore of the $650,000 had been earned, and this amounts to $360,204 00 the total amounts earned and paid compare as follows: amount paid upon the tunnel, $170,131 95 amount paid upon the road west of the tunnel, 50,000 00 amount paid upon the road east of the tunnel, 505,256 92 ---------$725,388 87 amount earned upon the tunnel, $129,475 00 amount earned upon the road west of tunnel, (not fully earned,) 50,000 00 amount earned upon the road east of tunnel, (temporary work included,) 410,204 00 --------- 589,679 00 ---------- $135,709 87 overpayment in reckoning sterling exchange, say 44,000 00 overpayment when the work stopped, in july, 1861, $179,709 87 ---------- further payments made upon the same work under the law of 1862, 140,226 95 ---------- total amount paid more than earned, $319,936 82 if proper deductions had been made from the amount earned on account of the unfinished condition of the seven miles west of the tunnel, on which the first $50,000 was paid, and on account of the worthless masonry and bridging which have been reckoned in at full cost, the overpayments would be shown more correctly to exceed in amount the sum of $350,000. * * * * * transcriber's notes: all obvious typographical errors were corrected. tables containing decimal fractions were standardized to show decimals for all values in the column. spelling was standardized to the most prevalent form. punctuation was left as printed. on page 42 the curve value 3-1/2â° was changed to 3â° 30' to match the other similar values. the sum of the shares in the table in appendix a on pages 50-51 should total 4,610 shares but was printed as 0,000. this was assumed to be a typographical error. james watt by andrew carnegie author of "the empire of business," "gospel of wealth," "triumphant democracy," "american four-in-hand in britain," "round the world," etc. new york doubleday, page & company 1905 copyright, 1905, by doubleday, page & company published, may, 1905 _all rights reserved, including that of translation--also right of translation into the scandinavian languages._ preface when the publishers asked me to write the life of watt, i declined, stating that my thoughts were upon other matters. this settled the question, as i supposed, but in this i was mistaken. why shouldn't i write the life of the maker of the steam-engine, out of which i had made fortune? besides, i knew little of the history of the steam engine and of watt himself, and the surest way to obtain knowledge was to comply with the publisher's highly complimentary request. in short, the subject would not down, and finally, i was compelled to write again, telling them that the idea haunted me, and if they still desired me to undertake it, i should do so with my heart in the task. i now know about the steam-engine, and have also had revealed to me one of the finest characters that ever graced the earth. for all this i am deeply grateful to the publishers. i am indebted to friends, messrs. angus sinclair and edward r. cooper, for editing my notes upon scientific and mechanical points. the result is this volume. if the public, in reading, have one tithe of the pleasure i have had in writing it, i shall be amply rewarded. the author. contents authors preface v chapter page i. childhood and youth 3 ii. glasgow to london--return to glasgow. 23 iii. captured by steam 45 iv. partnership with roebuck 67 v. boulton partnership 87 vi. removal to birmingham 121 vii. second patent 157 viii. the record of the steam engine 195 ix. watt in old age 213 x. watt, the inventor and discoverer 223 xi. watt, the man 233 chapter i childhood and youth james watt, born in greenock, january 19, 1736, had the advantage, so highly prized in scotland, of being of good kith and kin. he had indeed come from a good nest. his great-grandfather, a stern covenanter, was killed at bridge of dee, september 12, 1644, in one of the battles which graham of claverhouse fought against the scotch. he was a farmer in aberdeenshire, and upon his death the family was driven out of its homestead and forced to leave the district. watt's grandfather, thomas watt, was born in 1642, and found his way to crawford's dyke, then adjoining, and now part of, greenock, where he founded a school of mathematics, and taught this branch, and also that of navigation, to the fishermen and seamen of the locality. that he succeeded in this field in so little and poor a community is no small tribute to his powers. he was a man of decided ability and great natural shrewdness, and very soon began to climb, as such men do. the landlord of the district appointed him his baron bailie, an office which then had important judicial functions. he rose to high position in the town, being bailie and elder, and was highly respected and honored. he subsequently purchased a home in greenock and settled there, becoming one of its first citizens. before his death he had established a considerable business in odds and ends, such as repairing and provisioning ships; repairing instruments of navigation, compasses, quadrants, etc., always receiving special attention at his hands. the sturdy son of a sturdy covenanter, he refused to take the test in favor of prelacy (1683), and was therefore proclaimed to be "a disorderly school-master officiating contrary to law." he continued to teach, however, and a few years later the kirk session of greenock, notwithstanding his contumacy, found him "blameless in life and conversation," and appointed him an elder, which required him to overlook not only religious observances, but the manners and morals of the people. one of the most important of these duties was to provide for the education of the young, in pursuance of that invaluable injunction of john knox, "that no father, of what estate or condition that ever he may be, use his children at his own fantasie, especially in their youthhood, _but all must be compelled to bring up their children in learning and virtue_." here we have, at its very birth, the doctrine of compulsory education for all the people, the secret of scotland's progress. great as was the service knox rendered in the field ecclesiastical, probably what he did for the cause of public education excels it. the man who proclaimed that he would never rest until there was a public school in every parish in scotland must stand for all time as one of the foremost of her benefactors; probably, in the extent and quality of the influence he exerted upon the national character through universal compulsory education, the foremost of all. the very year after parliament passed the act of 1696, which at last fulfilled knox's aspirations, and during the eldership of watt's grandfather, greenock made prompt provision for her parish school, in which we may be sure the old "teacher of mathematics" did not fail to take a prominent part. thomas watt's son, the father of the great inventor, followed in his father's footsteps, after his father's death, as shipwright, contractor, provider, etc., becoming famous for his skill in the making of the most delicate instruments. he built shops at the back of his house, and such were the demands upon him that he was able to keep a number of men, sometimes as many as fourteen, constantly at work. like his father, he became a man of position and influence in the community, and was universally esteemed. prosperity attended him until after the birth of his famous son. the loss of a valuable ship, succeeded by other misfortunes, swept away most of the considerable sum which he had made, and it was resolved that james would have to be taught a trade, instead of succeeding to the business, as had been the intention. fortunate it was for our subject, and especially so for the world, that he was thus favored by falling heir to the best heritage of all, as mr. morley calls it in his address to the midland institute--"the necessity at an early age to go forth into the world and work for the means needed for his own support." president garfield's verdict was to the same effect, "the best heritage to which a man can be born is poverty." the writer's knowledge of the usual effect of the heritage of milliondom upon the sons of millionaires leads him fully to concur with these high authorities, and to believe that it is neither to the rich nor to the noble that human society has to look for its preservation and improvement, but to those who, like watt, have to labor that they may live, and thus make a proper return for what they receive, as working bees, not drones, in the social hive. not from palace or castle, but from the cottage have come, or can come, the needed leaders of our race, under whose guidance it is to ascend. we have a fine record in the three generations of the watts, great-grandfather, grandfather and father, all able and successful men, whose careers were marked by steady progress, growing in usefulness to their fellows; men of unblemished character, kind and considerate, winning the confidence and affection of their neighbors, and leaving behind them records unstained. so much for the male branch of the family tree, but this is only half. what of that of the grandmothers and mothers of the line--equally important? for what a scotch boy born to labor is to become, and how, cannot be forecast until we know what his mother is, who is to him nurse, servant, governess, teacher and saint, all in one. we must look to the watt women as carefully as to the men; and these fortunately we find all that can be desired. his mother was agnes muirhead, a descendant of the muirheads of lachop, who date away back before the reign of king david, 1122. scott, in his "minstrelsy of the scottish border," gives us the old ballad of "the laird of muirhead," who played a great part in these unsettled days. the good judgment which characterised the watts for three generations is nowhere more clearly shown than in the lady james watt's father courted and finally succeeded in securing for his wife. she is described as a gentlewoman of reserved and quiet deportment, "esteemed by her neighbours for graces of person as well as of mind and heart, and not less distinguished for her sound sense and good manners than for her cheerful temper and excellent housewifery." her likeness is thus drawn, and all that we have read elsewhere concerning her confirms the truth of the portrait. williamson says that the lady to whom he (thomas watt) was early united in marriage was miss agnes muirhead, a gentlewoman of good understanding and superior endowments, whose excellent management in household affairs would seem to have contributed much to the order of her establishment, as well as to the every-day happiness of a cheerful home. she is described as having been a person above common in many respects, of a fine womanly presence, ladylike in appearance, affecting in domestic arrangements--according to our traditions--what, it would seem was considered for the time, rather a superior style of living. what such a style consisted in, the reader shall have the means of judging for himself. one of the author's informants on such points more than twenty years ago, a venerable lady, then in her eighty-fifth year, was wont to speak of the worthy bailie's wife with much characteristic interest and animation. as illustrative of what has just been remarked of the internal economy of the family, the old lady related an occasion on which she had spent an evening, when a girl, at mrs. watt's house, and remembered expressing with much _naïveté_ to her mother, on returning home, her childish surprise that "mrs. watt had _two_ candles lighted on the table!" among these and other reminiscences of her youth, one venerable informant described james watt's mother, in her eloquent and expressive doric, as, "a braw, braw, woman--none now to be seen like her." there is another account from a neighbor, who also refers to mrs. watt as being somewhat of the grand lady, but always so kind, so sweet, so helpful to all her neighbors. the watt family for generations steadily improved and developed. a great step upward was made the day agnes muirhead was captured. we are liable to forget how little of the original strain of an old family remains in after days. we glance over the record of the cecils, for instance, to find that the present marquis has less than one four-thousandth part of the cecil blood; a dozen marriages have each reduced it one-half, and the recent restoration of the family to its pristine greatness in the person of the late prime minister, and in his son, the brilliant young parliamentarian, of whom great things are predicted already, is to be credited equally to the recent infusion into the cecil family of the entirely new blood of two successive brides, daughters of commoners who made their own way in the world. one was the mother of the late statesman, the other his wife and the mother of his sons. so with the watt family, of which we have records of three marriages. our watt, therefore, had but one-eighth of the original watt strain; seven-eighths being that of the three ladies who married into the family. upon the entrance of a gentlewoman of agnes muirhead's qualities hung important results, for she was a remarkable character with the indefinable air of distinction, was well educated, had a very wise head, a very kind heart and all the sensibility and enthusiasm of the celt, easily touched to fine issues. she was a scot of the scots and a storehouse of border lore, as became a daughter of her house, muirhead of lachop. here, then, we have existing in the quiet village of greenock in 1736, unknown of men, all the favorable conditions, the ideal soil, from which might be expected to appear such "variation of species" as contained that rarest of elements, the divine spark we call genius. in due time the "variation" made its appearance, now known as watt, the creator of the most potent instrument of mechanical force known to man. the fond mother having lost several of her children born previously was intensely solicitous in her care of james, who was so delicate that regular attendance at school was impossible. the greater part of his school years he was confined most of the time to his room. this threw him during most of his early years into his mother's company and tender care. happy chance! what teacher, what companionship, to compare with that of such a mother! she taught him to read most of what he then knew, and, we may be sure, fed him on the poetry and romance upon which she herself had fed, and for which he became noted in after life. he was rated as a backward scholar at school, and his education was considered very much neglected. let it not be thought, however, that the lad was not being educated in some very important departments. the young mind was absorbing, though its acquisitions did not count in the school records. much is revealed of his musings and inward development in the account of a visit which he paid to his grandmother muirhead in glasgow, when it was thought that a change would benefit the delicate boy. we read with pleasant surprise that he had to be sent for, at the request of the family, and taken home. he kept the household so stirred up with his stories, recitations and continual ebullitions, which so fairly entranced his grannie and grandpa and the cousins, that the whole household economy was disordered. they lost their sleep, for "jamie" held them spellbound night after night with his wonderful performances. the shy and contemplative youngster who had tramped among the hills, reciting the stirring ballads of the border, had found an admiring tho astonished audience at last, and had let loose upon them. to the circle at home he was naturally shy and reserved, but to his grannie, grandpa, and cousins, free from parental restraint, he could freely deliver his soul. his mind was stored with the legends of his country, its romance and poetry, and, strong covenanters as were the watts for generations, tales of the martyrs were not wanting. the heather was on fire within jamie's breast. but where got you all that _perferidum scotorum_, my wee mannie--that store of precious nutriment that is to become part of yourself and remain in the core of your being to the end, hallowing and elevating your life with ever-increasing power? not at the grammar school we trow. no school but one can instil that, where rules the one best teacher you will ever know, genius though you be--the school kept at your mother's knee. such mothers as watt had are the appointed trainers of genius, and make men good and great, if the needed spark be there to enkindle: "kings they make gods, and meaner subjects kings." we have another story of watt's childhood that proclaims the coming man. precocious children are said rarely to develop far in later years, but watt was pre-eminently a precocious child, and of this several proofs are related. a friend looking at the child of six said to his father, "you ought to send your boy to a public school, and not allow him to trifle away his time at home." "look how he is occupied before you condemn him," said the father. he was trying to solve a problem in geometry. his mother had taught him drawing, and with this he was captivated. a few toys were given him, which were constantly in use. often he took them to pieces, and out of the parts sometimes constructed new ones, a source of great delight. in this way he employed and amused himself in the many long days during which he was confined to the house by ill health. it is at this stage the steam and kettle story takes its rise. mrs. campbell, watt's cousin and constant companion, recounts, in her memoranda, written in 1798: sitting one evening with his aunt, mrs. muirhead, at the tea-table, she said: "james watt, i never saw such an idle boy; take a book or employ yourself usefully; for the last hour you have not spoken one word, but taken off the lid of that kettle and put it on again, holding now a cup and now a silver spoon over the steam, watching how it rises from the spout, and catching and connecting the drops of hot water it falls into. are you not ashamed of spending your time in this way?" to what extent the precocious boy ruminated upon the phenomenon must be left to conjecture. enough that the story has a solid foundation upon which we can build. this more than justifies us in classing it with "newton and the apple," "bruce and the spider," "tell and the apple," "galvani and the frog," "volta and the damp cloth," "washington and his little hatchet," a string of gems, amongst the most precious of our legendary possessions. let no rude iconoclast attempt to undermine one of them. even if they never occurred, it matters little. they should have occurred, for they are too good to lose. we could part with many of the actual characters of the flesh in history without much loss; banish the imaginary host of the spirit and we were poor indeed. so with these inspiring legends; let us accept them and add others gladly as they arise, inquiring not too curiously into their origin. while watt was still in boyhood, his wise father not only taught him writing and arithmetic, but also provided a set of small tools for him in the shop among the workmen--a wise and epoch-making gift, for young watt soon revealed such wonderful manual dexterity, and could do such astonishing things, that the verdict of one of the workmen, "jamie has a fortune at his finger-ends," became a common saying among them. the most complicated work seemed to come naturally to him. one model after another was produced to the wonder and delight of his older fellow-workmen. jamie was the pride of the shop, and no doubt of his fond father, who saw with pardonable pride that his promising son inherited his own traits, and gave bright promise of excelling as a skilled handicraftsman. the mechanical dexterity of the watts, grandfather, father and son, is not to be belittled, for most of the mechanical inventions have come from those who have been cunning of hand and have worked as manual laborers, generally in charge of the machinery or devices which they have improved. when new processes have been invented, these also have usually suggested themselves to the able workmen as they experienced the crudeness of existing methods. indeed, few important inventions have come from those who have not been thus employed. it is with inventors as with poets; few have been born to the purple or with silver spoons in their mouths, and we shall plainly see later on that had it not been for watt's inherited and acquired manual dexterity, it is probable that the steam engine could never have been perfected, so often did failure of experiments arise solely because it was in that day impossible to find men capable of executing the plans of the inventor. his problem was to teach them by example how to obtain the exact work required when the tools of precision of our day were unknown and the men themselves were only workmen of the crudest kind. many of the most delicate parts, even of working engines, passed through watt's own hands, and for most of his experimental devices he had himself to make the models. never was there an inventor who had such reason to thank fortune that in his youth he had learned to work with his hands. it proved literally true, as his fellow-workmen in the shop predicted, that "jamie's fortune was at his finger-ends." as before stated, he proved a backward scholar for a time, at the grammar school. no one seems to have divined the latent powers smoldering within. latin and greek classics moved him not, for his mind was stored with more entrancing classics learned at his mother's knee: his heroes were of nobler mould than the greek demigods, and the story of his own romantic land more fruitful than that of any other of the past. busy working man has not time to draw his inspiration from more than one national literature. nor has any man yet drawn fully from any but that of his native tongue. we can no more draw our mental sustenance from two languages than we can think in two. man can have but one deep source from whence come healing waters, as he can have but one mother tongue. so it was with watt. he had scotland and that sufficed. when the boy absorbs, or rather is absorbed by, wallace, the bruce, and sir john grahame, is fired by the story of the martyrs, has at heart page after page of the country's ballads, and also, in more recent times, is at home with burns' and scott's prose and poetry, he has little room and less desire, and still less need, for inferior heroes. so the dead languages and their semi-supernatural, quarrelsome, self-seeking heroes passed in review without gaining admittance to the soul of watt. but the spare that fired him came at last--mathematics. "happy is the man who has found his work," says carlyle. watt found his when yet a boy at school. thereafter never a doubt existed as to the field of his labors. the choice of an occupation is a serious matter with most young men. there was never room for any question of choice with young watt. the occupation had chosen him, as is the case with genius. "talent does what it can, genius what it must." when the goddess lays her hand upon a mortal dedicated to her shrine, concentration is the inevitable result; there is no room for anything which does not contribute to her service, or rather all things are made contributory to it, and nothing that the devotee sees or reads, hears or feels, but some way or other is made to yield sustenance for the one great, overmastering task. "the gods send thread for a web begun," because the web absorbs everything that comes within reach. so it proved with watt. at fifteen, he had twice carefully read "the elements of philosophy" (gravesend), and had made numerous chemical experiments, repeating them again and again, until satisfied of their accuracy. a small electrical machine was one of his productions with which he startled his companions. visits to his uncle muirhead at glasgow were frequent, and here he formed acquaintance with several educated young men, who appreciated his abilities and kindly nature; but the visits to the same kind uncle "on the bonnie, bonnie banks o' loch lomond," where the summer months were spent, gave the youth his happiest days. indefatigable in habits of observation and research, and devoted to the lonely hills, he extended his knowledge by long excursions, adding to his botanical and mineral treasures. freely entering the cottages of the people, he spent hours learning their traditions, superstitions, ballads, and all the celtic lore. he loved nature in her wildest moods, and was a true child of the mist, brimful of poetry and romance, which he was ever ready to shower upon his friends. an omniverous reader, in after life he vindicated his practice of reading every book he found, alleging that he had "never yet read a book or conversed with a companion without gaining information, instruction or amusement." scott has left on record that he never had met and conversed with a man who could not tell him something he did not know. watt seems to have resembled sir walter, "who spoke to every man he met as if he were a brother"--as indeed he was--one of the many fine traits of that noble, wholesome character. these two foremost scots, each supreme in his sphere, seem to have had many social traits in common, and both that fine faculty of attracting others. the only "sport" of the youth was angling, "the most fitting practice for quiet men and lovers of peace," the "brothers of the angle," according to izaak walton, "being mostly men of mild and gentle disposition." from the ruder athletic games of the school he was debarred, not being robust, and this was a constant source of morbid misery to him, entailing as it did separation from the other boys. the prosecution of his favorite geometry now occupied his thoughts and time, and astronomy also became a fascinating study. long hours were often spent, lying on his back in a grove near his home, studying the stars by night and the clouds by day. watt met his first irreparable loss in 1753, when his mother suddenly died. the relations between them had been such as are only possible between mother and son. often had the mother said to her intimates that she had been enabled to bear the loss of her daughter only by the love and care of her dutiful son. home was home no longer for jamie, and we are not surprised to find him leaving it soon after she who had been to him the light and leading of his life had passed out of it. watt now reached his seventeenth year. his father's affairs were greatly embarrassed. it was clearly seen that the two brothers, john and james, had to rely for their support upon their own unaided efforts. john, the elder, some time before this had taken to the sea and been shipwrecked, leaving only james at home. of course, there was no question as to the career he would adopt. his fortune "lay at his fingers' ends," and accordingly he resolved at once to qualify himself for the trade of a mathematical instrument maker, the career which led him directly in the pathway of mathematics and mechanical science, and enabled him to gratify his unquenchable thirst for knowledge thereof. naturally glasgow was decided upon as the proper place in which to begin, and watt took up his abode there with his maternal relatives, the muirheads, carrying his tools with him. no mathematical instrument maker was to be found in glasgow, but watt entered the service of a kind of jack-of-all-trades, who called himself an "optician" and sold and mended spectacles, repaired fiddles, tuned spinets, made fishing-rods and tackle, etc. watt, as a devoted brother of the angle, was an adept at dressing trout and salmon flies, and handy at so many things that he proved most useful to his employer, but there was nothing to be learned by the ambitious youth. his most intimate schoolfellow was andrew anderson, whose elder brother, john anderson, was the well-known professor of natural philosophy, the first to open classes for the instruction of working-men in its principles. he bequeathed his property to found an institution for this purpose, which is now a college of the university. the professor came to know young watt through his brother, and watt became a frequent visitor at his house. he was given unrestricted access to the professor's valuable library, in which he spent many of his evenings. one of the chief advantages of the public school is the enduring friendships boys form there, first in importance through their beneficial influence upon character, and, second, as aids to success in after life. the writer has been impressed by this feature, for great is the number of instances he has known where the prized working-boy or man in position has been able, as additional force was required, to say the needed word of recommendation, which gave a start or a lift upward to a dearly-cherished schoolfellow. it seems a grave mistake for parents not to educate their sons in the region of home, or in later years in colleges and universities of their own land, so that early friendships may not be broken, but grow closer with the years. watt at all events was fortunate in this respect. his schoolmate, andrew anderson, brought into his life the noted professor, with all his knowledge, kindness and influence, and opened to him the kind of library he most needed. chapter ii glasgow to london--return to glasgow through professor muirhead, a kinsman of watt's mother, he was introduced to many others of the faculty of the university, and, as usual, attracted their attention, especially that of dr. dick, professor of natural philosophy, who strongly advised him to proceed to london, where he could receive better instruction than it was possible to obtain in scotland at that time. the kind professor, diviner of latent genius, went so far as to give him a personal introduction, which proved efficient. how true it is that the worthy, aspiring youth rarely goes unrecognised or unaided. men with kind hearts, wise heads, and influence strong to aid, stand ready at every turn to take modest merit by the hand and give it the only aid needed, opportunity to speak, through results, for itself. so london was determined upon. fortunately, a distant relative of the watt family, a sea-captain, was about to set forth upon that then long and toilsome journey. they started from glasgow june 7, 1755, on horseback, the journey taking twelve days. the writer's parents often referred to the fact that when the leading linen manufacturer of dunfermline was about to take the journey to london--the only man in the town then who ever did--special prayers were always said in church for his safety. the member of parliament in watt's day from the extreme north of scotland would have consumed nearly twice twelve days to reach westminster. to-day if the capital of the english-speaking race were in america, which lord roseberry says he is willing it should be, if thereby the union of our english-speaking race were secured, the members of the great council from britain could reach washington in seven days, the members from british columbia and california, upon the pacific, in five days, both land and sea routes soon to be much quickened. those sanguine prophets who predict the reunion of our race on both sides of the atlantic can at least aver that in view of the union of scotland and england, the element of time required to traverse distances to and from the capital is no obstacle, since the most distant points of the new empire, britain in the east and british columbia and california in the west, would be reached in less than one-third the time required to travel from the north of scotland to london at the time of the union. besides, the telegraph to-day binds the parts together, keeping all citizens informed, and stirring their hearts simultaneously thousands of miles apart--glasgow to london, 1755, twelve days; 1905, eight hours. thus under the genius steam, tamed and harnessed by watt, the world shrinks into a neighborhood, giving some countenance to the dreamers who may perchance be proclaiming a coming reality. we may continue, therefore, to indulge the hope of the coming "parliament of man, the federation of the world," or even the older and wider prophecy of burns, that, "it's coming yet for a' that, when man to man the world o'er, shall brithers be for a' that." there comes to mind that jewel we owe to plato, which surely ranks as one of the most precious of all our treasures: "we should lure ourselves as with enchantments, for the hope is great and the reward is noble." so with this enchanting dream, better than most realities, even if it be all a dream. let the dreamers therefore dream on. the world, minus enchanting dreams, would be commonplace indeed, and let us remember this dream is only dreamable because watt's steam engine is a reality. after his twelve days on horseback, watt arrived in london, a stranger in a strange land, unknowing and unknown. but the fates had been kind for, burdened with neither wealth nor rank, this poor would-be skilled mechanic was to have a fair chance by beginning at the bottom among his fellows, the sternest yet finest of all schools to call forth and strengthen inherent qualities, and impel a poor young man to put forth his utmost effort when launched upon the sea of life, where he must either sink or swim, no bladders being in reserve for him. our young hero rose to the occasion and soon proved that, cæsar-like, he could "stem the waves with heart of controversy." thus the rude school of experience calls forth and strengthens the latent qualities of youth, implants others, and forms the indomitable man, fit to endure and overcome. here, for the first time, alone in swarming london, not one relative, not one friend, not even an acquaintance, except the kind sea-captain, challenged by the cold world around to do or die, fate called to watt as it calls to every man who has his own way to make: "this is collingtogle ford, and thou must keep thee with thy sword." when the revelation first rushes upon a youth, hitherto directed by his parents, that, boy no more, he must act for himself, presto! change! he is a man, he has at last found himself. the supreme test, which proves the man, can come in all its winnowing force only to those born to earn their own support by training themselves to be able to render to society services which command return. this training compels the development of powers which otherwise would probably lie dormant. scotch boy as watt was to the core, with the lowland broad, soft accent, and ignorant of foreign literature, it is very certain that he then found support in the lessons instilled at his mother's knee. he had been fed on wallace and bruce, and when things looked darkest, even in very early years, his national hero, wallace, came to mind, and his struggles against fearful odds, not for selfish ends, but for his country's independence. did wallace give up the fight, or ever think of giving up? never! it was death or victory. bruce and the spider! did bruce falter? never! neither would he. "scots wa hae," "let us do or die," implanted before his teens, has pulled many a scottish boy through the crises of life when all was dark, as it will pull others yet to come. altho burns and scott had yet to appear, to crystallise scotland's characteristics and plant the talismanic words into the hearts of young scots, watt had a copious supply of the national sentiment, to give him the "stout heart for the stye brae," when manhood arrived. his mother had planted deep in him, and nurtured, precious seed from her celtic garden, which was sure to grow and bear good fruit. we are often met with the question, "what is the best possible safeguard for a young man, who goes forth from a pure home, to meet the temptations that beset his path?" various answers are given, but, speaking that as a scot, reared as watt was, the writer believes all the suggested safeguards combined scarcely weigh as much as preventives against disgracing himself as the thought that it would not be only himself he would disgrace, but that he would also bring disgrace upon his family, and would cause father, mother, sister and brother to hang their heads among their neighbors in secluded village, on far-away moor or in lonely glen. the scotch have strong traces of the chinese and japanese religious devotion to "the family," and the filial instinct is intensely strong. the fall of one member is the disgrace of all. even although watt's mother had passed, there remained the venerated father in greenock, and the letters regularly written to him, some of which have fortunately been preserved, abundantly prove that, tho far from home, yet in home and family ties and family duties the young man had his strong tower of defence, keeping him from "all sense of sin or shame." watt never gave his father reason for one anxious thought that he would in any respect discredit the good name of his forbears. many london shops were visited, but the rules of the trade, requiring apprentices to serve for seven years, or, being journeymen, to have served that time, proved an insuperable obstacle to watt's being employed. his plan was to fit himself by a year's steady work for return to glasgow, there to begin on his own account. he had not seven years to spend learning what he could learn in one. he would be his own master. wise young man in this he was. there is not much outcome in the youth who does not already see himself captain in his dreams, and steers his barque accordingly, true to the course already laid down, not to be departed from, under any stress of weather. we see the kind of stuff this young scotch lad was made of in the tenacity with which he held to his plan. at last some specimens of his work having seemed very remarkable to mr. john morgan, mathematical instrument maker, finch lane, cornhill, he agreed to give the conquering young man the desired year's instructions for his services and a premium of twenty pounds, whereupon the plucky fellow who had kept to his course and made port, wrote to his father of his success, praising his master "as being of as good character, both for accuracy in his business, and good morals, as any of his way in london." the order in which this aspiring young man of the world records the virtues will not be overlooked. he then adds, "if it had not been for mr. short, i could not have got a man in london that would have undertaken to teach me, as i now find there are not above five or six who could have taught me all i wanted." mr. short was the gentleman to whom professor dick's letter of introduction was addressed, who, no more than the professor himself, nor mr. morgan, could withstand the extraordinary youth, whom he could not refuse taking into his service--glad to get him no doubt, and delighted that he was privileged to instruct one so likely to redound to his credit in after years. thus watt made his start in london, the twenty pounds premium being duly remitted from home. up to this time, watt had been a charge on his father, but it was very small, for he lived in the most frugal style at a cost of only two dollars per week. in one of his letters to his father he regrets being unable to reduce it below that, knowing that his father's affairs were not prosperous. he, however, was able to obtain some remunerative work on his own account, which he did after his day's task was over, and soon made his position secure as a workman. specialisation he met with for the first time, and he expresses surprise that "very few here know any more than how to make a rule, others a pair of dividers, and suchlike." here we see that even at that early day division of labor had won its way in london, though yet unknown in the country. the jack-of-all-trades, the handyman, who can do everything, gives place to the specialist who confines himself to one thing in which practice makes him perfect. watt's mission saved him from this, for to succeed he had to be master, not of one process, but of all. hence we find him first making brass scales, parallel-rulers and quadrants. by the end of one month in this department he was able to finish a hadley quadrant. from this he proceeded to azimuth compasses, brass sectors, theodolites, and other delicate instruments. before his year was finished he wrote his father that he had made "a brass sector with a french joint, which is reckoned as nice a piece of framing-work as is in the trade," and expressed the hope that he would soon now be able to support himself and be no longer a charge upon him. it is highly probable that this first tool finished by his own hands brought to watt more unalloyed pleasure than any of his greater triumphs of later years, just as the first week's wages of youth, money earned by service rendered, proclaiming coming manhood, brings with it a thrill and glow of proud satisfaction, compared with which all the millions of later years are as dross. writers upon labor, who have never labored, generally make the profound mistake of considering labor as one solid mass, when the truth is that it contains orders and degrees as distinct as those in aristocracy. the workman skilled beyond his fellows, who is called upon by his superintendent to undertake the difficult job in emergencies, ranks high, and probably enjoys an honorable title, a pet name conferred by his shopmates. men measure each other as correctly in the workshop as in the professions, and each has his deserved rank. when the right man is promoted, they rally round and enable him to perform wonders. where favoritism or poor judgment is shown, the reverse occurs, and there is apathy and dissatisfaction, leading to poor results and serious trouble. the manual worker is as proud of his work, and rightly so, as men are in other vocations. his life and thought centre in the shop as those of members of congress or parliament centre in the house; and triumph for him in the shop, his world, means exactly the same to him, and appears not less important to his family and friends than what leadership is to the public man, or in any of the professions. he has all their pride of profession, and less vanity than most. how far this "pride of profession" extends is well illustrated by the pittsburgh story of the street scrapers at their noon repast. maccarthy, recently deceased, was the subject of eulogy, one going so far as to assert that he was "the best man that ever scraped a hoe on liberty street." to this, one who had aspirations "allowed mac was a good enough man on plain work, but around the gas-posts he wasn't worth a cent." a public character, stopping over night with a friend in the country, the maid-of-all-work tells her mistress, after the guest departs, "i have read so much about him, never expecting to see him; little did i think i should have the honor of brushing his boots this morning." happy girl in her work, knowing that all service is honorable. even shoe-blacking, we see, has its rewards. a highland laird and lady, visiting some of their crofters on the moors, are met and escorted by a delighted wife to her cot. the children and the husband are duly presented. at an opportune moment the proud wife cannot refrain from informing her visitors that "it was donald himsel' the laird had to send for to thatch the pretty golf-house at the castle. donald did all that himsel'," with an admiring glance cast at the embarrassed great man. donald "sent for by the laird at the castle" ranks in donald's circle and in donald's own heart with the honor of being sent for by his majesty to govern the empire in mr. balfour's circle and in mr. balfour's own heart. ten to one the proud highland crofter and his circle reap more genuine, unalloyed satisfaction from the message than the lowland statesman and his circle could reap from his. but it made balfour famous, you say. so was donald made famous, his circle not quite so wide as that of his colleague--that is all. donald is as much "uplifted" as the prime minister; probably more so. thus is human nature ever the same down to the roots. many distinctions, few differences in life. we are all kin, members of the one family, playing with different toys. so deep down into the ranks of labor goes the salt of pride of profession, preventing rot and keeping all fresh in the main, because on the humblest of the workers there shines the bright ray of hope of recognition and advancement, progress and success. as long as this vista is seen stretching before all is well with labor. there will be friction, of course, between capital and labor, but it will be healthy friction, needed by, and good for, both. there is the higgling of the market in all business. as long as this valuable quality of honest pride in one's work exists, and finds deserved recognition, society has nothing to fear from the ranks of labor. those who have had most experience with it, and know its qualities and its failings best, have no fear; on the contrary, they know that at heart labor is sound, and only needs considerate treatment. the kindly personal attention of the employer will be found far more appreciated than even a rise in wages. enforced confinement and unremitting labor soon told upon watt's delicate constitution, yet he persevered with the self-imposed extra work, which brought in a little honest money and reduced the remittances from home. he caught a severe cold during the winter and was afflicted by a racking cough and severe rheumatic pains. with his father's sanction, he decided to return home to recuperate, taking good care however, forehanded as he always proved himself, to secure some new and valuable tools and a stock of materials to make many others, which "he knew he must make himself." a few valuable books were not forgotten, among them bion's work on the "construction and use of mathematical instruments"--nothing pertaining to his craft but he would know. king he would be in that, so everything was made to revolve around it. that was the foundation upon which he had to build. to the old home in scotland our hero's face was now turned in the autumn of 1756, his twentieth year. his native air, best medicine of all for the invalid exile, soon restored his health, and to glasgow he then went, in pursuance of his plan of life early laid down, to begin business on his own account. he thus became master before he was man. there was not in all scotland a mathematical instrument maker, and here was one of the very best begging permission to establish himself in glasgow. as in london so in glasgow, however, the rules of the guild of hammermen, to which it was decided a mathematical instrument maker would belong, if one of such high calling made his appearance, prevented watt from entrance if he had not consumed seven years in learning the trade. he had mastered it in one, and was ready to demonstrate his ability to excel by any kind of test proposed. watt had entered in properly by the door of knowledge and experience of the craft, the only door through which entrance was possible, but he had travelled too quickly; besides he was "neither the son of a burgess, nor had he served an apprenticeship in the borough," and this was conclusive. how the world has travelled onward since those days! and yet our day is likely to be in as great contrast a hundred and fifty years hence. protective tariffs between nations, and probably wars, may then seem as strangely absurd as the hammermen's rules. even in 1905 we have still a far road to travel. failing in his efforts to establish himself in business, he asked the guild to permit him to rent and use a small workshop to make experiments, but even this was refused. we are disposed to wonder at this, but it was in strict accordance with the spirit of the times. when the sky was darkest, the clouds broke and revealed the university as his guardian angel. dr. dick, professor of natural philosophy, knowing of watt's skill from his first start in glasgow, had already employed him to repair some mathematical instruments bequeathed to the university by a scotch gentleman in the west indies, and the work had been well done, at a cost of five pounds--the first contract money ever earned by watt in glasgow. good work always tells. ability cannot be kept down forever; if crushed to earth, it rises again. so watt's "good work" brought the professors to his aid, several of whom he had met and impressed most favorably during its progress. the university charter, gift of the pope in 1451, gave absolute authority within the area of its buildings, and the professors resolved to give our hero shelter there--the best day's work they ever did. may they ever be remembered for this with feelings of deepest gratitude. what men these were! the venerable anderson has already been spoken of; adam smith, who did for the science of economics what watt did for steam, was one of watt's dearest friends; black, discoverer of latent heat; robinson, dick of whom we have spoken, and others. such were the world's benefactors, who resolved to take watt under their protection, and thus enabled him to do his appointed work. glorious university, this of glasgow, protector and nurse of watt, probably of all its decisions this has been of the greatest service to man! there are universities and universities. glasgow's peculiar claim to regard lies in the perfect equality of the various schools, the humanities not neglected, the sciences appreciated, neither accorded precedence. its scientific professor, thompson, now lord kelvin, was recently elevated to the lord chancellorship, the highest honor in its power to bestow. every important university develops special qualities of its own, for which it is noted. that of glasgow is renowned for devotion to the scientific field. what a record is hers! protector of watt, going to extreme measures necessary, not alone to shelter him, but to enable him to labor within its walls and support himself; first university to establish an engineering school and professorship of engineering; first to establish a chemical teaching laboratory for students; first to have a physical laboratory for the exercise and instruction of students in experimental work; nursery from which came the steam engine of watt, the discovery of latent heat by its professor black, and the successful operation of telegraph cables by its professor and present lord chancellor (lord kelvin). may the future of glasgow university copy fair her glorious past! her "atmosphere" favors and stimulates steady, fruitful work. at all scottish, as at all american universities, we may rejoice that there is always found a large number of the most distinguished students, who, figuratively speaking, cultivate knowledge upon a little oatmeal, earning money between terms to pay their way. it is highly probable that a greater proportion of these will be heard from in later years than of any other class. american universities have, fortunately, followed the glasgow model, and are giving more attention to the hitherto much neglected needs of science, and the practical departments of education, making themselves real universities, "where any man can study everything worth studying." a room was assigned to watt, only about twenty feet square, but it served him as it has done others since for great work. when the well-known author, dr. smiles, visited the room, he found in it the galvanic apparatus employed by professor thompson (lord kelvin) for perfecting his delicate invention which rendered ocean cables effective. the kind and wise professors did not stop here. they went pretty far, one cannot but think, when they took the next step in watt's behalf, giving him a small room, which could be made accessible to the public, and this he was at liberty to open as a shop for the sale of his instruments, for watt had to make a living by his handiwork. strange work this for a university, especially in those days; but our readers, we are sure, will heartily approve the last, as they have no doubt approved the first action of the faculty in favor of struggling genius. business was not prosperous at first with watt, his instruments proving slow of sale. of quadrants he could make three per week with the help of a lad, at a profit of forty shillings, but as sea-going ships could not then reach glasgow, few could be sold. a supply was sent to greenock, then the port of glasgow, and sold by his father. he was reduced, as the greatest artists have often been, to the necessity of making what are known as "pot-boilers." following the example of his first master in glasgow he made spectacles, fiddles, flutes, guitars, and, of course, flies and fishing-tackle, and, as the record tells, "many dislocated violins, fractured guitars, fiddles also, if intreated, did he mend with good approbation." such were his "pot-boilers" that met the situation. his friend, professor black, who, like professor dick, had known of watt's talent, one day asked him if he couldn't make an organ for him. by this time, watt's reputation had begun to spread, and it finally carried him to the height of passing among his associates as "one who knew most things and could make anything." watt knew nothing about organs, but he immediately undertook the work (1762), and the result was an indisputable success that led to his constructing, for a mason's lodge in glasgow, a larger "finger organ," "which elicited the surprise and admiration of musicians." this extraordinary man improved everything he touched. for his second organ he devised a number of novelties, a sustained monochord, indicators and regulators of the blast, means for tuning to any system, contrivances for improving the stops, etc. lest we are led into a sad mistake here, let us stop a moment to consider how watt so easily accomplished wonders, as if by inspiration. in all history it may be doubted whether success can be traced more clearly to long and careful preparation than in watt's case. when we investigate, for instance, this seeming sleight-of-hand triumph with the organs, we find that upon agreeing to make the first, watt immediately devoted himself to a study of the laws of harmony, making science supplement his lack of the musical ear. as usual, the study was exhaustive. of course he found and took for guide the highest authority, a profound, but obscure book by professor smith of cambridge university, and, mark this, he first made a model of the forthcoming organ. it is safe to say that there was not then a man in britain who knew more of the science of music and was more thoroughly prepared to excel in the art of making organs than the new organ-builder. when he attacked the problem of steam, as we shall soon see, the same course was followed, although it involved the mastering of three languages, that he should miss nothing. we note that the taking of infinite pains, this fore-arming of himself, this knowing of everything that was to be known, the note of thorough preparation in watt's career, is ever conspicuous. the best proof that he was a man of true genius is that he first made himself master of all knowledge bearing upon his tasks. watt could not have been more happily situated. his surroundings were ideal, the resources of the university were at his disposal, and, being conveniently situated, his workshop soon became the rendezvous of the faculty. he thus enjoyed the constant intimate companionship of one of the most distinguished bodies of educated men of science in the world. glasgow was favored in her faculty those days as now. two at least of watt's closest friends, the discoverer of latent heat, and the author of the "wealth of nations," won enduring fame. others were eminent. he did not fail to realise his advantages, and has left several acknowledgments of his debt to "those who were all much my superiors, i never having attended a college and being then but a mechanic." his so-called superiors did not quite see it in this light, as they have abundantly testified, but the modesty of watt was ever conspicuous all through his life. watt led a busy life, the time not spent upon the indispensable "pot-boilers" being fully occupied in severe studies; chemistry, mathematics and mechanics all received attention. what he was finally to become no one could so far predict, but his associates expected something great from one who had so deeply impressed them. robison (afterwards professor of natural history in edinburgh university), being nearer watt's age than the others, became his most intimate friend. his introduction to watt, in 1758, has been described by himself. after feasting his eyes on the beautifully finished instruments in his shop, robison entered into conversation with him. expecting to find only a workman, he was surprised to find a philosopher. says robison: i had the vanity to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favorite study (mathematical and mechanical philosophy), and was rather mortified at finding mr. watt so much my superior. but his own high relish for those things made him pleased with the chat of any person who had the same tastes with himself; or his innate complaisance made him indulge my curiosity, and even encourage my endeavors to form a more intimate acquaintance with him. i lounged much about him, and, i doubt not, was frequently teasing him. thus our acquaintance began. chapter iii captured by steam the supreme hour of watt's life was now about to strike. he had become deeply interested in the subject of steam, to which professor robison had called his attention, robison being then in his twentieth year, watt three years older. robison's idea was that steam might be applied to wheel carriages. watt admitted his ignorance of steam then. nevertheless, he made a model of a wheel carriage with two cylinders of tin plate, but being slightly and inaccurately made, it failed to work satisfactorily. nothing more was heard of it. robison soon thereafter left glasgow. the demon steam continued to haunt watt. he, who up to this time had never seen even a model of a steam engine, strangely discovered in his researches that the university actually owned a model of the latest type, the newcomen engine, which had been purchased for the use of the natural philosophy class. one wonders how many of the universities in britain had been so progressive. that of glasgow seems to have recognised at an early day the importance of science, in which department she continues famous. the coveted and now historical model had been sent to london for repairs. watt urged its prompt return and a sum of money was voted for this purpose. watt was at last completely absorbed in the subject of steam. he read all that had been written on the subject. most of the valuable matter those days was in french and italian, of which there were no translations. watt promptly began to acquire these languages, that he might know all that was to be known. he could not await the coming of the model, which did not arrive until 1763, and began his own experiments in 1761. how did he obtain the necessary appliances and apparatus, one asks. the answer is easy. he made them. apothecaries' vials were his steam boilers, and hollowed-out canes his steam-pipes. numerous experiments followed and much was learnt. watt's account of these is appended to the article on "steam and the steam engine" in the "encyclopædia britannica," ninth edition. detailed accounts of watt's numerous experiments, failures, difficulties, disappointments, and successes, as one after the other obstacles were surmounted, is not within the scope of this volume, these being all easily accessible to the student, but the general reader may be interested in the most important of all the triumphs of the indefatigable worker--the keystone of the arch. the newcomen model arrived at last and was promptly repaired, but was not successful when put in operation. steam enough could not be obtained, although the boiler seemed of ample capacity. the fire was urged by blowing and more steam generated, and still it would not work; a few strokes of the piston and the engine stopped. smiles says that exactly at the point when ordinary experimentalists would have abandoned the task, watt became thoroughly aroused. "every obstacle," says professor robison, "was to him the beginning of a new and serious study, and i knew he would not quit it until he had either discovered its worthlessness or had made something of it." the difficulty here was serious. books were searched in vain. no one had touched it. a course of independent experiments was essential, and upon this he entered as usual, determined to find truth at the bottom of the well and to get there in his own way. here he came upon the fact which led him to the stupendous result. that fact was the existence of latent heat, the original discoverer of which was watt's intimate friend, professor black. watt found that water converted into steam heated five times its own weight of water to steam heat. he says: being struck with this remarkable fact (effect of latent heat), and not understanding the reason of it, i mentioned it to my friend, dr. black, who then explained to me his doctrine of latent heat, which he had taught some time before this period (1764); but having myself been occupied with the pursuits of business, if i had heard of it i had not attended to it, when i thus stumbled upon one of the material facts by which that beautiful theory is supported. here we have an instance of two men in the same university, discovering latent heat, one wholly ignorant of the other's doings; fortunately, the later discoverer only too glad to acknowledge and applaud the original, and, strange to say, going to him to announce the discovery he had made. watt of course had no access to the professor's classes, and some years before the former stumbled upon the fact, the theory had been announced by black, but had apparently attracted little attention. this episode reminds us of the advantages watt had in his surroundings. he breathed the very "atmosphere" of scientific and mechanical investigation and invention, and had at hand not only the standard books, but the living men who could best assist him. what does latent heat mean? we hear the reader inquire. let us try to explain it in simple language. arago pronounced black's experiment revealing it as one of the most remarkable in modern physics. water passed as an element until watt found it was a compound. change its temperature and it exists in three different states, liquid, solid, and gaseous--water, ice and steam. convert water into steam, and pass, say, two pounds of steam into ten pounds of water at freezing point and the steam would be wholly liquified, _i.e._, become water again, at 212°, but the whole ten pounds of freezing water would also be raised to 212° in the process. that is to say two pounds of steam will convert ten pounds of freezing water into boiling water, so great is the latent heat set free in the passage of steam to lower temperatures at the moment when the contact of cold surfaces converts the vapor from the gaseous into the liquid state. this heat is so thoroughly merged in the compound that the most delicate thermometer cannot detect a variation. it is undiscoverable by our senses and yet it proves its existence beyond question by its work. heat which is obtained by the combustion of coal or wood, lies also in water, to be drawn forth and utilised in steam. it is apparently a mere question of temperature. the heat lies latent and dead until we raise the temperature of the water to 212°, and it is turned to vapor. then the powerful force is instantly imbued with life and we harness it for our purposes. the description of latent heat which gave the writer the clearest idea of it, and at the same time a much-needed reminder of the fact that watt was the discoverer of the practically constant and unvarying amount of heat in steam, whatever the pressure, is the following by mr. lauder, a graduate of glasgow university and pupil of lord kelvin, taken from "watt's discoveries of the properties of steam." it is well to distinguish between the two things, discovery and invention. the title of watt the inventor is world-wide, and is so just and striking that there is none to gainsay. but it is only to the few that dive deeper that watt the discoverer is known. when his mind became directed to the possibilities of the power of steam, he, following his natural bent, began to investigate its properties. the mere inventor would have been content with what was already known, and utilised such knowledge, as newcomen had done in his engine. watt might have invented the separate condenser and ranked as a great inventor, but the spirit of enquiry was in possession of him, and he had to find out all he could about the _nature_ of steam. his first discovery was that of latent heat. when communicating this to professor black he found that his friend had anticipated him, and had been teaching it in lectures to his students for some years past. his next step was the discovery of the _total_ heat of steam, and that this remains practically constant at all pressures. black's fame rests upon his theory of latent heat; watt's fame as the discoverer of the total heat of steam should be equally great, and would be no doubt had his rôle of inventor not overshadowed all his work. this part of watt's work has been so little known that it is almost imperative to-day to give some idea of it to the general reader. suppose you take a flask, such as olive oil is often sold in, and fill with cold water. set it over a lighted lamp, put a thermometer in the water, and the temperature will be observed to rise steadily till it reaches 212°, where it remains, the water boils, and steam is produced freely. now draw the thermometer out of the water, but leaving it still in the steam. it remains steady at the same point--212°. now it requires quite a long time and a large amount of heat to convert all the water into steam. as the steam goes off at the same temperature as the water, it is evident a quantity of heat has escaped in the steam, of which the thermometer gives us no account. this is latent heat. now, if you blow the steam into cold water instead of allowing it to pass into the air, you will find that it heats the water six times more than what is due to its indicated temperature. to fix your ideas: suppose you take 100 lbs. of water at 60°, and blow one pound of steam into it, making 101 lbs., its temperature will now be about 72°, a rise of 12°. return to your 100 lbs. of water at 60° and add one pound of water at 212° the same temperature as the steam you added, and the temperature will only be raised about 2°. the one pound of steam heats six times more than the one pound of water, both being at the same temperature. this is the quantity of latent heat, which means simply hidden heat, in steam. proceeding further with the experiment, if, instead of allowing the steam to blow into the water, you confine it until it gets to some pressure, then blow it into the water, it takes the same weight to raise the temperature to the same degree. this means that the total heat remains practically the same, no matter at what pressure. this is james watt's discovery, and it led him to the use of high-pressure steam, used expansively. even coal may yet be superseded before it is exhausted, for as eminent an authority as professor pritchett of the massachusetts institute of technology has said in a recent address: watt's invention and all it has led to is only a step on the way to harnessing the forces of nature to the service of man. do you doubt that other inventions will work changes even more sweeping than those which the steam engine has brought? consider a moment. the problem of which watt solved a part is not the problem of inventing a machine, but the problem of using and storing the forces of nature which now go to waste. now to us who live on the earth there is only one source of power--the sun. darken the sun and every engine on the earth's surface would soon stop, every wheel cease to turn, and all movement cease. how prodigal this supply of power is we seldom stop to consider. deducting the atmospheric absorption, it is still true that the sun delivers on each square yard of the earth's surface, when he is shining, the equivalent of one horse-power working continuously. enough mechanical power goes to waste on the college campus to warm and light and supply all the manufactories, street railroads and other consumers of mechanical power in the city. how to harness this power and to store it--that is the problem of the inventor and the engineer of the twentieth century, a problem which in good time is sure to be solved. who shall doubt, after finding this secret source of force in water, that some future watt is to discover other sources of power, or perchance succeed in utilising the superabundant power known to exist in the heat of the sun, or discover the secret of the latent force employed by nature in animals, which converts chemical energy directly into the dynamic form, giving much higher efficiencies than any thermo-dynamic machine has to-day or probably ever can have. little knew shakespeare of man's perfect power of motion which utilises all energy! how came he then to exclaim "what a piece of work is man; how infinite in faculty; in form and _moving_ how express and admirable"? this query, and a thousand others, have arisen; for we forget arnold's lines to the master: "others abide our question. thou art free. we ask and ask--thou smilest and art still." man's "moving" is found more "express and admirable" than that of the most perfect machine or adaptation of natural forces yet devised. lord kelvin says the animal motor more closely resembles an electro-magnetic engine than a heat engine, but very probably the chemical forces in animals produce the external mechanical effects through electricity and do not act as a thermo-dynamic engine. the wastage of heat energy under present methods is appalling. about 65 per cent. of the heat energy of coal can be put into the steam boiler, and from this only 15 per cent. of mechanical power is obtained. thus about nine-tenths of the original heat in coal is wasted. proceeding further and putting mechanical power into electricity, only from 2 to 5 per cent. is turned into light; or, in other words, from coal to light we get on an average only about one-half of 1 per cent. of the original energy, a wastage of ninety-nine and one-half of every hundred pounds of coal used. the very best possible with largest and best machinery is a little more than one pound from every hundred consumed. when watt gave to the steam-engine five times its efficiency by utilising the latent heat, he only touched the fringe of the mysterious realm which envelops man. burbank, of the spineless cactus and new fruits, who has been delving deep into the mysteries, tells us: the facts of plant life demand a kinetic theory of evolution, a slight change from huxley's statement that, "matter is a magazine of force," to that of matter being force alone. the time will come when the theory of "ions" will be thrown aside, and no line left between force and matter. professor matthews, he who, with professor loeb at wood's hole, is imparting life to sea-urchins through electrical reactions, declares "that certain chemical substances coming together under certain conditions are bound to produce life. all life comes through the operation of universal laws." we are but young in all this mysterious business. what lies behind and probably near at hand may not merely revolutionise material agencies but human preconceptions as well. "there are more things in heaven and earth than are ever dreamt of in your philosophy." latent heat was a find indeed, but there remained another discovery yet to make. watt found that no less than four-fifths of all the steam used was lost in heating the cold cylinder, and only one-fifth performed service by acting on the piston. prevent this, and the power of the giant is increased fourfold. here was the prize to contend for. win this and the campaign is won. first then, what caused the loss? this was soon determined. the cylinder was necessarily cooled at the top because it was open to the air, and also cooled below in condensing the charge of steam that had driven the piston up in order to create a vacuum, without which the piston would not descend from top to bottom, to begin another upward stroke. a jet of cold water was introduced to effect this. how to surmount this seemingly insuperable obstacle was the problem that kept watt long in profound study. many plans were entertained, only to be finally rejected. at last the flash came into that teeming brain like a stroke of lightning. eureka! he had found it. not one scintilla of doubt ever intruded thereafter. the solution lay right there and he would invent the needed appliances. his mode of procedure, when on the trail of big game, is beautifully illustrated here. when he found the root of the defect which rendered the newcomen engine impracticable for general purposes, he promptly formulated the one indispensable condition which alone met the problem, and which the successful steam-engine must possess. he abandoned all else for the time as superfluous, since this was the key of the position. this is the law he then laid down as an axiom--which is repeated in his specification for his first patent in 1769: "to make a perfect steam engine it was necessary that the cylinder should be always as hot as the steam which entered it, and that the steam should be cooled below 100° to exert its full powers." watt describes how at last the idea of the "separate condenser," the complete cure, flashed suddenly upon his mind: i had gone to take a walk on a fine sabbath afternoon, early in 1765. i had entered the green by the gate at the foot of charlotte street and had passed the old washing-house. i was thinking upon the engine at the time, and had gone as far as the herd's house, when the idea came into my mind that as steam was an elastic body it would rush into a vacuum, and if a communication were made between the cylinder and an exhausted vessel it would rush into it, and might be there condensed without cooling the cylinder. i then saw that i must get rid of the condensed steam and injection-water if i used a jet as in newcomen's engine. two ways of doing this occurred to me. first, the water might be run off by a descending pipe, if an offlet could be got at the depth of thirty-five or thirty-six feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump. the second was to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air ... i had not walked farther than the golf-house when the whole thing was arranged in my mind. professor black says, "this capital improvement flashed upon his mind at once and filled him with rapture." we may imagine "then felt he like some watcher of the skies when a new planet sweeps into his ken." a new world had sprung forth in watt's brain, for nothing less has the steam engine given to man. one reads with a smile the dear modest man's deprecatory remarks about the condenser in after years, when he was overcome by the glowing tributes paid him upon one occasion and hailed as having conquered hitherto uncontrollable steam. he stammered out words to the effect that it came in his way and he happened to find it; others had missed it; that was all; somebody had to stumble upon it. that is all very well, and we love thee, jamie watt (he was always jamie to his friends), for such self-abnegation, but the truth of history must be vindicated for all that. it proclaims, thou art the man; go up higher and take your seat there among the immortals, the inventor of the greatest of all inventions, a great discoverer and one of the noblest of men! in this one change lay all the difference between the newcomen engine, limited to atmospheric pressure, and the steam engine, capable of development into the modern engine through the increasing use of the tremendous force of steam under higher pressures, and improved conditions from time to time. watt leads the steam out of the cylinder and condenses it in a separate vessel, leaving the cylinder hot. he closes the cylinder top and sends a circular piston (hitherto all had been square) through it, and closely stuffs it around to prevent escape of steam. the rapidity of the "strokes" gained keeps the temperature of the cylinder high; besides, he encases it and leaves a space between cylinder and covering filled with steam. thus he fulfils his law: "the cylinder is kept as hot as the steam that enters." "how simple!" you exclaim. "is that all? how obviously this is the way to do it!" very true, surprised reader, but true, also, that no condenser and closed cylinder, no modern steam engine. on monday morning following the sabbath flash, we find watt was up betimes at work upon the new idea. how many hours' sleep he had enjoyed is not recorded, but it may be imagined that he had several visions of the condenser during the night. one was to be made at once; he borrowed from a college friend a brass syringe, the body of which served as a cylinder. the first condenser vessel was an improvised syringe and a tin can. from such an acorn the mighty oak was to grow. the experiment was successful and the invention complete, but watt saw clearly that years of unceasing labor might yet pass before the details could all be worked out and the steam engine appear ready to revolutionise the labor of the world. during these years, professor black was his chief adviser and encouraged him in hours of disappointment. the true and able friend not only did this, but furnished him with money needed to enable him to concentrate all his time and strength upon the task. most opportunely, at this juncture, came watt's marriage, to his cousin miss miller, a lady to whom he had long been deeply attached. watt's friends are agreed in stating that the marriage was of vast importance, for he had not passed untouched through the days of toil and trial. always of a meditative turn, somewhat prone to melancholy when without companionship, and withal a sufferer from nervous headaches, there was probably no gift of the gods equal to that of such a wife as he had been so fortunate as to secure. gentle yet strong in her gentleness, it was her courage, her faith, and her smile that kept watt steadfast. no doubt he, like many other men blessed with an angel in the household, could truly aver that his worrying cares vanished at the doorstep. watt had at last, what he never had before, a home. more than one intimate friend has given expression to the doubt whether he could have triumphed without mrs. watt's bright and cheerful temperament to keep him from despondency during the trying years which he had now to encounter. says miss campbell: i have not entered into any of the interesting details my mother gave me of mr. watt's early and constant attachment to his cousin miss miller; but she ever considered it as having added to his enjoyment of life, and as having had the most beneficial influence on his character. even his powerful mind sank occasionally into misanthropic gloom, from the pressure of long-continued nervous headaches, and repeated disappointments in his hopes of success in life. mrs. watt, from her sweetness of temper, and lively, cheerful disposition, had power to win him from every wayward fancy; to rouse and animate him to active exertion. she drew out all his gentle virtues, his native benevolence and warm affections. from all that has been recorded of her, we are justified in classing watt with bassanio. "it is very meet he live an upright life, for having such a blessing in his lady, he finds the joys of heaven here on earth; and if on earth he do not merit it, in reason he should never come to heaven." watt knew and felt this and let us hope that, as was his duty, he let mrs. watt know it, not only by act, but by frequent acknowledgment. watt did not marry imprudently, for his instrument-making business had increased, as was to have been expected, for his work soon made a reputation as being most perfectly executed. at first he was able to carry out all his orders himself; now he had as many as sixteen workmen. he took a mr. craig as a partner, to obtain needed capital. his profits one year were $3,000. the business had been removed in 1760 to new quarters in the city, and watt himself had rented a house outside the university grounds. having furnished it, watt brought his young wife and installed her there, july, 1764. we leave him there, happy in the knowledge that he is to be carefully looked after, and, last but not least, steadily encouraged and counselled not to give up the engine. as we shall presently see, such encouragement was much needed at intervals. the first step was to construct a model embodying all the inventions in a working form. an old cellar was rented, and there the work began. to prepare the plan was easy, but its execution was quite another story. watt's sad experience with indifferent work had not been lost upon him, and he was determined that, come what may, this working model should not fail from imperfect construction. his own handiwork had been of the finest and most delicate kind, but, as he said, he had "very little experience of mechanics _in great_." this model was a monster in those days, and great was the difficulty of finding mechanics capable of carrying out his designs. the only available men were blacksmiths and tinsmiths, and these were most clumsy workmen, even in their own crafts. were watt to revisit the earth to-day, he would not easily find a more decided change or advance over 1764, in all that has been changed or improved since then, than in this very department of applied mechanics. to-day such a model as watt constructed in the cellar would be simple work indeed. even the gasoline or the electric motor of to-day, though complicated far beyond the steam model, is now produced by automatic machinery. skilled workmen do not have to fashion the parts. they only stand looking on at machinery--itself made by automatic tools--performing work of unerring accuracy. had watt had at his call only a small part of the inventory resources of our day, his model steam engine might have been named the minerva, for minerva-like, it would have sprung forth complete, the creature of automatic machinery, the workmen meanwhile smilingly looking on at these slaves of the mechanic which had been brought forth and harnessed to do his bidding by the exercise of godlike reason. the model was ready after six months of unceasing labor, but notwithstanding the scrupulous fastidiousness displayed by watt in the workmanship of all the parts, the machine, alas, "snifted at many openings." little can our mechanics of to-day estimate what "perfect joints" meant in those days. the entire correctness of the great idea was, however, demonstrated by the trials made. the right principle had been discovered; no doubt of that. watt's decision was that "it must be followed to an issue." there was no peace for him otherwise. he wrote (april, 1765) to a friend, "my whole thoughts are bent on this machine. i can think of nothing else." of course not; he was hot in the chase of the biggest game hunter ever had laid eyes on. he had seen it, and he knew he had the weapons to bring it down. a larger model, free as possible from defects which he felt he could avoid in the next, was promptly determined upon. a larger and better shop was obtained, and here watt shut himself up with an assistant and erected the second model. two months sufficed, instead of six required for the first. this one also at first trial leaked in many directions, and the condenser needed alterations. nevertheless, the engine accomplished much, for it worked readily with ten and one-half pounds pressure per square inch, a decided increase over previous results. it was still the cylinder and its piston that gave watt the chief trouble. no wonder the cylinder leaked. it had to be hammered into something like true lines, for at that day so backward was the art that not even the whole collective mechanical skill of cylinder-making could furnish a bored cylinder of the simplest kind. this is not to be construed as unduly hard upon glasgow, for it is said that all the skill of the world could not do so in 1765, only one hundred and forty years ago. we travel so fast that it is not surprising that there are wiseacres among us quite convinced that we are standing still. we may be pardoned for again emphasising the fact that it is not only for his discoveries and inventions that watt is to be credited, but also for the manual ability displayed in giving to these "airy nothings of the brain, a local habitation and a name," for his greatest idea might have remained an "airy nothing," had he not been also the mechanician able to produce it in the concrete. it is not, therefore, only watt the inventor, watt the discoverer, but also watt, the manual worker, that stands forth. as we shall see later on, he created a new type of workmen capable of executing his plans, working with, and educating them often with his own hands. only thus did he triumph, laboring mentally and physically. watt therefore must always stand among the benefactors of men, in the triple capacity of discoverer, inventor, and constructor. the defects of the cylinder, though serious, were clearly mechanical. their certain cure lay in devising mechanical tools and appliances and educating workmen to meet the new demands. an exact cylinder would leave no room for leakage between its smooth and true surface and the piston; but the solution of another difficulty was not so easily indicated. watt having closed the top of the cylinder to save steam, was debarred from using water on the upper surface of the piston as newcomen did, to fill the interstices between piston and cylinder and prevent leakage of steam, as his piston was round and passed through the top of the cylinder. the model leaked badly from this cause, and while engaged trying numerous expedients to meet this, and many different things for stuffing, he wrote to a friend, "my old white iron man is dead." this being the one he had trained to be his best mechanic, was a grievous loss in those days. misfortunes never come singly; he had just started the engine after overhauling it, when the beam broke. discouraged, but not defeated, he battled on, steadily gaining ground, meeting and solving one difficulty after another, certain that he had discovered how to utilise steam. chapter iv partnership with roebuck capital was essential to perfect and place the engine upon the market; it would require several thousand pounds. had watt been a rich man, the path would have been clear and easy, but he was poor, having no means but those derived from his instrument-making business, which for some time had necessarily been neglected. where was the daring optimist who could be induced to risk so much in an enterprise of this character, where result was problematical. here, watt's best friend, professor black, who had himself from his own resources from time to time relieved watt's pressing necessities, proved once more the friend in time of need. black thought of dr. roebuck, founder of the celebrated carron iron works near by, which burns apostrophised in these lines, when denied admittance: "we cam na here to view your works in hopes to be mair wise, but only lest we gang to hell it may be nae surprise." he was approached upon the subject by dr. black, and finally, in september, 1765, he invited watt to visit him with the professor at his country home, and urged him to press forward his invention "whether he pursued it as a philosopher or as a man of business." in the month of november watt sent roebuck drawings of a covered cylinder and piston to be cast at his works, but it was so poorly done as to be useless. "my principal difficulty in making engines," he wrote roebuck, "is always the smith-work." by this time, watt was seriously embarrassed for money. experiments cost much and brought in nothing. his duty to his family required that he should abandon these for a time and labor for means to support it. he determined to begin as a surveyor, as he had mastered the art when making surveying instruments, as was his custom to study and master wherever he touched. he could never rest until he knew all there was to know about anything. of course he succeeded. everybody knew he would, and therefore business came to him. even a public body, the magistrates of glasgow, had not the slightest hesitation in obtaining his services to survey a canal which was to open a new coal field. he was also commissioned to survey the proposed forth and clyde canal. had he been content to earn money and become leading surveyor or engineer of britain, the world might have waited long for the forthcoming giant destined to do the world's work; but there was little danger of this. the world had not a temptation that could draw watt from his appointed work. his thoughts were ever with his engine, every spare moment being devoted to it. roebuck's speculative and enterprising nature led him also into the entrancing field of steam. it haunted him until finally, in 1767, he decided to pay off watt's debts to the amount of a thousand pounds, provide means for further experiments, and secure a patent for the engine. in return, he became owner of two thirds of the invention. next year watt made trial of a new and larger model, with unsatisfactory results upon the first trial. he wrote roebuck that "by an unforeseen misfortune, the mercury found its way into the cylinder and played the devil with the solder." only after a month's hard labor was the second trial made, with very different and indeed astonishing results--"success to my heart's content," exclaimed watt. now he would pay his long-promised debt to his partner roebuck, to whom he wrote, "i sincerely wish you joy of this successful result, and hope it will make some return for the obligations i owe you." the visit of congratulation paid to his partner roebuck, was delightful. now were all their griefs "in the deep bosom of the ocean buried" by this recent success. already they saw fortunes in their hands, so brightly shone the sun these few but happy days. but the old song has its lesson: "i've seen the morning the gay hills adorning, i've seen it storming before the close of day." instead of instant success, trying days and years were still before them. a patent was decided upon, a matter of course and almost of formality in our day, but far from this at that time, when it was considered monopolistic and was highly unpopular on that account. watt went to berwick-on-tweed to make the required declaration before a master in chancery. in august, 1768, we find him in london about the patent, where he became so utterly wearied with the delays, and so provoked with the enormous fees required to protect the invention, that he wrote his wife in a most despairing mood. she administered the right medicine in reply, "i beg you will not make yourself uneasy though things do not succeed as you wish. if the engine will not do, something else will; never despair." happy man whose wife is his best doctor. from the very summit of elation, to which he had been raised by the success of the model, watt was suddenly cast down into the valley of despair to find that only half of his heavy task was done, and the hill of difficulty still loomed before. reaction took place, and the fine brain, so long strained to utmost tension, refused at intervals to work at high pressure. he became subject to recurring fits of despondency, aggravated, if not primarily caused by anxiety for his family, who could not be maintained unless he engaged in work yielding prompt returns. we may here mention one of his lifelong traits, which revealed itself at times. watt was no man of affairs. business was distasteful to him. as he once wrote his partner, boulton, he "would rather face a loaded cannon than settle a disputed account or make a bargain." monetary matters were his special aversion. for any other form of annoyance, danger or responsibility, he had the lion heart. pecuniary responsibility was his bogey of the dark closet. he writes that, "solomon said that in the increase of knowledge there is increase of sorrow: if he had substituted _business_ for knowledge it would have been perfectly true." roebuck shines out brilliantly in this emergency. he was always sanguine, and encouraged watt to go forward. october, 1768, he writes: you are now letting the most active part of your life insensibly glide away. a day, a moment, ought not to be lost. and you should not suffer your thoughts to be diverted by any other object, or even improvement of this [model], but only the speediest and most effectual manner of executing an engine of a proper size, according to your present ideas. watt wrote dr. small in january, 1769, "i have much contrived and little executed. how much would good health and spirits be worth to me!" and a month later, "i am still plagued with headaches and sometimes heartaches." sleepless nights now came upon him. all this time, however, he was absorbed in his one engrossing task. leupold's "theatrim machinarum," which fell into his hands, gave an account of the machinery, furnaces and methods of mine-working in the upper hartz. alas! the book was in german, and he could not understand it. he promptly resolved to master the language, sought out a swiss-german dyer then settled in glasgow whom he engaged to give him lessons. so german and the german book were both mastered. not bad work this from one in the depths of despair. it has been before noted that for the same end he had successfully mastered french and italian. so in sickness as in health his demon steam pursued him, giving him no rest. watt had a hard piece of work in preparing his first patent-specification, which was all-important in those early days of patent "monopolies" as these were considered. their validity often turned upon a word or two too much or too little. it was as dangerous to omit as to admit. professionals agree in opinion that watt here displayed extraordinary ability. in nothing has public opinion more completely changed than in its attitude toward patents. in watt's day, the inventor who applied for a patent was a would-be monopolist. the courts shared the popular belief. lord brougham vehemently remonstrated against this, declaring that the inventor was entitled to remuneration. every point was construed against the unfortunate benefactor, as if he were a public enemy attempting to rob his fellows. to-day the inventor is hailed as the foremost of benefactors. notable indeed is it that on the very day watt obtained his first patent, january 5th, 1769, arkwright got his spinning-frame patent. only the year before hargreaves obtained his patent for the spinning-jenny. these are the two inventors, with whitney, the american inventor of the cotton-gin, from whose brains came the development of the textile industry in which britain still stands foremost. fifty-six millions of spindles turn to-day in the little island--more than all the rest of the civilised world can boast. much later came stephenson with his locomotive. here is a record for a quartette of manual laborers in the truest sense, actual wage-earners as mechanics--watt, stephenson, arkwright, and hargreaves! where is that quartette to be equalled? workingmen of our day should ponder over this, and take to heart the truth that manual mechanical labor is the likeliest career to develop mechanical inventors and lead them to such distinction as these benefactors of man achieved. if disposed to mourn the lack of opportunity, they should think of these working-men, whose advantages were small compared to those of our day. the greatest invention of all, the condenser, is fully covered by the first patent of 1769. the best engine up to this time was the newcomen, exclusively used for pumping water. as we have seen, it was an atmospheric engine, in no sense a steam engine. steam was only used to force the heavy piston upward, no other work being done by it. all the pumping was done on the downward stroke. the condensation of the spent steam below the piston created a vacuum, which only facilitated the fall of the piston. this caused the cylinder to be cooled between each stroke and led to the wastage of about four-fifths of all the steam used. it was to save this that the condenser was invented, in obedience to watt's law, as stated in his patent, that "the cylinder should be kept always as hot as the steam that entered it"; but it must be kept clearly in mind that watt's "modified machines," under his first patent, only used steam to do work upon the upward stroke, where newcomen used it only to force up the piston. the double-acting engine--doing work up and down--came later, and was protected in the second patent of 1780. watt knew better than any that although his model had been successful and was far beyond the newcomen engine, it was obvious that it could be improved in many respects--not the least of his reasons for confidence in its final and more complete triumph. to these possible improvements, he devoted himself for years. the records once again remind us that it was not one invention, but many, that his task involved. smiles gives the following epitome of some of those pressing at this stage: various trials of pipe-condensers, plate-condensers and drum-condensers, steam-jackets to prevent waste of heat, many trials of new methods to tighten the piston band, condenser pumps, oil pumps, gauge pumps, exhausting cylinders, loading-valves, double cylinders, beams and cranks--all these contrivances and others had to be thought out and tested elaborately amidst many failures and disappointments. there were many others. all unaided, this supreme toiler thus slowly and painfully evolved the steam engine after long years of constant labor and anxiety, bringing to the task a union of qualities and of powers of head and hand which no other man of his time--may we not venture to say of all time--was ever known to possess or ever exhibited. when a noble lord confessed to him admiration for his noble achievements, watt replied, "the public only look at my success and not at the intermediate failures and uncouth constructions which have served me as so many steps to climb to the top of the ladder." quite true, but also quite right. the public have no time to linger over a man's mistakes. what concerns is his triumphs. we "rise upon our dead selves (failures) to higher things," and mistakes, recognised as such in after days, make for victory. the man who never makes mistakes never makes anything. the only point the wise man guards is not to make the same mistake twice; the first time never counts with the successful man. he both forgives and forgets that. one difference between the wise man and the foolish one! it has been truly said that watt seemed to have divined all the possibilities of steam. we have a notable instance of this in a letter of this period (march, 1769) to his friend, professor small, in which he anticipated trevithick's use of high-pressure steam in the locomotive. watt said: i intend in many cases to employ the expansive force of steam to press on the piston, or whatever is used instead of one, in the same manner as the weight of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire engines. in some cases i intend to use both the condenser and this force of steam, so that the powers of these engines will as much exceed those pressed only by the air, as the expansive power of the steam is greater than the weight of the atmosphere. in other cases, when plenty of cold water cannot be had, i intend to work the engines by the force of steam only, and to discharge it into the air by proper outlets after it has done its office. in these days patents could be very easily blocked, as watt experienced with his improved crank motion. he proceeded therefore in great secrecy to erect the first large engine under his patent, after he had successfully made a very small one for trial. an outhouse near one of dr. roebuck's pits was selected as away from prying eyes. the parts for the new engine were partly supplied from watt's own works in glasgow and partly from the carron works. here the old trouble, lack of competent mechanics, was again met with. on his return from necessary absences, the men were usually found in face of the unexpected and wondering what to do next. as the engine neared completion, watt's anxiety "for his approaching doom," he writes, kept him from sleep, his fears being equal to his hopes. he was especially sensitive and discouraged by unforeseen expenditure, while his sanguine partner, roebuck, on the contrary, continued hopeful and energetic, and often rallied his pessimistic partner on his propensity to look upon the dark side. he was one of those who adhered to the axiom, "never bid the devil good-morning till you meet him." smiles believes that it is probable that without roebuck's support watt could never have gone on, but that may well be doubted. his anxieties probably found a needed vent in their expression, and left the indomitable do-or-die spirit in all its power. watt's brain, working at high pressure, needed a safety valve. mrs. roebuck, wife-like, very properly entertained the usual opinion of devoted wives, that her husband was really the essential man upon whom the work devolved, and, that without him nothing could have been accomplished. smiles probably founded his remark upon her words to robison: "jamie (watt) is a queer lad, and, without the doctor (her husband), his invention would have been lost. he won't let it perish." the writer knows of a business organisation in which fond wives of the partners were all full of dear mrs. roebuck's opinion. at one time, according to them, the sole responsibility rested upon three of four of these marvellous husbands, and never did any of the confiding consorts ever have reason to feel that their friend did not share to the fullest extent the highly praiseworthy opinion formed of his partners by their loving wives. the rising smile was charitably suppressed. in extreme cases a suggested excursion to europe at the company's expense, to relieve chester from the cruel strain, and enable him to receive the benefit of a wife's care and ever needful advice, was remarkably effective, the wife's fears that chester's absence would prove ruinous to the business being overcome at last, though with difficulty. due allowance must be made for mrs. roebuck's view of the situation. there can be no doubt whatever, that mr. roebuck's influence, hopefulness and courage were of inestimable value at this period to the over-wrought and anxious inventor. watt was not made of malleable stuff, and, besides, he was tied to his mission. he was bound to obey his genius. the monster new engine, upon which so much depended, was ready for trial at last in september, 1769. about six months had been spent in its construction. its success was indifferent. watt had declared it to be a "clumsy job." the new pipe-condenser did not work well, the cylinder was almost useless, having been badly cast, and the old difficulty in keeping the piston-packing tight remained. many things were tried for packing--cork, oiled rags, old hats (felt probably), paper, horse dung, etc., etc. still the steam escaped, even after a thorough overhauling. the second experiment also failed. so great is the gap between the small toy model and the practical work-performing giant, a rock upon which many sanguine theoretical inventors have been wrecked! had watt been one of that class, he could never have succeeded. here we have another proof of the soundness of the contention that watt, the mechanic, was almost as important as watt the inventor. watt remained as certain as ever of the soundness of his inventions. nothing could shake his belief that he had discovered the true scientific mode of utilising steam. his failures lay in the impossibility of finding mechanics capable of accurate workmanship. there were none such at carron, nor did he then know of any elsewhere. watt's letter to his friend, dr. small, at this juncture, is interesting. he writes: you cannot conceive how mortified i am with this disappointment. it is a damned thing for a man to have his all hanging by a single string. if i had wherewithal to pay the loss, i don't think i should so much fear a failure; but i cannot bear the thought of other people becoming losers by my schemes; and i have the happy disposition of always painting the worst. watt's timidity and fear of money matters generally have been already noted. he had the scotch peasant's horror of debt--anything but that. this probably arises from the fact that the trifling sums owing by the poor to their poor neighbors who have kindly helped them in distress are actually needed by these generous friends for comfortable existence. the loss is serious, and this cuts deeply into grateful hearts. the millionaire's downfall, with large sums owing to banks, rich money-lenders, and wealthy manufacturers, really amounts to little. no one actually suffers, since imprisonment for debt no longer exists; hence "debt" means little to the great operator, who neither suffers want himself by failure nor entails it upon others. to watt, pressing pecuniary cares were never absent, and debt added to these made him the most afflicted of men. besides this, he says, he had been cheated and was "unlucky enough to know." wise man! ignorance in such cases is indeed bliss. we should almost be content to be cheated as long as we do not find it out. it was at such a crisis as this that another cloud, and a dark one, came. the sanguine, enterprising, kindly roebuck was in financial straits. his pits had been much troubled by water, which no existing machinery could pump out. he had hoped that the new engine would prove successful and sufficiently powerful in time to avert the drowning of the pits, but this hope had failed. his embarrassments were so pressing that he was unable to pay the cost of the engine patent, according to agreement, and watt had to borrow the money for this from that never-failing friend, professor black. long may his memory be gratefully remembered. watt had the delightful qualities which attracted friends, and those of the highest and best character, but among them all, though more than one might have been willing, none were both able and willing to sustain him in days of trouble except the famous discoverer of latent heat. when we think of watt, we picture him holding black by the one hand and small by the other, repeating to them "i think myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my dear friends." the patent was secured--so much to the good--but watt had already spent too much time upon profitless work, at least more time than he could afford. his duty to provide for the frugal wants of his family became imperative. "i had," he said, "a wife and children, and i saw myself growing gray without having any settled way of providing for them." he turned again to surveying and prospered, for few such men as watt were to be found in those days, or in any day. with a record of watt's work as surveyor, engineer, councillor, etc., our readers need not be troubled in detail. it should, however, be recorded that the chief canal schemes in scotland in this, the day of canals for internal commerce, preceding the day of railroads that was to come, were entrusted to watt, who continued to act as engineer for the monkland canal. while watt was acting as engineer for this (1770-72), dr. small wrote him that he and boulton had been talking of moving canal boats by the steam engine on the high-pressure principle. in his reply, september 30, 1770, watt asks, "have you ever considered a spiral oar for that purpose, or are you for two wheels?" to make his meaning quite plain, he gives a rough sketch of the screw propeller, with four turns as used to-day. thus the idea of the screw propeller to be worked by his own improved engine was propounded by watt one hundred and thirty-five years ago. this is a remarkable letter, and a still more remarkable sketch, and adds another to the many true forecasts of future development made by this teeming brain. watt also made a survey of the clyde, and reported upon its proposed deepening. his suggestions remained unacted upon for several years, when the work was begun, and is not ended even in our day, of making a trout and salmon stream into one of the busiest, navigable highways of the world. this year further improvements have been decided upon, so that the monsters of our day, with 16,000-horse-power turbine engines, may be built near glasgow. watt also made surveys for a canal between perth and coupar angus, for the well-known crinan canal and other projects in the western highlands, as also for the great caledonian and the forth and clyde canals. the perth canal was forty miles long through a rough country, and took forty-three days, for which watt's fee, including expenses, was $400. labor, even of the highest kind, was cheap in those times. we note his getting thirty-seven dollars for plans of a bridge over the clyde. watt prepared plans for docks and piers at port glasgow and for a new harbor at ayr. his last and most important engineering work in scotland was the survey of the caledonian canal, made in the autumn of 1773, through a district then without roads. "an incessant rain kept me," he writes, "for three days as wet as water could make me. i could scarcely preserve my journal book." suffice it to note that he saved enough money to be able to write, "supposing the engine to stand good for itself, i am able to pay all my debts and some little thing more, so that i hope in time to be on a par with the world." * * * * * we are now to make one of the saddest announcements saving dishonor that it falls to man to make. watt's wife died in childbed in his absence. he was called home from surveying the caledonian canal. upon arrival, he stands paralysed for a time at the door, unable to summon strength to enter the ruined home. at last the door opens and closes and we close our eyes upon the scene--no words here that would not be an offence. the rest is silence. watt tried to play the man, but he would have been less than man if the ruin of his home had not made him a changed man. the recovery of mental equipoise proved for a time quite beyond his power. he could do all that man could do, "who could do more is none." the light of his life had gone out. * * * * * chapter v boulton partnership after watt was restored to himself the first subject which we find attracting him was the misfortunes of roebuck, whose affairs were now in the hands of his creditors. "my heart bleeds for him," says watt, "but i can do nothing to help him. i have stuck by him, indeed, until i have hurt myself." roebuck's affairs were far too vast to be affected by all that watt had or could have borrowed. for the thousand pounds watt had paid on roebuck's account to secure the patent, he was still in debt to black. this was subsequently paid, however, with interest, when watt became prosperous. we now bid farewell to roebuck with genuine regret. he had proved himself a fine character throughout, just the kind of partner watt needed. it was a great pity that he had to relinquish his interest in the patent, when, as we shall see, it would soon have saved him from bankruptcy and secured him a handsome competence. he must ever rank as one of the men almost indispensable to watt in the development of his engine, and a dear, true friend. the darkest hour comes before the dawn, and so it proved here. as roebuck retired, there appeared a star of hope of the first magnitude, in no less a person than the celebrated matthew boulton of birmingham, of whom we must say a few words by way of introduction to our readers, for in all the world there was not his equal as a partner for watt, who was ever fortunate in his friends. of course watt was sure to have friends, for he was through and through the devoted friend himself, and won the hearts of those worth winning. "if you wish to make a friend, be one," is the sure recipe. boulton was not only obviously the right man but he came from the right place, for birmingham was the headquarters of mechanical industry. at this time, 1776, there was at last a good road to london. as late as 1747 the coach was advertised to run there in two days only "if the roads permit." if skilled mechanics, watt's greatest need, were to be found anywhere, it was here in the centre of mechanical skill, and especially was it in the celebrated works of boulton, which had been bequeathed from worthy sire to worthy son, to be largely extended and more than ever preëminent. boulton left school early to engage in his father's business. when only seventeen years old, he had made several improvements in the manufacture of buttons, watch chains, and various trinkets, and had invented the inlaid steel buckles, which became so fashionable. it is stated that in that early day it was found necessary to export them in large quantities to france to be returned and sold in britain as the latest productions of french skill and taste. it is well to get a glimpse of human nature as seen here. fashion decides for a time with supreme indifference to quality. it is a question of the name. at his father's death, the son inherited the business. great credit belongs to him for unceasingly laboring to improve the quality of his products and especially to raise the artistic standard, then so low as to have already caused "brummagem" to become a term of reproach. he not only selected the cleverest artisans, but he employed the best artists, flaxman being one, to design the artistic articles produced. the natural result followed. boulton's work soon gained high reputation. new and larger factories became necessary, and the celebrated soho works arose in 1762. the spirit in which boulton pursued business is revealed in a letter to his partner at soho from london. "the prejudice that birmingham hath so justly established against itself makes every fault conspicuous in all articles that have the least pretensions to taste." it may interest american readers familiar with one dollar watches, rendered possible by production upon a large scale, that it was one of boulton's leading ideas in that early day that articles in common use could be produced much better and cheaper "if manufactured by the help of the best machinery upon a large scale, and this could be successfully done in the making of clocks and timepieces." he promptly erected the machinery and started this new branch of business. both king and queen received him cordially and became his patrons. soho works soon became famous and one of the show places of the country; princes, philosophers, poets, authors and merchants from foreign lands visited them and were hospitably received by boulton. he was besieged with requests to take gentlemen apprentices into the works, hundreds of pounds sometimes being offered as premium, but he resolutely declined, preferring to employ boys whom he could train up as workmen. he replies to a gentleman applicant, "i have built and furnished a house for the reception of one class of apprentices--fatherless children, parish apprentices, and hospital boys; and gentlemen's sons would probably find themselves out of place in such companionship." it is not to be inferred that boulton grew up an uncultured man because he left school very early. on the contrary, he steadily educated himself, devoting much time to study, so that with his good looks, handsome presence, the manners of the gentleman born, and knowledge much beyond the average of that class, he had little difficulty in winning for his wife a lady of such position in the county as led to some opposition on the part of members of her family to the suitor, but only "on account of his being in trade." there exists no survival of this objection in these days of american alliances with heirs of the highest british titles. we seem now to have as its substitute the condition that the father of the bride must be in trade and that heavily and to some purpose. boulton, like most busy men, had time, and an open mind, for new ideas. none at this time interested him so deeply as that of the steam engine. want of water-power proved a serious difficulty at soho. he wrote to a friend, "the enormous expense of the horse-power" (it was also irregular and sometimes failed) "put me upon thinking of turning the mill by fire. i made many fruitless experiments on the subject." boulton wrote franklin, february 22, 1766, in london, about this, and sent a model he had made. franklin replies a month later, apologising for the delay on account of "the hurry and anxiety i have been engaged in with our american affairs."[1] tamer of lightning and tamer of steam, franklin and watt--one of the new, the other of the old branch of our english-speaking race--co-operating in enlarging the powers of man and pushing forward the chariot of progress--fit subject, this, for the sculptor and painter! how much further the steam engine is to be the hand-maid of electricity cannot be told, for it seems impossible to set limits to the future conquests of the latter, which is probably destined to perform miracles un-dreamt of to-day, perhaps coupled in some unthought-of way, with radium, the youngest sprite of the weird, uncanny tribe of mysterious agents. uranium, the supposed basis of the latest discovery, radium, has only one-millionth part of the heat of the latter. the slow-moving earth takes twenty-four hours to turn upon its axis. radium covers an equal distance while we pronounce its name. one and one-quarter seconds, and twenty-five thousand miles are traversed. puck promises to put his "girdle round the earth in forty minutes." radium would pass the fairy girdlist in the spin round sixteen hundred times. thus truth, as it is being evolved in our day, becomes stranger than the wildest imaginings of fiction. our century seems on the threshold of discoveries and advances, not less revolutionary, perhaps more so, than those that have sprung from steam and electricity. "canst thou send lightnings to say 'lo, here i am'?" silenced man. it was so obviously beyond his power until last century. now he smiles as he reads the question. is tyndal's prophecy to be verified that "the potency of all things is yet to be found in matter"? we may be sure the searching, restless brains of franklin and watt would have been meditating upon strange things these days if they were now alive. boulton is entitled to rank, so far as the writer knows, as the first man in the world worthy to wear carlyle's now somewhat familiar title, "captain of industry" for he was in his day foremost in the industrial field, and before that, industrial organisations had not developed far enough to create or require captains, in carlyle's sense. roebuck, while watt's partner, was one of boulton's correspondents, and told him of watt's progress with the model engine which proved so successful. boulton was deeply interested, and expressed a desire that watt should visit him at soho. this he did, on his return from a visit to london concerning the patent. boulton was not at home, but his intimate friend, dr. small, then residing at birmingham, a scientist and philosopher, whom franklin had recommended to boulton, took watt in charge. watt was amazed at what he saw, for this was his first meeting with trained and skilled mechanics, the lack of whom had made his life miserable. the precision of both tools and workmen sank deep. upon a subsequent visit, he met the captain himself, his future partner, and of course, as like draws to like, they drew to each other, a case of mutual liking at first sight. we meet one stranger, and stranger he remains to the end of the chapter. we meet another, and ere we part he is a kindred soul. magnetic attraction is sudden. so with these two, who, by a kind of free-masonry, knew that each had met his affinity. the watt engine was exhaustively canvassed and its inventor was delighted that the great, sagacious, prudent and practical manufacturer should predict its success as he did. shortly after this, professor robison visited soho, which was a magnet that attracted the scientists in those days. boulton told him that he had stopped work upon his proposed pumping engine. "i would necessarily avail myself of what i learned from mr. watt's conversation, and this would not be right without his consent." it is such a delicate sense of honor as is here displayed that marks the man, and finally makes his influence over others commanding in business. it is not sharp practice and smart bargaining that tell. on the contrary, there is no occupation in which not only fair but liberal dealing brings greater reward. the best bargain is that good for both parties. boulton and watt were friends. that much was settled. they had business transactions later, for we find watt sending a package containing "one dozen german flutes" (made of course by him in glasgow), "at 5s. each, and a copper digester, _£_1:10." boulton's people probably wished samples. much correspondence followed between dr. small and watt, the latter constantly expressing the wish that mr. boulton could be induced to become partner with himself and roebuck in his patents. naturally the sagacious manufacturer was disinclined to associate himself with mr. roebuck, then in financial straits, but the position changed when he had become bankrupt and affairs were in the hands of creditors. watt therefore renewed the subject and agreed to go and settle in birmingham, as he had been urged to do. roebuck's pitiable condition he keenly felt, and had done everything possible to ameliorate. what little i can do for him is purchased by denying myself the conveniences of life my station requires, or by remaining in debt, which it galls me to the bone to owe. i shall be content to hold a very small share in the partnership, or none at all, provided i am to be freed from my pecuniary obligations to roebuck and have any kind of recompense for even a part of the anxiety and ruin it has involved me in. thus wrote watt to his friend small, august 30, 1772. small's reply pointed out one difficulty which deserves notice and commendation. "it is impossible for mr. boulton and me, or any other honest man, to purchase, especially from two particular friends, what has no market price, and at a time when they might be inclined to part with the commodity at an under value." this is an objection which to stock-exchange standards may seem "not well taken," and far too fantastical for the speculative domain, and yet it is neither surprising nor unusual in the realms of genuine business, in which men are concerned with or creating only intrinsic values. the result so ardently desired by watt was reached in this unexpected fashion. it was found that in the ordinary course of business roebuck owed boulton a balance of $6,000. boulton agreed to take the roebuck interest in the watt patent for the debt. as the creditors considered the patent interest worthless, they gladly accepted. as watt said, "it was only paying one bad debt with another." boulton asked watt to act as his attorney in the matter, which he did, writing boulton that "the thing is now a shadow; 'tis merely ideal, and will cost time and money to realise it." this as late as march 29, 1773, after eight years of constant experimentation, with many failures and disappointments, since the discovery of the separate condenser in 1765, which was then hailed, and rightly so, as the one thing needed. it remained the right and only foundation upon which to develop the steam engine, but many minor obstacles intervened, requiring watt's inventive and mechanical genius to overcome. the transfer of roebuck's two-third interest to boulton afterward carried with it the formation of the celebrated firm of boulton and watt. the latter arranged his affairs as quickly as possible. he had only made $1,000 for a whole year spent in surveying, and part of that he gave to roebuck in his necessity, "so that i can barely support myself and keep untouched the small sum i have allotted for my visit to you." (watt to small, july 25, 1773). this is pitiable indeed--watt pressed for money to pay his way to birmingham upon important business. the trial engine was shipped from kinneil to soho and watt arrived in may, 1774, in birmingham. here a new life opened before him, still enveloped in clouds, but we may please ourselves by believing that through these the wearied and harassed inventor did not fail to catch alluring visions of the sun. let us hope he remembered the words of the beautiful hymn he had no doubt often sung in his youth: "ye fearful saints, fresh courage take the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy, and shall break with blessings on your head." partnership requires not duplicates, but opposites--a union of different qualities. he who proves indispensable as a partner to one man might be wholly useless, or even injurious, to another. generals grant and sherman needed very different chiefs of staff. one secret of napoleon's success arose from his being free to make his own appointments, choosing the men who had the qualities which supplemented his and cured his own shortcomings, for every man has shortcomings. the universal genius who can manage all himself has yet to appear. only one with the genius to recognise others of different genius and harness them to his own car can approach the "universal." it is a case of different but coöperating abilities, each part of the complicated machine fitting into its right place, and there performing its duty without jarring. never were two men more "supplementary" to each other than boulton and watt, and hence their success. one possessed in perfection the qualities the other lacked. smiles sums this up so finely that we must quote him: different though their characters were in most respects, boulton at once conceived a hearty liking for him. the one displayed in perfection precisely those qualities which the other wanted. boulton was a man of ardent and generous temperament, bold and enterprising, undaunted by difficulty, and possessing an almost boundless capacity for work. he was a man of great tact, clear perception, and sound judgment. moreover, he possessed that indispensable quality of perseverance, without which the best talents are of comparatively little avail in the conduct of important affairs. while watt hated business, boulton loved it. he had, indeed, a genius for business--a gift almost as rare as that for poetry, for art, or for war. he possessed a marvellous power of organisation. with a keen eye for details, he combined a comprehensive grasp of intellect. while his senses were so acute, that when sitting in his office at soho he could detect the slightest stoppage or derangement in the machinery of that vast establishment, and send his message direct to the spot where it had occurred, his power of imagination was such as enabled him to look clearly along extensive lines of possible action in europe, america, and the east. _for there is a poetic as well as a commonplace side to business; and the man of business genius lights up the humdrum routine of daily life by exploring the boundless region of possibility wherever it may lie open before him._ this tells the whole story, and once again reminds us that without imagination and something of the romantic element, little great or valuable is to be done in any field. he "runs his business as if it were a romance," was said upon one occasion. the man who finds no element of romance in his occupation is to be pitied. we know how radically different watt was in his nature to boulton, whose judgment of men was said to be almost unerring. he recognised in watt at their first interview, not only the original inventive genius, but the indefatigable, earnest, plodding and thorough mechanic of tenacious grip, and withal a fine, modest, true man, who hated bargaining and all business affairs, who cared nothing for wealth beyond a very modest provision for old age, and who was only happy if so situated that without anxiety for money to supply frugal wants, he could devote his life to the development of the steam engine. thus auspiciously started the new firm. but boulton was more than a man of business, continues smiles; he was a man of culture, and the friend of educated men. his hospitable mansion at soho was the resort of persons eminent in art, in literature, and in science; and the love and admiration with which he inspired such men affords one of the best proofs of his own elevation of character. among the most intimate of his friends and associates were richard lovell edgeworth, a gentleman of fortune, enthusiastically devoted to his long-conceived design of moving land-carriages by steam; captain keir, an excellent practical chemist, a wit and a man of learning; dr. small, the accomplished physician, chemist and mechanist; josiah wedgwood, the practical philosopher and manufacturer, founder of a new and important branch of skilled industry; thomas day, the ingenious author of "sandford and merton"; dr. darwin, the poet-physician; dr. withering, the botanist; besides others who afterward joined the soho circle, not the least distinguished of whom were joseph priestley and james watt. the first business in hand was the reconstruction of the engine brought from kinneil, which upon trial performed much better than before, wholly on account of the better workmanship attainable at soho; but there still recurs the unceasing complaint that runs throughout the long eight years of trial--lack of accurate tools and skilled workmen, the difference in accuracy between the blacksmith standard and that of the mathematical-instrument maker. watt and boulton alike agreed that the inventions were scientifically correct and needed only proper construction. in our day it is not easy to see the apparently insuperable difficulty of making anything to scale and perfectly accurate, but we forget what the world of watt was and how far we have advanced since. watt wrote to his father at greenock, november, 1774: "the business i am here about has turned out rather successful; that is to say, the fire-engine i have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made." this is as is usual with the scotch in speech, in a low key and extremely modest, on a par with the verdict rendered by the dunfermline critic who had ventured to attend "the playhouse" in edinburgh to see garrick in hamlet--"no bad." the truth was that, so pronounced were the results of proper workmanship, coupled with some of those improvements which watt was constantly devising, the engine was so satisfactory as to set both boulton and watt to thinking about the patent which protected the invention. six of the fourteen years for which it was granted had already passed. some years would still be needed to ensure its general use, and it was feared that before the patent expired little return might be received. much interest was aroused by the successful trial. enquiries began to pour in for pumping engines for mines. the newcomen had proved inadequate to work the mines as they became deeper, and many were being abandoned in consequence. the necessity for a new power had set many ingenious men to work besides watt, and some of these were trying to adopt watt's principles while avoiding his patent. hatley, one of watt's workmen upon the trial engine at the carron works, had stolen and sold the drawings. all this put boulton and watt on their guard, and the former hesitated to build the new works intended for the manufacture of steam engines upon a large scale with improved machinery. an extension of the patent seemed essential, and to secure this watt proceeded to london and spent some time there, busy in his spare moments visiting the mathematical instrument shops of his youth, and attending to numerous commissions from boulton. a second visit was paid to london, during which the sad intelligence of the death of his dear friend, dr. small, reached him. in the bitterness of his grief, boulton writes him: "if there were not a few other objects yet remaining for me to settle my affections upon, i should wish also to take up my abode in the mansions of the dead." watt's sympathetic reply reminds boulton of the sentiments held by their departed friend--that, instead of indulging in unavailing sorrow, the best refuge is the more sedulous performance of duties. "come, my dear sir," he writes, "and immerse yourself in this sea of business as soon as possible. pay a proper respect to your friend by obeying his precepts. no endeavour of mine shall be wanting to make life agreeable to you." beautiful partnership this, not only of business, but also entering into the soul close and deep, comprehending all of life and all we know of death. professor small, born 1734, was a scot, who went to williamsburg university, virginia, as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. thomas jefferson was among his pupils. his health suffered, and he returned to the old home. franklin introduced him to boulton, writing (may 22, 1765): i beg leave to introduce my friend doctor small to your acquaintance, and to recommend him to your civilities. i would not take this freedom if i were not sure it would be agreeable to you; and that you will thank me for adding to the number of those who from their knowledge of you must respect you, one who is both an ingenious philosopher and a most worthy, honest man. if anything new in magnetism or electricity, or any other branch of natural knowledge, has occurred to your fruitful genius since i last had the pleasure of seeing you, you will by communicating it greatly oblige me. this man must have been one of the finest characters revealed in watt's life. altho he left little behind him to ensure permanent remembrance, the extraordinary tributes paid his memory by friends establish his right to high rank among the coterie of eminent men who surrounded watt and boulton. boulton records that "there being nothing which i wish to fix in my mind so permanently as the remembrance of my dear departed friend, i did not delay to erect a memorial in the prettiest but most obscure part of my garden, from which you see the church in which he was interred." dr. darwin contributed the verses inscribed. upon hearing of small's illness day hastened from brussels to be present at the last hour. keir writes, announcing small's death to his brother, the rev. robert small, in dundee, "it is needless to say how universally he is lamented; for no man ever enjoyed or deserved more the esteem of mankind. we loved him with the tenderest affection and shall ever revere his memory." watt's voluminous correspondence with professor small, previous to his partnership with boulton, proves small at that time to have been his intimate friend and counsellor. we scarcely know in all literature of a closer union between two men. many verses of tennyson's memorial to hallam could be appropriately applied to their friendship. watt did not apparently give way to lamentations as boulton and others did who were present at small's death, probably because the receipt of boulton's heart-breaking letter impressed watt with the need of assuming the part of comforter to his partner, who was face to face with death, and had to bear the direct blow. watt's tribute to his dear friend came later. future operations necessarily depended upon the extension of the patent. boulton, of course, could not proceed with the works. there was as yet no agreement between watt and boulton beyond joint ownership in the patent. at this time, watt's most intimate friend of youthful years in glasgow university, professor robison, was professor of mathematics in the government naval school, kronstadt. he secured for watt an appointment at $5,000 per annum, a fortune to the poor inventor; but although this would have relieved him from dependence upon boulton, and meant future affluence, he declined, alleging that "boulton's favours were so gracefully conferred that dependence on him was not felt." he made watt feel "that the obligation was entirely upon the side of the giver." truly we must canonise boulton. he was not only the first "captain of industry," but also a model for all others to follow. the bill extending the patent was introduced in parliament february, 1775. opposition soon developed. the mining interest was in serious trouble owing to the deepening of the mines and the unbearable expense of pumping the water. they had looked forward to the watt engine soon to be free of patent rights to relieve them. "no monopoly," was their cry, nor were they without strong support, for edmund burke pleaded the cause of his mining constituents near bristol.[2] we need not follow the discussion that ensued upon the propriety of granting the patent extension. suffice to say it was finally granted for a term of twenty-four years, and the path was clear at last. britain was to have probably for the first time great works and new tools specially designed for a specialty to be produced upon a large scale. boulton had arranged to pay roebuck $5,000 out of the first profits from the patent in addition to the $6,000 of debt cancelled. he now anticipated payment of the thousand, at the urgent request of roebuck's assignees, giving in so doing pretty good evidence of his faith in prompt returns from the engines, for which orders came pouring in. new mechanical facilities followed, as well as a supply of skilled mechanics. the celebrated wilkinson now appears upon the scene, first builder of iron boats, and a leading iron-founder of his day, an original captain of industry of the embryonic type, who began working in a forge for three dollars a week. he cast a cylinder eighteen inches in diameter, and invented a boring machine which bored it accurately, thus remedying one of watt's principal difficulties. this cylinder was substituted for the tin-lined cylinder of the triumphant kinneil engine. satisfactory as were the results of the engine before, the new cylinder improved upon these greatly. thus wilkinson was pioneer in iron ships, and also in ordering the first engine built at soho--truly an enterprising man. great pains were taken by watt that this should be perfect, as so much depended upon a successful start. many concerns suspended work upon newcomen engines, countermanded orders, or refrained from placing them, awaiting anxiously the performance of this heralded wonder, the watt engine. as it approached completion, watt became impatient to test its powers, but the prudent, calm boulton insisted that not one stroke be made until every possible hindrance to successful working had been removed. he adds, "then, in the name of god, fall to and do your best." admirable order of battle! it was "be sure you're right, then go ahead," in the vernacular. watt acted upon this, and when the trial came the engines worked "to the admiration of all." the news of this spread rapidly. enquiries and orders for engines began to flow in. no wonder when we read that of thirty engines of former makers in one coal-mining district only eighteen were at work. the others had failed. boulton wrote watt to tell wilkinson to get a dozen cylinders cast and bored ... i have fixed my mind upon making from twelve to fifteen reciprocating engines and fifty rotative engines per annum. of all the toys and trinkets we manufacture at soho, none shall take the place of fire-engines in respect of my attention. the captain was on deck, evidently. sixty-five engines per year--prodigious for these days--nothing like this was ever heard of before. two thousand per year is the record of one firm in philadelphia to-day, but let us boast not. perhaps one hundred and twenty-nine years hence will have as great a contrast to show. the day of small factories, as of small nations, is past. increasing magnitude, to which it is hard to set a limit, is the order of the day. so far all was well, the heavy clouds that had so long hovered menacingly over boulton and watt had been displaced once more by clear skies. but no new machinery or new manufacturing business starts without accidents, delays and unexpected difficulties. there was necessarily a long period of trial and disappointment for which the sanguine partners were not prepared. as before, the chief trouble lay in the lack of skilled workmen, for although the few original men in soho were remarkably efficient, the increased demand for engines had compelled the employment of many new hands, and the work they could perform was sadly defective. till this time, it is to be remembered there had been neither slide lathes, planing machines, boring tools, nor any of the many other devices which now ensure accuracy. all depended upon the mechanics' eye and hand, if mechanics they could be called. most of the new hands were inexpert and much given to drink. specialisation had to be resorted to--one thing for each workman, in the fashioning of which practice made perfect. this system was introduced with success, but the training of the men took time. meanwhile work already turned out and that in progress was not up to standard, and this caused infinite trouble. one very important engine was "the bow" for london, which was shipped in september. the best of the experts, joseph harrison, was sent to superintend its erection. verbal instructions watt would not depend upon; harrison was supplied in writing with detailed particulars covering every possible contingency. constant communication between them was kept up by letter, for the engine did not work satisfactorily, and finally watt himself proceeded to london in november and succeeded in overcoming the defects. harrison's anxieties disabled him, and boulton wrote to dr. fordyce, a celebrated doctor of that day, telling him to take good care of harrison, "let the expense be what it will." watt writes boulton that harrison must not leave london, as "a relapse of the engine would ruin our reputation here and elsewhere." the bow engine had a relapse, however, which happened in this way. smeaton, then the greatest of the engineers, requested boulton's london agent to take him to see the new engine. he carefully examined it, called it a "very pretty engine," but thought it too complicated a piece of machinery for practical use. there was apparently much to be said for this opinion, for we clearly see that watt was far in advance of his day in mechanical requirements. hence his serious difficulties in the construction of the complex engine, and in finding men capable of doing the delicately accurate work which was absolutely indispensable for successful working. before leaving, smeaton made the engineer a gift of money, which he spent in drink. the drunken engineman let the engine run wild, and it was thrown completely out of order. the valves--the part of the complicated machine that required the most careful treatment--were broken. he was dismissed, and, repairs being made, the engine worked satisfactorily at last. in watt's life, we meet drunkenness often as a curse of the time. we have the satisfaction of knowing that our day is much freer from it. we have certainly advanced in the cure of this evil, for our working-men may now be regarded as on the whole a steady sober class, especially in america, where intemperance has not to be reckoned with. we see the difference between the reconstructed kinneil engine where boulton's "mathematical instrument maker's" standard of workmanship was possible "because his few trained men capable of such work were employed." the kinneil engine, complicated as it was in its parts, being thus accurately reconstructed, did the work expected and more. the bow engines and some others of the later period, constructed by ordinary workmen capable only of the "blacksmith's" standard of finish, proved sources of infinite trouble. watt had several cases of this kind to engross his attention, all traceable to the one root, lack of the skilled, sober workmen, and the tools of precision which his complex (for his day, very complex) steam engine required. the truth is that watt's engine in one sense was born before its time. our class of instrument-making mechanics and several new tools should have preceded it; then, the science of the invention being sound, its construction would have been easy. the partners continued working in the right direction and in the right way to create these needful additions and were finally successful, but they found that success brought another source of annoyance. escaping scylla they struck charybdis. so high did the reputation of their chief workmen rise, that they were early sought after and tempted to leave their positions. even the two trained fitters sent to london to cure the bow engine we have just spoken of were offered strong inducements to take positions in russia. watt writes boulton, may 3, 1777, that he had just heard a great secret to the effect that carless and webb were probably going beyond sea, $5,000 per year having been offered for six years. they were promptly ordered home to soho and warrants obtained for those who had attempted to induce them to abscond (strange laws these days!), "even though carless be a drunken and comparatively useless fellow." consider watt's task, compelled to attempt the production of his new engines, complicated beyond the highest existing standard, without proper tools and with such workmen as carless, whom he was glad to get and determined to keep, drunken and useless as he was. french agents appeared and tried to bribe some of the men to go to paris and communicate watt's plans to the contractor who had undertaken to pump water from the seine for the supply of paris. the german states sent emissaries for a similar purpose, and baron stein was specially ordered by his government to master the secret of the watt engine, to obtain working plans, and bring away workmen capable of constructing it, the first step taken being to obtain access to the engine-rooms by bribing the workmen. all this is so positively stated by smiles that we must assume that he quotes from authentic records. it is clear at all events that the attention of other nations was keenly drawn to the advent of an agency that promised to revolutionise existing conditions. watt himself, at a critical part of his career (1773), as we have seen, had been tempted to accept an offer to enter the imperial service of russia, carrying the then munificent salary of $5,000 per annum. boulton wrote him: "your going to russia staggers me.... i wish to advise you for the best without regard to self, but i find i love myself so well that i should be very sorry to have you go, and i begin to repent sounding your trumpet at the ambassador's." the imperial family of russia were then much interested in the soho works. the empress stayed for some time at boulton's house, "and a charming woman she is," writes her host. here is a glimpse of imperial activity and wise attention to what was going on in other lands which it was most desirous to transplant to their own. the emperor, and no less his wife, evidently kept their eyes open during their travels abroad. imperial progresses we fear are seldom devoted to such practical ends, although the present king of britain and his nephew the german emperor would not be blind to such things. it is a strange coincidence that the successor of this emperor, tsar nicholas, when grand duke, should have been denied admission to soho works. not that he was personally objected to, but that certain people of his suite might not be disinclined to take advantage of any new processes discovered. so jealously were improvements guarded in these days. another source of care to the troubled watt lay here. naturally, only a few such men had been developed as could be entrusted to go to distant parts in charge of fellow-workmen and erect the finished engines. a union of many qualities was necessary here. managers of erection had to be managers of men, by far the most complicated and delicate of all machinery, exceeding even the watt engine in complexity. when the rare man was revealed, and the engine under his direction had proved itself the giant it was reputed, ensuring profitable return upon capital invested in works hitherto unproductive, as it often did, the sagacious owner would not readily consent to let the engineer leave. he could well afford to offer salary beyond the dreams of the worker, to a rider who knew his horse and to whom the horse took so kindly. the engineer loved _his_ engine, the engine which _he_ had seen grow in the shop under his direction and which _he_ had wholly erected. mcandrew's song of steam tells the story of the engineer's devotion to his engine, a song which only kipling in our day could sing. the scotch blood of the macdonalds was needed for that gem; kipling fortunately has it pure from his mother. mcandrew is homeward bound patting _his_ mighty engine as she whirls, and crooning over his tale: that minds me of our viscount loon--sir kenneth's kin--the chap wi' russia leather tennis-shoon an' spar-decked yachtin'-cap. i showed him round last week, o'er all--an' at the last says he: "mister m'andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?" damned ijjit! i'd been doon that morn to see what ailed the throws, manholin', on my back--the cranks three inches off my nose. romance! those first-class passengers they like it very well, printed an' bound in little books; but why don't poets tell? i'm sick of all their quirks an' turns--the loves and doves they dream- lord, send a man like robbie burns to sing the song o' steam! to match wi' scotia's noblest speech yon orchestra sublime, whaurto--uplifted like the just--the tail-rods mark the time. the crank-throws give the double-bass, the feed-pump sobs an' heaves, an' now the main eccentrics start their quarrel on the sheaves: her time, her own appointed time, the rocking link-head bides, till--hear that note?--the rod's return whings glimmerin' through the guides. they're all awa'! true beat, full power, the clangin' chorus goes clear to the tunnel where they sit, my purrin' dynamos. interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed, to work, ye'll note, at any tilt an' every rate o' speed. fra' skylight lift to furnace-bars, backed, bolted, braced an' stayed, an' singin' like the mornin' stars for joy that they are made; while, out o' touch o' vanity, the sweatin' thrust-block says: "not unto us the praise, oh man, not unto us the praise!" now, a' together, hear them lift their lesson--theirs an' mine: "law, order, duty an' restraint, obedience, discipline!" mill, forge an' try-pit taught them that when roarin' they arose, an' whiles i wonder if a soul was gied them wi' the blows. oh for a man to weld it then, in one trip-hammer strain, till even first-class passengers could tell the meanin' plain! but no one cares except mysel' that serve an' understand my seven-thousand horse-power here. eh, lord! they're grand--they're grand! uplift am i? when first in store the new-made beasties stood, were ye cast down that breathed the word declarin' all things good? not so! o' that world-liftin' joy no after-fall could vex, ye've left a glimmer still to cheer the man--the artifex! _that_ holds, in spite o' knock and scale, o' friction, waste an' slip, an' by that light--now, mark my word--we'll build the perfect ship. i'll never last to judge her lines or take her curve--not i. but i ha' lived and i ha' worked. be thanks to thee, most high! so the mcandrews of watt's day were loth to part from _their_ engines, this feeling being in the blood of true engineers. on the other hand, just such men, in numbers far beyond the supply, were needed by the builders, who in one sense were almost if not quite as deeply concerned as the owners, in having proved, capable, engine managers remain in charge of their engines, thus enhancing their reputation. endless trouble ensued from the lack of managing enginemen, a class which had yet to be developed, but which was sure to arise in time through the educative policy adopted, which was already indeed slowly producing fruit. meanwhile, to meet the present situation, watt resolved to simplify the engine, taking a step backward, which gives foundation for smeaton's acute criticism upon its complexity. we have seen that the working of steam expansively was one of watt's early inventions. some of the new engines were made upon this plan, which involved the adoption of some of the most troublesome of the machinery. it was ultimately decided that to operate this was beyond the ability of the obtainable enginemen of the day. it must not be understood that expansion was abandoned. on the contrary, it was again introduced by watt at a later stage and in better form. since his time it has extended far beyond what he could have ventured upon under the conditions of that day. "yet," as kelvin says, "the triple and quadruple expansion engine of our day all lies in the principle watt had so fully developed in his day." [1] if those in london had only listened to franklin and taken his advice when he pleaded for british liberties for british subjects in america! it is refreshing to read in our day how completely the view regarding colonies has changed in britain. these are now pronounced "independent nations, free to go or stay in the empire, as they choose," the very surest way to prolong the connection. this is true statesmanship. being free, the chains become decorations and cease to chafe the wearer, unless great growth comes, when the colony must at its maturity perforce either merge with the motherland under one joint government or become a free and independent nation, giving her sons a country of their own for which to live, and, if necessary, to die. [2] the mention of burke and bristol so soon after the note of boulton upon dr. small's passing, recalls one of burke's many famous sentences, one perhaps unequalled under the circumstances. the candidate opposing him for parliament died during the canvass. when burke next addressed the people after the sad event, his first words were: "what shadows we are; what shadows we pursue." chapter vi removal to birmingham watt's permanent settlement in birmingham had for some time been seen to be inevitable, all his time being needed there. domestic matters, including the care of his two children, with which he had hitherto been burdened, pressed hard upon him, and he had been greatly depressed by finding his old father quite in his dotage, although he was not more than seventy-five. watt was alone and very unhappy during a visit he made to greenock. before returning to birmingham, he married miss macgregor, daughter of a glasgow man of affairs, who was the first in britain to use chlorine for bleaching, the secret of which berthollet, its inventor, had communicated to watt. pending the marriage, it was advisable that the partnership with boulton as hitherto agreed upon should be executed. watt writes so to boulton, and the arrangement between the partners is indicated by the following passage of watt's letter to him: as you may have possibly mislaid my missive to you concerning the contract, i beg just to mention what i remember of the terms. 1. i to assign to you two-thirds of the property of the invention. 2. you to pay all expenses of the act or others incurred before june, 1775 (the date of the act), and also the expense of future experiments, which money is to be sunk without interest by you, being the consideration you pay for your share. 3. you to advance stock-in-trade bearing interest, but having no claim on me for any part of that, further than my intromissions; the stock itself to be your security and property. 4. i to draw one-third of the profits so soon as any arise from the business, after paying the workmen's wages and goods furnished, but abstract from the stock-in-trade, excepting the interest thereof, which is to be deducted before a balance is struck. 5. i to make drawings, give directions, and make surveys, the company paying for the travelling expenses to either of us when upon engine business. 6. you to keep the books and balance them once a year. 7. a book to be kept wherein to be marked such transactions as are worthy of record, which, when signed by both, to have the force of the contract. 8. neither of us to alienate our share of the other, and if either of us by death or otherwise shall be incapacitated from acting for ourselves, the other of us to be the sole manager without contradiction or interference of heirs, executors, assignees or others; but the books to be subject to their inspection, and the acting partner of us to be allowed a reasonable commission for extra trouble. 9. the contract to continue in force for twenty-five years, from the 1st of june, 1775, when the partnership commenced, notwithstanding the contract being of later date. 10. our heirs, executors and assignees bound to observance. 11. in case of demise of both parties, our heirs, etc., to succeed in same manner, and if they all please, they may burn the contract. if anything be very disagreeable in these terms, you will find me disposed to do everything reasonable for your satisfaction. boulton's reply was entirely satisfactory, and upon this basis the arrangement was closed. watt, with his usual want of confidence in himself in business affairs, was anxious that boulton should come to him at glasgow and arrange all pecuniary matters connected with the marriage. watt had faced the daughter and conquered, but trembled at the thought of facing the father-in-law. he appeals to his partner as follows: i am afraid that i shall otherwise make a very bad bargain in money matters, which wise men like you esteem the most essential part, and i myself, although i be an enamoured swain, do not altogether despise. you may perhaps think it odd that in the midst of my friends here i should call for your help; but the fact is that from several reasons i do not choose to place that confidence in any of my friends here that would be necessary in such a case, and i do not know any of them that have more to say with the gentleman in question than i have myself. besides, you are the only person who can give him satisfactory information concerning my situation. this being impracticable, as explained by boulton, who thoroughly approved of the union, the partnership and boulton's letter were accepted by the judicious father-in-law as satisfactory evidence that his daughter's future was secure. boulton states in his letter, july, 1776: it may be difficult to say what is the value of your property in partnership with me. however, i will give it a name, and i do say that i would willingly give you two, or perhaps three thousand pounds for your assignment of your third part of the act of parliament. but i should be sorry to make you so bad a bargain, or to make any bargain at all that tended to deprive me of your friendship, acquaintance, and assistance, hoping that we shall harmoniously live to wear out the twenty-five years, which i had rather do than gain a nabob's fortune by being the sole proprietor. this is the kind of expression from the heart to make a partner happy and resolve to do his utmost for one who in the recipient's heart had transposed positions, and is now friend first, and partner afterward. the marriage took place in july, 1776. two children were born, both of whom died in youth. mrs. watt lived until a ripe old age and enjoyed the fruits of her husband's success and fame. she died in 1832. arago praises her, and says "various talents, sound judgment, and strength of mind rendered her a worthy companion." it is difficult to realise that many yet with us were contemporaries of mrs. watt, and not a few yet living were contemporaries of watt himself, for he did not pass away until 1819, eighty-six years ago, so much a thing of yesterday is the material development and progress of the world, which had its basis, start and accomplishment in the steam engine. the reasons given by boulton for being unable to proceed to the side of his friend and partner in glasgow, shed clear light upon the condition of affairs at soho. their london agent, like watt, was also to be married and would be absent. fothergill had to proceed to london. scale, one of the managers, was absent. important visitors were constantly arriving. said boulton: our copper bottom hath plagued us very much by steam leaks, and therefore i have had one cast (with its conducting pipe) all in one piece; since which the engine doth not take more than 10 feet of steam, and i hope to reduce that quantity, as we have just received the new piston, which shall be put in and at work tomorrow. our soho engine never was in such good order as at present. bloomfield and willey (engines) are both well, and i doubt not but bow engine will be better than any of 'em. he concludes, "i did not sleep last night, my mind being absorbed by steam." means for increasing the heating surface swept through his mind, by applying "in copper spheres within the water," the present flue system, also for working steam expansively, "being clear the principle is sound." to add to boulton's anxieties, he had received a summons to attend the solicitor-general next week in opposition to gainsborough, a clergyman who claimed to be the original inventor. "this is a disagreeable circumstance, particularly at this season, when you are absent. harrison is in london and idleness is in our engine shop." watt wrote boulton on july 28, 1776, apologising for his long absence and stating he was now ready to return, and would start "tuesday first" for liverpool, where he expected to meet boulton. meanwhile, the latter had been called to london by the gainsborough business. a note from him, however, reached watt at liverpool, in which he says, "as to your absence, say nothing about it. i will forgive it this time, _provided you promise me never to marry again_." in due time, mr. and mrs. watt arrived and settled early in august, 1776, in birmingham, which was hereafter to be their permanent home, although, as we shall see, watt never ceased to keep in close touch with his native town of greenock and his glasgow friends. his heart still warmed to the tartan, the soft, broad scotch accent never forsook him; nor, we may be sure, did the refrain ever leave his heart--- and may dishonour blot our name and quench our household fires, if me or mine forget thy name, thou dear land of my sires, many a famous scot has the fair south in recent times called to her--stephenson, ruskin, carlyle, mill, gladstone and others--but never before or since, one whose work was the transformation of the world. at last we have watt permanently settled alongside the great works to which he was hereafter to devote his rare abilities until his retirement at the expiration of the partnership in 1800. his labors at soho soon began to tell. the works increased their celebrity beyond all others then known, for materials, workmanship and invention. the mines of cornwall promised to become unworkable; indeed, many already had became so. the newcomen engines could no longer drain the deepened mines. several orders for watt engines had been received, and as much depended upon the success of the first, watt resolved to superintend its erection himself. mrs. watt and he started over the terrible road into cornwall, and had to take up their abode with the superintendent of the mine, there being no other house for miles around. naturally the builders and attendants of the newcomen engine viewed watt's invasion of their district with no kindly feelings. great jealousy arose and watt's sensitive nature was sorely tried. many attempts to thwart him were met with, and, taken altogether, his life in cornwall was far from agreeable. the engine was erected, the day of trial came, mining men, engineers, mining proprietors and others assembled from all quarters to see the start. many of the spectators interested in other engines would not have shed tears had it failed, but it started splendidly making eleven eight-foot strokes per minute, which broke the record. three cheers for the scotch engineer! it soon worked with greater power and more steadily, and "forked" more water than the ordinary engines with only about one-third the consumption of coal. watt wrote: i understand all the west country captains are to be here tomorrow to see the prodigy. the velocity, violence, magnitude, and horrible noise of the engine give universal satisfaction to all beholders, believers or not. i have once or twice trimmed the engine to end the stroke gracefully and to make less noise, but mr. wilson cannot sleep without it seems quite furious, so i have left it to the enginemen; and, by the by, the noise seems to convey great ideas of its power to the ignorant, who seem to be no more taken with modest merit in an engine than in a man. well said, modest, reserved philosopher with vast horse-power in that big head of yours, working in the closet noiselessly, driving deep but silently into the bosom of nature's secrets, pumping her deepest mines, discovering and bringing to the surface the genius which lay in steam to do your bidding and revolutionise life on earth! in this, the first triumph, there was recompense for all the trials watt and his wife had endured in cornwall. readers will note that no workman had yet been developed who could be trusted to erect the engine. the master inventor had to go himself as the mechanical genius certain to cure all defects and ensure success. this shows how indispensable watt was. orders now flowed in, and watt was needed to prepare the plans and drawings, no one being capable of relieving him of this. to-day we have draftsmen by the thousand to whom it would be easy routine work, as we have thousands to whom the erection of the watt engine would be play. watt was everywhere. at length he had to confess that "a very little more of this hurrying and vexation would knock me up altogether." at this moment he had just been called to return to cornwall to erect the second engine. he says "i fancy i must be cut in pieces and a portion sent to every tribe in israel." we may picture him reciting in falstaffian mood, "would my name were not so terrible to the enemy (deep-mine water) as it is. there can't a drowned-out mine peep its head out but i'm thrust upon it. well, well, it always was the trick of my countrymen to make a good thing too common. better rust to death than be scoured to nothing by this perpetual motion." watt had a hard time of it in cornwall during his next stay there, for he had to go again. he arrives at redruth to find many troubles. forbes' eduction-pipe is a vile job, he writes, and full of holes. the cylinder they have cast for chacewater is still worse, for it will hardly do at all. the soho people have sent here chacewater pipe instead of wheal union, and the gudgeon pipe has not arrived with the nozzles. these repeated disappointments will ruin our credit in the country, and i cannot stay here to bear the shame of such failures of promise. it is easy for present-day captains of industry to plume themselves upon their ability to select men sure to succeed well with any undertaking, and assume that watt lacked the indispensable talent for selection, but he had been driven by sad experience to trust none but himself, the skilled workmen needed to co-operate with him not yet having been developed. we have not touched upon another source of great anxiety to him at this time. the enterprising boulton would not have been the organiser he was unless blessed with a sanguine disposition and the capacity for shedding troubles. the business was rapidly extending in many branches, all needing capital; the engine business, promising though it was, was no exception. little money was yet due from sales and much had been spent developing the invention. boulton's letter to watt constantly urged cash collections, while mine-owners were not disposed to pay until further tests were made. boulton suggested loans from truro bankers on security of the engines, but watt found this impracticable. the engines were doing astonishingly well to-day, but who could ensure their lasting qualities? watt shows good judgment in suggesting that wilkinson, the famous foundryman, should be taken into partnership. he urges his enterprising partner to apply the pruning knife and cut down expenses naively assuring him that "he was practising all the frugality in his power." as watt's personal expenses then were only ten dollars per week, a smile rises at the prudent scot's possible contribution to reduction in expenditure. but he was on the right lines, and at least gave boulton the benefit of example. watt was never disposed to look on the bright side of things, and to add to boulton's load, the third partner, fothergill, was even more desponding than watt. when boulton went away to raise means, he was pursued by letters from fothergill telling him day by day of imperative needs. in one he was of opinion that "the creditors must be called together; better to face the worst than to go on in the neck-and-neck race with ruin." boulton would hurry back to quiet fothergill and keep the ship afloat. here he shines out resplendently. he proved equal to the emergency. his courage and determination rose in proportion to the difficulties to be overcome, borne up by his invariable hope and unshakable belief in the value of watt's condensing engine, he triumphed at last, pledging, as security for a loan of $70,000, the royalties derivable from the engine patents, and an annuity for a loan of $35,000 more. so small a sum as $105,000 sufficed to keep afloat the big ship laden with all their treasures. there was a period of great depression in britain when boulton and watt were thus in deep water, and at such times credit is sensitive in the extreme. a small balance on the right side performs wonders. this recalls to the writer how, once in the history of his own firm, credit was kept high during a panic by using the identical sum boulton raised, $70,000, from a reserve fund that had been laid away and came in very opportunely at the critical time. every single dollar weighs a hundredfold when credit trembles in the balance. a leading nerve specialist in new york once said that the worst malady he had to treat was the man of affairs whose credit was suspected. his unfailing remedy was: "call your creditors together, explain all and ask their support. i can then do you some good, but not till then." his patients who did this found themselves restored to vigor. they were supported by creditors and all was bright once more. the wise doctor was sound in his advice. if the firm has neither speculated nor gambled (synonymous terms), nor lived extravagantly, nor endorsed for others, and the business is on a solid foundation, no people have so much at stake in sustaining it as the creditors; they will rally round it and think more of the firm than ever, because they will see behind their money the best of all securities--men at the helm who are not afraid and know how to meet a storm. boulton's timid partners no doubt were amazed that he was so blind to the dangers which they with clearer vision saw so clearly. how deluded they were. we may be sure neither of them saw the danger half as vividly as he, but it is not the part of a leader to reveal to his fellows all that he sees or fears. his part is to look dangers steadily in the face and challenge them. it is the great leader who inspires in his followers contempt for the danger which he sees in much truer proportion than they. this boulton did, for behind all else in his character there lay the indomitable will, the do or die resolve. he had staked his life upon the hazard of a die and he would stand the cost. "but if we fail," often said the timid pair to him, as macbeth did to his resolute partner, and the same answer came, "_we_ fail." that's all. "one knockdown will not finish this fight. we'll get up again, never fear. we know no such word as fail."[1] one source of serious trouble arose from watt and boulton having been so anxious at first to introduce their engines that they paid small regard to terms. when their success was proved, they offered to settle, taking one-third the value of the fuel saved. this was a liberal offer, for, in addition to the mine-owners saving two-thirds of the former cost of fuel consumed by the previous engines, mines became workable, which without the watt engine must have been abandoned. these terms however were not accepted, and a long series of disputes arose, ending in some cases only with the patent-right itself. it was resolved that all future engines should be furnished only upon the terms before stated, watt declaring that otherwise he would not put pen to paper to make new drawings. "let our terms be moderate," he writes, "and, if possible, consolidated into money _a priori_, and it is certain we shall get _some_ money, enough to keep us out of jail, in continual apprehension of which i live at present." imprisonment for debt, let it be remembered, had not been abolished. one of the most beneficent forward steps that our time can boast of is the bankruptcy court. however hard we may yet be upon offenders against us, society, through humane laws, forgives our debtors in money matters, and gives a clear bill of health after honorable acquittal in bankruptcy, and a fresh start. the result proved watt's wisdom. his engines were needed to save the mines. no other could. applications came in freely upon his terms, and as watt was a poor hand at bargaining, he insisted that boulton should come to cornwall and attend to that part. meanwhile great attention was being paid to the works and all pertaining to the men and methods. the firm established perhaps the first benefit society of workmen. every one was a member and contributed according to his earnings. out of this fund payments were made to the sick or disabled in varying amounts. no member of the soho friendly society, except a few irreclaimable drunkards, ever came upon the parish. when boulton's son came of age, seven hundred were dined. no well-behaved workman was ever turned adrift. fathers employed introduced their sons into the works and brought them up under their own eye, watching over their conduct and mechanical training. thus generation after generation followed each other at soho works. on another occasion boulton writes watt in cornwall, "i have thought it but respectful to give our folks a dinner to-day. there were present murdoch, lawson, pearson, perkins, malcom, robert muir, all scotchmen, john bull and wilson and self, for the engines are now all finished and the men have behaved well and are attached to us." six scotch and three english in the english works of soho thought worthy of dining with their employer! it was, we may be sure, a very rare occurrence in that day, but worthy of the true captain of industry. here is an early "invasion" from the north. we are reminded of sir charles dilke's statement in his "greater britain," that, in his tour round the world, he found ten scotchmen for every englishman in high position. owing, of course, to the absence of scope at home the scot has had to seek his career abroad. a master-stroke this, probably the first dinner of its kind in britain, and no doubt more highly appreciated by the honored guests than an advance in wages. splendid workmen do not live upon wages alone. appreciation felt and shown by their employer, as in this case, is the coveted reward. we have read how watt was much troubled in scotland with poor mechanics. not one good craftsman could he then find. after seeing soho, where the standard was much higher, he declared that the scotch mechanic was very much inferior; he was prejudiced against them. murdoch, however, the first scot at soho, soon eclipsed all, and no doubt under his wing other scots gained a trial with the result indicated. it is very significant that even in the earliest days of the steam engine, scotchmen should exhibit such talent for its construction, forecasting their present pre-eminence in marine engineering. small wonder that the soho works became the model for all others. the last words in boulton's letter, "and are attached to us," tell the story. no danger of strikes, of lockouts, or quarrels of any kind in such establishments as that of boulton and watt, who proved that they in turn were attached to their men. mutual attachment between employers and employed is the panacea for all troubles--yes, better than a panacea, the preventer of troubles. after repeated calls from watt, boulton took the journey to cornwall in october, 1778, although fothergill was again uttering lamentable prophecies of impending ruin, and the london agent was imploring his presence there upon financial matters pressing in the extreme. boulton succeeded in borrowing $10,000 from truro bankers on the security of engines erected, and settled several disputes, getting $3,500 per year royalty for one engine and $2,000 per year for another. at last, after nine years of arduous labor since the invention was hailed as successful, the golden harvest so long expected began to replenish the empty treasury. the heavy liabilities, however, remained a source of constant anxiety. no remedy could be found against "this consumption of the purse." watt had again to encounter the lack of competent, sober workmen to run engines. the highland blood led him at last into severe measures, and he insisted upon discharging two or three of the most drunken. here boulton had great difficulty in restraining him. much had to be endured, and occasional bouts of drunkenness overlooked, although serious accidents resulted. at last two men appeared whose services proved invaluable--murdoch, already mentioned, and law--one of whom became famous. watt was absent when the former called and asked boulton for employment. the young scot was the son of a well-known millwright near ayr who had made several improvements. his famous son worked with him, but being ambitious and hearing of the fame of boulton and watt, he determined to seek entrance to soho works and learn the highest order of handicraft. boulton had told him that there was at present no place open, but noticing the strange cap the awkward young man had been dangling in his hands, he asked what it was made of. "timmer," said the lad. "what, out of wood?" "yes." "_how_ was it made?" "i turned it mysel' in a bit lathey o' my own making." this was enough for that rare judge of men. here was a natural-born mechanic, certain. the young man was promptly engaged for two years at fifteen shillings per week when in shop, seventeen shillings when abroad, and eighteen shillings when in london. his history is the usual march upward until he became his employers' most trusted manager in all their mechanical operations. while engaged upon one critical job, where the engine had defied previous attempts to put it to rights, the people in the house where murdoch lodged were awakened one night by heavy tramping in his room over-head. upon entering, murdoch was seen in his bed clothes heaving away at the bed post in his sleep, calling out "now she goes, lads, now she goes." his heart was in his work. he had a mission, and only one--to make that engine go. of course he rose. there's no holding down such a "dreamer" anywhere in this world. it was not only that he had zeal, for he had sense with it, and was not less successful in conquering the rude cornishmen who had baffled, annoyed and intimidated watt. he won their hearts. his ability did not end with curing the defects of machinery; he knew how to manage men. at first he had to depend upon his physical powers. he was an athlete not indisposed to lead the strenuous life. he had not been very long in cornwall before half a dozen of the mining captains, a class that had tormented poor, retiring and modest watt, entered the engine-room and began their bullying tricks on him. the scotch blood was up, murdoch quietly locked the door and said to the captains, "now then gentlemen, you shall not leave until we have settled matters once for all." he selected the biggest cornishman and squared off. the contest was soon over. murdoch vanquished the bully and was ready for the next. the captains, seeing the kind of man he was, offered terms of peace, hands were shaken all round and they parted good friends, and remained so. we are past that rude age. the skilled, educated manager of to-day can use no weapon so effectively with skilled men as the supreme force of gentleness, the manner, language and action of the educated man, even to the calm, low voice never raised to passionate pitch. he conquers and commands others because he has command of himself. we must not lose sight of murdoch. in addition to his rare qualities, he possessed mechanical genius. he was the inventor of lighting by gas, and it was he who made the first model of a locomotive. there was no emergency with engines, no accident, no blunder, but murdoch was called in. we read with surprise that his wages even in 1780 were only five dollars per week. he then modestly asked for an advance, but this was not given. a present of one hundred dollars, however, was made to him in recognition of his unusual services. probably the explanation of the failure to increase his wages at the time was that, owing to the condition of the business, no rise in wages could be made to one which would involve an advance to others. murdoch remained loyal to the firm, however, although invited into partnership by another. afterward he received due reward. he had always a strong aversion to partnership, no doubt well founded in this case, for during many years failure seemed almost as likely as success. watt has much to say in his letters about "william" (murdoch), who, more than anyone, relieved him from trouble.[2] the bargainings with mine-owners brought on intense heartaches and broke watt down completely. boulton had to go to him again in cornwall in the autumn of 1779, and as usual succeeded in adjusting many disputes by wise compromises with the grasping owners which watt's strict sense of justice had denied. many of these had paid no royalties for years, others disputed watt's unerring register of fuel consumption (another of his most ingenious inventions now in general use for many purposes), a more heinous offense in his eyes than that of non-payment. "the rascality of man," he writes, "is almost beyond belief." he never was more despondent or more irritable than now. no one was better aware of his weakness than himself. in short, his heartaches and nervousness unfitted him for business. as usual, he attributed his discouragement chiefly to his financial obligations. the firm was as hard pressed as ever. indeed a new source of danger had developed. fothergill's affairs became involved, and had it not been for boulton's capital and credit, the firm of boulton and fothergill could not have maintained payment. this had caused a drain upon their resources. boulton sold the estate which had come to him by his wife, and the greater part of his father's property, and mortgaged the remainder. it is evident that the great captain had taken in hand far too many enterprises. probably he had not heard the new doctrine: "put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." he had even ventured considerable sums in blockade running during the american revolutionary war. it was not without good reason, therefore, that the more cautious scot addressed to him so many pathetic letters: "i beg of you to attend to these money matters. i cannot rest in my bed until they have some determinate form." watt's inexperience in money matters caused apprehensions of ruin to arise whenever financial measures were discussed. he was at this time utterly wretched, and mrs. watt at last became anxious, long and bravely as she had hitherto borne up and striven to dispel her husband's fears. never before had she ventured to speak to boulton upon the subject. she now broke the silence and wrote him in cornwall a touching letter, stating that her husband's health and spirits had become much worse since boulton had left soho. "i know there are several things that so prey upon his mind as to render him perfectly miserable. they never cross his mind, but he is rendered unfit to do anything for a long time." she describes these financial demons that torment him and begs that her writing should not be told to watt, as it might only add to his troubles. the appeal brings mrs. watt before us in a most engaging light. a study of the problem was made upon boulton's return and he agreed to close two departments of the business which were so far unprofitable, thus entering upon the right path. the engine having proved itself indispensable, the demand for it was becoming great and pressing from various countries. to concentrate upon its manufacture was obviously the true policy. the great captain's enterprise was not often expended upon failures, and it is with pleasure we find that among the profitable branches which boulton had encouraged watt in introducing at soho, was the copying-press, which watt invented in 1778, and which we use to this day. in july of that year he writes dr. black that he has "lately discovered a method of copying writing instantaneously, provided it has been written within twenty-four hours. i send you a specimen and will impart the secret if it will be of any use to you. it enables me to copy all my business letters." he kept this secret for two years, and in may, 1780, secured a patent after he had completed details of the press and experimented with the ink. one hundred and fifty were made and sold. thirty of these went abroad. it steadily made its way. watt, writing some thirty years later, said it had proved so useful to him that it was well worth all the trouble of perfecting it, even if it brought no profit. we think of watt and the steam engine appears. let us however note the unobtrusive little copying-press on the table at his side. extremes meet here. it would be difficult to name an invention more universally used, in all offices where man labors in any field of activity. in the list of modest inventions of greatest usefulness, the modern copying-press must take high rank, and this we owe entirely to watt. of the same period as the copying-machine is his invention of a drying-machine for cloth, consisting of three cylinders of copper over which the cloth must turn over and under while cylinders are filled with steam, the cloth to be alternately wound off and on the two wooden rollers, by which means it will pass over three cylinders in succession. this machine was erected for watt's father-in-law, mr. macgregor in glasgow, by an ingenious mechanic, john gardiner, often employed by watt in earlier years. "this i apprehend," he writes to david brewster in 1814, "to be the original from which such machines were made." when we consider the extent to which such steam drying-machines are used in our day, our estimate of the credit due to watt cannot be small. the drying-machine is no unfit companion to the copying-machine. watt revisited cornwall in 1781 to make an inspection of all the engines. much he found needing attention and improvement. his evenings were spent designing "road steam-carriages." this was before the day of railroads, and the carriages were to be driven by steam over the ordinary coach roads. he filled a quarto drawing-book with different plans for these, and covered the idea in one of his patent specifications. boulton suggested in 1781 that the idea of rotary motion should be developed, which watt had from the first regarded as of prime importance. it was for this he had invented his original wheel engine, and in his first patent of 1769 he describes one method of securing it. it occurred to him that the ordinary engine might be adapted to give the rotary motion. he wrote from cornwall to boulton: "as to the circular motion, i will apply it as soon as i can." he prepared a model upon his return to soho, using a crank connected with the working-beam of the engine for that purpose, which worked satisfactorily. there was nothing new in the crank motion; it was used on every spinning-wheel, grind-stone and foot-lathe turned by hand, but its application to the steam-engine was new. as early as 1771, he writes: i have at times had my thoughts a good deal upon the subject. in general, it appears to me that a crank of a sufficient sweep will be by much the sweetest motion, and perhaps not the dearest, if its durability be considered ... i then resolved to adopt the crank ... of this i caused a model to be made, which performed to satisfaction. but being then very much engaged with other business, i neglected to take a patent immediately, and having employed a blackguard of the name of cartwright (who was afterward hanged), about this model, he, when in company with some of the same sort who worked at wasborough's mill, and were complaining of its irregularities and frequent disasters, told them he could put them in a way to make a rotative motion which would not go out of order nor stun them with its noise, and accordingly explained to them what he had seen me do. soon after which, john steed, who was engineer at wasborough's mill, took a patent for a rotative motion with a crank, and applied it to their engine. suspicions arising of cartwright's treachery, he was strictly questioned, and confessed his part in the transaction when too late to be of service to us. overtures were made by wasborough to exchange patents and work together, which watt scornfully rejected. he writes: though i am not so saucy as many of my countrymen, i have enough innate pride to prevent me from doing a mean action because a servile prudence may dictate it ... i will never meanly sue a thief to give me my own again unless i have nothing left behind. his blood was up. no dealings with rascals! july, 1781, watt had finished his studies, went to penryn, and swore he had "invented certain new methods of applying the vibrating or reciprocating motion of steam or fire engines to produce a continued rotation or circular motion round an axis or centre, and thereby to give motion to the wheels of mills or other machines." watt proceeded to work out the plan of the rotary engine, stimulated by numerous inquiries for steam engines for driving all kinds of mills. he found that "the people in london, manchester and birmingham are steam-mill mad." during many long years of trial with their financial troubles, inferior and drunken workmen, disappointing engines, cornish mine-owners to annoy him, it is highly probable that watt only found relief in retiring to his garret to gratify his passion for solving difficult mechanical problems. we may even imagine that from his serious mission--the development of the engine--which was ever present, he sometimes flew to the numerous less exhausting inventions for recreation, as the weary student flies to fiction. his mind at this period seems never to have been at rest. his voluminous correspondence constantly reveals one invention after another upon which he was engaged. a new micrometer, a dividing screw, a new surveying-quadrant, problems for clearing the observed distance of the moon from a star of the effects of refraction and parallax, a drawing-machine, a copying-machine for sculpture--anything and everything he used or saw seems immediately to have been subjected to the question: "cannot this be improved?" usually with a response in the affirmative. as we have read, he had long studied the question of a locomotive steam carriage. in muirhead's biography, several pages are devoted to this. in his seventh "new improvement," in his patent of 1784, he describes "the principle and construction of steam engines which are applied to give motion to wheel carriages for removing persons, goods, or other matter from place to place, in which case the engines themselves must be portable." mr. murdoch made a model of the engine here specified which performed well, but nothing important came of all this until 1802, when the problem was instantly changed by watt's friend, mr. edgeworth, writing him, "i have always thought that steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time scorn post-horses. _an iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road of the common construction._" here lay in a few words the idea from which our railway system has sprung. surely edgeworth deserves to be placed among the immortals.[3] as in the case of the steamship, however, the indispensable steam engine of watt had to furnish the motive power. the railroad is only the necessary smooth track upon which the steam engine could perform its miracle. it is significant that steam power upon roads required the abandonment of the usual highway. so we may believe is the automobile to force new roads of its own, or to widen existing highways, rendering those safe under certain rules for speed of twenty miles per hour, or even more, when they were intended only for eight or ten. the reading lamp of watt's day was a poor affair, and as he never saw an inefficient instrument without studying its improvement, he produced a new lamp. he wrote argand of the argand burner upon the subject and for a long time watt lamps were made at the soho works, which gave a light surpassing in steadiness and brilliance anything of the kind that had yet appeared. he gives four plans for lamps, "with the reservoir below and the stem as tall as you please." he also made an instrument for determining the specific gravity of liquids, and a year after this he "found out a method of working tubes of the elastic resin without dissolving it." the importance of such tubes for a thousand purposes in the arts and sciences is now appreciated. watt gave much time to an arithmetical machine which he found exceedingly simple to plan, but he adds, "i have learnt by experience that in mechanics many things fall out between the cup and the mouth." he describes what it is to accomplish, but it remained for babbage at a much later date to perfect the machine. a machine for copying sculpture amused him for a time but it was never finished. if any difficulty of a mechanical nature arose, people naturally turned to watt for a solution. thus the glasgow university failed to get pipes for conveying water across the clyde to stand, the channel of the river being covered with mud and shifty sand, full of inequalities, and subject to the pressure of a considerable body of water. application was at last made to the recognised genius. if he could not solve it, who could? this was just one of the things that watt liked to do. he promptly devised an articulated suction pipe with parts formed on the principle of a lobster's tail. this crustacean tube a thousand feet long solved the matter. watt stated that his services were induced solely by a desire to be of use in procuring good water to the city of glasgow, and to promote the prosperity of a company which had risked so much for the public good. these were handsomely acknowledged by the presentation to him of a valuable piece of plate. as another proof of watt's habit of thinking of everything that could possibly be improved, it may be news to many readers that the consumption of the smoke from steam engines early attracted his attention, and that he patented devices for this. these have been substantially followed in the numerous attempts which have been made from time to time to reduce the huge volumes of smoke that keep so many cities under a cloud. he was successful and his son james writes to him in 1790 from manchester: it is astonishing what an impression the smoke-consuming power of the engine has made upon everybody hereabouts. they scarcely trusted to the evidence of their senses. you would be diverted to hear the strange hypotheses which have been stated to account for it. this is all very well. it is certain that most of the smoke made in manufacturing concerns can be consumed, if manufacturers are compelled by law to erect sufficient heating surface and to include the well-known appliances, including those for careful firing, but no city so far as the writer knows has ever been able to enforce effective laws. there remain the dwellings of the people to deal with, which give forth smoke in large cities in the aggregate far exceeding that made by the manufacturing plants. new york pursues the only plan for ensuring the clearest skies of any large city in the world where coal is generally used, by making the use of bituminous coal unlawful. the enormous growth of present new york (45 per cent. in last decade) is not a little dependent upon the attraction of clear blue sides and the resulting cleanliness of all things in and about the city compared with others. when, by the progress of invention or new methods of distributing heat, smoke is banished, as it probably will be some day, many rich citizens will remain in their respective western cities instead of flocking to the clear blue-skied metropolis, as they are now so generally doing. such were some of watt's by-products. his recreation, if found at all, was found in change of occupation. we read of no idle days, no pleasure trips, no vacations, only change of work. rumors of new inventions of engines far excelling his continued to disturb watt, and much of his time was given to investigation. he thought of a caloric air engine as possibly one of the new ideas; then of the practicability of producing mechanical power by the absorption and condensation of gas on the one hand and by its disengagement and expansion on the other. his mind seemed to range over the entire field of possibilities. the hornblower engine had been heralded as sure to displace the watt. when it was described, it proved to be as watt said, "no less than our double-cylinder engine, worked upon our principle of expansion. it is fourteen years since i mentioned it to mr. smeaton." watt had explained to dr. small his method of working steam expansively as early as may, 1769, and had adopted it in the soho engine and also in the shadwell engine erected in that year. we have seen before that watt had to retrace his steps and abandon for a time in later engines what he had before ventured upon. the application of steam for propelling boats upon the water was, at this time (1788), attracting much attention. boulton and watt were urged to undertake experiments. this they declined to entertain, having their facilities fully employed in their own field, but finally fulton, on august 6, 1803, ordered an engine from them from his own drawings, intended for this purpose, repeating the order in person in 1804. it was shipped to america early in 1805, and in 1807 placed upon the clermont, which ran upon the hudson river as a passenger boat, attaining a speed of about five miles an hour. this was the first steamboat that was ever used for passengers, and altho fulton neither invented the boat nor the engine, nor the combination of the two, still he is entitled to great credit for overcoming innumerable difficulties sufficient to discourage most men. fulton, who was the son of a scotsman from dumfrieshire, visited syminton's steamboat, the _charlotte dundas_, in scotland, in 1801, and had seen it successfully towing canal boats upon the forth and clyde canal. this was the first boat ever propelled by steam successfully for commercial purposes. it was subsequently discarded, not because it did not tow the canal boats, but because the revolving paddle-wheels caused waves that threatened to wash away the canal banks. several engines were sent to new york. the men in charge of one found on shipboard a pattern-maker going to america named john hewitt. he settled in america january 12th, 1796, and became the father of the late famous and deeply lamented hon. abram s. hewitt, long a member of congress and afterward mayor of new york, foremost in many improvements in the city, the last being the subway, just opened, which owes its inception to him. for this service, the chamber of commerce presented him with a memorial medal. mr. hewitt married a daughter of peter cooper, founder of the cooper institute, which owes its wonderful development chiefly to him. his children devote themselves and their fortunes to its management. at the time of his death in 1902, he was pronounced "the first private citizen of the republic." small engine-shops (of which the ruins still remain), called "soho" after their prototype, were erected by his father near new york city, on the greenwood division of the erie railroad. the railroad station was called "soho" by mr. abram s. hewitt, who was then president of the railroad company. upon mr. hewitt's eightieth birthday congratulations poured in from all quarters. one cable from abroad attracted attention as appropriate and deserved: "ten octaves every note truly struck and grandly sung." no man in private life passed away in our day with such general lamentation. the republic got even more valuable material than engines from the old home in the ship that arrived on january 12, 1796. we must not permit ourselves to forget that it was not until the watt engine was applied to steam navigation that the success of the latter became possible. it was only by this that it could be made practicable, so that the steamship is the product of the steam-engine, and it is to watt we owe the modern twenty-three-thousand-ton monster (and larger monsters soon to come), which keeps its course against wind and tide, almost "unshaked of motion," for this can now properly be said. passengers crossing the atlantic from port to port now scarcely know anything of irregular motion, and never more than the gentlest of slight heaves, even during the gale that "catches the ruffian billows by their tops, curling their monstrous heads." the ocean, traversed in these ships, is a smooth highway--nothing but a ferry--and a week spent upon it has become perhaps the most enjoyable and the most healthful of holiday excursions, provided the prudent excursionist has left behind positive instructions that wireless telegrams shall not follow. [1] perhaps there is no instance so striking as this of the immense difference that sometimes lies in the mere accent given one monosyllable. until mrs. siddons revealed the real lady macbeth, every actress had replied, "we fail?" interrogatively, and then encouragingly, "screw your courage to the sticking-point and we'll _not_ fail." such the commonplace reciters. when genius touched the word it flashed and sparkled. then came the prompt response. "_we_ fail." she was of such stuff as meets failure without fear. for this revelation the actress becomes immortal, since her name is linked with the greatest son of time. one word did it, nay a new accent upon a monosyllable--a trifling change say you? "i make it a rule never to mind trifles," said a great man. "so should i if i could only tell what were trifles," said a greater. one is far on if he can predict consequences that may flow from one kind word or the intonation of a word. fortune sometimes hangs upon a glance or nod of kindly recognition as we pass. [2] an american murdoch was found in captain jones, the best manager of works of his day. he entered the service of the carnegie steel company as a young mechanic at two dollars per day, a perfect copy of murdoch in many important respects. reading murdoch's history, we have found ourselves substituting the "captain," a title well earned on the field in the war for the union, which he entered as a private. once he was offered an interest in the firm, which would have made him one of the band of young millionaires. his reply was, "thank you, don't want to have anything to do with business. these works (steel rail mills, pittsburg) give me enough to think of. you just give me a 'thundering salary.'" "all right, captain, the salary of the president of the united states is yours." also like murdoch, he was an inventor. his principal invention, recently sustained by the supreme court, would easily yield from those who appropriated it and refused payment, at least five millions of dollars in royalties. captain jones was born in pennsylvania of welsh parents. murdoch won promotion at last, and was first superintendent of one of the special departments, and later had general supervision of the mechanical department, becoming "the right hand man" of the firm. the young partners dealt generously with him, and treated him with reverence and affection to the end. he died in his eighty-fifth year. captain jones was injured at the works and passed away just as a touch of age came upon him, as many war veterans did. fortunate is the firm that discovers a william murdoch or a william jones, and gives him swing to do the work of an original in his own way. [3] since the above was put in type i learn that in his forthcoming book upon "the development of the locomotive," which promises to become the standard, mr. angus sinclair says: "the first suggestion of a railroad for goods transportation appears to have been made before the literary and philosophical society of newcastle by a mr thomas, of denton, in february, 1800. two years later richard edgeworth, father of the famous novelist, suggested that it should be extended for the carrying of passengers." there is no record of thomas's suggestion, as far as we know, but only tradition. even if made, however, it seems to have lain dead. edgeworth evidently knew nothing of it, and as it was his letter to watt which seems first to have attracted public attention, the passage is allowed to stand as written. chapter vii second patent the number and activity of rivals attracted to the steam engine and its possible improvement, some of whom had begun infringements upon the watt patents, alarmed messrs. watt and boulton so much that they decided watt should apply for another patent, covering his important improvements since the first. accordingly, october 25, 1781, the patent (already referred to on p. 91) was secured, "for certain new methods of producing a continued rotative motion around an axis or centre, and thereby to give motion to the wheels of mills or other machines." this patent was necessary in consequence of the difficulties experienced in working the steam wheels or rotatory engines described in the first patent of 1769, and by watt's having been so unfairly anticipated, by wasborough in the crank motion. no less than five different methods for rotatory motion are described in the patent, the fifth commonly known as the "sun and planet wheels," of which watt writes to boulton, january 3, 1782, i have tried a model of one of my old plans of rotative engines, revived and executed by mr. murdoch, which merits being included in the specification as a fifth method; for which purpose i shall send a drawing and description next post. it has the singular property of going twice round for each stroke of the engine, and may be made to go oftener round, if required, without additional machinery. then followed an explanation of the sketch which he sent, and two days later he wrote, "i send you the drawings of the fifth method, and thought to have sent you the description complete, but it was late last night before i finished so far, and to-day have a headache, therefore only send you a rough draft of part." in all of these watt recommended that a fly-wheel be used to regulate the motion, but in the specification for the patent of the following year, 1782, his double-acting engine produced a more regular motion and rendered a fly-wheel unnecessary, "so that," he says, "in most of our great manufactories these engines now supply the place of water, wind and horse mills, and instead of carrying the work to the power, the prime agent is placed wherever it is most convenient to the manufacturer." this marks one of the most important stages in the development of the steam engine. it was at last the portable machine it remains to-day, and was placed wherever convenient, complete in itself and with the rotative motion adaptable for all manner of work. the ingenious substitutes watt had to invent to avoid the obviously perfect crank motion have of course all been discarded, and nothing of these remains except as proofs, where none are needed, that genius has powers in reserve for emergencies; balked in one direction, it hews out another path for itself. while preparing the specification for this patent of 1781, watt was busy upon another specification quite as important, which appeared in the following year, 1782. it embraced the following new improvements, the winnowing of numberless ideas and experiments that he had conceived and tested for some years previous: 1. the use of steam on the expansive principle; together with various methods or contrivances (six in number, some of them comprising various modifications), for equalising the expansive power. 2. the double-acting engine; in which steam is admitted to press the piston upward as well as downward; the piston being also aided in its ascent as well as in its descent by a vacuum produced by condensation on the other side. 3. the double-engine; consisting of two engines, primary and secondary, of which the steam-vessels and condensers communicate by pipes and valves, so that they can be worked either independently or in concert; and make their strokes either alternately or both together, as may be required. 4. the employment of a toothed rack and sector, instead of chains, for guiding the piston-rod. 5. a rotative engine, or steam-wheel. here we have three of the vital elements required toward the completion of the work: first, steam used expansively; second, the double-acting engine. it will be remembered that watt's first engines only took in steam at the bottom of the cylinder, as newcomen's did, but with this difference: watt used the steam to perform work which newcomen could not do, the latter only using steam to force the piston itself upward. now came watt's great step forward. having a cylinder closed at the top, while the newcomen cylinder remained open, it was as easy to admit steam at the top to press the piston down as to admit it at the bottom to press the piston up; also as easy to apply his condenser to the steam above as below, at the moment a vacuum was needed. all this was ingeniously provided for by numerous devices and covered by the patent. third, he went one step farther to the compound engine, consisting of two engines, primary and secondary, working steam expansively independently or in concert, with strokes alternate or simultaneous. the compound engine was first thought of by watt about 1767. he laid a large drawing of it on parchment before parliament when soliciting an extension of his first patent. the reason he did not proceed to construct it was "the difficulty he had encountered in teaching others the construction and use of the single engine, and in overcoming prejudices"; the patent of 1782 was only taken out because he found himself "beset with a host of plagiaries and pirates." one of the earliest of these double-acting engines was erected at the albion mills, london, in 1786. watt writes: the mention of albion mills induces me to say a few words respecting an establishment so unjustly calumniated in its day, and the premature destruction of which, by fire, in 1791, was, not improbably, imputed to design. so far from being, as misrepresented, a monopoly injurious to the public, it was the means of considerably reducing the price of flour while it continued at work. the "double-acting" engine was followed by the "compound" engine, of which watt says: a new compound engine, or method of connecting together the cylinders and condensers of two or more distinct engines, so as to make the steam which has been employed to press on the piston of the first, act expansively upon the piston of the second, etc., and thus derive an additional power to act either alternately or co-jointly with that of the first cylinder. we have here, in all substantial respects, the modern engine of to-day. two fine improvements have been made since watt's time: first, the piston-rings of cartwright, which effectively removed one of watt's most serious difficulties, the escape of steam, even though the best packing he could devise were used--the chief reason he could not use high-pressure steam. in our day, the use of this is rapidly extending, as is that of superheated steam. packing the piston was an elaborate operation even after watt's day. it was not because watt did not know as well as any of our present experts the advantages of high pressures, that he did not use them, but simply because of the mechanical difficulties then attending their adoption. he was always in advance of mechanical practicalities rather than behind, and as we have seen, had to retrace his steps, in the case of expansion. the other improvement is the cross-head of haswell, an american, a decided advance, giving the piston rod a smooth and straight bed to rest upon and freeing it from all disturbance. the drop valve is now displacing the slide valve as a better form of excluding or admitting steam. watt of course knew nothing of the thermo-dynamic value of high temperature without high pressure, altho fully conversant with the value of pressures. this had not been even imagined by either philosopher or engineer until discovered by carnot as late as 1824. even if he had known about it the mechanical arts in his day were in no condition to permit its use. even high pressures were impracticable to any great extent. it is only during the past few years that turbines and superheating, having long been practically discarded, show encouraging signs of revival. they give great promise of advancement, the hitherto insuperable difficulties of lubrication and packing having been overcome within the last five years. superheating especially promises to yield substantial results as compared with the practice with ordinary engines, but the margin of saving in steam over the best quadruple expansion engine cannot be great. lord kelvin however expects it to be the final contribution of science to the highest possible economy in the steam engine. in the january (1905) number of "stevens institute indicator," professor denton has an instructive résumé of recent steam engine economics. he tells us that steam turbines are now being applied to piston engines to operate with the latter's exhaust, to effect the same saving as the sulphur dioxide cylinder; and adds that the turbine is a formidable competitor to the piston engine is mainly due to the fact that it more completely realizes the expansive principle enunciated in the infancy of steam history as the fundamental factor of economy by its sagacious founder, the immortal watt. watt's favorite employment in soho works late in 1783 and early in 1784 was to teach his engine, now become as docile as it was powerful, to work a tilt hammer. in 1777 he had written boulton that wilkinson wants an engine to raise a stamp of 15 cwt. thirty or forty times in a minute. i have set webb to work to try it with the little engine and a stamp-hammer of 60 lbs. weight. many of these _battering rams_ will be wanted if they answer. the trial was successful. a new machine to work a 700 lbs. hammer for wilkinson was made, and april 27, 1783, watt writes that it makes from 15 to 50, and even 60, strokes per minute, and works a hammer, raised two feet high, which has struck 300 blows per minute. the engine was to work two hammers, but was capable of working four of 7 cwt. each. he says, with excusable pride, i believe it is a thing never done before, to make a hammer of that weight make 300 blows per minute; and, in fact, it is more a matter to brag of than for any other use, as the rate wanted is from 90 to 100 blows, being as quick as the workmen can manage the iron under it. this most ingenious application of steam power was included in watt's next patent of april 28, 1784. it embraced many improvements, mostly, however, now of little consequence, the most celebrated being "parallel motion," of which watt was prouder than any other of his triumphs. he writes to his son, november, 1808, twenty-four years after it was invented (1784): though i am not over anxious after fame, yet i am more proud of the parallel motion than of any other mechanical invention i have ever made. he wrote boulton, in june, 1784: i have started a new hare. i have got a glimpse of a method of causing a piston-rod to move up and down perpendicularly, by only fixing it to a piece of iron upon the beam ... i think it one of the most ingenious simple pieces of mechanism i have contrived. october, 1784, he writes: the new central perpendicular motion answers beyond expectation, and does not make the shadow of a noise. he says: when i saw it in movement, it afforded me all the pleasure of a novelty, as if i had been examining the invention of another. when beam-engines were universally used for pumping, this parallel motion was of great advantage. it has been superseded in our day, by improved piston guides and cross-heads, the construction of which in watt's day was impossible, but no invention has commanded in greater degree the admiration of all who comprehend the principles upon which it acts, or who have witnessed the smoothness, orderly power and "sweet simplicity" of its movements. watt's pride in it as his favorite invention in these respects is fully justified. a detailed specification for a road steam-carriage concludes the claims of this patent, but the idea of railroads, instead of common roads, coming later left the construction of the locomotive to stephenson.[1] watt's last patent bears date june 14, 1785, and was for certain newly improved methods of constructing furnaces or fire-places for heating, boiling, or evaporating of water and other liquids which are applicable to steam engines and other purposes, and also for heating, melting, and smelting of metals and their ores, whereby greater effects are produced from the fuel, and the smoke is in a great measure prevented or consumed. the principle, "an old one of my own," as watt says, is in great part acted upon to-day. so numerous were the improvements made by watt at various periods, which greatly increased the utility of his engine, it would be in vain to attempt a detailed recital of his endless contrivances, but we may mention as highly important, the throttle-valve, the governor, the steam-gauge and the indicator. muirhead says: the throttle-valve is worked directly by the engineer to start or stop the engine, and also to regulate the supply of steam. watt describes it as a circular plate of metal, having a spindle fixed across its diameter, the plate being accurately fitted to an aperture in a metal ring of some thickness, through the edgeway of which the spindle is fitted steam-tight, and the ring fixed between the two flanches of the joint of the steam-pipe which is next to the cylinder. one end of the spindle, which has a square upon it, comes through the ring, and has a spanner fixed upon it, by which it can be turned in either direction. when the valve is parallel to the outsides of the ring, it shuts the opening nearly perfectly; but when its plane lies at an angle to the ring, it admits more or less steam according to the degree it has opened; consequently the piston is acted upon with more or less force. papin preferred gunpowder as a safer source of power than steam, but that was before it had been automatically regulated by the "governor." the governor has always been the writer's favorite invention, probably because it was the first he fully understood. it is an application of the centrifugal principle adapted and mechanically improved. two heavy revolving balls swing round an upright rod. the faster the rod revolves the farther from it the balls swing out. the slower it turns the closer the balls fall toward it. by proper attachments the valve openings admitting steam are widened or narrowed accordingly. thus the higher speed of the engine, the less steam admitted, the slower the speed the more steam admitted. hence any uniform speed desired can be maintained: should the engine be called upon to perform greater service at one moment than another, as in the case of steel rolling mills, speed being checked when the piece of steel enters the rolls, immediately the valves widen, more steam rushes into the engine, and _vice versa_. until the governor came regular motion was impossible--steam was an unruly steed. arago describes the steam-gauge thus: it is a short glass tube with its lower end immersed in a cistern of mercury, which is placed within an iron box screwed to the boiler steam-pipe, or to some other part communicating freely with the steam, which, pressing on the surface of the mercury in the cistern, raises the mercury in the tube (which is open to the air at the upper end), and its altitude serves to show the elastic power of the steam over that of the atmosphere. the indicator he thus describes: the barometer being adapted only to ascertain the degree of exhaustion in the condenser where its variations were small, the vibrations of the mercury rendered it very difficult, if not impracticable, to ascertain the state of the exhaustion of the cylinder at the different periods of the stroke of the engine; it became therefore necessary to contrive an instrument for that purpose that should be less subject to vibration, and should show nearly the degree of exhaustion in the cylinder at all periods. the following instrument, called the indicator, is found to answer the end sufficiently. a cylinder about an inch diameter, and six inches long, exceedingly truly bored, has a solid piston accurately fitted to it, so as to slide easy by the help of some oil; the stem of the piston is guided in the direction of the axis of the cylinder, so that it may not be subject to jam, or cause friction in any part of its motion. the bottom of this cylinder has a cock and small pipe joined to it which, having a conical end, may be inserted in a hole drilled in the cylinder of the engine near one of the ends, so that, by opening the small cock, a communication may be effected between the inside of the cylinder and the indicator. the cylinder of the indicator is fastened upon a wooden or metal frame, more than twice its own length; one end of a spiral steel spring, like that of a spring steel-yard, is attached to the upper part of the frame, and the other end of the spring is attached to the upper end of the piston-rod of the indicator. the spring is made of such a strength, that when the cylinder of the indicator is perfectly exhausted, the pressure of the atmosphere may force its piston down within an inch of its bottom. an index being fixed to the top of its piston-rod, the point where it stands, when quite exhausted, is marked from an observation of a barometer communicating with the same exhausted vessel, and the scale divided accordingly. improvements come in many ways, sometimes after much thought and after many experimental failures. sometimes they flash upon clever inventors, but let us remember this is only after they have spent long years studying the problem. in the case of the steam engine, however, a quite important improvement came very curiously. humphrey potter was a lad employed to turn off and on the stop cocks of a newcomen engine, a monotonous task, for, at every stroke one had to be turned to let steam into the boiler and another for injecting the cold water to condense it, and this had to be done at the right instant or the engine could not move. how to relieve himself from the drudgery became the question. he wished time to play with the other boys whose merriment was often heard at no great distance, and this set him thinking. humphrey saw that the beam in its movements might serve to open and shut these stop cocks and he promptly began to attach cords to the cocks and then tied them at the proper points to the beam, so that ascending it pulled one cord and descending the other. thus came to us perhaps not the first automatic device, but no doubt the first of its kind that was ever seen there. the steam engine henceforth was self-attending, providing itself for its own supply of steam and for its condensation with perfect regularity. it had become in this feature automatic. the cords of potter gave place to vertical rods with small pegs which pressed upward or downward as desired. these have long since been replaced by other devices, but all are only simple modifications of a contrivance devised by the mere lad whose duty it was to turn the stop cocks. it would be interesting to know the kind of man this precocious boy inventor became, or whether he received suitable reward for his important improvement. we search in vain; no mention of him is to be found. let us, however, do our best to repair the neglect and record that, in the history of the steam engine, humphrey potter must ever be honorably associated with famous men as the only famous boy inventor. in the development of the steam engine, we have one purely accidental discovery. in the early newcomen engines, the head of the piston was covered by a sheet of water to fill the spaces between the circular contour of the movable piston and the internal surface of the cylinder, for there were no cylinder-boring tools in those days, and surfaces of cylinders were most irregular. to the surprise of the engineer, the engine began one day working at greatly increased speed, when it was found that the piston-head had been pierced by accident and that the cold water had passed in small drops into the cylinder and had condensed the steam, thus rapidly making a more perfect vacuum. from this accidental discovery came the improved plan of injecting a shower of cold water through the cylinder, the strokes of the engine being thus greatly increased. the year 1783 was one of watt's most fruitful years of the dozen which may be said to have teemed with his inventions. his celebrated discovery of the composition of water was published in this year. the attempts made to deprive him of the honor of making this discovery ended in complete failure. sir humphrey davy, henry, arago, liebig, and many others of the highest authority acknowledged and established watt's claims. the true greatness of the modest watt was never more finely revealed than in his correspondence and papers published during the controversy. watt wrote dr. black, april 21st, that he had handed his paper to dr. priestley to be read at the royal society. it contained the new idea of water, hitherto considered an element and now discovered to be a compound. thus was announced one of the most wonderful discoveries found in the history of science. it was justly termed the beginning of a new era, the dawn of a new day in physical chemistry, indeed the real foundation for the new system of chemistry, and, according to dr. young, "a discovery perhaps of greater importance than any single fact which human ingenuity has ascertained either before or since." what newton had done for light watt was held to have done for water. muirfield well says: it is interesting in a high degree to remark that for him who had so fully subdued to the use of man the gigantic power of steam it was also reserved to unfold its compound natural and elemental principles, as if on this subject there were to be nothing which his researches did not touch, nothing which they touched that they did not adorn. arago says: in his memoir of the month of april, priestley added an important circumstance to those resulting from the experiments of his predecessors: he proved that the weight of the water which is deposited upon the sides of the vessel, at the instant of the detonation of the oxygen and hydrogen, is precisely the same as the weights of the two gases. watt, to whom priestley communicated this important result, immediately perceived that proof was here afforded that water was not a simple body. writing to his illustrious friend, he asks: what are the products of your experiment? they are _water_, _light_ and _heat_. are we not, thence, authorised to conclude that water is a compound of the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, deprived of a portion of their latent or elementary heat; that oxygen is water deprived of its hydrogen, but still united to its latent heat and light? if light be only a modification of heat, or a simple circumstance of its manifestation, or a component part of hydrogen, oxygen gas will be water deprived of its hydrogen, but combined with latent heat. this passage, so clear, so precise, and logical, is taken from a letter of watt's, dated april 26, 1783. the letter was communicated by priestley to several of the scientific men in london, and was transmitted immediately afterward to sir joseph banks, the president of the royal society, to be read at one of the meetings of that learned body. watt had for many years entertained the opinion that air was a modification of water. he writes boulton, december 10, 1782: you may remember that i have often said, that if water could be heated red-hot or something more, it would probably be converted into some kind of air, because steam would in that case have lost all its latent heat, and that it would have been turned solely into sensible heat, and probably a total change of the nature of the fluid would ensue. a month after he hears of priestley's experiments, he writes dr. black (april 21, 1783) that he "believes he has found out the cause of the conversion of water into air." a few days later, he writes to dr. priestley: in the deflagration of the inflammable and dephlogisticated airs, the airs unite with violence--become red-hot--and, on cooling, totally disappear. the only fixed matter which remains is _water_; and _water_, _light_, and _heat_, are all the products. are we not then authorised to conclude that water is composed of dephlogisticated and inflammable air, or phlogiston, deprived of part of their latent heat; and that dephlogisticated, or pure air, is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston, and united to heat and light; and if light be only a modification of heat, or a component part of phlogiston, then pure air consists of water deprived of its phlogiston and of latent heat? it appears from the letter to dr. black of april 21st, that mr. watt had, on that day, written his letter to dr. priestley, to be read by him to the royal society, but on the 26th he informs mr. deluc, that having observed some inaccuracies of style in that letter, he had removed them, and would send the doctor a corrected copy in a day or two, which he accordingly did on the 28th; the corrected letter (the same that was afterward embodied verbatim in the letter to mr. deluc, printed in the philosophical transactions), being dated april 26th. in enclosing it, mr. watt adds, "as to myself, the more i consider what i have said, i am the more satisfied with it, as i find none of the facts repugnant." thus was announced for the first time one of the most wonderful discoveries recorded in the history of science, startling in its novelty and yet so simple. watt had divined the import of priestley's experiment, for he had mastered all knowledge bearing upon the question, but even when this was communicated to priestley, he could not accept it, and, after making new experiments, he writes watt, april 29, 1783, "behold with surprise and indignation the figure of an apparatus that has utterly ruined your beautiful hypothesis," giving a rough sketch with his pen of the apparatus employed. mark the promptitude of the master who had deciphered the message which the experimenter himself could not translate. he immediately writes in reply may 2, 1783: i deny that your experiment ruins my hypothesis. it is not founded on so brittle a basis as an earthen retort, nor on _its_ converting water into air. i founded it on the other facts, and was obliged to stretch it a good deal before it would fit this experiment.... i maintain my hypothesis until it shall be shown that the water formed after the explosion of the pure and inflammable airs, has some other origin. he also writes to mr. deluc on may 18th: i do not see dr. priestley's experiment in the same light that he does. it does not disprove my theory.... my assertion was simply, that air (_i.e._, dephlogisticated air, or oxygen, which was also commonly called vital air, pure air, or simple _air_) was water deprived of its phlogiston, and united to heat, which i grounded on the decomposition of air by inflammation with inflammable air, the residuum, or product of which, is only water and heat. having, by experiments of his own, fully satisfied himself of the correctness of his theory, in november he prepared a full statement for the royal society, having asked the society to withhold his first paper until he could prove it for himself by experiment. he never doubted its correctness, but some members of the society advised that it had better be supported by facts. when the discovery was so daring that priestley, who made the experiments, could not believe it and had to be convinced by watt of its correctness, there seems little room left for other claimants, nor for doubt as to whom is due the credit of the revelation. watt encountered the difficulties of different weights and measures in his studies of foreign writers upon chemistry, a serious inconvenience which still remains with us. he wrote mr. kirwan, november, 1783: i had a great deal of trouble in reducing the weights and measures to speak the same language; and many of the german experiments become still more difficult from their using different weights and different divisions of them in different parts of that empire. it is therefore a very desirable thing to have these difficulties removed, and to get all philosophers to use pounds divided in the same manner, and i flatter myself that may be accomplished if you, dr. priestley, and a few of the french experimenters will agree to it; for the utility is so evident, that every thinking person must immediately be convinced of it. here follows his plan: let the philosophical pound consist of 10 ounces, or 10,000 grains. the ounce " " 10 drachms or 1,000 " the drachm " " 100 grains. let all elastic fluids be measured by the ounce measure of water, by which the valuation of different cubic inches will be avoided, and the common decimal tables of specific gravities will immediately give the weights of those elastic fluids. if all philosophers cannot agree on one pound or one grain, let every one take his own pound or his own grain; it will affect nothing but doses of medicines, which must be corrected as is now done; but as it would be much better that the identical pound was used by all. i would propose that the amsterdam or paris pound be assumed as the standard, being now the most universal in europe: it is to our avoirdupois pound as 109 is to 100. our avoirdupois pound contains 7,000 of our grains, and the paris pound 7,630 of our grains, but it contains 9,376 paris grains, so that the division into 10,000 would very little affect the paris grain. i prefer dividing the pound afresh to beginning with the paris grain, because i believe the pound is very general, but the grain local. dr. priestley has agreed to this proposal, and has referred it to you to fix upon the pound if you otherwise approve of it. i shall be happy to have your opinion of it as soon as convenient, and to concert with you the means of making it universal.... i have some hopes that the foot may be fixed by the pendulum and a measure of water, and a pound derived from that; but in the interim let us at least assume a proper division, which from the nature of it must be intelligible as long as decimal arithmetic is used. he afterward wrote, in a letter to magellan: as to the precise foot or pound, i do not look upon it to be very material, in chemistry at least. either the common english foot may be adopted according to your proposal, which has the advantage that a cubic foot is exactly 1,000 ounces, consequently the present foot and ounce would be retained; or a pendulum which vibrates 100 times a minute may be adopted for the standard, which would make the foot 14.2 of our present inches, and the cubic foot would be very exactly a bushel, and would weigh 101 of the present pounds, so that the present pound would not be much altered. but i think that by this scheme the foot would be too large, and that the inconvenience of changing all the foot measures and things depending on them, would be much greater than changing all the pounds, bushels, gallons, etc. i therefore give the preference to those plans which retain the foot and ounce. the war of the standards still rages--metric, or decimal, or no change. what each nation has is good enough for it in the opinion of many of its people. some day an international commission will doubtless assemble to bring order out of chaos. as far as the english-speaking race is concerned, it seems that a decided improvement could readily be affected with very trifling, indeed scarcely perceptible, changes. especially is this so with money values. britain could merge her system with those of canada and america, by simply making her "pound" the exact value of the american five dollars, it being now only ten pence less; her silver coinage one and two shillings equal to quarterand half-dollars, the present coin to be recoined upon presentation, but meanwhile to pass current. weights and measures are more difficult to assimilate. science being world-wide, and knowing no divisions, should use uniform terms. alas! at the distance of nearly a century and a half we seem no nearer the prospect of a system of universal weights and measures than in watt's day, but watt's idea is not to be lost sight of for all that. he was a seer who often saw what was to come. we have referred to the absence of holidays in watt's strenuous life, but birmingham was remarkable for a number of choice spirits who formed the celebrated lunar society, whose members were all devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and mutually agreeable to one another. besides watt and boulton, there were dr. priestley, discoverer of oxygen gas, dr. darwin, dr. withering, mr. keir, mr. galton, mr. wedgwood of wedgwood ware fame, who had monthly dinners at their respective houses--hence the "lunar" society. dr. priestley, discoverer of oxygen, who arrived in birmingham in 1780, has repeatedly mentioned the great pleasure he had in having watt for a neighbor. he says: i consider my settlement at birmingham as the happiest event in my life; being highly favourable to every object i had in view, philosophical or theological. in the former respect i had the convenience of good workmen of every kind, and the society of persons eminent for their knowledge of chemistry; particularly mr. watt, mr. keir, and dr. withering. these, with mr. boulton and dr. darwin, who soon left us by removing from lichfield to derby, mr. galton, and afterwards mr. johnson of kenilworth and myself, dined together every month, calling ourselves _the lunar society_, because the time of our meeting was near the full-moon--in order, as he elsewhere says, to have the benefit of its light in returning home. richard lovell edgeworth says of this distinguished coterie: by means of mr. keir, i became acquainted with dr. small of birmingham, a man esteemed by all who knew him, and by all who were admitted to his friendship beloved with no common enthusiasm. dr. small formed a link which combined mr. boulton, mr. watt, dr. darwin, mr. wedgwood, mr. day, and myself together--men of very different characters, but all devoted to literature and science. this mutual intimacy has never been broken but by death, nor have any of the number failed to distinguish themselves in science or literature. some may think that i ought with due modesty to except myself. mr. keir, with his knowledge of the world and good sense; dr. small, with his benevolence and profound sagacity; wedgwood, with his increasing industry, experimental variety, and calm investigation; boulton, with his mobility, quick perception, and bold adventure; watt, with his strong inventive faculty, undeviating steadiness, and bold resources; darwin, with his imagination, science, and poetical excellence; and day with his unwearied research after truth, his integrity and eloquence proved altogether such a society as few men have had the good fortune to live with; such an assemblage of friends, as fewer still have had the happiness to possess, and keep through life. the society continued to exist until the beginning of the century, 1800. watt was the last surviving member. the last reference is dr. priestley's dedication to it, in 1793, of one of his works "experiments on the generation of air from water," in which he says: there are few things that i more regret, in consequence of my removal from birmingham, than the loss of your society. it both encouraged and enlightened me; so that what i did there of a philosophical kind ought in justice to be attributed almost as much to you as to myself. from our cheerful meetings i never absented myself voluntarily, and from my pleasing recollection they will never be absent. should the cause of our separation make it necessary for to me remove to a still greater distance from you, i shall only think the more, and with the more regret, of our past interviews.... philosophy engrossed us wholly. politicians may think there are no objects of any consequence besides those which immediately interest _them_. but objects far superior to any of which they have an idea engaged our attention, and the discussion of them was accompanied with a satisfaction to which they are strangers. happy would it be for the world if their pursuits were as tranquil, and their projects as innocent, and as friendly to the best interests of mankind, as ours. that the partners, boulton and watt, had such pleasure amid their lives of daily cares, all will be glad to know. it was not all humdrum money-making nor intense inventing. there was the society of gifted minds, the serene atmosphere of friendship in the high realms of mutual regard, best recreation of all. in 1786, quite a break in their daily routine took place. in that year messrs. boulton and watt visited paris to meet proposals for their erecting steam engines in france under an exclusive privilege. they were also to suggest improvements on the great hydraulic machine of marly. before starting, the sagacious and patriotic watt wrote to boulton: i think if either of us go to france, we should first wait upon mr. pitt (prime minister), and let him know our errand thither, that the tongue of slander may be silenced, all undue suspicion removed, and ourselves rendered more valuable in his eyes, because others desire to have us! they had a flattering reception in paris from the ministry, who seemed desirous that they should establish engine-works in france. this they absolutely refused to do, as being contrary to the interests of their country. it may be feared we are not quite so scrupulous in our day. on the other hand, refusal now would be fruitless, it has become so easy to obtain plans, and even experts, to build machines for any kind of product in any country. automatic machinery has almost dispelled the need for so-called skilled labor. east indians, mexicans, japanese, chinese, all become more or less efficient workers with a few month's experience. manufacturing is therefore to spread rapidly throughout the world. all nations may be trusted to develop, and if necessary for a time protect, their natural resources as a patriotic duty. only when prolonged trials have been made can it be determined which nation can best and most cheaply provide the articles for which raw material abounds. the visit to paris enabled watt and boulton to make the acquaintance of the most eminent men of science, with whom they exchanged ideas afterward in frequent and friendly correspondence. watt described himself as being, upon one occasion, "drunk from morning to night with burgundy and undeserved praise." the latter was always a disconcerting draught for our subject; anything but reference to his achievements for the modest self-effacing genius. while in paris, berthollet told watt of his new method of bleaching by chlorine, and gave him permission to communicate it to his father-in-law, who adopted it in his business, together with several improvements of watt's invention, the results of a long series of experiments. watt, writing to mr. macgregor, april 27, 1787, says: in relation to the inventor, he is a man of science, a member of the academy of sciences at paris, and a physician, not very rich, a very modest and worthy man, and an excellent chemist. my sole motives in meddling with it were to procure such reward as i could to a man of merit who had made an extensively useful discovery in the arts, and secondly, i had an immediate view to your interest; as to myself, i had no lucrative views whatsoever, it being a thing out of my way, which both my business and my health prevented me from pursuing further than it might serve for amusement when unfit for more serious business. lately, by a letter from the inventor, he informs me that he gives up all intentions of pursuing it with lucrative views, as he says he will not compromise his quiet and happiness by engaging in business; in which, perhaps, he is right; but if the discovery has real merit, as i apprehend, he is certainly entitled to a generous reward, which i would wish for the honour of britain, to procure for him; but i much fear, in the way you state it, that nothing could be got worth his acceptance. france has been distinguished for men of science who have thus refrained from profiting by their inventions. pasteur, in our day, perhaps the most famous of all, the liver, not only of the simple but of the ideal life, laboring for the good of humanity--service to man--and taking for himself the simple life, free from luxury, palace, estate, and all the inevitable cares accompanying ostentatious living. berthollet preceded him. like agassiz, these gifted souls were "too busy to make money." in 1792, when boulton had passed the allotted three score years and ten, and watt was over three score, they made a momentous decision which brought upon them several years of deep anxiety. fortunately the sons of the veterans who had recently been admitted to the business proved of great service in managing the affair, and relieved their parents of much labor and many journeys. fortunate indeed were watt and boulton in their partnership, for they became friends first and partners afterward. they were not less fortunate in each having a talented son, who also became friends and partners like their fathers before them. the decision was that the infringers of their patents were to be proceeded against. they had to appeal to the law to protect their rights. watt met the apparently inevitable fate of inventors. rivals arose in various quarters to dispute his right to rank as the originator of many improvements. no reflection need be made upon most rival claimants to inventions. some wonderful result is conceived to be within the range of possibility, which, being obtained, will revolutionise existing modes. a score of inventive minds are studying the problem throughout the civilised world. every day or two some new idea flashes upon one of them and vanishes, or is discarded after trial. one day the announcement comes of triumphant success with the very same idea slightly modified, the modification or addition, slight though this may be, making all the difference between failure and success. the man has arrived with the key that opens the door of the treasure-house. he sets the egg on end perhaps by as obvious a plan as chipping the end. there arises a chorus of strenuous claimants, each of whom had thought of that very device long ago. no doubt they did. they are honest in their protests and quite persuaded in their own minds that they, and not the watt of the occasion, are entitled to the honor of original discovery. this very morning we read in the press a letter from the son of morse, vindicating his father's right to rank as the father of the telegraph, a son of vail, one of his collaborators, having claimed that his father, and not morse, was the real inventor. the most august of all bodies of men, since its decisions overrule both congress and president, the supreme court of the united states, has shown rare wisdom from its inception, and in no department more clearly than in that regarding the rights of inventors. no court has had such experience with patent claims, for no nation has a tithe of the number to deal with. throughout its history, the court has attached more and more importance to two points: first, is the invention valuable? second, who proved this in actual practice? these points largely govern its decisions. the law expenses of their suits seemed to boulton and watt exorbitant, even in that age of low prices compared to our own. one solicitors bill was for no less than $30,000, which caused watt years afterward, when speaking of an enormous charge to say that "it would not have disgraced a london solicitor." when we find however, that this was for four years' services, the london solicitor appears in a different light. "in the whole affair," writes watt to his friend dr. black, january 15, 1797, "nothing was so grateful to me as the zeal of our friends and the activity of our young men, which were unremitting." the first trial ended june 22, 1793, with a verdict for watt and boulton by the jury, subject to the opinion of the court as to the validity of the patent. on may 16, 1795, the case came on for judgment, when unfortunately the court was found divided, two for the patent and two against. another case was tried december 16, 1796, with a special jury, before lord chief justice eyre; the verdict was again for the plaintiffs. proceedings on a writ of error had the effect of affirming the result by the unanimous opinion of the four judges, before whom it was ably and fully argued on two occasions. the testimony of professor robison, watt's intimate friend of youth in glasgow, was understood to have been deeply impressive, and to have had a decisive effect upon judges and jury. all the claims of watt were thus triumphantly sustained. the decision has always been considered of commanding importance to the law of patents in britain, and was of vast consequence to the firm of watt and boulton pecuniarily. heavy damages and costs were due from the actual defendants, and the large number of other infringers were also liable for damages. as was to have been expected, however, the firm remembered that to be merciful in the hour of victory and not to punish too hard a fallen foe, was a cardinal virtue. the settlements they made were considered most liberal and satisfactory to all. watt used frequently long afterward to refer to his specifications as his old and well-tried friends. so indeed they proved, and many references to their wonderful efficiency were made. with the beginning of the new century, 1800, the original partnership of the famous firm of boulton and watt expired, after a term of twenty-five years, as did the patents of 1769 and 1775. the term of partnership had been fixed with reference to the duration of the patents. young men in their prime, watt at forty and boulton about fifty when they joined hands, after a quarter-century of unceasing and anxious labor, were disposed to resign the cares and troubles of business to their sons. the partnership therefore was not renewed by them, but their respective shares in the firm were agreed upon as the basis of a new partnership between their sons, james watt, jr., matthew robinson boulton and gregory watt, all distinguished for abilities of no mean order, and in a great degree already conversant with the business, which their wise fathers had seen fit for some years to entrust more and more to them. in nothing done by either of these two wise fathers is more wisdom shown than in their sagacious, farseeing policy in regard to their sons. as they themselves had been taught to concentrate their energies upon useful occupation, for which society would pay as for value received, they had doubtless often conferred, and concluded that was the happiest and best life for their sons, instead of allowing them to fritter away the precious years of youth in aimless frivolity, to be followed in later years by a disappointing and humiliating old age. so the partnership of boulton and watt was renewed in the union of the sons. gregory watt's premature death four years later was such a blow to his father that some think he never was quite himself again. gregory had displayed brilliant talents in the higher pursuits of science and literature, in which he took delight, and great things had been predicted from him. with the other two sons the business connection continued without change for forty years, until, when old men, they also retired like their fathers. they proved to be great managers, for notwithstanding the cessation of the patents which opened engine-building free to all, the business of the firm increased and became much more profitable than it had ever been before; indeed toward the close of the original partnership, and upon the triumph gained in the patent suits, the enterprise became so profitable as fully to satisfy the moderate desire of watt, and to provide a sure source of income for his sons. this met all his wishes and removed the fears of becoming dependent that had so long haunted him. the continued and increasing success of the soho works was obviously owing to the new partners. they had some excellent assistants, but in the foremost place among all of them stands murdoch, watt's able, faithful and esteemed assistant for many years, who, both intellectually and in manly independence, was considered to exhibit no small resemblance to his revered master and friend. never formally a partner in soho (for he declined partnership as we have seen), he was placed on the footing of a partner by the sons in 1810, without risk, and received $5,000 per annum. from 1830 he lived in peaceful retirement and passed away in 1839. his remains were deposited in handsworth church near those of his friends and employers, watt and boulton (the one spot on earth he could have most desired). "a bust by chantrey serves to perpetuate the remembrance of his manly and intelligent features, and of the mind of which these were a pleasing index." we may imagine the shades of watt and boulton, those friends so appropriately laid together, greeting their friend and employee: "well done, thou good and faithful servant!" if ever there was one, murdoch was the man, and captain jones his fellow. we have referred to watt's suggestion of the screw-propeller, and of the sketch of it sent to dr. small, september 30, 1770. the only record of any earlier suggestion of steam is that of jonathan hulls, in 1736, and which he set forth in a pamphlet entitled "a description and draught of a newly invented machine for carrying vessels or ships out of or into any harbour, port or river, against wind or tide or in a calm"; london, 1737. he described a large barge equipped with a newcomen engine to be employed as a tug, fitted with fan (or paddle) wheels, towing a ship of war, but nothing further appears to have been done. writing on this subject, mr. williamson says: during his last visit to greenock in 1816, mr. watt, in company with his friend, mr. walkinshaw--whom the author some years afterward heard relate the circumstance--made a voyage in a steamboat as far as rothsay and back to greenock--an excursion, which, in those days, occupied a greater portion of a whole day. mr. watt entered into conversation with the engineer of the boat, pointing out to him the method of "backing" the engine. with a footrule he demonstrated to him what was meant. not succeeding, however, he at last, under the impulse of the ruling passion, threw off his overcoat, and, putting his hand to the engine himself, showed the practical application of his lecture. previously to this, the "back-stroke" of the steamboat engine was either unknown, or not generally known. the practice was to stop the engine entirely a considerable time before the vessel reached the point of mooring, in order to allow for the gradual and natural diminution of her speed. the naval review at spithead, upon the close of the crimean war in 1856, was the greatest up to that time. ten vessels out of two hundred and fifty still had not steam power, but almost all the others were propelled by the screw--the spiral oar of watt's letter of 1770--a red-letter day for the inventor. watt's early interest in locomotive steam-carriages, dating from robison's having thrown out the idea to him, was never lost. on august 12, 1768, dr. small writes watt, referring to the "peculiar improvements in them" the latter had made previous to that date. seven months later he apprises watt that "a patent for moving wheel-carriages by steam has been taken out by one moore," adding "this comes of thy delays; do come to england with all possible speed." watt replied "if linen-draper moore does not use my engine to drive his chaises he can't drive them by steam." here watt hit the nail on the head; as with the steamship, so with the locomotive, his steam-engine was the indispensable power. in 1786 he states that he has a carriage model of some size in hand "and am resolved to try if god will work a miracle in favor of these carriages." watt's doubt was based on the fact that they would take twenty pounds of coal and two cubic feet of water per horse-power on the common roads. another of watt's recreations in his days of semi-retirement was the improvement of lamps. he wrote the famous inventor of the argand burner fully upon the subject in august, 1787, and constructed some lamps which proved great successes. the following year he invented an instrument for determining the specific gravities of liquids, which was generally adopted. one of watt's inventions was a new method of readily measuring distances by telescope, which he used in making his various surveys for canals. such instruments are in general use to-day. brough's treatise on "mining" (10th ed., p. 228) gives a very complete account of them, and states that "the original instrument of this class is that invented by james watt in 1771." in his leisure hours, watt invented an ingenious machine for drawing in perspective, using the double parallel ruler, then very little known and not at all used as far as watt knew. watt reports having made from fifty to eighty of these machines, which went to various parts of the world. in 1810 watt informs berthollet that for several years he had felt unable, owing to the state of his health, to make chemical experiments. but idle he could not be; he must be at work upon something. as he often said, "without a hobby-horse, what is life?" so the saying is reported, but we may conclude that the "horse" is here an interpolation, for the difference between "a horse" and "a hobby" is radical--a man can get off a horse. watt's next "hobby" fortunately became an engrossing occupation and kept him alert. this was a machine for copying sculpture. a machine he had seen in paris for tracing and multiplying the dies of medals, suggested the other. after much labor and many experiments he did get some measure of success, and made a large head of locke in yellow wood, and a small head of his friend adam smith. long did watt toil at the new hobby in the garret where it had been created, but the garret proved too hot in summer and too cold in winter. march 14, 1810, he writes berthollet and levèque: i still do a little in mechanics: a part of which, if i live to complete it, i shall have the honor of communicating to my friends in france. he went steadily forward and succeeded in making some fine copies in 1814. for one of sappho he gives dates and the hours required for various parts, making a total of thirty-nine. some censorious sabbatarians discovered that the day he was employed one hour "doing her breast with 1/8th drill" was sabbath, which in one who belonged to a strict scottish covenanter family, betokened a sad fall from grace. when we consider that his health was then precarious, that he was debarred from chemical experiments, and depended solely upon mechanical subjects; that in all probability it was a stormy day (sunday, february 3, 1811), knowing also that "satan finds mischief still for idle hands to do," we hope our readers will pardon him for yielding to the irresistible temptation, even if on the holy sabbath day for once he could not "get off" his captivating hobby. the historical last workshop of the great worker with all its contents remains open to the public to-day just as it was when he passed away. pilgrims from many lands visit it, as shakespeare's birthplace, burns' cottage, and scott's abbottsford attract their many thousands yearly. we recommend our readers to add to these this garret of watt in their pilgrimages. [1] sinclair's "development of the locomotive" tends to deprive stephenson of some part of his fame as inventor. much importance is attached to hedley's "puffing billy," 1813, which is pronounced to have been a commercial success. sinclair, however, credits stephenson with doing most of all men to introduce the locomotive. as the final verdict may admit hedley and cannot expel stephenson from the temple of fame, we pass the sentence as written, leaving to future disputants to adjust rival claims. chapter viii the record of the steam engine the soho works, up to january, 1824, had completed 1164 steam engines, of a nominal horse-power of 25,945; from january, 1824, to 1854, 441 engines, nominal horse-power, 25,278, making the total number 1605, of nominal horse-power, 51,223, and real horse-power, 167,319. mulhall gives the total steam-power of the world as 50,150,000 horse-power in 1888. in 1880 it was only 34,150,000. thus in eight years it increased, say, fifty per cent. assuming the same rate of increase from 1888 to 1905, a similar period, it is to-day 75,000,000 nominal, which engel says may be taken as one-half the effective power (vide mulhall, "steam," p. 546), the real horse-power in 1905 being 150,000,000. one horse-power raises ten tons a height of twelve inches per minute. working eight hours, this is about 5,000 tons daily, or twelve times a man's work, and as the engine never tires, and can be run constantly, it follows that each horse-power it can exert equals thirty-six men's work; but, allowing for stoppages, let us say thirty men. the engines of a large ocean greyhound of 35,000 horse-power, running constantly from port to port, equal to three relays of twelve men per horse-power, is daily exerting the power of 1,260,000 men, or 105,000 horses. assuming that all the steam engines in the world upon the average work double the hours of men, then the 150,000,000 horse-power in the world, each equal to two relays of twelve men per horse-power, exerts the power of 3,600,000,000 of men. there are only one-tenth as many male adults in the world, estimating one in five of the population. if we assume that all steam engines work an average of only eight hours in the twenty-four, as men and horses do (those on duty longer hours are not under continuous exertion), it still follows that the 150,000,000 of effective steam-power, each doing the work of twelve men, equals the work of 1,800,000,000 of men, or of 150,000,000 of horses. engel estimated that in 1880 the value of world industries dependent upon steam was thirty-two thousand millions of dollars, and that in 1888 it had reached forty-three thousand millions of dollars. it is to-day doubtless more than sixty thousand millions of dollars, a great increase no doubt over 1880, but the one figure is as astounding as the other, for both mean nothing that can be grasped. the chief steam-using countries are america, 14,400,000 horse-power in 1888; britain, 9,200,000 horse-power nominal. if we add the british colonies and dependencies, 7,120,000 horse-power, the english-speaking race had three-fifths of all the steam-power of the world. in 1840 britain had only 620,000 horse-power nominal; the united states 760,000; the whole world had only 1,650,000 horse-power. to-day it has 75,000,000 nominal. so rapidly has steam extended its sway over most of the earth in less than the span of a man's life. there has never been any development in the world's history comparable to this, nor can we imagine that such a rapid transformation can ever come in the future. what the future is finally to bring forth even imagination is unable to conceive. no bounds can be set to its forthcoming possible, even probable, wonders, but as such a revolution as steam has brought must come from a superior force capable of displacing steam, this would necessarily be a much longer task than steam had in occupying an entirely new field without a rival. the contrast between newcomen and watt is interesting. the newcomen engine consumed twenty-eight pounds of coal per horse-power and made not exceeding three to four strokes per minute, the piston moving about fifty feet per minute. to-day, steam marine engines on one and one-third pounds of coal per horse-power--the monster ships using less--make from seventy to ninety revolutions per minute. "destroyers" reach 400 per minute. small steam engines, it is stated, have attained 600 revolutions per minute. the piston to-day is supposed to travel moderately when at 1,000 feet per minute, in a cylinder three feet long. this gives 166 revolutions per minute. with coal under the boilers costing one dollar per net ton, from say five pounds of coal for one cent there is one horse-power for three hours, or a day and a night of continuous running for eight cents. countless millions of men and of horses would be useless for the work of the steam-engine, for the seemingly miraculous quality steam possesses, that permits concentration, is as requisite as its expansive powers. one hundred thousand horse-power, or several hundred thousand horse-power, is placed under one roof and directed to the task required. sixty-four thousand horse-power is concentrated in the hold of the great steamships now building. all this stupendous force is evolved, concentrated and regulated by science from the most unpromising of substances, cold water. nothing man has discovered or imagined is to be named with the steam engine. it has no fellow. franklin capturing the lightning, morse annihilating space with the telegraph, bell transmitting speech through the air by the telephone, are not less mysterious--being more ethereal, perhaps in one sense they are even more so--still, the labor of the world performed by heating cold water places watt and his steam engine in a class apart by itself. many are the inventions for applying power; his creates the power it applies. whether the steam engine has reached its climax, and gas, oil, or other agents are to be used extensively for power, in the near future, is a question now debated in scientific circles. much progress has been made in using these substitutes, and more is probable, as one obstacle after another is overcome. gas especially is coming forward, and oil is freely used. for reasons before stated, it seems to the writer that, where coal is plentiful, the day is distant when steam will not continue to be the principal source of power. it will be a world surpriser that beats one horse-power developed by one pound of coal. the power to do much more than this, however, lies theoretically in gas, but there come these wise words of arago to mind: "persons whose whole lives have been devoted to speculative labours are not aware how great the distance is between a scheme, apparently the best concerted, and its realisation." so true! watt's ideas in the brain, and the steam engine that he had to evolve during nine long years, are somewhat akin to the great gulf between resolve and performance, the "good resolution" that soothes and the "act" that exalts. the steam engine is scotland's chief, tho not her only contribution to the material progress of the world. watt was its inventor, we might almost write creator, so multiform were the successive steps. symington by the steamship stretched one arm of it over the water; stephenson by the locomotive stretched the other over the land. thus was the world brought under its sway and conditions of human life transformed. watt and symington were born in scotland within a few miles of each other. stephenson's forbears moved from scotland south of the line previous to his birth, as fulton's parents removed from scotland to america, so that both stephenson and fulton could boast with gladstone that the blood in their veins was scotch. the history of the world has no parallel to the change effected by the inventions of these three men. strange that little scotland, with only 1,500,000 people, in 1791, about one-half the population of new york city, should have been the mother of such a triad, and that her second "mighty three" (wallace, bruce and burns always first), should have been of the same generation, working upon the earth near each other at the same time. the watt engine appeared in 1782; the steamship in 1801; the locomotive thirteen years later, in 1814. thus thirty-two years after its appearance watt's steam-engine had conquered both sea and land. the sociologist may theorise, but plain people will remember that men do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles. there must be something in the soil which produces such men; something in the poverty that compels exertion; something in the "land of the mountain and the flood" that stirs the imagination; something in the history of centuries of struggle for national and spiritual independence; much in the system of compulsory and universal free education; something of all these elements mingling in the blood that tells, and enables scotland to contribute so largely to the progress of the world. strange reticence is shown by all watt's historians regarding his religious and political views. williamson, the earliest author of his memoirs, is full of interesting facts obtained from people in greenock who had known watt well. the hesitation shown by him as to watt's orthodoxy in his otherwise highly eulogistic tribute, attracts attention. he says: we could desire to know more of the state of those affections which are more purely spiritual by their nature and origin--his disposition to those supreme truths of revelation, which alone really elevate and purify the soul. in the absence of much information of a very positive kind in regard to such points of character and life, we instinctively revert in a case like this to the principles and maxims of an infantile and early training. remembering the piety portrayed in the ancestors of this great man, one cannot but cling to the hope that his many virtues reposed on a substratum of more than merely moral excellence. let us cherish the hope that the calm which rested on the spirit of the pilgrim ... was one that caught its radiance from a far higher sphere than that of the purest human philosophy. watt's breaking of the sabbath before recorded must have seemed to that stern calvinist a heinous sin, justifying grave doubts of watt's spiritual condition, his "moral excellence" to the contrary notwithstanding. williamson's estimate of moral excellence had recently been described by burns: but then, nae thanks to him for a' that, nae godly symptom ye can ca' that, it's naething but a milder feature of our poor sinfu' corrupt nature. ye'll get the best o' moral works, many black gentoos and pagan works, or hunters wild on ponotaxi wha never heard of orthodoxy. williamson's doubts had much stronger foundation in watt's non-attendance at church, for, as we shall see from his letter to deluc, july, 1788, he had never attended the "meeting-house" (dissenting church) in birmingham altho he claimed to be still a member of the presbyterian body in declining the sheriffalty. it seems probable that watt, in his theological views, like priestley and others of the lunar society, was in advance of his age, and more or less in accord with burns, who was then astonishing his countrymen. perhaps he had forstalled dean stanley's advice in his rectorial address to the students of st. andrew's university: "go to burns for your theology," yet he remained a deeply religious man to the end, as we see from his letter (page 216), at the age of seventy-six. we know that politically watt was in advance of his times for the prime minister pronounced him "a sad radical." he was with burns politically at all events. watt's eldest son, then in paris, was carried away by the french revolution, and muirhead suggests that the prime minister must have confounded father and son, but it seems unreasonable to suppose that he could have been so misled as to mistake the doings of the famous watt in birmingham for those of his impulsive son in france. the french revolution exerted a powerful influence in britain, especially in the north of england and south of scotland, which have much in common. the lunar society of birmingham was intensely interested. at one of the meetings in the summer of 1788, held at her father's house, mrs. schimmelpenniack records that mr. boulton presented to the company his son, just returned from a long sojourn in paris, who gave a vivid account of proceedings there, watt and dr. priestly being present. a few months later the revolution broke out. young harry priestley, a son of the doctor's, one evening burst into the drawing-room, waving his hat and crying, "hurrah! liberty, reason, brotherly love forever! down with kingcraft and priestcraft! the majesty of the people forever! france is free!" dr. priestley was deeply stirred and became the most prominent of all in the cause of the rights of man. he hailed the acts of the national assembly abolishing monarchy, nobility and church. he was often engaged in discussions with the local clergy on theological dogmas. he wrote a pamphlet upon the french revolution, and burke attacked him in the house of commons. all this naturally concentrated local opposition upon him as leader. the enthusiasts mistakenly determined to have a public dinner to celebrate the anniversary of the revolution, and no less than eighty gentlemen attended, altho many advised against it. priestley himself was not present. a mob collected outside and demolished the windows. the cry was raised, "to the new meeting-house!" the chapel in which priestley ministered. the chapel was set on fire. thence the riot proceeded to priestley's house. the doctor and his family, being warned, had left shortly before. the house was at the mercy of the mob, which broke in, destroyed furniture, chemical laboratory and library, and finally set fire to the house. some of the very best citizens suffered in like manner. mr. ryland, one of the most munificent benefactors of the town, mr. taylor, the banker, and hutton, the estimable book-seller, were among the number. the home of dr. withering, member of the lunar society, was entered, but the timely arrival of troops saved it from destruction. the members of the lunar society, or the "lunatics," as they were popularly called, were especially marked for attack. the mob cried, "no philosophers!" "church and king forever!" all this put boulton and watt upon their guard, for they were prominent members of the society. they called their workmen together, explained the criminally of the rioters, and placed arms in their hands on their promise to defend them if attacked. meanwhile everything portable was packed up ready to be removed. watt wrote to mr. deluc, july 19, 1791: though our principles, which are well known, as friends to the established government and enemies of republican principles, should have been our protection from a mob whose watchword was church and king, yet our safety was principally owing to most of the dissenters living south of the town; for after the first moment they did not seem over-nice in their discrimination of religion and principles. i, among others, was pointed out as a presbyterian, though i never was in a meeting-house (dissenting church) in birmingham, and mr. boulton is well-known as a churchman. we had everything most portable packed up, fearing the worst. however, all is well with us. from all this we gather the impression that radical principles had permeated the leading minds of birmingham to a considerable extent, probably around the lunar society district in greater measure than in other quarters, altho clubs of ardent supporters were formed in london and the principal provincial cities. in the political field, we have only one appearance of watt reported. early in 1784, we find him taking the lead in getting up a loyal address to the king on the appointment as prime minister of pitt, who proposed to tax coal, iron, copper and other raw materials of manufacture to the amount of $5,000,000 per year, a considerable sum in those days when manufacturing was in its infancy. boulton also joined in opposition. they wisely held that for a manufacturing nation "to tax raw materials was suicidal: let taxes be laid upon luxuries, upon vices, and, if you like, upon property; tax riches when got, but not the means of getting them. of all things don't cut open the hen that lays the golden eggs." watt's services were enlisted and he drew up a paper for circulation upon the subject. the policy failed, and soon after pitt was converted to sounder doctrines by adam smith's "wealth of nations." free trade has ruled britain ever since, and, being the country that could manufacture cheapest, and indeed, the only manufacturing country for many years, this policy has made her the richest, per capita, of all nations. the day may be not far distant when america, soon to be the cheapest manufacturing country for many, as it already is for a few, staple articles, will be crying for free trade, and urging free entrance to the markets of the world. to tax the luxuries and vices, to tax wealth got and not in the making, as proposed by watt and boulton, is the policy to follow. watt shows himself to have been a profound economist. watt had cause for deep anxiety for his eldest son, james, who had taken an active part in the agitation. he and his friend, mr. cooper of manchester, were appointed deputies by the "constitutional society," to proceed to paris and present an address of congratulation to the jacobin club. young watt was carried away, and became intimate with the leaders. southey says he actually prevented a duel between danton and robespierre by appearing on the ground and remonstrating with them, pointing out that if either fell the cause must suffer. upon young watt's return, king's messengers arrived in birmingham and seized persons concerned in seditious correspondence. watt suggests that boulton should see his son and arrange for his leaving for america, or some foreign land, for a time. this proved to be unnecessary; his son was not arrested, and in a short time all was forgotten. he entered the works with boulton's son as partner, and became an admirable manager. to-day we regard his mild republicanism, his alliance with jacobin leaders, and especially his bold intervention in the quarrel between two of the principal actors in the tragedy of the french revolution, as "a ribbon in the cap of youth." that his douce father did the same and was proud of his eldest born seems probable. our readers will also judge for themselves whether the proud father had not himself a strong liking for democratic principles, "the rights of the people," "the royalty of man," which burns was then blazing forth, and held such sentiments as quite justified the prime minister's accusation that he was "a sad radical." in britain, since watt's day, all traces of opposition to monarchy aroused by the french revolution have disappeared, as completely as the monarchy of king george. the "limited monarchy" of to-day, developed during the admirable reign of queen victoria, has taken its place. the french abolished monarchy by a frontal attack upon the citadel, involving serious loss. not such the policy of the colder briton. he won his great victory, losing nothing, by flanking the position. that the king "could do no wrong," is a doctrine almost coeval with modern history, flowing from the "divine right" of kings, and, as such, was quietly accepted. it needed only to be properly harnessed to become a very serviceable agent for registering the people's will. it was obvious that the acceptance of the doctrine that the king could do no wrong involved the duty of proving the truth of the axiom, and it was equally obvious that the only possible way of doing this was that the king should not be allowed to do anything. hence he was made the mouthpiece of his ministers, and it is not the king, but they, who, being fallible men, may occasionally err. the monarch, in losing power to do anything has gained power to influence everything. the ministers hold office through the approval of the house of commons. members of that house are elected by the people. thus stands government in britain "broad-based upon the people's will." all that the revolutionists of watt's day desired has, in substance, been obtained, and britain has become in truth a "crowned republic," with "government of the people, for the people, and by the people." this steady and beneficent development was peaceably attained. the difference between the french and british methods is that between revolution and evolution. in america's political domain, a similar evolution has been even more silently at work than in britain during the past century, and is not yet exhausted--the transformation of a loose confederacy of sovereign states, with different laws, into one solid government, which assumes control and insures uniformity over one department after another. the centripetal forces grow stronger with the years; power leaves the individual states and drifts to washington, as the necessity for each successive change becomes apparent. in the regulation of interstate commerce, of trusts, and in other fields, final authority over the whole land gravitates more and more to washington. it is a beneficent movement, likely to result in uniform national laws upon many subjects in which present diversity creates confusion. marriage and divorce laws, bankruptcy laws, corporation charter privileges, and many other important questions may be expected to become uniform under this evolutionary process. the supreme court decision that the union was an indissoluble union of indissoluble states, carries with it finally uniform regulation of many interstate problems, in every respect salutary, and indispensable for the perfect union of the american people. chapter ix watt in old age watt gracefully glided into old age. this is the great test of success in life. to every stage a laurel, but to happy old age the crown. it was different with his friend boulton, who continued to frequent the works and busy himself in affairs much as before, altho approaching his eightieth year. watt could still occupy himself in his garret, where his "mind to him a kingdom was," upon the scientific pursuits which charmed him. he revisited paris in 1802 and renewed acquaintances with his old friends, with whom he spent five weeks. he frequently treated himself to tours throughout england, scotland and wales. in the latter country, he purchased a property which attracted him by its beauties, and which he greatly improved. it became at a later date, under his son, quite an extensive estate, much diversified, and not lacking altogether the stern grandeur of his native scotland. he planted trees and took intense delight in his garden, being very fond of flowers. the farmhouse gave him a comfortable home upon his visits. the fine woods which now richly clothe the valley and agreeably diversify the river and mountain scenery were chiefly planted under his superintendence, many by his own hand. in short, the blood in his veins, the lessons of his childhood that made him a "child of the mist," happy in roaming among the hills, reasserted their power in old age as the celtic element powerfully does. he turned more and more to nature. "that never yet betrayed the heart that loved her--" we see him strolling through his woods, and imagine him crooning to himself from that marvellous memory that forgot no gem: for i have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity, nor harsh, nor grating, though of ample power to chasten and subdue. and i have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean and the living air, and the blue sky, and in the mind of man: a motion and a spirit, that impels all thinking things, all objects of all thought, and rolls through all things. therefore am i still a lover of the meadows and the woods, and mountains; and of all that we behold from this green earth. twice watt was requested to undertake the honor of the shrievalty; in 1803 that of staffordshire, and in 1816 that of radnorshire, both of which were positively declined. he finally found it necessary to declare that he was not a member of the church of england, but of the presbyterian church of scotland, a reason which in that day was conclusive. in 1816, he was in his eighty-first year, and no difficulty seems then to have been found for excusing him, for it seems the assumption of the duties was compulsory. it was "the voice of age resistless in its feebleness." the day had come when watt awakened to one of the saddest of all truths, that his friends were one by one rapidly passing away, the circle ever narrowing, the few whose places never could be filled becoming fewer, he in the centre left more and more alone. nothing grieved watt so much as this. in 1794 his partner, roebuck, fell; in 1799, his inseparable friend, and supporter in his hour of need, dr. black, and also withering of the lunar society; and in 1802 darwin "of the silver song," one of his earliest english friends. in 1804, his brilliant son gregory died, a terrible shock. in 1805, his first glasgow college intimate, robison; dr. beddoes in 1808; boulton, his partner, in 1809; dr. wilson in 1811; deluc in 1817. many other friends of less distinction fell in these years who were not less dear to him. he says, "by one friend's withdrawing after another," he felt himself "in danger of standing alone among strangers, the son of later times." he writes to boulton on november 23, 1802: we cannot help feeling, with deep regret, the circle of our old friends gradually diminishing, while our ability to increase it by new ones is equally diminished; but perhaps it is a wise dispensation of providence so to diminish our enjoyments in this world, that when our turn comes we may leave it without regret. he writes to another correspondent, july 12, 1810: i, in particular, have reason to thank god that he has preserved me so well as i am, to so late a period, while the greater part of my contemporaries, healthier and younger men, have passed "the bourne from which no traveller returns." it is, however, a painful contemplation to see so many who were dear to us pass away before us; and our consolation should be, that as providence has been pleased to prolong our life, we should render ourselves as useful to society as we can while we live. and again, when seventy-six years of age, january, 1812, he writes: on these subjects i can offer no other consolations than what are derived from religion: they have only gone before us a little while, in that path we all must tread, and we should be thankful they were spared so long to their friends and the world. sir walter scott declares: that is the worst part of life when its earlier path is trod. if my limbs get stiff, my walks are made shorter, and my rides slower; if my eyes fail me, i can use glasses and a large print: if i get a little deaf, i comfort myself that except in a few instances i shall be no great loser by missing one full half of what is spoken: _but i feel the loneliness of age when my companions and friends are taken from me._ all his life until retiring from business, watt's care was to obtain sufficient for the support of himself and family upon the most modest scale. he had no surplus to devote to ends beyond self, but as soon as he retired with a small competence it was different, and we accordingly find him promptly beginning to apply some portion of his still small revenue to philanthropical ends. naturally, his thoughts reverted first to his native town and the university to which he owed so much. in 1808 he founded the watt prize in glasgow university, saying: entertaining a due sense of the many favours conferred upon me by the university of glasgow, i wish to leave them some memorial of my gratitude, and, at the same time, to excite a spirit of inquiry and exertion among the students of natural philosophy and chemistry attending the college; which appears to me the more useful, as the very existence of britain, as a nation, seems to me, in great measure, to depend upon her exertions in science and in the arts. the university conferred the degree of ll.d. upon him in 1774, and its great engineering laboratory bears his name. in 1816, he made a donation to the town of greenock for scientific books, stating it to be his intention to form the beginning of a scientific library for the instruction of the youth of greenock, in the hope of prompting others to add to it, and of rendering his townsmen as eminent for their knowledge as they are for the spirit of enterprise. this has grown to be a library containing 15,000 volumes, and is a valuable adjunct of the watt institution, founded by his son in memory of his father, which is to-day the educational centre of greenock. its entrance is adorned by a remarkably fine statue of watt, funds for which were raised by public subscription. many societies honored the great inventor. he was a fellow of the royal society of edinburgh, the royal society of london, member of the batavian society, correspondent of the french academy of sciences, and was one of the eight foreign associates of the french academy of sciences. watt's almost morbid dislike for publicity leaves many well-known acts of kindness and charity hidden from all save the recipients. muirhead assures us that such gifts as we can well believe were not wanting. watt's character as a kindly neighbor always stood high. he was one of those "who will not receive a reward for that for which god accounts himself a debtor--persons that dare trust god with their charity, and without a witness." in the autumn of 1819 an illness of no great apparent severity caused some little anxiety to watt's family, and was soon recognised by himself as the messenger sent to apprise him of his end. this summons he met with the calm and tranquil mind, that, looking backward, could have found little of serious nature to repent, and looking forward, found nothing to fear. "he often expressed his gratitude to the giver of all good who had so signally prospered the work of his hands and blessed him with length of days and riches and honour." on august 19, 1819, aged 83, in his own home at heathfield, he tranquilly breathed his last, deeply mourned by all who were privileged to know him. in the parish churchyard, alongside of boulton, he was most appropriately laid to rest. thus the two strong men, lifelong friends and partners, who had never had a serious difference, "lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their death were not divided." it may be doubted whether there be on record so charming a business connection as that of boulton and watt; in their own increasingly close union for twenty-five years, and, at its expiration, in the renewal of that union in their sons under the same title; in their sons' close union as friends without friction as in the first generation; in the wonderful progress of the world resulting from their works; in their lying down side by side in death upon the bosom of mother earth in the quiet churchyard, as they had stood side by side in the battle of life; and in the faithful servant murdoch joining them at the last, as he had joined them in his prime. in the sweet and precious influences which emanate from all this, may we not gratefully make acknowledgment that in contemplation thereof we are lifted into a higher atmosphere, refreshed, encouraged, and bettered by the true story of men like ourselves, whom if we can never hope to equal, we may at least try in part to imitate. a meeting was called in london to take steps for a monument to watt to be placed in westminster abbey. the prime minister presided and announced a subscription of five hundred pounds sterling from his majesty. it may truly be said that a meeting more distinguished by rank, station and talent, was never before assembled to do honour to genius, and to modest and retiring worth; and a more spontaneous, noble, and discriminating testimony was never borne to the virtues, talents, and public services of any individual, in any age or country. the result was the colossal statue by chantrey which bears the following inscription, pronounced to be beyond comparison "the finest lapidary inscription in the english language." it is from the pen of lord brougham: not to perpetuate a name which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish but to shew that mankind have learnt to honour those who best deserve their gratitude the king his ministers, and many of the nobles and commoners of the realm raised this monument to james watt who directing the force of an original genius early exercised in philosophic research to the improvement of the steam-engine enlarged the resources of his country increased the power of man and rose to an eminent place among the most illustrious followers of science and the real benefactors of the world born at greenock mdccxxxvi died at heathfield in staffordshire mdcccxix chapter x watt, the inventor and discoverer in the foregoing pages an effort has been made to follow and describe watt's work in detail as it was performed, but we believe our readers will thank us for presenting the opinions of a few of the highest scientific and legal authorities upon what watt really did. lord brougham has this to say of watt: one of the most astonishing circumstances in this truly great man was the versatility of his talents. his accomplishments were so various, the powers of his mind were so vast, and yet of such universal application, that it was hard to say whether we should most admire the extraordinary grasp of his understanding, or the accuracy of nice research with which he could bring it to bear upon the most minute objects of investigation. i forget of whom it was said, that his mind resembled the trunk of an elephant, which can pick up straws and tear up trees by the roots. mr. watt in some sort resembled the greatest and most celebrated of his own inventions; of which we are at a loss whether most to wonder at the power of grappling with the mightiest objects, or of handling the most minute; so that while nothing seems too large for its grasp, nothing seems too small for the delicacy of its touch; which can cleave rocks and pour forth rivers from the bowels of the earth, and with perfect exactness, though not with greater ease, fashion the head of a pin, or strike the impress of some curious die. now those who knew mr. watt, had to contemplate a man whose genius could create such an engine, and indulge in the most abstruse speculations of philosophy, and could at once pass from the most sublime researches of geology and physical astronomy, the formation of our globe, and the structure of the universe, to the manufacture of a needle or a nail; who could discuss in the same conversation, and with equal accuracy, if not with the same consummate skill, the most forbidding details of art, and the elegances of classical literature; the most abstruse branches of science, and the niceties of verbal criticism. there was one quality in mr. watt which most honorably distinguished him from too many inventors, and was worthy of all imitation; he was not only entirely free from jealousy, but he exercised a careful and scrupulous self-denial, and was anxious not to appear, even by accident, as appropriating to himself that which he thought belonged in part to others. i have heard him refuse the honor universally ascribed to him, of being inventor of the steam-engine, and call himself simply its improver; though, in my mind, to doubt his right to that honor would be as inaccurate as to question sir isaac newton's claim to his greatest discoveries, because descartes in mathematics, and galileo in astronomy and mechanics, had preceded him; or to deny the merits of his illustrious successor, because galvanism was not his discovery, though before his time it had remained as useless to science as the instrument called a steam-engine was to the arts before mr. watt. the only jealousy i have known him betray was with respect to others, in the nice adjustment he was fond of giving to the claims of inventors. justly prizing scientific discovery above all other possessions, he deemed the title to it so sacred, that you might hear him arguing by the hour to settle disputed rights; and if you ever perceived his temper ruffled, it was when one man's invention was claimed by, or given to, another; or when a clumsy adulation pressed upon himself that which he knew to be not his own. sir humphrey davy says: i consider it as a duty incumbent on me to endeavor to set forth his peculiar and exalted merits, which live in the recollection of his contemporaries and will transmit his name with immortal glory to posterity. those who consider james watt only as a great practical mechanic form a very erroneous idea of his character; he was equally distinguished as a natural philosopher and a chemist, and his inventions demonstrate his profound knowledge of those sciences, and that peculiar characteristic of genius, the union of them for practical application. the steam engine before his time was a rude machine, the result of simple experiments on the compression of the atmosphere, and the condensation of steam. mr. watt's improvements were not produced by accidental circumstances or by a single ingenious thought; they were founded on delicate and refined experiments, connected with the discoveries of dr. black. he had to investigate the cause of the cold produced by evaporation, of the heat occasioned by the condensation of steam--to determine the source of the air appearing when water was acted upon by an exhausting power; the ratio of the volume of steam to its generating water, and the law by which the elasticity of steam increased with the temperature; labor, time, numerous and difficult experiments, were required for the ultimate result; and when his principle was obtained, the application of it to produce the movement of machinery demanded a new species of intellectual and experimental labor. the archimedes of the ancient world by his mechanical inventions arrested the course of the romans, and stayed for a time the downfall of his country. how much more has our modern archimedes done? he has permanently elevated the strength and wealth of his great empire: and, during the last long war, his inventions; and their application were amongst the great means which enabled britain to display power and resources so infinitely above what might have been expected from the numerical strength of her population. archimedes valued principally abstract science; james watt, on the contrary, brought every principle to some practical use; and, as it were, made science descend from heaven to earth. the great inventions of the syracusan died with him--those of our philosopher live, and their utility and importance are daily more felt; they are among the grand results which place civilised above savage man--which secure the triumph of intellect, and exalt genius and moral force over mere brutal strength, courage and numbers. sir james mackintosh says: it may be presumptuous in me to add anything in my own words to such just and exalted praise. let me rather borrow the language in which the great father of modern philosophy, lord bacon himself, has spoken of inventors in the arts of life. in a beautiful, though not very generally read fragment of his, called the new atlantis, a voyage to an imaginary island, he has imagined a university, or rather royal society, under the name of solomon's house, or the college of the six days' works; and among the various buildings appropriated to this institution, he describes a gallery destined to contain the statues of inventors. he does not disdain to place in it not only the inventor of one of the greatest instruments of science, but the discoverer of the use of the silkworm, and of other still more humble contrivances for the comfort of man. what place would lord bacon have assigned in such a gallery to the statue of mr. watt? is it too much to say, that, considering the magnitude of the discoveries, the genius and science necessary to make them, and the benefits arising from them to the world, that statue must have been placed at the head of those of all inventors in all ages and nations. in another part of his writings the same great man illustrates the dignity of useful inventions by one of those happy allusions to the beautiful mythology of the ancients, which he often employs to illuminate as well as to decorate reason. "the dignity," says he, "of this end of endowment of man's life with new commodity appeareth, by the estimation that antiquity made of such as guided thereunto; for whereas founders of states, lawgivers, extirpators of tyrants, fathers of the people, were honored but with the titles of demigods, inventors were ever consecrated amongst the gods themselves." the earl of aberdeen says: it would ill become me to attempt to add to the eulogy which you have already heard on the distinguished individual whose genius and talents we have met this day to acknowledge. that eulogy has been pronounced by those whose praises are well calculated to confer honor, even upon him whose name does honor to his country. i feel in common with them, although i can but ill express that intense admiration which the bare recollection of those discoveries must excite, which have rendered us familiar with a power before nearly unknown, and which have taught us to wield, almost at will, perhaps the mightiest instrument ever intrusted to the hands of man. i feel, too, that in erecting a monument to his memory, placed, as it may be, among the memorials of kings, and heroes, and statesmen, and philosophers, that it will be then in its proper place; and most in its proper place, if in the midst of those who have been most distinguished by their usefulness to mankind, and by the spotless integrity of their lives. lord jeffrey says: this name fortunately needs no commemoration of ours; for he that bore it survived to see it crowned with undisputed and unenvied honors; and many generations will probably pass away, before it shall have gathered "all its fame." we have said that mr. watt was the great _improver_ of the steam engine; but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in its utility, he should rather be described as its _inventor_. it was by his inventions that its action was so regulated, as to make it capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its power so increased, as to set weight and solidity at defiance. by his admirable contrivance, it has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and its flexibility, for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, and precision, and ductility, with which it can be varied, distributed, and applied. the trunk of an elephant, that can pick up a pin or rend an oak, is as nothing to it. it can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal before it; draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. it can embroider muslin and forge anchors, cut steel into ribbons, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves. it would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. there is no branch of industry that has not been indebted to them; and, in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a thousandfold the amount of its productions. it is our improved steam engine that has fought the battles of europe, and exalted and sustained, through the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of our land. it is the same great power which now enables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to maintain the arduous struggle in which we are still engaged (1819), with the skill and capital of countries less oppressed with taxation. but these are poor and narrow views of its importance. it has increased indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible, all over the world, the materials of wealth and prosperity. it has armed the feeble hand of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be assigned; completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter; and laid a sure foundation for all those future miracles of mechanical power which are to aid and reward the labors of after generations. it is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is mainly owing; and certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on his kind. the blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam engine. this will be the fame of watt with future generations; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. but to those to whom he more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his conversation, it is not, perhaps, the character in which he will be most frequently recalled--most deeply lamented--or even most highly admired. we shall end by quoting the greatest living authority, lord kelvin, now lord chancellor of glasgow university, which watt and he have done so much to render famous: precisely that single-acting, high-pressure, syringe-engine, made and experimented on by james watt one hundred and forty years ago in his glasgow college workshop, now in 1901, with the addition of a surface-condenser cooled by air to receive the waste steam, and a pump to return the water thence to the boiler, constitutes the common-road motor, which, in the opinion of many good judges, is the most successful of all the different motors which have been made and tried within the last few years. without a condenser, watt's high-pressure, single-acting engine of 1761, only needs the cylinder-cover with piston-rod passing steam-tight through it (as introduced by watt himself in subsequent developments), and the valves proper for admitting steam on both sides of the piston and for working expansively, to make it the very engine, which, during the whole of the past century, has done practically all the steam work of the world, and is doing it still, except on the sea or lakes or rivers, where there is plenty of condensing water. even the double and triple and quadruple expansion engines, by which the highest modern economy for power and steam engines has been obtained, are splendid mechanical developments of the principle of expansion, discovered and published by watt, and used, though to a comparatively limited extent, in his own engines. * * * * * thus during the five years from 1761-66 watt had worked out all the principles and invented all that was essential in the details for realising them in the most perfect steam engines of the present day. so passes watt from view as the discoverer and inventor of the "most powerful instrument in the hands of man to alter the face of the physical world." he takes his place "at the head of all inventors of all ages and all nations." chapter xi watt, the man of watt, the genius, possessed of abilities far beyond those of other men, a scientist and philosopher, a mechanician and a craftsman, one who gravitated without effort to the top of every society, and who, even when a young workman, made his workshop the meeting-place of the leaders of glasgow university for the interchange of views upon the highest and most abstruse subjects--with all this we have already dealt, but it is only part, and not the nobler part. he excelled all his fellows in knowledge, but there is much beyond mere knowledge in man. strip watt of all those commanding talents that brought him primacy without effort, for no man ever avoided precedence more persistently than he, and the question still remains: what manner of man was he, as man? surely our readers would esteem the task but half done that revealed only what was unusual in watt's head. what of his heart? is naturally asked. we hasten to record that in the domain of the personal graces and virtues, we have evidence of his excellence as copious and assured as for his pre-eminence in invention and discovery. we cite the testimony of those who knew him best. it is seldom that a great man is so fortunate in his eulogists. the picture drawn of him by his friend, lord jeffrey, must rank as one of the finest ever produced, as portrait and tribute combined. that it is a discriminating statement, altho so eulogistic, may well be accepted, since numerous contributory proofs are given by others of watt's personal characteristics. says lord jeffrey: independently of his great attainments in mechanics, mr. watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information--had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and well. he had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was presented to it. his stores of miscellaneous knowledge were immense, and yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them. it seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation with him, had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and exhausting; such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without effort or hesitation. nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge confined in any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary pursuits. that he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical science, might perhaps have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally known, that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music and law. he was well acquainted, too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most recent literature. nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together, the metaphysical theories of the german logicians, or criticising the measures or the matter of the german poetry. his astonishing memory was aided, no doubt, in a great measure, by a still higher and rarer faculty--by his power of digesting and arranging in its proper place all the information he received, and of casting aside and rejecting, as it were instinctively, whatever was worthless or immaterial. every conception that was suggested to his mind seemed instantly to take its place among its other rich furniture, and to be condensed into the smallest and most convenient form. he never appeared, therefore, to be at all encumbered or perplexed with the _verbiage_ of the dull books he perused, or the idle talk to which he listened; but to have at once extracted, by a kind of intellectual alchemy, all that was worthy of attention, and to have reduced it, for his own use, to its true value and to its simplest form. and thus it often happened that a great deal more was learned from his brief and vigorous account of the theories and arguments of tedious writers, than an ordinary student could ever have derived from the most painful study of the originals, and that errors and absurdities became manifest from the mere clearness and plainness of his statement of them, which might have deluded and perplexed most of his hearers without that invaluable assistance. it is needless to say, that, with those vast resources, his conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary degree; but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise, and had all the charms of familiarity, with all the substantial treasures of knowledge. no man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent toward all who approached him. he rather liked to talk, at least in his latter years, but though he took a considerable share of the conversation, he rarely suggested the topics on which it was to turn, but readily and quietly took up whatever was presented by those around him, and astonished the idle and barren propounders of an ordinary theme, by the treasures which he drew from the mine they had inconsciously opened. he generally seemed, indeed, to have no choice or predilection for one subject of discourse rather than another; but allowed his mind, like a great cyclopædia, to be opened at any letter his associates might choose to turn up, and only endeavour to select, from his inexhaustible stores, what might be best adapted to the taste of his present hearers. as to their capacity he gave himself no trouble; and, indeed, such was his singular talent for making all things plain, clear, and intelligible, that scarcely any one could be aware of such a deficiency in his presence. his talk, too, though overflowing with information, had no resemblance to lecturing or solemn discoursing, but, on the contrary, was full of colloquial spirit and pleasantry. he had a certain quiet and grave humour, which ran through most of his conversation, and a vein of temperate jocularity, which gave infinite zest and effect to the condensed and inexhaustible information which formed its main staple and characteristic. there was a little air of affected testiness, and a tone of pretended rebuke and contradiction, with which he used to address his younger friends, that was always felt by them as an endearing mark of his kindness and familiarity, and prized accordingly, far beyond all the solemn compliments that ever proceeded from the lips of authority. his voice was deep and powerful, although he commonly spoke in a low and somewhat monotonous tone, which harmonised admirably with the weight and brevity of his observations, and set off to the greatest advantage the pleasant anecdotes, which he delivered with the same grave brow, and the same calm smile playing soberly on his lips. there was nothing of effort indeed, or impatience, any more than pride or levity, in his demeanour; and there was a finer expression of reposing strength, and mild self-possession in his manner, than we ever recollect to have met with in any other person. he had in his character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of forwardness, parade and pretensions; and, indeed, never failed to put all such impostures out of countenance, by the manly plainness and honest intrepidity of his language and deportment. in his temper and dispositions he was not only kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him; and gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice. his health, which was delicate from his youth upwards, seemed to become firmer as he advanced in years; and he preserved, up almost to the last moment of his existence, not only the full command of his extraordinary intellect, but all the alacrity of spirit, and the social gaiety, which had illumined his happiest days. his friends in this part of the country never saw him more full of intellectual vigour and colloquial animation, never more delightful or more instructive, than in his last visit to scotland in the autumn of 1817. indeed, it was after that time that he applied himself, with all the ardour of early life, to the invention of a machine for mechanically copying all sorts of sculpture and statuary; and distributed among his friends some of its earliest performances, as the productions of a young artist just entering on his eighty-third year. * * * * * all men of learning and science were his cordial friends; and such was the influence of his mild character and perfect fairness and liberality, even upon the pretenders to these accomplishments, that he lived to disarm even envy itself, and died, we verily believe, without a single enemy. professor robison, the most intimate friend of his youth, records that: when to the superiority of knowledge in his own line, which every man confessed, there was joined the naïve simplicity and candour of his character, it is no wonder that the attachment of his acquaintances was so strong. i have seen something of the world and i am obliged to say that i never saw such another instance of general and cordial attachment to a person whom all acknowledged to be their superior. but this superiority was concealed under the most amiable candour, and liberal allowance of merit to every man. mr. watt was the first to ascribe to the ingenuity of a friend things which were very often nothing but his own surmises followed out and embodied by another. i am well entitled to say this, and have often experienced it in my own case. this potent commander of the elements, this abridger of time and space, this magician, whose cloudy machinery has produced a change in the world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are perhaps only now beginning to be felt--was not only the most profound man of science, the most successful combiner of powers, and combiner of numbers, as adapted to practical purposes--was not only one of the most generally well-informed, but one of the best and kindest of human beings. there he stood, surrounded by the little band of northern _literati_, men not less tenacious, generally speaking, of their own opinions, than the national regiments are supposed to be jealous of the high character they have won upon service. methinks i yet see and hear what i shall never see or hear again. the alert, kind, benevolent old man had his attention alive to every one's question, his information at every one's command. his talents and fancy overflowed on every subject. one gentleman was a deep philologist, he talked with him on the origin of the alphabet as if he had been coeval with cadmus; another, a celebrated critic, you would have said the old man had studied political economy and _belles lettres_ all his life; of science it is unnecessary to speak, it was his own distinguished walk. lord brougham says: we have been considering this eminent person as yet only in his public capacity, as a benefactor of mankind by his fertile genius and indomitable perseverance; and the best portraiture of his intellectual character was to be found in the description of his attainments. it is, however, proper to survey him also in private life. he was unexceptionable in all its relations; and as his activity was unmeasured, and his taste anything rather than fastidious, he both was master of every variety of knowledge, and was tolerant of discussion on subjects of very subordinate importance compared with those on which he most excelled. not only all the sciences from the mathematics and astronomy, down to botany, received his diligent attention, but he was tolerably read in the lighter kinds of literature, delighting in poetry and other works of fiction, full of the stores of ancient literature, and readily giving himself up to the critical disquisitions of commentators, and to discussion on the fancies of etymology. his manners were most attractive from their perfect nature and simplicity. his conversation was rich in the measure which such stores and such easy taste might lead us to expect, and it astonished all listeners with its admirable precision, with the extraordinary memory it displayed, with the distinctness it seemed to have, as if his mind had separate niches for keeping each particular, and with its complete rejection of all worthless and superfluous matter, as if the same mind had some fine machine for acting like a fan, casting off the chaff and the husk. but it had besides a peculiar charm from the pleasure he took in conveying information where he was peculiarly able to give it, and in joining with entire candor whatever discussion happened to arise. even upon matters on which he was entitled to pronounce with absolute authority, he never laid down the law, but spoke like any other partaker of the conversation. i had the happiness of knowing mr. watt for many years, in the intercourse of private life; and i will take upon me to bear a testimony, in which all who had that gratification i am sure will join, that they who only knew his public merit, prodigious as that was, knew but half his worth. those who were admitted to his society will readily allow that anything more pure, more candid, more simple, more scrupulously loving of justice, than the whole habits of his life and conversation proved him to be, was never known in society. the descriptions given by lords brougham, jeffrey, the genial sir walter, and others, of watt's universality of knowledge and his charm in discourse recall canterbury's exordium: hear him but reason in divinity and, all-admiring, with an inward wish consumed, you would desire the king were made a prelate; hear him debate of commonwealth affairs, you would say--it hath been all in all his study: list his discourse of war, and you shall hear a fearful battle rendered you in music. turn him to any cause of policy, the gordian knot of it he will unloose familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks, the air, a chartered libertine, is still, and the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears to steal his sweet and honeyed sentences. if watt fell somewhat short of this, so no doubt did the king so greatly extolled, and much more so, probably, than the versatile watt. dr. black, the discoverer of latent heat, upon his death-bed, hears that the watt patent has been sustained, and is for the time restored again to interest in life. he whispers that he "could not help rejoicing at anything that benefited jamie watt." the earl of liverpool, prime minister, stated that watt was remarkable for the simplicity of his character, the modesty of his nature, the absence of anything like presumption and ostentation, the unwillingness to obtrude himself, not only upon the great and powerful, but even on those of the scientific world to which he belonged. a more excellent and amiable man in all the relations of life i believe never existed. there can be no question that we have for our example, in the man watt, a nature cast in the finest mold, seemingly composed of every creature's best. transcendent as were his abilities as inventor and discoverer, we are persuaded that our readers will feel that his qualities as a man in all the relations of life were not less so, nor less worthy of record. his supreme abilities we can neither acquire nor emulate. these are individual and ended with him. but his virtues and charms as our fellow-man still shine steadily upon our paths and will shine upon those of our successors for ages to come, we trust not without leading us and them to tread some part of the way toward the acquisition of such qualities as enabled the friend of james watt to declare his belief that "a more excellent and amiable man in all the relations of life never existed." a nobler tribute was never paid by man to man, yet was it not undeserved. so passes jamie watt, the man, from view--a man who attracted, delighted, impressed, instructed and made lifelong friends of his fellows, to a degree unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled. "his life was gentle, and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world, 'this was a man.'" scamping tricks and odd knowledge occasionally practised upon public works. chronicled from the confessions of some old practitioners. by john newman, assoc. m. inst. c.e., author of 'earthwork slips and subsidences upon public works'; 'notes on concrete and works in concrete'; 'iron cylinder bridge piers'; 'queer scenes of railway life.' e. & f. n. spon, 125, strand, london. new york: 12, cortlandt street. 1891. preface. the following pages have been written with the view to record a few scamping tricks occasionally practised upon public works, and to name some methods founded on practical experience adopted by sub-contractors and others to cheaply and quickly execute work. all who have had the direction or charge of an extensive or even comparatively insignificant public enterprise will agree that it is impossible for a resident or contractor's engineer to know the manner in which everything is proceeding on his division, and in some measure he is compelled to rely upon others; nevertheless, it is quite as important to ascertain that the work is carried out according to the specification and drawings as to elaborate a perfect specification and then have to partly leave the execution to the care of the beneficent fairies. if a finger-post has been correctly pointed in the direction in which a favourable field for scamping tricks may exist, the author's object in writing this book will have been attained. to the less experienced, the incidents and scrap-knowledge described may be more particularly useful, and on consideration it was thought that the conversational tone adopted would best expose the subject and indicate the ethics of somewhat conscience-proof sub-contractors and workmen, and also the way in which their earnest endeavours to practise the science of scamping may be exercised upon materials and under circumstances not especially referred to herein. j. n. london, 1891. contents. page chapter i. introduction 1 chapter ii. screw piles--general consideration--manipulation for "extra profit" 3 chapter iii. screw piles--details 13 chapter iv. iron piles--arrangement--driving--sinking by water-jet 25 chapter v. timber piles--pile-driving--general consideration 32 chapter vi. timber piles--manipulation for "extra" profit 42 chapter vii. masonry bridges 53 chapter viii. tunnels 61 chapter ix. cylinder bridge piers 69 chapter x. drain pipes--blasting, and powder-carriage 76 chapter xi. concrete--puddle 85 chapter xii. brickwork--tidal warnings--pipe joints--dredging 93 chapter xiii. permanent way 103 chapter xiv. "extra" measurements--toad-stool contractors--testimonials 114 chapter xv. men and wages--"sub" from the wood--a sub-contractor's scout and free traveller 121 scamping tricks and odd knowledge occasionally practised upon public works. chapter i. introduction. "take this letter to my old partner as quickly as you can. wait for an answer, and come back straight." "all right, sir." "now, my wife, when my old partner arrives, leave the room. i want the coast clear as i am going to talk and have a sort of mutual confession of some tricks and dodges we have played and learned during the last forty years or so to get a bit 'extra' on the quiet; and forty years knocking about with your eyes bound to be on full glare ought to teach one a thing or two, and they have. they have! yes; and i have been in the swim. "stir up the fire, if only to keep things all alike and as hot as possible; and put a couple of glasses handy, and some water and.... "so you've got back. where is the letter?" "have got no letter, sir; but it is all right; your old partner will be round about 7 o'clock and will stay till he is turned out, so he said." "oh! i am glad." "why, sir, he is knocking now." "so he is." "here i am, old chap, what's the matter?" "i feel pasty, but am better now you have come. bring your chair near the fire. well, i want to talk to you on the quiet very badly. it will do me good, and i am sure it will not be long before the white muslin is spread over me and i'm still in death. you've come to stop?" "yes, as long as you like." "that is good, and i am glad and feel better now you have said it. before i begin, taste our home-brewed elder. it's all right, for my wife was a cook, but it's a long time ago; and between you and me, my profits don't run to providing her with as large an assortment of materials as she says is necessary to keep her fairly up to art in the cookery department." "that is very good--the best i have tasted. well, what is it, old partner? shake fins." "it's to talk over old times, and the tricks and dodges we have played, and known others do, to get 'extra' profit on the different works we have been." "a kind of confession?" "that's it. don't laugh. i can't help it now." "i understand you. start the fun, and i will follow." "we can talk pretty to each other, and lucky the young master is not here, for he would think that we are as bad as old nick himself; still, we have not done many tricks for some time, and could, perhaps, put him up to a thing or two concerning the execution of work." "very likely; but we are all tarred with the same brush; it's only a question of quantity and thickness and what colour the paint is." "i suppose we are bound to work up an excuse somehow or other; and if i moralize a bit tender at first, by way of a diversion, you won't mind, for it is part of the stock in trade of such rare old sharks as us, and i will cut it as short and tasty as i can. "i was brought up right, like you; and many a time have had my shoulder patted by the good folks and been told not to think of myself too much, and to remember the feelings of others. in my salad days, you know, i used to think whether or not it was coming it rough on chaps, innocent unborn babes that will have to work in the next century, should the world hold out till then, putting in too strong work, and said to myself, is it acting kindly towards them? no, i said, it is not treating them right to give them so much trouble to make alterations. i won't call them repairs and additions, nor improvements. i soon humbugged myself into thinking it was not being really benevolent to those who will have to work when we are all lying flat, and i hope quiet--but there, of course, such thoughts hardly make one act honestly; however, i have done moralizing now, and perhaps it ill becomes me, and i will have no more of it or it may stop my tongue. now to business, and i am going to speak pretty freely." chapter ii. screw piles. general consideration--manipulation for "extra" profit. "you want to know my experiences with screw piles first." "yes." "they do very well when the water is not deep and the ground loose sand, silty sand, or sandy fine gravel, and nothing else; and i prefer disc piles for sand, provided the water power can be easily obtained. "the whole area of a screw blade is often taken as bearing support; but i doubt if it should be, for it is not a bared foundation--that is, one you can see and know the character of, as in a cylinder pier, for instance; but some appear to assume it is, and then claim that a lot of metal is saved and the same or more bearing obtained. the screw blade may always be right and it may not be, and no one positively knows; because no one can see whether it is down straight, turned, or broken, but the difference between the actual and the breaking strain comes to the rescue. "still, it is no certainty that the screw blade is resting upon the same soil, and even if it does it may not receive the load in a vertical line, and may be strained more upon one side than another. and how about the rusting of the blade, for it is thin, and seldom more than half an inch at the ends and two and a half at the pile shaft, and nearly all surface? in a cylinder pier the hearting is placed on the bared ground, and you know it is there, and it cannot rust, that's certain. i don't see the good of iron rings above a few feet higher than highest flood level, for after the hearting is set, if it be of portland cement concrete, you can give it a coating of nearly neat portland cement. however, we are talking about screw piles. "i have seen screw piles screwed into soft ground for fully fifteen feet, and they seemed quite right, and yet when they were loaded they vanished. i have also known them to be twisted about something like a corkscrew, and to be impossible to get down at all when they have reached a hard layer of gravel, and nearly so when they met with a streak of hard stiff clay. sometimes they are overscrewed, and made to penetrate somehow or other; and i remember once, when they were loaded for testing and were thought to be right, a washout occurred at one place, owing to a mistake in dredging, and the piles, although they screwed, were found to be twisted about into all sorts of shapes, and at the bottom were turned up a trifle and never went down more than a few feet, and while it was thought we were screwing them down we were screwing part of them aside. they were small solid wrought-iron piles. it is well not to forget that sand varies very much; for it is found nearly everywhere, and may be anything from large hard angular deposit that will bind, to little round mites easily blown away, and it is mixed with pretty well everything; and therefore sand is a thing you must be careful with before you take it to be just the thing for watersunk disc piles or screw piles, and you ought to know all about it. well, assuming that it is right, and the soil will not become jammed in the screw blade, it is always advisable to try whether the sand grains will roll well together and do not wedge; for you want sand, if it is to be nice for pile sinking, just the reverse of sand for mortar or concrete, for that with round grains is the kind to screw in and not that with sharp angular grains, and if it is slimy, so much the better--just the opposite of that for mortar or concrete. "the soil must be loose, and if it is silty so much the better. don't undertake to screw piles into hard and compact sand, gravel, stiff clay, or where there are boulders in the ground or streaks or layers of soil of which you hardly know the character. if you do, good-bye to profit from any screwing, and may be to the screw blades, and your fishes must be got out of 'extras' by omitting a length, smashing a screw blade, or short screwing. be careful to be paid for all piles you have screwed down directly you have done them, and take no maintenance; for i have known a ship drift, or a gale arise, and sweep away the unbraced piles like sticks, and if you are only paid when you have finished screwing a cluster of them, where are you then, and who's which? suppose you have nearly fixed a cluster of piles, they will say you ought to have braced them at once, and you will be charged for breakages, and not be paid for having screwed them. you may talk as long as you like, and say, how could i get them all braced when the piles must be screwed separately? you will only be told that is your look-out, and that you knew the terms of the contract and must have considered any risk in the prices. so i bar injury from waves or wind, earthquakes and shakes, collisions from vessels or other floating or moving substances; and believe the last to cover all fishes, from sea-serpents, whales, porpoises, and sprats, to balloons, stray air-balls, wreckage, and mermaids; and it gives you a chance of wriggling out of squalls with an i'm-so-sorry-at-your-loss sort of countenance. "you have to think over the staging. fixed staging may be out of the question because of the expense; then you must either screw from the finished end of the pier as you proceed with the work, or from a floating stage, but you may not be able to get sufficient power to screw the piles from any moored floating stage. the shore piles of a pier may screw easily, but when you get out in the sea fixed staging may soon be smashed, and in that case you are compelled to do it from the end of the finished portion of the pier. there is a good deal of uncertainty, as you can judge, and you want to well consider whether and how you can get the power cheaply to screw the piles. "the idea of the screw pile was that it should easily enter the ground and push aside any obstruction in its descent without much disturbance of the soil, with the ultimate object of obtaining, by reason of the screw blade, a strong resistance to upward and downward strain. well, it is all right if the whole of the blade bears equally upon the soil and the earth is of the same character; but if it is not, the strain upon the screw blade is unequal, and it will sooner or later crack or break; and except in any earth like fine sand or silt and all of one kind, i should be sorry to say that the whole area of the blade does the work as i said before. and here comes in the value of an allowance of extra strength, for you cannot tell how much it has been weakened by corrosion, nor can you inspect, paint, or do anything to the screws when they are down. if i was engineer of an iron pile structure, i should have a few piles screwed at convenient places independently of the pier, but near to it, and have, say, one or two taken up every few years--say every seven or ten--just to have a look to see how matters seemed to be, and have a piece of the iron analysed, and compare it with the original analysis; and i should take care the piles were all the same quality of metal, so that the makers should not get up to fun at the foundry. "the piles have to bear a heavy twisting strain during screwing; and take my advice, always see that the joint flanges are not light, for when piles break in screwing, they usually fail at the flanges. what i have learned shows me it is a great mistake to have the screws of very large diameter, so as to have few of them; let the blades be small rather than large, and they are best for screwing when of moderate size, and are also likely to be sounder metal. there is not the same risk of breaking them in screwing, and you may be able to screw a small blade when a big one would be smashed, and besides it is as well to have the load distributed as much as possible. a screw pile shaft should not be a thin casting because of the strain upon it in screwing, and it should be thicker on this account than a disc pile, but the latter will not do for any soils except those named before. i have known screw piles to penetrate hard and dense sand, gravel, soft sandy ground, limy gravel, loose silt, limy clay ground something like marl, stiff mud, chalk, clay, marl, and all kinds of water-deposited soil, and in almost every earth except firm rock, but it is not advisable to use them for anything much harder than fine sandy gravel, for the blades must then be strained very much and the pile and screw may be injured. it is not using them rightly, or for the purpose for which they were designed, and another system of foundations should be used except under special circumstances. "don't attempt to screw piles into ground having boulders in it. it is always difficult to penetrate, as also is spongy mud and stiff tenacious clay. in any ground harder than loose sand, silty and alluvial soil screwing is not easy, and you cannot say what it will cost to obtain the necessary power to screw. as regards that kind of screwing i always feel so benevolent that i like some one else to do it. do you understand?" "yes; when you know a loss looks more likely than profit." "if you like to put it that way it is not in me to object. i'm too polite. saying 'yes' and agreeing with every one, gets you a nice character as an agreeable man, whereas you are a big fraud and a high old liar." "parliamentary language, please; no matter what you think." "all right, then. you know what pure sand is?" "you mean quite clean angular grains, and hard, too, like broken-up quartz rock?" "yes. well, avoid it for screw piles, for then it is very difficult to screw them to any considerable depth. you can't displace the sand enough. it wedges and binds almost like rock." "you mean it wedges up, and will not move?" "that's near enough. well, avoid clean, sharp, angular sand and shingle gravel as much as you can, and take screwing in dirty sand instead. i mean round-grained dirty sand with some clay upon it, or sandy gravel. what is wanted is something to separate the particles of the soil and act like grease so as to make them roll and not compress and become bound. you can't be too careful about this." "i will put that down in my note-book so as not to forget it." "to save bother, be sure to ascertain whether the work is in rough ground; and if you are abroad see that about five per cent. is allowed for breakages of all kinds, or the piles may run short. "i have seen piles screwed into a kind of clay rock seam, the end of the pile was made like a saw, toothed, in fact, and stiffened from the bottom to the underside of the screw blade with ribs shaped to cut the ground as the pile was turned, and i doubt if they could have been screwed without. they seemed to steady the pile; but care must be taken when there is a projecting end and it is tapered to a less diameter than the pile shaft, as generally is the case, that the axis is true, or the pile will not screw vertically. "once i had to screw a few wrought-iron unpointed piles with a small screw blade made of angle iron fixed _inside_ as well as the large screw blade outside. the outside blade was about 4 feet in diameter, and of half-inch plate, the inside blade projected about 3-1/2 inches, and both blades had the same pitch; but the engineer, after having tried a few, discontinued having an inside screw, and said he thought it even arrested progress, because it interfered with the internal excavation. the experience we had with them was against their use, and they seemed to make the screwing harder, and no one was able to discover any advantage in them, although they did all they knew to flatter the novelty. "now a word as to cast or wrought-iron for screw piles. the question of relative corrosion can be decided at some scientific institution, and there will be hot fighting over that between the cast-iron and the wrought-iron partisans. i merely refer to screwing cast or wrought-iron screw piles into the ground. as regards the blade of the screw, it should be as stiff as possible, and therefore cast-iron is better than wrought-iron, also cheaper; and although a cast-iron screw will break easily, a wrought-iron blade will buckle and bend and give. to me, cast-iron blades seem somewhat easier to screw, if they are good clean castings. i have screwed wrought-iron piles or columns when they have been fixed to cast-iron screws, but in any case when the piles must be long, to have them of cast-iron is my wish. solid wrought-iron piles can be obtained of a long length, but the price increases, and when they are long and of small diameter, as they must be, they are difficult to screw in a desired direction." "what do you think of solid piles as against hollow ones?" "well, i heard a discussion between two engineers about it, and they agreed that solid piles only do for little or medium heights, and i asked one to write a line or two for my guidance, and this is what he dashed off. read it." "no. read it to me." "well, it runs:--'in designing solid piles it should be remembered that the strength of solid round columns to resist torsion, torsional _strength_ (he means strength against twisting strain) is as the cubes of their diameters, therefore a solid round bar 4 inches in diameter will bear eight times the torsional strain of a bar 2 inches, the lengths being the same.'" "how's that?" "why, 2 ã� 2 ã� 2 = 8, 4 ã� 4 ã� 4 = 64, and 64/8 = 8." "i understand." "in the case of hollow columns, the exterior diameter must be cubed, and the cube of the interior diameter deducted from it when the relative values of different-sized columns can be compared. for transmitting motion, and here torsional _stiffness_ is referred to, the resistance of shafts of equal stiffness is proportional to the fourth power of their diameters. a 2-inch shaft will transmit 16 times the force which would be transmitted by a 1-inch shaft without being twisted through a greater angle. when the height of the pile is considerable the diameter should be relatively larger, in order that the metal may not be subject to severe torsional strain. so don't forget the piles should be of large and not small diameter, or you may have trouble in screwing them." "you remember old bill marr?" "rather, who did the iron pilework on the shore railway. i should think i did, for old spoil'em, we called him, and i were in 'co.' together more than once." "oh! you were, were you?" "yes. well, there is not much to be got that way unless it is soft ground for a good depth and the piles are long and the range of tide considerable, then you may pick an odd plum now and again by a bit of useful forgetfulness. i mean this way:--by using an odd making-up length or two instead of the right length, and getting it fixed on the quiet just as the tide is rising, then you have a nice peaceful few hours in which to get the joint well covered and down before next low water; but it wants some management to keep the coast clear, and you can't do very much at it--still little fish are sweet. one day i was nearly caught at the game of 'extra' profit, and as we had only just begun, of course at the shore end, it would have been awkward for me if i had been found out, and i might have been ordered change of air and scene by the engineer. it happened like this, the piles had been going down very easily, and acting up to the principle of making hay while the sun shines, i had a couple of short lengths put on six of them. we were screwing them in triangles, so one i got to right length, and two did not find the same home, because they could not, not being long enough. i dodged the lengths so that the joints were all right for the bracing above low water. now the road was clear, so i ordered a new length to be put on all of them before the tide turned, and that each of them was to be down 3 feet or so before the tide began falling to allow them to set, and told them that then they were to proceed as before. now, i consider the chap that first went in for making up lengths was born right and with an eye to business and nicked profits. we were working two triangles of screw piles i thought lovely, and said, innocent-like, to my ganger, 'get the joint of each one down say 3 feet below low-water mark so as to protect it, for no joint is so strong as the solid pile, and then you can screw them down till all the tops are level and right for the bracing.' of course they said nothing, and i am sure never thought anything or wanted to do, too much trouble. it is not my place to teach them, either." "no, certainly not; there you are right." "well, somehow or other, the ground turned hard, or we got into a streak of compact gravel. i did not trouble further about the piles after i had given orders, as the tide had started rising and the joints were well covered. it was rather an up and down shore. i felt certain in a few hours none of them could be seen except by divers, so i had a bit of business on shore which took me nearly two hours before i got back on the work. my ganger said, 'i am glad you have come back, because they stick; i have tried to get the lot down, but not one has screwed in more than a foot.' that was not exactly what i wanted, and said, 'why, the long ones went down easily?' 'yes,' said my ganger, 'but they were at the point of the triangle, and these others are all on one line or nearly so, and have struck hard ground.' i will cut it short, although it got exciting, for it was a race between screwing and, i might say, banging them in, and the tide that was going down; and i was clocking and measuring, and hot and cold, according as the race went, as i thought they would find me out; but i was left pretty well alone, as they cared much more about inspecting the piles than knowing how they were screwed down, besides the engineer was very busy with a lot of groynes and ticklish work improving the harbour channel. however, we just managed; but it made me feverish, and i expect the blades, if they could be seen, are not exactly as when they left the foundry; but there, there is a good deal in pilework that has to be taken on trust, it is not like a foundation you can see and walk upon if so minded. still, screw piles are all right for some soils, but i like disc piles better for sand, those that sink by water-pressure i mean. i don't think there is the same fear of the disc being broken as there is in the case of the screw, and the sinking is so easy and soft that no parts get strained as in screwing, but the ground must be soft, or there may be a bother. "after this shave from being bowled out, i always took care to dodge in a short one, now and then, when i knew the ground must be right, and i never got scared again. it was lucky, too, that a good many of the lengths varied, as on most jobs they are all the same, except the making-up lengths, and then down they all have to go unless a whole length can be left out when a seam of hard soil is reached, and that is not often the case, and there is not much chance of a bit of 'extras' that way on the quiet. i have known the game of 'extra' profit carried to breaking off a screw blade purposely, but i draw the line before i come to that." "do you? i should not have thought it, as you don't mind cutting off the heads of timber piles, so you have promised to tell me." "that is a different material and consequently requires different treatment. you understand? let me also tell you, i once heard a big westminster engineer say, 'timber we understand, iron we know a good deal about, and steel also; but we have plenty to find out yet both in the manufacture and use of nearly all metals,' or something like that, he said. "i acted up to that; and always say to myself, we understand timber, and know how to treat it--and so i don't mind cutting it, as i know what i am about with it, although i represent unskilled more than skilled labour. metals are different goods, and it wants skilled labour to tackle them nicely." "there you are right." "yes, different goods. so, following the lead of the engineer, i leave the iron piles as delivered, as we have yet something to learn about the metal; and things that i don't know much about i avoid as much as possible, and consequently there are good grounds for getting in some short lengths as occasion offers, just to have as little to do with the material that you don't know much about and that is a bit mysterious in its behaviour. so i lessen the handling of it, and shorten the lengths, and so increase the odds against the chance of it not turning out as one thought it would; and i ought to be thanked for it, i consider. you look a bit puzzled. i tell you, you are getting thick, and want fresh pointing up to sharpen you. listen to me. now, suppose you buy a dozen eggs, and you think and know, on the average, at the price two are bad; you take one away and find it's bad, then you have 11 to 1 odds as against 12 to 2 or 6 to 1, and there can't be so much chance of another bad one turning up so quickly. if you don't understand my meaning i can't make you. there may or may not be a different application of explaining the egg business, but mine is what i mean you to take, and i don't intend to bother about any one else. you are younger than i thought you were, or your brain is all of a tangle." "wait a minute. all right. i understand now; you lessen the chances of failure and the extent of it when it occurs by having a little less to do with goods that are made of material no one seems to knows everything about." "now you have it. shake fins. glad we have worked on to the right road again, as it looked like a collision just now." chapter iii. screw piles. details. "now for some details. "solid piles are usually from 4 to 8 inches in diameter, and hollow cast-iron from 10 to 30 inches, and generally 10 to 20 inches. avoid any cast-iron screw piles that are less than half an inch in thickness. when they are from 1/12th to 1/18th of the diameter is perhaps the best, according as their length is little or great; but of course they have to be of a thickness that will stand the load, and what is the best foundry practice should not be forgotten. "now as to the blade of the screw. if of wrought-iron, which seems to me the wrong material for that purpose, it should not be less than half an inch in thickness; if of cast-iron, as usually is the case, the thickness of the blade of the screw at the pile shaft should be about 1â·25 to 1â·50 that of the column, and at the edge not less than half an inch, and it should taper equally on both sides, and care be taken that the metal is the very best and so cast as to ensure uniformity and strength. "all sizes of screws from twice to six times the diameter of the pile when hollow i have screwed, but the best are from 2 to 1 to 3 to 1, and when they are more than 4 to 1 it is to be feared they will break before they can be made to penetrate far enough to say nothing about. solid piles with screws four to seven times the diameter of pile i have also fixed, and 5 to 1 to 6 to 1 is quite large enough; but the kind of ground and the depth to which they must be got down should govern the size and the pitch. the greatest depth, apart from imagination for measurement, to which i have ever screwed a pile is about 25 feet. without special tackle i have made a 2 feet in diameter screw penetrate hard clay, dense sand, and other hard soil from 8 to as much as 17 feet; but then 10 to 15 feet is deep enough, for there is such a thing as overscrewing. a 3 to 4 feet in diameter screw i have fixed all depths from 10 to 20 feet in ordinary sand, clay, and sandy gravel. a 4 feet to as large as a 5 feet screw, which great size should only be used for soft soils, from 15 to 25 feet, and the most usual depth is about 15 feet, and hardly ever above 20 feet. "a 9 feet 6 inches screw blade has been used on a 7 feet in diameter cylinder, but that is the largest i have heard of, but then it only projected 2 feet 6 inches beyond the column. five feet is usually about the largest, and is only used for very soft soils. when more than that size they are unwieldy and very liable to be broken, and if the screws are fixed to a shaft and have to be shipped they are awkward things, and the freight becomes expensive. for hard soil, and that which will not compress nicely, about 2 to 3 feet is large enough for the diameter of the screw, and 3 to 5 feet for soft soils. the pitch of the screw is generally from one-third to one-seventh of the outside diameter of the blade. it varies according to the hardness and softness of the ground and is steeper as it becomes harder. when the pitch is increased the effect of the power applied to screw it is reduced, therefore the steeper or greater the pitch the harder the screwing. "piles can be screwed with a small pitch when sufficient power cannot be obtained to make a steep-pitched screw penetrate. piles with a single turn of the screw, it seems to me, are the best, although the double-threaded screw may be right in soft marshy ground; but the usefulness of a double thread is doubtful, for i believe it breaks up the ground for no good, although some state that the screw threads work in parallel lines, and that a double-threaded screw is steadier; for they say a single-threaded pile is always likely to turn on the outside edge of the blade, and that the double-threaded is not, as it has a lip on both sides. "generally the screw has rather more than one entire turn round the pile, and when it is below the ground each side of the blade steadies the other, for the turns range from one to about two. sometimes the edge of the blade is notched like a saw; but it is a question whether the saw-edge blade will screw into ground that an ordinary blade will not, and until it is proved by experiment it can only be a matter of opinion; but there is one thing to consider, a saw-cut edge blade may to some extent wedge the soil between the teeth; still, i have used them, and they penetrated thin limestone, chalk, and compact gravel seams. instead of double threads, double points are the thing, and all screw piles should have a point of some kind. for soft ground, a single gimlet, and a double for hard soils, and i have noticed what i call a double gimlet point is best for keeping a pile in the required position, as each point prevents the other departing from a correct line. by points i mean the ends are spread out about 3 to 4 inches on each side of the axis of pile like spiral cutters. "unless it is certain the ground is easy and uniform, a pile with a screw having one turn to two turns for bearing purposes, and two, three, or four solid inclined screw-threads projecting about three-quarters of an inch with two end spiral cutters as just named, is my desire, or in addition to the bearing blade a single-turn thread of about 3 to 4 inches projection and the same kind of point; then unless it will screw, none will. they are less trouble when cast in one piece with the pile; but not for transport or shipping, or foreign work generally, because to be able to detach the screws is an advantage in many ways, such as packing, defects, breakages, carriage, and i think the castings are better when the blade is not cast on the pile. it may also happen that a rocky bed is unexpectedly encountered, then the pile is useless with the screw, but might be fixed firmly in portland cement without the blade in a hole made in the rock. at the top of the screw blade seat in which a pile has to be fixed there should be a wrought-iron ring about half to three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and not less than 2 inches in width, to relieve any strain on the casting. it may be put on hot, so as to cool sufficiently tight but not strain the casting. a firm and even bearing for the pile on the socket seat is important, and it should fit accurately. "i have heard of screw piles in which the blade was made of two or more separate segments so as to obtain, it was supposed, equal pressure all round, and to ease screwing, but rather fancy they might be inclined to jam the ground, as they would be not unlike a lot of very large round saw teeth. they may be right, but it has to be proved they will screw where a plain blade will not, provided the latter pile has double cutter-points to steady it. "give me a screw blade not more than about 2 feet from the points, and not one with a blade 10 feet or so above the points and say from 5 to 6 feet in the ground, for then, should the screw work at all crooked and the pile be not exactly upright at the commencement of screwing, it is no easy task to get it to stand vertically upon applying the power, because such piles are generally long and slender, and shift about until the blade is screwed. they want careful and constant guidance. of course, the idea of placing the screw a little way down is that when the ground bears as well at that place as at the point, and there is no scour, it is no use putting the bearing blade lower. that is right; but then it always occurs to me to ask what is the use of anything below the bearing level if the foundation be protected from scour, for a thin pile by itself has little lateral strength. "of course, you are bound to make out a pile requires a lot of screwing or you will be considered as making too much profit, but always take care to watch how the first pile screws, and measure the distance every few minutes. what the ground is can then be judged, and you will be able to think out things for 'extra' profit. it causes me a lot of consideration sometimes, but after a struggle i generally manage to think rightly for my pocket, and work it all serene. what a beautiful sharpener of one's brain 'extras' are! "it is not always an experimental pile is screwed so as to judge of the distance the permanent piles should penetrate, and therefore a guess has to be made from the experience of screw piles under the same conditions of screwing and in the same soil. there is a good deal of chance about it, for although the soil may be of the same general character it often varies in hardness; and that is where the bother is, for it makes the 'extras' to be wrong way about for some time. what i do then is to work the oracle, and try to make out the screw blades will be broken or injured for certain if i am compelled to screw them as ordered, and i work on the proverb that equal support is not to be obtained at a uniform depth when the ground varies, which is true; and i state that the resistance is different and offer to screw on, but say am afraid the blade may be broken, and in that how-kind-i-am-to-consider-your-interests sort of way generally manage to obtain a bit 'extra,' or save something that would have been loss, and get the pile measured at once for a making-up length, and really without damaging any one, for if the ground is harder at one place than at another there is no occasion to go so deep, always provided scour is not to be feared. so i am pleased, and it does not hurt them. "now for a hint or two on screwing piles. i shall not refer to the columns above the ground, but to the bearing piles below, i.e., the part that has to be screwed into the ground. however, i will just say that upon the top of some of the columns the usual hinged shoes of bearing-blocks should be placed to receive the ends of the girders, and by that means the pressure on the columns will be on the centre of the pile, and allowance be made for expansion and contraction, and that is important. "fixed staging is far the best from which to screw piles, but the chances must be considered of its being swept away by floods in a river, or smashed by the sea, and on any exposed coast there may not be time to construct it during the working season, so as to give a sufficient number of days for screwing operations. when a fixed stage cannot be erected, or the work be done from the end of a finished pier, pontoons or rafts are then a makeshift, but care must be taken that they do not break from the moorings. a couple of pontoons well braced together will do with a space between them to screw the pile, but in a steady or shallow river, perhaps making a timber stage upon the shore and floating it out can be done if a centre pile is fixed on the bed of the river to be certain it is in the right position when grounded. the staging must be equally weighted to make it sink, and arrangements made so that it can be floated away at any time if necessary. "piles can also be fixed in a medium depth of water by ordinary gantries, but if they are in the sea the road on the staging should be kept from 12 to 15 feet above high water on an open sea coast or the inclined struts and ties and rail tops as well are very likely to be destroyed, and it is also advisable to construct the flooring of the stage so that it can be easily taken away in case of storms. the stage piles also require to be well stiffened by struts, transoms, diagonals, and capping sills. i have screwed piles from a floor that has been suspended from staging by chains and ropes to the height wanted, and when lowered it was fixed temporarily and as many guides as possible were made for the piles. perhaps as good a way as any is to fix, say four guide piles having a space between them a shade larger than the outside dimensions of the screw blade and braced to the rest of the stage, and after the screw is in position and ready for screwing in the ground, place, say a couple of frames, one at top and one as low as possible between the guide piles, about an eighth of an inch more than the outside dimension of the pile shaft, for then the pile is kept in its right position as it is screwed. the guide frames should be at about every 10 or 15 feet of the height above the ground, and at some point between the capstan level and the ground. should it be a tidal river, fix guide booms if a properly made iron frame cannot be placed, and remember the more a pile is guided the easier it is to screw, and especially so at the start. "the size and strength of the staging must be regulated according to the power available for screwing the piles, but the length of the lever arms and the capstan bars require a space in which to revolve, from, say, 35 to 60 feet square. no timber stage is immovable, for the wood yields. it is well to have two floors in a stage if it does not cost too much, and there is plenty of tackle and a lot of screwing to do; say, one fixed above high-water level and the other about half tide in order to obtain double power, and sufficient power to screw the piles cannot sometimes be otherwise secured. a word about floating stages. with them it is not easy to make a pile screw vertically unless the ground is uniform, and should a pile meet a boulder it will most probably be forced out of position. according to the power required--which really means the nature of the ground, as the harder the soil the harder the screwing--the form of the pile and the depth to which it has to be screwed, so must be the size and strength of the raft, pontoon, or lighter, and the moorings must hold it tightly. in some places a screw cannot be fixed from a floating stage, for the water may nearly always be too disturbed, and the pontoons may sway too much, for in all cases men, horses, or bullocks must have a steady footing, and screwing machinery also requires a firm base. unless the moorings are very secure the platform will be unsteady. its level should be as little above the water as practicable for work, so as to keep the point of resistance and that at which the screwing power is applied as near together as possible, and the lower the pontoon the less it rolls. it does not matter much what craft is used so long as it is broad and steady and not high, as a platform or deck must be made upon it in any case. to do any good with floating stages the power required should be little, and the ground soft and uniform, for sufficient force to screw may not be obtainable from a floating body, and in hard soil it may only be possible to screw piles a little way down and not to a sufficient depth for the load they will have to bear. "of course, vertical pile screwing is the easiest, and to try to screw them at a greater angle than 63â°, or about 1/2 to 1, is unadvisable, and may not succeed, and even if they do it is too steep to be nice. 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 for raking piles is enough; for if they have to carry girder ends, the more the batter the greater the strain on the pile, and the same during screwing. "sometimes in loose soil it is difficult to start screwing, and then a good plan is to cast some clay or solid earth round the pitch; it steadies the pile and will probably make it bite properly, or a heavy weight placed on the pile may make it catch hold of the ground; if not, a few blows from a ram may do it. as a hollow pile penetrates, the core requires to be removed, so as to help it to descend. if it is not large enough for boys to get inside, scoops and tackle can be used. water forced down makes sand boil round the screw blade, and when the pile is empty the unbalanced head of water outside relieves the pile and the screw blade from some of the surface friction. if water pressure cannot be used, the water inside the pile should be removed either by pumps or buckets so as to help to loosen the ground. "piles do not generally screw to the full pitch, but when a pile descends _more_ than the pitch at the last turn, it can be considered the weight of the pile is too great for the ground. the slip usually increases according to the yielding or plastic nature of the soil, and the depth to which the pile is screwed. when water reaches such soils the slip is increased, but not perceptibly in sand and loose grained soils. suppose the full pitch is 9 inches. the slip may be anything from about 1 inch to as much as 4 inches. by watching the way in which the screw penetrates, and whether it descends about the same distance _each_ turn, or regularly decreases, it can be judged whether the bite of the screw is right. some slip will generally take place, therefore note at first how much it is, and consider whether it will not churn up the ground, for if the screw blade turns on nearly the same lines, the bite will be gradually destroyed, and then it may be very difficult to obtain a fresh hold of the ground, and the pile will most probably not screw vertically, and the screw blade is liable to be injured and may become worn away considerably. "piles can be screwed by means of men, horses, oxen, and machines. man-power can be used anywhere, machines in most places, but horses and oxen only on land when the piles are screwed on a foreshore or between tides; of course all live power works at the end of the capstan bars. once i had the option of screwing by horses or oxen, and chose oxen. another man had horses. i made more profit than he did, and the piles screwed easier than his. i did not let him come near me when screwing; but if you have the choice, use oxen in preference to horses. of course, i am speaking of those countries where they are used to the yoke." "why?" "because they do not stop at any time or back like horses, not even when the resistance of the pile becomes too great without more power, but continue to pull, and therefore backward motion of the pile is prevented. the oxen were yoked to two cross-arms attached to the end of the lever. "there are several machines for screwing piles worked by steam or other power, and when the ground is not easy to penetrate, and a large number of piles have to be screwed, their cost will be saved in the regularity, quickness, and ease in screwing, and in stiff soil by machine power i have known them screwed at the rate of 4 to 6 inches per minute. of course, it is a special machine, and not easily sold when not further wanted except at a much less price than has been paid for it, and that has to be considered. there are several different methods of screwing piles from a fixed stage; for instance, suppose a pile of sufficient length and with the screw attached is brought to the site by barge or otherwise, the capstan head is then fixed, and the pile swung vertically over the pitch by sling-chains fastened to temporary eye-bolts passing through the bolt-holes in the flanges or otherwise, and is moved either by a jib crane, a derrick upon a raft, or some such hoisting apparatus; it is lowered into its place between the guide-piles or steadied by sling-chains or other means, then the capstan bars are put into the sockets of the capstan head, which should be at equal distances apart, and the pile is ready for screwing after it is known that it is vertical. "where circumstances did not allow of room for capstan bars of sufficient length for men to walk round, i have screwed piles by ropes, but it will only do when the soil is easy to penetrate. the way we worked was something like this, we had two endless ropes passing round the ends of short capstan bars and round two double purchase crabs placed upon opposite sides of the pile, about six or eight men worked at each crab, four or five winding, and two or three hauling in the slack, one rope being passed through a sufficiently deep upper slot in the capstan bar end so that it did not slip, also one in the lower slot same end. both the taut and the slack ends of the lower and upper ropes were attached each to its own crab. a man must be stationed at the end of the capstan bars to put the slack ends of the taut and slack ropes into the slots. one rope gives the capstan half a turn when it is taut, and then it falls out of its slot and is slack, and so with the other rope, but it is not easy to keep the two ends of the rope equally tight, and the power obtained is not great and may not be sufficient. it is a kind of makeshift." "how do you fix the capstan head to the pile shaft?" "in many different ways. sometimes it is keyed on or clamped tightly to the top of the pile length by steel wedges, also placed upon the pile length and fixed by temporary bolts passing through the top flanges of the pile length, and also by fixing a temporary ribbed pile into the capstan head, and by connecting it with the permanent pile by bolts or slots, and so wedging is not wanted and it can be raised and lowered. another way is, two of the internal sides of the pile at top are cast flat for a foot or so down into which the capstan head fits, and the inside diameter is lessened for an inch or two to prevent the capstan head slipping down, but it generally can't do that, even without the narrowing of the pile for that object. "as the capstan is subject to great wear and tear and sudden strain, it should be strong, for if it breaks the work is stopped. wrought-iron capstan heads are used, but cast-iron are perhaps better. sometimes the capstan sockets are made to fit the ends of rails, if rails instead of timber are used for the capstan bars, but rail bars are rather heavy and are not nice to handle. the capstan socket is generally made to receive from eight to ten or more radial lever arms, and the lengths of the bars are anything from 5 to 40 feet, but the latter is rather too long as it is very difficult to control the strain and the bar usually bends and springs. the best working lengths are from about 8 to 20 feet, if the staging is so large. the best height for the capstan bars above the floor stage is from 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 6 inches. the capstan bars have to be lifted and again fixed as the pile penetrates, or a temporary pile of different length has to be fixed in it, unless the capstan head can be slipped up and down on a ribbed pile, hence you may want a platform you can raise or lower easily when required. if you use double-headed rails of the same section top and bottom for the bars, you can have them bent up a little near the capstan head, and when you start, the bent end is lowest, and then the bars can be reversed and so the work proceeds. "put the men, horses, or oxen in the most natural position for exerting their full strength or a loss of power will result, and therefore it will cost more to screw the piles. "should there be gantry staging on the site, the piles can be pitched from a traverser, or by means of an ordinary crab winch. they can also be screwed from the permanent structure by means of a projecting stage temporarily fixed to it, and of a length sufficient to reach the next span. the pile is run forward upon rollers and placed in the right position. then it is screwed on the endless rope system previously described, or by passing the rope round a deep groove in the capstan bar ends, and the rope is held tightly by being placed round a smaller grooved pulley fixed about a hundred feet or so back towards the shore. the men haul the endless rope and so the screwing is done. the worst of screwing by endless ropes this way is that the pile very probably may be pulled over towards the source of power as it comes from _one_ direction, therefore, support is required on the side of the pile to prevent this tendency. the circumference of the ropes used varied from 4-1/2 to 6 inches, but i have used a 10 inch rope. small ropes are generally relatively stronger than large ones. stretch a rope well before using, as it yields, especially hemp ropes. the distance between the point at which the power is applied, and the ground should be as little as possible. in firm sand, when the power has been more than about 20 to 25 feet above the ground, it is often very difficult to screw piles by ordinary means to more than a small depth, as two places in the pile are wanted from which to apply the screwing force, and both as low down as convenient; but in screwing from a second stage care should be taken that the pile shaft is not bent, for it may then be strained like a girder and not merely as a column, also when much power to screw is required it is not easy to avoid pulling them out of the vertical. always screw them steadily and prevent jerking. any obstruction, such as a boulder, tends to displace a pile, and loosens the ground around it. in soft soils it may be possible to pull piles upright by pushing aside an obstruction if the pile is given a turn or two after meeting it and before pulling; but it must be carefully done, or the pile may be smashed, and it is only safe to pull it over in easy soils and when much force is not required." "how much power is generally wanted for screwing?" "that is not so easily answered as asked. it varies very much, and, of course, depends upon the kind of soil and the size and pitch of the screw. ten men may be sufficient and a single stage, but two stages may be necessary should the pile be 50 or 60 feet in length, and then not far from one hundred men. an engineer told me the force generally required for piles of usual sizes under ordinary screwing circumstances varies from about 8 to 10 tons to as much as 50 tons, and usually from about 10 to 25 tons, and, of course, the number of men to screw in proportion. "ordinary piles and screws have gone down 21 feet in sand in eight hours, and by steam machinery in clay at the rate of 6 inches per minute, and also, to my loss only about 1 foot in a day--and then it is time to stop altogether, should many piles hold like that. to compare what has been done with what has to be done is misleading unless the conditions are alike, for if they are otherwise the power required, cost, and rate of screwing will all be different. i have screwed a 6-inch pile with a 2-feet one-turn screw into 20 feet of ordinary sand with an applied power of 30 tons as calculated by an engineer from measurements and the force of men applied at the capstan bars. there is the surface friction on the screw blade and the pile shaft in the ground, the cutting of the earth by the edge of the blade and the points, and the loss of power from torsion and that applied compared with the effective force, slip, friction, &c., to consider; and the relative surface of the blades, width, and thickness of the cutting edge and the pitch--for a steep pitch means harder screwing. by using capstan bars and men at them, instead of ropes at the ends of the arms worked by crabs, you will find about one-fifth more power is gained, or rather is not lost. of course, place the men as near to the end of the capstan bar as convenient for work. my lecture is finished, and i am parched." chapter iv. iron piles. arrangement--driving--sinking by water-jet. "tell me what you have learned about iron pile fixing, same as you have promised me you will about timber piles." "very well. here goes, then; first a word as to iron piles generally. "although a group of piles when properly strutted, tied, and braced have plenty of stiffness, if you have to deal with them singly they are never stiff, but they can be made steadier when getting them down by having two large pieces of wood with a half hole in them, something like the shape of the old village stocks, and by putting or lowering it at low water until it is bedded in the ground. it must be weighted though, so as to prevent it floating. it acts like a waling, and is useful when the ground is treacherous, and provided it is level. "from watching the behaviour of piles when doing repairs and at other times, i think it wants a lot of careful arrangement to be sure the load is acting equally on the whole group, or, as may be intended, on say a few piles, and straight down the centre of each pile, for it makes a lot of difference to the strain on them, and it is not easy to make them all take the load at once as wished. it wants a good deal of attention, and the piles are not unlike a pair of horses that are not matched and don't work together properly--kind of now me, now you business. before finishing reference to driving and screwing, let me say all the parts should be properly fitted together at the works and numbered so that the putting up on the ground is easier and in order to be certain all the bolt-holes agree; and it is well to have the lengths interchangeable and all the same, except the making-up pieces, and all bolt-holes as well as the flanges should fit in every respect. "when columns rest on a masonry, brickwork, or concrete base the piles ought to have a ring or base-plate right round them to hold them tightly together. it lessens the pier being shaken, and saves the side pushing of the holding-down bolts. i heard an engineer say the weight of the pier above their ends should be not less than about four times any force that might tend to lift them. the anchor-plates should be well bedded upon a solid mass or the strain upon the pier may go in one direction, and that the one not wanted. don't be afraid of bracing and strutting piles, the more of it the better. i don't think much of a single turn of a screw blade a few feet below the ground for taking a load, although some good for steadying purposes generally, because the bed may become scoured out below the blade and then the screw is no use. therefore the depth of possible scour ought to be positively known before relying upon the blade for permanent support. a lot can be said as to the grouping of piles, whether in triangles or in rows. in a triangle, although the load upon the foundations is spread over a larger area, it does not give as much lateral strength as when the piles are placed in one row, and taking everything into consideration i think if i had six piles to put down i should not place one at the top of a triangle, two lower down, and three at the base, but have two parallel rows of three piles; besides it lessens the length of the struts and the bracing, and that is something, but, of course, each case requires to be treated in a special way, and i have noticed when doing repairs that if there are six piles fixed thus, [illustration] in a triangle, the wind and other force acts principally upon the bracing between the parallel rows, and the pile at the point does not do much towards keeping the others in the right place; anyhow the bracing there does not seem to hold as tightly as it does between the parallel rows, and i have had to watch groups of them in storms, and when the sea has been high, and that is my opinion." "now, as to fixing iron piles." "when the ends have to be placed in rock, which has sometimes to be done in shore pieces, 'jumping' the holes in more than about 2 feet of water is to be avoided, for if the water is not still the holes become filled with sand and drift, and you must not take the jumper out but keep on continuously making the hole. it is ticklish business, because sometimes the rock grinds the jumper, and then the wings and point wear away. occasionally they have to be worked inside a cylinder by ropes, rods, and gearing fixed in it, the cylinder being movable and held from the end of the part of the pier that is finished, but where the water is deep the ends must be put in the rock in portland cement by divers. "i have driven a good many iron piles with a ram, but you have to be careful, no matter whether the soil is sand, gravel, clay, or silt. i like a copper ring on the head of the iron pile and a good long timber 'dolly,' not less than 4 or 5 feet in length, and then the ram does not burst the top. when the ground is hard the best way is to make a hole by jumpers of about 3 inches less diameter than the pile to be fixed, and in chalk soil it is doubtful whether they will go down right unless that is done; perhaps they won't drive at all, or a lot of them will be broken. i have used a ram weighing from 1 to 1-1/2 ton for an 8 to a 10 inch pile and about a 3-feet fall, and never more than 4 feet, unless you want to deal with some old metal merchant that will give a good price for the scrap, and it does not matter how many get broken, or it is a positive advantage to break a certain quantity out of every lot, so as to have a big price for such difficult driving, and get 'extras' that way." "i understand, no breakages deducted." "that's it. i have driven them at the rate of fully 6 inches a minute for a few feet. they often rebound, so i had a boy with a lever, the end of it being clinched to the pile. directly the ram fell, he gave the pile from quarter to half a turn for the first 4 or 5 feet of driving, and they scarcely rebounded at all; and he earned his wages, for i considered fully one pile extra was got down out of about every ten by the turning movement. the points require to be regulated according to the ground. from 1-1/2 to twice the diameter or width for the length of the point is about right, but if it is made too sharp it may break. iron piles that have to be driven are seldom more than 12 inches in width, and the thickness of the metal is generally from one-ninth to one-twelfth of the diameter. i heard an engineer say, i think it was mr. cubitt, experiments showed that a t-shaped cast-iron pile about 30 feet in length, should have the top of the t two and a quarter times the length of the upright part, and the thickness a twelfth of the top. of course, the length of the pile must be considered. i doubt if you can get equally sound metal throughout when the thickness is much more than 2-1/2 inches. from 3/4 to 1-1/2 inch is best, and piles i have broken up always seemed more even throughout about those thicknesses; but there, i suppose it is all a question of care in casting and proper machinery. "one thing, don't drive any piles from a floating stage on the sea if you can help it, it will make you pay for the privilege; besides i have known some places where the sea was always so disturbed it could not be done, even if the moorings were as tight as you dare make them. driven iron piles are not much seen now, and portland cement concrete seems the fashion, and no doubt it is better. still, iron piles can be driven in deep water without much trouble from it, and one might combine the two nicely--the iron to act as a shield to the concrete while depositing it, and give it time to set without disturbance and preserve the face." "have you sunk any disc piles?" "yes, they are all right for fine sand and silt, but you must be careful the discs are the same in form and dimensions upon all sides, or a pile will almost certainly tilt and sink crookedly. i was busy on the lancashire coast once, and heard that mr., now sir james brunlees, tried a lot of different kinds of hollow disc piles, and that the best was one with a plain flange base three times the diameter of the pile, and circular, with the bottom nearly closed, it only having a hole in it in the centre of the base 3 inches in diameter. some ribs and cutters were cast on the bottom of the disc to break the ground up if it was hard. this is what i know about disc piles and have been put up to. "when piles have to be sunk by water pressure, rotate the pile, and don't let it be still long, so as to lessen or prevent surface friction on the pile shaft and the sand settling round it. always have circular discs and not too large, not above 3 feet in diameter, for they do not sink nearly so easily as the size of the disc is increased. about 2 feet discs are my choice as they go down much quicker than 2 feet 6 inches or 3 feet. "don't try to sink them in sand to a greater depth than 18 to 20 feet, and remember that although they may sink easily for about 12 or 15 feet, afterwards they will want some labour. when you have finished sinking piles with the water-jet, it is best to drive them down an inch or two further by a heavy ram and a very small fall, or heavily weight them as soon as possible after having done with the jet; then the disc has a bearing on firm and undisturbed ground, and if you are afraid of a blow on the pile you can have a heavy weight placed on it to help it into position and the sand to become solid. obtain considerable pressure of water, and always cause the pile to rotate when sinking. don't let the pressure get much below 40 lbs. per square inch, and use about 60 lbs. if you can get it. i have worked up to 100 lbs. per square inch but not beyond, and fancy there is then too much pressure, and that more sand is disturbed than is necessary. all that is wanted is to make the sand boil and remove itself from the underside of the pile and disc, but always have a few ribs or cutters on the underside of the disc as they loosen the sand as the pile is rotated--besides, should there be a strip of harder soil, it may be impossible to sink the pile without them. a rather large tube and a moderate pressure are best, and a tube not less than about 2 to 4 inches in diameter according to the size of the pile, and it is better from 3 to 6 inches, of course, if the pressure is high a larger size jet can be used, but if it is less than 2 inches it will only make a small hole, and too much below the disc, and not enough water passes through it. try to ascertain what pressure of water makes the piles sink the easiest. sometimes they will go down at the start as much as 3 feet in a minute, and often 2 feet, and from that to 1 foot they should do for about the first 6 or 8 feet in sand, but then the rate quickly decreases. the nozzle should be properly shaped so that the jet is whole. i mean the shape of the pipe at the place where it touches the sand. what is wanted is to get just enough force to cause the sand to separate and boil and to push it away from the disc and no further, or some of the water power is wasted, therefore a good volume of water is as necessary as a high pressure. you understand?" "yes." "the tube should project about 6 inches below the bottom of the disc. a toothed tube can be fixed round it so as to help to disturb the ground and strengthen the pipe. the water supply may perhaps be obtained at a sufficient pressure from the local water-works company, then, probably, a force pump will not be required, but the pressure that can always be relied upon should be known. "in sand, and when the water power can be easily obtained, i prefer disc piles to screw piles, because there is hardly any chance of breaking or injuring the disc; you always know where the disc is, but cannot positively say where the screw is--it may be sound and may not be; in addition, the disc is stronger than a screw blade, as it can be strengthened by ribs almost as much as one likes, and the disc in sinking is hardly strained at all compared with a screw pile. they can be sunk quicker, and do not require nearly as much plant to do it, for when you have a force pump, a guide frame--something like an ordinary pile-driving machine 25 or 30 feet in height, with a grooved pulley at top in which the chain or rope runs so that one end can be attached to the pile flange either by jaws or temporary bolts, and the other to a crab winch, which, with the guide frame, is used for lowering and keeping the pile in position, and stay the top of the guide frame by ropes to short piles driven into the ground--and a hose and two levers, with a collar to grasp the pile so as to rotate it, you have about all the _special_ plant that is wanted. "of course, piles can be sunk by water pressure from a floating stage such as a barge, pontoon, or raft, so long as the pile is kept vertical, but there are the same objections to that method as with other piles. piles are, however, got down much quicker and easier by the water jet than by screwing or driving, but the ground must be loose granular soil, such as ordinary sand. "there is not much 'extra' to be got out of iron piles. you can only dodge a bit with a length short now and then when you have the right parties to work with, and the inspector is cross-eyed or a star-gazer, but you may get something 'extra' out of the filling them in. as usual i draw the line somewhere. everything on earth has a boundary line. this is where i draw it. listen! "after as much water as possible--possible is a nice elastic word--is got out of the pile, and it is as clear of deposit as convenient--another nice easy word--and before commencing the filling, i put inside the pile everything i can get hold of that is dry, for just then i have but one way of looking at anything, and that is to consider it portland cement concrete, unless it costs me more to use it; but when the filling is concrete, i make that as dry as mixing will allow, and sometimes hardly that. the inside of the pile is sure to be wet, and that will help the mixing. i never ram the concrete, but gently cast it in. it is only a sort of anti-rust covering, and is put in for that and to keep water out, and no weight comes upon it--it is not like the hearting of cylinder bridge piers. ramming the concrete is not far from being a mistake, because the pile should have a chance of contracting without straining, and may be it will crack; and it is just as well to remember that although by ramming tightly you may get more solid filling and better protect the inside from rust, the pile may be strained, and it is a choice of evils, possible rust, or strain." chapter v. timber piles. pile-driving. general consideration. "now, as promised, i will tell you of a little bit of free trade with some timber pilework." "that's it. i am waiting for it." "well, they let me have 400 feet run of pile-driving. double row of 16 to 12 inch piles, and there were some fine sticks nearly 55 feet long, and that is a long length for a sound pile, and you have to pay for them." "before you begin to tell me how you scamped it, give me a hint or two about piling, and say what you have learned from experience." "all right. first, when a pile is some distance below the bottom waling, which should be fixed as low as possible, a lot must be taken for granted, and it cannot be controlled much. i know this from drawing many piles; hundreds, i may say. after they are down about 5 or 6 feet they begin to do as they like, and take to irregular habits, and you cannot be certain the points are straight unless the ground is the same throughout, and it hardly ever is. in fact, the resistance they meet with varies, and then they accommodate themselves to circumstances; and even when the ground is very soft they turn to the line of least resistance, and if they have to be driven through several feet of soft earth to reach the solid, they may play tricks and bend about in the soft soil in go-as-you-please style, yet seem to be driving nicely; or they may stick between boulders and can't be driven further and appear to be firm as a rock, and so they may be as long as the boulders do not move, but they often do after a time, should the ground become wet, and sometimes when the next pile is being driven. "always be careful to see that the shoe has as large a bearing as possible for the end of the pile, and is long in the point, and more pointed as the soil is harder. take a 12-inch pile with a 4-inch or so seat in the shoe for the stick. well, 12 by 12 is 144, and 4 by 4 is 16, and therefore the pile end has a bearing area upon the pile shoe of one-ninth of the area of the pile. no wonder the bottom often becomes ragged and the pile shifts. the shoe should have a good hold of the timber, and be put on true to a hair, so that the point is in the exact centre line of the pile, or look out for squalls. now high falls and light monkeys are out of fashion, and short falls and heavy monkeys are the thing, not so many piles are injured. pushing them down is better than breaking them to bits. you should have the monkey so that its centre falls upon the centre line of the pile. the average centre of the pile should be marked on as exact as possible, and the end of the pile be cut to a template, so as to make it fit tightly to the shoe, or it may not drive straightly. i always take a lot of trouble that way and seldom have to draw a ragged one, and believe they used to drive straight. i mean from start to finish about the same number of blows and to the same depth and vertically. "when hand-driving in soft earth--it's slow business at the best--weight the pile when the monkey is being lifted so as to stop the quivering and press it down and keep it from springing. provided the work was of importance, and i was the cã¦sar of it, before any pile was pitched ready for driving it should be inspected, its dimensions taken, it should be numbered, numbers be burnt in, and every foot from top to bottom should be marked on by a brand; and perhaps the numbers should begin at the bottom and work up, as there is not so much chance to tamper with two figures as with one, &c. "pile-driving is fickle work, for sometimes the piles stick because the points can't pierce the earth, and at others because they are held by friction on the surface of the piles. i have known the shoe to be cast, and the pile end look like a bass broom, and to be all in shreds. when piles split a great deal and they must be driven, the best thing to do is to get harder wood, lessen the fall and increase the weight of the monkey; same as in tunnel lining, when stock bricks are crushed, blue bricks have to be put in. the nature of the ground should govern the hardness of the wood for piles. i always pick out darkish even-coloured wood, and sniff for the resin, and the more in it the better for me. you don't catch me driving many white wood piles, for they become dry and break off short, and are not the timber for piles. once a bother arose about some piles. there was a layer of hard gravel, and by the way the piles were driving i knew they would split, so i gave the word that memel piles were not hard enough for such gravel; and i worked it humble like, and said to the engineer, 'i think you will agree, sir, you can't expect me to be answerable for smashing them until we get into the soft ground again. it wants rock elm or as strong timber for this soil.' after smashing a few to shreds, they supplied us with rock elm piles, and then we managed. it is true to say in the same soil the harder the pile the better it will drive, and therefore with less trouble and expense. the monkey should have an even widened-out base where it touches the pile head, so as to get the weight as near the head of the pile as possible; it also falls straighter than the long thin rams of nearly the same width throughout. grease the ways well, and take care they are as straight as a die, and exactly vertical if it is upright pile-driving, and you'll save money. make the blows quickly in fine-grained soil, so that it has not time to settle round the pile. in clay there is no occasion for such quick-driving, but take care to prevent the piles rebounding. remember the same system does not do for every soil, for quick driving in hard soil sometimes smashes the piles; perhaps the earth has not had time to become displaced nicely and settle before being jammed again, and then the pile point turns and quivers and soon shreds, and cannot be driven down properly. anyone that says piles make the ground itself firmer when they are driven into it, and so cause it to support a heavier load, will have to prove it before that can be swallowed. it is the friction on the sides of the piles that principally sustains them and not the bearing of the points. in hard soils drive slowly, for it is like chipping up a stone with a hammer. you must do it gently, or it will break the tool; and as you can't clear out the hole in driving piles, it seems to me time is required instead, so that the pressed out soil may settle away and take a bearing. i tricked a chap once pile-driving from a barge." "how did you do it?" "well, it was bound to be driving from a barge or nothing, and there were three pile-drivers for us, almost as many as we could work, as the driving had to be done by degrees. some of the work was let to a chap i did not like too much, and the rest to me. they gave me the choice of plant, so i said to the engineer, 'may i have two of the pile-drivers upon my barge, as faggitts'--that was the other chap's name--'only wants one.' i got the two. now faggitts knew about driving piles on land, but had never done any driving from a barge, so i had a bit in hand of him. if you take any pile-driving and it has to be done from a barge, have more than one pile-driver on it if you have the chance; but don't place them close together, make one steady the other, and have as many as you can conveniently work at once; because, in my experience, the more you have the less the swaying, and the piles drive more regularly and the barge is steadier, and you don't have so much bother with the moorings. of course, if the monkey does not fall flat upon the pile head the pile does not receive the full force of the blow in the right direction, the pile may be driven slightly crooked and it does not get properly treated and won't penetrate so easily, and therefore you lose money. old faggitts found that out in the soft soil we were driving them into. i said nothing to him, but he did to me. i never told him. "i have read somewhere that it is wearying work going into details, but when you have to do the work yourself, unless you take care of the details you'll find they will make it hot for you; and after all, any one can speak generally, but when they have to explain in detail what they think they mean, and have to do the work themselves, they will soon find out that unless you know the details and attend to them carefully, that you won't make a profit nor anyone else. anybody can talk tallish after about a fortnight's training, but then they have to pull up or they will fall at the next fence, which i label 'details wanted.' that's by the way, and i may have made it too strong, but it is as well to sound your engineer. no general is successful unless he knows the strength of his enemy and as much more about him as he can, and acts accordingly, and chooses his own time and place for a battle. "driving piles in groups, especially if the ground is soft, and not singly, is good. they go down more regularly and fit tighter, and they seem to drive quicker. i have driven cheap fir piles between elm piles that way, and a good many of the soft ones split when we had to drive them singly. have as few key piles as possible, because they are liable to be jammed before they are down to the right depth, and then, if it is a cofferdam, it is probable a leak will occur under the key pile, because it is the easiest place for the water to soak through, and the other piles being down below it, stop the flow, and it soon finds out the short-driven key pile. when i notice a spot in a cofferdam at which water leaks through the bottom, unless it is an old stream bed, it occurs to me that the piles have not gone down properly, have got bruised, bent, turned up, or broken off, and i have found out that was the case on drawing them when the cofferdam was of no further use. once i was ordered to drive some three-cornered piles at the turns in a cofferdam on a river front, but said, 'square or circular shall be driven, but any other shape i will try to get down properly, provided they are carefully fitted and bevelled, but you really can't expect me to be answerable.' they deducted a fixed amount if after the piles were pitched there were more than a certain number visibly damaged or smashed, so you may depend i had a good look at the sticks before they were driven. "i have driven piles 60 feet in length, kind of giant sticks, but 45 to 50 feet is long enough for good sound piles. socket pile driving piecework i avoid, for the joints are ticklish business; and if a pile of ordinary length will not do, i throw out a mild hint whether the better system to use would not be indian brick or concrete wells, or to spread out the foundations so as to get a sufficiently large bearing, or have a fascine platform, and sink it till it is firm, and test its stability properly by a load. "there is a great deal in starting the driving correctly. i always am very careful at the start, and experiment and watch how the piles drive, and vary the fall a little until the best is known. few considerable stretches of ground are of the same kind, and to fix a certain fall throughout is not the thing, it generally wants varying. i have easily driven piles in fine sand by having two small pipes, one each back and front, reaching a few inches below the point of the pile, and sending water down them under pressure, and by keeping the pipes on the move so that they can't be gripped. i worked out with the pipes the place where the pile had to be pitched and made a profit that way, because not only did the piles go down much quicker, and a lot of blows were therefore saved, but the piles were easier to start right. i used to call my two pipes the two bobbies, because they steered straight for their station, and these two did the same office for the piles. "now a word as to systems of driving; the method must suit the ground. i knew a man that believed in nothing but driving by gunpowder; he must have been going in strong for gunpowder tea, or have been in the militia, for the soil he had to do with was not homogeneous, and had boulders and other hard obstructions in it. it was not like soft sand and clay, consequently many of the piles were broken. the noise also was a nuisance in the dock, and cattle that had to be unshipped from the steamers were so unruly that they had to stop the gunpowder pile-drivers; besides, to do much good with them, a large charge is required, or it costs too much. the power necessary to work the machines is better obtained by other means, and can be without so much noise or shock. "i have used all sorts and sizes of monkeys, from half a hundredweight to four tons, but heavy rams and short falls are the best, and steam for the power if the contract is considerable and will pay for such plant; otherwise hand, unless the piles are large and have to be driven a long way. a sixteen hundredweight monkey is about heavy enough to work nicely by hand, but it is not sufficiently heavy for a 12-inch pile, except in soft ground. for sheet piles a hand machine is good enough, for it can be moved easily, and six to eight tons weight, being about that of a steam pile-driver, costs something to shift, unless there are rails and tackle handy. of course the blows are quicker with a steam pile-driver, and in sand that is a great point as the ground has no time to settle round a pile; but should the soil vary and be hard and soft, it is well to slow down the machine at first to lessen the fear of smashing the piles and shaking them till they tremble to destruction. i have worked a lot of different kinds of plant, and driven many piles at once, and the power was obtained from one engine giving the motion by driving bands, and in another case with drums fixed on the engine shafts, the chains being carried over sheaves to the different pile engines. "this is my idea of pile-driving:-"1. steam driving. 2. hand driving, if the piles must be driven very slowly, and there are not many to drive. 3. never use gunpowder pile-drivers, always prefer steam, hydraulic, atmospheric, or some other motive power. "gunpowder is more for blowing up than anything else, in my opinion, and i know the pile shoes often shed in driving with it; that is, they loose their hold of the piles and become detached. "a pile should penetrate regularly, and after the first few blows drive less and less, as then you have a good idea it is all right and uninjured. uneven penetration is a proof that piles are not all right, and when they sink suddenly there is almost sure to be something wrong, and they are most likely being over-driven, shredded, frayed, shoe-cast, or split up. the rate of descent should be noted. it may be considered they are driving properly if they sink about a foot at a blow for the first one or more, and then 8 or 6 inches, and when they get down to one-eighth, one-fourth, or half-an-inch a blow for some successive blows it is time to stop and consider. i have driven piles with as few as ten blows in sand with the aid of two water pipes at work fore and aft, as mentioned before, and have had to give a pile as many as 300 blows, and when they want as many as that, with all due deference to everyone, the ground is firm enough to build upon for permanent foundations without piles. my experience goes to show that piles are often driven further than they need be, if only for use as a cofferdam, and that back struts and counterforts are better than extra depth in the ground, provided leakage is prevented. 8 to 10 feet down for solid clay, 10 to 12 feet in gravel, and about 15 feet for ordinary soils, and more care taken to ascertain the piles are where they should be, and that they are sound and whole, and not turned aside, bulged, and injured, would be my practice. in boulder ground, in my opinion, piles should not be adopted; for broken, crushed, and twisted fibre bass-broom shreds are not piles; they are out of place and should be used for clearing leaves from garden walks. the longer the piles the softer should be the ground they have to be driven into, or they shake so much, and cost more to drive. "unless always well buried and at such a depth that neither the moistness nor condition of the earth vary, i scarcely believe in timber pile foundations at all, except in very peculiar cases, and as a kind of aid to the main support or to help to prevent the toe of a wall from being thrust forward, but for cofferdams, jetties, piers, and such structures, of course they are useful. in hard and most gravelly soil avoid them, and also in sharp sand, if you cannot use the previously-mentioned water-pipe arrangement fore and aft; and although in ordinary clays they drive nicely, and you make a bigger profit than in sand, it puzzles me to discern what is the use of them for permanent foundations, except to help to prevent a wall sliding forward, because when a pile is driven into most clays the clay becomes tempered and softer, and a layer of concrete put in a proper distance down is better and much more certain, and distributes the load more equally. elastic soil is bad in which to drive piles, for it yields and then rebounds. a pile will sometimes spring back almost as much as it is driven, and in such a case it is well to let the ram or monkey rest on the pile immediately after the blow is given, if you are hand-driving, or have an arrangement so that it is weighted directly each blow is delivered, and perhaps the best way is to hang heavy weights on the pile. in driving in firm sand the ground at the surface becomes considerably displaced, in clay about half as much as in sand. "pile-driving is different to masonry, and i always read the specification for pile work, and then judge whether and how a bit 'extra' is to be obtained, and guess as to the knowledge of those i have to deal with, and act accordingly. sometimes a specification simply says all the piles are to be driven to the same depth or as shown on the drawings. that may be right should the ground have been tested by experimental driving, or the nature of it be known; but if not, i don't take much notice of the specification, because i hate waste, and can't afford the luxury; and it stands to reason that simply because a lot of piles are driven to the same depth they are not equally firm, nor will they support the same load unless the soil is exactly the same, and they drive well and regularly to the same depth and all nearly alike inches by inches, and this seldom occurs. often 'extra' profit is to be had, as you will soon hear described, for when piles will not drive further than half or a quarter of an inch a blow they satisfy me they are tight enough for the purpose intended if they are at a fair depth and not wedged by boulders; but between ourselves, should a building of any kind have to be erected on piles, and anyone i really cared about had to live in it, i should always weight the piles for as long a time as possible after finishing the driving and reasonably more than the permanent load, watch the effects, and act accordingly, particularly in elastic soil. "remember a pile sinks less after it has rested than if it be driven continuously, therefore always take note of the set when the driving is proceeding, and not just at the start, or after an interval, although one does that for one's own benefit, and with a view to 'extras'; and no one wants to drive a pile an inch more than can be helped--at least i don't, nor have i, and it is certain never shall. "you want to know when to stop driving. the time has arrived when a pile penetrates very little, and nearly equal for several successive blows of the heaviest ram by which it has been driven at the usual fall. "a word as to tie and sheet piles before referring to the way i have worked piles for 'extra' profit. it is difficult to make a main pile and a tie act together, one or the other is nearly sure to have to bear more than its proper strain, and the tie rod becomes eaten by rust, bent, and loose in the piles. in taking down old banks and quays you will generally find the main pile and the tie pile are not held tightly by the tie rod, the tie pile is loose or pulled over, perhaps when first strained, and then becomes disengaged when the main pile has set to the strain. the tie rods want to be very carefully and frequently adjusted, if possible, and big washers and cleats on them are required. they hold best in firm sand, not so well in clay, and in large light loose soil, such as ashes, they are not much good. it is an impotent arrangement and it is always uncertain whether they will act together. don't undertake to tighten up the rods. fix the piles, and let the engineer see to the tightening up, as you may injure the piles. "when i have to drive a lot of sheet piles, of course the piles are supplied to me, and i only take the driving. you may be sure the timber is right, and that the edges are sawn square so as to drive tightly together, and that the point is in order. i find it always pays well to temporarily place a baulk at the ground line like a waling, but not fixed to the sheet piling, as it guides the piles, lessens the shaking, and they drive easier and better. it appears to me piles cannot vibrate without force, and that is not where it is wanted, so it is wasted motion. agitation when drawing piles is all right, but when you are driving you want it in the ground itself, and not in the piles. once when i had to drive some thin sheet piles, i made a movable guide frame, the side against the sheet piling being planed and greased. it was like one bay of a timber-lattice bridge, and it well paid for itself as it steadied the piles. "in taking a contract for drawing piles always find out how long the piles have been driven, for if they have been down many years they will be much harder to draw than if they have only been fixed a few months. they can be drawn by lever, hydraulic jack, and chains, and pontoons in a tide way." chapter vi. timber piles. manipulation for "extra" profit. "now, i'll tell you about a bit of 'extra' dodging that rather scared me. first, let me say, no one can ever know how much i hate waste--it can't be measured." "you and me are alike, a couple of turtle doves on that question." "we are. finish up, and we will have another. i remember lord palmerston said, dirt was matter out of place, or something like that. now i think piles are often good timber out of place, so i followed that lesson and said to myself 'what a lot of good timber is going to be buried; and really it is breaking and loosening the ground too much to please me, and that's a mistake, besides placing extra weight on it'; so after dwelling on the subject as much as suited me, i decided it was waste, and that it was poison to me. i had trouble on my mind about it and it made me feel thirsty and does now. pour another out." "there you are." "i'm better now. well, i wrestled over the waste question some time, and finally made up my mind not to be a party to it, it being against my principles, and, like us all, no man shall make me swerve from them, especially when they agree with my pocket." "certainly; shake hands. that is good!" "well, there was only one way to do it, so in order that every one might have their way to a certain extent i decided to drive first one pile to the depth as ordered and one to the depth that suited me, and therefore both parties were satisfied and believed they had got what they wanted; for while i left the other man, that is the engineer--excuse the disrespect--to his happy thoughts, i descended to simple practice in a way very comforting to me. knowing it is not every pile which is driven that drives whole, or is according to drawing, many often being twisted and knocked to shreds--although i have seen them driven through a layer of old brickwork, and whole, too--and that there is a lot of uncertainty about them in some ground, i dwelt on the matter, and came to the conclusion that according to the drawings every other pile would be driven about 3 to 4 feet too far down, and that all concerned hardly agreed upon the depth to which all of them should be driven, and that i was the chief one to be considered; so i cut off a few feet of the top of nearly every other pile, and varied the length according to whether the pile happened to drive hardly or went down gently." "precisely." "somehow or other the ground seemed really grateful to me, for more of the piles were cut off than i originally intended. they must have passed the tip--may be the worms did it; anyhow the ground, after a few had been driven, seemed to become harder, and we had more sawing to do than ever. i like sawing. you see your work, and all is above board and nothing hidden and no deception. suits our principles. now, you are like me, you don't wish to disturb other people's minds, we are built on the lines of love too much, and tenderness is better than anger any day." "that's it. i consider you were doing a kindness all round, or as near to it as makes no difference!" "well, in order not to disturb any one, it took some thinking over as to the best time to ease off the tops. i mean cut the heads off and put the rings on again, and give the tops a properly seasoned appearance. i used to call it put their hair right. now, you know docks are not like railway works, for the men are nearly all at one place; here we were in the middle of a large town, but you'll excuse my naming the place, i am too polite to do such a thing without permission. no one was about at dinner time, for all the chaps passed the gates. the place where my work was was shut in nicely, and as there was always a row going on from the traffic close by on road and river, and loading and unloading, it was a really nice little home in which to do a bit of engineering-up-to-date." "i understand; a convenient spot for scientific experiments in saving labour and the waste of good material." "that's the lesson. i found dinner time was the best after a week's scouting, and that the road was clear as daylight, for all the spies were away, and there was only one that ever hung about, and he was a young engineer just come to the docks straight from westminster. he was a nice sort of chap, and a smart one, and had the kind of face a girl looks fond upon from what i have noticed of their tricks. of course, he did not know much of actual work, being a new pupil, i heard. by the way, what a lot of pupils to be sure some engineers turn out. i almost fancy a few of them must make as much from the schooling branch of the profession as they do from work; but let them, it is nothing to do with me, but this pupil i can say was no fool, though, the same as all new hands, the work was a novelty to him, like a new toy to a child. "now, the only thing to interfere with the 'extra' business as described was this pupil, so i decided to fix his attention, if i could, in another direction, and sweetly, so thought it out, and said to myself, 'you have had more difficult things to steer through than this--rather hotter, i fancy.' "it so happened, just then, they had pulled down an old tavern, and built on the site a showy crib with balcony overlooking the river, and they had a lot of relics on view, and two nicish girls were there. good figures, you know, and fairly on; so i made myself particularly gracious to mr. pupil and pointed out, submissive to his superior knowledge like, a few things on the work. then the plot was let loose this way. i started a kind expression on my face, and said-"'i'm afraid you find it rather rough, sir, here; there are not the nice feeding places they have in town, in fact, i think there is only one near here, sir, at all fit for you.'" "'where is that?' "'it is the anchor and hope hotel, sir. i can hardly direct you to it; but you have plenty of time to go there and get back fully a quarter of an hour before the men's dinner time is over, if you will allow me to show you the place, and they have almost a museum of relics of the river.' "the relics settled it, and he took on all right, and i knew then things were working smoothly and the wind was getting round to a nice steady breeze from the proper quarter. he was a good-natured chap, and one could see liked inspecting the woman portion of creation better than works, at least, during dinner-time, and i don't blame him; some men are built that way, and can hardly say 'no' to a woman, for if they do they think they have done wrong and been unkind. poor things! well, we got to the place, and, fortunately, no one was in the private bar." "you mean lobby. don't insult the place." "i humbly beg pardon. "in we went, and it was lucky, for the better of the two girls was on parade; they were nieces of the landlord, so had more latitude than paid slaves. i went in first, and mr. pupil turned to me and said, 'i will be with you in a minute.' now, that was just what i wanted, a word or two of priming for polly. so after shaking hands with her, said:-"'polly, in a second or two a young swell will be here just new on the works, and will be on the job to the finish, three years, so make yourself pleasant as possible. three years' presents and fun, to say nothing of odd trips out, are not to be snuffed at; and he is rich they tell me, and should be real good business all round, if you work him right.' "she laughed; and before i could say any more the door was on the move, and in mr. pupil came. i kept my weather eye on him, for i can generally tell, when they run young, whether a chap is smitten sufficient. i saw the place would be a pleasant diversion, just seeing one of the tender gender occasionally, after being all day among men; so to make it appear i was a wolf on business, said, 'please excuse me, sir, but i have to meet a gentleman at half-past twelve.' "'certainly. do not let me detain you.' "i just turned to polly, and said, 'show this gentleman your museum of relics, and the private room looking across the river, as i think it may perhaps suit him for an odd lunch now and then.' polly twigged. "i saw they were started on the road of mutual admiration, and travelling pretty, and that he meant calling again. she also seemed to like the prospect, and knew how to work the game of fascination right, and she did; so the only one in the way of preventing my doing a bit of engineering-up-to-date with the pile-driving was now removed in a nice harmonious way, and to the entire satisfaction of the company's resident engineer--no, hardly that, i mean mine. i consider i did a kind action to all parties, not excepting myself. what a blessing women are, if you use them right. mr. pupil had his lunch at the place every day, and polly and he understood each other, and got on a 1, so i was told. it is soothing work bringing happiness to two young hearts as beat soft. "_next day we started cutting off the pile-heads_, while polly and mr. pupil were occasionally very likely pitching their heads together so that i should not have all the fun. well, we managed to so drive the piles after a day or two as to be able to cut off, generally during dinner time, from 2 to 4 feet, and i should think must have done over 200, when one day, just as we had nearly sawn one through, up turned mr. pupil. polly and her sister were visiting, and never told me they were going, so the anchor and hope did not weigh-in much from him that day. my ganger, who was doing the sawing trick with me, looked a bit down, but he is not so educated as me; so i turned to mr. pupil and said--as he asked me what i was doing, and what was the matter--'got the pile down wrong, sir, and shall have to lift it. i think it's broken off, or gone ragged, may be it has struck an old anchor.' "he just looked very hard at me, nodded, and went away. it was a close shave, and lucky it was not the chief engineer. however, we had a quarter of an hour to work on that pile before the men came back, and we soon ruined it with bars and tackle. anyhow, we raised it in no time, for we had the best tackle and everything you could wish for. we split the pile right across. it was only down 5 feet, and most of it in mud. we quickly cut it up into cleats; and out of misfortunes, between you and me, i always make as much as i can. so when mr. pupil returned i said to him, 'it wants a lot of experience to know when piles are not driving right, but 25 years has not been lost on me, sir, and i will have good work or none.' perhaps 'none' would have been the correct word; but anyhow i used it coupled, and you can't complain, for if the pile had been cut there would have been none in the place where it was thought there was. we saved a lot of driving, and i said to myself, 'it is lucky this bit of wharf wall is left to me pretty well, because, as nearly most of the piles are a bit short, the wall may settle if they load it much or build on it; still i think it will settle equally, and then it won't matter so much, and they are not going to build on or near it, that i know,' so i saved nearly 1000 feet of driving on the lot; but here comes the shake. i forgot to say the piles were driven, and a platform fixed on the top for the wall in the old style, but it has gone out now, since portland cement concrete came into fashion. one day the engineer walked over the work with two or three directors, and, after a lot of talk, they decided to build some 3-floor warehouses upon the quay, after some figuring and dwelling on it. that made me think. i heard someone say, 'the piles are 15 feet in the solid ground, and therefore will safely bear the load.' so they would if they had been, but not many hundreds of them were, and many were in 5 feet of little better than mud, and as some had been cut off 4 feet, those piles were only 6 feet in the solid ground. understand, this wharf piling was only the beginning of a long two or three years profit for me, and i knew the warehouses would be sure to settle, and if they did unequally, over would go the show. i always avoided the quay wall afterwards; it seemed like a sort of spectre to me. "one day the engineer sent for me to come to the office. of course i was there sharp. he said:-"'i want you to tell me your idea of the character of the ground upon which the western quay wall is erected?' "don't you think i was lucky, old pal? here was my deliverance. it was not exactly a path of roses--there are not many knocking about now--because if i said it was soft ground he could reply, 'you had a very high price for such driving.' if i said it was firm, i felt sure, should they build a warehouse on it such as i heard them talk about, it would sink or topple over, so i had to be careful how the ship was sailed. i answered the engineer like this: 'if you'll excuse me talking to you freely, sir, i will speak my mind; but i most feel abashed with such as you, for you know a thousand times better than me.' he then said to me:-"'be at your ease. i wish to hear exactly what you would do in the matter if you were in my position. i have made up my mind; in fact, i have already committed my views to writing.' "'thank you, sir. well, sir, i think it is a risky place, although the piles were many of them dreadfully hard to drive, and wanted a lot of care and all had it, i think, judging from the variation in the depth to which they went down under the same number of blows, that the ground is a bit mixed, and therefore i should choose another site, as there is plenty of room.' "'your opinion somewhat coincides with mine. your idea, i may say, is one which the configuration of the ground leads me to think is the case without doubt. it is therefore probable that in a few days i may have a considerable length of the quay loaded with rails, nearly 2000 tons will arrive for the main and branch lines before the end of the week, as i intend to load part of the quay with about 8 tons per square foot in order to test it. in any case, much as i am urged to commence the warehouses at once, i shall not do so until the quay has withstood the test during at least a month.' "'that is a heavy test, sir.' "'you can go now!' he bowed, and smiled his thanks, and i withdrew. of course, i said nothing to anyone. it don't do to annoy the guv'nor. well, in a few days the rails came, about 2500 tons of them. the engineer sent for me again and said, 'i wish you to see the rails stacked on part of the quay in accordance with instructions you will receive.' "i could only say, 'very well, sir,' and withdraw. i felt i was had again, and went straight away and had a pull of rum. there was no help for it now. i was in the fix and had to get out of it somehow, and what made it doubly worse was being ordered to superintend my own ruin. listen, for you will when i tell you i might have been tried for having killed or injured 400 men and one director! it was a near squeak for the lot, and as it was--no! i'll tell you in a few minutes what happened. "well, we stacked the rails over the place according to the engineer's directions, after mr. pupil had taken the levels--he also took them every day, to see how things were going. i made no remarks, for fear i might say something that would lead to further enquiries, and took the cue from a chap i once knew, the biggest rogue out he was; he could please them pretty, and never had any fixed opinions about anything, like some of our politicians, or could twist them about to suit the times; and he set his sails according to circumstances, so as to be pleasant to everyone, and was liked and respected by a lot that knew no better and could not see through him, but he had not a bit of honesty in him. fact was, knowing i had got all i could out of short driving and cutting off these piles, i played a mild game of respectful bluff, more particularly as mr. pupil told me the ground had only gone down a mere decimal of an inch. "one day the engineer walked over by himself and said to me, 'come to the quay wall.' "we got there, and i felt i had soft sawder enough in me for anything. he led off by saying, 'although this is a severe test it is not altogether satisfactory to me. the rails shall remain in their present position for at least another month. i have known, as in cylinder sinking, subsidence to occur very suddenly and unexpectedly. i do not like the system of foundations upon piles, but have been overruled here.' "now what he said pleased me much, because i thought to myself if the wall does break up it will not be exactly a heart-breaking trial to him. well, all went on as usual for a fortnight, and i heard nothing further till one friday about 5 o'clock. it was near low water, and mr. pupil came to me and said the engineer wanted to see me. i went towards the office, but on the way met him and the engineer and three or four other swells, two of them that came before. i touched my hat, and walked behind. i heard the engineer say, 'mr. selectus, although the position is very good, i am not satisfied with regard to the foundations, more especially as i believe the ground to be varied in character; and on an old plan, dated 1720, i note a stream marked here; in fact, mr. pupil has searched and found a water-course existed almost from the earliest known times.' "if he did not say exactly that, it was just like it, anyhow he spoke up pretty straight. one of the directors (i heard they were all such afterwards) said, addressing the engineer, 'i have an idea. the men will cease work, i think, very soon?' 'they will,' said the engineer. 'have you any objection to their marching and marking time, as it were, upon the rails, as a final test, as i remember we so tested a suspension bridge i had erected at my place?' "the engineer assented, and remarked that although the weight of 500 men was not much compared to the weight of the rails, the vibration they would create might cause a sudden subsidence. however, he slightly bowed to the director, and said, 'i leave the experiment entirely to you, although i may say it is not unattended with risk; for the test load now imposed is a very severe one for such unstable soil, and the effects of vibratory motion are usually most deleterious.' "however, the director, after some talking, had his way, so the men were fetched. we had about 700 at work then, the company's own men. i will cut it short. well, the director told the foreman, as the engineer asked him to do so, what he wished to be done, and the men marched up and down i should think six or seven times. it did not take long, and they soon got into step, for we had a lot of militia chaps at work; and then the director, who seemed to be enjoying himself, said, 'now we will try three trips, double quick,' so the men went by once all on the smile, and we were as near laughing as smiling allows, when!---"it chokes me to think of it. fill up the glass, so that i may keep my pipes open. thank you, i was near being blocked up. well, about half of the men were behind the rails, and we were all, except the director-in-command i'll call him, looking on and stationed on a mound close by. i shouted out--seemed a sort of sudden impulse-"'look out! the ground is settling. run for your lives.' about half of the men heard me, and got away, but the front lot went on. i should think 200 of them. bless you, the ground began to yaw and sink with the rails very quickly, and the wall pressed forward and toppled over in one place for about a 30-feet length with men upon the top of it, and the director as well, and fell very slowly, and quite majestically, right into the river, and there was a splash and crash. i said before it was nearly low water, and i should think there was about 5 feet on the sill and 2 feet of mud. after all, somehow or other, only about thirty men and the director were cast, and they were all taken out right, for there was plenty of assistance. still one man had his arm broken, which was a good thing for him as it turned out, for the director made him one of his lodge-keepers; but as he was a smart-looking chap, and had been brought up right, and could not work much after, it was an even bargain." "how about the director?" "ah! that's the only fun we had; for i tell you, when i saw the men and the wall go over it made me take root, and my boots were nearly pressed into the ground, and they said i went awfully white in the face. it did give me a shock; but it was lucky the break-up was so slow, for those that could not get off had time to jump and get clear of the rails, but i tell you it was a shave. as it turned out, the director had the worst ducking of the lot that fell in. he went sprawling into the mud; but he could swim, and when we saw him i nearly burst out laughing, only my feelings had been so shaken, for he was smothered in slime from head to foot, and looked like a real savage. all his hair, face, and beard were thick with mud, to say nothing of his tailoring; and i tell you he put me in mind of a baboon just then, and i don't think he will attempt any more testing. "of course, the warehouses were not erected upon the quay, and the engineer was not sorry at the way things had turned out. anyhow, he let me do the clearing away the rails and the rebuilding; and i drove in the piles just the same length as the others, and nothing was said to me or suspected. it worked all right; but suppose a lot of the men had been killed, and the director as well! i tell you it was a near shave, and all before my eyes. it would just have killed me; for i should have known about another 3 feet down of those piles would have made them stand all serene. as it was, my wife said i was that disturbed in my sleep, and kicked so, that she hardly got a wink of rest, and had to double herself up in bed for fear of having her legs broken; however, it wore off in time, although once i sent myself and my old woman clean off the bedstead, and i saw by the light of the moon we were sitting on the floor, and the clothes were all of a heap close by. it made a nice picture of domestic bliss. my wife gave it me hot, and she said she would stand it no longer. i said, 'don't grumble, you have not got to stand. you are sitting down now, and you ought to know it.' she said she heard me mumble several times in my sleep 'cut 3 feet off her, bill!' that was my ganger's name, and, of course, my brain was alluding to cutting off the piles; she thought it was her--no fear. still, she always makes out i was not so good as i once was, and she felt sure old nick and me had night conversations. i laugh over the whole thing now. i hardly did then." chapter vii. masonry bridges. "now i'll tell you how we got on with some masonry bridges. being more of a scholar than most of them--thanks to the parish school--and being able to read, write, and sum a bit, i knew a trifle extra to the other chaps, and was made a ganger when very young. somehow or other, i drifted into being crafty, and just then made friends with a man that was up to every game, and remembered old george stephenson. he could tell and teach you something, and did me; but even i have known the time when we hardly ever had a drawing to work to, except the section, and have walked many miles behind an engineer, and heard him say to my partner--who was a mason, and a real good one--'joe, put a bridge there, the same span and width between the inside of the parapets as the others.' 'all right, sir!' "you know that was the time of the rush for railways, and few understood the business. too many do now, i think, and the old country is too full of mouths generally. then there was scarcely time to think, much more for many drawings; they were made after. "we used to take a bridge at a time, at so much the cubic yard, and we did put it in thick, abutments, counterforts, wingwalls, and parapets, and all the work was as straight as could be made; and i have known my partner, joe, nearly drawn into tears when he was forced by circumstances over which he had no control to own an arch to a bridge was not exactly a straight line. spirals and winders made him that waspish as i took good care to make myself particularly wanted somewhere else than at the bridge at which he was busy when he had to do them. "some of the bridges we built have enough masonry in them to nearly build a church or a small breakwater, and lucky they have, as it gave one the chance of a bit of profit; and the depth of the foundations was hardly so deep as shown in the drawings made after we had built a bridge. somehow or other our imagination used to scare away reality, and we generally were paid for a foot or more extra depth all round. "joe said that was the way he got his professional fees for building a bridge without a drawing, and the only way he could and, moreover, did; but he always put the masonry in solid, that is to say, when he considered it should be, although hardly, perhaps, to the specification throughout, but the face looked lovely; and if the inside work was rather rough and tumble and really "random," he knew what a good bond was, and would have it, and was really clever at selecting the right rock in the cuttings for masonry; but there, no one can expect the filling-in work to be done the same way as the facework. "of course, it was not exactly honest to be paid for more work than we had done; but it is only fair to say we were generous with our _extra_ profits, and always treated the inspector and our men right. we were bound to educate them and enlighten their minds. i own it was not right, and, after all, it would want an 'old parliamentary hand' to tell the difference in dishonesty between over-measurement founded on lies and stealing. however, one is supposed to be the result of cleverness, the other, crime. "i forgot to tell you we took a cue from a director who occasionally walked over the line, and who always showed about half-an-inch of his cheque-book sticking up out of his pocket. we were told he wore his cheque-book like the mashers do their pocket-handkerchiefs; but that he was not worth much, and was on the war path for 'plunder,' and so were we, and took his tip. i said to myself, as he has brought a new fashion into play in these parts, let us take the hint. "'so we will,' said my partner. "'how long is the specification for masonry? "'i am sure i don't know. what _are_ you talking about? i never read such things. all i want to know is for what purpose the bridge is to be erected, and whether it is to be coursed work, ashlar, or the same as the others, and up it goes according to my specification. i'm above other people's specifications, thank you. what's the use of my education if i am not? do you think the alphabet must be again taught me?' "'i beg pardon, partner, you are right; but appearances go a long way, and shamming is fashionable.' "'oh, well, have your way; we all look better when we are properly clothed; and i once heard an engineer say he never felt right when on any works without a plan in his hand, and we know a music-hall singer is generally not at home without a hat; besides, it will please them to see we have the specification always on the premises.' "'that is what i think.' "well, i made two copies of it, one for joe, my partner then, and one for me, and wrote in large letters on the top, 'specification--masonry --bridges and culverts.' then we both showed the top out of our pockets, with that writing on it, in the same way the director did his cheque-book. it worked beautifully; for a few days after a big engineer came down, and we heard he had said he thought we were the smartest masons on the work, and he was pleased to see we appeared careful to comply with the specification, for he noticed we each had a copy in our pockets. "the fun was, my partner had never read it at all; i only when copying. "the game worked really lovely; we were looked upon as downright straight ones, and the inspector--who wanted some dodging, i can tell you, as well as a tip, now and again--was taken away and posted at the other end of the work, and then we made hay while the sun shone, and no mistake. we used to make the bridges rise out of the ground; we gave some drink to our chaps; and then, as soon as the wagons with the rock arrived from the cutting, in it went. the difficulty was to keep the face going fast enough for the filling-in work. it was a game. first a wagon-load of rock, and then--well, i suppose i must say--the mortar, but it is squeezing the truth very hard indeed. there was joe, my partner, superintending in his own style, the raking and mortar business, and i was busy at the facework looking after our best mason. "give my partner his due, he was always careful about bond and throughs, and he was fond of mixing up the flat stones a bit, for he said it prevented their sliding on the beds, and always maintained that the weight above kept all tight enough and more than the mortar, so long as the stones were flat and large. i said, it's lucky it did. "one day he frightened me. we were short of stone, owing to a mistake in the cutting, and so the facework was up a good height. at last joe caught sight of the engine and wagons coming round the hill, and said to me-"'hold hard, here they come, thirteen wagons; they will fill you up both sides.' "'i agree with you; they will, and more.' "it was then past one o'clock, and joe called out to me-"'before we leave i mean to be level with you, but you must help.' "'joe, it can't be done.' "'away with your cant's; it _shall_ be done.' "well, it was tempting us too much, such a lot of rock to work on all at once; if we had only had a little more than sufficient for one day's work at a time, we could not have done what we did. by jove, he did go it. down came the rock--i know you will kindly excuse me from calling it building stone. "'easy does it, joe, or you will burst the show.' "'not i,' he shouted. "now listen to me, for this _is_ truth. never since the foundation of this world did bridges grow at this rate. it beats mustard-and-cress raising and high farming into fits. "'smash them in, lads, bar them down; give them a dose of gravel liquor. now then, for some real cream mortar.'" "these, and such-like, were his war-cries." "'bless me, if the mortar is not as thin-placed as the powder on a girl's face, joe.'" "'it's pretty.' "'now, lads, five minutes for beer.' "all was soon comparatively silent. "'joe, you must draw it milder, for the row going on is more like an earthquake let loose than anything else i can think of, and it may spoil the game, for it is bound to draw a crowd.' "'all right, partner, i never thought of that. talk about jack and the beanstalk, this beats it to squash. it's lucky the rock works in flat, and is not hollow. of course, all the stones are on their natural beds, according to the specification--understand that. don't let us have any mistake as to the catechism; if they are not, they will grow used to their new ones and shake down to rest.' "i've never built a bridge that fell or gave much, perhaps a wingwall has bulged, but then it is the want of proper drainage and backing and nothing to do with the masonry. _we_ only attend to the masonry according to the specification. chorus--according to the specification. but they all do it, as the song says. "it's my firm conviction that the man that invented wall-plates ought to have a marble monument in his native town, for they are beautiful distributors of weight, and when the stones are small, they are salvation for such masonry as we made rise." "i agree with you, they cover a multitude of sins, and are powerful agents in the cause of unity and good behaviour." "that is right." "have a sip?" "yes." "i nearly got bowled out once at the masonry game. this is between ourselves." "of course, we understand each other; shake hands." "they nearly caught me." "how?" "we were walking over the work--when i say we, i mean a party of directors, a couple of engineers, and the resident engineer. an unlucky thing happened. someone said, 'i should think a good view of the surrounding country is to be obtained from the top of this bridge.' now, you know, in those days, some engineers liked offsets at the back of a wall very close together, say about every two feet, as they thought the backing remained on them, and helped to prevent the wall overturning; but it seldom does, the backing is usually drawn away from such off-sets. however, unfortunately, most of these directors had only recently returned from switzerland, and had been up the mortarhorn, i think they said--or thought they had, or read about it in a guide book. anyhow, they started climbing up the back of one of the abutments. they ought to have known our work is not quite so solid as nature, nor as the romans made in the old slow days when they were not fighting; but it is all right for the purpose intended, at least, for what we intend it, and that is enough. the abutment of the bridge i am referring to was 50 feet in length, and what must they all do but start at once at the climbing business, like a lot of schoolboys eager to get there first, and i had only time to think a moment, and to shout, "'be careful, gentlemen, please, the mortar has not had time to set yet, it's green.' "lucky, i said 'yet'; but between you and me, i should be an old one, and no mistake, if i had to wait till it set right. "they got upon the first offset all serene; but when they footed it on the third, down they came, and humpty-dumpty was not in it with the show. it was a flat procession and a general lay-out, and such a rubbing of mid-backs occurred as few have seen before. they fell soft, though, as we had partly finished backing up the bridge. i was nearly had; but i had a bit in hand with which to squeeze home at the finish, and get in the first words. they were:-"'gentlemen, i had no time to warn you, but the mortar has not had time to set all round, it is green; and where it has set, it is that powerful it often shifts the stones first, and then clenches them tight, and there is no parting them at all; they become gripped together just as by nature in the quarry. it is wonderful material, and the best lime known, or that i have had to do with during thirty years of hard working experience." "of course, the directors could say nothing; they were bankers and solicitors, or such-like, nor could the engineers. it did not do to make out the masonry had not been properly executed. i thought i had got off beautifully, and the whole party were just going to start when out of the blessed wall, there and then, flew two pheasants!" "well, i never!" "you wait. yes; and before we could speak, out came a fox. i own i was nearly beaten, but one of the directors, turning to us, said, 'you appear to have a veritable noah's ark here, and we know a pheasant is a gallinaceous bird.' "we all laughed. he then went on to say, 'perhaps if we wait long enough the procession will continue. this may be the ancestral home of the dodo or the mastodon. who can say it is not?' they again laughed. "now, you know, there is no denying, neither a pheasant nor a fox can squeeze themselves through an ordinary-sized mortar joint. while laughing i got my mind right, and said, 'gentlemen, i feel sure the poachers have been on the prowl here, and have disturbed the work.' "'yes,' said the director. the others seemed afraid to speak. there is always a cock in every farmyard, and he was in this. 'a four-legged poacher--the fox; and i am afraid, if we do not exercise due care, the board will be charged with larceny.' "then we all thought we ought to laugh, and did. 'gentlemen,' i said, 'i'm sure the bridge has been tampered with, and no doubt if we keep watch we shall find the rascals.' "excuse me now saying 'rascals' to you, but, old chum, of course between ourselves, that is you and me, we have never done any poaching." "not we, certainly: at least we forget doing it if we did. a good memory is not always a blessing, or to be owned to, although it's useful." "shake. that's right. as we understand each other, i will now tell you how things ended. i went on to say to the gentlemen, 'i will root out this matter; and may i ask you to say nothing to anyone. my partner and myself will get to the bottom of it. trust your old servants, gentlemen.' then i raised my hat. that fetched them; for one turned, and said to me:-"'i cannot send my keepers to-night, but to-morrow they shall meet you here at six. please watch to-night.' "he then handed to me a five-pound note. blessed if he did not own the land for miles round and i did not know it. i beamed all over, and said i would, and looked as humble as only an old sinner can; and i was just going to forget to tell you i put that 'fiver' carefully away, to keep it from the poachers." "i could believe that of you; i could, old chap, without your saying it." "well, now talk about 'all's well that ends well;' this was better than that--simply crumbs of comfort, except the awkwardness of the situation before the finish. "i suppose you want to know all about the cause of the tumbling show." "yes; i am waiting to know." "very well, i will tell you. i had become greedy, and as there was not much more work for me on that railway, i used to make it a rule, wherever i was, and before leaving, to have a final haul in by way of a loving remembrance of a past country in which i had spent some part of my life in opening up to civilization, and the immeasurable benefits of rapid and cheap locomotion. is that good enough?" "rather; it likes me much." "now this bridge was a beauty to draw on, so we just left a few voids here and there. tipping the backing must have broken a bit of the wall unknown to me, or something must have given way in the night; and i suppose the birds walked in, and the fox after them, and then the abutment settled and the backing pushed it closer together. now the birds got to a place where the fox could not reach, and there very likely they would have been, three caged-up skeletons; but the swiss mountain climbing spoilt that fun, and pulled down the wall sufficiently to raise the curtain on the show. "it so happened that all the engineers and residents had to go away on some land case--i like _other_ people to go to law; and so we had three clear days to put things in order; and we did, you bet, and began almost before the break of day. i had an untarnished reputation at stake, and was on my metal. my partner and myself just about both smiled over the fun real mutual admiration." "the engineers did not say much for we had been paid, and they knew they would get nothing out of us, and therefore proceeded on the principle that it is no use stirring dirty water, and i say, and maintain, that on the whole--not _in_ the hole, mind you--never was more solid and firmer masonry put together than our work, although we took care to do as we liked, and relieved the foundations of some strain now and again, and improved the specification. "i forget whether i watched for poachers that night, but i might have done for a few minutes, so as to make it all right; but as my memory is not clear on the point, i had better say i fancy i did not, but i met the keepers next night; and did a three hours watch and told them a lot, and got well rewarded. pay me and i'll patter pretty; but no pay, no patter, is my motto. the only thing that grieved me was losing those pheasants and the fox's brush and head. that was hard luck, but there! life is full of disappointments which are hard to bear." chapter viii. tunnels. "have i told you of my scare in a tunnel i got some 'extra' profit out of by real scamping?" "not that i remember." "well, that was a whitener, for i was almost trapped, nearly caught, and paid out. retributed, i think it is called, but there, i am not sufficiently educated, although you and me have had a good deal more schooling than any others on this work, which perhaps is not too much of a recommendation. anyhow, you agree, don't you?" "of course i do!" "well, let us drink. now we are oiled, the machinery will start again easy and soft, and continue going for some time, but don't you consider we know enough to suit us. i have watched various guv'nors i have had, and they seem to be thinking and puzzling their brains even when they are eating, and i don't think their digestion is improved by it. a peaceful mind needs no pills. it is medicine for the upper works, and exercise and good food is the right physic for the body unless you are half a corpse when born. now, when we eat, we have a look at the goods first, and all we trouble about is to divide the vegetables, meat, and bread, and beer, so that they last the show out in their proper quantity to the finish." "that's it, but what has that to do with the scare at the tunnel and the scamping?" "you wait. really you should know impatience is not polite; and to be a good listener, and look as if every word that was said to you was virgin information and pure wisdom, is the best game to play." "that is enough, get to the tunnel scare and scamping." "well, why i named about my food was, my old woman was queer just then, a lying up on the cherub business, and the party that she had to look after things was no cook, few are, and i believe she was paid by some of those pill proprietors to make people ill and then pill them. anyhow i got queer and dreadfully out of sorts, and just at the time i was a regular nigger, and had taken a length of tunnel lining, and in such ground, horrid dark yellow clay, and it smelt awfully bad. we called the tunnel the pest-hole. what with the food being wrong, and the hateful place, i did the worst bit of scamping i ever was guilty of." "fortunately, the engineer knew what he was about, and our profiles were nearly round, that is, the section of the tunnel was nearly circular; if they had not been, that tunnel would have been filled up by this time, and perhaps been the grave of hundreds, and it nearly was. there were eight rings in the lining, and therefore some bulk to play with. i got frightfully pesky about the job, and meant getting out of it as quickly as possible, and did. i am not the one to play about and squat, action is my motto; and i am busy if there is anything to be got, and keen on the scent." "you are right there. you generally find a fox, and get his brush, too." "i was roused. the brickwork was in portland cement, and believe me, i never would have done what i did if it had been lime mortar. must draw the line somewhere, and the easiest conscience has a limit to being trifled with. you know, tunnel work gives one chances that are not to be had in the open, and the temptation is strong. i dropped word on the quiet, 'be careful to-night with the first two rings and then'--well, they twigged, and i had no occasion to say much. afterwards, the material that was given them went in anyhow. but bless me, we had portland cement, it was supplied by the company, you understand. it held almost anything together, firm as a rock. i said to my ganger, whatever material you are given, so long as it is clean, will do, and it will be just like conglomerate. the inspector was inclined to be my way of thinking, and, by a manual operation on my part, he fully agreed with me, and said he had always been of the same opinion, only other people failed to comprehend his meaning. it has been said the pen is mightier than the sword, and so it may be; but ten hours writing, and a ten hours speech full of argument, have not the same force with some inspectors as a few sovereigns judiciously placed to aid them in arriving at a proper view of a subject." "you are right; bribes and lies are twin brothers." "well, it was just a scamper all round. yes, scamper and scamping. i had some good brickies then--militia chaps, smart, and they could stay. they made the rings grow; i forget how much we got in that night, but a good length, for the bricks ran short at one end of the tunnel, and we were close up to the face at the other end. no one that i did not want to see was about. after measuring, i found we were short at least twenty yards of bricks, and only about two thousand or so left, so i said, 'lads, if you finish the ring by five o'clock, you shall have a quid amongst you; but do it, and keep the beautiful clean face on for all you are worth.' "i looked a bit crafty at them, and they twigged the tune to play. i took old bond--he was my ganger--with me, and said to him, 'how are we going to do the lining?' we can't fetch bricks from the other end, and i draw the line at timber to do duty as bricks. i waited, and the 'extra' profit string of my brain worked right, and i pointed and said, 'there is a heap of broken bricks and no one knows what; well, twenty yards of that won't be noticed if you take it equally all round; put that in, and dose it with cement, and rake it well on the top of the rings, and don't forget to finish the top nicely and clean to a hair if you have not time to fill in all of it. keep the best stuff for near the finish, and enough bricks to make a solid strip or two, and i am otherwise engaged or tired-out till four. wake me then; i'm off for a peaceful snooze.' well, they got it all in, and nothing was known till--i won't name it yet, it must wait." "i suppose the bricks you took from the brick-yard were tallied, and deliveries checked with the work done in the lining?" "yes; but there is tallying of all sorts, and, of course, the right amount of bricks were taken from the yard early next morning, but where they went is best known to the yard foreman, the inspector of brickwork, and the dealer; but as my partnership with them is now at an end, of course my memory fails me, and i am sorry i can't give you any more information in that direction. it grieves me to keep back anything from you, and is so unlike me." "i don't want to hurt your feelings. all right, i understand." "talk about varieties of concrete, why we had sardine and meat tins, all sorts and sizes and weights and ages, tiles, ashes, bones, glass, broken crockery, oyster shells, and a lot of black-beetles and such-like shining members of creation. they all did their duty to the best of their ability. what else there was i would rather not try to remember, but it was _not_ bricks." "don't trouble, i can understand. we are all pushed a bit for the right goods sometimes, and have to make shift; but it is hard, very hard, to have to do it." "well, i found out that the bricks were not quite so many as i thought, and for a 5 feet length, about 15 feet from shaft no. 7, they had to do with one ring of brickwork, and the rest, my patent midnight conglomerate. that frightened me, and had i known it at the time, i would have stopped the show; of course i would, you know me. i always draw the line somewhere." "right you are; although 'somewhere' is an easy-stretching sort of place, and there is not much of a fixed abode about it; but it can generally be found on a foggy night." "it's my belief they did not put in enough cement mortar, and carry out my orders, which indeed was very wrong of them." "what do you mean, your orders were wrong?" "oh dear no, of course not, not likely--_their_ orders were wrong, not mine. you don't follow me rightly. you understand now? dwell on it, and i'll wait." "oh yes, it was stupid of me. there, i am not so young as i was, nor so quick." "now we are coming to the scare. pass my glass, it makes me feel weak, it does. "that conglomerate length stood all right, more by luck than anything else, till one night, although all the rest was sound work and done properly, for it was well looked after, and there was no chance of a slide towards extra profit; besides, the ground would not have stood unbared long, and, of course, short lengths had to be the order, and were bound to be carried out, for the clay soon got dropsy and swelled. "well, my guv'nor took a contract for a line about 20 miles away from the tunnel. i had some work on it, and had to go to london, it was abroad, for i was called up by him, it was a slow train, and followed an express goods. there was a signal box at each end of the tunnel, and a fair traffic, and fast trains passed. something got wrong with a wagon of the express goods train--i never knew exactly what it was but anyhow, nothing very serious, for the permanent way was all right and so were the wheels and axles. we were stopped by hand-signal in the tunnel, and there may have been something wrong with the signals, but that does not matter for what i am going to tell you." "were you scared to think the train after you would telescope you?" "no, for there was none for an hour and a half. "well, the carriage i was in pulled up just under the place where that patent midnight conglomerate length was put in, and i looked up and saw the old spot had bulged, and was yawning, and looked to me as wide and moving as the straits of dover in a s.w. gale, and a lot worse, and it seemed to be getting wider every minute, and i saw something drop. i was alone in the compartment, and it was fortunate i was for many reasons or i know they would have found me out. i knew the place. how could i forget it? it was just by the shaft. the passengers were talking to the guards, or were otherwise engaged. presently i heard the down mail coming at a rare speed. i said to myself, 'there is not much the matter, or they would not let her go through.' she was the last passenger train down that night, and lucky she was, you will soon say. oh! dear me, when i heard her i felt cold and hot, and my heart got to my teeth, and i believe if i had not kept my mouth shut it would have jumped out, that's true. what scared me most was not about the mail train, i knew she would be right, and would be past the spot before the ground had time to tumble in. she was going too quick, but our train, _and me_, right under the place, and bound to be there _after_ the mail had shaken it to bits! that's what made me feverish. "i said to myself, 'you are paid out in your own coin, you are.' before i had time to think more the mail went by all serene, and i hardly dare move, but slid up on the seat just in time to see her tail lights vanish. i then looked up, and if it had been my scaffold it could not have been worse. oh! fill my glass up, nearly neat, while i wipe my forehead. thank you. yes, i looked up, and saw the crack had widened and was becoming wider, and chips were falling now and again as large as hailstones! i knew it was bound to come down. i looked to my watch, another full hour had to pass before the next train was due behind us. i was just going to get out, when i heard the guard coming along on the footboard, and he said, 'another five minutes and we are off, gentlemen.' he did not see the falling pieces, as the carriage hid them, but i did, and the engine blowing off steam prevented him hearing them. soon he reached my carriage, and said, 'you are the only gentleman in this carriage.' he would not say anything more. i heard him repeat the same words almost as he moved along the train, 'five minutes and we are off, gentlemen.' "i said to myself, 'five minutes more and i am buried and off for ever somewhere,' for i was certain in five-and-a-half the lining would burst and down everything would come and crush us to powder. i did not care to think what else or how much. i cannot describe how i felt, but drink squalls are nothing to it. i kept my watch out of my pocket, and gazed at it till i hated it. one minute passed--two--three--and then i watched the second-hand go round. what i suffered cannot be told. i looked out of the window. i heard a whistle. it did not sound like our engine, it seemed too shrill. i had no fear of a train being behind us as i knew our road was blocked. was it a down special excursion, or a down special goods, i said, tremblingly, to myself, for i knew all the down ordinaries had gone for the night. 'if it is,' i said to myself, 'you are settled and corpsed, and have made your own grave, and it will be a rough one.' i won't say what i did then, but know it would suit a clergyman. "thank goodness i was wrong, the whistle was from _our_ engine, but it had been low and now was shrill. i was so feverish that i forgot the steam was blowing off. at last we started, and i looked at my watch. it was five minutes ten seconds from when the guard spoke. i knew i was safe, but thought i would look back. i was just able to see in the glimmering, as the fire-box was open, and by the tail lamps the last carriage had well cleared the shaft when there was a horrid hollow sound like waves breaking in a long cavern, and i saw something come down like a veil across the metals. the tunnel was in, fallen in with a slow smash, and not a minute after we started! "i don't know how long it took the train to get to the signal-box at the entrance, but we pulled up there, and the first thing i remembered was the guard saying to me, 'no one is hurt, you need not be frightened, but we have to thank god for it. terrible shave. the tunnel has fallen in, and just where your carriage stood!' "i said, 'oh!' and sank back upon the seat. the guard again came to me and popped his head in and said 'you are the only passenger that knows what is up. keep it quiet, if you please. shouting will do no good, and i shall be much obliged to you. it's no fault of mine or the company's. are you ill, sir?' "'no, but i saw the tunnel fall in.'" "'traffic is stopped, sir, at both ends. the wires are right as we had reply from the other end of the tunnel. i thought you must have seen it fall in, because you looked very white, and were clasping the window frame with both hands and shaking so. i was afraid you had been almost scared with fright.' "'no, i am not ill, but i saw it fall.'" "'well, sir, it is no fault of mine or the company's, although i am sorry it has frightened you a little.' he then went away and we started again." "when he said, 'it is no fault of mine,' bless you, it near cut my vitals out, it did; for i knew it was my fault and no other person's, and that it was only by the act of providence the mail was not smashed to bits, and us too. i made a vow there and then never to have anything more to do with tunnels, and whenever i go through one i always feel wrong and twitchy, and shut my eyes till the rattle tones down and i know we are in the open." "how much fell in?" "about 20 yards altogether in length. traffic had to go round for a month, but the rest of the work was all-right, and so it really was, and i ought to know. no one found out that nearly the whole of the fallen length had been scamped, for everything was broken and mixed up, and, as luck would have it, a spring burst out there and the flow had to be led away to one entrance, and the falling-in was always put down to that, and that only; still i know the ground was a bit cracked, and underground waters have mighty force, and are best guided and not tried to be stopped, for they will come out somewhere. "i met my guv'nor next day, and he quietly said to me, 'i have let the tunnel work on your length to an old foreman,' and then he looked clean through me. i know he thought a lot, and i'm afraid i can't play the game of bluff as good as some can, and so work 'extra' profit out of ruins. what do you think of that scare?" "i don't want to think about it. glad i had nothing to do with it. dreadful! no wonder you have a wrinkle or two. what shocking hardships we all have to pass through in getting 'extra' profit, and so undeserved!" chapter ix. cylinder bridge piers. "deep river bridge foundations are not to be easily worked for 'extra' profit as they are generally too carefully looked after; still, even there, you get a chance occasionally, if you know how to work things. i was always on the scent for 'extras,' and once got a bit out of a cylinder bridge, more by luck than anything else." "how did you do it?" "listen, and then you'll know." "the bed of the river was soft for a depth of nearly 50 feet, then firm watertight ground, and into that we had to go about 15 feet. our cylinders were 15 feet in diameter, of cast-iron, and in one piece 6 feet in height i will just name that there is more chance of a bit 'extra' profit when the rings are little in height than if they are in pieces and have vertical joints and are about 9 feet long as usual. a 15 feet ring, 6 feet in length in one piece was not often seen then, but they are now cast much heavier; still, they may be made too large to handle nicely without special tackle, and foundry cleverness should be considered less than ease in fixing on the site." "why are short lengths best for 'extra' profit?" "because you may have a chance of leaving out a ring if the coast is clear, and nice people around you." "i see." "well, the company's foreman had to lay up for three days, for he had ricked himself, and i had an old pal with me, and two of my nephews working the crane, and other relations about. all had been properly schooled, and knew crumbs of comfort were to be got out of a bit 'extra,' so i embraced the opportunity as we were such a charming family party, quite a happy farmyard. "the rings went down rather easily as the bed of the river was soft; in fact, they sunk into the mud for the first 6 to 10 feet by their own weight. so i gave the office, and we just dropped a 6 feet ring over the side into the mud, for i knew it would sink all right, and that by the time the company's foreman returned to work we should have pumped out the water from the cylinder and got enough concrete in to seal the bottom; of course, after the resident engineer had gone down to see the foundation was right, and i felt sure it would be, and that he would only look at the foundation, and not bother about the height of the cylinder or the number of rings; and if he did, we could dodge him a bit, as there would be four or five of us, and stages were fixed on the horizontal ring-flanges, and no numbers were cast on the rings, as they all were made to fit together. he went down, just as i thought, to see the foundation only, although he measured about a bit, and enjoyed himself. we worked the tape right--it takes two with a tape. by-the-bye, i hate measuring-rods, they are not good business for 'extras.' they are so unobliging. a tape you can pull a bit, and tuck under, according as you want a thing to appear to be of a different length to what it is. one of my gangers made a false end for a tape. he used to turn the end of the true tape under for a few inches and slip on his false end, or he added a false length if he wanted. he took good care to hold the end, and he could slip it on and off like a flash of lightning, and good enough for a conjurer. he could lengthen or shorten a tape a few inches at will; all he wanted was to hold the ring at the end. his false end was a bit of a real tape with his attachment, and i have seen him trick them really pretty. "considering we had about sixteen rings altogether, top to bottom; there was a good length on which to dodge, but our game would have been too risky i fancy with eight or ten rings, and in a strong light, because one could count the flanges pretty easily; but it is not many that suspect a ring may be omitted. "we were some 8 feet in the hard soil, and i considered that enough, for the ground did not help much to keep the cylinders in place for 50 feet of the height above it, but they were well braced above high water and at top. when i consider a thing enough, you don't catch me let them have much more if i can help it. i hate waste. "the foundations were declared to be all right, and so they were, and we at once began the hearting, and sealed up the bottom after cleaning up, and we put in good portland cement concrete, for all the materials were supplied to us. "of course, the company's foreman, when he came back, could not tell, nor could anyone else, that we had been having a happy time; but give him his due, he did all he knew to find the rings were in. you know the ring we got rid of for 'extras' we took care should be sunk in the middle, between the two columns, and well away from each one. the bridge was wide,--about four lines of rails on top--so we slung the ring out very quickly, after the men had gone for the day, just about midway between the cylinders, and down it went pretty quickly, and it was bound to be in the mud fully 8 feet by the morning, and sure to sink a bit more, for i had it dropped sharp, and i thought it would be certain to break up where it fell. we worked it so nicely, and all was as lovely and serene and merry as a marriage, and real crumbs of comfort, and i thought no more about it. "we sank the ring purposely midway between the other two cylinders, so that if the bridge had to be widened it would not be found. but we were had for once, and no mistake this time, and all our own fault, and just where we thought we had been clever, for one day the engineer came down and sniffed about. i wish he had stopped at home instead of coming bothering; however, he did not, but came. the result was the resident engineer handed to me a tracing with a new cylinder marked on in the middle of a line drawn through the centre of the two cylinders, and just where i had sunk the 6 feet length i thought i had got a bit 'extra' out of so sweet, and i might have just as well sunk it outside. well, i took two pills that night to brace me up and set my machinery in perfect trim; and no one can know what i suffered, for i meant getting out of the fix somehow or other, but could not see my road much ahead. "you know i was certain we were bound to find that 'extra' ring. if we could have broken it up, or have been sure it was broken, there might have been no harm; but we did not know exactly where it was, and if we did we could not raise it. i felt certain we should come to it, and tried the crane to see if we could fix the spot, but we had to chance it. it was no use humbugging ourselves into thinking we knew where it was, when no one could possibly know. as i said before, i was positive we should meet it in sinking the cylinder, and as the ground was soft for some distance that it would tilt the centre rings--and then the game i had played would be found out, for cast-iron is hardly as soft as mud. "i felt my reputation was at stake--in fact, all my noble past--and all for a 15 feet cast-iron cylinder, 6 feet in height, and 1-1/4 inch in thickness! i thought of blowing up the surface before the men were at work, and doing a bit of subaqueous mining; but it was too risky and desperate, so i saved myself for the final round, that is, i waited with my teeth set till i met that sunken 'extra' ring, and meant getting clear and settling it in one round, you bet, for i considered the situation very degrading, not to say insulting. "we quickly erected the staging, and i tried all i knew to get the foreman away and the resident engineer. still i dare not play the same tune too much, or they would suspect, but they were too 'fly' to be drawn off. i arranged with my nephews at the crane to give me the office, if i was not on the spot, by sharply twice turning on the blow-off cock. "i happened to be on the top of a column on the next land-pier with the resident engineer who had called me, and the foreman was there also, when i heard the two puffs. i pretended to take no notice, nor did he or the foreman, and i managed to govern myself and keep myself quiet, just like the old nobility do, and think a lot. "before i left the resident engineer i found he was going at once to some meeting, and i just wished he would take the foreman with him, if only out of the love i had for him and give him a holiday; however, i got to know on the quiet he had to superintend some unloading at a wharf half a mile or more away, so the road was pretty clear. directly i got to the cylinder i knew what was up, for it had tilted. "we could not pump out the water, and divers could not go down unless the bottom was sealed, because of the almost liquid mud at the depth we had reached, but in another 8 or 10 feet it could have been done. i thought for an instant and then gave the word. 'weight her down, lads, get some more kentledge and then we will pull her straight. it's only a piece of a wreck, or a bit of timber or stone.' "i forget whether i told you that it was only my family party that knew of the 'extra' ring being sunk, the rest of my men did not. my game was to wreck the cylinder if i could, and tilt it over so that it would fall, and then fetch the foreman when i knew it would go. if i could manage that i felt i was right. anyhow i was bound to smash up the bottom ring, at least, i thought so then. cutting out the obstruction i was thankful could not be done, nor drawing it in, nor splitting it up inside the cylinder. that was certain. i did not much care to tackle lifting the rings. i wanted to smash them. compressed air i did not want to hear of, for that would have bowled me clean out, and shown the whole game. i wanted to try to thrust the cylinder through the obstruction, although, of course, i was not supposed to know what it was, as that usually fails and ends in smash more or less, and i was certain it would in this case, for it was cast-iron against cast-iron on an earth bed. attempting to thrust a cylinder ring through anything and everything is always a dangerous operation, and one to be avoided. "now they knew exactly how many cylinder rings had been delivered by the manufacturers, and if they had found the one we played 'extras' with, they could soon see it was the same size and make, and could easily tell how many were on the work and in the piers. i beg pardon, i should have said, _supposed_ to have been in, and it was 1000 to 1 all would not be well. "it occurred in the summer, and the foreman came and sent a telegram to the resident engineer, and before he arrived we had weighted the side that was up and endeavoured to get it straight by hauling, but it was no good; at least i think i tried to get it vertical, but i may also have tried to smash it. i expected, and was afraid, they would lift it by pontoons the next tide. "well, the resident engineer came. he tried a few figures over, and said to the foreman, 'if we do not mind, it will cost more trying to right it than it will to lift the lot.' "anyhow we got more power and more weights. he had the soil loosened on the upper side of the ring; but, of course, as it was iron at the bottom, it did not do much good; and we tried pretty well every dodge in turn that is known, but i need hardly say with very little effect. "the resident engineer said, 'compressed air will be too expensive for this one cylinder, but i think we can sufficiently clear the interior by a force pump and dredger for a diver to go down.' now the chief engineer was abroad for a fortnight, so we left it alone that night; but i tried all i knew, bar hammering, for that i dare not do, to smash the rings and they would not break, the soil was too soft and even. i was certain i could pull them over, but then they would most likely lift the rings and might find out the cause of the bother. "however, i let everything rest, and trusted to luck. the resident engineer decided to have the cylinder raised, as we had two large pontoons handy, so the top rings were removed to as low a depth above water as possible, and chains were fixed round the rings and also to bolts in the flanges, and in two tides all the rings were pulled up." "'so you got out of the trouble all right?" "you wait, don't be too sure. the resident engineer and the foreman were pacing up and down just as we were lifting the cutting ring, and we did that by the crane. they were at the other end of the staging though. the cutting edge was within a few inches of the water-level when i saw that a bit of the ring i had sunk for 'extras' was actually jammed into and hanging to the cutting ring." "oh! save my nerves, that was bad." "well, i had the crane stopped in a second, for my nephew was watching like a vulture, and i and my ganger had provided ourselves with a bar each, and were standing on the flanges. the cutting ring was only 3 feet 6 inches in height, and after two smashing taps it dropped, neither the foreman nor the resident engineer saw the fun closely; but as the resident asked us what we had been barring at, i said 'a small bit of a wreck got wedged on, sir, and would have stuck between the pontoons, and i am very sorry we could not land it to show you." "that's good enough old pal. pass on, please." "i thought you would laugh. well, the pontoon had been brought to the side of the staging as a precaution in case the chains might break or an accident occur, so as to be away from the line of the bridge, and so it did not matter where we dropped the cylinder ring i had 'extra' out of, but it was an ugly fish to hook i can tell you, and is about the only one i ever wished to get away, or did not want to see. "of course the cylinder went down all right afterwards, and the cause of the tilting was considered to be the remains of a wreck; but it strikes me, should they have to drive piles or sink cylinders anywhere near that pier, they may meet with some obstruction, and perhaps think they have struck rock; anyhow they will find out they have not 'struck oil,' and may send forth the news that a recent discovery has shown the early britons built ironclads, and it was certain they sank, but there was not sufficient evidence to show whether the warships floated for many days." chapter x. drain pipes. blasting, and powder-carriage. "the experience you had with cylinder bridge piers reminds me of a near shave for a bowl out i had. they let me a quarter of a mile of work, and i had to put in an 18-inch pipe at the deepest part of an embankment, just to take any surface-water that might accumulate now and again. of course, an 18-inch pipe will take a lot of water, and i think we agree it is hardly right and proper to throw away good material or provide against events which, an earthquake always excepted, cannot occur in the opinion of the most experienced. you can't accuse me of being wasteful, it's not in me; for i've heard my mother say she never knew me upset anything i could eat or drink, and that i always licked my plate and never lost a crumb. you know it is a quality born in you, and i don't wish to take any credit myself, not me; i'm constructed different. nor do i wish to say you are not so careful as me, and perhaps more; only, of course, you may put in a lot of strong work when i am not looking, and i think you'll have to do to get level with me. it never was in my heart to see anything wasted. it is against my principles. i hate it, i do. "i said to myself, 'you shall not waste any material.' so what i did was to put five lengths of 18-inch pipe at each end of the slope, and 9-inch in the middle. the tip was almost on the spot, so i put in the 18-inch and the other pipes, and left a couple of lengths bare each end. the embankment was over 40 feet in height, the slopes were one and a-half to one, and the drain was about 50 yards in length, so it was not bad business. "i never forget what the engineers tell me, and when i hear a discussion among them i always make a note of it, and wait till i have an opportunity of making a bit 'extra' profit by it. what is the use to the likes of us of a bit of education if we can't turn it into gold? not much; almost sheer waste, and i hate waste--abominate it. well, one day the resident engineer was talking to another swell about how a splayed nozzle to a pipe caused an increased discharge. "so, ever ready to learn, as you and me always are, i said to myself, fond-like and quiet, 'try it; put it into practice.' and i did, as i told you just now, by the insertion in true scientific manner of smaller pipes in the middle. i wrestled with the subject, and said to myself, 'now, look here, if i put in all 18-inch pipes that drain can't have a splayed nozzle, that's sure; in fact, it is fact.' so i said, continuing the discussion with myself, 'don't be beaten. let science lead you.' and i did." "fill up your glass, lad. grasp. i'm hearty to you." "now, it was in the summer, and we are coming to my scare. i said to my men, 'come an hour earlier to-morrow morning, for i have got a little extra work, and some of you call at my place on your road.' "they came, and i had the 9-inch pipes handy, and away we went, about fifty of us, with a pipe or two each. it did not take long laying the pipes, nor covering up the lot. in any case you could hardly see through such a length, but as a precaution, i had the pipes put in a shade zigzag after the first six or seven lengths, so everything seemed all serene, at least, i thought so; but it was not, for i had the nearest shave for a bowl out that i ever had, and all on account of a bow-wow." "how did it happen?" "well, the resident engineer came over with his pet dog, and i took to patting him, and felt really happy at the little bit of 'extra' i was to get out of these pipes, when the blessed dog began sniffing about one end and jumping up. the resident engineer got a bit excited. "'rat, is it, dasher?' he said to his dog. "the dog barked his reply to his master. the resident then said to me, 'stop here with dasher until i call him at the other end, as i intend him to go through the drain.' "before i could say a word, he was up and down the slopes, and at the other end of the pipe. i sat, or fell down, i don't know which, i did feel bad. i heard him call 'dasher, dasher.' the blessed dog rushed in, and then came back. his size was right for the 18-inch pipes but he was near too big in the barrel for a 9-inch pipe. "to think that after working the show so smoothly and lovely to the satisfaction of all mankind as knew of it, and then to be bowled out by a 'phobia-breeding animal as hardly knows how to scratch his back, was too much. so i braced myself up, and said to myself, 'mister dasher you have not done me yet, not you, hardly. it will take a man to do it.' "i patted him, and smiled pretty at him, and gave him a bit of biscuit, and grasped him round the middle just to see if he could get through the 9-inch lengths. i felt seven years younger when i found he could just manage it, but he would have to do it more like swimming than walking. "now i knew the pipes were all sound and whole, for i never put in broken goods, however small they may be. "the engineer kept calling 'dasher, dasher,' so i said to him, through the pipe, 'wait a minute, sir; dasher, i fancy is not so used to tunnels as you and me. what do you say to try the other way in, sir, we all have our fancies?' "i knew it was no use attempting to work him off, as he meant what he said, and would be sure to get suspicious--as he was no flat, i can tell you. "well, after a lot of urging, in went the blessed dog, and stanley's journey in darkest africa was outdone then, i'm sure, and dasher's rear-guard was in trouble. "we waited, and called, and whistled, but could hear nothing. we must have waited half an hour i should say, at least it seemed to me as long, and the resident engineer shouted to me two or three times, 'if dasher does not appear in a few minutes, your men must dig him out.' "lawks me, it makes me ill to think of the squalls there would have been if i had had to do that. i wished just then that no dogs had ever been made nor nothing on four legs except horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs; but i turned sympathetic like and went to the top of the embankment, and said, 'perhaps there may be vermin up there; and i know dasher is a game one, and won't back.' "this pleased the resident engineer. believe me, i would have given at that moment a sovereign to anyone who could have produced that dog. "old pal, you need not put your hand out, i said, 'at that moment.' don't excite yourself. i know you are always thirsty, but you have got the gold hunger bad as well. just keep quiet, and put your hand in your pocket." "i beg your pardon, i was forgetting myself." "all right. now i'll go on again. well, i thought the dog had got jammed in, and knew what tight lacing was, and so he did. at last we thought we heard him, and he came out looking more like a turnspit than a well-bred fox terrier. "some blood was on him. he had had a squeeze and no mistake, and was about done, but no bones were broken. "i said slow and solemn like, 'sir, he has tackled them.' "'what do you think it was?' "i said, 'you mean they, sir. he has had more than one against him.' "i then took up dasher and carried him to a tub of water and washed him. i did feel very sorry for the dog. i said, 'he has had a regular battle of waterloo, but it is his high-breeding and proper training that has pulled him through the fight he has finished the lot, sir, you bet.' "the resident engineer looked pleased, and i am sure i was. dasher soon recovered and we walked away. don't forget, what the eye does not see the heart does not grieve for, that is to say, i escaped all right; and those pipes were considered to be 18 inches in diameter, and you know it is not right and proper nor becoming to differ with one's superiors too much, it almost amounts to foolishness i consider in such cases. i always keep my brain in curb till i get a lean measurement, and then i speak, but it don't do to differ with your governor too much. the wheedling lay is the best game to play, and i have an aversion to a quarrel with anyone when you can get more by oil and smiles. "take my advice, and before you try splayed nozzles, know whether your guv'nors or the engineers have dogs, and, if so, the size of their barrels and whether they have done growing and laying on bulk, because, to be safe, you must work the pipes to fit the bow-wows. remember i had a near squeak, and so did the dog. i always keep in with them now, and dasher gets a biscuit from me whenever i see him, but he nearly cost me all i had. it is indeed a real pleasure to have the opportunity of rewarding virtue in men or dogs." "that's right. fill them up." "the thought of that day rather makes me nervous and dry." "that pipe and dog business was not exactly a holiday, but i had a worse nerve-shaker than that, for it is a wonder you see me now when i come to think of it. but there, providence shields us all, good and bad, just to give the bad ones a chance to alter, and to test whether the good ones are really good. still, i never meant anything wrong, of course not--no one ever does. it is always the surrounding circumstances that make things bad; and so we all humbug ourselves into thinking we are very right and proper and good, and we have our private opinion about other people." "stop that. speak for yourself, and never mind about other people." "all right. don't get testy." "well, they let me take a cutting in hard marl down at throatisfield junction. it wanted a lot of blasting, for it was deceptive material. the powder used to go very quick and not split or move the ground much either. i would fifty times rather had a real rock cutting than this hardened lime and clay soil that won't cleave, and when the blast is fixed it only about blows up the tamping and makes a noise for nothing, but blasting marl rock is often vexatious work. one day, by a mistake, the firm i had the powder from did not send the weekly quantity by road as they ought to have done. i always paid for it prompt. they knew me, as i was an old customer. it was nothing to do with the cash, but a mistake in their office, so the only thing to be done was to fetch it; and as seventy pounds' weight of powder is no joke, and i did not want to lose a relation just then, i got it myself by train, and it nearly cost me my life. i took a large box, just like a cheese box, planed inside and as smooth as glass. we used the large-grained glazed powder. i thought to myself, 'i'll take it in the front van, and ride with it, and then i know all will be safe.' "now, there never was much luggage by this local train, although a lot of passengers, and hardly ever above a case or two in the front van. i knew the guards, and all would have gone pretty, but the usual front one had got a day off to bury a relation, and that nearly buried me and a lot more. after the front guard knew from the other who i was, he let me ride in his van when i showed my ticket. we had about 30 miles to travel, and stopped at nearly every station, about six of them altogether. it was nearly a two hours' journey. i got a chap to pack the powder safely for me, and all i had to do was to keep it from flame and heat and being knocked about. of course the guard did not know what was in my box, and did not seem to care--he had other things to attend to that were, or seemed to be, more important. i sat on the box, and began a yarn about railway travelling, and was making the necessary impression upon him, just to show i knew a few swells and things. there may have been a trifle more imagination than fact about my talk, but not too much, just enough to season it. we were getting on very pleasantly, and nothing ugly occurred till we got two stations from home, then there was a crowd on the platform. been a football match. the result was that three swells got into the guard's van. the old guard always locked the door, this new one did not. no room in the first, or anywhere else. now i should not have cared a rap, as these three swells were as sober as judges, but one turned to the guard and said, 'you will not object to our smoking, i suppose?' asking a question that way always seems to me more than half a command. the guard took it that way, i think, for he said, 'no, gentlemen, as the carriages are full; but if you can keep it as quiet as you can at the stations i shall thank you kindly, as there is a superintendent here as has pickled pork and coffee for tea, that considers smoking worse than poison, and it is against the rules.' "well, you can imagine i was just about fit to sink, as i knew there was enough pent-up force in that box to elevate me higher than i wanted to go by that sort of machinery. two of the swells were free and easy kind, the other rather a lady's man, sort of feminine man--the latter began the game, and said, 'charlie, have you a vesuvian?' "i dared not say a word, but i thought, 'my noble swell, i have not, but i have a vesuvius here--in fact, i'm sitting on it--and if you are not careful the real one will have to take a back seat, and ashes will be large goods to what we shall be like.' well, they all started smoking, and threw the fusees out of the window. after all, i thought to myself, there's nothing much to fear now, although it would be considerably more pleasant if you were in some other train somewhere. when i got in i put my box just a little way from the side, so that it should not jar, and there they had me. soon we got near to the last station we had to stop before mine, and these swells all took their cigars out of their mouths, and as there was no place upon which to put them except on my box, _they put them there_! pass me the bottle. oh dear, oh dear, the thought of it! and they said to me, so nicely, 'you won't mind, i know.' before i could think almost there were three cigars alight and red, been well puffed, and within 2 inches of 70 lbs. of the best glazed blasting powder, and me sitting on it as a sort of stoker! "i dared not say anything; but worse was to come, for they kept taking a whiff and putting the cigars down again! "after the train started the van jerked a bit over the crossing or a badly-packed sleeper, and just as one of the swells was going to pick up his cigar, it slipped, fell upon the top of my box of powder and then upon the floor, and the sparks did fly!" "no wonder you felt bad. i feel for you now, i do. it makes me dry." "stop! worse is to come--worse. pass the bottle. wait a minute; i can say no more until i have loosened my collar." "well, true as i am here, if there was not a fizz, a few grains had got loose. my box had a hole in it; a knot in the wood had shaken out! i knew the fizz was not like that of sporting powder, but my powder--and to think there might have been a train self-laid right up to the bottom of the box! providence again." "shake." "i'm hearty to you. it must have been an angel that broke the train of powder, for on looking carefully about i saw a dozen or more grains. luckily for me, the guard had his head out of the window all the time, as the whistle had been sounding. the swells only laughed at the fizzle. i did not; i knew what a fearfully narrow squeak i had had. i expect they thought it was a match end. however, i have had a life of narrow squeaks, and so i got over it pretty soon, and said, 'the next station is mine, gentlemen!' i moved my box a trifle, and noticed there was a bit of paper on one side sticking out. i saw one of the swells also noticed it, and seemed thoughtful. he soon made me understand that he knew the paper. it was specially prepared, and a peculiar colour. his father was the owner of the powder mills, and lived about five miles from my cutting. if i was not previously blown up, i knew it was in his power to have me fined fearfully heavy, if not imprisoned. he stared at me, and as we were going down a long 1 in 50 gradient and corkscrew line the guard looked out for squalls and two of the swells on the other side. he then whispered in my ear, 'is your name dark?' "i could not speak, it took me back so; but i managed to nod. he said, 'why did you not telegraph? i would have had it delivered specially'; and he pointed to my box. he gave me a half-dollar, and put out his cigar. i quickly and carefully filled up the hole and picked up the stray grains, and no one knew anything, except him and me. he then said, 'take my advice, don't try that game again; for if you manage to struggle through such a journey without becoming a million or two atoms you will probably be hanged'; and he motioned with hand to his throat. 'this time i shall say nothing.' "i thanked him. i never felt so small and weak in my life. well, i arrived at my station, and got my box out and sat upon it for some time till the reaction on my nervous system had worked; but i would have given just then some one else's gold-mines for a strong lap-up of something neat. mind you, about five minutes before we stopped the up mail passed us, and we were both going full forty miles an hour. suppose the box had fizzled out just then, it would have wrecked both trains, killed a few hundreds, blown a big hole in the line, spoilt the dividends for some time, shocked the world, made widows and orphans of half the country round pretty nigh, have ruined a few speculators who were on the 'bull' lay in the main line shares, and have smashed into chips more than half the 'bucket-shop' outside benevolent (?) institutions for the distribution of wealth as were operating for a rise." "it seems to me you lost a grand opportunity of being a big pot for once, and showing them who's which--but there! you always had a kind heart, and i remember you have often said a too sudden rise in the world never did any one much lasting good." "you are right; but perhaps it is as well for me. i am so modest, and ambition knows me not." _note._--on all public works it is advisable to know by what means any blasting agents are brought to the works. daily use not infrequently causes the men to be very reckless, and stringent regulations in conformity with the various acts and general experience should be made, and every care taken to have them faithfully observed. chapter xi. concrete. puddle. "have you managed to squeeze any 'extra' profit on the quiet out of concrete?" "yes, twenty or thirty years ago, but there is not much to be got now. since a few engineers took to writing upon the subject they have reminded or informed others pretty well what to look after, but there were not many thirty years back that knew how it ought to be made; and you see, although one receives the materials, the concrete has to be made with them, manufactured, as it were, on the work, and you can spoil the best portland cement that is, was, or ever will be made in the proportioning, mixing, and blending it with bad sand and gravel, or dirty broken rock. "they handed me the portland cement, and all the specification said was, 'all concrete shall consist of 1 of portland cement to 6 of clean gravel, and shall be mixed and deposited in a workmanlike manner [which we consider means as the workmen like] to the entire satisfaction of the company's engineer.' "this was drawn up by a civil and mechanical engineer, which is a big-drum kind of title, and i should think covered corkscrews and manufacturing machinery, and everything else under the sun that can be handled at any time, including a 6-inch drain, the forth bridge, and the channel tunnel thrown in. it's too much, it seems to me, for one man to completely understand; and i once heard a celebrated engineer say that, with a few brilliant exceptions, such a man knew thoroughly neither civil nor mechanical engineering--life was too short. i don't presume to say anything, but his specifications of our kind of work might have been more exact; still they were sources of joy and comfort to us. "machine mixing was hardly known at the time i am particularly referring to, and the portland cement was of all qualities, good, bad, and indifferent, and some as i really can't say had any quality in it at all, and was utterly unlike what you get now. it was then sometimes bought on the same principle as going to the first shop handy, and saying, 'small bag of cement. how much?' there was no name on the bag, for no one wished to own he had made the cement, and it was indeed of illegitimate origin, and had no parents. "the cement came, and we did pretty well as we liked, for the inspector knew nothing about it; in fact, we were all in the same boat. but what a lucky thing it is that there is such a thing as a margin of safety!" "you mean the difference between the strain a thing has to bear in ordinary use and what will break it?" "yes, that is it. one day an engineer said to me, 'there is a large factor of safety in this case, which is fortunate.' i thought he was talking about a flour factor near the works that also sold fire-escapes and fire-extinguishers, so i said, 'he weighs nearly eighteen stone, and i should call him big rather than large, for he is like the prices at which he sells flour, and charges a penny a quartern too much; but he is greatly respected in the neighbourhood by those who don't know what fair prices are, for he is so oily and civil, as just suits a lot.' between you and me, he swindled them, and beat us for 'extra' profit. "the engineer looked as if he could not at first make out what i was talking about, and, as it turned out, i did not know what _he_ was. he seemed to enjoy himself, and let me finish my sermon. he then explained to me what we call 'margins' of safety, and what they call 'factors' of safety are the same goods." "you have learnt something now." "i have, another name; no doubt their word is the right one, but they ought to consider the likes of us are not poets, or fed on stewed grammar, and should remember we were boss-gangers once, and have blossomed into sub-contractors. "let that pass. you should have seen the cement. it was lucky we never had to sift it as we do now, or we should never have got any through a forty-to-the-inch mesh. it was just like fine sand, and nearly the colour of it, too, instead of grey. i have had a fair experience with portland cement now, for we had testing-rooms, machines and troughs, fresh and sea water, slabs, and a host of other detective apparatus at the last dock works i was on. however, the cement we had and i was just referring to, was pretty nearly all residue, and of course it did not stick the gravel together except in streaks that had good luck rather than anything else. and the gravel! well, it is an elastic truth to call it gravel, for it was dirty; and i conscientiously feel i am close to thinking i am not speaking in accordance with the principles of strict veracity if i call it gravel. "and the mixing! well, there was not much of it, just a turning over or two, and we deluged the stuff with water so as to make it easy to handle, and we hurled it into the foundations as we pleased and at all sorts of heights, just as might happen to be convenient. i did not trouble myself about it then, but i do now, for i had a month or two in and about the testing places when there was no other job for me that suited, and i firmly believe almost all the failures of portland cement concrete occur because the men that used it do not understand it, or the specification is not carried out, or is wrong somewhere. the best goods in the world want proper treatment, and, after all, the abuse of a thing is no argument against its use. some quarry owners and stone merchants don't like cement concrete; it is poison to them, because it hurts their trade. it is my opinion, founded on what i have seen and know, that portland cement concrete is grand stuff when properly made; but you can't make the 'extra' profit on it you could, unless you can forget to rightly proportion the material. i mean leave out anything on the quiet you find is more profitable when it is absent; and now mixing machines are always used on works of importance where concrete is made in any considerable quantity, that is the only way you get a chance of a bit 'extra,' at least so runs my experience. "bless me! when i come to think of it, it is really wonderful that some of the concrete i have cast in has set at all, and don't believe it can all have set; for, first, the cement was wrong, then the gravel was not gravel, the sand was like road siftings, no trouble was taken to proportion the materials properly, and no mixing was done rightly, only an apology for it. the water was dirty, and used anyhow, and if a lump got a bit stiff it was rolled over, broken up in the trench and watered down below. some went in like the soup that has balls in it, and we threw the concrete (?) down just anyhow. the inspector, as i said before, knew nothing much about it, although he was a beautiful kidder and could patter sweet and pretty just as if he were courting, and the engineer was away, so the road was clear for a bit 'extra,' and we took it." "now, how the dickens could any concrete be right with such treatment? it is cruelty to expect it." "i left those works, and the engineer got corpsed, so he is past blaming; but, fortunately, the middle wall of the dock that got strained the most--the one in which was some of the concrete (?) i have been telling you about--had to be removed for improvements, and when they pulled it down i heard the concrete was in layers like thick streaky bacon, a layer of gravel with hardly a bit of cement in it, then a few lumps of solid on the top and hard as all would have been if the cement, gravel, sand, proportioning, mixing, and the putting into place had been done properly; then another layer of open stuff that had stuck together a bit, and then a lot of soft oozy rubbish, like decayed cheese, bad, coarse cement, you know, that would not or could not hold together and had done the 'fly' trick, you know, had cracked about, the coarsest part of the cement the streaks were there because we watered the cement so much that it was not concrete but weak grout, and bad too; and it could not drain down because one of the thin, hardish streaks, already set, stopped it, and it was bound to make friends with the gravel and dirt somehow, although trying to shun such company by running away and so get off duty. it was the same all the way through, and there were a lot of holes in it caused by the nearly set lumps coming together and slightly sticking, and therefore preventing the other material from filling the voids. _hardly a cubic yard of the whole mass was the same._ "that is what i call a real bit of scamping; but, honestly, i did not think i was putting it in so bad as that, but i then knew hardly anything about the material. i shall never do it again, for i know i shall not get the chance, besides we all must draw the line somewhere; but there, a lot is now known about concrete that was only in the brains of a very few then. "as the cement is now supplied to you, i often put it in a bit thick, that is when i have to find the gravel and sand. it would be the other way about under different circumstances; but at the present time, with carey's concrete mixer--which, luckily for plunder for us, is the only machine that measures and mixes the materials mechanically, and turns out from 10 to 70 cubic yards of concrete per hour--you do not get much chance of 'extras' and none with it; and concrete mixing is now nearly done as carefully as mixing medicine, and i don't regard concrete as fondly as i used to, for no 'extras' worth thinking of are to be made out of it. my old love, consequently, is cooling off, becoming warm and perhaps distant respect, not much else; but good portland cement concrete is the best material, bar granite, i know of, if properly used, as it is then all the same strength--that is when the portland cement is right, the proportions, mixing, and depositing even and proper, and the gravel and sand really clean sharp gravel and sand. you see, in that case, it is uniform throughout, and, after all, what is the good of the hardest stone or brick when you have a weak mortar to join them together which cannot nearly stand the same strain in any direction as the stone or brick?" "you are right, it is simply waste. like deluging good spirits with pure water, and spoiling them both. lucky you had finally left those dock works before they pulled the middle wall down, or you might have had a bad quarter of an hour in a very sultry atmosphere." "after that we will have a toothful neat." "that's warming and is real comfort." "i have never had much to do with concrete, but i remember seeing a lot go in on some dock works where i had some puddle to make for the cofferdam, and i got something 'extra' out of that." "how did you do it?" "well, you know, working such stuff all day and nothing else makes anyone rather sick of it, it is like breaking stones for metalling, i should think, and the weariness of it makes the big stones have a tendency to hide and cause the face to look small and even. i had a dozen men besides casuals, and all old hands at the game of 'extras.' we had to, or were supposed to, work up a certain right proportion of sand with the clay so as to prevent the puddle cracking and keep it sufficiently moist. i own we sometimes let the clay have a taste of peace; in fact, between you and me, we were going express speed, and 'extras' was the name of our engine. "one day the resident engineer came, and somehow got up close to us rather unawares, and took us by surprise. of course, the material ought to have been worked the same throughout, and we nearly did it, but nearly is not quite. he seemed to sniff out that all was not just as right as it might be, and said:-"'don't forget to work it up thoroughly. you have a good price, and it is important the clay should be uniformly mixed with a little sand.' "'certainly, sir.' "i generally agree with my boss, it pays best. so i at once called out sharp to my chaps, as if all i loved in this world was at stake, 'don't fear mixing it, lads. get it well mixed.' "one of them, he was a new chap to me, and belonged to the militia i found out, turned round, and said:-"'all right, boss; i always make the broad-arrow kitchens in the camp, and the flues and the openings for the flanders kettles, so i know how it ought to be done; but if you think i'm a white-faced doughey [i.e. a baker's man] i am not, and you had better fetch a batch of dougheys and start them at work feet and hands. it will make them sweat. that puddle, i tell you, is as well mixed as the dougheys do the different kinds of flour, and call all the bake the best and purest bread, and make it smell sweet with hay water.'" "i suppose you silenced him quickly?" "no, i pretended to take no notice, for i knew i had spoken too sharp, but the resident engineer smiled downwards and passed on. "we had a heap of clay on one side and the same of sand on the other, and the inspector saw we had from time to time a small mound of clay and one of sand put separate and measured ready for mixing. we had a few piles of clay and sand at first measured exactly, and then we got used to it, and did it by sight only. we were close to the river, or rather estuary, and used to fill a barrow now and again with the sand and shoot it over the entrance jetty. a little was taken from each heap. the engineer knew his book, and would not have it worked from one or two big heaps, and the sand brought to it, but he would have separate mounds of about 20 cubic yards at a time. there were nearly 5000 cubic yards of puddle to work up, and as the clay came from the trenches so we worked it up. a kind of filling and discharging, and everything on the move. "i made a nice thing 'extra' that way, but nearly got bowled out, for one day there was an extraordinary low tide, a low tide was expected, but a land wind was blowing great guns, and it was the lowest tide known for fifty years or so. now, when you start the game of 'extra' profit you will agree with me, it is necessary to have someone you can rely upon, or else things may not go exactly as you expect. they may work wrong, and then you have to look out for squalls when they lay you bare and find out all. here, i had been getting a rise out of my bosses, and blessed if old ginger's snip, his boy, whom i paid a bit extra to do the harrowing well out, did not get a rise out of me. it caused a near shave, too. "well, the tide ran down till it laid dry a little sandbank, that is, some of the stuff that should have been at home in the puddle, had travelled by the wrong road by the entrance jetty. i did give ginger's snip a talking-to, i tell you, after; but it was a near shave, as you will soon know. i saw the bank, so i sent him down the jetty with two chaps that knew what was up and got duly rewarded by me. they knew me. i never forget friends--too good, i am. not even to borrow from them, if occasion requires, so that they should remember me in their dreams. i said to them: 'stir up the sand, lads, for i think i saw a leg in it, and a bit of a dress; it may be there has been another midnight horror. it's really shocking!' and that was true, for i thought the sand was shocking, and that murder will out, as the saying goes. it was a shave, for just as the tide began to turn, up came the resident engineer, and there could not have been more than an inch or two over the sand, but it soon rises, as you know, and almost walks up. i had not time to call the men, and there they were, stirring away. it was lucky i thought of the leg and the woman's dress. so i shouted, 'come up, lads, it's nothing.' "then the resident engineer started asking me questions; and i was afraid he might ask the men something, so i kept him as long as i could, and spun a yarn, and pointed out the spot where a body was found some time ago, and talked away like a paid spouter, for every minute that passed was good business, for the water was rising quickly, and i knew the tide would soon just about put it right. after a little while the resident engineer went away, and i was rubbing my waistcoat thinking i had been in another near squeak, but won on the post by a short head owing to jockeyship, when i saw him down below with a large black retriever, and the blessed dog was half out of the water. i kept as far away as i could, but i saw he had taken off his boots and turned up his trousers, and was walking about on the heap probing with his stick. he did not stop long, as he knew the tide was rising, and then he came to me afterwards and said that a sandbank had been deposited at least 30 feet in length. "'very likely, sir; but did you find the leg, or body, or dress of a woman?' 'no. but i found a lot of sand that would have been better in the puddle.' and he looked straight at me. "well, i had to put on my best sweet, innocent child face, and i hazarded the mild remark, 'it's the eddies that have done it. i have known them bring stuff for miles, sir.' it was no use saying from the other side or nearer, because there was no sand like we had to mix with the clay for the puddle for many miles, nor could i declare that a barge had got upset. he did not say anything more, but called his dog and went to the office. let me impress upon you that the last 1500 or so yards of puddle had more sand in them than the first 3500. tides i like, and they are healthy and useful; but it is the deuce to pay if you think you can go against them, as king canute showed his courtiers, when he did the chair trick upon the sea-shore. do you know i go so far as to think that if a floating caisson were taken about and sunk so as to lay bare the bed of the thames in certain places, things would be found by a little digging that neither you nor me dream of, and perhaps might not like to see, for even sandbanks at certain times and places are not pleasant to gaze upon. eh?" chapter xii. brickwork. tidal warnings. pipe joints. dredging. "you remember my old partner on the last dock works we were on?" "rather. he had been properly educated, and knew the time of day, and there are few things he ever had to do with he did not get a bit 'extra' out of. on that you can bet the family plate." "right you are. old partner, do you know i have a weakness. i liked the old times when there was plenty of work to be had, and few that knew how to do it. then the likes of you and me were regarded at their proper value, and estimated as worth something extra. now there are about a million too many of us, and not half the work to be done. old england is not like a big place that wants opening up, and it is a rare high old breeding country, and a lot of folks seem to wish it to be nothing else. "my then partner took, labour only, a lot of brickwork in cement. it was a dock wall, and it averaged not far from 20 feet in thickness. it was a wall, and not a mere facing like little bridges. it gave a man a chance of something to work on. when a chap takes a contract, labour only, not having to find the materials, it is no use turning your attention to saving them; the only game to play is to use the mortar nearly liquid, so that it runs about of itself almost, and put some random work in between the face work and the back, and trust to mortar-rakes and grout, and oiling the human wheels as much as required. i don't like the word bribe the inspectors. for two chaps like us, that will have what we consider good work, it is not bribery, it is downright pure philanthropy that prompts us to give a sovereign away now and then in the proper and most deserving direction, which i generally find to be the inspector. i never give gold away without knowing it will come back well married, and may bring a family, and they are welcome to my best spread. that's just where our education enables us to grasp things right. what a shame it is for people to find fault with the school board rate, when it is only about four times more than its promised highest figure, and the school buildings are such models of art and strength; and how thankful we ought to be to the teachers for their kind attendance, given for almost nothing! how pleased our old schoolmaster would be when he knew we took every advantage to make a profit somehow or other from what he taught us." "i guess he would be, the joy might kill him; but how did you apply your schooling to the brickwork?" "wait, patience please! as i said before, or nearly did, there was not much face work compared with bulk in the wall. i had a lot of militia chaps, and well paid and lushed them. they were something like brickies. bless me, the wall used to rise up; and i was half afraid if those at the office worked out the check time, and compared it with our cubic measurement, they would think i was paying all my chaps more than any other member of creation ever did, or making too big a profit to suit them, and don't you mistake. but there! the company did the work themselves, or let it in bits, and of course the check-time game was not played anything like so strong as if we had been working for a boss contractor. "well, we were doing trench work, and had shoots for the materials to travel from the surface down to the wall, and the trench was about 50 feet in depth from the top to the foundation. we had one shoot for bricks and another for mortar in between each frame, and that would have been plenty if all the work had been laid to a bond, but when only about 4 feet in the front and 2 feet at the back was, and the rest raked in level, except a course or two now and again, we used to want a couple of shoots for each. i had the face of the wall made really pretty, just like a doll's house, and pointed up lovely; but let me give a bit of credit to the company, for they gave us the best materials with which i ever had to do." "you mean the bricks and mortar were such that it would have been a downright waste of good muscle to put the bond the same throughout, simply pampering up the materials and turning them sickly, like some people do children, so as to appear so fond of them before other people!" "precisely; so after my partner got the face in right, the stuff went down and in. all we had to be careful about was not to smash the bricks. we soon managed that, and we had few broken ones, for they were good, hard, and dark. well, in they went, and when we began to work the show, some of the scenery was hard to get right. of course the inspector began to find fault, that was what he was paid for, and was about the only way he could work round for his 'extras.' after oiling him a little, and pleasing him in the old-fashioned way, we managed gradually to overcome the natural dulness of his mind, and we became a happy crew--a lot of brickies with a single thought, and hearts that beat as one. "well, in the stuff went; and after working out the averages according to the rules of the exact sciences, me and my partner arrived at the conclusion accordingly that about one-half or a trifle more bricks were put in by hand, and the rest were like machine-made bread, unsoiled by hand, and therefore must have been good and pure, as those alone know who work on the same lines. my partner, in his younger days, before he took to brickwork, had been to sea, and all the men used to call him 'captain.' when he wanted to give the chaps in the office the straight griffin, he used to say, 'nelson's my guide.' that meant give them 'biff,' in other words, finish off the enemy as quick as you know how." "you mean get the bricks in as fast as you can _only get them in quick_." "yes, that's it. if good old nelson sent his shots in as fast as these bricks were squatted, all i can say is the guns did not get much time to cool. let me give my partner all praise, for although he had a nice spot to work on--as of course the timber in the trenches hid a lot of the work, and made a nice gloom--as a precaution he kept the ladder away from the top of the trenches, so that anyone had to walk along the top strut and then get down, consequently there was not much chance of being caught; and after the bottom courses were in and the face and back right, it was easy work, because there was always time to get the road right and all went as peacefully as could be wished. but the old captain, on the same dock, nearly overdid it one day, and all to save him scarcely one hundred pence, but he got so eager that money to him was food, and it is my opinion if he had been born rich he would have made a fine miser; but apart from that, he knew how to make a contract and what work was, and the training on board ship he had in his young days set him right, and he was always on the work looking out for a bit 'extra,' or on scout. but once he nearly overreached himself." "how did he do that?" "i will tell you, if you keep quiet." "right away." "it happened like this, and might have wrecked the whole place, and was the consequence of working against orders. at one part of the works there was an old slope at the end of the dock which was no use without a new entrance. where the trenches had been dug out for a wall a piece of earth was left in at the dock end, and was stepped down like a retaining wall, although only earth. well, the orders were to keep it 4 feet above a certain level, which made it not so nice for unloading from barges as 2 feet or so. as that end of the dock was only sloped off, and left to itself, for no one ever seemed to go there, and it was a good height, and up and down a bit at top, been stuff run to spoil, my partner, the old captain thought he might as well take another 2 feet off for about 10 feet or so, and ease the unloading the bricks, cement, and sand, and made certain it would not be noticed. now of course it did not take long to pare a slice from that short length sufficient to help the unloading, and i should have said this was done soon after we began the brickwork. i remember the day well enough, for if i had not have happened to have been having my dinner by myself on the cofferdam, i believe we might have been flooded out and wrecked. "the wind was blowing strong and had been for several days from the same quarter, and it brought the water up till it was heaped. before the wind began to blow it had been very wet, and it was also the time high tides were expected, so everything worked in the direction for a real high one. i began my dinner before the usual time, feeling a bit hollow, and had done by a quarter of an hour after the whistle had blown. i was just lighting my pipe when i happened to look upon the water. it wanted about an hour or more to high water, i watched the tide flowing up, and, all of a sudden, it struck me it would be a topper; but as the cofferdam was a long way above high water, so as to stop any waves breaking over, for the estuary was nearly one mile in width, and as this dam was a really well strutted one, it did not trouble me. i dare say i smoked for nearly ten minutes, and was thinking it was a nice job, and that 'extras' would have a good look in, when, just as things that frighten you do occur to you very quickly, it struck me--how about the captain and his two feet off, pared off, up at the trench end bank? well, i did not stop, but went at once to the place, although a good half mile away, and was soon there. i saw it must be a near squeak, and i knew there was no chance of the entrance gates being shut because a lot of craft was waiting to go into the dock, besides it would give the office that something was wrong, and i knew the chances were a thousand to one no one would come near as it was right away one end of the works, and nothing doing there except for us when we were unloading. most of the chaps had never been that end of the works at all. now this was all very pretty looked at from getting a bit of 'extra,' but it was hardly the same when that game was played by the tide putting in a bit 'extra' and rising nearly 2 feet more than ever recorded before. i looked at my watch and knew the tide had about an hour yet to run up. i got out my rule and measured, and then i was sure it would not be far off two feet over the dip the old captain had cut to save an odd penny or two. i was just turning round to go to fetch him--for i knew where he was, and of course we always let one another know, although we don't name it--when i saw him coming pretty sharp with his ganger and a few trusty chaps. i beckoned to him. he was alongside very quickly, and i said, 'the tide will be over.' "he answered: 'i thought it might, as the bottom of the tenth step down on the landing place was just the same level as the top of the dip. i knew it by the water.' "i said, 'there may be a chance about it, but i don't think so, for this tide is running up so strongly that i know, from experience of the estuary, that it will beat the highest tide ever recorded.' "while i was speaking he measured, and took out his watch and timed five minutes. he measured again, and then off went his coat like greased lightning, and we all followed suit as if we were a lot of figures pulled by strings, and he shouted, 'we have not a moment to lose. it will rise 1 foot 6 inches above where we are.' "he then clenched his teeth. 'planks, stakes, bags, tarpaulins, bring anything you can get, and come back at once or we are drowned out, wrecked, and lost, all ends up.' "we soon got some stakes in, and some planks, and we set to work, all six of us, raising the dip in the bank the old captain had made. he turned white as a sheet, and said, 'she is on us, simply romping in. half a dollar each if you can stop her.' "we all worked like black devils flying from torture, for we only had half an inch start of the tide. it was a sort of life and death race, and death for choice. "'she is still rising, captain.' "he then cried out: 'by thunder! she's over the far end at the plank dip. once really over, and all will go.' "he stood still for a moment and then dashed to the place and laid down on his side full length, and shouted: 'give me a short plank, and my coat.' he would not get up although we asked him. he had got the frights, so we let him be. he placed the plank in front of him, and his coat over it, and there we were filling in stuff at the back of him as fast as we could, and putting in stakes for the planks. the tide was still rising, he turned his head, and said: 'are you ready?' "'yes.' "he then rose, and a pretty mess he was in. "'by thunder! that was a close shave. if we had only had another tarpaulin or two we should have been right sooner. there was some sand there, i remember we upset a wagon-load.' "he looked scared, but soon brightened up and said: 'we are right now though. the tide has stopped, but keep at it, lads, we must bury everything and get a good 2 feet higher, for if once the water runs over, the tail-race of the largest mill stream in creation will be a fool to it, and it would only be a question of minutes before the whole earth-bank would burst and let in ten acres or more of dock water, and the sea, and perhaps break up a lot of craft and wreck the whole place. lads, i well remember seeing a catch-water earth-bank give way, and it is soon over when the water runs down the back slope, and there is not much chance of stopping a breach.' "the men went away, and the captain said to me: 'my word, i shall not forget this.' he then sat down and wiped his forehead and said on the quiet to me: 'there is one blessing, no one on the work knows about it but us, and, if we are careful, no one will.' "'you had better get home at once and have a rub down and change and sixpenn'orth or more, hot. i know what to do, and will see all is put right.' he took the hint and skipped, but came back in half an hour, and then we had a talk.' "i tell you what it is, one can play a lot of tricks on land, and get 'extras' many roads, but water won't stand it. it is too honest, and turns upon you and soon finds you out. i never did like water much, you can't beat it, that's why i left the sea. it's an unsociable element, and is most always in the way except when you're boating, washing, fishing, or mixing something. you can't educate it so as to look at work from an 'extras' point of view, for it cares for no one. "take my advice and always give it a margin and allow in temporary structures a good 3 feet above the highest recorded water line, unless you want the work wrecked, and then add a height necessary to keep out the waves." "you are right, for i remember getting a bit 'extra' out of some pipe joints. instead of making all the joints according to the specification, we made a good many with brown paper and covered them up quickly. the pipes were laid at a depth of some 20 feet, and it took a considerable time before they began to leak. at last there was a burst up, but it was so powerful that all the jointing was washed out, so they never knew who was to blame. the place where that happened is fully a couple of hundred miles away, and will never see me in it again as i did not like the people, so i said to myself, all right, i will leave something behind that will tickle you up, and cost the lot of you some beans to put right, and i did, and so got even with them all. it was one of those lovely small towns where everyone knew everybody's business much better than their own." "do you remember carotty jack?" "yes, rather. you mean him who was up to snuff in spoon-bag dredging. 'old tenpenny labor' only was his 'chaff' name." "he was the sharpest card, so i was told, on the river for getting 'extras' out of dredging. he was measured by the barge, and paid accordingly. i confess i don't quite know how he worked it, but he did for years, and never got found out. you see, what is ten or twenty yards of dredging, nothing either way? it is never noticed, and you can't measure under the water as you can on land. it can't be done, except in new cuts, when new cross-sections have been taken over the ground. the beds of most rivers being always more or less on the move, water then becomes a nice servant to work a bit of 'extras' out of, and that is about the only way i am aware of where it comes in useful in that direction. "how carotty did it, as i said before, i don't quite know, although i saw the thing, but he used to work it somehow or other by movable boards fixed on a pivot. he had three or four of them, and could fit them together just about as quick as the roulette tables are fastened by racecourse thieves and stowed away. they had two flaps at the sides covered with stiff tarpaulin, and the ends were closed by planks loosely fastened by a catch to the pivot. they were well made and fitted splendidly, just like hinged box-lids, and the whole thing was similar to a box with the bottom out and the sides hinged and ends to slide up and down. i believe carotty would have made furniture a 1, if he had turned his attention to it. "he had an old ship's boat of his own. the apparatus was stowed away in it, and i might further say it resembled a shallow box upside down, with the lid off, working on a saddle, and the flaps at the sides moved as the box got pushed down on either side; but they kept the stuff from getting under it almost always; for when they measured the barge-load for depth, if they put the measuring-rod down on one side and touched the board, it went up a foot or so on the other, and no one suspected anything. the barges were all narrow ones, as usual with spoon-bag dredging. the measurer used to walk round the barge and be busy trying the stuff here and there, to see if there was no gammon. the mud was thick, and went up and down very slowly. carotty always had two or three of these boxes fixed on the saddle, and just the right distance to be out of reach, and he did not fix them on the same line. he kept the frames two or three feet apart, so that if by any chance two men started probing on the same line he would soon shift them a little, and say it was an odd brick, or a tin, or a bottle, and then everything went down easily upon both sides, and for one place where they were extra sharp, he made the machinery in very short lengths, and zigzag fashion. he told me he got pretty nearly from six to ten yards extra out of every barge, according as the stuff and the size of the barge was kind towards 'extras.' of course, from the solid dredging he had the best haul. carotty was a cool card at the game of 'extras,' and had a face on him like a nun, and could look that innocent and lamb-like as only humbugs can. he used to laugh over it. "he told me that he had known the time when no 'extra' machinery such as his was needed, for plenty of water, some boxes, a false bottom, and a few planks, were all the things that were wanted. then they had to be given up, and he said he was really compelled to make himself a present of the first small pump he could privately annex, and soon found the chance on one of the works where he had a little contract. "he got some old bags, mended them, and soaked them in some solution that made them tight, and he used to fill them with water and weight them with a stone or two. he had a rope with a draw-knot attached to short lengths of line so that he could let the bags loose or fasten them against a hook when he discharged the barge out at sea or elsewhere. generally he used to unscrew the stopper of each bag at the side of the barge, and when on the return journey let out the water and then haul up. although it cost him some labour, he said he used to get one way or other a bit of gold 'extra' by that means every barge load, or, rather, what was thought to be; and sometimes he did not let the water out of the bags at all if the people he had to deal with were easy, but now times were very hard on him, as he had to work at night to keep the machinery right, and he thought it very cruel of them, as it gave him a very short eight hours' recreation, as was the cry now for the third part of a day. "he was clever, and i believe he could have made an iron-clad out of old fire-irons and coal scuttles if they had given him enough goods, plenty of time, and paid him sufficiently, and you may bet the ship would have answered its rudder all serene. "he told me he actually got twopence a yard more on one occasion by using the boxes right for a week, on the ground of extra hard dredging, for, of course, all the stones and heaviest dredgings fall to the bottom. he put in his machinery pretty close together, and heaped up the stuff in the middle, and did the injured innocence business properly, and after they had done a lot of probing about, during which he told me the machinery worked lovely, they gave him another twopence a cubic yard. measurement by the ton would have spoilt that game, though; but then it was not canal dredging he was doing, but in the open. give carotty his due, i was told there was not a man on the river who could dredge to a section as he could, and he did the work quickly and well, but he always managed to get paid for more than he did, and he told me he never meant to do otherwise. he said he considered he was cheap goods at the price, and wholesome; but he complained tremendously of the dredgers and excavators introduced lately, for they spoilt him, and there was but little chance of 'extras' now worth the trouble or the risk. in consequence, he had given up doing dredging." chapter xiii. permanent way. "will you listen to me for a few minutes?" "yes. i notice you have something pent up in your head." "well, this was rather an amusing bit i am going to tell you, but was a near shave for real squalls, as you will agree when you hear about it. "i got the guv'nor to let me do a bit of linking in at so much per chain. of course, he supplied the rails--they were flange rails--sleepers and fastenings, and they were all right. i linked in the road. we had a mixed up permanent way, nine by four and a half half-rounds, and ten by five rectangular sleepers. check pattern, an odd and even road. between you and me, i think mixing them up betwixt the joint sleepers is a mistake. it makes the road stiff one place and loose at another, and a train cannot run steadily, and i would rather have all rectangulars, and put them wider apart, and give the rail flange a bit of bearing, for half-rounds are mere sticks, although they are lighter to handle, and in that respect nicer. you see they have only about three-fifths of the bulk of rectangulars, and when they are adzed less than that, and not more than half the bearing for the rail flange. if i had to do the maintenance, no half-rounds for me, still they do for light traffic and for cheap agricultural lines." "i agree, they are temporary goods." "well, it was funny, but here we had too much and too little of a good thing, and were as near in hot squalls as could be. i expect they made a mistake in loading them; anyhow, young jack, my ganger, found he had no half-rounds, but a lot of rectangulars. he is a bit impetuous, and would not wait, it's not in him, so he put in all rectangulars that day, and, of course, with the result that they had not enough rectangulars left for the other road all through, so about six or seven chains were nearly all half-rounds, and he actually placed one rectangular one side of a rail joint, and a half-round on its back, flat end upwards, on the other, and so a lot of the half-rounds did duty for rectangulars. "it was a bit of a scurry, and as soon as the road was in the spikers, ballasters and packers were on us, and no time for thinking. well, neither me nor jack gained much by the fun, except our men would have been stopped, and they were not, and things would have been put out a bit for the day. my guv'nor did not know, or would have made us pull it all up and put it in right. now, they knew the number of sleepers, &c., that had been served out, and had sufficient confidence in me to be sure i never scamped the materials, except a bit of ballast here and there, and that is soon made up. "of course, there was no mistake six or seven chains of road were weak, and i told jack to put in a little extra good ballast and pack the sleepers well there, and what he did extra at that place was to come out of the part where all the rectangulars were, for i never throw away or lose anything on purpose." "quite right, we agree. shake, for i'm hearty to you." "he understood how i wanted the wind to blow, and it would have gone on all serene, but you know, just when you think you are out of a scrape, you sometimes find you are in it, or as near to it as wants 'an old parliamentary hand' to explain and fog away. i was down at the junction, when i saw the engineer, and some swells with him. the resident engineer was away that day. after a bit of jaw among them, they beckoned to me, and said they wanted to go to the end of the line, the very place where some of the sleepers were lying turned on their round faces. there was a bit of luck. i felt dead wrong. however, they had to walk about a couple of miles, and then wait till the engine had returned with the empties; so i said to the engineer, 'please excuse me, sir, but i will arrange that the engine is at the ballast hole at four o'clock, as you wish, and i will be back to attend upon you as quickly as i can.' "i scampered up the slope of the cutting and out with an envelope. i always keep one or two about me handy. i tore out a leaf of my note-book, and called young snipper, the brake boy, and said to him, 'jump on old leather's nag. take this to young jack, and i'll make it all right for you when i see you next time; but go quickly, and give this letter to no one else but young jack. if he is away for more than a few minutes bring the letter back to me. no--wait till he comes up, and send someone to fetch him to you. you understand.' 'yes, sir, i know what you mean.' 'now do a bit of the johnny gilpin business.' off he went, and was busy. "this is what i wrote to young jack, my ganger:--'bosses has come, and will be up to you in about an hour. x.... them. cover up the ends of the half-rounds, and sprinkle them pretty with fine ballast if you can do it in an hour. then shunt the empties or the full wagons over where the half-rounds are, and look innocent, as if you had never moved above a foot all day, and be busy, or i'll pull your throat out, much as i love you. smooth it right, and leave rest to me. pull all your gumption out ready. keep this, and hand it back to me. show no one, or i'll have you hung. if i find all right, there are two pints, and something else.' that's what i call a business letter. no double meaning about it. "young snipper got there in double quick time, and young jack was there as well. i saw he had carried out my letter of instructions. still, i knew the engineer would be likely to twig, as he was near to being hawk-eyed. now, i felt sure they would be hanging about for an hour, perhaps two, as most of them had never been up there before, and they thought of carrying the line on further to somewhere or other, but they did not on account of the expense, for several tunnels, viaducts, high retaining walls, and other heavy work would be required. here was the very place for a rack railway on some system like abt's, it seemed to me. i saw one at work in germany, and know they are safely used in austria, switzerland, italy, and in north and south america. as you know, you cannot nicely work a railway by adhesion only much above a gradient of one in fifty with sharp curves upon it, or one in forty on a straight line, consequently the rack is the thing to use then, i fancy, for on the abt rack railway the pinions on the engine can be easily put in and out of gear on the rack, and the journey be continued by simple adhesion, as by an ordinary locomotive, and the rack system works all right round moderate curves. "i should think, in hilly parts of the country there are many places where 4 feet 8-1/2 inch gauge railways could be laid out almost on the surface of the ground, and at such gradients as about one in fourteen, and there should be no difficulty in working them safely, because similar lines have been worked for many years. there must be many little feeder lines that end nowhere almost now, that could be so continued over the hills to a main line, and thus join two large traffic trunk lines, and raise the feeder from obscurity to some importance, and from the state of a mere agricultural 5l. to 10l. per mile per week line of railway to one earning more than double. however, that's by the way. now, my best game was to draw the swells away as quickly as i could, and yet not show them my hand. i started badly, though, for i said, 'gentlemen, i think a shower is coming up over the hills, and if you command me, i will tell the engine driver to run you down quickly by himself, and come back for these empties. it won't delay the work in any way, gentlemen all.' they said, 'never mind; if there was a shower they could stand upon the sleepers by the wagons and get sufficient shelter.' "that meant on the sleepers i was trying to hide. just fancy, the very half-rounds that troubled me. i felt i could sink through the earth, as i saw the engineer's eyes were doing full time as lighthouse revolving lights. i thought, he will have me chucked from this job, sure as half-rounds are not rectangulars, for he would not have bad work. "now the wagons did not quite reach all over the half round road, the swells took to walking between the roads. why, i never knew, but they did. i felt certain, if any of them took to walking upon the half-rounds, they would find it all out. i got to young jack, and on the quiet he returned to me my letter to him, which i burnt afterwards. by luck, one of the directors--that's what they were--drew the attention of the engineer to something on the station road close by; and all except two of them passed on, but two directors kept behind with me, and one started walking on the half-rounds, and on those too that were on their tops, as should have been uppermost, and one nearly got upset before he travelled five yards. so i went for him there and then, and said, 'please, sir, the road is not packed yet, and has only just been put in to take these few empties. it will be as firm as a rock in two days, sir.' i left the rest to him. he looked at me and said, 'i hope it will be, or passengers will think they are travelling over the rocky mountains.' "i smiled, and looked as pleasant and truthful as i knew how, but thought, hope with you, as with me, is grand goods, but fact is better business. they were a smart lot, and no one was going to move them on till they had seen just about all they felt inclined to, but i had a bit of luck then, and ever after have liked birds." "what was it?" "well, a cocktail rose almost at our feet. the line passed between two coppices. from that moment i was safe, as both the directors talked of nothing but shooting. i kept the game alive for all i knew and more than i did, that's certain, and before i had done had made out it was the finest part of the whole country for game, although they ran a bit wild, and wanted stopping. it is convenient to always ease down a strong sentence, then you can alter its meaning a bit when what you have said don't agree with what you are saying; so i warned them the birds wanted stopping. they all got talking and pointing about till they had no time to spare to get back so as to catch the train at the junction. i tell you it was a near squeak, and shook my constitution more than a trifle, and no fault of mine, but it ended all serene." "your escape reminds me of one i had. it was a long while ago, must be about forty years back, when railways in many parts were a sort of novelty, and the natives used to turn out, swells and all, to see what was going on, and made a line a free show. one day about seven or eight swells came bearing down on me. one i knew had put a lot of money in the line, although he was not a director, and i have no doubt got it well back in a few years by the good the railway did his estate, for houses began to spring up all round soon after we had finished. i remember, and you will, that old jack slurry used to say married folks were nothing to a new railway for increasing the population in certain parts. it brings people together as never could come before, and so up goes the number of mouths, and no sooner do houses rise than shops follow, then churches and chapels and clubs and halls and so on like a procession, till the old folks almost wonder where they are. i'm talking a bit astray of my subject, and will now to it again. "these swells came straight to me and asked me to show them through a few of the cuttings, and i did. i met my ganger in one, and managed to get in front of them and ask on the quiet who they were. he said, 'them is nobs. they be hanteaquariums. they are searching for as old goods as can be found!' i knew what he meant, so i broke a small boulder or two and showed them the impressions of shells, and i called to my young snipper and he got them a specimen each, and they were pleased. one gave me a quid when they left. they were real gentlemen, at least one was; and it is only charitable to suppose the others were in company, and this one was banker!" "i agree with you." "after looking at a few of the cuttings, and my putting in some pleasant words which seemed to be food to them, one of them opened a gate and they commenced to walk back along the fields and through the wood, near to where a culvert is, and close to a bit of marsh. they did not seem to mind the dirt or brushwood, and they asked me to come with them, and point out and say anything i thought they would like to hear, and i did. perhaps they would have liked to have known what the prices were i was paid, but i had not the heart to distract their minds from their own true-love study to such a plain thing as â£ _s._ _d._ i ought to have told you our engineer we used to call 'old fangbolts.' they were his hobby, and it is my opinion that if he has as long fangs to his teeth as the bolts he would have put down, when they get decayed he will know what pain is, and wish they were short spikes. he had his way, of course, although there was a great waste of metal. now fangbolts are good things for getting a through grip of the sleepers when the fangs are screwed on tight, but still they don't keep the rails from spreading much more, if any, and i rather think less, than flat-faced spikes of fair length. at least, that is my experience." "and so it is mine." "between you and me the chap that first had the stern end of a bolt put uppermost in the rail, so that he could be sure the nut was on, knew what he was about, because fangs are nasty goods to screw on, and, bless you, tricks are sometimes played that way. i have known them just turned round once and then wedged by a piece of ballast, and they appeared to be tight; and when a bit of the road had to be taken up and the fang had got loose it was on the premises--perhaps, it is truer to say, just outside and at the door--and then you could always say the threads were wrong and blame the maker, or wriggle out and wrestle with the subject in the direction that looked the most serene." "you mean work your lay according to circumstances." "precisely. besides i have had two fang bolts with triangular fangs to fix in the flange of a rail almost in line, one each side of the web, and they could not be both screwed tightly, for the points of the fangs under the sleeper met when you turned them. this time, of course, none of these nobs knew what a fangbolt was, and if i had told them i dare say at first they might have believed it was a roman tooth, or a piece of chain armour, or part of an early briton's war paint. well, we were walking through a wood--it belonged to one of them--and clearing our way, for the brushwood was rather thick, when we came to a small mound, and i own i did not know what it was. one of the swells smiled, and said, 'how very interesting. this is a tumulus.' i said, 'excuse me, gentlemen, but i am always glad to learn anything, and you don't mean to say some earth has tumours and, swells a bit, because if you will tell me how to work it it would save me and others money and a lot of work forming embankments, if it does not cost too much to start the swelling.' "they smiled, and one said 'a tu-mu-lus was not a tumour, but an artificial mound raised over those who were buried in ancient times.' i touched my hat and said 'i thought there was something wrong, gentlemen;' and told them i knew there were a good many women round these parts that had wens and they swell up as big as marrows, but i did not know the ground had tumours, and was eager to learn it had, as i thought i saw a useful application of them, and they might be a new form of wonder produced by inoculation. one of them then said, 'no doubt the women have their whims and playful humours, but he trusted they were free from wens or other tumours.' then they all laughed, and one of them hazarded a remark and said, 'this is the ... formation.' it sounded to me like upper railroadian formation. i forgot myself, and turned round sharp to him and said, 'it is nothing of the kind, gentlemen. there is no such thing as a upper railroadian formation.' they did stare. i went straight on, and said straight out, 'there is no formation here at all, besides upper railroadian formation is utterly unknown on railways. the formation is at the bottom of the cuttings or the tops of the banks and nowhere else." "they stared just as if i was going to shoot them, and one of them laughed and said, 'i am afraid there is a slight misunderstanding somewhere.' then the others smiled. i thought it was time to stop my tongue. the same one turned to me and said, 'my friend was alluding to the geological character of the locality. it undoubtedly is upper si-lu-rian.' so i touched my hat, and said, 'i hoped they would excuse me, and would they kindly remember i was a bit rough.' they all said, 'oh! certainly!' and they seemed to like the business that had just passed, and were enjoying themselves, i could see that. "well, all this passed when we pulled up at the mound, which was about fifty feet away from the line, and in the thick of the brushwood. one of them began poking about with a stick, and bless me, i saw about half-a-dozen fangs here and there. i thought to myself it is lucky old fangbolts is not here. he would have shot me, and killed himself right off, or gone loose. i twigged what the mound was made of. it was only a small one, but the gentleman was at first mistaken, and no wonder, because there are a lot of real ancient mounds round and about the wood. however, this mound was a mixture of fangs that should have been screwed on the bolts and were not, that's certain, and earth and turf, and had been artfully covered up, for it was quite green except one little streak. i expect some vermin had tried it, and found it no good, and scratched away a bit, and bared it. anyhow, it might have been awkward for me, for one of the party picked up a rusty old fang, and turned to the other nobs, and said, 'i don't think that is very ancient; at least, if it be so, it is a birmingham-made ancient relic, and has been deposited upon the wrong battlefield.' "i believe that was only a sly hint to me that he meant the battlefield to be the permanent way; but, of course, i took no notice. he threw down the fang, and then we all walked on. no patter is sometimes the best game to play, and look as if you were learning a lot. however, on being asked about the mound, i said, 'it's only an old earth mound that has grown over green. it may have been there fifty years, not more, perhaps less.' "really, it was full of fangs that ought to have been screwed on the bolts, a heap of them, too. so i gave the office in the right quarter, and two of us went next morning very early, and soon dug a hole, and buried the mound, and carefully cast the excavation as close by as possible, and covered it up with a nice green top, so as to look quite natural and pretty, and when we had done we considered we had improved the scenery. it was a near squeak though, and it was lucky no engineer was with them, or i should have been had. "it is my opinion, from what i have noticed, that the engine does a good deal to keep down the rails, and as long as the rails and sleepers are right, and the ballast good, and the sleepers well packed, the fastenings have more to prevent the rails spreading, and the road bursting than keeping the rails down, although, of course, that is necessary and should be done as well." "i think you are quite right there." "old fangbolts was all for the through grip, and did not seem to care much about preventing spreading. well, engineers work in all grooves. some have one way of thinking, some another, and all perhaps are partly right, and if they would but balance accounts, instead of harping on one string, it would be a smoother world." "there we agree." "did you ever get a bit 'extra' out of rock ballast?" "no; never had a chance." "i did this way. of course, rock ballast is not equal to shingle and clean gravel, but there is more chance of 'extra' profit, for you can pitch it in big, if you have a nice cover of small ballast, so as to make it look pretty at the finish, and like a garden path, and as occasion offers you can pare off the cess between the ballast wall and the top of the slope in embankments and the foot of the slope in cuttings, a couple of inches or so and sometimes get paid the specified depth that way, although the real depth of ballast throughout is not within 2 or 3 inches of it on the average. when the guv'nors are walking over the line keep them on the outside rail on curves as much as you can, as the cant makes the ballast wall look big. you have to be careful with the packing under the rail, because, if you don't mind, it may happen the centre of the sleeper is on a bit of rock, and then the sleeper may split when doing the see-saw trick as the trains pass and sway about. "just so. you must be careful not to pack them upon a middle pivot." "i had two chaps who would almost have done for masons. they used to pack the sleepers with a few lumps where the rails rested on them, just to get the rail top nice and the rest was filled up anyhow, like nature on the sea shore; and we can't do wrong in taking a hint there, you know, for the cue is right, particularly when it runs towards 'extra' profit. still, i don't like to chance breaking a sleeper's back, so i let them lie easy between the rails, or rather under the parts of the sleepers where no rails rest." "i understand. you pack the sleepers only where they are under the rail-flange." "yes. one day the engineer said to the inspector who was a kind-hearted man and bred right, 'mind the sleepers are evenly packed and not with large pieces of rock.' he called me up and repeated it extra treble to me. 'very well, sir; but some of the rock will soon weather, and don't you think it better to keep it a bit large rather than small? the quarry runs very uneven. some of the rock is as hard as nails, sir, and some soft, and it is not exactly the best ballast to handle or in the world; and if you will excuse me, don't you think, sir, on these soft banks another 3 inches under the sleeper would be advisable?' "he did not seem to want to agree, but after a week, an order came from my guv'nor for 3 inches extra depth upon all banks. that was a good stroke, as it enabled me to do with larger stuff, and lessened the breaking it up. he was right in what he did, and so was i. i like rock ballast for 'extras,' although the walling is a nuisance. there is more chance for expansion of profits than in gravel ballast, and that is a great recommendation to us, anyhow, and is good enough apart from what things really are. i gave the tip on the quiet in the quarry to send half the rock down a trifle bigger, and it did not want so much getting or handling in the quarry, so they liked the new order, and it saved some breaking. consequently i prefer rock ballast that weathers quickly sometimes, although, of course, an engineer should avoid it for ballast if he can, and the money allows." chapter xiv. "extra" measurements. toad-stool contractors, testimonials. "have you managed to get a bit 'extra' out of measurements?" "yes, occasionally, but that game is about played out. in the good old times they used to let us all kinds of work, for we did business in company more then than we do now, and what one did not know the other did, and so we could do pretty nearly everything except metal work, so long as they supplied us with the materials. "i have already named about the 'extra' depth of foundations in bridges, and pipes that were not so large as thought. i have also got a bit 'extra' from side ditching when they had taken no cross sections of the ground by leaving a few buoys or mounds at the highest parts. i have also had a trifle out of the cuttings by rounding off the slopes a few inches when they were long but working right to the slope peg at top and nicking in an inch or two at the foot of the slope; but the game is hardly worth the candle, as they have almost given up soiling the slopes. then there was a chance both ways. you got more measurement than the actual excavation, and also a bit 'extra' for soiling that was not put in, but it does not run into enough money to make it pay safely, and as the slopes and formation are so much on show the fun is hardly worth the risk. there is more to be had, so far as earthworks are concerned, in road approaches than railway cuttings, and in docks than either." "i think you are right there." "you see the earthwork is not so much in patches in dockwork, but all together, and there is often as much in an acre or so of dock as in a whole railway four or five miles in length, and inches in dockwork are worth remembering. besides they are not noticed so much, and the excavation is soon covered up; and if it is in clay, and found out, you can always say to the bosses--'i never saw such clay to swell in patches.' be sure to say 'in patches' for then you have an excuse handy if the clay 'swells' nowhere else except at the place you have not excavated to the right depth. you can generally get the surface not exactly level throughout, and you have a large space to work on then, and every inch means sovereigns. really i think it does no one any harm, and does good to me if the bottom is a trifle elevated. it comes rather easy to most of us to make ourselves think a thing is good and nice when it would cost us something to think otherwise." "yes. money and our wishes usually work on the same main line." "i once got done out of a bit 'extra' measurement by an engineer really lovely." "did you. how was that?" "i don't mind telling you, but there will be squalls if you blab. it happened like this. it was a line that had been commenced and most of the easy work done. it was in the days when every jerry-builder and parish sewer contractor, and big linen-draper too, thought he was a railway and dock contractor. you know they borrowed a bit from a local bank, and would take any contract from a bridge of balloons to the moon to a tunnel through the earth to australia. channel tunnels, forth bridges, and panama canals would have been toys to them, and they could have made them on their heads. they sprung up just like toad-stools--can't call them mushrooms, it would be a libel on the plants--and every one of them thought they were quite as good as brassey, and could have given him points. they had cheek, that was all, just like quack doctors. well, what with, so they told me, big local loan-mongers to work the oracle and swim with them, and general recommendations--which i never take much notice of unless i know what a man has seen or done--saying they were full of the sublimest honesty and wisdom as ever had been known, and were that clever as few indeed could hope to be, the game was worked trumps for a time. tests, not general testimonials, is my motto. what you have done or seen done, not what people are kind enough to say they think you can do, and which they don't know you can do. the man that asks a chap that he is friendly with to write a recommendation has his sentimental feelings worked on, and then truth takes a back seat, and of course you are bound to say your friend is the best man that could be made for the place, just that and nothing else. it costs a chap nothing to write it, and it is only very few that care to refuse, because it does not do to tell a man whom you wish to be friendly with that you don't think much of him, and that he is quite sufficiently a shirker and polite humbug to suit a good many, or that your own private opinion is he is not far off being twin-brother to a mouse-coloured beast of burden that brays. it is not good form, so we all, from kindness i suppose, write pretty of one another except when we are owed money and can't get it, then adjectives are often necessary, and as strong as you can find, with a few put in as are only known to chaps like you and me, and are not taught in schools, although they learn a lot there as they should not. do you know when i read general testimonials i always think what a lot of saints and solomons there are wanting situations, and it must be only the sinners and fools as are in harness. what you want to know from a reliable source is, how did a chap get on upon any particular bit of work he had to do, and have it specified what it was, and in what position he was, and whether all was and is right. therefore, if i asked for a testimonial i want one specially written for the occasion and with reference to the kind of work that is in hand, and not as if i was going to let a man walk out with my daughter. i name this because, between you and me, i've found when a man is praised up as a sort of saint, and nothing said as to what he has done in work that he is near to being either a humbug or an ass. that was just the case here, for it was to one of these toad-stool contractors that the directors let the first contract, and engineers who do not advise their directors to have nothing to do with such public works contractors (!) i think deserve all the trouble they get into. surely it is better to have a contractor who knows what work is and should be, even if he has but a small capital, than one who knows next to nothing about construction, and is financed by some loan-monger, or is at the mercy of some wire-puller?" "i say, you are hot on the question." "well, i consider it about poisons some works that would otherwise have been made all right, and would have paid well too at the original capital. besides it ought to be known a man must be specially educated to properly execute large public works, and should be bred an engineer, for one that can make shanties, dust-bins and privies, may blossom into a jerry runner-up of two-story stucco villas that have the faces and insides covered with lime and mud and half-penny paper, but it wants a contractor that is just about an engineer to know how to properly carry out railways, docks, bridges, canals, harbours, and all sea works and similar undertakings, and not a bell-pull mender and drain maker, because then he hardly knows anything himself of what has to be done and he is at the mercy of others. he tenders at figures below what he ought, and then the work cannot be properly executed, or the easy portion is done somehow or other and then the man goes smash. it is just the difference between our sterling building firms and the jerry-shanty-raisers who ought not to be called builders. well, this one started with a rattle and scraped about, and then went to splinters. that's why i have named it, and because on this railway there was a road diversion. about a quarter of it was excavated and it was in an awful mess. it was in gravelly sand, and taken out in dabs, and in and out, all widths and depths. "i thought i saw a chance of a bit 'extra' and said nothing. one day i got rather fierce for 'extras,' and i sniffed out some small heaps at intervals up the approach. they were about a yard in height and four or five yards round. i felt sure they had not been put on the cross sections, which i got to know had been taken in some places as close as 15 feet apart, so i thought, 'before i get the wagon roads in and move another heap, i will see the young guv'nor.' "well, i had to go to the office, and he knew of the heaps and said 'i will allow you 30 yards for those. i had not forgotten them.' now that was what they were to a spadeful, so i thought it was good business as i knew they were not shown on the sections. he said 'in case anything should happen to you or me i will write what i mean and have it attached to the agreement.' i thought that was kind of him. now, we had worked for about a week, and i was keen on plunder. he then dictated a few lines to the timekeeper, saying that it was agreed 30 cubic yards of earth were in the heaps and they were to be paid for as an allowance in addition to the 9239 cubic yards, the total measurement of the excavation i had to do under the contract. of course it was worded right, but i give you the meaning. this i signed, and it was witnessed by the time-keeper and the young guv'nor. i made just about the same as he did of the total measurement, but was so eager after the 30 cubic yards in the heaps that i signed the paper off hand, but of course i knew then what was written, but thought no more about it. i left the office and had six of neat right off on the strength of those heaps. i will cut it short now. "well, i finished the job quickly, and one day, just before i had done, i thought to myself, 'there have not been any "extras" on this approach road, for what with slope and fence pegs being set out there has actually been no chance of a bit "extra."' after thinking i said to myself, 'it is an awkward place to measure. i will make my measurements so that they work out five hundred yards more, add a little all over, i can but give way in the end, have a nice, warm, genteel wrangle that will shake up the cockles of my heart, and i may get half or something extra if i do the oily persuasive trick, and look wronged in my countenance.' so up i went to the office and said, 'i shall about finish to-morrow, sir, and i think you will say i have done the job well and quickly, and deserve another. it has been a tight fit, and has only just kept me going.' "usual patter followed that is required on such occasions, and is kept in stock for them. i was beginning to feel real happy, and thinking i had got twenty pounds at least, and no mistake for talking pretty. so i said, 'as i am here, sir, do you mind telling me what you make the measurement?'" "'certainly. 9239 cubic yards, and 30 yards allowed for heaps. total, 9269 cubic yards.' "that did not suit me, so i started on the injured innocence lay, and said meekly and persuasive like, 'you have left out something, i think, sir.' "'no; i have not.' "'well, sir, i make 500 yards more than you; and if i don't get it it will be very bad for me, for i shall not be able to pay my men.' that did not seem to flurry him. he opened the safe, and read from the paper i had signed some months ago. blessed if it ever occurred to me to think that i had signed for the total quantities, but i had, for i was then so taken up with the 30 yards. like you, i am old enough to know that no contract is indisputable, and that many things in law have to be tried before they are law when a question arises, and that there is not much finality about the show; but here i was caught, and had made my own net, and no mistake; so, after putting in all i knew and saying to him, 'i did not take that bit of paper to mean the same as he did,' i considered it best to shake down easy as i saw i was grassed, so i took his measurement; but i wished blue ruin to the heaps, and may where they were tipped be well worried by worms and vermin. look out! i shall break something." "don't slap the table with your clenched fist like that, or we shall have to pay for damages, and have nothing left for drinks." "right you are; but it does make me wild to think of it." "you were had at your own game there!" "yes; but after all said and done, except the ground is level throughout, i heard two engineers say earthwork measurements are generally a matter of fair averaging; and if tables are used, some like this table and others that, so all are happy; but they agreed cross-sections are the best, and unless a plaster cast is made of the surface of some ground, no one could say what the measurement really was to a few yards, and that it does not much matter as the price per cubic yard is so little compared with most prices of work, such as masonry, brickwork, concrete, &c." "you have finished, i fancy?" "yes." "now i'll tell you how i once got a bit 'extra' from measurements in rather an odd way. the work was done without a contractor, it was principally let in pieces to sub-contractors, and the rest day-work; but i heard they did not gain much, if anything, by it. came to nearly the same thing, and all the bother and risk themselves, and about the same good work. "well, the funny way i made some extra profit, of course, as usual, very much against my will, was this. i happened to be in the engineer's office, and heard the resident say to his assistant, 'mr. ----, please make a list of timber required for the quay sheds, and take out the quantities.' now it is only fair to say the assistant knew his book and was up to snuff, but we are all caught tripping sometimes, and whether it was his anxiety to ascertain the exact quantities, i don't know, but he got mixed, and blessed if the timber was not ordered net lengths, and nothing allowed for mortises and making joints. just as we were going to start on the sheds they took us away, and before the foundations were excavated for the walls. it was fortunate they did, as it happened, for it afterwards occurred to the assistant that he had forgotten to allow for mortises and joints. so the sheds had to be made about a foot less width than they should have been, and we got paid for the foot or so at each end that was left out; and the inspector got the tip, i suppose, for nothing was said, and it was not noticed, for they were wide store sheds, with a line of rails through the centre, and it really did not matter at all. so you see i was forced to take a bit 'extra,' but that is the only time in the whole of my life. of course it worried me much." "no doubt it caused another wrinkle to set on your forehead." "very likely; but an old partner of mine told me he once was paid for the corners of a lot of level-crossing lodges twice over by taking the outside wall measurements all round instead of two outside and two inside, but only once, when things had to be done at a great rush; it was a case of hurry up all round, for all the final measurements of the whole line had to be done in a fortnight." chapter xv. men and wages. 'sub' from the wood. a sub-contractor's scout and free traveller. "it is nearly midnight. i am game for another hour, are you?" "yes. i like talking on the quiet, it draws you together, you know; you feel for a time as if we all belonged to one family, although we do not, and don't want; that's a fact." "precisely, old pal. let us grip and sip." "did any of your men ever play rough on you?" "not often; but i remember one. he was a good working hand, and i did not mean to lose him. ted skip was his name. this is how it occurred. one saturday night i was in the village, and saw at the corner of a lane a man standing up in a cart spouting away fit to give him heart disease, or break a blood-vessel, and getting hot so quick, that i am sure he was going to beat record time. i believe he was fed on dictionaries and stewed socialist pamphlets that did not agree with him. he was pouring it out. he said in effect that pretty nearly everybody was a thief except himself and his comrades, and that nearly all things were poison as they were, and unless we all did as he said we were fools and felons, and worse. then he went on to say, beer was poison, tobacco was poison, and the way things were now, and all went on, was worse than poison. then he talked about us, called us railway slave drivers and slaves, and i am sure there was no one or nothing that existed that was not poison to him except himself and what he possessed, and the fools that paid him. i got wild after a bit, hearing him lying away as fast as he could speak, and i shouted, 'you are all poison, you old bit of arsenic, for what is not ass about you is from old nick.' he was then shouting out 'your constitution is wrong. all the bills are of no use.' that was too much for me, so i pushed my way in and showed him my fist, and said, 'i'll soon show you whether all the bills are of no use and whether my constitution is wrong. my name is bill dark, and there are numbers of people here that know i have never been sick or sorry since i was born, and i have taken beer and smoked tobacco from the time i was fifteen. in moderation, i believe in this country it does good to most of us, and pretty well all except those that are built up peculiar, and if you want to see if i'm of no use, come on; only get a sack first, so that the pieces of you that remain, and are large enough to be found, can be taken away and burnt to-night instead of later on. you understand what i mean.' "our chaps cheered me like mad, and i suppose old arsenic thought his show was being wasted, for he threw up his arms and drove off, and we yelled him out of the village. well, now you'll hear what came of it. teddy skip was there, and heard me say that beer and tobacco in moderation in this country i believe did good to most of us. a week or so passed, and i forgot all about old arsenic when teddy skip came to me, and said, 'guv'nor, after hearing you down in the village, and feeling a bit cold now and then, i thought i would try a pipe. i find it suits me, and is quite a friend, but it costs me nearly twopence a day, at least that is what i reckon it does. i have been with you a long time, and hope you won't mind another twopence a day just to buy the tobacco as you recommended to be used in moderation.' "he had me there, so i made no bones about it, and said, 'very well then, another twopence from monday;' but i gave him a parting shot in this way, 'i know you are courting mary plush, and may be joined soon, but don't you come to me for a rise after each lot of twins is born, and say you have done a kindness to me and the public generally; because the wife and ten children lay is played out for increase of wages, and folks do with them that show as much moderation in size of families as remember i said should be used with beer and tobacco.' he began to move, and said smiling, as he cleared out, 'all right, guv'nor, thank you, i understand.'" "that was pretty for you; but did i ever tell you how i got well insulted by one of my chaps?" "no. out with it." "it was in my early days, about the first work i had on the piece. it was clearing and forming through a wood, and there were more rabbits there than trees. the contract was just started, and you know what the chaps are then, they want 'sub' nearly to their full time. well, i was not flush, in fact they nearly drained me out, so the rabbits were too much for me, besides they were wasted in my sight where they were, simply gold running loose; so i bagged a fair lot, in fact as many as i could catch. now, my men finding i was subbing them nicely seemed to think i was the man they had been looking to serve since they took to work, so i considered i ought to stop their game with another variety of sport. it does not do to let wrong ideas rest quiet in any man. it is not kind. it was thursday, and on saturday i should have a fairish draw for myself on account of work done; but as things were, i was nearly run out. about six wanted 'sub,' so i threw a rabbit to each of them, and said, 'that is tenpence, and it ought to be a shilling, for they are as big as hares and more feeding, and they are not half the trouble to cook.' they grumbled, so i growled out, 'except on saturdays, it is that this week and next most likely, or nothing, so choose your time.' one stayed behind, and said, 'boss, just you look here: eightpence is enough for that, and too much, because i know it is poached, for i saw you doing a lift among the "furrers," and when i receive stolen goods i am paid for holding them, and chancing the consequences, and i don't pay for taking care of them. do you understand? it is the last i take, and don't you mistake.' "this 'riled' me, so i said, 'off you go, or i'll flatten you out.' i was had there. of course, he was at the same game as i had been, and rabbits to him were not exactly a novelty. well, i carried on the fun there to such a tune that at last it became too hot. a dealer used to fetch them. he had an old cart. it looked like a baker's, and had some name on it, and there was a bit of green baize, and a basket or two, and a few loaves to keep up the illusion. we worked it till it turned on us, and the business had to be stopped." "i never have done much at that. not enough money for the risk to please me." "believe me, i have given up the game twenty years or more. i soon found in taking work by the piece i was bound to have a bit of capital, and, as a rule, what i want i get if it is to be had by anyone, and i generally find it is. i overdid it though, that's the worst of money, the more you get the more you want, and it's the biggest slave-driver out and spares no one. well, complaints about poaching went up to head-quarters and i was called before the guv'nor. he said to me very sharp, 'i shall measure up your work unless from this day i hear no more of your poaching.' "of course i bluffed it a bit, but it was no good. however, knowing he always liked fun, he listened to me and i went off fond as a lamb. after promising i would keep watch on the men, which he did not let me finish saying before he had advised me to have assistance, he meant someone to watch me, i went straight for some joking, just to get the venom out of the subject. there is nothing like flattery to start a talk easy, so i said, 'you, sir, know a host of things more than me, and no doubt can explain how it was my father told me when i was a boy that all the family had a natural power of attracting animals. he said it was born in us. one day, sir, he drew me close to him and whispered, after feeling my head, 'you have the family gift very powerful.' you'll excuse me, sir, but i just name this because game always follows me about, and when these rabbits come on the work there is no mistake they are trespassing, and so i punish them by taking them into custody according to the law. when i walk up and down the line they seem to be that joyful, sir, as is real touching. they will come, and the bigger they are the more they seem to like me (between ourselves, that is you and me, to-night talking quiet, small 'uns don't suit me). i have not got the heart to frighten them away, and so they come to me, and sooner than let them go back to their savage life i take them up and become like a parent to them. you cut me so hard in price for the work, sir, i cannot afford to keep them long, so they have to partly keep me." "did your guv'nor stand that?" "yes. he was a good listener and always gave a man enough rope to hang himself." "i should have punched your head if i had been him." "very likely you would have tried to, but he did not, so i went on to say, 'well, sir, it is my undoubted belief the big rabbits down here can tell the difference between some letters and others, in the same way, i suppose, as they know the difference between some shot through their ears and a cabbage leaf in their mouth, or a horse and a fox; for they always run away from every cart but mine. i was just thinking i had said enough when the guv'nor had his turn and said:-"'after what you have told me, attach a dozen white boards to the fencing, and have these words painted upon them in six-inch black letters--"rabbits are vermin," and have your name put underneath. as you say some of them can read, that will cause them to cease following you. i am determined that this poaching shall be stopped once and for all.' "'excuse me, sir, but suppose they still will come to me after the notices are up, and i can't keep them away?' "he answered, 'in such an event fix notice boards painted thus: "any rabbit found trespassing upon this railway will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour of the law, and any rabbit found destroying the fences or hedges, or committing any damage of whatsoever kind will be shot.' have your name put on it as before.' "after that i thought it was time to go, and as i went out i could hear laughter. he had me, you know, so i was compelled to take to butcher's meat again throughout, and only a spare rabbit now and then went home to see his relations by aid of my mouth." "what a row there is outside?" "it's my dog barking. he must have heard you talk of rabbits. he is clever. i trained him so that i always knew when any engineers or inspectors were on the prowl. i call him 'spot,' because he can 'spot' them so well. i made him do the spy business right round our end of the docks i was then on, and also on railway work." "what did he do?" "he used to do a tramp up and down quite naturally, about quarter of a mile in front of the tip and a quarter of a mile back of the gullet, or anywhere i had work, and not even the men knew he was on scout. he is the best watchman i have known; and so long as things were right and no bosses about he never came close to me unless i called him, but if anyone was prowling about he soon was close to me, and three pats communicated to him that i twigged, and he went on the scent again. he seemed to sniff out the faces of all my guv'nors in an instant, and looked anxious till i patted him three times, and then he turned up his eyes to meet mine, and a lovely beam of satisfaction came over him and he was as happy as he could be, and then he vanished. he was a sly dog, and useful too. he slept at the bottom of my bed in a basket. my wife did not like him on the bed; said dogs were dogs, and carried too many relations on their persons, so i hung a big basket to the tail end of our sleeping apparatus, and there he snoozed. now, wherever i was, he was, or near to; he did not seem happy except he knew where i was. i always took him wherever i went, and on free pass. it's not very often i am travelling far, except when the works are finished; still, i easily trained him to be a good free traveller after a few trials, so that i never took a ticket for him. not me. i always think it is hard, provided you have no luggage for the van, and have your dog well under control, that you cannot take him with you free, like you do a stick, an umbrella, or your pipe. a dog does not occupy a seat nor make a noise the same as a baby; but there, i don't mean to argue the question, and, personally, have no occasion, because i have not paid anything for my dog's travelling for years. the problem is solved as far as i am concerned, and the rest of creation will have to look out for themselves." "how do you do it?" "you mean, how does my dog, spot, do it? in this way. i take my ticket, and before putting it into my pocket hold it in my hand for a moment. i then go on my right platform. spot, that is my dog, then knows he is to get on that platform. he usually waits till a good many people want to pass, then he slips in beautifully quiet, sometimes by the side of a lady, or under cover of a group of passengers, and i have never known him noticed at the doors, as the ticket collectors are busy ticket snipping. i don't interfere with spot's platform arrangements, for properly educated and well-brought-up dogs would object; but there is no doubt at some of the terminal stations the game could not be worked unless all the platforms are open. suppose he was noticed on a platform, and they tried to find him, he was so good at hiding that they always thought he had gone; besides, they had plenty to do, and more serious business to look after. once i saw they were searching for him, but they did not find him. he was not on the platform at all, but under a truck in the siding and enjoying the fun. he rested there, or at a convenient place till he heard the train coming, or saw i was about to get in. he timed his movements very cleverly, and has taken me by surprise sometimes, but he was sure to be under the seat, and hiding as quietly as a mouse, and taking no notice of me; not he. "when i arrived at my station, if it was a big one, there was no trouble, i got out and spot sneaked out without taking any notice of me, nor did i of him then. he used to make straight for the wall, and you bet he got out of the station quick, or was turned out. i have seen him driven out, as the porters took him for a stray dog. once they threw a stool at him, it just caught his tail, and made him squall a trifle; but although it was a hard trial for me, i suppressed my feelings, as i had no ticket for him. i have known him sit down after following me out of the carriage, close up to the wall one end of a platform, and wait till the ticket-collector was busy sorting the tickets, and then spot would walk out like a nobleman. i waited for him at a respectful and safe distance from the station, and then we had an affectionate meeting, and he had a biscuit and i had a drink, and we were a happy two. spot is a real good dog, and as honest as the day, for i trained him in the right direction from the time he was a pup. he is a cool one; but there, it is a gift of nature like a swell singer's voice." "precisely." "now, listen; for once i was nearly had, even with spot. there were about ten people in the compartment of a long carriage, and i sat next to a fly-looking chap, and only got in just in time, with my dog handy. off the train went, and i was trying to consider what i ought to think about during the journey, when we all started, for spot barked really fierce; and i said, 'quiet.' blessed if there was not another bark, and from another member of the dog creation. i knew it was not spot, so i looked under the seat, and saw two bags, and spot looking very warm and ready on one of them, with his head a little on one side. i knew it was live game, and i saw the other bag move. i thought the railway company had got the office and caught me, and that it was a 'put up job,' but i was wrong. it was all right. the chap next to me whispered in my ear that he was a rat-catcher, and had live rats in one bag, and his dog in the other, and they were travelling as passengers' luggage. i winked, and he did. then it occurred to me, i was too friendly with him. however, of course his dog was trained to keep quiet, but mine was not in the presence of rats, so i had to look under again, and put out my stick, and say. 'quiet, bosses.' spot knew what that meant, and was quiet. "now, the other passengers steadied down very quickly, for of course they did not know we had not paid for the dogs. it was a fast local train and only stopped at the terminus, so there was no chance of their getting out before me at the station. i took care of that. it might have been awkward otherwise. the beauty of it was, this rat-catcher, i could see was not altogether satisfied when he came to dwell on it, for i fancy he thought i was a spy, and that he was caught; and i was not quite convinced he was not a detective. still, a bold game generally pays the best; anyhow, i pretended i was dozing. it was evening, and when the train had barely stopped, after saying. 'good-night all,' i got out first, and did not wait to see how the rat-catcher fared. i had spot to look after, and was afraid the guard might have heard the barking; but he did not, for if he had we should both have been had lovely, all through a bag of rats. what my dog suffered from having to leave the game alone, it grieves me to think. all i know is, he was really bad for days after; but i should say the rats were tuning up to sing, 'we are all surrounded.'" "i'm off now. good-bye, old chap. cheer up." "thank you for coming to see me, and having a good chat. it's lucky no one has heard us though, still, we have not confessed all. have we?" "not exactly. good-bye." "mind how you go, and i hope to see you to-morrow." "all right; i'm safe enough, for i have been in too many squalls not to be careful. i won't say artful." finis. _crown 8vo, cloth, price 4s. 6d._ notes on concrete and works in concrete. by john newman, assoc. m. inst. c.e. reviews of the press. engineering: _"an epitome of the best practice which may be relied upon not to mislead."_ "the successful construction of works in concrete is a difficult matter to explain in books." "all the points which open the way to bad work are carefully pointed out by our author with a pertinacious insistance which demonstrates his clear appreciation of their value." iron: "as numerous examples are cited of the use of concrete in public works, and details supplied, _the book will greatly assist engineers engaged upon such works_." the builder: "a very practical little book, carefully compiled, and _one which all writers of specifications for concrete work would do well to peruse_." "_the book contains reliable information for all engaged upon public works._" "a perusal of mr. newman's valuable little handbook will point out the importance of a more careful investigation of the subject than is usually supposed to be necessary." american press. building: "to accomplish so much in so limited a space, the subject-matter has been confined to chapters." "_we take pleasure in saying that this is the most admirable and complete handbook on concretes for engineers of which we have knowledge._" e. & f. n. spon, 125, strand, london. _crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d._ earthwork slips and subsidences upon public works. by john newman, assoc. m. inst. c.e. reviews of the press. the builder: "we gladly welcome mr. newman's book on slips in earthworks as an important contribution to a right comprehension of such matters." "there is much in this book that will at all events guide the mind of the student to the points--and there are many of them--which have to be weighed by designers of engineering works, and which, if attended to and fixed on the memory, will certainly guard them against probable if not against possible slips in earthwork." "there is much to read, and read carefully, on all these points." "he then presents us with sixteen maxims to be observed, where practicable, in the consideration of the location of earthworks (hints as to what should be avoided, which are of considerable value).... the capital cost of a work and the cost of its maintenance may both be very sensibly reduced by attention to all the points alluded to by the author." "we are glad to see that the author enters at some length into the subject of the due provision of drainage at the backs of retaining walls, a matter so often neglected or overlooked, and carries this subject to a far larger one, the causes which tend to disturb the repose of dock walls. his remarks on these matters are well worthy of consideration, and are thoroughly practical, and the items which have to be taken into account in the necessary statical calculations very well introduced." "in conclusion we may say that there is plenty of good useful information to be obtained from this work, which touches a subject possessing an exceedingly scanty vocabulary." "it contains an immense deal of matter which must be swallowed sooner or later by every one who desires to be a good engineer." &c. &c. &c. &c. building news: "mr. john newman, assoc. m. inst. c.e., has written a volume on a subject that has hitherto only been treated of cursorily." "useful advice is given which the railway engineer and earthwork contractor may profit by." "the book contains a fund of useful information." &c. &c. &c. &c. builder's reporter and engineering times: "the book which mr. john newman has written imparts a new interest to earthworks. it is in fact a sort of pathological treatise, and as such may be said to be unique among books on construction, for in them failures are rarely recognised. now in mr. newman's volume the majority of the pages relate to failures, and from them the reader infers how they are to be avoided, and thus to form earthworks that will endure longer than those which are executed without much regard to risks." "the manner of dealing with the subsidences when they occur, as well as providing against them, will be found described in the book." "it can be said that the subject is thoroughly investigated, and contractors as well as engineers can learn much from mr. newman's book." &c. &c. &c. &c. e. & f. n. spon, 125, strand, london. 1891. books relating to applied science published by e. & f. n. spon, london: 125, strand. new york: 12, cortlandt street. _the engineers' sketch-book of mechanical movements, devices, appliances, contrivances, details employed in the design and construction of machinery for every purpose._ collected from numerous sources and from actual work. classified and arranged for reference. _nearly 2000 illustrations._ by t. b. barber, engineer. 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _a pocket-book for chemists, chemical manufacturers, metallurgists, dyers, distillers, brewers, sugar refiners, photographers, students, etc., etc._ by thomas bayley, assoc. r.c. sc. ireland, analytical and consulting chemist and assayer. fourth edition, with additions, 437 pp., royal 32mo, roan, gilt edges, 5_s._ synopsis of contents: atomic weights and factors--useful data--chemical calculations- rules for indirect analysis--weights and measures--thermometers and barometers--chemical physics--boiling points, etc.--solubility of substances--methods of obtaining specific gravity--conversion of hydrometers--strength of solutions by specific gravity--analysis- gas analysis--water analysis--qualitative analysis and reactions- volumetric analysis--manipulation--mineralogy--assaying--alcohol --beer--sugar--miscellaneous technological matter relating to potash, soda, sulphuric acid, chlorine, tar products, petroleum, milk, tallow, photography, prices, wages, appendix, etc., etc. _the mechanician_: a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs, comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and the various methods of using and grinding them; description of hand and machine processes; turning and screw cutting. by cameron knight, engineer. _containing 1147 illustrations_, and 397 pages of letter-press. fourth edition, 4to, cloth, 18_s._ _just published, in demy 8vo, cloth, containing 975 pages and 250 illustrations, price 7s. 6d._ spons' household manual: a treasury of domestic receipts and guide for home management. principal contents. hints for selecting a good house, pointing out the essential requirements for a good house as to the site, soil, trees, aspect, construction, and general arrangement; with instructions for reducing echoes, waterproofing damp walls, curing damp cellars. sanitation.--what should constitute a good sanitary arrangement; examples (with illustrations) of welland ill-drained houses; how to test drains; ventilating pipes, etc. water supply.--care of cisterns; sources of supply; pipes; pumps; purification and filtration of water. ventilation and warming.--methods of ventilating without causing cold draughts, by various means; principles of warming; health questions; combustion; open grates; open stoves; fuel economisers; varieties of grates; close-fire stoves; hot-air furnaces; gas heating; oil stoves; steam heating; chemical heaters; management of flues; and cure of smoky chimneys. lighting.--the best methods of lighting; candles, oil lamps, gas, incandescent gas, electric light; how to test gas pipes; management of gas. furniture and decoration.--hints on the selection of furniture; on the most approved methods of modern decoration; on the best methods of arranging bells and calls; how to construct an electric bell. thieves and fire.--precautions against thieves and fire; methods of detection; domestic fire escapes; fireproofing clothes, etc. the larder.--keeping food fresh for a limited time; storing food without change, such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, honey, etc. curing foods for lengthened preservation, as smoking, salting, canning, potting, pickling, bottling fruits, etc.; jams, jellies, marmalade, etc. the dairy.--the building and fitting of dairies in the most approved modern style; butter-making; cheesemaking and curing. the cellar.--building and fitting; cleaning casks and bottles; corks and corking; aã«rated drinks; syrups for drinks; beers; bitters; cordials and liqueurs; wines; miscellaneous drinks. the pantry.--bread-making; ovens and pyrometers; yeast; german yeast; biscuits; cakes; fancy breads; buns. the kitchen.--on fitting kitchens; a description of the best cooking ranges, close and open; the management and care of hot plates, baking ovens, dampers, flues, and chimneys; cooking by gas; cooking by oil; the arts of roasting, grilling, boiling, stewing, braising, frying. receipts for dishes.--soups, fish, meat, game, poultry, vegetables, salads, puddings, pastry, confectionery, ices, etc., etc.; foreign dishes. the housewife's room.--testing air, water, and foods; cleaning and renovating; destroying vermin. housekeeping, marketing. the dining-room.--dietetics; laying and waiting at table: carving; dinners, breakfasts, luncheons, teas, suppers, etc. the drawing-room.--etiquette; dancing; amateur theatricals; tricks and illusions; games (indoor). the bedroom and dressing-room; sleep; the toilet; dress; buying clothes; outfits; fancy dress. the nursery.--the room; clothing; washing; exercise; sleep; feeding; teething; illness; home training. the sick-room.--the room; the nurse; the bed; sick room accessories; feeding patients; invalid dishes and drinks; administering physic; domestic remedies; accidents and emergencies; bandaging; burns; carrying injured persons; wounds; drowning; fits; frost-bites; poisons and antidotes; sunstroke; common complaints; disinfection, etc. the bath-room.--bathing in general; management of hot-water system. the laundry.--small domestic washing machines, and methods of getting up linen, fitting up and working a steam laundry. the school-room.--the room and its fittings; teaching, etc. the playground.--air and exercise; training; outdoor games and sports. the workroom.--darning, patching, and mending garments. the library.--care of books. the garden.--calendar of operations for lawn, flower garden, and kitchen garden. the farmyard.--management of the horse, cow, pig, poultry, bees, etc., etc. small motors.--a description of the various small engines useful for domestic purposes, from 1 man to 1 horse power, worked by various methods, such as electric engines, gas engines, petroleum engines, steam engines, condensing engines, water power, wind power, and the various methods of working and managing them. household law.--the law relating to landlords and tenants, lodgers, servants, parochial authorities, juries, insurance, nuisance, etc. _on designing belt gearing_. by e. j. cowling welch, mem. inst. mech. engineers, author of 'designing valve gearing.' fcap. 8vo, sewed, 6_d._ _a handbook of formulã¦, tables, and memoranda, for architectural surveyors and others engaged in building._ by j. t. hurst, c.e. fourteenth edition, royal 32mo, roan, 5_s._ "it is no disparagement to the many excellent publications we refer to, to say that in our opinion this little pocket-book of hurst's is the very best of them all, without any exception. it would be useless to attempt a recapitulation of the contents, for it appears to contain almost _everything_ that anyone connected with building could require, and, best of all, made up in a compact form for carrying in the pocket, measuring only 5 in. by 3 in., and about 3/4 in. thick, in a limp cover. we congratulate the author on the success of his laborious and practically compiled little book, which has received unqualified and deserved praise from every professional person to whom we have shown it."--_the dublin builder._ _tabulated weights of angle, tee, bulb, round, square, and flat iron and steel_, and other information for the use of naval architects and shipbuilders. by c. h. jordan, m.i.n.a. fourth edition, 32mo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ _a complete set of contract documents for a country lodge_, comprising drawings, specifications, dimensions (for quantities), abstracts, bill of quantities, form of tender and contract, with notes by j. leaning, printed in facsimile of the original documents, on single sheets fcap., in paper case, 10_s._ _a practical treatise on heat, as applied to the useful arts_; for the use of engineers, architects, &c. by thomas box. _with 14 plates._ sixth edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _a descriptive treatise on mathematical drawing instruments_: their construction, uses, qualities, selection, preservation, and suggestions for improvements, with hints upon drawing and colouring. by w. f. stanley, m.r.i. sixth edition, _with numerous illustrations_, crown 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _quantity surveying._ by j. leaning. with 42 illustrations. second edition, revised, crown 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ _contents:_ a complete explanation of the london practice. general instructions. order of taking off. modes of measurement of the various trades. use and waste. ventilation and warming. credits, with various examples of treatment. abbreviations. squaring the dimensions. abstracting, with examples in illustration of each trade. billing. examples of preambles to each trade. form for a bill of quantities. do. bill of credits. do. bill for alternative estimate. restorations and repairs, and form of bill. variations before acceptance of tender. errors in a builder's estimate. schedule of prices. form of schedule of prices. analysis of schedule of prices. adjustment of accounts. form of a bill of variations. remarks on specifications. prices and valuation of work, with examples and remarks upon each trade. the law as it affects quantity surveyors, with law reports. taking off after the old method. northern practice. the general statement of the methods recommended by the manchester society of architects for taking quantities. examples of collections. examples of "taking off" in each trade. remarks on the past and present methods of estimating. _spons' architects' and builders' price book, with useful memoranda._ edited by w. young, architect. crown 8vo, cloth, red edges, 3_s._ 6_d._ _published annually._ seventeenth edition. now ready. _long-span railway bridges_, comprising investigations of the comparative theoretical and practical advantages of the various adopted or proposed type systems of construction, with numerous formulã¦ and tables giving the weight of iron or steel required in bridges from 300 feet to the limiting spans; to which are added similar investigations and tables relating to short-span railway bridges. second and revised edition. by b. baker, assoc. inst. c.e. _plates_, crown 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _elementary theory and calculation of iron bridges and roofs._ by august ritter, ph.d., professor at the polytechnic school at aix-la-chapelle. translated from the third german edition, by h. r. sankey, capt. r.e. with 500 _illustrations_, 8vo, cloth, 15_s._ _the elementary principles of carpentry._ by thomas tredgold. revised from the original edition, and partly re-written, by john thomas hurst. contained in 517 pages of letter-press, and _illustrated with 48 plates and 150 wood engravings_. sixth edition, reprinted from the third, crown 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ section i. on the equality and distribution of forces--section ii. resistance of timber--section iii. construction of floors--section iv. construction of roofs--section v. construction of domes and cupolas--section vi. construction of partitions--section vii. scaffolds, staging, and gantries--section viii. construction of centres for bridges--section ix. coffer-dams, shoring, and strutting--section x. wooden bridges and viaducts--section xi. joints, straps, and other fastenings--section xii. timber. _the builder's clerk_: a guide to the management of a builder's business. by thomas bales. fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._ _practical gold-mining_: a comprehensive treatise on the origin and occurrence of gold-bearing gravels, rocks and ores, and the methods by which the gold is extracted. by c. g. warnford lock, co-author of 'gold: its occurrence and extraction.' _with 8 plates and 275 engravings in the text_, royal 8vo, cloth, 2_l._ 2_s._ _hot water supply_: a practical treatise upon the fitting of circulating apparatus in connection with kitchen range and other boilers, to supply hot water for domestic and general purposes. with a chapter upon estimating. _fully illustrated_, crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ _hot water apparatus_: an elementary guide for the fitting and fixing of boilers and apparatus for the circulation of hot water for heating and for domestic supply, and containing a chapter upon boilers and fittings for steam cooking. _32 illustrations_, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._ _the use and misuse, and the proper and improper fixing of a cooking range._ _illustrated_, fcap. 8vo, sewed, 6_d._ _iron roofs_: examples of design, description. _illustrated with 64 working drawings of executed roofs._ by arthur t. walmisley, assoc. mem. inst. c.e. second edition, revised, imp. 4to, half-morocco, 3_l._ 3_s._ _a history of electric telegraphy_, to the year 1837. chiefly compiled from original sources, and hitherto unpublished documents, by j. j. fahie, mem. soc. of tel. engineers, and of the international society of electricians, paris. crown 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ _spons' information for colonial engineers._ edited by j. t. hurst. demy 8vo, sewed. no. 1. ceylon. by abraham deane, c.e. 2_s._ 6_d._ contents: introductory remarks--natural productions--architecture and engineering--topography, trade, and natural history--principal stations--weights and measures, etc., etc. no. 2. southern africa, including the cape colony, natal, and the dutch republics. by henry hall, f.r.g.s., f.r.c.i. with map. 3_s._ 6_d._ contents: general description of south africa--physical geography with reference to engineering operations--notes on labour and material in cape colony--geological notes on rock formation south africa--engineering instruments for use in south in africa--principal public works in cape colony: railways, mountain roads and passes, harbour works, bridges, gas works, irrigation and water supply, lighthouses, drainage and sanitary engineering, public buildings, mines--table of woods in south africa--animals used for draught purposes--statistical notes--table of distances--rates of carriage, etc. no. 3. india. by f. c. danvers, assoc. inst. c.e. with map. 4_s._ 6_d._ contents: physical geography of india--building materials--roads- railways-bridges--irrigation--river works--harbours- lighthouse buildings-native labour--the principal trees of india--money--weights and measures--glossary of indian terms, etc. _our factories, workshops, and warehouses_: their sanitary and fire-resisting arrangements. by b. h. thwaite, assoc. mem. inst. c.e. _with 183 wood engravings_, crown 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ _a practical treatise on coal mining._ by george g. andrã�, f.g.s., assoc. inst. c.e., member of the society of engineers. _with 82 lithographic plates._ 2 vols., royal 4to, cloth, 3_l._ 12_s._ _a practical treatise on casting and founding_, including descriptions of the modern machinery employed in the art. by n. e. spretson, engineer. fifth edition, with _82 plates_ drawn to scale, 412 pp., demy 8vo, cloth, 18_s._ _a handbook of electrical testing._ by h. r. kempe, m.s.t.e. fourth edition, revised and enlarged, crown 8vo, cloth, 16_s._ _the clerk of works_: a vade-mecum for all engaged in the superintendence of building operations. by g. g. hoskins, f.r.i.b.a. third edition, fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._ _american foundry practice_: treating of loam, dry sand, and green sand moulding, and containing a practical treatise upon the management of cupolas, and the melting of iron. by t. d. west, practical iron moulder and foundry foreman. second edition, _with numerous illustrations_, crown 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _the maintenance of macadamised roads._ by t. codrington, m.i.c.e., f.g.s., general superintendent of county roads for south wales. second edition. 8vo. [_nearly ready._ _hydraulic steam and hand power lifting and pressing machinery._ by frederick colyer, m. inst. c.e., m. inst. m.e. _with 73 plates_, 8vo, cloth, 18_s._ _pumps and pumping machinery._ by f. colyer, m.i.c.e., m.i.m.e. _with 23 folding plates_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _pumps and pumping machinery._ by f. colyer. second part. _with 11 large plates_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _a treatise on the origin, progress, prevention, and cure of dry rot in timber_; with remarks on the means of preserving wood from destruction by sea-worms, beetles, ants, etc. by thomas allen britton, late surveyor to the metropolitan board of works, etc., etc. _with 10 plates_, crown 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _the artillery of the future and the new powders._ by j. a. longridge, mem. inst. c.e. 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _gas works_: their arrangement, construction, plant, and machinery. by f. colyer, m. inst. c.e. _with 31 folding plates_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _the municipal and sanitary engineer's handbook._ by h. percy boulnois, mem. inst. c.e., borough engineer, portsmouth. _with numerous illustrations._ second edition, demy 8vo, cloth. contents: the appointment and duties of the town surveyor--traffic--macadamised roadways--steam rolling--road metal and breaking--pitched pavements --asphalte--wood pavements--footpaths--kerbs and gutters--street naming and numbering--street lighting--sewerage--ventilation of sewers--disposal of sewage--house drainage--disinfection--gas and water companies, etc., breaking up streets--improvement of private streets--borrowing powers--artisans' and labourers' dwellings- public conveniences--scavenging, including street cleansing- watering and the removing of snow--planting street trees--deposit of plans--dangerous buildings--hoardings--obstructions--improving street lines--cellar openings--public pleasure grounds--cemeteries --mortuaries--cattle and ordinary markets--public slaughter-houses, etc.--giving numerous forms of notices, specifications, and general information upon these and other subjects of great importance to municipal engineers and others engaged in sanitary work. _metrical tables._ by sir g. l. molesworth, m.i.c.e. 32mo, cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._ contents: general--linear measures--square measures--cubic measures--measures of capacity--weights--combinations--thermometers. _elements of construction for electro-magnets._ by count th. du moncel, mem. de l'institut de france. translated from the french by c. j. wharton. crown 8vo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _a treatise on the use of belting for the transmission of power._ by j. h. cooper. second edition, _illustrated_, 8vo, cloth, 15_s._ _a pocket-book of useful formulã¦ and memoranda for civil and mechanical engineers._ by sir guilford l. molesworth, mem. inst. c.e. _with numerous illustrations_, 744 pp. twenty-second edition, 32mo, roan, 6_s._ synopsis of contents: surveying, levelling, etc.--strength and weight of materials- earthwork, brickwork, masonry, arches, etc.--struts, columns, beams, and trusses--flooring, roofing, and roof trusses--girders, bridges, etc.--railways and roads--hydraulic formulã¦--canals, sewers, waterworks, docks--irrigation and breakwaters--gas, ventilation, and warming--heat, light, colour, and sound--gravity: centres, forces, and powers--millwork, teeth of wheels, shafting, etc.--workshop recipes--sundry machinery--animal power--steam and the steam engine--water-power, water-wheels, turbines, etc.--wind and windmills--steam navigation, ship building, tonnage, etc.- gunnery, projectiles, etc.--weights, measures, and money- trigonometry, conic sections, and curves--telegraphy--mensuration --tables of areas and circumference, and arcs of circles- logarithms, square and cube roots, powers--reciprocals, etc.- useful numbers--differential and integral calculus--algebraic signs--telegraphic construction and formulã¦. _hints on architectural draughtsmanship._ by _g. w. tuxford hallatt_. fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._ _spons' tables and memoranda for engineers_; selected and arranged by j. t. hurst, c.e., author of 'architectural surveyors' handbook,' 'hurst's tredgold's carpentry,' etc. eleventh edition, 64mo, roan, gilt edges, 1_s._; or in cloth case, 1_s._ 6_d._ this work is printed in a pearl type, and is so small, measuring only 2-1/2 in. by 1-3/4 in. by 1/4 in. thick, that it may be easily carried in the waistcoat pocket. "it is certainly an extremely rare thing for a reviewer to be called upon to notice a volume measuring but 2-1/2 in. by 1-3/4 in., yet these dimensions faithfully represent the size of the handy little book before us. the volume--which contains 118 printed pages, besides a few blank pages for memoranda--is, in fact, a true pocket-book, adapted for being carried in the waistcoat pocket, and containing a far greater amount and variety of information than most people would imagine could be compressed into so small a space.... the little volume has been compiled with considerable care and judgment, and we can cordially recommend it to our readers as a useful little pocket companion."--_engineering._ _a practical treatise on natural and artificial concrete, its varieties and constructive adaptations._ by henry reid, author of the 'science and art of the manufacture of portland cement.' new edition, _with 59 woodcuts and 5 plates_, 8vo, cloth, 15_s._ _notes on concrete and works in concrete_; especially written to assist those engaged upon public works. by john newman, assoc. mem. inst. c.e., crown 8vo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _electricity as a motive power._ by count th. du moncel, membre de l'institut de france, and frank geraldy, ingã©nieur des ponts et chaussã©es. translated and edited, with additions, by c. j. wharton, assoc. soc. tel. eng. and elec. _with 113 engravings and diagrams_, crown 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _treatise on valve-gears_, with special consideration of the link-motions of locomotive engines. by dr. gustav zeuner, professor of applied mechanics at the confederated polytechnikum of zurich. translated from the fourth german edition, by professor j. f. klein, lehigh university, bethlehem, pa. _illustrated_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _the french-polisher's manual._ by a french-polisher; containing timber staining, washing, matching, improving, painting, imitations, directions for staining, sizing, embodying, smoothing, spirit varnishing, french-polishing, directions for re-polishing. third edition, royal 32mo, sewed, 6_d._ _hops, their cultivation, commerce, and uses in various countries._ by p. l. simmonds. crown 8vo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _the principles of graphic statics._ by george sydenham clarke, major royal engineers. _with 112 illustrations._ second edition, 4to, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _dynamo tenders' hand-book._ by f. b. badt, late 1st lieut. royal prussian artillery. _with 70 illustrations._ third edition, 18mo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _practical geometry, perspective, and engineering drawing_; a course of descriptive geometry adapted to the requirements of the engineering draughtsman, including the determination of cast shadows and isometric projection, each chapter being followed by numerous examples; to which are added rules for shading, shade-lining, etc., together with practical instructions as to the lining, colouring, printing, and general treatment of engineering drawings, with a chapter on drawing instruments. by george s. clarke, capt. r.e. second edition, _with 21 plates_. 2 vols., cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _the elements of graphic statics._ by professor karl von ott, translated from the german by g. s. clarke, capt. r.e., instructor in mechanical drawing, royal indian engineering college. _with 93 illustrations_, crown 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _a practical treatise on the manufacture and distribution of coal gas._ by william richards. demy 4to, with _numerous wood engravings and 29 plates_, cloth, 28_s._ synopsis of contents: introduction--history of gas lighting--chemistry of gas manufacture, by lewis thompson, esq., m.r.c.s.--coal, with analyses, by j. paterson, lewis thompson, and g. r. hislop, esqrs.--retorts, iron and clay--retort setting--hydraulic main--condensers--exhausters- washers and scrubbers--purifiers--purification--history of gas holder--tanks, brick and stone, composite, concrete, cast-iron, compound annular wrought-iron--specifications--gas holders- station meter--governor--distribution--mains--gas mathematics, or formulã¦ for the distribution of gas, by lewis thompson, esq.--services--consumers' meters--regulators--burners--fittings- photometer--carburization of gas--air gas and water gas- composition of coal gas, by lewis thompson, esq.--analyses of gas--influence of atmospheric pressure and temperature on gas--residual products--appendix--description of retort settings, buildings, etc., etc. _the new formula for mean velocity of discharge of rivers and canals._ by w. r. kutter. translated from articles in the 'cultur-ingã©nieur,' by lowis d'a. jackson, assoc. inst. c.e. 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _the practical millwright and engineers ready reckoner_; or tables for finding the diameter and power of cog-wheels, diameter, weight, and power of shafts, diameter and strength of bolts, etc. by thomas dixon. fourth edition, 12mo, cloth, 3_s._ _tin_: describing the chief methods of mining, dressing and smelting it abroad; with notes upon arsenic, bismuth and wolfram. by arthur g. charleton, mem. american inst. of mining engineers. _with plates_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _perspective, explained and illustrated._ by g. s. clarke, capt. r.e. _with illustrations_, 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._ _practical hydraulics;_ a series of rules and tables for the use of engineers, etc., etc. by thomas box. ninth edition, _numerous plates_, post 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _the essential elements of practical mechanics; based on the principle of work_, designed for engineering students. by oliver byrne, formerly professor of mathematics, college for civil engineers. third edition, _with 148 wood engravings_, post 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ contents: chap. 1. how work is measured by a unit, both with and without reference to a unit of time--chap. 2. the work of living agents, the influence of friction, and introduces one of the most beautiful laws of motion--chap. 3. the principles expounded in the first and second chapters are applied to the motion of bodies--chap. 4. the transmission of work by simple machines--chap. 5. useful propositions and rules. _breweries and maltings_: their arrangement, construction, machinery, and plant. by g. scamell, f.r.i.b.a. second edition, revised, enlarged, and partly rewritten. by f. colyer, m.i.c.e., m.i.m.e. _with 20 plates_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _a practical treatise on the construction of horizontal and vertical waterwheels_, specially designed for the use of operative mechanics. by william cullen, millwright and engineer. _with 11 plates._ second edition, revised and enlarged, small 4to, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _a practical treatise on mill-gearing, wheels, shafts, riggers, etc._; for the use of engineers. by thomas box. third edition, _with 11 plates_. crown 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _mining machinery_: a descriptive treatise on the machinery, tools, and other appliances used in mining. by g. g. andrã�, f.g.s., assoc. inst. c.e., mem. of the society of engineers. royal 4to, uniform with the author's treatise on coal mining, containing 182 _plates_, accurately drawn to scale, with descriptive text, in 2 vols., cloth, 3_l._ 12_s._ contents: machinery for prospecting, excavating, hauling, and hoisting- ventilation--pumping--treatment of mineral products, including gold and silver, copper, tin, and lead, iron, coal sulphur, china clay, brick earth, etc. _tables for setting out curves for railways, canals, roads, etc._, varying from a radius of five chains to three miles. by a. kennedy and r. w. hackwood. _illustrated_ 32mo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ _practical electrical notes and definitions for the use of engineering students and practical men._ by w. perren maycock, assoc. m. inst. e.e., instructor in electrical engineering at the pitlake institute, croydon, together with the rules and regulations to be observed in electrical installation work. second edition. royal 32mo, roan, gilt edges, 4_s._ 6_d._ _the draughtsman's handbook of plan and map drawing_; including instructions for the preparation of engineering, architectural, and mechanical drawings. _with numerous illustrations in the text, and 33 plates (15 printed in colours)._ by g. g. andrã�, f.g.s., assoc. inst. c.e. 4to, cloth, 9_s._ contents: the drawing office and its furnishings--geometrical problems- lines, dots, and their combinations--colours, shading, lettering, bordering, and north points--scales--plotting--civil engineers' and surveyors' plans--map drawing--mechanical and architectural drawing--copying and reducing trigonometrical formulã¦, etc., etc. _the boiler-maker's and iron ship-builder's companion_, comprising a series of original and carefully calculated tables, of the utmost utility to persons interested in the iron trades. by james foden, author of 'mechanical tables,' etc. second edition revised, _with illustrations_, crown 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _rock blasting_: a practical treatise on the means employed in blasting rocks for industrial purposes. by g. g. andrã�, f.g.s., assoc. inst. c.e. _with 56 illustrations and 12 plates_, 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _experimental science_: elementary, practical, and experimental physics. by geo. m. hopkins. _illustrated by 672 engravings._ in one large vol., 8vo, cloth, 18_s._ _a treatise on ropemaking as practised in public and private rope-yards_, with a description of the manufacture, rules, tables of weights, etc., adapted to the trade, shipping, mining, railways, builders, etc. by r. chapman, formerly foreman to messrs. huddart and co., limehouse, and late master ropemaker to h. m. dockyard, deptford. second edition, 12mo, cloth, 3_s._ _laxton's builders' and contractors' tables_; for the use of engineers, architects, surveyors, builders, land agents, and others. bricklayer, containing 22 tables, with nearly 30,000 calculations. 4to, cloth, 5_s._ _laxton's builders' and contractors' tables._ excavator, earth, land, water, and gas, containing 53 tables, with nearly 24,000 calculations. 4to, cloth, 5_s._ _egyptian irrigation._ by w. willcocks, m.i.c.e., indian public works department, inspector of irrigation, egypt. with introduction by lieut.-col. j. c. ross, r.e., inspector-general of irrigation. _with numerous lithographs and wood engravings_, royal 8vo, cloth, 1_l._ 16_s._ _screw cutting tables for engineers and machinists_, giving the values of the different trains of wheels required to produce screws of any pitch, calculated by lord lindsay, m.p., f.r.s., f.r.a.s., etc. cloth, oblong, 2_s._ _screw cutting tables_, for the use of mechanical engineers, showing the proper arrangement of wheels for cutting the threads of screws of any required pitch, with a table for making the universal gas-pipe threads and taps. by w. a. martin, engineer. second, edition, oblong, cloth, 1_s._, or sewed, 6_d._ _a treatise on a practical method of designing slide-valve gears by simple geometrical construction_, based upon the principles enunciated in euclid's elements, and comprising the various forms of plain slide-valve and expansion gearing; together with stephenson's, gooch's, and allan's link-motions, as applied either to reversing or to variable expansion combinations. by edward j. cowling welch, memb. inst. mechanical engineers. crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ _cleaning and scouring_: a manual for dyers, laundresses, and for domestic use. by s. christopher. 18mo, sewed, 6_d._ _a glossary of terms used in coal mining._ by william stukeley gresley, assoc. mem. inst c.e., f.g.s., member of the north of england institute of mining engineers. _illustrated with numerous woodcuts and diagrams_, crown 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _a pocket-book for boiler makers and steam users_, comprising a variety of useful information for employer and workman, government inspectors, board of trade surveyors, engineers in charge of works and slips, foremen of manufactories, and the general steam-using public. by maurice john sexton. second edition, royal 32mo, roan, gilt edges, 5_s._ _electrolysis_: a practical treatise on nickeling, coppering, gilding, silvering, the refining of metals, and the treatment of ores by means of electricity. by hippolyte fontaine, translated from the french by j. a. berly, c.e., assoc. s.t.e. _with engravings._ 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ _barlow's tables of squares, cubes, square roots, cube roots, reciprocals of all integer numbers up to 10,000._ post 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ _a practical treatise on the steam engine_, containing plans and arrangements of details for fixed steam engines, with essays on the principles involved in design and construction. by arthur rigg, engineer, member of the society of engineers and of the royal institution of great britain. demy 4to, _copiously illustrated with woodcuts and 96 plates_, in one volume, half-bound morocco, 2_l._ 2_s._; or cheaper edition, cloth, 25_s._ this work is not, in any sense, an elementary treatise, or history of the steam engine, but is intended to describe examples of fixed steam engines without entering into the wide domain of locomotive or marine practice. to this end illustrations will be given of the most recent arrangements of horizontal, vertical, beam, pumping, winding, portable, semi-portable, corliss, allen, compound, and other similar engines, by the most eminent firms in great britain and america. the laws relating to the action and precautions to be observed in the construction of the various details, such as cylinders, pistons, piston-rods, connecting-rods, cross-heads, motion-blocks, eccentrics, simple, expansion, balanced, and equilibrium slide-valves, and valve-gearing will be minutely dealt with. in this connection will be found articles upon the velocity of reciprocating parts and the mode of applying the indicator, heat and expansion of steam governors, and the like. it is the writer's desire to draw illustrations from every possible source, and give only those rules that present practice deems correct. _a practical treatise on the science of land and engineering surveying, levelling, estimating quantities, etc._, with a general description of the several instruments required for surveying, levelling, plotting, etc. by h. s. merrett. fourth edition, revised by g. w. usill, assoc. mem. inst. c.e. _41 plates, with illustrations and tables_, royal 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ principal contents: part 1. introduction and the principles of geometry. part 2. land surveying; comprising general observations--the chain--offsets surveying by the chain only--surveying hilly ground--to survey an estate or parish by the chain only--surveying with the theodolite --mining and town surveying--railroad surveying--mapping- division and laying out of land--observations on enclosures- plane trigonometry. part 3. levelling--simple and compound levelling--the level book--parliamentary plan and section- levelling with a theodolite--gradients--wooden curves--to lay out a railway curve--setting out widths. part 4. calculating quantities generally for estimates--cuttings and embankments- tunnels--brickwork--ironwork--timber measuring. part 5. description and use of instruments in surveying and plotting- the improved dumpy level--troughton's level--the prismatic compass--proportional compass--box sextant--vernier--pantagraph- merrett's improved quadrant--improved computation scale--the diagonal scale--straight edge and sector. part 6. logarithms of numbers--logarithmic sines and co-sines, tangents and co-tangents --natural sines and co-sines--tables for earthwork, for setting out curves, and for various calculations, etc., etc., etc. _mechanical graphics._ a second course of mechanical drawing. with preface by prof. perry, b.sc., f.r.s. arranged for use in technical and science and art institutes, schools and colleges, by george halliday, whitworth scholar. 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ _the assayers manual_: an abridged treatise on the docimastic examination of ores and furnace and other artificial products. by bruno kerl. translated by w. t. brannt. _with 65 illustrations_, 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _dynamo-electric machinery_: a text-book for students of electro-technology. by silvanus p. thompson, b.a., d.sc., m.s.t.e. [_new edition in the press._ _the practice of hand turning in wood, ivory, shell, etc._, with instructions for turning such work in metal as may be required in the practice of turning in wood, ivory, etc.; also an appendix on ornamental turning. (a book for beginners.) by francis campin. third edition, _with wood engravings_, crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ contents: on lathes--turning tools--turning wood--drilling--screw cutting- miscellaneous apparatus and processes--turning particular forms- staining--polishing--spinning metals--materials--ornamental turning, etc. _treatise on watchwork, past and present._ by the rev. h. l. nelthropp, m.a., f.s.a. _with 32 illustrations_, crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ 6_d._ contents: definitions of words and terms used in watchwork--tools--time- historical summary--on calculations of the numbers for wheels and pinions; their proportional sizes, trains, etc.--of dial wheels, or motion work--length of time of going without winding up--the verge--the horizontal--the duplex--the lever--the chronometer- repeating watches--keyless watches--the pendulum, or spiral spring- compensation--jewelling of pivot holes--clerkenwell--fallacies of the trade--incapacity of workmen--how to choose and use a watch, etc. _algebra self-taught._ by w. p. higgs, m.a., d.sc., ll.d., assoc. inst c.e., author of 'a handbook of the differential calculus,' etc. second edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ contents: symbols and the signs of operation--the equation and the unknown quantity--positive and negative quantities--multiplication- involution--exponents--negative exponents--roots, and the use of exponents as logarithms--logarithms--tables of logarithms and proportionate parts--transformation of system of logarithms- common uses of common logarithms--compound multiplication and the binomial theorem--division, fractions, and ratio--continued proportion--the series and the summation of the series--limit of series--square and cube roots--equations--list of formulã¦, etc. _spons' dictionary of engineering, civil, mechanical, military, and naval_; with technical terms in french, german, italian, and spanish, 3100 pp., and _nearly 8000 engravings_, in super-royal 8vo, in 8 divisions, 5_l._ 8_s._ complete in 3 vols., cloth, 5_l._ 5_s._ bound in a superior manner, half-morocco, top edge gilt, 3 vols., 6_l._ 12_s._ _notes in mechanical engineering._ compiled principally for the use of the students attending the classes on this subject at the city of london college. by henry adams, mem. inst. m.e., mem. inst. c.e., mem. soc. of engineers. crown 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ _canoe and boat building_: a complete manual for amateurs, containing plain and comprehensive directions for the construction of canoes, rowing and sailing boats, and hunting craft. by w. p. stephens. _with numerous illustrations and 24 plates of working drawings._ crown 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ _proceedings of the national conference of electricians, philadelphia_, october 8th to 13th, 1884. 18mo, cloth, 3_s._ _dynamo-electricity_, its generation, application, transmission, storage, and measurement. by g. b. prescott. _with 545 illustrations._ 8vo, cloth, 1_l._ 1_s._ _domestic electricity for amateurs._ translated from the french of e. hospitalier, editor of "l'electricien," by c. j. wharton, assoc. soc. tel. eng. _numerous illustrations._ demy 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ contents: 1. production of the electric current--2. electric bells--3. automatic alarms--4. domestic telephones--5. electric clocks--6. electric lighters--7. domestic electric lighting--8. domestic application of the electric light--9. electric motors--10. electrical locomotion--11. electrotyping, plating, and gilding--12. electric recreations--13. various applications--workshop of the electrician. _wrinkles in electric lighting._ by vincent stephen. _with illustrations._ 18mo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ contents: 1. the electric current and its production by chemical means--2. production of electric currents by mechanical means--3. dynamo-electric machines--4. electric lamps--5. lead--6. ship lighting. _foundations and foundation walls for all classes of buildings_, pile driving, building stones and bricks, pier and wall construction, mortars, limes, cements, concretes, stuccos, &c. _64 illustrations._ by g. t. powell and f. bauman. 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _manual for gas engineering students._ by d. lee. 18mo, cloth, 1_s._ _telephones, their construction and management._ by f. c. allsop. crown 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _hydraulic machinery, past and present._ a lecture delivered to the london and suburban railway officials' association. by h. adams, mem. inst. c.e. _folding plate._ 8vo, sewed, 1_s._ _twenty years with the indicator._ by thomas pray, jun., c.e., m.e., member of the american society of civil engineers. 2 vols., royal 8vo, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ _annual statistical report of the secretary to the members of the iron and steel association on the home and foreign iron and steel industries in 1889._ issued june 1890. 8vo, sewed, 5_s._ _bad drains, and how to test them_; with notes on the ventilation of sewers, drains, and sanitary fittings, and the origin and transmission of zymotic disease. by r. harris reeves. crown 8vo, cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._ _well sinking._ the modern practice of sinking and boring wells, with geological considerations and examples of wells. by ernest spon, assoc. mem. inst. c.e., mem. soc. eng., and of the franklin inst., etc. second edition, revised and enlarged. crown 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _the voltaic accumulator_: an elementary treatise. by ã�mile reynier. translated by j. a. berly, assoc. inst. e.e. _with 62 illustrations_, 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ _ten years' experience in works of intermittent downward filtration._ by j. bailey denton, mem. inst. c.e. second edition, with additions. royal 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _land surveying on the meridian and perpendicular system._ by william penman, c.e. 8vo, cloth, 8_s._ 6_d._ _the electromagnet and electromagnetic mechanism._ by silvanus p. thompson, d.sc., f.r.s. 8vo, cloth, 15_s._ _incandescent wiring hand-book._ by f. b. badt, late 1st lieut. royal prussian artillery. _with 41 illustrations and 5 tables._ 18mo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _a pocket-book for pharmacists, medical practitioners, students, etc., etc. (british, colonial, and american)._ by thomas bayley, assoc. r. coll. of science, consulting chemist, analyst, and assayer, author of a 'pocket-book for chemists,' 'the assay and analysis of iron and steel, iron ores, and fuel,' etc., etc. royal 32mo, boards, gilt edges, 6_s._ _the fireman's guide_; a handbook on the care of boilers. by teknolog, fã¶reningen t. i. stockholm. translated from the third edition, and revised by karl p. dahlstrom, m.e. second edition. fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ _a treatise on modern steam engines and boilers_, including land locomotive, and marine engines and boilers, for the use of students. by frederick colyer, m. inst. c.e., mem. inst. m.e. _with 36 plates._ 4to, cloth, 12_s._ 6_d._ contents: 1. introduction--2. original engines--3. boilers--4. high-pressure beam engines--5. cornish beam engines--6. horizontal engines--7. oscillating engines--8. vertical high-pressure engines--9. special engines--10. portable engines--11. locomotive engines--12. marine engines. _steam engine management_; a treatise on the working and management of steam boilers. by f. colyer, m. inst. c.e., mem. inst. m.e. 18mo, cloth, 2_s._ _a text-book of tanning_, embracing the preparation of all kinds of leather. by harry r. proctor, f.c.s., of low lights tanneries. _with illustrations._ crown 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _aid book to engineering enterprise._ by ewing matheson, m. inst. c.e. the inception of public works, parliamentary procedure for railways, concessions for foreign works, and means of providing money, the points which determine success or failure, contract and purchase, commerce in coal, iron, and steel, &c. second edition, revised and enlarged, 8vo, cloth, 21_s._ _pumps, historically, theoretically, and practically considered._ by p. r. bjã�rling. _with 156 illustrations._ crown 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _the marine transport of petroleum._ a book for the use of shipowners, shipbuilders, underwriters, merchants, captains and officers of petroleum-carrying vessels. by g. h. little, editor of the 'liverpool journal of commerce.' crown 8vo, cloth, 10_s._ 6_d._ _liquid fuel for mechanical and industrial purposes._ compiled by e. a. brayley hodgetts. _with wood engravings._ 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _tropical agriculture_: a treatise on the culture, preparation, commerce and consumption of the principal products of the vegetable kingdom. by p. l. simmonds, f.l.s., f.r.c.i. new edition, revised and enlarged, 8vo, cloth, 21_s._ _health and comfort in house building_; or, ventilation with warm air by self-acting suction power. with review of the mode of calculating the draught in hot-air flues, and with some actual experiments by j. drysdale, m.d., and j. w. hayward, m.d. _with plates and woodcuts._ third edition, with some new sections, and the whole carefully revised, 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _losses in gold amalgamation._ with notes on the concentration of gold and silver ores. _with six plates._ by w. mcdermott and p. w. duffield. 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ _a guide for the electric testing of telegraph cables._ by col. v. hoskioer, royal danish engineers. third edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _the hydraulic gold miners' manual._ by t. s. g. kirkpatrick, m.a. oxon. _with 6 plates._ crown 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ "we venture to think that this work will become a text-book on the important subject of which it treats. until comparatively recently hydraulic mines were neglected. this was scarcely to be surprised at, seeing that their working in california was brought to an abrupt termination by the action of the farmers on the dã©bris question, whilst their working in other parts of the world had not been attended with the anticipated success."--_the mining world and engineering record._ _the arithmetic of electricity._ by t. o'conor sloane. crown 8vo, cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ _the turkish bath_: its design and construction for public and commercial purposes. by r. o. allsop, architect. _with plans and sections._ 8vo, cloth, 6_s._ _earthwork slips and subsidences upon public works_: their causes, prevention and reparation. especially written to assist those engaged in the construction or maintenance of railways, docks, canals, waterworks, river banks, reclamation embankments, drainage works, &c., &c. by john newman, assoc. mem. inst. c.e., author of 'notes on concrete,' &c. crown 8vo, cloth, 7_s._ 6_d._ _gas and petroleum engines_: a practical treatise on the internal combustion engine. by wm. robinson, m.e., senior demonstrator and lecturer on applied mechanics, physics, &c., city and guilds of london college, finsbury, assoc. mem. inst. c.e., &c. _numerous illustrations._ 8vo, cloth, 14_s._ _waterways and water transport in different countries._ with a description of the panama, suez, manchester, nicaraguan, and other canals. by j. stephen jeans, author of 'england's supremacy,' 'railway problems,' &c. _numerous illustrations._ 8vo, cloth, 14_s._ _a treatise on the richards steam-engine indicator and the development and application of force in the steam-engine._ by charles t. porter. fourth edition, revised and enlarged, 8vo, cloth, 9_s._ contents. the nature and use of the indicator: the several lines on the diagram. examination of diagram no. 1. of truth in the diagram. description of the richards indicator. practical directions for applying and taking care of the indicator. introductory remarks. units. expansion. directions for ascertaining from the diagram the power exerted by the engine. to measure from the diagram the quantity of steam consumed. to measure from the diagram the quantity of heat expended. of the real diagram, and how to construct it. of the conversion of heat into work in the steam-engine. observations on the several lines of the diagram. of the loss attending the employment of slow-piston speed, and the extent to which this is shown by the indicator. of other applications of the indicator. of the use of the tables of the properties of steam in calculating the duty of boilers. introductory. of the pressure on the crank when the connecting-rod is conceived to be of infinite length. the modification of the acceleration and retardation that is occasioned by the angular vibration of the connecting-rod. method of representing the actual pressure on the crank at every point of its revolution. the rotative effect of the pressure exerted on the crank. the transmitting parts of an engine, considered as an equaliser of motion. a ride on a buffer-beam (appendix). in demy 4to, handsomely bound in cloth, _illustrated with 220 full page plates_, price 15_s._ architectural examples in brick, stone, wood, and iron. a complete work on the details and arrangement of building construction and design. by william fullerton, architect. containing 220 plates, with numerous drawings selected from the architecture of former and present times. _the details and designs are drawn to scale, 1/8", 1/4", 1/2", and full size being chiefly used._ the plates are arranged in two parts. the first part contains details of work in the four principal building materials, the following being a few of the subjects in this part:--various forms of doors and windows, wood and iron roofs, half timber work, porches, towers, spires, belfries, flying buttresses, groining, carving, church fittings, constructive and ornamental iron work, classic and gothic molds and ornament, foliation natural and conventional, stained glass, coloured decoration, a section to scale of the great pyramid, grecian and roman work, continental and english gothic, pile foundations, chimney shafts according to the regulations of the london county council, board schools. the second part consists of drawings of plans and elevations of buildings, arranged under the following heads:--workmen's cottages and dwellings, cottage residences and dwelling houses, shops, factories, warehouses, schools, churches and chapels, public buildings, hotels and taverns, and buildings of a general character. all the plates are accompanied with particulars of the work, with explanatory notes and dimensions of the various parts. [illustration: _specimen pages, reduced from the originals._] crown 8vo, cloth, with illustrations, 5_s._ workshop receipts, first series. by ernest spon. synopsis of contents. bookbinding. bronzes and bronzing. candles. cement. cleaning. colourwashing. concretes. dipping acids. drawing office details. drying oils. dynamite. electro-metallurgy--(cleaning, dipping, scratch-brushing, batteries, baths, and deposits of every description). enamels. engraving on wood, copper, gold, silver, steel, and stone. etching and aqua tint. firework making--(rockets, stars, rains, gerbes, jets, tour-billons, candles, fires, lances, lights, wheels, fire-balloons, and minor fireworks). fluxes. foundry mixtures. freezing. fulminates. furniture creams, oils, polishes, lacquers, and pastes. gilding. glass cutting, cleaning, frosting, drilling, darkening, bending, staining, and painting. glass making. glues. gold. graining. gums. gun cotton. gunpowder. horn working. indiarubber. japans, japanning, and kindred processes. lacquers. lathing. lubricants. marble working. matches. mortars. nitro-glycerine. oils. paper. paper hanging. painting in oils, in water colours, as well as fresco, house, transparency, sign, and carriage painting. photography. plastering. polishes. pottery--(clays, bodies, glazes, colours, oils, stains, fluxes, enamels, and lustres). scouring. silvering. soap. solders. tanning. taxidermy. tempering metals. treating horn, mother-o'-pearl, and like substances. varnishes, manufacture and use of. veneering. washing. waterproofing. welding. crown 8vo, cloth, 485 pages, with illustrations, 5_s._ workshop receipts, second series. by robert haldane. synopsis of contents. acidimetry and alkalimetry. albumen. alcohol. alkaloids. baking-powders. bitters. bleaching. boiler incrustations. cements and lutes. cleansing. confectionery. copying. disinfectants. dyeing, staining, and colouring. essences. extracts. fireproofing. gelatine, glue, and size. glycerine. gut. hydrogen peroxide. ink. iodine. iodoform. isinglass. ivory substitutes. leather. luminous bodies. magnesia. matches. paper. parchment. perchloric acid. potassium oxalate. preserving. pigments, paint, and painting: embracing the preparation of _pigments_, including alumina lakes, blacks (animal, bone, frankfort, ivory, lamp, sight, soot), blues (antimony, antwerp, cobalt, cã¦ruleum, egyptian, manganate, paris, pã©ligot, prussian, smalt, ultramarine), browns (bistre, hinau, sepia, sienna, umber, vandyke), greens (baryta, brighton, brunswick, chrome, cobalt, douglas, emerald, manganese, mitis, mountain, prussian, sap, scheele's, schweinfurth, titanium, verdigris, zinc), reds (brazilwood lake, carminated lake, carmine, cassius purple, cobalt pink, cochineal lake, colcothar, indian red, madder lake, red chalk, red lead, vermilion), whites (alum, baryta, chinese, lead sulphate, white lead--by american, dutch, french, german, kremnitz, and pattinson processes, precautions in making, and composition of commercial samples--whiting, wilkinson's white, zinc white), yellows (chrome, gamboge, naples, orpiment, realgar, yellow lakes); _paint_ (vehicles, testing oils, driers, grinding, storing, applying, priming, drying, filling, coats, brushes, surface, water-colours, removing smell, discoloration; miscellaneous paints--cement paint for carton-pierre, copper paint, gold paint, iron paint, lime paints, silicated paints, steatite paint, transparent paints, tungsten paints, window paint, zinc paints); _painting_ (general instructions, proportions of ingredients, measuring paint work; carriage painting--priming paint, best putty, finishing colour, cause of cracking, mixing the paints, oils, driers, and colours, varnishing, importance of washing vehicles, re-varnishing, how to dry paint; woodwork painting). crown 8vo, cloth, 480 pages, with 183 illustrations, 5_s._ workshop receipts, third series. by c. g. warnford lock. uniform with the first and second series. synopsis of contents. alloys. aluminium. antimony. barium. beryllium. bismuth. cadmium. cã¦sium. calcium. cerium. chromium. cobalt. copper. didymium. electrics. enamels and glazes. erbium. gallium. glass. gold. indium. iridium. iron and steel. lacquers and lacquering. lanthanum. lead. lithium. lubricants. magnesium. manganese. mercury. mica. molybdenum. nickel. niobium. osmium. palladium. platinum. potassium. rhodium. rubidium. ruthenium. selenium. silver. slag. sodium. strontium. tantalum. terbium. thallium. thorium. tin. titanium. tungsten. uranium. vanadium. yttrium. zinc. zirconium. workshop receipts, fourth series, devoted mainly to handicrafts & mechanical subjects. by c. g. warnford lock. 250 illustrations, with complete index, and a general index to the four series, 5_s._ waterproofing--rubber goods, cuprammonium processes, miscellaneous preparations. packing and storing articles of delicate odour or colour, of a deliquescent character, liable to ignition, apt to suffer from insects or damp, or easily broken. embalming and preserving anatomical specimens. leather polishes. cooling air and water, producing low temperatures, making ice, cooling syrups and solutions, and separating salts from liquors by refrigeration. pumps and siphons, embracing every useful contrivance for raising and supplying water on a moderate scale, and moving corrosive, tenacious, and other liquids. desiccating--airand water-ovens, and other appliances for drying natural and artificial products. distilling--water, tinctures, extracts, pharmaceutical preparations, essences, perfumes, and alcoholic liquids. emulsifying as required by pharmacists and photographers. evaporating--saline and other solutions, and liquids demanding special precautions. filtering--water, and solutions of various kinds. percolating and macerating. electrotyping. stereotyping by both plaster and paper processes. bookbinding in all its details. straw plaiting and the fabrication of baskets, matting, etc. musical instruments--the preservation, tuning, and repair of pianos harmoniums, musical boxes, etc. clock and watch mending--adapted for intelligent amateurs. photography--recent development in rapid processes, handy apparatus, numerous recipes for sensitizing and developing solutions, and applications to modern illustrative purposes. now complete. _with nearly 1500 illustrations_, in super-royal 8vo, in 5 divisions, cloth. divisions 1 to 4, 13_s._ 6_d._ each; division 5, 17_s._ 6_d._; or 2 vols., cloth, â£3 10_s._ spons' encyclopã�dia of the industrial arts, manufactures, and commercial products. edited by c. g. warnford lock, f.l.s. among the more important of the subjects treated of, are the following:- acids, 207 pp. 220 figs. alcohol, 23 pp. 16 figs. alcoholic liquors, 13 pp. alkalies, 89 pp. 78 figs. alloys. alum. asphalt. assaying. beverages, 89 pp. 29 figs. blacks. bleaching powder, 15 pp. bleaching, 51 pp. 48 figs. candles, 18 pp. 9 figs. carbon bisulphide. celluloid, 9 pp. cements. clay. coal-tar products, 44 pp. 14 figs. cocoa, 8 pp. coffee, 32 pp. 13 figs. cork, 8 pp. 17 figs. cotton manufactures, 62 pp. 57 figs. drugs, 38 pp. dyeing and calico printing, 28 pp. 9 figs. dyestuffs, 16 pp. electro-metallurgy, 13 pp. explosives, 22 pp. 33 figs. feathers. fibrous substances, 92 pp. 79 figs. floor-cloth, 16 pp. 21 figs. food preservation, 8 pp. fruit, 8 pp. fur, 5 pp. gas, coal, 8 pp. gems. glass, 45 pp. 77 figs. graphite, 7 pp. hair, 7 pp. hair manufactures. hats, 26 pp. 26 figs. honey. hops. horn. ice, 10 pp. 14 figs. indiarubber manufactures, 23 pp. 17 figs. ink, 17 pp. ivory. jute manufactures, 11 pp. 11 figs. knitted fabrics--hosiery, 15 pp. 13 figs. lace, 13 pp. 9 figs. leather, 28 pp. 31 figs. linen manufactures, 16 pp. 6 figs. manures, 21 pp. 30 figs. matches, 17 pp. 38 figs. mordants, 13 pp. narcotics, 47 pp. nuts, 10 pp. oils and fatty substances, 125 pp. paint. paper, 26 pp. 23 figs. paraffin, 8 pp. 6 figs. pearl and coral, 8 pp. perfumes, 10 pp. photography, 13 pp. 20 figs. pigments, 9 pp. 6 figs. pottery, 46 pp. 57 figs. printing and engraving, 20 pp. 8 figs. rags. resinous and gummy substances, 75 pp. 16 figs. rope, 16 pp. 17 figs. salt, 31 pp. 23 figs. silk, 8 pp. silk manufactures, 9 pp. 11 figs. skins, 5 pp. small wares, 4 pp. soap and glycerine, 39 pp. 45 figs. spices, 16 pp. sponge, 5 pp. starch, 9 pp. 10 figs. sugar, 155 pp. 134 figs. sulphur. tannin, 18 pp. tea, 12 pp. timber, 13 pp. varnish, 15 pp. vinegar, 5 pp. wax, 5 pp. wool, 2 pp. woollen manufactures, 58 pp. 39 figs. in super-royal 8vo, 1168 pp., _with 2400 illustrations_, in 3 divisions, cloth, price 13_s._ 6_d._ each; or 1 vol., cloth, 2_l._; or half-morocco, 2_l._ 8_s._ a supplement to spons' dictionary of engineering. edited by ernest spon, memb. soc. engineers. abacus, counters, speed indicators, and slide rule. agricultural implements and machinery. air compressors. animal charcoal machinery. antimony. axles and axle-boxes. barn machinery. belts and belting. blasting. boilers. brakes. brick machinery. bridges. cages for mines. calculus, differential and integral. canals. carpentry. cast iron. cement, concrete, limes, and mortar. chimney shafts. coal cleansing and washing. coal mining. coal cutting machines. coke ovens. copper. docks. drainage. dredging machinery. dynamo-electric and magneto-electric machines. dynamometers. electrical engineering, telegraphy, electric lighting and its practical details, telephones. engines, varieties of. explosives. fans. founding, moulding and the practical work of the foundry. gas, manufacture of. hammers, steam and other power. heat. horse power. hydraulics. hydro-geology. indicators. iron. lifts, hoists, and elevators. lighthouses, buoys, and beacons. machine tools. materials of construction. meters. ores, machinery and processes employed to dress. piers. pile driving. pneumatic transmission. pumps. pyrometers. road locomotives. rock drills. rolling stock. sanitary engineering. shafting. steel. steam navvy. stone machinery. tramways. well sinking. just published. in demy 8vo, cloth, 600 pages, and 1420 illustrations, 6_s_. spons' mechanics' own book; a manual for handicraftsmen and amateurs. contents. mechanical drawing--casting and founding in iron, brass, bronze, and other alloys--forging and finishing iron--sheetmetal working- soldering, brazing, and burning--carpentry and joinery, embracing descriptions of some 400 woods, over 200 illustrations of tools and their uses, explanations (with diagrams) of 116 joints and hinges, and details of construction of workshop appliances, rough furniture, garden and yard erections, and house building- cabinet-making and veneering--carving and fretcutting--upholstery --painting, graining, and marbling--staining furniture, woods, floors, and fittings--gilding, dead and bright, on various grounds--polishing marble, metals, and wood--varnishing--mechanical movements, illustrating contrivances for transmitting motion- turning in wood and metals--masonry, embracing stonework, brickwork, terracotta, and concrete--roofing with thatch, tiles, slates, felt, zinc, &c.--glazing with and without putty, and lead glazing- plastering and whitewashing--paper-hanging--gas-fitting--bell-hanging, ordinary and electric systems--lighting--warming--ventilating- roads, pavements, and bridges--hedges, ditches, and drains--water supply and sanitation--hints on house construction suited to new countries. e. & f. n. spon, 125, strand, london. new york: 12, cortlandt street. proofreaders. scans provided by case western reserve university's preservation department http://www.cwru.edu/ul/preserve/general.htm the mechanical properties of wood [illustration: frontispiece. _photo by the author_. photomicrograph of a small block of western hemlock. at the top is the cross section showing to the right the late wood of one season's growth, to the left the early wood of the next season. the other two sections are longitudinal and show the fibrous character of the wood. to the left is the radial section with three rays crossing it. to the right is the tangential section upon which the rays appear as vertical rows of beads. x 35.] the mechanical properties of wood _including a discussion of the factors affecting the mechanical properties, and methods of timber testing_ by samuel j. record, m.a., m.f. assistant professor of forest products, yale university first edition first thousand 1914 by the same author identification of the economic woods of the united states. 8vo, vi + 117 pages, 15 figures. cloth, $1.25 net. to the staff of the forest products laboratory, at madison, wisconsin in appreciation of the many opportunities afforded and courtesies extended the author preface this book was written primarily for students of forestry to whom a knowledge of the technical properties of wood is essential. the mechanics involved is reduced to the simplest terms and without reference to higher mathematics, with which the students rarely are familiar. the intention throughout has been to avoid all unnecessarily technical language and descriptions, thereby making the subject-matter readily available to every one interested in wood. part i is devoted to a discussion of the mechanical properties of wood--the relation of wood material to stresses and strains. much of the subject-matter is merely elementary mechanics of materials in general, though written with reference to wood in particular. numerous tables are included, showing the various strength values of many of the more important american woods. part ii deals with the factors affecting the mechanical properties of wood. this is a subject of interest to all who are concerned in the rational use of wood, and to the forester it also, by retrospection, suggests ways and means of regulating his forest product through control of the conditions of production. attempt has been made, in the light of all data at hand, to answer many moot questions, such as the effect on the quality of wood of rate of growth, season of cutting, heartwood and sapwood, locality of growth, weight, water content, steaming, and defects. part iii describes methods of timber testing. they are for the most part those followed by the u.s. forest service. in schools equipped with the necessary machinery the instructions will serve to direct the tests; in others a study of the text with reference to the illustrations should give an adequate conception of the methods employed in this most important line of research. the appendix contains a copy of the working plan followed by the u.s. forest service in the extensive investigations covering the mechanical properties of the woods grown in the united states. it contains many valuable suggestions for the independent investigator. in addition four tables of strength values for structural timbers, both green and air-seasoned, are included. the relation of the stresses developed in different structural forms to those developed in the small clear specimens is given. in the bibliography attempt was made to list all of the important publications and articles on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing. while admittedly incomplete, it should prove of assistance to the student who desires a fuller knowledge of the subject than is presented here. the writer is indebted to the u.s. forest service for nearly all of his tables and photographs as well as many of the data upon which the book is based, since only the government is able to conduct the extensive investigations essential to a thorough understanding of the subject. more than eighty thousand tests have been made at the madison laboratory alone, and the work is far from completion. the writer also acknowledges his indebtedness to mr. emanuel fritz, m.e., m.f., for many helpful suggestions in the preparation of part i; and especially to mr. harry donald tiemann, m.e., m.f., engineer in charge of timber physics at the government forest products laboratory, madison, wisconsin, for careful revision of the entire manuscript. samuel j. record. yale forest school, _july 1, 1914_. contents preface part i the mechanical properties of wood introduction fundamental considerations and definitions tensile strength compressive or crushing strength shearing strength transverse or bending strength: beams toughness: torsion hardness cleavability part ii factors affecting the mechanical properties of wood introduction rate of growth heartwood and sapwood weight, density, and specific gravity color cross grain knots frost splits shakes, galls, pitch pockets insect injuries marine wood-borer injuries fungous injuries parasitic plant injuries locality of growth season of cutting water content temperature preservatives part iii timber testing working plan forms of material tested size of test specimens moisture determination machine for static tests speed of testing machine bending large beams bending small beams endwise compression compression across the grain shear along the grain impact test hardness test: abrasion and indentation cleavage test tension test parallel to the grain tension test at right angles to the grain torsion test special tests spike pulling test packing boxes vehicle and implement woods cross-arms other tests appendix sample working plan of united states forest service strength values for structural timbers bibliography part i: some general works on mechanics, materials of construction, and testing of materials part ii: publications and articles on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing part iii: publications of the united states government on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing illustrations frontispiece photomicrograph of a small block of western hemlock 1. stress-strain diagrams of two longleaf pine beams 2. compression across the grain 3. side view of failures in compression across the grain 4. end view of failures in compression across the grain 5. testing a buggy-spoke in endwise compression 6. unequal distribution of stress in a long column due to lateral bending 7. endwise compression of a short column 8. failures of a short column of green spruce 9. failures of short columns of dry chestnut 10. example of shear along the grain 11. failures of test specimens in shear along the grain 12. horizontal shear in a beam 13. oblique shear in a short column 14. failure of a short column by oblique shear 15. diagram of a simple beam 16. three common forms of beams--(1) simple, (2) cantilever, (3) continuous 17. characteristic failures of simple beams 18. failure of a large beam by horizontal shear 19. torsion of a shaft 20. effect of torsion on different grades of hickory 21. cleavage of highly elastic wood 22. cross-sections of white ash, red gum, and eastern hemlock 23. cross-section of longleaf pine 24. relation of the moisture content to the various strength values of spruce 25. cross-section of the wood of western larch showing fissures in the thick-walled cells of the late wood 26. progress of drying throughout the length of a chestnut beam 27. excessive season checking 28. control of season checking by the use of s-irons 29. static bending test on a large beam 30. two methods of loading a beam 31. static bending test on a small beam 32. sample log sheet, giving full details of a transverse bending test on a small pine beam 33. endwise compression test 34. sample log sheet of an endwise compression test on a short pine column 35. compression across the grain 36. vertical section of shearing tool 37. front view of shearing tool 38. two forms of shear test specimens 39. making a shearing test 40. impact testing machine 41. drum record of impact bending test 42. abrasion machine for testing the wearing qualities of woods 43. design of tool for testing the hardness of woods by indentation 44. design of tool for cleavage test 45. design of cleavage test specimen 46. designs of tension test specimens used in united states 47. design of tension test specimen used in new south wales 48. design of tool and specimen for testing tension at right angles to the grain 49. making a torsion test on hickory 50. method of cutting and marking test specimens 51. diagram of specific gravity apparatus tables i. comparative strength of iron, steel, and wood ii. ratio of strength of wood in tension and in compression iii. right-angled tensile strength of small clear pieces of 25 woods in green condition iv. results of compression tests across the grain on 51 woods in green condition, and comparison with white oak v. relation of fibre stress at elastic limit in bending to the crushing strength of blocks cut therefrom in pounds per square inch vi. results of endwise compression tests on small clear pieces of 40 woods in green condition vii. shearing strength along the grain of small clear pieces of 41 woods in green condition viii. shearing strength across the grain of various american woods ix. results of static bending tests on small clear beams of 49 woods in green condition x. results of impact bending tests on small clear beams of 34 woods in green condition xi. manner of first failure of large beams xii. hardness of 32 woods in green condition, as indicated by the load required to imbed a 0.444-inch steel ball to one-half its diameter xiii. cleavage strength of small clear pieces of 32 woods in green condition xiv. specific gravity, and shrinkage of 51 american woods xv. effect of drying on the mechanical properties of wood, shown in ratio of increase due to reducing moisture content from the green condition to kiln-dry xvi. effect of steaming on the strength of green loblolly pine xvii. speed-strength moduli, and relative increase in strength at rates of fibre strain increasing in geometric ratio xviii. results of bending tests on green structural timbers xix. results of compression and shear tests on green structural timbers xx. results of bending tests on air-seasoned structural timbers xxi. results of compression and shear tests on air-seasoned structural timbers xxii. working unit stresses for structural timber expressed in pounds per square inch part i the mechanical properties of wood introduction the mechanical properties of wood are its fitness and ability to resist applied or external forces. by external force is meant any force outside of a given piece of material which tends to deform it in any manner. it is largely such properties that determine the use of wood for structural and building purposes and innumerable other uses of which furniture, vehicles, implements, and tool handles are a few common examples. knowledge of these properties is obtained through experimentation either in the employment of the wood in practice or by means of special testing apparatus in the laboratory. owing to the wide range of variation in wood it is necessary that a great number of tests be made and that so far as possible all disturbing factors be eliminated. for comparison of different kinds or sizes a standard method of testing is necessary and the values must be expressed in some defined units. for these reasons laboratory experiments if properly conducted have many advantages over any other method. one object of such investigation is to find unit values for strength and stiffness, etc. these, because of the complex structure of wood, cannot have a constant value which will be exactly repeated in each test, even though no error be made. the most that can be accomplished is to find average values, the amount of variation above and below, and the laws which govern the variation. on account of the great variability in strength of different specimens of wood even from the same stick and appearing to be alike, it is important to eliminate as far as possible all extraneous factors liable to influence the results of the tests. the mechanical properties of wood considered in this book are: (1) stiffness and elasticity, (2) tensile strength, (3) compressive or crushing strength, (4) shearing strength, (5) transverse or bending strength, (6) toughness, (7) hardness, (8) cleavability, (9) resilience. in connection with these, associated properties of importance are briefly treated. in making use of figures indicating the strength or other mechanical properties of wood for the purpose of comparing the relative merits of different species, the fact should be borne in mind that there is a considerable range in variability of each individual material and that small differences, such as a few hundred pounds in values of 10,000 pounds, cannot be considered as a criterion of the quality of the timber. in testing material of the same kind and grade, differences of 25 per cent between individual specimens may be expected in conifers and 50 per cent or even more in hardwoods. the figures given in the tables should be taken as indications rather than fixed values, and as applicable to a large number collectively and not to individual pieces. fundamental considerations and definitions study of the mechanical properties of a material is concerned mostly with its behavior in relation to stresses and strains, and the factors affecting this behavior. a ~stress~ is a distributed force and may be defined as the mutual action (1) of one body upon another, or (2) of one part of a body upon another part. in the first case the stress is _external_; in the other _internal_. the same stress may be internal from one point of view and external from another. an external force is always balanced by the internal stresses when the body is in equilibrium. if no external forces act upon a body its particles assume certain relative positions, and it has what is called its _natural shape and size_. if sufficient external force is applied the natural shape and size will be changed. this distortion or deformation of the material is known as the ~strain~. every stress produces a corresponding strain, and within a certain limit (see _elastic limit_, in fundamental considerations and definitions, above) the strain is directly proportional to the stress producing it.[1] the same intensity of stress, however, does not produce the same strain in different materials or in different qualities of the same material. no strain would be produced in a perfectly rigid body, but such is not known to exist. [footnote 1: this is in accordance with the discovery made in 1678 by robert hooke, and is known as _hooke's law_.] stress is measured in pounds (or other unit of weight or force). a ~unit stress~ is the stress on a unit of the sectional { p } area. { unit stress = --} for instance, if a load (p) of one { a } hundred pounds is uniformly supported by a vertical post with a cross-sectional area (a) of ten square inches, the unit compressive stress is ten pounds per square inch. strain is measured in inches (or other linear unit). a ~unit strain~ is the strain per unit of length. thus if a post 10 inches long before compression is 9.9 inches long under the compressive stress, the total strain is 0.1 inch, and the unit l 0.1 strain is --= ----= 0.01 inch per inch of length. l 10 as the stress increases there is a corresponding increase in the strain. this ratio may be graphically shown by means of a diagram or curve plotted with the increments of load or stress as ordinates and the increments of strain as abscissã¦. this is known as the ~stress-strain diagram~. within the limit mentioned above the diagram is a straight line. (see fig. 1.) if the results of similar experiments on different specimens are plotted to the same scales, the diagrams furnish a ready means for comparison. the greater the resistance a material offers to deformation the steeper or nearer the vertical axis will be the line. [illustration: fig. 1.--stress-strain diagrams of two longleaf pine beams. e.l. = elastic limit. the areas of the triangles 0(el)a and 0(el)b represent the elastic resilience of the dry and green beams, respectively.] there are three kinds of internal stresses, namely, (1) ~tensile~, (2) ~compressive~, and (3) ~shearing~. when external forces act upon a bar in a direction away from its ends or a direct pull, the stress is a tensile stress; when toward the ends or a direct push, compressive stress. in the first instance the strain is an _elongation_; in the second a _shortening_. whenever the forces tend to cause one portion of the material to slide upon another adjacent to it the action is called a _shear_. the action is that of an ordinary pair of shears. when riveted plates slide on each other the rivets are sheared off. these three simple stresses may act together, producing compound stresses, as in flexure. when a bow is bent there is a compression of the fibres on the inner or concave side and an elongation of the fibres on the outer or convex side. there is also a tendency of the various fibres to slide past one another in a longitudinal direction. if the bow were made of two or more separate pieces of equal length it would be noted on bending that slipping occurred along the surfaces of contact, and that the ends would no longer be even. if these pieces were securely glued together they would no longer slip, but the tendency to do so would exist just the same. moreover, it would be found in the latter case that the bow would be much harder to bend than where the pieces were not glued together--in other words, the _stiffness_ of the bow would be materially increased. ~stiffness~ is the property by means of which a body acted upon by external forces tends to retain its natural size and shape, or resists deformation. thus a material that is difficult to bend or otherwise deform is stiff; one that is easily bent or otherwise deformed is _flexible_. flexibility is not the exact counterpart of stiffness, as it also involves toughness and pliability. if successively larger loads are applied to a body and then removed it will be found that at first the body completely regains its original form upon release from the stress--in other words, the body is ~elastic~. no substance known is perfectly elastic, though many are practically so under small loads. eventually a point will be reached where the recovery of the specimen is incomplete. this point is known as the ~elastic limit~, which may be defined as the limit beyond which it is impossible to carry the distortion of a body without producing a permanent alteration in shape. after this limit has been exceeded, the size and shape of the specimen after removal of the load will not be the same as before, and the difference or amount of change is known as the ~permanent set~. elastic limit as measured in tests and used in design may be defined as that unit stress at which the deformation begins to increase in a faster ratio than the applied load. in practice the elastic limit of a material under test is determined from the stress-strain diagram. it is that point in the line where the diagram begins perceptibly to curve.[2] (see fig. 1.) [footnote 2: if the straight portion does not pass through the origin, a parallel line should be drawn through the origin, and the load at elastic limit taken from this line. (see fig. 32.)] ~resilience~ is the amount of work done upon a body in deforming it. within the elastic limit it is also a measure of the potential energy stored in the material and represents the amount of work the material would do upon being released from a state of stress. this may be graphically represented by a diagram in which the abscissã¦ represent the amount of deflection and the ordinates the force acting. the area included between the stress-strain curve and the initial line (which is zero) represents the work done. (see fig. 1.) if the unit of space is in inches and the unit of force is in pounds the result is inch-pounds. if the elastic limit is taken as the apex of the triangle the area of the triangle will represent the ~elastic resilience~ of the specimen. this amount of work can be applied repeatedly and is perhaps the best measure of the toughness of the wood as a working quality, though it is not synonymous with toughness. permanent set is due to the ~plasticity~ of the material. a perfectly plastic substance would have no elasticity and the smallest forces would cause a set. lead and moist clay are nearly plastic and wood possesses this property to a greater or less extent. the plasticity of wood is increased by wetting, heating, and especially by steaming and boiling. were it not for this property it would be impossible to dry wood without destroying completely its cohesion, due to the irregularity of shrinkage. a substance that can undergo little change in shape without breaking or rupturing is ~brittle~. chalk and glass are common examples of brittle materials. sometimes the word _brash_ is used to describe this condition in wood. a brittle wood breaks suddenly with a clean instead of a splintery fracture and without warning. such woods are unfitted to resist shock or sudden application of load. the measure of the stiffness of wood is termed the ~modulus of elasticity~ (or _coefficient of elasticity_). it is the ratio of stress per unit of area to the deformation per unit of { unit stress } length. { e = ------------} it is a number indicative of { unit strain } stiffness, not of strength, and only applies to conditions within the elastic limit. it is nearly the same whether derived from compression tests or from tension tests. a large modulus indicates a stiff material. thus in green wood tested in static bending it varies from 643,000 pounds per square inch for arborvitã¦ to 1,662,000 pounds for longleaf pine, and 1,769,000 pounds for pignut hickory. (see table ix.) the values derived from tests of small beams of dry material are much greater, approaching 3,000,000 for some of our woods. these values are small when compared with steel which has a modulus of elasticity of about 30,000,000 pounds per square inch. (see table i.) |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table i | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | comparative strength of iron, steel, and wood | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | sp. | modulus of | tensile | crushing | modulus | | material | gr., | elasticity | strength | strength | of | | | dry | in bending | | | rupture | |-------------------------+----+------------+----------+----------+----------| | | | lbs. per | lbs. per | lbs. per | lbs. per | | | | sq. in. | sq. in. | sq. in. | sq. in. | | | | | | | | | cast iron, cold blast | | | | | | | (hodgkinson) | 7.1 | 17,270,000 | 16,700 | 106,000 | 38,500 | | bessenger steel, | | | | | | | high grade (fairbain) | 7.8 | 29,215,000 | 88,400 | 225,600 | | | longleaf pine, | | | | | | | 3.5% moisture (u.s.) | .63 | 2,800,000 | | 13,000 | 21,000 | | redspruce, | | | | | | | 3.5% moisture (u.s.) | .41 | 1,800,000 | | 8,800 | 14,500 | | pignut hickory, | | | | | | | 3.5% moisture (u.s.) | .86 | 2,370,000 | | 11,130 | 24,000 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--great variation may be found in different samples of metals as well | | as of wood. the examples given represent reasonable values. | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| tensile strength ~tension~ results when a pulling force is applied to opposite ends of a body. this external pull is communicated to the interior, so that any portion of the material exerts a pull or tensile force upon the remainder, the ability to do so depending upon the property of cohesion. the result is an elongation or stretching of the material in the direction of the applied force. the action is the opposite of compression. wood exhibits its greatest strength in tension parallel to the grain, and it is very uncommon in practice for a specimen to be pulled in two lengthwise. this is due to the difficulty of making the end fastenings secure enough for the full tensile strength to be brought into play before the fastenings shear off longitudinally. this is not the case with metals, and as a result they are used in almost all places where tensile strength is particularly needed, even though the remainder of the structure, such as sills, beams, joists, posts, and flooring, may be of wood. thus in a wooden truss bridge the tension members are steel rods. the tensile strength of wood parallel to the grain depends upon the strength of the fibres and is affected not only by the nature and dimensions of the wood elements but also by their arrangement. it is greatest in straight-grained specimens with thick-walled fibres. cross grain of any kind materially reduces the tensile strength of wood, since the tensile strength at right angles to the grain is only a small fraction of that parallel to the grain. |--------------------------------------------------------------| | table ii | |--------------------------------------------------------------| | ratio of strength of wood in tension and in compression | | (bul. 10, u. s. div. of forestry, p. 44) | |--------------------------------------------------------------| | | ratio: | a stick 1 square inch in | | | | cross section. | | | tensile | | | kind of wood | strength | weight required to- | | | r = ----------+----------------------------| | | compressive | pull apart | crush endwise | | | strength | | | |---------------+-----------------+------------+---------------| | hickory | 3.7 | 32,000 | 8,500 | | elm | 3.8 | 29,000 | 7,500 | | larch | 2.3 | 19,400 | 8,600 | | longleaf pine | 2.2 | 17,300 | 7,400 | |--------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--moisture condition not given. | |--------------------------------------------------------------| failure of wood in tension parallel to the grain occurs sometimes in flexure, especially with dry material. the tension portion of the fracture is nearly the same as though the piece were pulled in two lengthwise. the fibre walls are torn across obliquely and usually in a spiral direction. there is practically no pulling apart of the fibres, that is, no separation of the fibres along their walls, regardless of their thickness. the nature of tension failure is apparently not affected by the moisture condition of the specimen, at least not so much so as the other strength values.[3] [footnote 3: see brush, warren d.: a microscopic study of the mechanical failure of wood. vol. ii, rev. f.s. investigations, washington, d.c., 1912, p. 35.] tension at right angles to the grain is closely related to cleavability. when wood fails in this manner the thin fibre walls are torn in two lengthwise while the thick-walled fibres are usually pulled apart along the primary wall. |--------------------------------------------| | table iii | |--------------------------------------------| | tensile strength at right angles to the | | grain of small clear pieces of 25 woods in | | green condition | | (forest service cir. 213) | |--------------------------------------------| | | when | when | | common name | surface of | surface of | | of species | failure is | failure is | | | radial | tangential | |------------------+------------+------------| | | lbs. per | lbs. per | | | sq. inch | sq. inch | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | ash, white | 645 | 671 | | basswood | 226 | 303 | | beech | 633 | 969 | | birch, yellow | 446 | 526 | | elm, slippery | 765 | 832 | | hackberry | 661 | 786 | | locust, honey | 1,133 | 1,445 | | maple, sugar | 610 | 864 | | oak, post | 714 | 924 | | red | 639 | 874 | | swamp white | 757 | 909 | | white | 622 | 749 | | yellow | 728 | 929 | | sycamore | 540 | 781 | | tupelo | 472 | 796 | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 241 | 235 | | cypress, bald | 242 | 251 | | fir, white | 213 | 304 | | hemlock | 271 | 323 | | pine, longleaf | 240 | 298 | | red | 179 | 205 | | sugar | 239 | 304 | | western yellow | 230 | 252 | | white | 225 | 285 | | tamarack | 236 | 274 | |--------------------------------------------| compressive or crushing strength ~compression across the grain~ is very closely related to hardness and transverse shear. there are two ways in which wood is subjected to stress of this kind, namely, (1) with the load acting over the entire area of the specimen, and (2) with a load concentrated over a portion of the area. (see fig. 2.) the latter is the condition more commonly met with in practice, as, for example, where a post rests on a horizontal sill, or a rail rests on a cross-tie. the former condition, however, gives the true resistance of the grain to simple crushing. [illustration: fig. 2.--compression across the grain.] the first effect of compression across the grain is to compact the fibres, the load gradually but irregularly increasing as the density of the material is increased. if the specimen lies on a flat surface and the load is applied to only a portion of the upper area, the bearing plate indents the wood, crushing the upper fibres without affecting the lower part. (see fig. 3.) as the load increases the projecting ends sometimes split horizontally. (see fig. 4.) the irregularities in the load are due to the fact that the fibres collapse a few at a time, beginning with those with the thinnest walls. the projection of the ends increases the strength of the material directly beneath the compressing weight by introducing a beam action which helps support the load. this influence is exerted for a short distance only. [illustration: fig. 3.--side view of failures in compression across the grain, showing crushing of blocks under bearing plate. specimen at right shows splitting at ends.] [illustration: fig. 4.--end view of failures in compression across the grain, showing splitting of the ends of the test specimens.] when wood is used for columns, props, posts, and spokes, the weight of the load tends to shorten the material endwise. this is ~endwise compression~, or compression parallel to the grain. in the case of long columns, that is, pieces in which the length is very great compared with their diameter, the failure is by sidewise bending or flexure, instead of by crushing or splitting. (see fig. 5.) a familiar instance of this action is afforded by a flexible walking-stick. if downward pressure is exerted with the hand on the upper end of the stick placed vertically on the floor, it will be noted that a definite amount of force must be applied in each instance before decided flexure takes place. after this point is reached a very slight increase of pressure very largely increases the deflection, thus obtaining so great a leverage about the middle section as to cause rupture. [illustration: fig. 5.--testing a buggy spoke in endwise compression, illustrating the failure by sidewise bending of a long column fixed only at the lower end. _photo by u. s. forest service_] the lateral bending of a column produces a combination of bending with compressive stress over the section, the compressive stress being maximum at the section of greatest deflection on the concave side. the convex surface is under tension, as in an ordinary beam test. (see fig. 6.) if the same stick is braced in such a way that flexure is prevented, its supporting strength is increased enormously, since the compressive stress acts uniformly over the section, and failure is by crushing or splitting, as in small blocks. in all columns free to bend in any direction the deflection will be seen in the direction in which the column is least stiff. this sidewise bending can be overcome by making pillars and columns thicker in the middle than at the ends, and by bracing studding, props, and compression members of trusses. the strength of a column also depends to a considerable extent upon whether the ends are free to turn or are fixed. [illustration: fig. 6.--unequal distribution of stress in a long column due to lateral bending.] |-------------------------------------------------------| | table iv | |-------------------------------------------------------| | results of compression tests across the grain on | | 51 woods in green condition, and comparison with | | white oak | | (u. s. forest service) | |-------------------------------------------------------| | | fibre stress | fiber stress | | common name | at elastic | in per cent | | of species | limit | of white oak, | | | perpendicular | or 853 pounds | | | to grain | per sq. in. | |-----------------------+---------------+---------------| | | lbs. per | | | | sq. inch | per cent | | | | | | osage orange | 2,260 | 265.0 | | honey locust | 1,684 | 197.5 | | black locust | 1,426 | 167.2 | | post oak | 1,148 | 134.6 | | pignut hickory | 1,142 | 133.9 | | water hickory | 1,088 | 127.5 | | shagbark hickory | 1,070 | 125.5 | | mockernut hickory | 1,012 | 118.6 | | big shellbark hickory | 997 | 116.9 | | bitternut hickory | 986 | 115.7 | | nutmeg hickory | 938 | 110.0 | | yellow oak | 857 | 100.5 | | white oak | 853 | 100.0 | | bur oak | 836 | 98.0 | | white ash | 828 | 97.1 | | red oak | 778 | 91.2 | | sugar maple | 742 | 87.0 | | rock elm | 696 | 81.6 | | beech | 607 | 71.2 | | slippery elm | 599 | 70.2 | | redwood | 578 | 67.8 | | bald cypress | 548 | 64.3 | | red maple | 531 | 62.3 | | hackberry | 525 | 61.6 | | incense cedar | 518 | 60.8 | | hemlock | 497 | 58.3 | | longleaf pine | 491 | 57.6 | | tamarack | 480 | 56.3 | | silver maple | 456 | 53.5 | | yellow birch | 454 | 53.2 | | tupelo | 451 | 52.9 | | black cherry | 444 | 52.1 | | sycamore | 433 | 50.8 | | douglas fir | 427 | 50.1 | | cucumber tree | 408 | 47.8 | | shortleaf pine | 400 | 46.9 | | red pine | 358 | 42.0 | | sugar pine | 353 | 41.1 | | white elm | 351 | 41.2 | | western yellow pine | 348 | 40.8 | | lodgepole pine | 348 | 40.8 | | red spruce | 345 | 40.5 | | white pine | 314 | 36.8 | | engelman spruce | 290 | 34.0 | | arborvitã¦ | 288 | 33.8 | | largetooth aspen | 269 | 31.5 | | white spruce | 262 | 30.7 | | butternut | 258 | 30.3 | | buckeye (yellow) | 210 | 24.6 | | basswood | 209 | 24.5 | | black willow | 193 | 22.6 | |-------------------------------------------------------| the complexity of the computations depends upon the way in which the stress is applied and the manner in which the stick bends. ordinarily where the length of the test specimen is not greater than four diameters and the ends are squarely faced (see fig. 7), the force acts uniformly over each square inch of area and the crushing strength is equal to the maximum load (p) divided { p } by the area of the cross-section (a). { c = --} { a } [illustration: fig. 7.--endwise compression of a short column.] it has been demonstrated[4] that the ultimate strength in compression parallel to the grain is very nearly the same as the extreme fibre stress at the elastic limit in bending. (see table v.) in other words, the transverse strength of beams at elastic limit is practically equal to the compressive strength of the same material in short columns. it is accordingly possible to calculate the approximate breaking strength of beams from the compressive strength of short columns except when the wood is brittle. since tests on endwise compression are simpler, easier to make, and less expensive than transverse bending tests, the importance of this relation is obvious, though it does not do away with the necessity of making beam tests. [footnote 4: see circular no. 18, u.s. division of forestry: progress in timber physics, pp. 13-18; also bulletin 70, u.s. forest service: effect of moisture on the strength and stiffness of wood, pp. 42, 89-90.] |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table v | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | relation of fibre stress at elastic limit (r) in bending to the crushing | | strength (c) of blocks cut therefrom, in pounds per square inch | | (forest service bul. 70, p. 90) | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | longleaf pine | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | soaked | green | 14 | 11.5 | 9.5 | kiln-dry | | moisture condition | 50 per | 23 per | per | per | per | 6.2 per | | | cent | cent | cent | cent | cent | cent | | -------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+----------| | number of tests averaged | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | | _r_ in bending | 4,920 | 5,944 | 6,924 | 7,852 | 9,280 | 11,550 | | _c_ in compression | 4,668 | 5,100 | 6,466 | 7,466 | 8,985 | 10,910 | | per cent _r_ is in | | | | | | | | excess of _c_ | 5.5 | 16.5 | 7.1 | 5.2 | 3.3 | 5.9 | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | spruce | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | soaked | green | 10 | 8.1 | kiln-dry | | moisture condition | 30 per | 30 per | per | per | 3.9 per | | | cent | cent | cent | cent | cent | |----------------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+----------| | number of tests averaged | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | | _r_ in bending | 3,002 | 3,362 | 6,458 | 8,400 | 10,170 | | _c_ in compression | 2,680 | 3,025 | 6,120 | 7,610 | 9,335 | | per cent _r_ | | | | | | | is in excess of _c_ | 12.0 | 11.1 | 5.5 | 10.4 | 9.0 | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| when a short column is compressed until it breaks, the manner of failure depends partly upon the anatomical structure and partly upon the degree of humidity of the wood. the fibres (tracheids in conifers) act as hollow tubes bound closely together, and in giving way they either (1) buckle, or (2) bend.[5] [footnote 5: see bulletin 70, _op. cit._, p. 129.] the first is typical of any dry thin-walled cells, as is usually the case in seasoned white pine and spruce, and in the early wood of hard pines, hemlock, and other species with decided contrast between the two portions of the growth ring. as a rule buckling of a tracheid begins at the bordered pits which form places of least resistance in the walls. in hardwoods such as oak, chestnut, ash, etc., buckling occurs only in the thinnest-walled elements, such as the vessels, and not in the true fibres. according to jaccard[6] the folding of the cells is accompanied by characteristic alterations of their walls which seem to split them into extremely thin layers. when greatly magnified, these layers appear in longitudinal sections as delicate threads without any definite arrangements, while on cross section they appear as numerous concentric strata. this may be explained on the ground that the growth of a fibre is by successive layers which, under the influence of compression, are sheared apart. this is particularly the case with thick-walled cells such as are found in late wood. [footnote 6: jaccard, p.: ã�tude anatomique des bois comprimã©s. mit. d. schw. centralanstalt f.d. forst. versuchswesen. x. band, 1. heft. zurich, 1910, p. 66.] |-------------------------------------------------------| | table vi | |-------------------------------------------------------| | results of endwise compression tests on small clear | | pieces of 40 woods in green condition | | (forest service cir. 213) | |-------------------------------------------------------| | | fibre | | modulus | | common name | stress at | crushing | of | | of species | elastic | strength | elasticity | | | limit | | | |-------------------+-----------+----------+------------| | | lbs. per | lbs. per | lbs. per | | | sq. inch | sq. inch | sq. inch | | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | | | ash, white | 3,510 | 4,220 | 1,531,000 | | basswood | 780 | 1,820 | 1,016,000 | | beech | 2,770 | 3,480 | 1,412,000 | | birch, yellow | 2,570 | 3,400 | 1,915,000 | | elm, slippery | 3,410 | 3,990 | 1,453,000 | | hackberry | 2,730 | 3,310 | 1,068,000 | | hickory, | | | | | big shellbark | 3,570 | 4,520 | 1,658,000 | | bitternut | 4,330 | 4,570 | 1,616,000 | | mockernut | 3,990 | 4,320 | 1,359,000 | | nutmeg | 3,620 | 3,980 | 1,411,000 | | pignut | 3,520 | 4,820 | 1,980,000 | | shagbark | 3,730 | 4,600 | 1,943,000 | | water | 3,240 | 4,660 | 1,926,000 | | locust, honey | 4,300 | 4,970 | 1,536,000 | | maple, sugar | 3,040 | 3,670 | 1,463,000 | | oak, post | 2,780 | 3,330 | 1,062,000 | | red | 2,290 | 3,210 | 1,295,000 | | swamp white | 3,470 | 4,360 | 1,489,000 | | white | 2,400 | 3,520 | 946,000 | | yellow | 2,870 | 3,700 | 1,465,000 | | osage orange | 3,980 | 5,810 | 1,331,000 | | sycamore | 2,320 | 2,790 | 1,073,000 | | tupelo | 2,280 | 3,550 | 1,280,000 | | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 1,420 | 1,990 | 754,000 | | cedar, incense | 2,710 | 3,030 | 868,000 | | cypress, bald | 3,560 | 3,960 | 1,738,000 | | fir, alpine | 1,660 | 2,060 | 882,000 | | amabilis | 2,763 | 3,040 | 1,579,000 | | douglas | 2,390 | 2,920 | 1,440,000 | | white | 2,610 | 2,800 | 1,332,000 | | hemlock | 2,110 | 2,750 | 1,054,000 | | pine, lodgepole | 2,290 | 2,530 | 1,219,000 | | longleaf | 3,420 | 4,280 | 1,890,000 | | red | 2,470 | 3,080 | 1,646,000 | | sugar | 2,340 | 2,600 | 1,029,000 | | western yellow | 2,100 | 2,420 | 1,271,000 | | white | 2,370 | 2,720 | 1,318,000 | | redwood | 3,420 | 3,820 | 1,175,000 | | spruce, engelmann | 1,880 | 2,170 | 1,021,000 | | tamarack | 3,010 | 3,480 | 1,596,000 | |-------------------------------------------------------| the second case, where the fibres bend with more or less regular curves instead of buckling, is characteristic of any green or wet wood, and in dry woods where the fibres are thick-walled. in woods in which the fibre walls show all gradations of thickness--in other words, where the transition from the thin-walled cells of the early wood to the thick-walled cells of the late wood is gradual--the two kinds of failure, namely, buckling and bending, grade into each other. in woods with very decided contrast between early and late wood the two forms are usually distinct. except in the case of complete failure the cavity of the deformed cells remains open, and in hardwoods this is true not only of the wood fibres but also of the tube-like vessels. in many cases longitudinal splits occur which isolate bundles of elements by greater or less intervals. the splitting occurs by a tearing of the fibres or rays and not by the separation of the rays from the adjacent elements. [illustration: fig. 8.--failures of short columns of green spruce.] [illustration: fig. 9.--failures of short columns of dry chestnut.] moisture in wood decreases the stiffness of the fibre walls and enlarges the region of failure. the curve which the fibre walls make in the region of failure is more gradual and also more irregular than in dry wood, and the fibres are more likely to be separated. in examining the lines of rupture in compression parallel to the grain it appears that there does not exist any specific type, that is, one that is characteristic of all woods. test blocks taken from different parts of the same log may show very decided differences in the manner of failure, while blocks that are much alike in the size, number, and distribution of the elements of unequal resistance may behave very similarly. the direction of rupture is, according to jaccard, not influenced by the distribution of the medullary rays.[7] these are curved with the bundles of fibres to which they are attached. in any case the failure starts at the weakest points and follows the lines of least resistance. the plane of failure, as visible on radial surfaces, is horizontal, and on the tangential surface it is diagonal. [footnote 7: this does not correspond exactly with the conclusions of a. thil, who says ("constitution anatomique du bois," pp. 140-141): "the sides of the medullary rays sometimes produce planes of least resistance varying in size with the height of the rays. the medullary rays assume a direction more or less parallel to the lumen of the cells on which they border; the latter curve to the right or left to make room for the ray and then close again beyond it. if the force acts parallel to the axis of growth, the tracheids are more likely to be displaced if the marginal cells of the medullary rays are provided with weak walls that are readily compressed. this explains why on the radial surface of the test blocks the plane of rupture passes in a direction nearly following a medullary ray, whereas on the tangential surface the direction of the plane of rupture is oblique--but with an obliquity varying with the species and determined by the pitch of the spirals along which the medullary rays are distributed in the stem." see jaccard, _op. cit._, pp. 57 _et seq._] shearing strength whenever forces act upon a body in such a way that one portion tends to slide upon another adjacent to it the action is called a ~shear~.[8] in wood this shearing action may be (1) ~along the grain~, or (2) ~across the grain~. a tenon breaking out its mortise is a familiar example of shear along the grain, while the shoving off of the tenon itself would be shear across the grain. the use of wood for pins or tree-nails involves resistance to shear across the grain. another common instance of the latter is where the steel edge of the eye of an axe or hammer tends to cut off the handle. in fig. 10 the action of the wooden strut tends to shear off along the grain the portion _ab_ of the wooden tie rod, and it is essential that the length of this portion be great enough to guard against it. fig. 11 shows characteristic failures in shear along the grain. [footnote 8: shear should not be confused with ordinary cutting or incision.] [illustration: fig. 10.--example of shear along the grain.] [illustration: fig. 11.--failures of test specimens in shear along the grain. in the block at the left the surface of failure is radial; in the one at the right, tangential] |---------------------------------------------| | table vii | |---------------------------------------------| | shearing strength along the grain of small | | clear pieces of 41 woods in green condition | | (forest service cir. 213) | |---------------------------------------------| | | when | when | | common name | surface of | surface of | | of species | failure is | failure is | | | radial | tangential | |-------------------+------------+------------| | | lbs. per | lbs. per | | | sq. inch | sq. inch | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | ash, black | 876 | 832 | | white | 1,360 | 1,312 | | basswood | 560 | 617 | | beech | 1,154 | 1,375 | | birch, yellow | 1,103 | 1,188 | | elm, slippery | 1,197 | 1,174 | | white | 778 | 872 | | hackberry | 1,095 | 1,161 | | hickory, | | | | big shellbark | 1,134 | 1,191 | | bitternut | 1,134 | 1,348 | | mockernut | 1,251 | 1,313 | | nutmeg | 1,010 | 1,053 | | pignut | 1,334 | 1,457 | | shagbark | 1,230 | 1,297 | | water | 1,390 | 1,490 | | locust, honey | 1,885 | 2,096 | | maple, red | 1,130 | 1,330 | | sugar | 1,193 | 1,455 | | oak, post | 1,196 | 1,402 | | red | 1,132 | 1,195 | | swamp white | 1,198 | 1,394 | | white | 1,096 | 1,292 | | yellow | 1,162 | 1,196 | | sycamore | 900 | 1,102 | | tupelo | 978 | 1,084 | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 617 | 614 | | cedar, incense | 613 | 662 | | cypress, bald | 836 | 800 | | fir, alpine | 573 | 654 | | amabilis | 517 | 639 | | douglas | 853 | 858 | | white | 742 | 723 | | hemlock | 790 | 813 | | pine, lodgepole | 672 | 747 | | longleaf | 1,060 | 953 | | red | 812 | 741 | | sugar | 702 | 714 | | western yellow | 686 | 706 | | white | 649 | 639 | | spruce, engelmann | 607 | 624 | | tamarack | 883 | 843 | |---------------------------------------------| both shearing stresses may act at the same time. thus the weight carried by a beam tends to shear it off at right angles to the axis; this stress is equal to the resultant force acting perpendicularly at any point, and in a beam uniformly loaded and supported at either end is maximum at the points of support and zero at the centre. in addition there is a shearing force tending to move the fibres of the beam past each other in a longitudinal direction. (see fig. 12.) this longitudinal shear is maximum at the neutral plane and decreases toward the upper and lower surfaces. [illustration: fig. 12.--horizontal shear in a beam.] shearing across the grain is so closely related to compression at right angles to the grain and to hardness that there is little to be gained by making separate tests upon it. knowledge of shear parallel to the grain is important, since wood frequently fails in that way. the value of shearing stress parallel to the grain is found by dividing the maximum load in pounds (p) by the area of the cross section in inches (a). { p } { shear = --} { a } oblique shearing stresses are developed in a bar when it is subjected to direct tension or compression. the maximum shearing stress occurs along a plane when it makes an angle of 45 degrees p with the axis of the specimen. in this case, shear = -----. when 2 a the value of the angle [greek: theta] is less than 45 degrees, p the shear along the plane = --sin [greek: theta] cos [greek: a theta]. (see fig. 13.) the effect of oblique shear is often visible in the failures of short columns. (see fig. 14.) [illustration: fig. 13.--oblique shear in a short column.] [illustration: fig. 14.--failure of short column by oblique shear.] |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table viii | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | shearing strength across the grain of various american woods | | (j.c. trautwine. jour. franklin institute. vol. 109, 1880, pp. 105-106) | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | kind of wood | lbs. per | kind of wood | lbs. per | | | sq. inch | | sq. inch | |-----------------------+----------+-----------------------------+----------| | ash | 6,280 | hickory | 7,285 | | beech | 5,223 | locust | 7,176 | | birch | 5,595 | maple | 6,355 | | cedar (white) | 1,372 | oak | 4,425 | | cedar (white) | 1,519 | oak (live) | 8,480 | | cedar (central amer.) | 3,410 | pine (white) | 2,480 | | cherry | 2,945 | pine (northern yellow) | 4,340 | | chestnut | 1,536 | pine (southernyellow) | 5,735 | | dogwood | 6,510 | pine (very resinous yellow) | 5,053 | | ebony | 7,750 | poplar | 4,418 | | gum | 5,890 | spruce | 3,255 | | hemlock | 2,750 | walnut (black) | 4,728 | | hickory | 6,045 | walnut (common) | 2,830 | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--two specimens of each were tested. all were fairly seasoned and | | without defects. the piece sheared off was 5/8 in. the single circular | | area of each pin was 0.322 sq. in. | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| transverse or bending strength: beams when external forces acting in the same plane are applied at right angles to the axis of a bar so as to cause it to bend, they occasion a shortening of the longitudinal fibres on the concave side and an elongation of those on the convex side. within the elastic limit the relative stretching and contraction of the fibres is directly[9] proportional to their distances from a plane intermediate between them--the ~neutral plane~. (n_{1} p in fig. 15.) thus the fibres half-way between the neutral plane and the outer surface experience only half as much shortening or elongation as the outermost or extreme fibres. similarly for other distances. the elements along the neutral plane experience no tension or compression in an axial direction. the line of intersection of this plane and the plane of section is known as the ~neutral axis~ (n a in fig. 15) of the section. [footnote 9: while in reality this relationship does not exactly hold, the formulã¦ for beams are based on its assumption.] [illustration: fig. 15.--diagram of a simple beam. n_{1} p = neutral plane, n a = neutral axis of section r s.] if the bar is symmetrical and homogeneous the neutral plane is located half-way between the upper and lower surfaces, so long as the deflection does not exceed the elastic limit of the material. owing to the fact that the tensile strength of wood is from two to nearly four times the compressive strength, it follows that at rupture the neutral plane is much nearer the convex than the concave side of the bar or beam, since the sum of all the compressive stresses on the concave portion must always equal the sum of the tensile stresses on the convex portion. the neutral plane begins to change from its central position as soon as the elastic limit has been passed. its location at any time is very uncertain. the external forces acting to bend the bar also tend to rupture it at right angles to the neutral plane by causing one transverse section to slip past another. this stress at any point is equal to the resultant perpendicular to the axis of the forces acting at this point, and is termed the ~transverse shear~ (or in the case of beams, ~vertical shear~). in addition to this there is a shearing stress, tending to move the fibres past one another in an axial direction, which is called ~longitudinal shear~ (or in the case of beams, ~horizontal shear~). this stress must be taken into consideration in the design of timber structures. it is maximum at the neutral plane and decreases to zero at the outer elements of the section. the shorter the span of a beam in proportion to its height, the greater is the liability of failure in horizontal shear before the ultimate strength of the beam is reached. _beams_ there are three common forms of beams, as follows: (1) ~simple beam~--a bar resting upon two supports, one near each end. (see fig. 16, no. 1.) (2) ~cantilever beam~--a bar resting upon one support or fulcrum, or that portion of any beam projecting out of a wall or beyond a support. (see fig. 16, no. 2.) (3) ~continuous beam~--a bar resting upon more than two supports. (see fig. 16, no. 3.) [illustration: fig. 16.--three common forms of beams. 1. simple. 2. cantilever. 3. continuous.] _stiffness of beams_ the two main requirements of a beam are stiffness and strength. the formulã¦ for the _modulus of elasticity (e)_ or measure of stiffness of a rectangular prismatic simple beam loaded at the centre and resting freely on supports at either end is:[10] [footnote 10: only this form of beam is considered since it is the simplest. for cantilever and continuous beams, and beams rigidly fixed at one or both ends, as well as for different methods of loading, different forms of cross section, etc., other formulã¦ are required. see any book on mechanics.] p' l^{3} e = ------------ 4 d b h^{3} b = breadth or width of beam, inches. h = height or depth of beam, inches. l = span (length between points of supports) of beam, inches. d = deflection produced by load p', inches. p' = load at or below elastic limit, pounds. from this formulã¦ it is evident that for rectangular beams of the same material, mode of support, and loading, the deflection is affected as follows: (1) it is inversely proportional to the width for beams of the same length and depth. if the width is tripled the deflection is one-third as great. (2) it is inversely proportional to the cube of the depth for beams of the same length and breadth. if the depth is tripled the deflection is one twenty-seventh as great. (3) it is directly proportional to the cube of the span for beams of the same breadth and depth. tripling the span gives twenty-seven times the deflection. the number of pounds which concentrated at the centre will deflect a rectangular prismatic simple beam one inch may be found from the preceding formulã¦ by substituting d = 1" and solving for p'. the formulã¦ then becomes: 4 e b h^{3} necessary weight (p') = ------------ l^{3} in this case the values for e are read from tables prepared from data obtained by experimentation on the given material. _strength of beams_ the measure of the breaking strength of a beam is expressed in terms of unit stress by a _modulus of rupture_, which is a purely hypothetical expression for points beyond the elastic limit. the formulã¦ used in computing this modulus is as follows: 1.5 p l r = -------- b h{^2} b, h, l = breadth, height, and span, respectively, as in preceding formulã¦. r = modulus of rupture, pounds per square inch. p = maximum load, pounds. in calculating the fibre stress at the elastic limit the same formulã¦ is used except that the load at elastic limit (p_{1}) is substituted for the maximum load (p). from this formulã¦ it is evident that for rectangular prismatic beams of the same material, mode of support, and loading, the load which a given beam can support varies as follows: (1) it is directly proportional to the breadth for beams of the same length and depth, as is the case with stiffness. (2) it is directly proportional to the square of the height for beams of the same length and breadth, instead of as the cube of this dimension as in stiffness. (3) it is inversely proportional to the span for beams of the same breadth and depth and not to the cube of this dimension as in stiffness. the fact that the strength varies as the _square_ of the height and the stiffness as the _cube_ explains the relationship of bending to thickness. were the law the same for strength and stiffness a thin piece of material such as a sheet of paper could not be bent any further without breaking than a thick piece, say an inch board. |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table ix | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | results of static bending tests on small clear beams of 49 woods in green condition | | (forest service cir. 213) | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | fibre | | | work in bending | | common name | stress at | modulus | modulus |-------------------------------| | of species | elastic | of | of | to | to | | | | limit | rupture | elasticity | elastic | maximum | total | | | | | | limit | load | | |-----------------+-----------+----------+------------+----------+----------+---------| | | | | | in.-lbs. | in.-lbs. | in.-lb. | | | lbs. per | lbs. per | lbs. per | per cu. | per cu. | per | | | sq. in. | sq. in. | sq. in. | inch | inch | inch | | | | | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ash, black | 2,580 | 6,000 | 960,000 | 0.41 | 13.1 | 38.9 | | white | 5,180 | 9,920 | 1,416,000 | 1.10 | 20.0 | 43.7 | | basswood | 2,480 | 4,450 | 842,000 | .45 | 5.8 | 8.9 | | beech | 4,490 | 8,610 | 1,353,000 | .96 | 14.1 | 31.4 | | birch, yellow | 4,190 | 8,390 | 1,597,000 | .62 | 14.2 | 31.5 | | elm, rock | 4,290 | 9,430 | 1,222,000 | .90 | 19.4 | 47.4 | | slippery | 5,560 | 9,510 | 1,314,000 | 1.32 | 11.7 | 44.2 | | white | 2,850 | 6,940 | 1,052,000 | .44 | 11.8 | 27.4 | | gum, red | 3,460 | 6,450 | 1,138,000 | | | | | hackberry | 3,320 | 7,800 | 1,170,000 | .56 | 19.6 | 52.9 | | hickory, | | | | | | | | big shellbark | 6,370 | 11,110 | 1,562,000 | 1.47 | 24.3 | 78.0 | | bitternut | 5,470 | 10,280 | 1,399,000 | 1.22 | 20.0 | 75.5 | | mockernut | 6,550 | 11,110 | 1,508,000 | 1.50 | 31.7 | 84.4 | | nutmeg | 4,860 | 9,060 | 1,289,000 | 1.06 | 22.8 | 58.2 | | pignut | 5,860 | 11,810 | 1,769,000 | 1.12 | 30.6 | 86.7 | | shagbark | 6,120 | 11,000 | 1,752,000 | 1.22 | 18.3 | 72.3 | | water | 5,980 | 10,740 | 1,563,000 | 1.29 | 18.8 | 52.9 | | locust, honey | 6,020 | 12,360 | 1,732,000 | 1.28 | 17.3 | 64.4 | | maple, red | 4,450 | 8,310 | 1,445,000 | .78 | 9.8 | 17.1 | | sugar | 4,630 | 8,860 | 1,462,000 | .88 | 12.7 | 32.0 | | oak, post | 4,720 | 7,380 | 913,000 | 1.39 | 9.1 | 17.4 | | red | 3,490 | 7,780 | 1,268,000 | .60 | 11.4 | 26.0 | | swamp white | 5,380 | 9,860 | 1,593,000 | 1.05 | 14.5 | 37.6 | | tanbark | 6,580 | 10,710 | 1,678,000 | 1.49 | | | | white | 4,320 | 8,090 | 1,137,000 | .95 | 12.1 | 36.7 | | yellow | 5,060 | 8,570 | 1,219,000 | 1.20 | 11.7 | 30.7 | | osage orange | 7,760 | 13,660 | 1,329,000 | 2.53 | 37.9 | 101.7 | | sycamore | 2,820 | 6,300 | 961,000 | .51 | 7.1 | 13.6 | | tupelo | 4,300 | 7,380 | 1,045,000 | 1.00 | 7.8 | 20.9 | | | | | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 2,600 | 4,250 | 643,000 | .60 | 5.7 | 9.5 | | cedar, incense | 3,950 | 6,040 | 754,000 | | | | | cypress, bald | 4,430 | 7,110 | 1,378,000 | .96 | 5.1 | 15.4 | | fir, alpine | 2,366 | 4,450 | 861,000 | .66 | 4.4 | 7.4 | | amabilis | 4,060 | 6,570 | 1,323,000 | | | | | douglas | 3,570 | 6,340 | 1,242,000 | .59 | 6.6 | 13.6 | | white | 3,880 | 5,970 | 1,131,000 | .77 | 5.2 | 14.9 | | hemlock | 3,410 | 5,770 | 917,000 | .73 | 6.6 | 12.9 | | pine, lodgepole | 3,080 | 5,130 | 1,015,000 | .54 | 5.1 | 7.4 | | longleaf | 5,090 | 8,630 | 1,662,000 | .88 | 8.1 | 34.8 | | red | 3,740 | 6,430 | 1,384,000 | .59 | 5.8 | 28.0 | | shortleaf | 4,360 | 7,710 | 1,395,000 | | | | | sugar | 3,330 | 5,270 | 966,000 | .66 | 5.0 | 11.6 | | west, yellow | 3,180 | 5,180 | 1,111,000 | .52 | 4.3 | 15.6 | | white | 3,410 | 5,310 | 1,073,000 | .62 | 5.9 | 13.3 | | redwood | 4,530 | 6,560 | 1,024,000 | | | | | spruce, | | | | | | | | engelmann | 2,740 | 4,550 | 866,000 | .50 | 4.8 | 6.1 | | red | 3,440 | 5,820 | 1,143,000 | .62 | 6.0 | | | white | 3,160 | 5,200 | 968,000 | .58 | 6.6 | | | tamarack | 4,200 | 7,170 | 1,236,000 | .84 | 7.2 | 30.0 | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| _kinds of loads_ there are various ways in which beams are loaded, of which the following are the most important: (1) ~uniform load~ occurs where the load is spread evenly over the beam. (2) ~concentrated load~ occurs where the load is applied at single point or points. (3) ~live~ or ~immediate load~ is one of momentary or short duration at any one point, such as occurs in crossing a bridge. (4) ~dead~ or ~permanent load~ is one of constant and indeterminate duration, as books on a shelf. in the case of a bridge the weight of the structure itself is the dead load. all large beams support a uniform dead load consisting of their own weight. the effect of dead load on a wooden beam may be two or more times that produced by an immediate load of the same weight. loads greater than the elastic limit are unsafe and will generally result in rupture if continued long enough. a beam may be considered safe under permanent load when the deflections diminish during equal successive periods of time. a continual increase in deflection indicates an unsafe load which is almost certain to rupture the beam eventually. variations in the humidity of the surrounding air influence the deflection of dry wood under dead load, and increased deflections during damp weather are cumulative and not recovered by subsequent drying. in the case of longleaf pine, dry beams may with safety be loaded permanently to within three-fourths of their elastic limit as determined from ordinary static tests. increased moisture content, due to greater humidity of the air, lowers the elastic limit of wood so that what was a safe load for the dry material may become unsafe. when a dead load not great enough to rupture a beam has been removed, the beam tends gradually to recover its former shape, but the recovery is not always complete. if specimens from such a beam are tested in the ordinary testing machine it will be found that the application of the dead load did not affect the stiffness, ultimate strength, or elastic limit of the material. in other words, the deflections and recoveries produced by live loads are the same as would have been produced had not the beam previously been subjected to a dead load.[11] [footnote 11: see tiemann, harry d.: some results of dead load bending tests of timber by means of a recording deflectometer. proc. am. soc. for testing materials. phila. vol. ix, 1909, pp. 534-548.] ~maximum load~ is the greatest load a material will support and is usually greater than the load at rupture. ~safe load~ is the load considered safe for a material to support in actual practice. it is always less than the load at elastic limit and is usually taken as a certain proportion of the ultimate or breaking load. the ratio of the breaking to the safe load is called the factor of safety. (factor of safety = ultimate strength / safe load) in order to make due allowance for the natural variations and imperfections in wood and in the aggregate structure, as well as for variations in the load, the factor of safety is usually as high as 6 or 10, especially if the safety of human life depends upon the structure. this means that only from one-sixth to one-tenth of the computed strength values is considered safe to use. if the depth of timbers exceeds four times their thickness there is a great tendency for the material to twist when loaded. it is to overcome this tendency that floor joists are braced at frequent intervals. short deep pieces shear out or split before their strength in bending can fully come into play. _application of loads_ there are three[12] general methods in which loads may be applied to beams, namely: [footnote 12: a fourth might be added, namely, ~vibratory~, or ~harmonic repetition~, which is frequently serious in the case of bridges.] (1) ~static loading~ or the gradual imposition of load so that the moving parts acquire no appreciable momentum. loads are so applied in the ordinary testing machine. (2) ~sudden imposition of load without initial velocity.~ "thus in the case of placing a load on a beam, if the load be brought into contact with the beam, but its weight sustained by external means, as by a cord, and then this external support be _suddenly_ (instantaneously) removed, as by quickly cutting the cord, then, although the load is already touching the beam (and hence there is no real impact), yet the beam is at first offering no resistance, as it has yet suffered no deformation. furthermore, as the beam deflects the resistance increases, but does not come to be equal to the load until it has attained its normal deflection. in the meantime there has been an unbalanced force of gravity acting, of a constantly diminishing amount, equal at first to the entire load, at the normal deflection. but at this instant the load and the beam are in motion, the hitherto unbalanced force having produced an accelerated velocity, and this velocity of the weight and beam gives to them an energy, or _vis viva_, which must now spend itself in overcoming an _excess_ of resistance over and above the imposed load, and the whole mass will not stop until the deflection (as well as the resistance) has come to be equal to _twice_ that corresponding to the static load imposed. hence we say the effect of a suddenly imposed load is to produce twice the deflection and stress of the same load statically applied. it must be evident, however, that this case has nothing in common with either the ordinary 'static' tests of structural materials in testing-machines, or with impact tests."[13] [footnote 13: johnson, j.b.: the materials of construction, pp. 81-82.] (3) ~impact, shock,~ or ~blow.~[14] there are various common uses of wood where the material is subjected to sudden shocks and jars or impact. such is the action on the felloes and spokes of a wagon wheel passing over a rough road; on a hammer handle when a blow is struck; on a maul when it strikes a wedge. [footnote 14: see tiemann, harry d.: the theory of impact and its application to testing materials. jour. franklin inst., oct., nov., 1909, pp. 235-259, 336-364.] resistance to impact is resistance to energy which is measured by the product of the force into the space through which it moves, or by the product of one-half the moving mass which causes the shock into the square of its velocity. the work done upon the piece at the instant the velocity is entirely removed from the striking body is equal to the total energy of that body. it is impossible, however, to get all of the energy of the striking body stored in the specimen, though the greater the mass and the shorter the space through which it moves, or, in other words, the greater the proportion of weight and the smaller the proportion of velocity making up the energy of the striking body, the more energy the specimen will absorb. the rest is lost in friction, vibrations, heat, and motion of the anvil. in impact the stresses produced become very complex and difficult to measure, especially if the velocity is high, or the mass of the beam itself is large compared to that of the weight. the difficulties attending the measurement of the stresses beyond the elastic limit are so great that commonly they are not reckoned. within the elastic limit the formulã¦ for calculating the stresses are based on the assumption that the deflection is proportional to the stress in this case as in static tests. a common method of making tests upon the resistance of wood to shock is to support a small beam at the ends and drop a heavy weight upon it in the middle. (see fig. 40.) the height of the weight is increased after each drop and records of the deflection taken until failure. the total work done upon the specimen is equal to the area of the stress-strain diagram plus the effect of local inertia of the molecules at point of contact. the stresses involved in impact are complicated by the fact that there are various ways in which the energy of the striking body may be spent: (_a_) it produces a local deformation of both bodies at the surface of contact, within or beyond the elastic limit. in testing wood the compression of the substance of the steel striking-weight may be neglected, since the steel is very hard in comparison with the wood. in addition to the compression of the fibres at the surface of contact resistance is also offered by the inertia of the particles there, the combined effect of which is a stress at the surface of contact often entirely out of proportion to the compression which would result from the action of a static force of the same magnitude. it frequently exceeds the crushing strength at the extreme surface of contact, as in the case of the swaging action of a hammer on the head of an iron spike, or of a locomotive wheel on the steel rail. this is also the case when a bullet is shot through a board or a pane of glass without breaking it as a whole. (_b_) it may move the struck body as a whole with an accelerated velocity, the resistance consisting of the inertia of the body. this effect is seen when a croquet ball is struck with a mallet. (_c_) it may deform a fixed body against its external supports and resistances. in making impact tests in the laboratory the test specimen is in reality in the nature of a cushion between two impacting bodies, namely, the striking weight and the base of the machine. it is important that the mass of this base be sufficiently great that its relative velocity to that of the common centre of gravity of itself and the striking weight may be disregarded. (_d_) it may deform the struck body as a whole against the resisting stresses developed by its own inertia, as, for example, when a baseball bat is broken by striking the ball. |-------------------------------------------------------| | table x | |-------------------------------------------------------| | results of impact bending tests on small clear beams | | of 34 woods in green condition | | (forest service cir. 213) | |-------------------------------------------------------| | | fibre | | work in | | common name | stress at | modulus of | bending | | of species | elastic | elasticity | to | | | limit | | elastic | | | | | limit | |-------------------+-----------+------------+----------| | | | | in.-lbs. | | | lbs. per | lbs. per | per cu. | | | sq. in. | sq. in. | inch | | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | | | ash, black | 7,840 | 955,000 | 3.69 | | white | 11,710 | 1,564,000 | 4.93 | | basswood | 5,480 | 917,000 | 1.84 | | beech | 11,760 | 1,501,000 | 5.10 | | birch, yellow | 11,080 | 1,812,000 | 3.79 | | elm, rock | 12,090 | 1,367,000 | 6.52 | | slippery | 11,700 | 1,569,000 | 4.86 | | white | 9,910 | 1,138,000 | 4.82 | | hackberry | 10,420 | 1,398,000 | 4.48 | | locust, honey | 13,460 | 2,114,000 | 4.76 | | maple, red | 11,670 | 1,411,000 | 5.45 | | sugar | 11,680 | 1,680,000 | 4.55 | | oak, post | 11,260 | 1,596,000 | 4.41 | | red | 10,580 | 1,506,000 | 4.16 | | swamp white | 13,280 | 2,048,000 | 4.79 | | white | 9,860 | 1,414,000 | 3.84 | | yellow | 10,840 | 1,479,000 | 4.44 | | osage orange | 15,520 | 1,498,000 | 8.92 | | sycamore | 8,180 | 1,165,000 | 3.22 | | tupelo | 7,650 | 1,310,000 | 2.49 | | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 5,290 | 778,000 | 2.04 | | cypress, bald | 8,290 | 1,431,000 | 2.71 | | fir, alpine | 5,280 | 980,000 | 1.59 | | douglas | 8,870 | 1,579,000 | 2.79 | | white | 7,230 | 1,326,000 | 2.21 | | hemlock | 6,330 | 1,025,000 | 2.19 | | pine, lodgepole | 6,870 | 1,142,000 | 2.31 | | longleaf | 9,680 | 1,739,000 | 3.02 | | red | 7,480 | 1,438,000 | 2.18 | | sugar | 6,740 | 1,083,000 | 2.34 | | western yellow | 7,070 | 1,115,000 | 2.51 | | white | 6,490 | 1,156,000 | 2.06 | | spruce, engelmann | 6,300 | 1,076,000 | 2.09 | | tamarack | 7,750 | 1,263,000 | 2.67 | |-------------------------------------------------------| impact testing is difficult to conduct satisfactorily and the data obtained are of chief value in a relative sense, that is, for comparing the shock-resisting ability of woods of which like specimens have been subjected to exactly identical treatment. yet this test is one of the most important made on wood, as it brings out properties not evident from other tests. defects and brittleness are revealed by impact better than by any other kind of test. in common practice nearly all external stresses are of the nature of impact. in fact, no two moving bodies can come together without impact stress. impact is therefore the commonest form of applied stress, although the most difficult to measure. _failures in timber beams_ if a beam is loaded too heavily it will break or fail in some characteristic manner. these failures may be classified according to the way in which they develop, as tension, compression, and horizontal shear; and according to the appearance of the broken surface, as brash, and fibrous. a number of forms may develop if the beam is completely ruptured. since the tensile strength of wood is on the average about three times as great as the compressive strength, a beam should, therefore, be expected to fail by the formation in the first place of a fold on the compression side due to the crushing action, followed by failure on the tension side. this is usually the case in green or moist wood. in dry material the first visible failure is not infrequently on the lower or tension side, and various attempts have been made to explain why such is the case.[15] [footnote 15: see proc. int. assn. for testing materials, 1912, xxiii_{2}, pp. 12-13.] within the elastic limit the elongations and shortenings are equal, and the neutral plane lies in the middle of the beam. (see transverse or bending strength: beams, above.) later the top layer of fibres on the upper or compression side fail, and on the load increasing, the next layer of fibres fail, and so on, even though this failure may not be visible. as a result the shortenings on the upper side of the beam become considerably greater than the elongations on the lower side. the neutral plane must be presumed to sink gradually toward the tension side, and when the stresses on the outer fibres at the bottom have become sufficiently great, the fibres are pulled in two, the tension area being much smaller than the compression area. the rupture is often irregular, as in direct tension tests. failure may occur partially in single bundles of fibres some time before the final failure takes place. one reason why the failure of a dry beam is different from one that is moist, is that drying increases the stiffness of the fibres so that they offer more resistance to crushing, while it has much less effect upon the tensile strength. there is considerable variation in tension failures depending upon the toughness or the brittleness of the wood, the arrangement of the grain, defects, etc., making further classification desirable. the four most common forms are: (1)~simple tension,~ in which there is a direct pulling in two of the wood on the under side of the beam due to a tensile stress parallel to the grain, (see fig. 17, no. 1.) this is common in straight-grained beams, particularly when the wood is seasoned. [illustration: fig. 17.--characteristic failures of simple beams.] (2)~cross-grained tension,~ in which the fracture is caused by a tensile force acting oblique to the grain. (see fig. 17, no. 2.) this is a common form of failure where the beam has diagonal, spiral or other form of cross grain on its lower side. since the tensile strength of wood across the grain is only a small fraction of that with the grain it is easy to see why a cross-grained timber would fail in this manner. (3)~splintering tension,~ in which the failure consists of a considerable number of slight tension failures, producing a ragged or splintery break on the under surface of the beam. (see fig. 17, no. 3.) this is common in tough woods. in this case the surface of fracture is fibrous. (4)~brittle tension,~ in which the beam fails by a clean break extending entirely through it. (see fig. 17, no. 4.) it is characteristic of a brittle wood which gives way suddenly without warning, like a piece of chalk. in this case the surface of fracture is described as brash. ~compression failure~ (see fig. 17, no. 5) has few variations except that it appears at various distances from the neutral plane of the beam. it is very common in green timbers. the compressive stress parallel to the fibres causes them to buckle or bend as in an endwise compressive test. this action usually begins on the top side shortly after the elastic limit is reached and extends downward, sometimes almost reaching the neutral plane before complete failure occurs. frequently two or more failures develop at about the same time. ~horizontal shear failure,~ in which the upper and lower portions of the beam slide along each other for a portion of their length either at one or at both ends (see fig. 17, no. 6), is fairly common in air-dry material and in green material when the ratio of the height of the beam to the span is relatively large. it is not common in small clear specimens. it is often due to shake or season checks, common in large timbers, which reduce the actual area resisting the shearing action considerably below the calculated area used in the formulã¦ for horizontal shear. (see page 98 for this formulã¦.) for this reason it is unsafe, in designing large timber beams, to use shearing stresses higher than those calculated for beams that failed in horizontal shear. the effect of a failure in horizontal shear is to divide the beam into two or more beams the combined strength of which is much less than that of the original beam. fig. 18 shows a large beam in which two failures in horizontal shear occurred at the same end. that the parts behave independently is shown by the compression failure below the original location of the neutral plane. [illustration: fig. 18.--failure of a large beam by horizontal shear. _photo by u. s, forest service._] table xi gives an analysis of the causes of first failure in 840 large timber beams of nine different species of conifers. of the total number tested 165 were air-seasoned, the remainder green. the failure occurring first signifies the point of greatest weakness in the specimen under the particular conditions of loading employed (in this case, third-point static loading). |-----------------------------------------------------------| | table xi | |-----------------------------------------------------------| | manner of first failure of large beams | | (forest service bul. 108, p. 56) | |-----------------------------------------------------------| | | total | per cent of total failing by | | common name | number |---------+-------------+-------| | of species | of | tension | compression | shear | | | tests | | | | |------------------+--------+---------+-------------+-------| | longleaf pine: | | | | | | green | 17 | 18 | 24 | 58 | | dry | 9 | 22 | 22 | 56 | | douglas fir: | | | | | | green | 191 | 27 | 72 | 1 | | dry | 91 | 19 | 76 | 5 | | shortleaf pine: | | | | | | green | 48 | 27 | 56 | 17 | | dry | 13 | 54 | | 46 | | western larch: | | | | | | green | 62 | 23 | 71 | 6 | | dry | 52 | 54 | 19 | 27 | | loblolly pine: | | | | | | green | 111 | 40 | 53 | 7 | | dry | 25 | 60 | 12 | 28 | | tamarack: | | | | | | green | 30 | 37 | 53 | 10 | | dry | 9 | 45 | 22 | 33 | | western hemlock: | | | | | | green | 39 | 21 | 74 | 5 | | dry | 44 | 11 | 66 | 23 | | redwood: | | | | | | green | 28 | 43 | 50 | 7 | | dry | 12 | 83 | 17 | | | norway pine: | | | | | | green | 49 | 18 | 76 | 6 | | dry | 10 | 30 | 60 | 10 | |-----------------------------------------------------------| | note.--these tests were made on timbers ranging in cross | | section from 4" x 10" to 8" x 16", and with a span of 15 | | feet. | |-----------------------------------------------------------| toughness: torsion toughness is a term applied to more than one property of wood. thus wood that is difficult to split is said to be tough. again, a tough wood is one that will not rupture until it has deformed considerably under loads at or near its maximum strength, or one which still hangs together after it has been ruptured and may be bent back and forth without breaking apart. toughness includes flexibility and is the reverse of brittleness, in that tough woods break gradually and give warning of failure. tough woods offer great resistance to impact and will permit rougher treatment in manipulations attending manufacture and use. toughness is dependent upon the strength, cohesion, quality, length, and arrangement of fibre, and the pliability of the wood. coniferous woods as a rule are not as tough as hardwoods, of which hickory and elm are the best examples. the torsion or twisting test is useful in determining the toughness of wood. if the ends of a shaft are turned in opposite directions, or one end is turned and the other is fixed, all of the fibres except those at the axis tend to assume the form of helices. (see fig. 19.) the strain produced by torsion or twisting is essentially shear transverse and parallel to the fibres, combined with longitudinal tension and transverse compression. within the elastic limit the strains increase directly as the distance from the axis of the specimen. the outer elements are subjected to tensile stresses, and as they become twisted tend to compress those near the axis. the elongated elements also contract laterally. cross sections which were originally plane become warped. with increasing strain the lateral adhesion of the outer fibres is destroyed, allowing them to slide past each other, and reducing greatly their power of resistance. in this way the strains on the fibres nearer the axis are progressively increased until finally all of the elements are sheared apart. it is only in the toughest materials that the full effect of this action can be observed. (see fig. 20.) brittle woods snap off suddenly with only a small amount of torsion, and their fracture is irregular and oblique to the axis of the piece instead of frayed out and more nearly perpendicular to the axis as is the case with tough woods. [illustration: fig. 19.--torsion of a shaft.] [illustration: fig. 20.--effect of torsion on different grades of hickory. _photo by u. s. forest service._] hardness the term _hardness_ is used in two senses, namely: (1) resistance to indentation, and (2) resistance to abrasion or scratching. in the latter sense hardness combined with toughness is a measure of the wearing ability of wood and is an important consideration in the use of wood for floors, paving blocks, bearings, and rollers. while resistance to indentation is dependent mostly upon the density of the wood, the wearing qualities may be governed by other factors such as toughness, and the size, cohesion, and arrangement of the fibres. in use for floors, some woods tend to compact and wear smooth, while others become splintery and rough. this feature is affected to some extent by the manner in which the wood is sawed; thus edge-grain pine flooring is much better than flat-sawn for uniformity of wear. |-------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xii | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| | hardness of 32 woods in green condition, | | as indicated by the load required to imbed | | a 0.444-inch steel ball to one-half its diameter | | (forest service cir. 213) | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| | common name of species | average | end | radial | tangential | | | | surface | surface | surface | |------------------------+---------+---------+---------+------------| | | pounds | pounds | pounds | pounds | | | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 osage orange | 1,971 | 1,838 | 2,312 | 1,762 | | 2 honey locust | 1,851 | 1,862 | 1,860 | 1,832 | | 3 swamp white oak | 1,174 | 1,205 | 1,217 | 1,099 | | 4 white oak | 1,164 | 1,183 | 1,163 | 1,147 | | 5 post oak | 1,099 | 1,139 | 1,068 | 1,081 | | 6 black oak | 1,069 | 1,093 | 1,083 | 1,031 | | 7 red oak | 1,043 | 1,107 | 1,020 | 1,002 | | 8 white ash | 1,046 | 1,121 | 1,000 | 1,017 | | 9 beech | 942 | 1,012 | 897 | 918 | | 10 sugar maple | 937 | 992 | 918 | 901 | | 11 rock elm | 910 | 954 | 883 | 893 | | 12 hackberry | 799 | 829 | 795 | 773 | | 13 slippery elm | 788 | 919 | 757 | 687 | | 14 yellow birch | 778 | 827 | 768 | 739 | | 15 tupelo | 738 | 814 | 666 | 733 | | 16 red maple | 671 | 766 | 621 | 626 | | 17 sycamore | 608 | 664 | 560 | 599 | | 18 black ash | 551 | 565 | 542 | 546 | | 19 white elm | 496 | 536 | 456 | 497 | | 20 basswood | 239 | 273 | 226 | 217 | | | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 longleaf pine | 532 | 574 | 502 | 521 | | 2 douglas fir | 410 | 415 | 399 | 416 | | 3 bald cypress | 390 | 460 | 355 | 354 | | 4 hemlock | 384 | 463 | 354 | 334 | | 5 tamarack | 384 | 401 | 380 | 370 | | 6 red pine | 347 | 355 | 345 | 340 | | 7 white fir | 346 | 381 | 322 | 334 | | 8 western yellow pine | 328 | 334 | 307 | 342 | | 9 lodgepole pine | 318 | 316 | 318 | 319 | | 10 white pine | 299 | 304 | 294 | 299 | | 11 engelmann pine | 266 | 272 | 253 | 274 | | 12 alpine fir | 241 | 284 | 203 | 235 | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--black locust and hickory are not included in this table, | | but their position would be near the head of the list. | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| tests for either form of hardness are of comparative value only. tests for indentation are commonly made by penetrations of the material with a steel punch or ball.[16] tests for abrasion are made by wearing down wood with sandpaper or by means of a sand blast. [footnote 16: see articles by gabriel janka listed in bibliography, pages 151-152.] cleavability _cleavability_ is the term used to denote the facility with which wood is split. a splitting stress is one in which the forces act normally like a wedge. (see fig. 21.) the plane of cleavage is parallel to the grain, either radially or tangentially. [illustration: fig. 21.--cleavage of highly elastic wood. the cleft runs far ahead of the wedge.] this property of wood is very important in certain uses such as firewood, fence rails, billets, and squares. resistance to splitting or low cleavability is desirable where wood must hold nails or screws, as in box-making. wood usually splits more readily along the radius than parallel to the growth rings though exceptions occur, as in the case of cross grain. splitting involves transverse tension, but only a portion of the fibres are under stress at a time. a wood of little stiffness and strong cohesion across the grain is difficult to split, while one with great stiffness, such as longleaf pine, is easily split. the form of the grain and the presence of knots greatly affect this quality. |---------------------------------------------| | table xiii | |---------------------------------------------| | cleavage strength of small clear pieces of | | 32 woods in green condition | | (forest service cir. 213) | |---------------------------------------------| | | when | when | | common name | surface of | surface of | | of species | failure is | failure is | | | radial | tangential | |-------------------+------------+------------| | | lbs. per | lbs. per | | | sq. inch | sq. inch | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | ash, black | 275 | 260 | | white | 333 | 346 | | bashwood | 130 | 168 | | beech | 339 | 527 | | birch, yellow | 294 | 287 | | elm, slippery | 401 | 424 | | white | 210 | 270 | | hackberry | 422 | 436 | | locust, honey | 552 | 610 | | maple, red | 297 | 330 | | sugar | 376 | 513 | | oak, post | 354 | 487 | | red | 380 | 470 | | swamp white | 428 | 536 | | white | 382 | 457 | | yellow | 379 | 470 | | sycamore | 265 | 425 | | tupelo | 277 | 380 | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 148 | 139 | | cypress, bald | 167 | 154 | | fir, alpine | 130 | 133 | | douglas | 139 | 127 | | white | 145 | 187 | | hemlock | 168 | 151 | | pine, lodgepole | 142 | 140 | | longleaf | 187 | 180 | | red | 161 | 154 | | sugar | 168 | 189 | | western yellow | 162 | 187 | | white | 144 | 160 | | spruce, engelmann | 110 | 135 | | tamarack | 167 | 159 | |---------------------------------------------| part ii factors affecting the mechanical properties of wood introduction wood is an organic product--a structure of infinite variation of detail and design.[17] it is on this account that no two woods are alike--in reality no two specimens from the same log are identical. there are certain properties that characterize each species, but they are subject to considerable variation. oak, for example, is considered hard, heavy, and strong, but some pieces, even of the same species of oak, are much harder, heavier, and stronger than others. with hickory are associated the properties of great strength, toughness, and resilience, but some pieces are comparatively weak and brash and ill-suited for the exacting demands for which good hickory is peculiarly adapted. [footnote 17: for details regarding the structure of wood see record, samuel j.: identification of the economic woods of the united states. new york, john wiley & sons, 1912.] it follows that no definite value can be assigned to the properties of any wood and that tables giving average results of tests may not be directly applicable to any individual stick. with sufficient knowledge of the intrinsic factors affecting the results it becomes possible to infer from the appearance of material its probable variation from the average. as yet too little is known of the relation of structure and chemical composition to the mechanical and physical properties to permit more than general conclusions. rate of growth to understand the effect of variations in the rate of growth it is first necessary to know how wood is formed. a tree increases in diameter by the formation, between the old wood and the inner bark, of new woody layers which envelop the entire stem, living branches, and roots. under ordinary conditions one layer is formed each year and in cross section as on the end of a log they appear as rings--often spoken of as _annual rings_. these growth layers are made up of wood cells of various kinds, but for the most part fibrous. in timbers like pine, spruce, hemlock, and other coniferous or softwood species the wood cells are mostly of one kind, and as a result the material is much more uniform in structure than that of most hardwoods. (see frontispiece.) there are no vessels or pores in coniferous wood such as one sees so prominently in oak and ash, for example. (see fig. 22.) [illustration: fig. 22.--cross sections of a ring-porous hardwood (white ash), a diffuse-porous hardwood (red gum), and a non-porous or coniferous wood (eastern hemlock). x 30. _photomicrographs by the author._] the structure of the hardwoods is more complex. they are more or less filled with vessels, in some cases (oak, chestnut, ash) quite large and distinct, in others (buckeye, poplar, gum) too small to be seen plainly without a small hand lens. in discussing such woods it is customary to divide them into two large classes--_ring-porous_ and _diffuse-porous_. (see fig. 22.) in ring-porous species, such as oak, chestnut, ash, black locust, catalpa, mulberry, hickory, and elm, the larger vessels or pores (as cross sections of vessels are called) become localized in one part of the growth ring, thus forming a region of more or less open and porous tissue. the rest of the ring is made up of smaller vessels and a much greater proportion of wood fibres. these fibres are the elements which give strength and toughness to wood, while the vessels are a source of weakness. in diffuse-porous woods the pores are scattered throughout the growth ring instead of being collected in a band or row. examples of this kind of wood are gum, yellow poplar, birch, maple, cottonwood, basswood, buckeye, and willow. some species, such as walnut and cherry, are on the border between the two classes, forming a sort of intermediate group. if one examines the smoothly cut end of a stick of almost any kind of wood, he will note that each growth ring is made up of two more or less well-defined parts. that originally nearest the centre of the tree is more open textured and almost invariably lighter in color than that near the outer portion of the ring. the inner portion was formed early in the season, when growth was comparatively rapid and is known as _early wood_ (also spring wood); the outer portion is the _late wood_, being produced in the summer or early fall. in soft pines there is not much contrast in the different parts of the ring, and as a result the wood is very uniform in texture and is easy to work. in hard pine, on the other hand, the late wood is very dense and is deep-colored, presenting a very decided contrast to the soft, straw-colored early wood. (see fig. 23.) in ring-porous woods each season's growth is always well defined, because the large pores of the spring abut on the denser tissue of the fall before. in the diffuse-porous, the demarcation between rings is not always so clear and in not a few cases is almost, if not entirely, invisible to the unaided eye. (see fig. 22.) [illustration: fig. 23.--cross section of longleaf pine showing several growth rings with variations in the width of the dark-colored late wood. seven resin ducts are visible. x 33. _photomicrograph by u.s. forest service_] if one compares a heavy piece of pine with a light specimen it will be seen at once that the heavier one contains a larger proportion of late wood than the other, and is therefore considerably darker. the late wood of all species is denser than that formed early in the season, hence the greater the proportion of late wood the greater the density and strength. when examined under a microscope the cells of the late wood are seen to be very thick-walled and with very small cavities, while those formed first in the season have thin walls and large cavities. the strength is in the walls, not the cavities. in choosing a piece of pine where strength or stiffness is the important consideration, the principal thing to observe is the comparative amounts of early and late wood. the width of ring, that is, the number per inch, is not nearly so important as the proportion of the late wood in the ring. it is not only the proportion of late wood, but also its quality, that counts. in specimens that show a very large proportion of late wood it may be noticeably more porous and weigh considerably less than the late wood in pieces that contain but little. one can judge comparative density, and therefore to some extent weight and strength, by visual inspection. the conclusions of the u.s. forest service regarding the effect of rate of growth on the properties of douglas fir are summarized as follows: "1. in general, rapidly grown wood (less than eight rings per inch) is relatively weak. a study of the individual tests upon which the average points are based shows, however, that when it is not associated with light weight and a small proportion of summer wood, rapid growth is not indicative of weak wood. "2. an average rate of growth, indicated by from 12 to 16 rings per inch, seems to produce the best material. "3. in rates of growths lower than 16 rings per inch, the average strength of the material decreases, apparently approaching a uniform condition above 24 rings per inch. in such slow rates of growth the texture of the wood is very uniform, and naturally there is little variation in weight or strength. "an analysis of tests on large beams was made to ascertain if average rate of growth has any relation to the mechanical properties of the beams. the analysis indicated conclusively that there was no such relation. average rate of growth [without consideration also of density], therefore, has little significance in grading structural timber."[18] this is because of the wide variation in the percentage of late wood in different parts of the cross section. [footnote 18: bul. 88: properties and uses of douglas fir, p. 29.] experiments seem to indicate that for most species there is a rate of growth which, in general, is associated with the greatest strength, especially in small specimens. for eight conifers it is as follows:[19] [footnote 19: bul. 108, u. s. forest service: tests of structural timbers, p. 37.] rings per inch douglas fir 24 shortleaf pine 12 loblolly pine 6 western larch 18 western hemlock 14 tamarack 20 norway pine 18 redwood 30 no satisfactory explanation can as yet be given for the real causes underlying the formation of early and late wood. several factors may be involved. in conifers, at least, rate of growth alone does not determine the proportion of the two portions of the ring, for in some cases the wood of slow growth is very hard and heavy, while in others the opposite is true. the quality of the site where the tree grows undoubtedly affects the character of the wood formed, though it is not possible to formulate a rule governing it. in general, however, it may be said that where strength or ease of working is essential, woods of moderate to slow growth should be chosen. but in choosing a particular specimen it is not the width of ring, but the proportion and character of the late wood which should govern. in the case of the ring-porous hardwoods there seems to exist a pretty definite relation between the rate of growth of timber and its properties. this may be briefly summed up in the general statement that the more rapid the growth or the wider the rings of growth, the heavier, harder, stronger, and stiffer the wood. this, it must be remembered, applies only to ring-porous woods such as oak, ash, hickory, and others of the same group, and is, of course, subject to some exceptions and limitations. in ring-porous woods of good growth it is usually the middle portion of the ring in which the thick-walled, strength-giving fibres are most abundant. as the breadth of ring diminishes, this middle portion is reduced so that very slow growth produces comparatively light, porous wood composed of thin-walled vessels and wood parenchyma. in good oak these large vessels of the early wood occupy from 6 to 10 per cent of the volume of the log, while in inferior material they may make up 25 per cent or more. the late wood of good oak, except for radial grayish patches of small pores, is dark colored and firm, and consists of thick-walled fibres which form one-half or more of the wood. in inferior oak, such fibre areas are much reduced both in quantity and quality. such variation is very largely the result of rate of growth. wide-ringed wood is often called "second-growth," because the growth of the young timber in open stands after the old trees have been removed is more rapid than in trees in the forest, and in the manufacture of articles where strength is an important consideration such "second-growth" hardwood material is preferred. this is particularly the case in the choice of hickory for handles and spokes. here not only strength, but toughness and resilience are important. the results of a series of tests on hickory by the u.s. forest service show that "the work or shock-resisting ability is greatest in wide-ringed wood that has from 5 to 14 rings per inch, is fairly constant from 14 to 38 rings, and decreases rapidly from 38 to 47 rings. the strength at maximum load is not so great with the most rapid-growing wood; it is maximum with from 14 to 20 rings per inch, and again becomes less as the wood becomes more closely ringed. the natural deduction is that wood of first-class mechanical value shows from 5 to 20 rings per inch and that slower growth yields poorer stock. thus the inspector or buyer of hickory should discriminate against timber that has more than 20 rings per inch. exceptions exist, however, in the case of normal growth upon dry situations, in which the slow-growing material may be strong and tough."[20] [footnote 20: bul. 80: the commercial hickories, pp. 48-50.] the effect of rate of growth on the qualities of chestnut wood is summarized by the same authority as follows: "when the rings are wide, the transition from spring wood to summer wood is gradual, while in the narrow rings the spring wood passes into summer wood abruptly. the width of the spring wood changes but little with the width of the annual ring, so that the narrowing or broadening of the annual ring is always at the expense of the summer wood. the narrow vessels of the summer wood make it richer in wood substance than the spring wood composed of wide vessels. therefore, rapid-growing specimens with wide rings have more wood substance than slow-growing trees with narrow rings. since the more the wood substance the greater the weight, and the greater the weight the stronger the wood, chestnuts with wide rings must have stronger wood than chestnuts with narrow rings. this agrees with the accepted view that sprouts (which always have wide rings) yield better and stronger wood than seedling chestnuts, which grow more slowly in diameter."[21] [footnote 21: bul. 53: chestnut in southern maryland, pp. 20-21.] in diffuse-porous woods, as has been stated, the vessels or pores are scattered throughout the ring instead of collected in the early wood. the effect of rate of growth is, therefore, not the same as in the ring-porous woods, approaching more nearly the conditions in the conifers. in general it may be stated that such woods of medium growth afford stronger material than when very rapidly or very slowly grown. in many uses of wood, strength is not the main consideration. if ease of working is prized, wood should be chosen with regard to its uniformity of texture and straightness of grain, which will in most cases occur when there is little contrast between the late wood of one season's growth and the early wood of the next. heartwood and sapwood examination of the end of a log of many species reveals a darker-colored inner portion--the _heartwood_, surrounded by a lighter-colored zone--the _sapwood_. in some instances this distinction in color is very marked; in others, the contrast is slight, so that it is not always easy to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. the color of fresh sapwood is always light, sometimes pure white, but more often with a decided tinge of green or brown. sapwood is comparatively new wood. there is a time in the early history of every tree when its wood is all sapwood. its principal functions are to conduct water from the roots to the leaves and to store up and give back according to the season the food prepared in the leaves. the more leaves a tree bears and the more thrifty its growth, the larger the volume of sapwood required, hence trees making rapid growth in the open have thicker sapwood for their size than trees of the same species growing in dense forests. sometimes trees grown in the open may become of considerable size, a foot or more in diameter, before any heartwood begins to form, for example, in second-growth hickory, or field-grown white and loblolly pines. as a tree increases in age and diameter an inner portion of the sapwood becomes inactive and finally ceases to function. this inert or dead portion is called heartwood, deriving its name solely from its position and not from any vital importance to the tree, as is shown by the fact that a tree can thrive with its heart completely decayed. some, species begin to form heartwood very early in life, while in others the change comes slowly. thin sapwood is characteristic of such trees as chestnut, black locust, mulberry, osage orange, and sassafras, while in maple, ash, gum, hickory, hackberry, beech, and loblolly pine, thick sapwood is the rule. there is no definite relation between the annual rings of growth and the amount of sapwood. within the same species the cross-sectional area of the sapwood is roughly proportional to the size of the crown of the tree. if the rings are narrow, more of them are required than where they are wide. as the tree gets larger, the sapwood must necessarily become thinner or increase materially in volume. sapwood is thicker in the upper portion of the trunk of a tree than near the base, because the age and the diameter of the upper sections are less. when a tree is very young it is covered with limbs almost, if not entirely, to the ground, but as it grows older some or all of them will eventually die and be broken off. subsequent growth of wood may completely conceal the stubs which, however, will remain as knots. no matter how smooth and clear a log is on the outside, it is more or less knotty near the middle. consequently the sapwood of an old tree, and particularly of a forest-grown tree, will be freer from knots than the heartwood. since in most uses of wood, knots are defects that weaken the timber and interfere with its ease of working and other properties, it follows that sapwood, because of its position in the tree, may have certain advantages over heartwood. it is really remarkable that the inner heartwood of old trees remains as sound as it usually does, since in many cases it is hundreds of years, and in a few instances thousands of years, old. every broken limb or root, or deep wound from fire, insects, or falling timber, may afford an entrance for decay, which, once started, may penetrate to all parts of the trunk. the larvã¦ of many insects bore into the trees and their tunnels remain indefinitely as sources of weakness. whatever advantages, however, that sapwood may have in this connection are due solely to its relative age and position. if a tree grows all its life in the open and the conditions of soil and site remain unchanged, it will make its most rapid growth in youth, and gradually decline. the annual rings of growth are for many years quite wide, but later they become narrower and narrower. since each succeeding ring is laid down on the outside of the wood previously formed, it follows that unless a tree materially increases its production of wood from year to year, the rings must necessarily become thinner. as a tree reaches maturity its crown becomes more open and the annual wood production is lessened, thereby reducing still more the width of the growth rings. in the case of forest-grown trees so much depends upon the competition of the trees in their struggle for light and nourishment that periods of rapid and slow growth may alternate. some trees, such as southern oaks, maintain the same width of ring for hundreds of years. upon the whole, however, as a tree gets larger in diameter the width of the growth rings decreases. it is evident that there may be decided differences in the grain of heartwood and sapwood cut from a large tree, particularly one that is overmature. the relationship between width of growth rings and the mechanical properties of wood is discussed under rate of growth. in this connection, however, it may be stated that as a general rule the wood laid on late in the life of a tree is softer, lighter, weaker, and more even-textured than that produced earlier. it follows that in a large log the sapwood, because of the time in the life of the tree when it was grown, may be inferior in hardness, strength, and toughness to equally sound heartwood from the same log. after exhaustive tests on a number of different woods the u.s. forest service concludes as follows: "sapwood, except that from old, overmature trees, is as strong as heartwood, other things being equal, and so far as the mechanical properties go should not be regarded as a defect."[22] careful inspection of the individual tests made in the investigation fails to reveal any relation between the proportion of sapwood and the breaking strength of timber. [footnote 22: bul. 108: tests of structural timber, p. 35.] in the study of the hickories the conclusion was: "there is an unfounded prejudice against the heartwood. specifications place white hickory, or sapwood, in a higher grade than red hickory, or heartwood, though there is no inherent difference in strength. in fact, in the case of large and old hickory trees, the sapwood nearest the bark is comparatively weak, and the best wood is in the heart, though in young trees of thrifty growth the best wood is in the sap."[23] the results of tests from selected pieces lying side by side in the same tree, and also the average values for heartwood and sapwood in shipments of the commercial hickories without selection, show conclusively that "the transformation of sapwood into heartwood does not affect either the strength or toughness of the wood.... it is true, however, that sapwood is usually more free from latent defects than heartwood."[24] [footnote 23: bul. 80: the commercial hickories, p. 50.] [footnote 24: _loc. cit._] specifications for paving blocks often require that longleaf pine be 90 per cent heart. this is on the belief that sapwood is not only more subject to decay, but is also weaker than heartwood. in reality there is no sound basis for discrimination against sapwood on account of strength, provided other conditions are equal. it is true that sapwood will not resist decay as long as heartwood, if both are untreated with preservatives. it is especially so of woods with deep-colored heartwood, and is due to infiltrations of tannins, oils, and resins, which make the wood more or less obnoxious to decay-producing fungi. if, however, the timbers are to be treated, sapwood is not a defect; in fact, because of the relative ease with which it can be impregnated with preservatives it may be made more desirable than heartwood.[25] [footnote 25: although the factor of heart or sapwood does not influence the mechanical properties of the wood and there is usually no difference in structure observable under the microscope, nevertheless sapwood is generally decidedly different from heartwood in its physical properties. it dries better and more easily than heartwood, usually with less shrinkage and little checking or honeycombing. this is especially the case with the more refractory woods, such as white oaks and _eucalyptus globulus_ and _viminalis_. it is usually much more permeable to air, even in green wood, notably so in loblolly pine and even in white oak. as already stated, it is much more subject to decay. the sapwood of white oak may be impregnated with creosote with comparative ease, while the heartwood is practically impenetrable. these facts indicate a difference in its chemical nature.--h.d. tiemann.] in specifications for structural timbers reference is sometimes made to "boxheart," meaning the inclusion of the pith or centre of the tree within a cross section of the timber. from numerous experiments it appears that the position of the pith does not bear any relation to the strength of the material. since most season checks, however, are radial, the position of the pith may influence the resistance of a seasoned beam to horizontal shear, being greatest when the pith is located in the middle half of the section.[26] [footnote 26: bul. 108, u.s. forest service, p. 36.] weight, density, and specific gravity from data obtained from a large number of tests on the strength of different woods it appears that, other things being equal, the crushing strength parallel to the grain, fibre stress at elastic limit in bending, and shearing strength along the grain of wood vary in direct proportion to the weight of dry wood per unit of volume when green. other strength values follow different laws. the hardness varies in a slightly greater ratio than the square of the density. the work to the breaking point increases even more rapidly than the cube of density. the modulus of rupture in bending lies between the first power and the square of the density. this, of course, is true only in case the greater weight is due to increase in the amount of wood substance. a wood heavy with resin or other infiltrated substance is not necessarily stronger than a similar specimen free from such materials. if differences in weight are due to degree of seasoning, in other words, to the relative amounts of water contained, the rules given above will of course not hold, since strength increases with dryness. but of given specimens of pine or of oak, for example, in the green condition, the comparative strength may be inferred from the weight. it is not permissible, however, to compare such widely different woods as oak and pine on a basis of their weights.[27] [footnote 27: the oaks for some unknown reason fall below the normal strength for weight, whereas the hickories rise above. certain other woods also are somewhat exceptional to the normal relation of strength and density.] the weight of wood substance, that is, the material which composes the walls of the fibres and other cells, is practically the same in all species, whether pine, hickory, or cottonwood, being a little greater than half again as heavy as water. it varies slightly from beech sapwood, 1.50, to douglas fir heartwood, 1.57, averaging about 1.55 at 30â° to 35â° c., in terms of water at its greatest density 4â° c. the reason any wood floats is that the air imprisoned in its cavities buoys it up. when this is displaced by water the wood becomes water-logged and sinks. leaving out of consideration infiltrated substances, the reason a cubic foot of one kind of dry wood is heavier than that of another is because it contains a greater amount of wood substance. ~density~ is merely the weight of a unit of volume, as 35 pounds per cubic foot, or 0.56 grams per cubic centimetre. ~specific gravity~ or relative density is the ratio of the density of any material to the density of distilled water at 4â° c. (39.2â° f.). a cubic foot of distilled water at 4â° c. weighs 62.43 pounds. hence the specific gravity of a piece of wood with a density of 35 pounds is 35 / 62.43 = 0.561. to find the weight per cubic foot when the specific gravity is given, simply multiply by 62.43. thus, 0.561 x 62.43 = 35. in the metric system, since the weight of a cubic centimetre of pure water is one gram, the density in grams per cubic centimetre has the same numerical value as the specific gravity. since the amount of water in wood is extremely variable it usually is not satisfactory to refer to the density of green wood. for scientific purposes the density of "oven-dry" wood is used; that is, the wood is dried in an oven at a temperature of 100â°c. (212â°f.) until a constant weight is attained. for commercial purposes the weight or density of air-dry or "shipping-dry" wood is used. this is usually expressed in pounds per thousand board feet, a board foot being considered as one-twelfth of a cubic foot. wood shrinks greatly in drying from the green to the oven-dry condition. (see table xiv.) consequently a block of wood measuring a cubic foot when green will measure considerably less when oven-dry. it follows that the density of oven-dry wood does not represent the weight of the dry wood substance in a cubic foot of green wood. in other words, it is not the weight of a cubic foot of green wood minus the weight of the water which it contains. since the latter is often a more convenient figure to use and much easier to obtain than the weight of oven-dry wood, it is commonly expressed in tables of "specific gravity or density of dry wood." |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xiv | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | specific gravity, and shrinkage of 51 american woods | | (forest service cir. 213) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | specific gravity | shrinkage from green to | | | mois | oven-dry, based on | oven-dry condition | | common name | ture |--------------------+---------------------------| | of species | content | volume | volume | in | | tangen| | | | when | when | volume | radial | tial | | | | green | oven-dry | | | | |-----------------+---------+---------+----------+--------+--------+---------| | | per | | | per | per | per | | | cent | | | cent | cent | cent | | | | | | | | | | hardwoods | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ash, black | 77 | 0.466 | | | | | | white | 38 | .550 | 0.640 | 12.6 | 4.3 | 6.4 | | " | 47 | .516 | .590 | 11.7 | | | | basswood | 110 | .315 | .374 | 14.5 | 6.2 | 8.4 | | beech | 61 | .556 | .669 | 16.5 | 4.6 | 10.5 | | birch, yellow | 72 | .545 | .661 | 17.0 | 7.9 | 9.0 | | elm, rock | 46 | .578 | | | | | | slippery | 57 | .541 | .639 | 15.5 | 5.1 | 9.9 | | white | 66 | .430 | | | | | | gum, red | 71 | .434 | | | | | | hackberry | 50 | .504 | .576 | 14.0 | 4.2 | 8.9 | | hickory, | | | | | | | | big shellbark | 64 | .601 | | 17.6 | 7.4 | 11.2 | | " " | 55 | .666 | | 20.9 | 7.9 | 14.2 | | bitternut | 65 | .624 | | | | | | mockernut | 64 | .606 | | 16.5 | 6.9 | 10.4 | | " | 57 | .662 | | 18.9 | 8.4 | 11.4 | | " | 48 | .666 | | | | | | nutmeg | 76 | .558 | | | | | | pignut | 59 | .627 | | 15.0 | 5.6 | 9.8 | | " | 54 | .667 | | 15.3 | 6.3 | 9.5 | | " | 55 | .667 | | 16.9 | 6.8 | 10.9 | | " | 52 | .667 | | 21.2 | 8.5 | 13.8 | | shagbark | 65 | .608 | | 16.0 | 6.5 | 10.2 | | " | 58 | .646 | | 18.4 | 7.9 | 11.4 | | " | 64 | .617 | | | | | | " | 60 | .653 | | 15.5 | 6.5 | 9.7 | | water | 74 | .630 | | | | | | locust, honey | 53 | .695 | .759 | 8.6 | | | | maple, red | 69 | .512 | | | | | | sugar | 57 | .546 | .643 | 14.3 | 4.9 | 9.1 | | " | 56 | .577 | | | | | | oak, post | 64 | .590 | .732 | 16.0 | 5.7 | 10.6 | | red | 80 | .568 | .660 | 13.1 | 3.7 | 8.3 | | swamp white | 74 | .637 | .792 | 17.7 | 5.5 | 10.6 | | tanbark | 88 | .585 | | | | | | white | 58 | .594 | .704 | 15.8 | 6.2 | 8.3 | | " | 62 | .603 | .696 | 14.3 | 4.9 | 9.0 | | " | 78 | .600 | .708 | 16.0 | 4.8 | 9.2 | | yellow | 77 | .573 | .669 | 14.2 | 4.5 | 9.7 | | " | 80 | .550 | | | | | | osage orange | 31 | .761 | .838 | 8.9 | | | | sycamore | 81 | .454 | .526 | 13.5 | 5.0 | 7.3 | | tupelo | 121 | .475 | .545 | 12.4 | 4.4 | 7.9 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xiv (cont.) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | specific gravity, and shrinkage of 51 american woods | | (forest service cir. 213) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | specific gravity | shrinkage from green to | | | | oven-dry, based on | oven-dry condition | | common name | |--------------------+---------------------------| | of species | mois | volume | volume | in | | tangen| | | ture | when | when | volume | radial | tial | | | content | green | oven-dry | | | | |-----------------+---------+---------+----------+--------+--------+---------| | | per | | | per | per | per | | | cent | | | cent | cent | cent | | | | | | | | | | conifers | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | arborvitã¦ | 55 | .293 | .315 | 7.0 | 2.1 | 4.9 | | cedar, incense | 80 | .363 | | | | | | cypress, bald | 79 | .452 | .513 | 11.5 | 3.8 | 6.0 | | fir, alpine | 47 | .306 | .321 | 9.0 | 2.5 | 7.1 | | amabilis | 117 | .383 | | | | | | douglas | 32 | .418 | .458 | 10.9 | 3.7 | 6.6 | | white | 156 | .350 | .437 | 10.2 | 3.4 | 7.0 | | hemlock (east.) | 129 | .340 | .394 | 9.2 | 2.3 | 5.0 | | pine, lodgepole | 44 | .370 | .415 | 11.3 | 4.2 | 7.1 | | " | 58 | .371 | .407 | 10.1 | 3.6 | 5.9 | | longleaf | 63 | .528 | .599 | 12.8 | 6.0 | 7.6 | | red or nor | 54 | .440 | .507 | 11.5 | 4.5 | 7.2 | | shortleaf | 52 | .447 | | | | | | sugar | 123 | .360 | .386 | 8.4 | 2.9 | 5.6 | | west yellow | 98 | .353 | .395 | 9.2 | 4.1 | 6.4 | | " " | 125 | .377 | .433 | 11.5 | 4.3 | 7.3 | | " " | 93 | .391 | .435 | 9.9 | 3.8 | 5.8 | | white | 74 | .363 | .391 | 7.8 | 2.2 | 5.9 | | redwood | 81 | .334 | | | | | | " | 69 | .366 | | | | | | spruce, | | | | | | | | engelmann | 45 | .325 | .359 | 10.5 | 3.7 | 6.9 | | " | 156 | .299 | .335 | 10.3 | 3.0 | 6.2 | | red | 31 | .396 | | | | | | white | 41 | .318 | | | | | | tamarack | 52 | .491 | .558 | 13.6 | 3.7 | 7.4 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| this weight divided by 62.43 gives the specific gravity per green volume. it is purely a fictitious quantity. to convert this figure into actual density or specific gravity of the dry wood, it is necessary to know the amount of shrinkage in volume. if s is the percentage of shrinkage from the green to the oven-dry condition, based on the green volume; d, the density of the dry wood per cubic foot while green; and d the actual d density of oven-dry wood, then ---------= d. 1 .0 s this relation becomes clearer from the following analysis: taking v and w as the volume and weight, respectively, when green, and v and w as the corresponding volume and weight when w w v v oven-dry, then, d = --; d = --; s = ------x 100, and v v v v v s = ------x 100, in which s is the percentage of shrinkage v from the green to the oven-dry condition, based on the green volume, and s the same based on the oven-dry volume. in tables of specific gravity or density of wood it should always be stated whether the dry weight per unit of volume when green or the dry weight per unit of volume when dry is intended, since the shrinkage in volume may vary from 6 to 50 per cent, though in conifers it is usually about 10 per cent, and in hardwoods nearer 15 per cent. (see table xiv.) color in species which show a distinct difference between heartwood and sapwood the natural color of heartwood is invariably darker than that of the sapwood, and very frequently the contrast is conspicuous. this is produced by deposits in the heartwood of various materials resulting from the process of growth, increased possibly by oxidation and other chemical changes, which usually have little or no appreciable effect on the mechanical properties of the wood. (see heartwood and sapwood, above.) some experiments[28] on very resinous longleaf pine specimens, however, indicate an increase in strength. this is due to the resin which increases the strength when dry. spruce impregnated with crude resin and dried is greatly increased in strength thereby. [footnote 28: bul. 70, u.s. forest service, p. 92; also p. 126, appendix.] since the late wood of a growth ring is usually darker in color than the early wood, this fact may be used in judging the density, and therefore the hardness and strength of the material. this is particularly the case with coniferous woods. in ring-porous woods the vessels of the early wood not infrequently appear on a finished surface as darker than the denser late wood, though on cross sections of heartwood the reverse is commonly true. except in the manner just stated the color of wood is no indication of strength. abnormal discoloration of wood often denotes a diseased condition, indicating unsoundness. the black check in western hemlock is the result of insect attacks.[29] the reddish-brown streaks so common in hickory and certain other woods are mostly the result of injury by birds.[30] the discoloration is merely an indication of an injury, and in all probability does not of itself affect the properties of the wood. certain rot-producing fungi impart to wood characteristic colors which thus become criterions of weakness. ordinary sap-staining is due to fungous growth, but does not necessarily produce a weakening effect.[31] [footnote 29: see burke, h.e.: black check in western hemlock. cir. no. 61, u.s. bu. entomology, 1905.] [footnote 30: see mcatee, w.l.: woodpeckers in relation to trees and wood products. bul. no. 39, u.s. biol. survey, 1911.] [footnote 31: see von schrenck, hermann: the "bluing" and the "red rot" of the western yellow pine, with special reference to the black hills forest reserve. bul. no. 36, u.s. bu. plant industry, washington, 1903, pp. 13-14. weiss, howard, and barnum, charles t.: the prevention of sapstain in lumber. cir. 192, u.s. forest service, washington, 1911, pp. 16-17.] cross grain _cross grain_ is a very common defect in timber. one form of it is produced in lumber by the method of sawing and has no reference to the natural arrangement of the wood elements. thus if the plane of the saw is not approximately parallel to the axis of the log the grain of the lumber cut is not parallel to the edges and is termed diagonal. this is likely to occur where the logs have considerable taper, and in this case may be produced if sawed parallel to the axis of growth instead of parallel to the growth rings. lumber and timber with diagonal grain is always weaker than straight-grained material, the extent of the defect varying with the degree of the angle the fibres make with the axis of the stick. in the vicinity of large knots the grain is likely to be cross. the defect is most serious where wood is subjected to flexure, as in beams. _spiral grain_ is a very common defect in a tree, and when excessive renders the timber valueless for use except in the round. it is produced by the arrangement of the wood fibres in a spiral direction about the axis instead of exactly vertical. timber with spiral grain is also known as "torse wood." spiral grain usually cannot be detected by casual inspection of a stick, since it does not show in the so-called visible grain of the wood, by which is commonly meant a sectional view of the annual rings of growth cut longitudinally. it is accordingly very easy to allow spiral-grained material to pass inspection, thereby introducing an element of weakness in a structure. there are methods for readily detecting spiral grain. the simplest is that of splitting a small piece radially. it is necessary, of course, that the split be radial, that is, in a plane passing through the axis of the log, and not tangentially. in the latter case it is quite probable that the wood would split straight, the line of cleavage being between the growth rings. in inspection, the elements to examine are the rays. in the case of oak and certain other hardwoods these rays are so large that they are readily seen not only on a radial surface, but on the tangential as well. on the former they appear as flakes, on the latter as short lines. since these rays are between the fibres it naturally follows that they will be vertical or inclined according as the tree is straight-grained or spiral-grained. while they are not conspicuous in the softwoods, they can be seen upon close scrutiny, and particularly so if a small hand magnifier is used. when wood has begun to dry and check it is very easy to see whether or not it is straightor spiral-grained, since the checks will for the most part follow along the rays. if one examines a row of telephone poles, for example, he will probably find that most of them have checks running spirally around them. if boards were sawed from such a pole after it was badly checked they would fall to pieces of their own weight. the only way to get straight material would be to split it out. it is for this reason that split billets and squares are stronger than most sawed material. the presence of the spiral grain has little, if any, effect on the timber when it is used in the round, but in sawed material the greater the pitch of the spiral the greater is the defect. knots _knots_ are portions of branches included in the wood of the stem or larger branch. branches originate as a rule from the central axis of a stem, and while living increase in size by the addition of annual woody layers which are a continuation of those of the stem. the included portion is irregularly conical in shape with the tip at the pith. the direction of the fibre is at right angles or oblique to the grain of the stem, thus producing local cross grain. during the development of a tree most of the limbs, especially the lower ones, die, but persist for a time--often for years. subsequent layers of growth of the stem are no longer intimately joined with the dead limb, but are laid around it. hence dead branches produce knots which are nothing more than pegs in a hole, and likely to drop out after the tree has been sawed into lumber. in grading lumber and structural timber, knots are classified according to their form, size, soundness, and the firmness with which they are held in place.[32] [footnote 32: see standard classification of structural timber. yearbook am. soc. for testing materials, 1913, pp. 300-303. contains three plates showing standard defects.] knots materially affect checking and warping, ease in working, and cleavability of timber. they are defects which weaken timber and depreciate its value for structural purposes where strength is an important consideration. the weakening effect is much more serious where timber is subjected to bending and tension than where under compression. the extent to which knots affect the strength of a beam depends upon their position, size, number, direction of fibre, and condition. a knot on the upper side is compressed, while one on the lower side is subjected to tension. the knot, especially (as is often the case) if there is a season check in it, offers little resistance to this tensile stress. small, knots, however, may be so located in a beam along the neutral plane as actually to increase the strength by tending to prevent longitudinal shearing. knots in a board or plank are least injurious when they extend through it at right angles to its broadest surface. knots which occur near the ends of a beam do not weaken it. sound knots which occur in the central portion one-fourth the height of the beam from either edge are not serious defects. extensive experiments by the u.s. forest service[33] indicate the following effects of knots on structural timbers: [footnote 33: bul. 108, pp. 52 _et seq._] (1) knots do not materially influence the stiffness of structural timber. (2) only defects of the most serious character affect the elastic limit of beams. stiffness and elastic strength are more dependent upon the quality of the wood fibre than upon defects in the beam. (3) the effect of knots is to reduce the difference between the fibre stress at elastic limit and the modulus of rupture of beams. the breaking strength is very susceptible to defects. (4) sound knots do not weaken wood when subject to compression parallel to the grain.[34] [footnote 34: bul. 115, u.s. forest service: mechanical properties of western hemlock, p. 20.] frost splits a common defect in standing timber results from radial splits which extend inward from the periphery of the tree, and almost, if not always, near the base. it is most common in trees which split readily, and those with large rays and thin bark. the primary cause of the splitting is frost, and various theories have been advanced to explain the action. r. hartig[35] believes that freezing forces out a part of the imbibition water of the cell walls, thereby causing the wood to shrink, and if the interior layers have not yet been cooled, tangential strains arise which finally produce radial clefts. [footnote 35: hartig, r.: the diseases of trees (trans. by somerville and ward), london and new york, 1894, pp. 282-294.] another theory holds that the water is not driven out of the cell walls, but that difference in temperature conditions of inner and outer layers is itself sufficient to set up the strains, resulting in splitting. an air temperature of 14â°f. or less is considered necessary to produce frost splits. a still more recent theory is that of busse[36] who considers the mechanical action of the wind a very important factor. he observed: (_a_) frost splits sometimes occur at higher temperatures than 14â°f. (_b_) most splits take place shortly before sunrise, _i.e._, at the time of lowest air and soil temperature; they are never heard to take place at noon, afternoon, or evening. (_c_) they always occur between two roots or between the collars of two roots, (_d_) they are most frequent in old, stout-rooted, broad-crowned trees; in younger stands it is always the stoutest members that are found with frost splits, while in quite young stands they are altogether absent, (_e_) trees on wet sites are most liable to splits, due to difference in wood structure, just as difference in wood structure makes different species vary in this regard. (_f_) frost splits are most numerous less than three feet above the ground. [footnote 36: busse, w.: frost-, ringund kernrisse. forstwiss. centralb., xxxii, 2, 1910, pp. 74-81.] when a tree is swayed by the wind the roots are counteracting forces, and the wood fibres are tested in tension and compression by the opposing forces; where the roots exercise tension stresses most effectively the effect of compression stresses is at a minimum; only where the pressure is in excess of the tension, _i.e._, between the roots, can a separation of the fibre result. hence, when by frost a tension on the entire periphery is established, and the wind localizes additional strains, failure occurs. the stronger the compression and tension, the severer the strains and the oftener failures occur. the occurrence of reports of frost splits on wind-still days is believed by busse to be due to the opening of old frost splits where the tension produced by the frost alone is sufficient. frost splits may heal over temporarily, but usually open up again during the following winter. the presence of old splits is often indicated by a ridge of callous, the result of the cambium's effort to occlude the wound. frost splits not only affect the value of lumber, but also afford an entrance into the living tree for disease and decay. shakes, galls, pitch pockets _heart shake_ occurs in nearly all overmature timber, being more frequent in hardwoods (especially oak) than in conifers. in typical heart shake the centre of the hole shows indications of becoming hollow and radial clefts of varying size extend outward from the pith, being widest inward. it frequently affects only the butt log, but may extend to the entire hole and even the larger branches. it usually results from a shrinkage of the heartwood due probably to chemical changes in the wood. when it consists of a single cleft extending across the pith it is termed _simple heart shake_. shake of this character in straight-grained trees affects only one or two central boards when cut into lumber, but in spiral-grained timber the damage is much greater. when shake consists of several radial clefts it is termed _star shake_. in some instances one or more of these clefts may extend nearly to the bark. in felled or converted timber clefts due to heart shake may be distinguished from seasoning cracks by the darker color of the exposed surfaces. such clefts, however, tend to open up more and more as the timber seasons. _cup_ or _ring shake_ results from the pulling apart of two or more growth rings. it is one of the most serious defects to which sound timber is subject, as it seriously reduces the technical properties of wood. it is very common in sycamore and in western larch, particularly in the butt portion. its occurrence is most frequent at the junction of two growth layers of very unequal thickness. consequently it is likely to occur in trees which have grown slowly for a time, then abruptly increased, due to improved conditions of light and food, as in thinning. old timber is more subject to it than young trees. the damage is largely confined to the butt log. cup shake is often associated with other forms of shake, and not infrequently shows traces of decay. the causes of cup shake are uncertain. the swaying action of the wind may result in shearing apart the growth layers, especially in trees growing in exposed places. frost may in some instances be responsible for cup shake or at least a contributing factor, although trees growing in regions free from frost often have ring shake. shrinkage of the heartwood may be concentric as well as radial in its action, thus producing cup shake instead of, or in connection with, heart shake. a local defect somewhat similar in effect to cup shake is known as _rind gall_. if the cambium layer is exposed by the removal of the entire bark or rind it will die. subsequent growth over the damaged portion does not cohere with the wood previously formed by the old cambium. the defect resulting is termed rind gall. the most common causes of it are fire, gnawing, blazing, chipping, sun scald, lightning, and abrasions. _heart break_ is a term applied to areas of compression failure along the grain found in occasional logs. sometimes these breaks are invisible until the wood is manufactured into the finished article. the occurrence of this defect is mostly limited to the dense hardwoods, such as hickory and to heavy tropical species. it is the source of considerable loss in the fancy veneer industry, as the veneer from valuable logs so affected drops to pieces. the cause of heart break is not positively known. it is highly probable, however, that when the tree is felled the trunk strikes across a rock or another log, and the impact causes actual failure in the log as in a beam. _resin_ or _pitch pockets_ are of common occurrence in the wood of larch, spruce, fir, and especially of longleaf and other hard pines. they are due to accumulations of resin in openings between adjacent layers of growth. they are more frequent in trees growing alone than in those of dense stands. the pockets are usually a few inches in greatest dimension and affect only one or two growth layers. they are hidden until exposed by the saw, rendering it impossible to cut lumber with reference to their position. often several boards are damaged by a single pocket. in grading lumber, pitch pockets are classified as small, standard, and large, depending upon their width and length. insect injuries[37] [footnote 37: for detailed information regarding insect injuries, the reader is referred to the various publications of the u.s. bureau of entomology, washington, d.c.] the larvã¦ of many insects are destructive to wood. some attack the wood of living trees, others only that of felled or converted material. every hole breaks the continuity of the fibres and impairs the strength, and if there are very many of them the material may be ruined for all purposes where strength is required. some of the most common insects attacking the wood of living trees are the oak timber worm, the chestnut timber worm, carpenter worms, ambrosia beetles, the locust borer, turpentine beetles and turpentine borers, and the white pine weevil. the insect injuries to forest products may be classed according to the stage of manufacture of the material. thus round timber with the bark on, such as poles, posts, mine props, and sawlogs, is subject to serious damage by the same class of insects as those mentioned above, particularly by the round-headed borers, timber worms, and ambrosia beetles. manufactured unseasoned products are subject to damage from ambrosia beetles and other wood borers. seasoned hardwood lumber of all kinds, rough handles, wagon stock, etc., made partially or entirely of sapwood, are often reduced in value from 10 to 90 per cent by a class of insects known as powder-post beetles. finished hardwood products such as handles, wagon, carriage and machinery stock, especially if ash or hickory, are often destroyed by the powder-post beetles. construction timbers in buildings, bridges and trestles, cross-ties, poles, mine props, fence posts, etc., are sometimes seriously injured by wood-boring larvã¦, termites, black ants, carpenter bees, and powder-post beetles, and sometimes reduced in value from 10 to 100 per cent. in tropical countries termites are a very serious pest in this respect. marine wood-borer injuries vast amounts of timber used for piles in wharves and other marine structures are constantly being destroyed or seriously injured by marine borers. almost invariably they are confined to salt water, and all the woods commonly used for piling are subject to their attacks. there are two genera of mollusks, _xylotrya_ and _teredo_, and three of crustaceans, _limnoria, chelura_, and _sphoeroma_, that do serious damage in many places along both the atlantic and pacific coasts. these mollusks, which are popularly known as "shipworms," are much alike in structure and mode of life. they attack the exposed surface of the wood and immediately begin to bore. the tunnels, often as large as a lead pencil, extend usually in a longitudinal direction and follow a very irregular, tangled course. hard woods are apparently penetrated as readily as soft woods, though in the same timber the softer parts are preferred. the food consists of infusoria and is not obtained from the wood substance. the sole object of boring into the wood is to obtain shelter. although shipworms can live in cold water they thrive best and are most destructive in warm water. the length of time required to destroy an average barked, unprotected pine pile on the atlantic coast south from chesapeake bay and along the entire pacific coast varies from but one to three years. of the crustacean borers, _limnoria_, or the "wood louse," is the only one of great importance, although _sphoeroma_ is reported destructive in places. _limnoria_ is about the size of a grain of rice and tunnels into the wood for both food and shelter. the galleries extend inward radially, side by side, in countless numbers, to the depth of about one-half inch. the thin wood partitions remaining are destroyed by wave action, so that a fresh surface is exposed to attack. both hard and soft woods are damaged, but the rate is faster in the soft woods or softer portions of a wood. timbers seriously attacked by marine borers are badly weakened or completely destroyed. if the original strength of the material is to be preserved it is necessary to protect the wood from the borers. this is sometimes accomplished by proper injection of creosote oil, and more or less successfully by the use of various kinds of external coatings.[38] no treatment, however, has proved entirely satisfactory. [footnote 38: see smith, c. stowell: preservation of piling against marine wood borers. cir. 128, u.s. forest service, 1908, pp. 15.] fungous injuries[39] [footnote 39: see von schrenck, h.: the decay of timber and methods of preventing it. bul. 14, u.s. bu. plant industry, washington, d.c., 1902. also buls. 32, 114, 214, 266. meineoke, e.p.: forest tree diseases common in california and nevada, u.s. forest service, washington, d.c., 1914. hartig, r.: the diseases of trees. london and new york, 1894.] fungi are responsible for almost all decay of wood. so far as known, all decay is produced by living organisms, either fungi or bacteria. some species attack living trees, sometimes killing them, or making them hollow, or in the case of pecky cypress and incense cedar filling the wood with galleries like those of boring insects. a much larger variety work only in felled or dead wood, even after it is placed in buildings or manufactured articles. in any case the process of destruction is the same. the mycelial threads penetrate the walls of the cells in search of food, which they find either in the cell contents (starches, sugars, etc.), or in the cell wall itself. the breaking down of the cell walls through the chemical action of so-called "enzymes" secreted by the fungi follows, and the eventual product is a rotten, moist substance crumbling readily under the slightest pressure. some species remove the ligneous matter and leave almost pure cellulose, which is white, like cotton; others dissolve the cellulose, leaving a brittle, dark brown mass of ligno-cellulose. fungi (such as the bluing fungus) which merely stain wood usually do not affect its mechanical properties unless the attacks are excessive. it is evident, then, that the action of rot-causing fungi is to decrease the strength of wood, rendering it unsound, brittle, and dangerous to use. the most dangerous kinds are the so-called "dry-rot" fungi which work in many kinds of lumber after it is placed in the buildings. they are particularly to be dreaded because unseen, working as they do within the walls or inside of casings. several serious wrecks of large buildings have been attributed to this cause. it is stated[40] that in the three years (1911-1913) more than $100,000 was required to repair damage due to dry rot. [footnote 40: dry rot in factory timbers, by inspection dept. associated factory mutual fire insurance cos., 31 milk street, boston, 1913.] dry rot develops best at 75â°f. and is said to be killed by a temperature of 110â°f.[41] fully 70 per cent humidity is necessary in the air in which a timber is surrounded for the growth of this fungus, and probably the wood must be quite near its fibre saturation condition. nevertheless _merulius lacrymans_ (one of the most important species) has been found to live four years and eight months in a dry condition.[42] thorough kiln-drying will kill this fungus, but will not prevent its redevelopment. antiseptic treatment, such as creosoting, is the best prevention. [footnote 41: falck, richard: die meruliusfaã¼le des bauholzes, hausschwammforschungen, 6. heft., jena, 1912.] [footnote 42: mez, carl: der hausschwamm. dresden, 1908, p. 63.] all fungi require moisture and air[43] for their growth. deprived of either of these the fungus dies or ceases to develop. just what degree of moisture in wood is necessary for the "dry-rot" fungus has not been determined, but it is evidently considerably above that of thoroughly air-dry timber, probably more than 15 per cent moisture. hence the importance of free circulation of air about all timbers in a building. [footnote 43: a culture of fungus placed in a glass jar and the air pumped out ceases to grow, but will start again as soon as oxygen is admitted.] warmth is also conducive to the growth of fungi, the most favorable temperature being about 90â°f. they cannot grow in extreme cold, although no degree of cold such as occurs naturally will kill them. on the other hand, high temperature will kill them, but the spores may survive even the boiling temperature. mould fungus has been observed to develop rapidly at 130â°f. in a dry kiln in moist air, a condition under which an animal cannot live more than a few minutes. this fungus was killed, however, at about 140â° or 145â°f.[44] [footnote 44: experiments in kiln-drying _eucalyptus_ in berkeley, u.s. forest service.] the fungus (_endothia parasitica_ and.) which causes the chestnut blight kills the trees by girdling them and has no direct effect upon the wood save possibly the four or five growth rings of the sapwood.[45] [footnote 45: see anderson, paul j.: the morphology and life history of the chestnut blight fungus. bul. no. 7, penna. chestnut tree blight com., harrisburg, 1914, p. 17.] parasitic plant injuries.[46] [footnote 46: see york, harlan h.: the anatomy and some of the biological aspects of the "american mistletoe." bul. 120, sci. ser. no. 13, univ. of texas, austin, 1909. bray, wm. l.: the mistletoe pest in the southwest. bul. 166, u.s. bu. plant ind., washington, 1910. meinecke, e.p.: forest tree diseases common in california and nevada. u.s. forest service, washington, 1914, pp. 54-58.] the most common of the higher parasitic plants damaging timber trees are mistletoes. many species of deciduous trees are attacked by the common mistletoe (_phoradendron flavescens_). it is very prevalent in the south and southwest and when present in sufficient quantity does considerable damage. there is also a considerable number of smaller mistletoes belonging to the genus _razoumofskya (arceuthobium)_ which are widely distributed throughout the country, and several of them are common on coniferous trees in the rocky mountains and along the pacific coast. one effect of the common mistletoe is the formation of large swellings or tumors. often the entire tree may become stunted or distorted. the western mistletoe is most common on the branches, where it produces "witches' broom." it frequently attacks the trunk as well, and boards cut from such trees are filled with long, radial holes which seriously damage or destroy the value of the timber affected. locality of growth the data available regarding the effect of the locality of growth upon the properties of wood are not sufficient to warrant definite conclusions. the subject has, however, been kept in mind in many of the u.s. forest service timber tests and the following quotations are assembled from various reports: "in both the cuban and longleaf pine the locality where grown appears to have but little influence on weight or strength, and there is no reason to believe that the longleaf pine from one state is better than that from any other, since such variations as are claimed can be found on any 40-acre lot of timber in any state. but with loblolly and still more with shortleaf this seems not to be the case. being widely distributed over many localities different in soil and climate, the growth of the shortleaf pine seems materially influenced by location. the wood from the southern coast and gulf region and even arkansas is generally heavier than the wood from localities farther north. very light and fine-grained wood is seldom met near the southern limit of the range, while it is almost the rule in missouri, where forms resembling the norway pine are by no means rare. the loblolly, occupying both wet and dry soils, varies accordingly." cir. no. 12, p. 6. " ... it is clear that as all localities have their heavy and their light timber, so they all share in strong and weak, hard and soft material, and the difference in quality of material is evidently far more a matter of individual variation than of soil or climate." _ibid._, p.22 "a representative committee of the carriage builders' association had publicly declared that this important industry could not depend upon the supplies of southern timber, as the oak grown in the south lacked the necessary qualities demanded in carriage construction. without experiment this statement could be little better than a guess, and was doubly unwarranted, since it condemned an enormous amount of material, and one produced under a great variety of conditions and by at least a dozen species of trees, involving, therefore, a complexity of problems difficult enough for the careful investigator, and entirely beyond the few unsystematic observations of the members of a committee on a flying trip through one of the greatest timber regions of the world. "a number of samples were at once collected (part of them supplied by the carriage builders' committee), and the fallacy of the broad statement mentioned was fully demonstrated by a short series of tests and a more extensive study into structure and weight of these materials. from these tests it appears that pieces of white oak from arkansas excelled well-selected pieces from connecticut, both in stiffness and endwise compression (the two most important forms of resistance)." report upon the forestry investigations of the u.s.d.a. 1877-1898, p. 331. see also rep. of div. of for., 1890, p. 209. "in some regions there are many small, stunted hickories, which most users will not touch. they have narrow sap, are likely to be birdpecked, and show very slow growth. yet five of these trees from a steep, dry south slope in west virginia had an average strength fully equal to that of the pignut from the better situation, and were superior in toughness, the work to maximum load being 36.8 as against 31.2 for pignut. the trees had about twice as many rings per inch as others from better situations. "this, however, is not very significant, as trees of the same species, age, and size, growing side by side under the same conditions of soil and situation, show great variation in their technical value. it is hard to account for this difference, but it seems that trees growing in wet or moist situations are rather inferior to those growing on fresher soil; also, it is claimed by many hickory users that the wood from limestone soils is superior to that from sandy soils. "one of the moot questions among hickory men is the relative value of northern and southern hickory. the impression prevails that southern hickory is more porous and brash than hickory from the north. the tests ... indicate that southern hickory is as tough and strong as northern hickory of the same age. but the southern hickories have a greater tendency to be shaky, and this results in much waste. in trees from southern river bottoms the loss through shakes and grub-holes in many cases amounts to as much as 50 per cent. "it is clear, therefore, that the difference in northern and southern hickory is not due to geographic location, but rather to the character of timber that is being cut. nearly all of that from southern river bottoms and from the cumberland mountains is from large, old-growth trees; that from the north is from younger trees which are grown under more favorable conditions, and it is due simply to the greater age of the southern trees that hickory from that region is lighter and more brash than that from the north." bul. 80, pp. 52-55. season of cutting it is generally believed that winter-felled timber has decided advantages over that cut at other seasons of the year, and to that cause alone are frequently ascribed much greater durability, less liability to check and split, better color, and even increased strength and toughness. the conclusion from the various experiments made on the subject is that while the time of felling may, and often does, affect the properties of wood, such result is due to the weather conditions rather than to the condition of the wood. there are two phases of this question. one is concerned with the physiological changes which might take place during the year in the wood of a living tree. the other deals with the purely physical results due to the weather, as differences in temperature, humidity, moisture, and other features to be mentioned later. those who adhere to the first view maintain that wood cut in summer is quite different in composition from that cut in winter. one opinion is that in summer the "sap is up," while in winter it is "down," consequently winter-felled timber is drier. a variation of this belief is that in summer the sap contains certain chemicals which affect the properties of wood and does not contain them in winter. again it is sometimes asserted that wood is actually denser in winter than in summer, as part of the wood substance is dissolved out in the spring and used for plant food, being restored in the fall. it is obvious that such views could apply only to sapwood, since it alone is in living condition at the time of cutting. heartwood is dead wood and has almost no function in the existence of the tree other than the purely mechanical one of support. heartwood does undergo changes, but they are gradual and almost entirely independent of the seasons. sapwood might reasonably be expected to respond to seasonal changes, and to some extent it does. just beneath the bark there is a thin layer of cells which during the growing season have not attained their greatest density. with the exception of this one annual ring, or portion of one, the density of the wood substance of the sapwood is nearly the same the year round. slight variations may occur due to impregnation with sugar and starch in the winter and its dissolution in the growing season. the time of cutting can have no material effect on the inherent strength and other mechanical properties of wood except in the outermost annual ring of growth. the popular belief that sap is up in the spring and summer and is down in the winter has not been substantiated by experiment. there are seasonal differences in the composition of sap, but so far as the amount of sap in a tree is concerned there is fully as much, if not more, during the winter than in summer. winter-cut wood is not drier, to begin with, than summer-felled--in reality, it is likely to be wetter.[47] [footnote 47: see record, s.j.: sap in relation to the properties of wood. proc. am. wood preservers' assn., baltimore, md., 1913, pp. 160-166. kempfer, wm. h.: the air-seasoning of timber. in bul. 161, am. ry. eng. assn., 1913, p. 214.] the important consideration in regard to this question is the series of circumstances attending the handling of the timber after it is felled. wood dries more rapidly in summer than in winter, not because there is less moisture at one time than another, but because of the higher temperature in summer. this greater heat is often accompanied by low humidity, and conditions are favorable for the rapid removal of moisture from the exposed portions of wood. wood dries by evaporation, and other things being equal, this will proceed much faster in hot weather than in cold. it is a matter of common observation that when wood dries it shrinks, and if shrinkage is not uniform in all directions the material pulls apart, causing season checks. (see fig. 27.) if evaporation proceeds more rapidly on the outside than inside, the greater shrinkage of the outer portions is bound to result in many checks, the number and size increasing with the degree of inequality of drying. in cold weather, drying proceeds slowly but uniformly, thus allowing the wood elements to adjust themselves with the least amount of rupturing. in summer, drying proceeds rapidly and irregularly, so that material seasoned at that time is more likely to split and check. there is less danger of sap rot when trees are felled in winter because the fungus does not grow in the very cold weather, and the lumber has a chance to season to below the danger point before the fungus gets a chance to attack it. if the logs in each case could be cut into lumber immediately after felling and given exactly the same treatment, for example, kiln-dried, no difference due to the season of cutting would be noted. water content[48] [footnote 48: see tiemann, h.d.: effect of moisture upon the strength and stiffness of wood. bul. 70, u.s. forest service, washington, d.c., 1906; also cir. 108, 1907.] water occurs in living wood in three conditions, namely: (1) in the cell walls, (2) in the protoplasmic contents of the cells, and (3) as free water in the cell cavities and spaces. in heartwood it occurs only in the first and last forms. wood that is thoroughly air-dried retains from 8 to 16 per cent of water in the cell walls, and none, or practically none, in the other forms. even oven-dried wood retains a small percentage of moisture, but for all except chemical purposes, may be considered absolutely dry. the general effect of the water content upon the wood substance is to render it softer and more pliable. a similar effect of common observation is in the softening action of water on rawhide, paper, or cloth. within certain limits the greater the water content the greater its softening effect. drying produces a decided increase in the strength of wood, particularly in small specimens. an extreme example is the case of a completely dry spruce block two inches in section, which will sustain a permanent load four times as great as that which a green block of the same size will support. the greatest increase due to drying is in the ultimate crushing strength, and strength at elastic limit in endwise compression; these are followed by the modulus of rupture, and stress at elastic limit in cross-bending, while the modulus of elasticity is least affected. these ratios are shown in table xv, but it is to be noted that they apply only to wood in a much drier condition than is used in practice. for air-dry wood the ratios are considerably lower, particularly in the case of the ultimate strength and the elastic limit. stiffness (within the elastic limit), while following a similar law, is less affected. in the case of shear parallel to the grain, the general effect of drying is to increase the strength, but this is often offset by small splits and checks caused by shrinkage. |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xv | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | effect of drying on the mechanical properties of wood, shown in | | ratio of increase due to reducing moisture content from | | the green condition to kiln-dry (3.5 per cent) | | (forest service bul. 70, p. 89) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | kind of strength | longleaf | spruce | chestnut | | | pine | | | |----------------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------| | | (1) (2) | (1) (2) | (1) (2) | | | | | | | crushing strength parallel | | | | | to grain | 2.89 2.60 | 3.71 3.41 | 2.83 2.55 | | elastic limit in | | | | | compression | | | | | parallel to grain | 2.60 2.34 | 3.80 3.49 | 2.40 2.26 | | modulus of rupture in | | | | | bending | 2.50 2.20 | 2.81 2.50 | 2.09 1.82 | | stress at elastic limit in | | | | | bending | 2.90 2.55 | 2.90 2.58 | 2.30 2.00 | | crushing strength at right | | | | | angles to grain | | 2.58 2.48 | | | shearing strength parallel | | | | | to grain | 2.01 1.91 | 2.03 1.95 | 1.55 1.47 | | modulus of elasticity in | | | | | compression parallel to | | | | | grain | 1.63 1.47 | 2.26 2.08 | 1.43 1.29 | | modulus of elasticity in | | | | | bending | 1.59 1.35 | 1.43 1.23 | 1.44 1.21 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--the figures in the first column show the relative increase in | | strength between a green specimen and a kiln-dry specimen of equal | | size. the figures in the second column show the relative increase of | | strength of the same block after being dried from a green condition | | to 3.5 per cent moisture, correction having been made for shrinkage. | | that is, in the first column the strength values per actual unit of | | area are used; in the second the values per unit of area of green | | wood which shrinks to smaller size when dried. | | | | see also cir. 108, fig. 1, p. 8. | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| the moisture content has a decided bearing also upon the manner in which wood fails. in compression tests on very dry specimens the entire piece splits suddenly into pieces before any buckling takes place (see fig. 9.), while with wet material the block gives way gradually, due to the buckling or bending of the walls of the fibres along one or more shearing planes. (see fig. 14.) in bending tests on wet beams, first failure occurs by compression on top of the beam, gradually extending downward toward the neutral axis. finally the beam ruptures at the bottom. in the case of very dry beams the failure is usually by splitting or tension on the under side (see fig. 17.), without compression on the upper, and is often sudden and without warning, and even while the load is still increasing. the effect varies somewhat with different species, chestnut, for example, becoming more brittle upon drying than do ash, hemlock, and longleaf pine. the tensile strength of wood is least affected by drying, as a rule. in drying wood no increase in strength results until the free water is evaporated and the cell walls begin to dry[49]. this critical point has been called the _fibre-saturation point_. (see fig. 24.) conversely, after the cell walls are saturated with water, any increase in the amount of water absorbed merely fills the cavities and intercellular spaces, and has no effect on the mechanical properties. hence, soaking green wood does not lessen its strength unless the water is heated, whereupon a decided weakening results. [footnote 49: the wood of _eucalyptus globulus_ (blue gum) appears to be an exception to this rule. tiemann says: "the wood of blue gum begins to shrink immediately from the green condition, even at 70 to 90 per cent moisture content, instead of from 30 or 25 per cent as in other species of hardwoods." proc. soc. am. for., washington, vol. viii, no. 3, oct., 1913, p. 313.] [illustration: fig. 24.--relation of the moisture content to the various strength values of spruce. fsp = fibre-saturation point.] the strengthening effects of drying, while very marked in the case of small pieces, may be fully offset in structural timbers by inherent weakening effects due to the splitting apart of the wood elements as a result of irregular shrinkage, and in some cases also to the slitting of the cell walls (see fig. 25). consequently with large timbers in commercial use it is unsafe to count upon any greater strength, even after seasoning, than that of the green or fresh condition. [illustration: fig. 25.--cross section of the wood of western larch showing fissures in the thick-walled cells of the late wood. highly magnified. _photo by u. s. forest service._] in green wood the cells are all intimately joined together and are at their natural or normal size when saturated with water. the cell walls may be considered as made up of little particles with water between them. when wood is dried the films of water between the particles become thinner and thinner until almost entirely gone. as a result the cell walls grow thinner with loss of moisture,--in other words, the cell shrinks. it is at once evident that if drying does not take place uniformly throughout an entire piece of timber, the shrinkage as a whole cannot be uniform. the process of drying is from the outside inward, and if the loss of moisture at the surface is met by a steady capillary current of water from the inside, the shrinkage, so far as the degree of moisture affected it, would be uniform. in the best type of dry kilns this condition is approximated by first heating the wood thoroughly in a moist atmosphere before allowing drying to begin. in air-seasoning and in ordinary dry kilns this condition too often is not attained, and the result is that a dry shell is formed which encloses a moist interior. (see fig. 26.) subsequent drying out of the inner portion is rendered more difficult by this "case-hardened" condition. as the outer part dries it is prevented from shrinking by the wet interior, which is still at its greatest volume. this outer portion must either check open or the fibres become strained in tension. if this outer shell dries while the fibres are thus strained they become "set" in this condition, and are no longer in tension. later when the inner part dries, it tends to shrink away from the hardened outer shell, so that the inner fibres are now strained in tension and the outer fibres are in compression. if the stress exceeds the cohesion, numerous cracks open up, producing a "honey-combed" condition, or "hollow-horning," as it is called. if such a case-hardened stick of wood be resawed, the two halves will cup from the internal tension and external compression, with the concave surface inward. [illustration: fig. 26.--progress of drying throughout the length of a chestnut beam, the black spots indicating the presence of free water in the wood. the first section at the left was cut one-fourth inch from the end, the next one-half inch, the next one inch, and all the others one inch apart. the illustration shows case-hardening very clearly. _photo by u. s. forest service._] for a given surface area the loss of water from wood is always greater from the ends than from the sides, due to the fact that the vessels and other water-carriers are cut across, allowing ready entrance of drying air and outlet for the water vapor. water does not flow out of boards and timbers of its own accord, but must be evaporated, though it may be forced out of very sappy specimens by heat. in drying a log or pole with the bark on, most of the water must be evaporated through the ends, but in the case of peeled timbers and sawn boards the loss is greatest from the surface because the area exposed is so much greater. the more rapid drying of the ends causes local shrinkage, and were the material sufficiently plastic the ends would become bluntly tapering. the rigidity of the wood substance prevents this and the fibres are split apart. later, as the remainder of the stick dries many of the checks will come together, though some of the largest will remain and even increase in size as the drying proceeds. (see fig. 27.) [illustration: fig. 27.--excessive season checking. _photo by u. s. forest service._] a wood cell shrinks very little lengthwise. a dry wood cell is, therefore, practically of the same length as it was in a green or saturated condition, but is smaller in cross section, has thinner walls, and a larger cavity. it is at once evident that this fact makes shrinkage more irregular, for wherever cells cross each other at a decided angle they will tend to pull apart upon drying. this occurs wherever pith rays and wood fibres meet. a considerable portion of every wood is made up of these rays, which for the most part have their cells lying in a radial direction instead of longitudinally. (see frontispiece.) in pine, over 15,000 of these occur on a square inch of a tangential section, and even in oak the very large rays which are readily visible to the eye as flakes on quarter-sawed material represent scarcely one per cent of the number which the microscope reveals. a pith ray shrinks in height and width, that is, vertically and tangentially as applied to the position in a standing tree, but very little in length or radially. the other elements of the wood shrink radially and tangentially, but almost none lengthwise or vertically as applied to the tree. here, then, we find the shrinkage of the rays tending to shorten a stick of wood, while the other cells resist it, and the tendency of a stick to get smaller in circumference is resisted by the endwise reaction or thrust of the rays. only in a tangential direction, or around the stick in direction of the annual rings of growth, do the two forces coincide. another factor to the same end is that the denser bands of late wood are continuous in a tangential direction, while radially they are separated by alternate zones of less dense early wood. consequently the shrinkage along the rings (tangential) is fully twice as much as toward the centre (radial). (see table xiv.) this explains why some cracks open more and more as drying advances. (see fig. 27.) although actual shrinkage in length is small, nevertheless the tendency of the rays to shorten a stick produces strains which are responsible for some of the splitting open of ties, posts, and sawed timbers with box heart. at the very centre of a tree the wood is light and weak, while farther out it becomes denser and stronger. longitudinal shrinkage is accordingly least at the centre and greater toward the outside, tending to become greatest in the sapwood. when a round or a box-heart timber dries fast it splits radially, and as drying continues the cleft widens partly on account of the greater tangential shrinkage and also because the greater contraction of the outer fibres warps the sections apart. if a small hardwood stem is split while green for a short distance at the end and placed where it can dry out rapidly, the sections will become bow-shaped with the concave sides out. these various facts, taken together, explain why, for example, an oak tie, pole, or log may split open its entire length if drying proceeds rapidly and far enough. initial stresses in the living trees produce a similar effect when the log is sawn into boards. this is especially so in _eucalyptus globulus_ and to a less extent with any rapidly grown wood. the use of s-shaped thin steel clamps to prevent large checks and splits is now a common practice in this country with crossties and poles as it has been for a long time in european countries. these devices are driven into the butts of the timbers so as to cross incipient checks and prevent their widening. in place of the regular s-hook another of crimped iron has been devised. (see fig. 28.) thin straps of iron with one tapered edge are run between intermeshing cogs and crimped, after which they may be cut off any length desired. the time for driving s-irons of either form is when the cracks first appear. [illustration: fig. 28.--control of season checking by the use of s-irons. _photo by u. s. forest service._] the tendency of logs to split emphasizes the importance of converting them into planks or timbers while in a green condition. otherwise the presence of large checks may render much lumber worthless which might have been cut out in good condition. the loss would not be so great if logs were perfectly straight-grained, but this is seldom the case, most trees growing more or less spirally or irregularly. large pieces crack more than smaller ones, quartered lumber less than that sawed through and through, thin pieces, especially veneers, less than thicker boards. in order to prevent cracks at the ends of boards, small straps of wood may be nailed on them or they may be painted. this method is usually considered too expensive, except in the case of valuable material. squares used for shuttles, furniture, gun-stocks, and tool handles should always be protected at the ends. one of the best means is to dip them into melted paraffine, which seals the ends and prevents loss of moisture there. another method is to glue paper on the ends. in some cases abroad paper is glued on to all the surfaces of valuable exotic balks. other substances sometimes employed for the purpose of sealing the wood are grease, carbolineum, wax, clay, petroleum, linseed oil, tar, and soluble glass. in place of solid beams, built-up material is often preferable, as the disastrous results of season checks are thereby largely overcome or minimized. temperature the effect of temperature on wood depends very largely upon the moisture content of the wood and the surrounding medium. if absolutely dry wood is heated in absolutely dry air the wood expands. the extent of this expansion is denoted by a coefficient corresponding to the increase in length or other dimensions for each degree rise in temperature divided by the original length or other dimension of the specimen. the coefficient of linear expansion of oak has been found to be .00000492; radial expansion, .0000544, or about eleven times the longitudinal. spruce expands less than oak, the ratio of radial to longitudinal expansion being about six to one. metals and glass expand equally in all directions, since they are homogeneous substances, while wood is a complicated structure. the coefficient of expansion of iron is .0000285, or nearly six times the coefficient of linear expansion of oak and seven times that of spruce[50]. [footnote 50: see schlich's manual of forestry, vol. v. (rev. ed.), p. 75.] under ordinary conditions wood contains more or less moisture, so that the application of heat has a drying effect which is accompanied by shrinkage. this shrinkage completely obscures the expansion due to the heating. experiments made at the yale forest school revealed the effect of temperature on the crushing strength of wet wood. in the case of wet chestnut wood the strength decreases 0.42 per cent for each degree the water is heated above 60â° f.; in the case of spruce the decrease is 0.32 per cent. the effects of high temperature on wet wood are very marked. boiling produces a condition of great pliability, especially in the case of hardwoods. if wood in this condition is bent and allowed to dry, it rigidly retains the shape of the bend, though its strength may be somewhat reduced. except in the case of very dry wood the effect of cold is to increase the strength and stiffness of wood. the freezing of any free water in the pores of the wood will augment these conditions. the effect of steaming upon the strength of cross-ties was investigated by the u.s. forest service in 1904. the conclusions were summarized as follows: "(1) the steam at pressure up to 40 pounds applied for 4 hours, or at a pressure of 20 pounds up to 20 hours, increases the weight of ties. at 40 pounds' pressure applied for 4 hours and at 20 pounds for 5 hours the wood began to be scorched. "(2) the steamed and saturated wood, when tested immediately after treatment, exhibited weaknesses in proportion to the pressure and duration of steaming. (see table xvi.) if allowed to air-dry subsequently the specimens regained the greater part of their strength, provided the pressure and duration had not exceeded those cited under (1). subsequent immersion in water of the steamed wood and dried specimens showed that they were weaker than natural wood similarly dried and resoaked."[51] [footnote 51: cir. 39. experiments on the strength of treated timber, p. 18.] |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xvi | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | effect of steaming on the strength of green loblolly pine | | (forest service, cir. 39) | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | cylinder conditions | strength | | |---------------------------------+--------------------------------------------| | | steaming | static | impact | | | |---------------------------------+---------------------+----------| average | | treatment | | | | bending | compres| height | of the | | | | | | modulus | sion | of drop | three | | | period | pressure | temperature | of | parallel | causing | strengths | | | | | | rupture | to grain | complete | | | | | | | | | failure | | |-----------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+----------+----------+-----------| | | | lbs. per | | per cent | per cent | per cent | per cent | | | hrs. | sq. inch | â°f. | | | | | | | | | | untreated wood = 100% | | | | | | | | | | | steam, | 4 | | 230[a] | 91.3 | 79.1 | 96.4 | 88.9 | | at | 4 | 10 | 238 | 78.2 | 93.7 | 93.3 | 88.4 | | various | 4 | 20 | 253 | 83.3 | 84.2 | 91.4 | 80.8 | | pressures | 4 | 30 | 269 | 80.4 | 78.4 | 89.8 | 82.9 | | | 4 | 40 | 283 | 78.1 | 74.4 | 74.0 | 75.5 | | | 4 | 50 | 292 | 75.8 | 71.5 | 63.9 | 70.4 | | | 4 | 100 | 337 | 41.4 | 65.0 | 55.2 | 53.9 | |-----------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+----------+----------+-----------| | steam, | 1 | 20 | 257 | 100.6 | 98.6 | 86.7 | 95.3 | | for | 2 | 20 | 267 | 88.4 | 93.0 | 107.0 | 96.1 | | various | 3 | 20 | 260 | 90.0 | 93.6 | 84.1 | 89.2 | | periods | 4 | 20 | 253 | 83.3 | 84.2 | 91.4 | 86.3 | | | 5 | 20 | 253 | 85.0 | 78.1 | 84.2 | 82.4 | | | 6 | 20 | 242 | 95.2 | 89.8 | 76.0 | 87.0 | | | 10 | 20 | 255 | 73.7 | 82.0 | 76.0 | 77.2 | | | 20 | 20 | 258 | 67.5 | 65.0 | 99.0 | 77.2 | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [footnote a: it will be noted that the temperature was 230â°. this is the maximum | | temperature by the maximum-temperature recording thermometer, and is due to the handling | | of the exhaust valve. the average temperature was that of exhaust steam.] | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| "(3) a high degree of steaming is injurious to wood in strength and spike-holding power. the degree of steaming at which pronounced harm results will depend upon the quality of the wood and its degree of seasoning, and upon the pressure (temperature) of steam and the duration of its application. for loblolly pine the limit of safety is certainly 30 pounds for 4 hours, or 20 pounds for 6 hours."[52] [footnote 52: _ibid._, p. 21. see also cir. 108, p. 19, table 5.] experiments made at the yale forest school showed that steaming above 30 pounds' gauge pressure reduces the strength of wood permanently while wet from 25 to 75 per cent. preservatives the exact effects of chemical impregnation upon the mechanical properties of wood have not been fully determined, though they have been the subject of considerable investigation.[53] more depends upon the method of treatment than upon the preservatives used. thus preliminary steaming at too high pressure or for too long a period will materially weaken the wood, (see temperature, above.) [footnote 53: hatt, w. k.: experiments on the strength of treated timber. cir. 39, u.s. forest service, 1906, p. 31.] the presence of zinc chloride does not weaken wood under static loading, although the indications are that the wood becomes brittle under impact. if the solution is too strong it will decompose the wood. soaking in creosote oil causes wood to swell, and accordingly decreases the strength to some extent, but not nearly so much so as soaking in water.[54] [footnote 54: teesdale, clyde ii.: the absorption of creosote by the cell walls of wood. cir. 200, u. s. forest service, 1912, p. 7.] soaking in kerosene seems to have no significant weakening effect.[55] [footnote 55: tiemann, h.d.: effect of moisture upon the strength and stiffness of wood. bul. 70, u. s. forest service, 1907, pp. 122-123, tables 43-44.] part iii timber testing[56] [footnote 56: the methods of timber testing described here are for the most part those employed by the u. s. forest service. see cir. 38 (rev. ed.), 1909.] working plan preliminary to making a series of timber tests it is very important that a working plan be prepared as a guide to the investigation. this should embrace: (1) the purpose of the tests; (2) kind, size, condition, and amount of material needed; (3) full description of the system of marking the pieces; (4) details of any special apparatus and methods employed; (5) proposed method of analyzing the data obtained and the nature of the final report. great care should be taken in the preparation of this plan in order that all problems arising may be anticipated so far as possible and delays and unnecessary work avoided. a comprehensive study of previous investigations along the same or related lines should prove very helpful in outlining the work and preparing the report. (for sample working plan see appendix.) forms of material tested in general, four forms of material are tested, namely: (1) large timbers, such as bridge stringers, car sills, large beams, and other pieces five feet or more in length, of actual sizes and grades in common use; (2) built-up structural forms and fastenings, such as built-up beams, trusses, and various kind of joints; (3) small clear pieces, such as are used in compression, shear, cleavage, and small cross-breaking tests; (4) manufactured articles, such as axles, spokes, shafts, wagon-tongues, cross-arms, insulator pins, barrels, and packing boxes. as the moisture content is of fundamental importance (see water content, above.), all standard tests are usually made in the green condition. another series is also usually run in an air-dry condition of about 12 per cent moisture. in all cases the moisture is very carefully determined and stated with the results in the tables. size of test specimens the size of the test specimen must be governed largely by the purpose for which the test is made. if the effect of a single factor, such as moisture, is the object of experiment, it is necessary to use small pieces of wood in order to eliminate so far as possible all disturbing factors. if the specimens are too large, it is impossible to secure enough perfect pieces from one tree to form a series for various tests. moreover, the drying process with large timbers is very difficult and irregular, and requires a long period of time, besides causing checks and internal stresses which may obscure the results obtained. on the other hand, the smaller the dimensions of the test specimen the greater becomes the relative effect of the inherent factors affecting the mechanical properties. for example, the effect of a knot of given size is more serious in a small stick than in a large one. moreover, the smaller the specimen the fewer growth rings it contains, hence there is greater opportunity for variation due to irregularities of grain. tests on large timbers are considered necessary to furnish designers data on the probable strength of the different sizes and grades of timber on the market; their coefficients of elasticity under bending (since the stiffness rather than the strength often determines the size of a beam); and the manner of failure, whether in bending fibre stress or horizontal shear. it is believed that this information can only be obtained by direct tests on the different grades of car sills, stringers, and other material in common use. when small pieces are selected for test they very often are clear and straight-grained, and thus of so much better grade than the large sticks that tests upon them may not yield unit values applicable to the larger sizes. extensive experiments show, however, (1) that the modulus of elasticity is approximately the same for large timbers as for small clear specimens cut from them, and (2) that the fibre stress at elastic limit for large beams is, except in the weakest timbers, practically equal to the crushing strength of small clear pieces of the same material.[57] [footnote 57: bul. 108, u. s. forest service: tests of structural timbers, pp. 53-54.] moisture determination in order for tests to be comparable, it is necessary to know the moisture content of the specimens at the zone of failure. this is determined from disks an inch thick cut from the timber immediately after testing. in cases, as in large beams, where it is desirable to know not only the average moisture content but also its distribution through the timber, the disks are cut up so as to obtain an outside, a middle, and an inner portion, of approximately equal areas. thus in a section 10" x 12" the outer strip would be one inch wide, and the second one a little more than an inch and a quarter. moisture determinations are made for each of the three portions separately. the procedure is as follows: (1) immediately after sawing, loose splinters are removed and each section is weighed. (2) the material is put into a drying oven at 100â° c. (212â° f.) and dried until the variation in weight for a period of twenty-four hours is less than 0.5 per cent. (3) the disk is again carefully weighed. (4) the loss in weight expressed in per cent of the dry weight indicates the moisture content of the specimen from which the specimen was cut. machine for static tests the standard screw machines used for metal tests are also used for wood, but in the case of wood tests the readings must be taken "on the fly," and the machine operated at a uniform speed without interruption from beginning to end of the test. this is on account of the time factor in the strength of wood. (see speed of testing machine, below.) the standard machines for static tests can be used for transverse bending, compression, tension, shear, and cleavage. a common form consists of three main parts, namely: (1) the straining mechanism, (2) the weighing apparatus, and (3) the machinery for communicating motion to the screws. the straining mechanism consists of two parts, one of which is a movable crosshead operated by four (sometimes two or three) upright steel straining screws which pass through openings in the platform and bear upward on the bed of the machine upon which the weighing platform rests as a fulcrum. at the lower ends of these screws are geared nuts all rotated simultaneously by a system of gears which cause the movable crosshead to rise and fall as desired. the stationary part of the straining mechanism, which is used only for tension and cleavage tests, consists of a steel cage above the movable crosshead and rests directly upon the weighing platform. the top of the cage contains a square hole into which one end of the test specimen may be clamped, the crosshead containing a similar clamp for the other end, in making tension tests. for testing long beams a special form of machine with an extended platform is used. (see fig. 29.) the weighing platform rests upon knife edges carried by primary levers of the weighing apparatus, the fulcrum being on the bed of the machine, and any pressure upon it is directly transmitted through a series of levers to the weighing beam. this beam is adjusted by means of a poise running on a screw. in operation the beam is kept floating by means of another poise moved back and forth by a screw which is operated by a hand wheel or automatically. the larger units of stress are read from the graduations along the side of the beam, while the intermediate smaller weights are observed on the dial on the rear end of the beam. the machine is driven by power from a shaft or a motor and is so geared that various speeds are obtainable. one man can operate it. in making tests the operation of the straining screws is always downward so as to bring pressure to bear upon the weighing platform. for tests in tension and cleavage the specimen is placed between the top of the stationary cage and the movable head and subjected to a pull. for tests in transverse bending, compression, and cleavage the specimen is placed between the movable head and the platform, and a direct compression force applied. testing machines are usually calibrated to a portion of their capacity before leaving the factory. the delicacy of the weighing levers is verified by determining the number of pounds necessary to move the beam between the stops while a load of 1,000 pounds rests on the platform. the usual requirement is that ten pounds should accomplish this movement. the size of machine suitable for compression tests on 2" x 2" sticks or for 2" x 2" beams with 26 to 36-inch span has a capacity of 30,000 pounds. speed of testing machine in instructions for making static tests the rate of application of the stress, _i.e._, the speed of the machine, is given because the strength of wood varies with the speed at which the fibres are strained. the speed of the crosshead of the testing machine is practically never constant, due to mechanical defects of the apparatus and variations in the speed of the motor, but so long as it does not exceed 25 per cent the results will not be appreciably affected. in fact, a change in speed of 50 per cent will not cause the strength of the wood to vary more than 2 per cent.[58] [footnote 58: see tiemann, harry donald: the effect of the speed of testing upon the strength and the standardization of tests for speed. proc. am. soc. for testing materials, vol. viii, philadelphia, 1908.] following are the formulã¦ used in determining the speed of the movable head of the machine in inches per minute (n): (1) for endwise compression n = z l z l^{2} (2) for beams (centre loading) n = -------- 6h z l^{2} (3) for beams (third-pointloading) n = -------- 5.4h z = rate of fibre strain per inch of fibre length. l = span of beam or length of compression specimen. h = height of beam. the values commonly used for z are as follows: bending large beams z = 0.0007 bending small beams z = 0.0015 endwise compression-large specimens z = 0.0015 endwise compression-small " z = 0.003 right-angled compression-large " z = 0.007 right-angled compression-small " z = 0.015 shearing parallel to the grain z = 0.015 example: at what speed should the crosshead move to give the required rate of fibre strain in testing a small beam 2" x 2" x 30". (span = 28".) substituting these values in equation (2) above: (0.0015 x 28^2) n = ----------------= 0.1 inch per minute. (6 x 2) in order that tests may be intelligently compared, it is important that account be taken of the speed at which the stress was applied. in determining the basis for a ratio between time and strength the rate of strain, which is controllable, and not the ratio of stress, which is circumstantial, should be used. in other words, the rate at which the movable head of the testing machine descends and not the rate of increase in the load is to be regulated. this ratio, to which the name _speed-strength modulus_ has been given, may be expressed as a coefficient which, if multiplied into any proportional change in speed, will give the proportional change in strength. this ratio is derived from empirical curves. (see table xvii.) |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xvii table xvii | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | speed-strength moduli and relative increase in strength at rates of fibre strain increasing in geometrical ratio. (tiemann, _loc. cit._) | | (values in parentheses are approximate) | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | rate of fibre strain. | | | | | | | | | ten-thousandths inch | 2/3 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 54 | 162 | 486 | | per minute per inch | | | | | | | | |-------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------| | c | speed of crosshead. | | | | | | | | | o | inches per minute | 0.000383 | 0.00115 | 0.00345 | 0.0103 | 0.0310 | 0.0931 | .279 | | m | | | | | | | | | | p |---------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------| | r | specimens | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | | e |---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------| | s | relative | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | s | crushing | | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 103.4 | 100.8 | 101.5 | 107.5 | 102.7 | 103.8 | 113.9 | 105.5 | 107.9 | 121.3 | 108.3 | 116.4 | 128.8 | 110.0 |118.9 | | i | strength | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | n | speed-strength | | 0.017 |(0.006)|(0.009)| 0.033 | 0.012 | 0.016 | 0.047 | 0.021 | 0.029 | 0.053 | 0.027 | 0.039 | 0.060 | 0.023 | 0.049 |(0.052)|(0.015)|(0.040)| | | modulus, _t_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |---+---------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------| | | speed of crosshead. | | | | | | | | | | inches per minute | 0.0072 | 0.0216 | 0.0648 | 0.194 | 0.583 | 1.75 | 5.25 | | b | | | | | | | | | | e |---------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------| | n | specimens | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | wet | dry | all | | d |---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------| | i | relative | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | n | crushing | 97.4 | 99.0 | 98.2 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 105.1 | 102.1 | 103.7 | 111.3 | 105.8 | 108.1 | 117.9 | 108.6 | 112.7 | 123.7 | 109.6 | 116.3 | 126.3 | 110.3 | 118.9 | | g | strength | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | speed-strength |(0.014)|(0.005)| 0.012 | 0.033 | 0.014 | 0.026 | 0.049 | 0.026 | 0.037 | 0.053 | 0.033 | 0.038 | 0.049 | 0.014 | 0.035 | 0.038 | 0.006 | 0.025 |(0.023)|(0.004)|(0.014)| | | modulus, _t_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--the usual speeds of testing at the u.s. forest service laboratory are at rates of fibre strain | | of 15 and 10 ten-thousandths in. per min. per in. for compression and bending respectively. | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| bending large beams _apparatus_: a static bending machine (described above), with a special crosshead for third-point loading and a long platform bearing knife-edge supports, is required. (see fig. 29.) [illustration: fig. 29.--static bending test on large beam. note arrangement of wire and scale for measuring deflection; also method of applying load at "third-points."] _preparing the material_: standard sizes and grades of beams and timbers in common use are employed. the ends are roughly squared and the specimen weighed and measured, taking the cross-sectional dimensions midway of the length. weights should be to the nearest pound, lengths to the nearest 0.1 inch, and cross-sectional dimensions to the nearest 0.01 inch. _marking and sketching_: the butt end of the beam is marked _a_ and the top end _b_. while facing _a_, the top side is marked _a_, the right hand _b_, the bottom _c_, the left hand _d_. sketches are made of each side and end, showing (1) size, location, and condition of knots, checks, splits, and other defects; (2) irregularities of grain; (3) distribution of heartwood and sapwood; and on the ends: (4) the location of the pith and the arrangement of the growth rings, (5) number of rings per inch, and (6) the proportion of late wood. the number of rings per inch and the proportion of late wood should always be determined along a radius or a line normal to the rings. the average number of rings per inch is the total number of rings divided by the length of the line crossing them. the proportion of late wood is equal to the sum of the widths of the late wood crossed by the line, divided by the length of the line. rings per inch should be to the nearest 0.1; late wood to the nearest 0.1 per cent. since in large beams a great variation in rate of growth and relative amount of late wood is likely in different parts of the section, it is advisable to consider the cross section in three volumes, namely, the upper and lower quarters and the middle half. the determination should be made upon each volume separately, and the average for the entire cross section obtained from these results. at the conclusion of the test the failure, as it appears on each surface, is traced on the sketches, with the failures numbered in the order of their occurrence. if the beam is subsequently cut up and used for other tests an additional sketch may be desirable to show the location of each piece. _adjusting specimen in machine_: the beam is placed in the machine with the side marked _a_ on top, and with the ends projecting equally beyond the supports. in order to prevent crushing of the fibre at the points where the stress is applied it is necessary to use bearing blocks of maple or other hard wood with a convex surface in contact with the beam. roller bearings should be placed between the bearing blocks and the knife edges of the crosshead to allow for the shortening due to flexure. (see fig. 29.) third-point loading is used, that is, the load is applied at two points one-third the span of the beam apart. (see fig. 30.) this affords a uniform bending moment throughout the central third of the beam. [illustration: fig. 30.--two methods of loading a beam, namely, third-point loading (upper), and centre loading (lower).] _measuring the deflection_: the method of measuring the deflection should be such that any compression at the points of support or at the application of the load will not affect the reading. this may be accomplished by driving a small nail near each end of the beam, the exact location being on the neutral plane and vertically above each knife-edge support. between these nails a fine wire is stretched free of the beam and kept taut by means of a rubber band or coiled spring on one end. behind the wire at a point on the beam midway between the supports a steel scale graduated to hundredths of an inch is fastened vertically by means of thumb-tacks or small screws passing through holes in it. attachment should be made on the neutral plane. the first reading is made when the scale beam is balanced at zero load, and afterward at regular increments of the load which is applied continuously and at a uniform speed. (see speed of testing machine, above.) if desired, however, the load may be read at regular increments of deflection. the deflection readings should be to the nearest 0.01 inch. to avoid error due to parallax, the readings may be taken by means of a reading telescope about ten feet distant and approximately on a level with the wire. a mirror fastened to the scale will increase the accuracy of the readings if the telescope is not used. as in all tests on timber, the strain must be continuous to rupture, not intermittent, and readings must be taken "on the fly." the weighing beam is kept balanced after the yield point is reached and the maximum load, and at least one point beyond it, noted. _log of the test_: the proper log sheet for this test consists of a piece of cross-section paper with space at the margin for notes. (see fig. 32.) the load in some convenient unit (1,000 to 10,000 pounds, depending upon the dimensions of the specimen) is entered on the ordinates, the deflection in tenths of an inch on the abscissã¦. the increments of load should be chosen so as to furnish about ten points on the stress-strain diagram below the elastic limit. as the readings of the wire on the scale are made they are entered directly in their proper place on the cross-section paper. in many cases a test should be continued until complete failure results. the points where the various failures occur are indicated on the stress-strain diagram. a brief description of the failure is made on the margin of the log sheet, and the form traced on the sketches. _disposal of the specimen_: two one-inch sections are cut from the region of failure to be used in determining the moisture content. (see moisture determination, above.) a two-inch section may be cut for subsequent reference and identification, and possible microscopic study. the remainder of the beam may be cut into small beams and compression pieces. _calculating the results_: the formulã¦ used in calculating the results of tests on large rectangular simple beams loaded at third points of the span are as follows: 0.75 p (1) j = ------- b h l (p_{1} + 0.75 w) (2) r = ------------------- b h^{2} l (p + 0.75 w) (3) r = --------------- b h^{2} p_{1} l^{3} (4) e = -------------- 4.7 d b h^{3} 0.87 p_{1} d (5) s = ------------- 2 v b, h, l = breadth, height, and span of specimen, inches. d = total deflection at elastic limit, inches. p = maximum load, pounds. p_{1} = load at elastic limit, pounds. e = modulus of elasticity, pounds per square inch. r = fibre stress at elastic limit, pounds per sq. inch. r = modulus of rupture, pounds per square inch. s = elastic resilience or work to elastic limit, inch-pounds per cu. in. j = greatest calculated longitudinal shear, pounds per square inch. v = volume of beam, cubic inches. w = weight of the beam. in large beams the weight should be taken into account in calculating the fibre stress. in (2) and (3) three-fourths of the weight of the beam is added to the load for this reason. bending small beams _apparatus_: an ordinary static bending machine, a steel i-beam bearing two adjustable knife-edge supports to rest on the platform, and a special deflectometer, are required. (see fig. 31.) [illustration: fig. 31.--static bending test on small beam. note the use of the deflectometer with indicator and dial for measuring the deflection; also roller bearings between beam and supports.] _preparing the material_: the specimens may be of any convenient size, though beams 2" x 2" x 30" tested over a 28-inch span, are considered best. the beams are surfaced on all four sides, care being taken that they are not damaged by the rollers of the surfacing machine. material for these tests is sometimes cut from large beams after failure. the specimens are carefully weighed in grams, and all dimensions measured to the nearest 0.01 inch. if to be tested in a green or fresh condition the specimens should be kept in a damp box or covered with moist sawdust until needed. no defects should be allowed in these specimens. _marking and sketching_: sketches are made of each end of the specimen to show the character of the growth, and after testing, the manner of failure is shown for all four sides. in obtaining data regarding the rate of growth and the proportion of late wood the same procedure is followed as with large beams. _adjusting specimen in machine_: the beam should be correctly centred in the machine and each end should have a plate with roller bearings between it and the support. centre loading is used. between the movable head of the machine and the specimen is placed a bearing block of maple or other hard wood, the lower surface of which is curved in a direction along the beam, the curvature of which should be slightly less than that of the beam at rupture, in order to prevent the edges from crushing into the fibres of the test piece. _measuring the deflection_: the method of measuring deflection of large beams can be used for small sizes, but because of the shortness of the span and consequent slight deformation in the latter, it is hardly accurate enough for good work. the special deflectometer shown in fig. 31 allows closer reading, as it magnifies the deflection ten times. it rests on two small nails driven in the beam on the neutral plane and vertically above the supports. the fine wire on the wheel at the base of the indicator is attached to another small nail driven in the beam on the neutral plane midway between the end nails. all three nails should be in place before the beam is put into the machine. the indicator is adjustable by means of a thumb-screw at the base and is set at zero before the load is applied. deflections are read to the nearest 0.001 inch. for rate of application of load see speed of testing machine, above. the speed should be uniform from start to finish without stopping. readings must be made "on the fly." _log of the test_: the log sheets used for small beams (see fig. 32) are the same as for large sizes and the procedure is practically identical. the stress-strain diagram is continued to or beyond the maximum load, and in a portion of the tests should be continued to six-inch deflection or until the specimen fails to support a load of 200 pounds. deflection readings for equal increments of load are taken until well beyond the elastic limit, after which the scale beam is kept balanced and the load read for each 0.1 inch deflection. the load and deflection at first failure, the maximum load, and any points of sudden change should be shown on the diagram, even though they do not occur at one of the regular points. a brief description of the failure and the nature of any defects is entered on the log sheet. [illustration: fig. 32.--sample log sheet, giving full details of a transverse bending test on a small pine beam.] _calculating the results_: the formulã¦ used in calculating the results of tests on small rectangular simple beams are as follows: 0.75 p (1) j = ------- b h 1.5 p_{1} l (2) r = ------------ b h^{2} 1.5 p l (3) r = -------- b h^{2} p_{1} l^{3} (4) e = ------------ 4 d b h^{3} p_{1} d (5) s = -------- 2 v the same legend is used as in bending large beams. the weight of the beam itself is disregarded. endwise compression _apparatus_: an ordinary static testing machine and a compressometer are required. (see fig. 33.) [illustration: fig. 33.--endwise compression test, showing method of measuring the deformation by means of a compressometer.] _preparing the material_: two classes of specimens are commonly used, namely, (1) posts 24 inches in length, and (2) small clear blocks approximately 2" x 2" x 8". the specimens are surfaced on all four sides and both ends squared smoothly and evenly. they are carefully weighed, measured, rate of growth and proportion of late wood determined, as in bending tests. after the test a moisture section is cut and weighed. ordinarily these specimens should be free from defects. _sketching_: sketches are made of each end of the specimens to show the character of the growth. after testing, the manner of failure is shown for all four sides, and the various parts of the failure are numbered in the order of their occurrence. _adjusting specimen in machine_: the compressometer collars are adjusted, the distance between them being 20 inches for the posts and 6 inches for the blocks. if the two ends of the blocks are not exactly parallel a ball-and-socket block can be placed between the upper end of the specimen and the movable head of the machine to overcome the irregularity. if the blocks are true they can simply be stood on end upon the platform and the movable head allowed to press directly upon the upper end. _measuring the deformation_: the deformation is measured by a compressometer. (see fig. 33.) the latter registers to 0.001 inch. in the case of posts the compression between the collars is communicated to the four points on the arms by means of brass rods; with short blocks, as in fig. 33, the points of the arms are in direct contact with the collars. the operator lowers the fulcrum of the apparatus by moving the micrometer screws at such a rate that the set-screw in the rear end of the upper lever is kept barely touching the fixed arm below it, being guided by a bell operated by electric contact. _log of the test_: the load is applied continuously at a uniform rate of speed. (see speed of testing machine, above.) readings are taken from the scale of the compressometer at regular increments of either load or compression. the stress-strain diagram is continued to at least one deformation point beyond the maximum load, and in event of sudden failure, the direction of the curve beyond the maximum point is indicated. a brief description of the failure is entered on the log sheet. (see fig. 34.) [illustration: fig. 34.--sample log sheet of an endwise compression test on a short pine column.] in short specimens the failure usually occurs in one or several planes diagonal to the axis of the specimen. if the ends are more moist than the middle a crushing may occur on the extreme ends in a horizontal plane. such a test is not valid and should always be culled. if the grain is diagonal or the stress is unevenly applied a diagonal shear may occur from top to bottom of the test specimen. such tests are also invalid and should be culled. when the plane (or several planes) of failure occurs through the body of the specimen the test is valid. it may sometimes be advantageous to allow the extreme ends to dry slightly before testing in order to bring the planes of failure within the body. this is a perfectly legitimate procedure provided no drying is allowed from the sides of the specimen, and the moisture disk is cut from the region of failure. _calculating the results:_ the formulã¦ used in calculating the results of tests on endwise compression are as follows: p (1) c = ---- a p_{1} (2) c = ------ a p_{1} l (3) e = -------- a d p d (4) s = ---- 2 v c = crushing strength, pounds per square inch. c = fibre strength at elastic limit, pounds per square inch. a = area of cross section, square inches. l = distance between centres of collars, inches. d = total shortening at elastic limit, inches. v = volume of specimen, cubic inches. remainder of legend as in bending large beams, above. compression across the grain _apparatus_: an ordinary static testing machine, a bearing plate, and a deflectometer are required. (see fig. 35.) [illustration: fig. 35.--compression across the grain. note method of measuring the deformation by means of a deflectomoter.] _preparing the material_: two classes of specimens are used, namely, (1) sections of commercial sizes of ties, beams, and other timbers, and (2) small, clear specimens with the length several times the width. sometimes small cubes are tested, but the results are hardly applicable to conditions in practice. in (2) the sides are surfaced and the ends squared. the specimens are then carefully measured and weighed, defects noted, rate of growth and proportion of late wood determined, as in bending tests. (see bending large beams, above.) after the test a moisture section is cut and weighed. _sketching_: sketches are made as in endwise compression tests. (see endwise compression, above.) _adjusting specimen in machine_: the specimen is laid horizontally upon the platform of the machine and a steel bearing plate placed on its upper surface immediately beneath the centre of the movable head. for the larger specimens this plate is six inches wide; for the smaller sizes, two inches wide. the plate in all cases projects over the edges of the test piece, and in no case should the length of the latter be less than four times the width of the plate. _measuring the deformation_: the compression is measured by means of a deflectometer (see fig. 35), which, after the first increment of load is applied, is adjusted (by means of a small set screw) to read zero. the actual downward motion of the movable head (corresponding to the compression of the specimen) is multiplied ten times on the scale from which the readings are made. _log of the test_: the load is applied continuously and at uniform speed (see speed of testing machine, above), until well beyond the elastic limit. the compression readings are taken at regular load increments and entered on the cross-section paper in the usual way. usually there is no real maximum load in this case, as the strength continually increases as the fibres are crushed more compactly together. _calculating the results_: ordinarily only the fibre stress at the elastic limit (c) is computed. it is equal to the load at elastic limit (p_{1}) divided by the area under the plate (b). { p_{1} } { c = ------} { b } shear along the grain _apparatus_: an ordinary static testing machine and a special tool designed for producing single shear are required. (see figs. 36 and 37.) this shearing apparatus consists of a solid steel frame with set screws for clamping the block within it firmly in a vertical position. in the centre of the frame is a vertical slot in which a square-edged steel plate slides freely. when the testing block is in position, this plate impinges squarely along the upper surface of the tenon or lip, which, as vertical pressure is applied, shears off. [illustration: fig. 36.--vertical section of shearing tool.] [illustration: fig. 37.--front view of shearing tool with test specimen and steel plate in position for testing.] _preparing the material_: the specimens are usually in the form of small, clear, straight-grained blocks with a projecting tenon or lip to be sheared off. two common forms and sizes are shown in figure 38. part of the blocks are cut so that the shearing surface is parallel to the growth rings, or tangential; others at right angles to the growth rings, or radial. it is important that the upper surface of the tenon or lip be sawed exactly parallel to the base of the block. when the form with a tenon is used the under cut is extended a short distance horizontally into the block to prevent any compression from below. [illustration: fig. 38.--two forms of shear test specimens.] in designing a shearing specimen it is necessary to take into consideration the proportions of the area of shear, since, if the length of the portion to be sheared off is too great in the direction of the shearing face, failure would occur by compression before the piece would shear. inasmuch as the endwise compressive strength is sometimes not more than five times the shearing strength, the shearing surface should be less than five times the surface to which the load is applied. this condition is fulfilled in the specimens illustrated. shearing specimens are frequently cut from beams after testing. in this case the specific gravity (dry), proportion of late wood, and rate of growth are assumed to be the same as already recorded for the beams. in specimens not so taken, these quantities are determined in the usual way. the sheared-off portion is used for a moisture section. _adjusting specimen in machine_: the test specimen is placed in the shearing apparatus with the tenon or lip under the sliding plate, which is centred under the movable head of the machine. (see fig. 39.) in order to reduce to a minimum the friction due to the lateral pressure of the plate against the bearings of the slot, the apparatus is sometimes placed upon several parallel steel rods to form a roller base. a slight initial load is applied to take up the lost motion of the machinery, and the beam balanced. [illustration: fig. 39.--making a shearing test.] _log of the test_: the load is applied continuously and at a uniform rate until failure, but no deformations are measured. the points noted are the maximum load and the length of time required to reach it. sketches are made of the failure. if the failure is not pure shear the test is culled. the shearing strength per square inch is found by dividing the { p } maximum load by the cross-sectional area. { q = --} { a } impact test _apparatus_: there are several types of impact testing machines.[59] one of the simplest and most efficient for use with wood is illustrated in figure 40. the base of the machine is 7 feet long, 2.5 feet wide at the centre, and weighs 3,500 pounds. two upright columns, each 8 feet long, act as guides for the striking head. at the top of the column is the hoisting mechanism for raising or lowering the striking weights. the power for operating the machine is furnished by a motor set on the top. the hoisting-mechanism is all controlled by a single operating lever, shown on the side of the column, whereby the striking weight may be raised, lowered, or stopped at the will of the operator. there is an automatic safety device for stopping the machine when the weight reaches the top. [footnote 59: for description of u.s. forest service automatic and autographic impact testing machine, see proc. am. soc. for testing materials, vol. viii, 1908, pp. 538-540.] [illustration: fig. 40.--impact testing machine.] the weight is lifted by a chain, one end of which passes over a sprocket wheel in the hoisting mechanism. on the lower end of the chain is hung an electro-magnet of sufficient magnetic strength to support the heaviest striking weights. when it is desired to drop the striking weight the electric current is broken and reversed by means of an automatic switch and current breaker. the height of drop may be regulated by setting at the desired height on one of the columns a tripping pin which throws the switch on the magnet and so breaks and reverses the current. there are four striking weights, weighing respectively 50, 100, 250, and 500 pounds, any one of which may be used, depending upon the desired energy of blow. when used for compression tests a flat steel head six inches in diameter is screwed into the lower end of the weight. for transverse tests, a well-rounded knife edge is screwed into the weight in place of the flat head. knife edges for supporting the ends of the specimen to be tested, are securely bolted to the base of the machine. the record of the behavior of the specimen at time of impact is traced upon a revolving drum by a pencil fixed in the striking head. (see fig. 41.) when a drop is made the pencil comes in contact with the drum and is held in place by a spring. the drum is revolved very slowly, either automatically or by hand. the speed of the drum can be recorded by a pencil in the end of a tuning fork which gives a known number of vibrations per second. [illustration: fig. 41.--drum record of impact bending test.] one size of this machine will handle specimens for transverse tests 9 inches wide and 6-foot span; the other, 12 inches wide and 8-foot span. for compression tests a free fall of about 6.5 feet may be obtained. for transverse tests the fall is a little less, depending upon the size of the specimen. the machine is calibrated by dropping the hammer upon a copper cylinder. the axial compression of the plug is noted. the energy used in static tests to produce this axial compression under stress in a like piece of metal is determined. the external energy of the blow (_i.e._, the weight of the hammer x the height of drop) is compared with the energy used in static tests at equal amounts of compression. for instance: energy delivered, impact test 35,000 inch-pounds energy computed from static test .26,400 " " efficiency of blow of hammer .75.3 per cent. _preparing the material_: the material used in making impact tests is of the same size and prepared in the same way as for static bending and compression tests. bending in impact tests is more commonly used than compression, and small beams with 28-inch span are usually employed. _method_: in making an impact bending test the hammer is allowed to rest upon the specimen and a zero or datum line is drawn. the hammer is then dropped from increasing heights and drum records taken until first failure. the first drop is one inch and the increase is by increments of one inch until a height of ten inches is reached, after which increments of two inches are used until complete failure occurs or 6-inch deflection is secured. the 50-pound hammer is used when with drops up to 68 inches it is reasonably certain it will produce complete failure or 6-inch deflection in the case of all specimens of a species; for all other species a 100-pound hammer is used. _results_: the tracing on the drum (see fig. 41) represents the actual deflection of the stick and the subsequent rebounds for each drop. the distance from the lowest point in each case to the datum line is measured and its square in tenths of a square inch entered as an abscissa on cross-section paper, with the height of drop in inches as the ordinate. the elastic limit is that point on the diagram where the square of the deflection begins to increase more rapidly than the height of drop. the difference between the datum line and the final resting point after each drop represents the set the material has received. the formulã¦ used in calculating the results of impact tests in bending when the load is applied at the centre up to the elastic limit are as follows: 3 w h l (1) r = ---------- d b h^{2} f s l^{2} (2) e = ---------- 6 d h w h (3) s = ------ l b h h = height of drop of hammer, including deflection, inches. s = modulus of elastic resilience, inch-pounds per cubic inch. w = weight of hammer, pounds. remainder of legend as in bending large beams, above. hardness test: abrasion and indentation _abrasion_: the machine used by the u.s. forest service is a modified form of the dorry abrasion machine. (see fig. 42.) upon the revolving horizontal disk is glued a commercial sandpaper, known as garnet paper, which is commonly employed in factories in finishing wood. [illustration: fig. 42.--abrasion machine for testing the wearing qualities of woods.] a small block of the wood to be tested is fixed in one clamp and a similar block of some wood chosen as a standard, as sugar maple, at 10 per cent moisture, in the opposite, and held against the same zone of sandpaper by a weight of 26 pounds each. the size of the section under abrasion for each specimen is 2" x 2". the conditions for wear are the same for both specimens. the speed of rotation is 68 revolutions a minute. the test is continued until the standard specimen is worn a specified amount, which varies with the kind of wood under test. a comparison of the wear of the two blocks affords a fair idea of their relative resistance to abrasion. another method makes use of a sand blast to abrade the woods and is the one employed in new south wales.[60] the apparatus consists essentially of a nozzle through which sand can be propelled at a high velocity against the test specimen by means of a steam jet. [footnote 60: see warren, w.h.: the strength, elasticity, and other properties of new south wales hardwood timbers. dept. for., n.s.w., sydney, 1911, pp. 88-95.] the wood to be tested is cut into blocks 3" x 3" x 1', and these are weighed to the nearest grain just before placing in the apparatus. steam from the boiler at a pressure of about 43 pounds per square inch is ejected from a nozzle in such a way that particles of fine quartz sand are caught up and thrown violently against the block which is being rotated. only superheated steam strikes the block, thus leaving the wood dry. the test is continued for two minutes, after which the specimen is removed and immediately weighed. by comparison with the original weight the loss from abrasion is determined, and by comparison with a certain wood chosen as a standard, a coefficient of wear-resistance can be obtained. the amount of wear will vary more or less according to the surface exposed, and in these tests quarter-sawed material was used with the edge grain to the blast. _indentation_: the tool used for this test consists of a punch with a hemispherical end or steel ball having a diameter of 0.444 inch, giving a surface area of one-fourth square inch. it is fitted with a guard plate, which works loosely until the penetration has progressed to a depth of 0.222 inch, whereupon it tightens. (see fig. 43.) the effect is that of sinking a ball half its diameter into the specimen. this apparatus is fitted into the movable head of the static testing machine. [illustration: fig. 43.--design of tool for testing the hardness of woods by indentation.] the wood to be tested is cut square with the grain into rectangular blocks measuring 2" x 2" x 6". a block is placed on the platform and the end of the punch forced into the wood at the rate of 0.25 inch per minute. the operator keeps moving the small handle of the guard plate back and forth until it tightens. at this instant the load is read and recorded. two penetrations each are made on the tangential and radial surfaces, and one on each end of every specimen tested. in choosing the places on the block for the indentations, effort should be made to get a fair average of heartwood and sapwood, fine and coarse grain, early and late wood. another method of testing by indentation involves the use of a right-angled cone instead of a ball. for details of this test as used in new south wales see _loc. cit._, pp. 86-87. cleavage test a static testing machine and a special cleavage testing device are required. (see fig. 44.) the latter consists essentially of two hooks, one of which is suspended from the centre of the top of the cage, the other extended above the movable head. [illustration: fig. 44.--design of tool for cleavage test.] the specimens are 2" x 2" x 3.75". at one end a one-inch hole is bored, with its centre equidistant from the two sides and 0.25 inch from the end. (see fig. 45.) this makes the cross section to be tested 2" x 3". some of the blocks are cut radially and some tangentially, as indicated in the figure. [illustration: fig. 45.--design of cleavage test specimen.] the free ends of the hooks are fitted into the notch in the end of the specimen. the movable head of the machine is then made to descend at the rate of 0.25 inch per minute, pulling apart the hooks and splitting the block. the maximum load only is taken and the result expressed in pounds per square inch of width. a piece one-half inch thick is split off parallel to the failure and used for moisture determination. tension test parallel to the grain since the tensile strength of wood parallel to the grain is greater than the compressive strength, and exceedingly greater than the shearing strength, it is very difficult to make satisfactory tension tests, as the head and shoulders of the test specimen (which is subjected to both compression and shear) must be stronger than the portion subjected to a pure tensile stress. various designs of test specimens have been made. the one first employed by the division of forestry[61] was prepared as follows: sticks were cut measuring 1.5" x 2.5" x 16". the thickness at the centre was then reduced to three-eighths of an inch by cutting out circular segments with a band saw. this left a breaking section of 2.5" x 0.375". care was taken to cut the specimen as nearly parallel to the grain as possible, so that its failure would occur in a condition of pure tension. the specimen was then placed between the plane wedge-shaped steel grips of the cage and the movable head of the static machine and pulled in two. only the maximum load was recorded. (see fig. 46, no. 1.) [illustration: fig. 46.--designs of tension test specimens used in united states.] [footnote 61: bul. no. 8: timber physics, part ii., 1893, p. 7.] the difficulty of making such tests compared with the minor importance of the results is so great that they are at present omitted by the u.s. forest service. a form of specimen is suggested, however, and is as follows: "a rod of wood about one inch in diameter is bored by a hollow drill from the stick to be tested. the ends of this rod are inserted and glued in corresponding holes in permanent hardwood wedges. the specimen is then submitted to the ordinary tension test. the broken ends are punched from the wedges."[62] (see fig. 46, no. 2.) [footnote 62: cir. 38: instructions to engineers of timber tests, 1906, p. 24.] the form used by the department of forestry of new south wales[63] is as shown in fig. 47. the specimen has a total length of 41 inches and is circular in cross section. on each end is a head 4 inches in diameter and 7 inches long. below each head is a shoulder 8.5 inches long, which tapers from a diameter of 2.75 inches to 1.25 inches. in the middle is a cylindrical portion 1.25 inches in diameter and 10 inches long. [illustration: fig. 47.--design of tension test specimen used in new south wales.] [footnote 63: warren, w.h.: the strength, elasticity, and other properties of new south wales hardwood timbers, 1911, pp. 58-62.] in making the test the specimen is fitted in the machine, and an extensometer attached to the middle portion and arranged to record the extension between the gauge points 8 inches apart. the area of the cross section then is 1.226 square inches, and the tensile strength is equal to the total breaking load applied divided by this area. tension test at right angles to the grain a static testing machine and a special testing device (see fig. 48) are required. the latter consists essentially of two double hooks or clamps, one of which is suspended from the centre of the top of the cage, the other extended above the movable head. the specimens are 2" x 2" x 2.5". at each end a one-inch hole is bored with its centre equidistant from the two sides and 0.25 inch from the ends. this makes the cross section to be tested 1" x 2". [illustration: fig. 48.--design of tool and specimen for testing tension at right angles to the grain.] the free ends of the clamps are fitted into the notches in the ends of the specimen. the movable head of the machine is then made to descend at the rate of 0.25 inch per minute, pulling the specimen in two at right angles to the grain. the maximum load only is taken and the result expressed in pounds per inch of width. a piece one-half inch thick is split off parallel to the failure and used for moisture determination. torsion test[64] [footnote 64: wood is so seldom subjected to a pure stress of this kind that the torsion test is usually omitted.] _apparatus_: the torsion test is made in a riehle-miller torsional testing machine or its equivalent. (see fig. 49.) [illustration: fig. 49.--making a torsion test on hickory.] _preparation of material_: the test pieces are cylindrical, 1.5 inches in diameter and 18 inches gauge length, with squared ends 4 inches long joined to the cylindrical portion with a fillet. the dimensions are carefully measured, and the usual data obtained in regard to the rate of growth, proportion of late wood, location and kind of defects. the weight of the cylindrical portion of the specimen is obtained after the test. _making the test_: after the specimen is fitted in the machine the load is applied continuously at the rate of 22â° per minute. a troptometer is used in measuring the deformation. readings are made until failure occurs, the points being entered on the cross-section paper. the character of the failure is described. moisture determinations are made by the disk method. _results_: the conditions of ultimate rupture due to torsion appear not to be governed by definite mathematical laws; but where the material is not overstrained, laws may be assumed which are sufficiently exact for practical cases. the formulã¦ commonly used for computations are as follows: 5.1 m (1) t = ------ c^{3} 114.6 t f (2) g = ---------- a c a = angle measured by troptometer at elastic limit, in degrees. c = diameter of specimen, inches. f = gauge length of specimen, inches. _g_ = modulus of elasticity in shear across the grain, pounds per square inch. m = moment of torsion at elastic limit, inch-pounds. t = outer fibre torsional stress at elastic limit, pounds per square inch. special tests _spike-pulling test_ spike-pulling tests apply to problems of railroad maintenance, and the results are used to compare the spike-holding powers of various woods, both untreated and treated with different preservatives, and the efficiency of various forms of spikes. special tests are also made in which the spike is subjected to a transverse load applied repetitively by a blow. for details of tests and results see: cir. 38, u.s.f.s.: instructions to engineers of timber tests, p. 26. cir. 46, u.s.f.s.: holding force of railroad spikes in wooden ties. bul. 118, u.s.f.s,: prolonging the life of cross-ties, pp. 37-40. _packing boxes_ special tests on the strength of packing boxes of various woods have been made by the u.s. forest service to determine the merits of different kinds of woods as box material with the view of substituting new kinds for the more expensive ones now in use. the methods of tests consisted in applying a load along the diagonal of a box, an action similar to that which occurs when a box is dropped on one of its corners. the load was measured at each one-fourth inch in deflection, and notes were made of the primary and subsequent failures. for details of tests and results, see: cir. 47, u.s.f.s.: strength of packing boxes of various woods. cir. 214, u.s.f.s.: tests of packing boxes of various forms. _vehicle and implement woods_ tests were made by the u.s. forest service to obtain a better knowledge of the mechanical properties of the woods at present used in the manufacture of vehicles and implements and of those which might be substituted for them. tests were made upon the following materials: hickory buggy spokes (see fig. 5); hickory and red oak buggy shafts; wagon tongues; douglas fir and southern pine cultivator poles. details of the tests and results may be found in: cir. 142, u.s.f.s.: tests on vehicle and implement woods. _cross-arms_ in tests by the u.s. forest service on cross-arms a special apparatus was devised in which the load was distributed along the arm as in actual practice. the load was applied by rods passing through the pinholes in the arms. nuts on these rods pulled down on the wooden bearing-blocks shaped to fit the upper side of the arm. the lower ends of these rods were attached to a system of equalizing levers, so arranged that the load at each pinhole would be the same. in all the tests the load was applied vertically by means of the static machine. see cir. 204, u.s.f.s.: strength tests of cross-arms. _other tests_ many other kinds of tests are made as occasion demands. one kind consists of barrels and liquid containers, match-boxes, and explosive containers. these articles are subjected to shocks such as they would receive in transit and in handling, and also to hydraulic pressure. one of the most important tests from a practical standpoint is that of built-up structures such as compounded beams composed of small pieces bolted together, mortised joints, wooden trusses, etc. tests of this kind can best be worked out according to the specific requirements in each case. appendix sample working plan of the u.s. forest service mechanical properties of woods grown in the united states working plan no. 124 purpose of work it is the general purpose of the work here outlined to provide: (_a_) reliable data for comparing the mechanical properties of various species; (_b_) data for the establishment of correct strength functions or working stresses; (_c_) data upon which may be based analyses of the influence on the mechanical properties of such factors as: locality; distance of timber from the pith of the tree; height of timber in the tree; change from the green to the air-dried condition, etc. the mechanical properties which will be considered and the principal tests used to determine them are as follows: strength and stiffness- static bending; compression parallel to grain; compression perpendicular to grain; shear. toughness- impact bending; static bending; work to maximum load and total work. cleavability- cleavage test. hardness- modification of janka ball test for surface hardness. material _selection and number of trees_ the material will be from trees selected in the forest by one qualified to determine the species. from each locality, three to five dominant trees of merchantable size and approximately average age will be so chosen as to be representative of the dominant trees of the species. each species will eventually be represented by trees from five to ten localities. these localities will be so chosen as to be representative of the commercial range of the species. trees from one to three localities will be used to represent each species until most of the important species have been tested. the 16-foot butt log will be taken from each tree selected and the entire merchantable hole of one average tree for each species. _field notes and shipping instructions_ field notes as outlined in form--_a_ shipment description, manual of the branch of products, will be fully and carefully made by the collector. the age of each tree selected will be recorded and any other information likely to be of interest or importance will also be made a part of these field notes. each log will have the bark left on. it will be plainly marked in accordance with directions given under detailed instructions. all material will be shipped to the laboratory immediately after being cut. no trees will be cut until the collector is notified that the laboratory is ready to receive the material. detailed instructions _part of tree to be tested_ (_a_) for determining the value of tree and locality and the influence on the mechanical properties of distance from the pith, a 4-foot bolt will be cut from the top end of each 16-foot butt log. (_b_) for investigating the variation of properties with the height of timber in the tree, all the logs from one average tree will be used. (_c_) for investigating the effect of drying the wood, the bolt next below that provided for in (_a_) will be used in the case of one tree from each locality. _marking and grouping of material_ the marking will be standard except as noted. each log will be considered a "piece." the piece numbers will be plainly marked upon the butt end of each log by the collector. the north side of each log will also be marked. when only one bolt from a tree is used it will be designated by the number of the log from which it is cut. whenever more than one bolt is taken from a tree, each 4-foot bolt or length of trunk will be given a letter (mark), _a, b, c,_ etc., beginning at the stump. all bolts will be sawed into 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" sticks and the sticks marked according to the sketch, fig. 50. the letters _n, e, s,_ and _w_ indicate the cardinal points when known; when these are unknown, _h, k, l,_ and _m_ will be used. thus, _n5, k8, s7, m4_ are stick numbers, the letter being a part of the stick number. [illustration: fig. 50.--method of cutting and marking test specimens.] only straight-grained specimens, free from defects which will affect their strength, will be tested. _care of material_ no material will be kept in the bolt or log long enough to be damaged or disfigured by checks, rot, or stains. _green material_: the material to be tested green will be kept in a green state by being submerged in water until near the time of test. it will then be surfaced, sawed to length, and stored in damp sawdust at a temperature of 70â°f. (as nearly as practicable) until time of test. care should be taken to avoid as much as possible the storage of green material in any form. _air-dry material_: the material to be air-dried will be cut into sticks 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" x 4'. the ends of these sticks will be paraffined to prevent checking. this material will be so piled as to leave an air space of at least one-half inch on each side of each stick, and in such a place that it will be protected from sunshine, rain, snow, and moisture from the ground. the sticks will be surfaced and cut to length just previous to test. _order of tests_ the order of tests in all cases will be such as to eliminate so far as possible from the comparisons the effect of changes of condition of the specimens due to such factors as storage and weather conditions. the material used for determining the effect of height in tree will be tested in such order that the average time elapsing from time of cutting to time of test will be approximately the same for all bolts from any one tree. _tests on green material_ the tests on all bolts, except those from which a comparison of green and dry timber is to be gotten, will be as follows: _static bending_: one stick from each pair. a pair consists of two adjacent sticks equidistant from the pith, as _n_7 and _n_8, or _h_5 and _h_6. _impact bending_: four sticks; one to be taken from near the pith; one from near the periphery; and two representative of the cross section. _compression parallel to grain_: one specimen from each stick. these will be marked "1" in addition to the number of the stick from which they are taken. _compression perpendicular to grain_: one specimen from each of 50 per cent of the static bending sticks. these will be marked "2" in addition to the number of the stick from which they are cut. _hardness_: one specimen from each of the other 50 per cent of the static bending sticks. these specimens will be marked "4." _shear_: six specimens from sticks not tested in bending or from the ends cut off in preparing the bending specimens. two specimens will be taken from near the pith; two from near the periphery; and two that are representative of the average growth. one of each two will be tested in radial shear and the other in tangential shear. these specimens will have the mark "3." _cleavage_: six specimens chosen and divided just as those for shearing. these specimens will have the mark "5." (for sketches showing radial and tangential cleavage, see fig. 45.) when it is impossible to secure clear specimens for all of the above tests, tests will have precedence in the order in which they are named. _tests to determine the effect of air-drying_ these tests will be made on material from the adjacent bolts mentioned in "_c_" under part of tree to be tested. both bolts will be cut as outlined above. one-half the sticks from each bolt will be tested green, the other half will be air-dried and tested. the division of green and air-dry will be according to the following scheme: stick numbers lower bolt, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, } tested etc. } green upper bolt, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, } lower bolt, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, } air-dried etc. } and upper bolt, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, } tested all green sticks from these two bolts will be tested as if they were from the same bolt and according to the plan previously outlined for green material from single bolts. the tests on the air-dried material will be the same as on the green except for the difference of seasoning. the material will be tested at as near 12 per cent moisture as is practicable. the approximate weight of the air-dried specimens at 12 per cent moisture will be determined by measuring while green 20 per cent of the sticks to be air-dried and assuming their dry gravity to be the same as that of the specimens tested green. this 20 per cent will be weighed as often as is necessary to determine the proper time of test. _methods of test_ all tests will be made according to circular 38 except in case of conflict with the instructions given below: _static bending_: the tests will be on specimens 2" x 2" x 30" on 28-inch span. load will be applied at the centre. in all tests the load-deflection curve will be carried to or beyond the maximum load. in one-third of the tests the load-deflection curve will be continued to 6-inch deflection, or till the specimen fails to support a 200-pound load. deflection readings for equal increments of load will be taken until well past the elastic limit, after which the scale beam will be kept balanced and the load read for each 0.1-inch deflection. the load and deflection at first failure, maximum load and points of sudden change, will be shown on the curve sheet even if they do not occur at one of the regular load or deflection increments. _impact bending_: the impact bending tests will be on specimens of the same size as those used in static bending. the span will be 28 inches. the tests will be by increment drop. the first drop will be 1 inch and the increase will be by increments of 1 inch till a height of 10 inches is reached, after which increments of 2 inches will be used until complete failure occurs or 6-inch deflection is secured. a 50-pound hammer will be used when with drops up to 68 inches it is practically certain that it will produce complete failure or 6-inch deflection in the case of all specimens of a species. for all other species, a 100-pound hammer will be used. in all cases drum records will be made until first failure. also the height of drop causing complete failure or 6-inch deflection will be noted. _compression parallel to grain_: this test will be on specimens 2" x 2" x 8" in size. on 20 per cent of these tests load-compression curves for a 6-inch centrally located gauge length will be taken. readings will be continued until the elastic limit is well passed. the other 80 per cent of the tests will be made for the purpose of obtaining the maximum load only. _compression perpendicular to grain_: this test will be on specimens 2" x 2" x 6" in size. the bearing plates will be 2 inches wide. the rate of descent of the moving head will be 0.024 inch per minute. the load-compression curve will be plotted to 0.1 inch compression and the test will then be discontinued. _hardness_: the tool shown in fig. 43 (an adaptation of the apparatus used by the german investigator, janka) will be used. the rate of descent of the moving head will be 0.25 inch per minute. when the penetration has progressed to the point at which the plate "_a_" becomes tight, due to being pressed against the wood, the load will be read and recorded. two penetrations will be made on a tangential surface, two on a radial, and one on each end of each specimen tested. the choice between the two radial and between the two tangential surfaces and the distribution of the penetrations over the surfaces will be so made as to get a fair average of heart and sap, slow and fast growth, and spring and summer wood. specimens will be 2" x 2" x 6". _shear_: the tests will be made with a tool slightly modified from that shown in circular 38. the speed of descent of head will be 0.015 inch per minute. the only measurements to be made are those of the shearing area. the offset will be 1/8 inch. specimens will be 2" x 2" x 2-1/2" in size. (for definition of offset and form of test specimen, see fig. 38.) _cleavage_: the cleavage tests will be made on specimens of the form and size shown in fig. 45. the apparatus will be as shown in fig. 44. the maximum load only will be taken and the result expressed in pounds per inch of width. the speed of the moving head will be 0.25 inch per minute. _moisture determinations_ moisture determinations will be made on all specimens tested except those to be photographed or kept for exhibit. a 1-inch disk will be cut from near the point of failure of bending and compression parallel specimens, from the portion under the plate in the case of the compression perpendicular specimens, and from the centre of the hardness test specimens. the beads from the shear specimens will be used as moisture disks. in the case of the cleavage specimens a piece 1/2 inch thick will be split off parallel to the failure and used as a moisture disk. records all records will be standard. photographs _cross sections_ just before cutting into sticks, the freshly cut end of at least one bolt from each tree will be photographed. a scale of inches will be shown in this photograph. _specimens_ three photographs will be made of a group consisting of four 2" x 2" x 30" specimens chosen from the material from each locality. two of these specimens will be representative of average growth, one of fast and one of slow growth. these photographs will show radial, tangential, and end surfaces for each specimen. _failures_ typical and abnormal failures of material from each site will be photographed. _disposition of material_ the specimens photographed to show typical and abnormal failures will be saved for purposes of exhibit until deemed by the person in charge of the laboratory to be of no further value. shrinkage and specific gravity appendix to working plan 124 purpose of work it is the purpose of this work to secure data on the shrinkage and specific gravity of woods tested under project 124. the figures to be obtained are for use as average working values rather than as the basis for a detailed study of the principles involved. material the material will be taken from that provided for mechanical tests. radial and tangential shrinkage _specimens_ _preparation_: two specimens 1 inch thick, 4 inches wide, and 1 inch long will be obtained from near the periphery of each "_d_" bolt. these will be cut from the sector-shaped sections left after securing the material for the mechanical tests or from disks cut from near the end of the bolt. they will be taken from adjoining pieces chosen so that the results will be comparable for use in determining radial and tangential shrinkage. (when a disk is used, care must be taken that it is green and has not been affected by the shrinkage and checking near the end of the bolt.) one of these specimens will be cut with its width in the radial direction and will be used for the determination of radial shrinkage. the other will have its width in the tangential direction and will be used for tangential shrinkage. these specimens will not be surfaced. _marking_: the shrinkage specimens will retain the shipment and piece numbers and marks of the bolts from which they are taken, and will have the additional mark _7_r or _7_t according as their widths are in the radial or tangential direction. _shrinkage measurements_: the shrinkage specimens will be carefully weighed and measured soon after cutting. rings per inch, per cent sap, and per cent summer wood will be measured. they will then be air-dried in the laboratory to constant weight, and afterward oven-dried at 100â°c. (212â°f.), when they will again be weighed and measured. volumetric shrinkage and specific gravity _specimens_ _selection and preparation_: four 2" x 2" x 6" specimens will be cut from the mechanical test sticks of each "_d_" bolt; also from each of the composite bolts used in getting a comparison of green and air-dry. one of these specimens will be taken from near the pith and one from near the periphery; the other two will be representative of the average growth of the bolt. the sides of these specimens will be surfaced and the ends smooth sawn. _marking_: each specimen will retain the shipment, piece, and stick numbers and mark of the stick from which it is cut, and will have the additional mark "_s_." _manipulation_: soon after cutting, each specimen will be weighed and its volume will be determined by the method described below. the rings per inch and per cent summer wood, where possible, will be determined, and a carbon impression of the end of the specimen made. it will then be air-dried in the laboratory to a constant weight and afterward oven-dried at 100â°c. when dry, the specimen will be taken from the oven, weighed, and a carbon impression of its end made. while still warm the specimen will be dipped in hot paraffine. the volume will then be determined by the following method: on one pan of a pair of balances is placed a container having in it water enough for the complete submersion of the test specimen. this container and water is balanced by weights placed on the other scale pan. the specimen is then held completely submerged and not touching the container while the scales are again balanced. the weight required to balance is the weight of water displaced by the specimen, and hence if in grams is numerically equal to the volume of the specimen in cubic centimetres. a diagrammatic sketch of the arrangement of this apparatus is shown in fig. 51. [illustration: fig. 51.--diagram of specific gravity apparatus, showing a balance with container (_c_) filled with water in which the test block (_b_) is held submerged by a light rod (_a_) which is adjustable vertically and provided with a sharp point to be driven into the specimen.] air-dry specimens will be dipped in water and then wiped dry after the first weighing and just before being immersed for weighing their displacement. all displacement determinations will be made as quickly as possible in order to minimize the absorption of water by the specimen. strength values for structural timbers (from cir. 189, u.s. forest service) the following tables bring together in condensed form the average strength values resulting from a large number of tests made by the forest service on the principal structural timbers of the united states. these results are more completely discussed in other publications of the service, a list of which is given in bibliography, part iii. the tests were made at the laboratories of the u.s. forest service, in cooperation with the following institutions: yale forest school, purdue university, university of california, university of oregon, university of washington, university of colorado, and university of wisconsin. tables xviii and xix give the average results obtained from tests on green material, while tables xx and xxi give average results from tests on air-seasoned material. the small specimens, which were invariably 2" x 2" in cross section, were free from defects such as knots, checks, and cross grain; all other specimens were representative of material secured in the open market. the relation of stresses developed in different structural forms to those developed in the small clear specimens is shown for each factor in the column headed "ratio to 2" x 2"." tests to determine the mechanical properties of different species are often confined to small, clear specimens. the ratios included in the tables may be applied to such results in order to approximate the strength of the species in structural sizes, and containing the defects usually encountered, when tests on such forms are not available. a comparison of the results of tests on seasoned material with those from tests on green material shows that, without exception, the strength of the 2" x 2" specimens is increased by lowering the moisture content, but that increase in strength of other sizes is much more erratic. some specimens, in fact, show an apparent loss in strength due to seasoning. if structural timbers are seasoned slowly, in order to avoid excessive checking, there should be an increase in their strength. in the light of these facts it is not safe to base working stresses on results secured from any but green material. for a discussion of factors of safety and safe working stresses for structural timbers see the manual of the american railway engineering association, chicago, 1911. a table from that publication, giving working unit stresses for structural timber, is reproduced in this book, see table xxii. |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xviii table xviii | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | bending tests on green material | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | sizes | | | | f.s. at e.l. | m. of r. | m. of e. | calculated | | |-----------------| num | per | rings | | | | shear | | species | | | ber | cent | per |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------| | | cross | span | of | mois| inch | average | ratio | average | ratio | average | ratio | average | ratio | | | section | | tests | ture | | per sq. | to 2" | per sq. | to 2" | per sq. | to 2" | per sq. | to 2" | | | | | | | | inch | by 2" | inch | by 2" | inch | by 2" | inch | by 2" | |-----------------+----------+------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------| | | | | | | | | | | | 1,000 | | | | | | inches | ins. | | | | lbs. | | lbs. | | lbs. | | lbs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | longleaf pine | 12 by 12 | 138 | 4 | 28.6 | 9.7 | 4,029 | 0.83 | 6,710 | 0.74 | 1,523 | 0.99 | 261 | 0.86 | | | 10 by 16 | 168 | 4 | 26.8 | 16.7 | 6,453 | .85 | 6,453 | .71 | 1,626 | 1.05 | 306 | 1.01 | | | 8 by 16 | 156 | 7 | 28.4 | 14.6 | 3,147 | .64 | 5,439 | .60 | 1,368 | .89 | 390 | 1.29 | | | 6 by 16 | 132 | 1 | 40.3 | 21.8 | 4,120 | .83 | 6,460 | .71 | 1,190 | .77 | 378 | 1.25 | | | 6 by 10 | 180 | 1 | 31.0 | 6.2 | 3,580 | .72 | 6,500 | .72 | 1,412 | .92 | 175 | .58 | | | 6 by 8 | 180 | 2 | 27.0 | 8.2 | 3,735 | .75 | 5,745 | .63 | 1,282 | .83 | 121 | .40 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 15 | 33.9 | 14.1 | 4,950 | 1.00 | 9,070 | 1.00 | 1,540 | 1:00 | 303 | 1.00 | | douglas fir | 8 by 16 | 180 | 191 | 31.5 | 11.0 | 3,968 | .76 | 5,983 | .72 | 1,517 | .95 | 269 | .81 | | | 5 by 8 | 180 | 84 | 30.1 | 10.8 | 3,693 | .71 | 5,178 | .63 | 1,533 | .96 | 172 | .52 | | | 2 by 12 | 180 | 27 | 35.7 | 20.3 | 3,721 | .71 | 5,276 | .64 | 1,642 | 1.03 | 256 | .77 | | | 2 by 10 | 180 | 26 | 32.9 | 21.6 | 3,160 | .60 | 4,699 | .57 | 1,593 | 1.00 | 189 | .57 | | | 2 by 8 | 180 | 29 | 33.6 | 17.6 | 3,593 | .69 | 5,352 | .65 | 1,607 | 1.01 | 171 | .51 | | | 2 by 2 | 24 | 568 | 30.4 | 11.6 | 5,227 | 1.00 | 9,070 | 1.00 | 1,540 | 1.00 | 303 | 1.00 | | douglas fir | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (fire-killed) | 8 by 16 | 180 | 30 | 36.8 | 10.9 | 3,503 | .80 | 4,994 | .64 | 1,531 | .94 | 330 | 1.19 | | | 2 by 12 | 180 | 32 | 34.2 | 17.7 | 3,489 | .80 | 5,085 | .66 | 1,624 | .99 | 247 | .89 | | | 2 by 10 | 180 | 32 | 38.9 | 18.1 | 3,851 | .88 | 5,359 | .69 | 1,716 | 1.05 | 216 | .78 | | | 2 by 8 | 180 | 31 | 37.0 | 15.7 | 3,403 | .78 | 5,305 | .68 | 1,676 | 1.02 | 169 | .61 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 290 | 33.2 | 17.2 | 4,360 | 1.00 | 7,752 | 1.00 | 1,636 | 1.00 | 277 | 1.00 | | shortleaf pine | 8 by 16 | 180 | 12 | 39.5 | 12.1 | 3,185 | .73 | 5,407 | .70 | 1,438 | 1.03 | 362 | 1.40 | | | 8 by 14 | 180 | 12 | 45.8 | 12.7 | 3,234 | .74 | 5,781 | .75 | 1,494 | 1.07 | 338 | 1.31 | | | 8 by 12 | 180 | 24 | 52.2 | 11.8 | 3,265 | .75 | 5,503 | .71 | 1,480 | 1.06 | 277 | 1.07 | | | 5 by 8 | 180 | 24 | 47.8 | 11.5 | 3,519 | .81 | 5,732 | .74 | 1,485 | 1.06 | 185 | .72 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 254 | 51.7 | 13.6 | 4,350 | 1.00 | 7,710 | 1.00 | 1,395 | 1.00 | 258 | 1.00 | | western larch | 8 by 16 | 180 | 32 | 51.0 | 25.3 | 3,276 | .77 | 4,632 | .64 | 1,272 | .97 | 298 | 1.11 | | | 8 by 12 | 180 | 30 | 50.3 | 23.2 | 3,376 | .79 | 5,286 | .73 | 1,331 | 1.02 | 254 | .94 | | | 5 by 8 | 180 | 14 | 56.0 | 25.6 | 3,528 | .83 | 5,331 | .74 | 1,432 | 1.09 | 169 | .63 | | | 2 by 2 | 28 | 189 | 46.2 | 26.2 | 4,274 | 1.00 | 7,251 | 1.00 | 1,310 | 1.00 | 269 | 1.00 | | loblolly pine | 8 by 16 | 180 | 17 | 15.8 | 6.1 | 3,094 | .75 | 5,394 | .69 | 1,406 | .98 | 383 | 1.44 | | | 5 by 12 | 180 | 94 | 60.9 | 5.9 | 3,030 | .74 | 5,028 | .64 | 1,383 | .96 | 221 | .83 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 44 | 70.9 | 5.4 | 4,100 | 1.00 | 7,870 | 1.00 | 1,440 | 1.00 | 265 | 1.00 | | tamarack | 6 by 12 | 162 | 15 | 57.6 | 16.6 | 2,914 | .75 | 4,500 | .66 | 1,202 | 1.05 | 255 | 1.11 | | | 4 by 10 | 162 | 15 | 43.5 | 11.4 | 2,712 | .70 | 4,611 | .68 | 1,238 | 1.08 | 209 | .91 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 82 | 38.8 | 14.0 | 3,875 | 1.00 | 6,820 | 1.00 | 1,141 | 1.00 | 229 | 1.00 | | western hemlock | 8 by 16 | 180 | 39 | 42.5 | 15.6 | 3,516 | .80 | 5,296 | .73 | 1,445 | 1.01 | 261 | .92 | | | 2 by 2 | 28 | 52 | 51.8 | 12.1 | 4.406 | 1.00 | 7,294 | 1.00 | 1,428 | 1.00 | 284 | 1.00 | | redwood | 8 by 16 | 180 | 14 | 86.5 | 19.9 | 3,734 | .79 | 4,492 | .64 | 1,016 | .96 | 300 | 1.21 | | | 6 by 12 | 180 | 14 | 87.3 | 17.8 | 3,787 | .80 | 4,451 | .64 | 1,068 | 1.00 | 224 | .90 | | | 7 by 9 | 180 | 14 | 79.8 | 16.7 | 4,412 | .93 | 5,279 | .76 | 1,324 | 1.25 | 199 | .80 | | | 3 by 14 | 180 | 13 | 86.1 | 23.7 | 3,506 | .74 | 4,364 | .62 | 947 | .89 | 255 | 1.03 | | | 2 by 12 | 180 | 12 | 70.9 | 18.6 | 3,100 | .65 | 3,753 | .54 | 1,052 | .99 | 187 | .75 | | | 2 by 10 | 180 | 13 | 55.8 | 20.0 | 3,285 | .69 | 4,079 | .58 | 1,107 | 1.04 | 169 | .68 | | | 2 by 8 | 180 | 13 | 63.8 | 21.5 | 2,989 | .63 | 4,063 | .58 | 1,141 | 1.08 | 134 | .54 | | | 2 by 2 | 28 | 157 | 75.5 | 19.1 | 4,750 | 1.00 | 6,980 | 1.00 | 1,061 | 1.00 | 248 | 1.00 | | norway pine | 6 by 12 | 162 | 15 | 50.3 | 12.5 | 2,305 | .82 | 3,572 | .69 | 987 | 1.03 | 201 | 1.17 | | | 4 by 12 | 162 | 18 | 47.9 | 14.7 | 2,648 | .94 | 4,107 | .79 | 1,255 | 1.31 | 238 | 1.38 | | | 4 by 10 | 162 | 16 | 45.7 | 13.3 | 2,674 | .95 | 4,205 | .81 | 1,306 | 1.36 | 198 | 1.15 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 133 | 32.3 | 11.4 | 2,808 | 1.00 | 5,173 | 1.00 | 960 | 1.00 | 172 | 1.00 | | red spruce | 2 by 10 | 144 | 14 | 32.5 | 21.9 | 2,394 | .66 | 3,566 | .60 | 1,180 | 1.02 | 181 | .80 | | | 2 by 2 | 26 | 60 | 37.3 | 21.3 | 3,627 | 1.00 | 5,900 | 1.00 | 1,157 | 1.00 | 227 | 1.00 | | white spruce | 2 by 10 | 144 | 16 | 40.7 | 9.3 | 2,239 | .72 | 3,288 | .63 | 1,081 | 1.08 | 166 | .83 | | | 2 by 2 | 26 | 83 | 58.3 | 10.2 | 3.090 | 1.00 | 5,185 | 1.00 | 998 | 1.00 | 199 | 1.00 | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | _note.--following is an explanation of the abbreviations used in the foregoing tables:_ | | f.s. at e.l. = fiber stress at elastic limit. | | m. of e. = modulus of elasticity. | | m. of r. = modulus of rupture. | | cr. str. at e.l. = crushing strength at elastic limit. | | cr. str. at max. ld. = crushing strength at maximum load. | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xix table xix | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | compression and shear tests on green material | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | compression | compression | shear | | | parallel to grain | perpendicular to grain | | | |------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------+--------------------------| | | | | | cr. | | cr. | | | | | cr. | | | | | species | | | per | str. | m. of | str. | | | | per | str. | | per | | | | size of | no. | cent | at | e. | at max. | stress | | no. | cent | at max. | no. | cent | shear | | | specimen | of | of | e. l. | per | ld.,. | area | height | of | of | ld., | of | of | strength | | | | tests | mois| per | square | per | | | tests | mois| per | tests | mois| | | | | | ture | square | inch | square | | | | ture | square | | ture | | | | | | | inch | | inch | | | | | inch | | | | |-----------------+----------+-------+-------+--------+--------+---------+--------+--------+-------+ ------+---------+-------+-------+----------| | | | | | | 1,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | inches | | | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | inches | inches | | | lbs. | | | lbs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | longleaf pine | 4 by 4 | 46 | 26.3 | 3,480 | | 4,800 | 4 by 4 | 4 | 22 | 25.3 | 568 | 44 | 21.8 | 973 | | | 2 by 2 | 14 | 34.7 | | | 4,400 | | | | | | | | | | douglas fir | 6 by 6 | 515 | 30.7 | 2,780 | 1,181 | 3,500 | 4 by 8 | 16 | 259 | 30.3 | 570 | 531 | 29.7 | 765 | | | 5 by 6 | 170 | 30.9 | 2,720 | 2,123 | 3,490 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 902 | 29.8 | 3,500 | 1,925 | 4,030 | | | | | | | | | | douglas fir | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (fire-killed) | 6 by 6 | 108 | 34.8 | 2,620 | 1,801 | 3,290 | 6 by 8 | 16 | 24 | 33.7 | 368 | 77 | 35.8 | 631 | | | 2 by 2 | 204 | 37.9 | | | 3,430 | | | | | | | | | | shortleaf pine | 6 by 6 | 95 | 41.2 | 2,514 | 1,565 | 3,436 | 5 by 8 | 16 | 12 | 37.7 | 361 | 179 | 47.0 | 704 | | | 5 by 8 | 23 | 43.5 | 2,241 | 1,529 | 3,423 | 5 by 8 | 14 | 12 | 42.8 | 366 | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 281 | 51.4 | | | 3,570 | 5 by 8 | 12 | 24 | 53.0 | 325 | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 by 5 | 8 | 24 | 47.0 | 344 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 2 | 277 | 48.5 | 400 | | | | | western larch | 6 by 6 | 107 | 49.1 | 2,675 | 1,575 | 3,510 | 6 by 8 | 16 | 22 | 43.6 | 417 | 179 | 40.7 | 700 | | | 2 by 2 | 491 | 50.6 | 3,026 | 1,545 | 3,696 | 6 by 8 | 12 | 20 | 40.2 | 416 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 6 | 6 | 53 | 52.8 | 478 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 4 | 30 | 50.4 | 472 | | | | | loblolly pine | 8 by 8 | 14 | 63.4 | 1,560 | 365 | 2,140 | 8 by 4 | 8 | 16 | 67.2 | 392 | 121 | 83.2 | 630 | | | 4 by 8 | 18 | 60.0 | 2,430 | 691 | 3,560 | 4 by 4 | 8 | 38 | 44.6 | 546 | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 53 | 74.0 | | | 3,240 | | | | | | | | | | tamarack | 6 by 7 | 4 | 49.9 | 2,332 | 1,432 | 3,032 | | | | | | 24 | 39.2 | 668 | | | 4 by 7 | 6 | 27.7 | 2,444 | 1,334 | 3,360 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 165 | 36.8 | | | 3,190 | | | | | | | | | | western hemlock | 6 by 6 | 82 | 46.6 | 2,905 | 1,617 | 3,355 | 6 by 4 | 6 | 30 | 48.7 | 434 | 54 | 65.7 | 630 | | | 2 by 2 | 131 | 55.6 | 2,938 | 1,737 | 3,392 | | | | | | | | | | redwood | 6 by 6 | 34 | 83.6 | 3,194 | 1,240 | 3,882 | 6 by 8 | 16 | 13 | 86.7 | 473 | 148 | 84.2 | 742 | | | 2 by 2 | 143 | 36.8 | 3,490 | 1,222 | 3,980 | 6 by 6 | 12 | 14 | 83.0 | 424 | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 by 7 | 9 | 13 | 74.7 | 477 | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 by 3 | 14 | 13 | 75.6 | 411 | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 by 2 | 12 | 12 | 66.5 | 430 | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 by 2 | 10 | 11 | 55.0 | 423 | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 by 2 | 8 | 12 | 56.7 | 396 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 2 | 186 | 75.5 | 569 | | | | | norway pine | 6 by 7 | 5 | 29.0 | 1,928 | 905 | 2,404 | | | | | | 20 | 26.7 | 589 | | | 4 by 7 | 8 | 28.4 | 2,154 | 1,063 | 2,652 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 178 | 26.8 | | | 2,504 | | | | | | | | | | red spruce | 2 by 2 | 58 | 35.4 | | | 2,750 | 2 by 2 | 2 | 43 | 31.8 | 310 | 30 | 32.0 | 758 | | white spruce | 2 by 2 | 84 | 61.0 | | | 2,370 | 2 by 2 | 2 | 46 | 50.4 | 270 | 40 | 58.0 | 651 | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | _note.--following is an explanation of the abbreviations used in the foregoing tables:_ | | f.s. at e.l. = fiber stress at elastic limit. | | m. of e. = modulus of elasticity. | | m. of r. = modulus of rupture. | | cr. str. at e.l. = crushing strength at elastic limit. | | cr. str. at max. ld. = crushing strength at maximum load. | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xx table xx | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | bending tests on air-seasoned material | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | sizes | | | | f.s. at e.l. | m. of r. | m. of e. | calculated | | |-----------------| num | per | rings | | | | shear | | species | | | ber | cent | per |-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------| | | cross | span | of | mois| inch | average | ratio | average | ratio | average | ratio | average | ratio | | | section | | tests | ture | | per sq. | to 2" | per sq. | to 2" | per sq. | to 2" | per sq. | to 2" | | | | | | | | inch | by 2" | inch | by 2" | inch | by 2" | inch | by 2" | |-----------------+----------+------+-------+-------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------| | | | | | | | | | | | 1,000 | | | | | | inches | ins. | | | | lbs. | | lbs. | | lbs. | | lbs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | longleaf pine | 8 by 16 | 180 | 5 | 22.2 | 16.0 | 3,390 | 0.50 | 4,274 | 0.37 | 1,747 | 1.00 | 288 | 0.75 | | | 6 by 16 | 132 | 1 | 23.4 | 17.1 | 3,470 | .51 | 6,610 | .57 | 1,501 | .86 | 388 | 1.01 | | | 6 by 10 | 177 | 2 | 19.0 | 8.8 | 4,560 | .68 | 7,880 | .68 | 1,722 | .99 | 214 | .56 | | | 4 by 11 | 180 | 1 | 18.4 | 23.9 | 3,078 | .46 | 8,000 | .69 | 1,660 | .95 | 251 | .66 | | | 6 by 8 | 177 | 6 | 20.0 | 13.7 | 4,227 | .63 | 8,196 | .71 | 1,634 | .94 | 177 | .46 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 17 | 15.9 | 13.9 | 6,750 | 1.00 | 11,520 | 1.00 | 1,740 | 1.00 | 383 | 1.00 | | douglas fir | 8 by 16 | 180 | 91 | 20.8 | 13.1 | 4,563 | .68 | 6,372 | .61 | 1,549 | .91 | 269 | .64 | | | 5 by 8 | 180 | 30 | 14.9 | 12.2 | 5,065 | .76 | 6,777 | .65 | 1,853 | 1.09 | 218 | .52 | | | 2 by 2 | 24 | 211 | 19.0 | 16.4 | 6,686 | 1.00 | 10,378 | 1.00 | 1,695 | 1.00 | 419 | 1.00 | | shortleaf pine | 8 by 16 | 180 | 3 | 17.0 | 12.3 | 4,220 | .54 | 6,030 | .50 | 1,517 | .85 | 398 | .98 | | | 8 by 14 | 180 | 3 | 16.0 | 12.3 | 4,253 | .55 | 5,347 | .44 | 1,757 | .98 | 307 | .76 | | | 8 by 12 | 180 | 7 | 16.0 | 12.4 | 5,051 | .65 | 7,331 | .60 | 1,803 | 1.01 | 361 | .89 | | | 5 by 8 | 180 | 6 | 12.2 | 22.5 | 7,123 | .92 | 9,373 | .77 | 1,985 | 1.11 | 301 | .74 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 67 | 14.2 | 13.7 | 7,780 | 1.00 | 12,120 | 1.00 | 1,792 | 1.00 | 404 | 1.00 | | western larch | 8 by 16 | 180 | 23 | 18.3 | 21.9 | 3,343 | .57 | 5,440 | .53 | 1,409 | .90 | 349 | .96 | | | 8 by 12 | 180 | 29 | 17.8 | 23.4 | 3,631 | .62 | 6,186 | .60 | 1,549 | .99 | 295 | .81 | | | 5 by 8 | 180 | 10 | 13.6 | 27.6 | 4,730 | .80 | 7,258 | .71 | 1,620 | 1.04 | 221 | .61 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 240 | 16.1 | 26.8 | 5,880 | 1.00 | 10,254 | 1.00 | 1,564 | 1.00 | 364 | 1.00 | | loblolly pine | 8 by 16 | 180 | 14 | 20.5 | 7.4 | 4,195 | .81 | 6,734 | .72 | 1,619 | 1.10 | 462 | 1.45 | | | 6 by 16 | 126 | 4 | 20.2 | 5.0 | 2,432 | .47 | 4,295 | .46 | 1,324 | .90 | 266 | .84 | | | 6 by 10 | 174 | 3 | 21.3 | 4.7 | 3,100 | .60 | 6,167 | .66 | 1,449 | .99 | 173 | .54 | | | 4 by 12 | 174 | 4 | 19.8 | 4.7 | 2,713 | .52 | 5,745 | .61 | 1,249 | .85 | 185 | .58 | | | 8 by 8 | 180 | 9 | 22.9 | 4.9 | 2,903 | .56 | 4,557 | .48 | 1,136 | .77 | 93 | .29 | | | 6 by 7 | 144 | 2 | 21.1 | 5.0 | 2,990 | .58 | 4,968 | .53 | 1,286 | .88 | 116 | .36 | | | 4 by 8 | 132 | 8 | 19.5 | 9.1 | 3,384 | .65 | 6,194 | .66 | 1,200 | .82 | 196 | .62 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 123 | 17.6 | 6.6 | 5,170 | 1.00 | 9,400 | 1.00 | 1,467 | 1.00 | 318 | 1.00 | | tamarack | 6 by 12 | 162 | 5 | 23.0 | 15.1 | 3,434 | .45 | 5,640 | .43 | 1,330 | .82 | 318 | .75 | | | 4 by 10 | 162 | 4 | 14.4 | 9.7 | 4,100 | .54 | 5,320 | .41 | 1,386 | .84 | 252 | .59 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 47 | 11.3 | 16.2 | 7,630 | 1.00 | 13,080 | 1.00 | 1,620 | 1.00 | 425 | 1.00 | | western hemlock | 8 by 16 | 180 | 44 | 17.7 | 17.8 | 4,398 | .69 | 6,420 | .62 | 1,737 | 1.04 | 406 | 1.06 | | | 2 by 2 | 28 | 311 | 17.9 | 19.4 | 6,333 | 1.00 | 10,369 | 1.00 | 1,666 | 1.00 | 382 | 1.00 | | redwood | 8 by 16 | 180 | 6 | 26.3 | 22.4 | 3,797 | .79 | 4,428 | .57 | 1,107 | .96 | 294 | 1.05 | | | 6 by 12 | 180 | 6 | 16.1 | 17.7 | 3,175 | .66 | 3,353 | .43 | 728 | .64 | 167 | .60 | | | 7 by 9 | 180 | 6 | 15.9 | 15.2 | 3,280 | .69 | 4,002 | .51 | 1,104 | .96 | 147 | .53 | | | 3 by 14 | 180 | 6 | 13.1 | 24.4 | | | 5,033 | .64 | | | 291 | 1.04 | | | 2 by 12 | 180 | 5 | 13.8 | 14.4 | 3,928 | .82 | 5,336 | .68 | 1,249 | 1.09 | 260 | .93 | | | 2 by 10 | 180 | 5 | 13.8 | 24.8 | 3,757 | .79 | 4,606 | .59 | 1,198 | 1.05 | 186 | .67 | | | 2 by 8 | 180 | 6 | 13.7 | 20.7 | 4,314 | .90 | 5,050 | .65 | 1,313 | 1.15 | 166 | .60 | | | 2 by 2 | 28 | 122 | 15.2 | 18.8 | 4,777 | 1.00 | 7,798 | 1.00 | 1,146 | 1.00 | 279 | 1.00 | | norway pine | 6 by 12 | 162 | 5 | 16.7 | 8.1 | 2,968 | .56 | 5,204 | .61 | 1,123 | .97 | 286 | 1.02 | | | 4 by 10 | 162 | 5 | 13.7 | 12.0 | 5,170 | .98 | 6,904 | .82 | 1,712 | 1.48 | 317 | 1.13 | | | 2 by 2 | 30 | 60 | 14.9 | 11.2 | 5,280 | 1.00 | 8,470 | 1.00 | 1,158 | 1.00 | 281 | 1.00 | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | _note.--following is an explanation of the abbreviations used in the foregoing tables:_ | | f.s. at e.l. = fiber stress at elastic limit. | | m. of e. = modulus of elasticity. | | m. of r. = modulus of rupture. | | cr. str. at e.l. = crushing strength at elastic limit. | | cr. str. at max. ld. = crushing strength at maximum load. | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xxi table xxi | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | compression and shear tests on air-seasoned material | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | compression | compression | shear | | | parallel to grain | perpendicular to grain | | | |------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------+--------------------------| | | | | | cr. | | cr. | | | | | cr. | | | | | species | | | per | str. | m. of | str. | | | | per | str. | | per | | | | size of | no. | cent | at | e. | at max. | stress | | no. | cent | at max. | no. | cent | shear | | | specimen | of | of | e. l. | per | ld.,. | area | height | of | of | ld., | of | of | strength | | | | tests | mois| per | square | per | | | tests | mois| per | tests | mois| | | | | | ture | square | inch | square | | | | ture | square | | ture | | | | | | | inch | | inch | | | | | inch | | | | |-----------------+----------+-------+-------+--------+--------+---------+--------+--------+-------+ ------+---------+-------+-------+----------| | | | | | | 1,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | inches | | | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | inches | inches | | | lbs. | | | lbs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | longleaf pine | 4 by 5 | 46 | 26.3 | 3,480 | | 4,800 | 4 by 5 | 4 | 22 | 25.1 | 572 | 52 | 20.2 | 984 | | douglas fir | 6 by 6 | 259 | 20.3 | 3,271 | 1,038 | 4,258 | 4 by 8 | 16 | 44 | 20.8 | 732 | 465 | 22.1 | 822 | | | 2 by 2 | 247 | 18.7 | 3,842 | 1,084 | 5,002 | 4 by 8 | 10 | 32 | 18.1 | 584 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 8 | 51 | 20.2 | 638 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 6 | 49 | 24.0 | 613 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 4 | 29 | 24.8 | 603 | | | | | shortleaf pine | 6 by 6 | 29 | 15.7 | 4,070 | 1,951 | 6,030 | 8 by 5 | 16 | 4 | 17.8 | 725 | 85 | | 1,135 | | | 2 by 2 | 57 | 14.2 | | | 6,380 | 8 by 5 | 14 | 3 | 16.3 | 757 | | | | | | | | | | | | 8 by 5 | 12 | 5 | 15.1 | 730 | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 by 5 | 8 | 6 | 13.0 | 918 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 2 | 57 | 13.9 | 926 | | | | | western larch | 6 by 6 | 112 | 16.0 | | | 5,445 | 8 by 6 | 16 | 17 | 18.8 | 491 | 193 | 15.0 | 905 | | | 4 by 4 | 81 | 14.7 | | | 6,161 | 8 by 6 | 12 | 18 | 17.6 | 526 | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 270 | 14.8 | | | 5,934 | 5 by 4 | 8 | 22 | 13.3 | 735 | | | | | loblolly pine | 6 by 6 | 23 | | 3,357 | 1,693 | 5,005 | 8 by 5 | 16 | 12 | 19.8 | 602 | 156 | 11.3 | 1,115 | | | 5 by 5 | 10 | 22.4 | 2,217 | 545 | 2,950 | 8 by 5 | 8 | 7 | 22.9 | 679 | | | | | | 4 by 8 | 8 | 19.4 | 3,010 | 633 | 3,920 | 4 by 5 | 8 | 8 | 19.5 | 715 | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 69 | | | | 5,547 | | | | | | | | | | tamarack | 6 by 7 | 3 | 15.7 | 2,257 | 1,042 | 3,323 | 2 by 2 | 2 | 57 | 16.2 | 697 | 60 | 14.0 | 879 | | | 4 by 7 | 3 | 13.6 | 3,780 | 1,301 | 4,823 | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 57 | 14.9 | 3,386 | 1,353 | 4,346 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 66 | 14.6 | | | 4,790 | | | | | | | | | | western hemlock | 6 by 6 | 102 | 18.6 | 4,840 | 2,140 | 5,814 | 7 by 6 | 15 | 25 | 18.2 | 514 | 131 | 17.7 | 924 | | | 2 by 2 | 463 | 17.0 | 4,560 | 1,923 | 5,403 | 6 by 6 | 6 | 26 | 16.8 | 431 | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 4 | 6 | 15.9 | 488 | | | | | redwood | 6 by 6 | 18 | 16.9 | | | 4,276 | 8 by 6 | 16 | 5 | 25.4 | 548 | 95 | 12.4 | 671 | | | 2 by 2 | 115 | 14.6 | | | 5,119 | 6 by 6 | 12 | 6 | 14.7 | 610 | | | | | | | | | | | | 7 by 6 | 9 | 5 | 14.8 | 500 | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 by 6 | 14 | 2 | 12.6 | 470 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 6 | 12 | 2 | 16.2 | 498 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 6 | 10 | 4 | 14.3 | 511 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 6 | 8 | 2 | 13.2 | 429 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 2 | 145 | 13.8 | 564 | | | | | norway pine | 6 by 7 | 4 | 15.2 | 2,670 | 1,182 | 4,212 | 2 by 2 | 2 | 36 | 10.0 | 924 | 44 | 11.9 | 1,145 | | | 4 by 7 | 2 | 22.2 | 3,275 | 1,724 | 4,575 | | | | | | | | | | | 4 by 4 | 55 | 16.6 | 3,048 | 1,367 | 4,217 | | | | | | | | | | | 2 by 2 | 44 | 11.2 | | | 7,550 | | | | | | | | | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | _note.--following is an explanation of the abbreviations used in the foregoing tables:_ | | f.s. at e.l. = fiber stress at elastic limit. | | m. of e. = modulus of elasticity. | | m. of r. = modulus of rupture. | | cr. str. at e.l. = crushing strength at elastic limit. | | cr. str. at max. ld. = crushing strength at maximum load. | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | table xxii table xxii | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [b]working unit-stresses for structural timber[c] | | expressed in pounds per square inch | | (from manual of the american railway engineering assn., 1911, p. 153) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | note.--the working unit-stresses given in the table are intended for railroad bridges and trestles. for highway bridges and trestles the unit-stresses may be increased | | twenty-five (25) per cent. for buildings and similar structures, in which the timber is protected from the weather and practically free from impact, the unit-stresses may be | | increased fifty (50) per cent. to compute the deflection of a beam under long-continued loading instead of that when the load is first applied, only fifty (50) per cent of the | | corresponding modulus of elasticity given in the table is to be employed. | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | bending | shearing | compression | | | |---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------| ratio | | | extreme | modulus of | parallel to | longitudinal | perpendicular | parallel to | for | formulã¦ for | of | | | fibre | elasticity | the grain | shear in | to the grain | the grain | columns | working stress in | length | | kind of | stress | | | beams | | | under 15 | long columns over | of | | timber |--------------------+------------+--------------------+--------------------+--------------------+--------------------| diameters | 15 diameters | stringer | | | average | working | | average | working | elastic | working | elastic | working | average | working | working | | to | | | ultimate | stress | average | ultimate | stress | limit | stress | limit | stress | ultimate | stress | stress | | depth | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | douglas fir | 6100 | 1200 | 1,510,000 | 690 | 170 | 270 | 110 | 630 | 310 | 3600 | 1200 | 900 | 1200(1-_l_/60_d_) | 10 | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | longleaf pine | 6500 | 1300 | 1,610,000 | 720 | 180 | 300 | 120 | 520 | 260 | 3800 | 1300 | 980 | 1300(1-_l_/60_d_) | 10 | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | shortleaf pine | 5600 | 1100 | 1,480,000 | 710 | 170 | 330 | 130 | 340 | 170 | 3400 | 1100 | 830 | 1100(1-_l_/60_d_) | 10 | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | white pine | 4400 | 900 | 1,130,000 | 400 | 100 | 180 | 70 | 290 | 150 | 3000 | 1000 | 750 | 1000(1-_l_/60_d_) | 10 | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | spruce | 4800 | 1000 | 1,310,000 | 600 | 150 | 170 | 70 | 370 | 180 | 3200 | 1100 | 830 | 1100(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | norway pine | 4200 | 800 | 1,190,000 | 590[d] | 130 | 250 | 100 | | 150 | 2600[d] | 800 | 600 | 800(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | tamarack | 4600 | 900 | 1,220,000 | 670 | 170 | 260 | 100 | | 220 | 3200[d] | 1000 | 750 | 1000(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | western hemlock | 5800 | 1100 | 1,480,000 | 630 | 160 | 270[d] | 100 | 440 | 220 | 3500 | 1200 | 900 | 1200(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | redwood | 5000 | 900 | 800,000 | 300 | 80 | | | 400 | 150 | 3300 | 900 | 680 | 900(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | bald cypress | 4800 | 900 | 1,150,000 | 500 | 120 | | | 340 | 170 | 3900 | 1100 | 830 | 1100(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | red cedar | 4200 | 800 | 800,000 | | | | | 470 | 230 | 2800 | 900 | 680 | 900(1-_l_/60_d_) | | |-----------------+----------+---------+------------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---------+-----------+-------------------+----------| | white oak | 5700 | 1100 | 1,150,000 | 840 | 210 | 270 | 110 | 920 | 450 | 3500 | 1300 | 980 | 1300(1-_l_/60_d_) | 12 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | these unit-stresses are for a green condition of timber and are _l_ = length in inches. | | to be used without increasing the live load stresses for impact. _d_ = least side in inches. | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |[footnote b: adopted, vol. 1909, pp. 537, 564, 609-611.] | |[footnote c: green timber in exposed work.] | |[footnote d: partially air-dry] | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| bibliography part i: some general works on mechanics, materials of construction, and testing of materials. part ii: publications and articles on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing. part iii: publications of the u.s. government on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing. part 1. some general works on mechanics, materials of construction, and testing of materials allan, william: strength of beams under transverse loads. new york, 1893. anderson, sir john: the strength of materials and structures. london, 1902. barlow, peter: strength of materials, 1st ed. 1817; rev. 1867. burr, william h.: the elasticity and resistance of the materials of engineering. new york, 1911. church, irving p.: mechanics of engineering. new york, 1911. hatfield, r.g.: theory of transverse strain. 1877. hatt, w.k., and scofield, h.h.: laboratory manual of testing materials. new york, 1913. jameson, j.m.: exercises in mechanics. (wiley technical series.) new york, 1913. jamieson, andrew: strength of materials. (applied mechanics and mechanical engineering, vol. ii.) london, 1911. johnson, j.b.: the materials of construction. new york, 1910. kent, william: the strength of materials. new york, 1890. kottcamp, j.p.: exercises for the applied mechanics laboratory. (wiley technical series.) new york, 1913. lanza, gaetano: applied mechanics. new york, 1901. merriman, mansfield: mechanics of materials. new york, 1912. murdock, h.e.: strength of materials. new york, 1911. rankine, william j.m.: a manual of applied mechanics. london, 1901. thil, a.: conclusion de l'ã©tude prã©sentã©e ã  la commission des mã©thodes d'essai des matã©riaux de construction. paris, 1900. thurston, robert h.: a treatise on non-metallic materials of engineering: stone, timber, fuel, lubricants, etc. (materials of engineering, part i.) new york, 1899. unwin, william c.: the testing of materials of construction. london, 1899. waterbury, l.a.: laboratory manual for testing materials of construction. new york, 1912. wood, devolson: a treatise on the resistance of materials. new york, 1897. part ii. publications and articles on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing abbot, arthur v.: testing machines, their history, construction and use. van nostrand's eng. mag., vol. xxx, 1884, pp. 204-214; 325-344; 382-397; 477-490. adams, e.e.: tests to determine the strength of bolted timber joints. cal. jour, of technology, sept., 1904. alvarez, arthur c.: the strength of long seasoned douglas fir and redwood. univ. of cal. pub. in eng., vol. i, no. 2, berkeley, 1913, pp. 11-20. barlow, peter: an essay on the strength and stress of timber. london, 1817; 3d ed., 1826. ----: experiments on the strength of different kinds of wood made in the carriage department, royal arsenal, woolwich. jour. franklin inst., vol. x, 1832, pp. 49-52. reprinted from philosophical mag. and annals of philos., no. 63, mch., 1832. bates, onward: pine stringers and floorbeams for bridges. trans. am. soc. c.e., vol. xxiii. bauschinger, johann: untersuchungen ã¼ber die elasticitã¤t und festigkeit von fichtenund kiefernbauhã¶lzern. mitt. a. d. mech.-tech. laboratorium d. k. techn. hochschule in mã¼nchen, 9. hft., mã¼nchen, 1883. ----: verhandlungen der mã¼nchener conferenz und der von ihr gewã¤hlten stã¤ndigen commission zur vereinbarung einheitlicher prã¼fungsmethoden fã¼r bauund constructions-material. _ibid._, 14. hft., 1886. ----: untersuchungen ã¼ber die elasticitã¤t und festigkeit verschiedener nadelhã¶lzer. _ibid._, 16. hft., 1887. beare, t. hudson: timber: its strength and how to test it. engineering, london, dec. 9, 1904. beauverie, j.: le bois. i. paris, 1905, pp. 105-185. ----: les bois industriels. paris, 1910, pp. 55-77. bending tests with wood, executed at the danish state testing laboratory, copenhagen. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1912, xxiii_{2}, pp. 17. see also eng. record, vol. lxvi, 1912, p. 269. berg, walter g.: berg's complete timber test record. chicago, 1899. reprint from am. by. bridges and buildings. boulger, g.s.: wood. london, 1908, pp. 112-121. bouniceau,--: note et expã©riences sur la torsion des bois. [n.p., n.d.] bovey, henry t.: results of experiments at mcgill university, montreal, on the strength of canadian douglas fir, red pine, white pine, and spruce. trans. can. soc. c.e., vol. ix, part i, 1895, pp. 69-236. breuil, m. pierre: contribution to the discussion on the testing of wood. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1906, disc, 1_e_, pp. 2. brown, t.s.: an account of some experiments made by order of col. totten, at fort adams, newport, r.i., to ascertain the relative stiffness and strength of the following kinds of timber, viz.: white pine (_pinus strobus_), spruce (_abies nigra_), and southern pine (_pinus australis_), also called long-leaved pine. jour. franklin inst., vol. vii (n.s.), 1831, pp. 230-238. buchanan, c.p.: some tests of old timber. eng. news, vol. lxiv, no. 23, 1910, p. 67. busgen, m.: zur bestimmung der holzhã¤rten. zeitschrift f. forstund jagdwesen. berlin, 1904, pp. 543-562. chevandier, e., et wertheim, g.: mã©moire sur les propriã©tã©s mã©caniques du bois. paris, 1846. cieslar, a.: studien ã¼ber die qualitã¤t rasch erwachsenen fichtenholzes. centralblatt f. d. ges. forstwesen, wien, 1902, pp. 337-403. cline, mcgarvey: forest service investigations of american woods with special reference to investigations of mechanical properties. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1912, xxiii_{5}, pp. 17. ----: forest service tests to determine the influence of different methods and rates of loading on the strength and stiffness of timber. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. viii, 1908, pp. 535-540. ----: the forest products laboratory: its purpose and work. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. x, 1910, pp. 477-489. ----: specifications and grading rules for douglas fir timber: an analysis of forest service tests on structural timbers. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. xi, 1911, pp. 744-766. comparative strength and resistance of various tie timbers. elec. traction weekly, chicago, june 15, 1912. day, frank m.: microscopic examination of timber with regard to its strength. 1883, pp. 6. dewell, h.d.: tests of some joints used in heavy timber framing. eng. news, mch. 19, 1914, pp. 594-598; _et seq._ dã�rr, karl: die festigkeit von fichtenund kiefernholz. deutsche bauzeitung, berlin, aug. 17, 1910. see also zeitschrift d. ver. deutsch. ing., bd. 54, nr. 36, 1910, p. 1503. dupin, charles: expã©riences sur la flexibilitã©, la force, et l'ã©lasticitã© des bois. jour, de l'ã�cole polytechnique, vol. x, 1815. dupont, adolphe, et bouquet de la grye: les bois indigã¨nes et ã©trangers. paris, 1875, pp. 273-352. estrada, esteban duque: on the strength and other properties of cuban woods. van nostrand's eng. mag., vol. xxix, 1883, pp. 417-426; 443-449. everett, w.h.: memorandum on mechanical tests of some indian timbers. govt. bul. no. 6 (o.s.), calcutta. exner, wilhelm franz: die mechanische technologie des holzes. wien, 1871. (a translation and revision of chevandier and wertheim's mã©moire sur les propriã©tã©s mã©caniques du bois.) ----: die technischen eigenschaften der hã¶lzer. lorey's handbuch der forstwissenschaft, ii. bd., 6. kap., tã¼bingen, 1903. fernow, b.e.: scientific timber testing. digest of physical tests, vol. i, no. 2, 1896, pp. 87-95. fowke, francis: experiments on british colonial and other woods. 1867. gardner, roland: i. mechanical tests, properties, and uses of thirty philippine woods. ii. philippine sawmills, lumber market and prices. bul. 4, bu. for., p.i., 1906. (2d ed., 1907, contains tests of 34 woods.) gayer, karl: forest utilization. (vol. v, schlich's manual of forestry. translation of die forstbenutzung, berlin, 1894.) london, 1908. gollner, h.: ueber die festigkeit des schwarzfã¶hrenholzes. mitt. a. d. forstl. versuchswesen oesterreichs. ii. bd., 3. hft., wien, 1881. gottgetreu, rudolph: physische und chemische beschaffenheit der baumaterialien. 3d ed., berlin, 1880. green, a.o.: tasmanian timbers: their qualities and uses. hobart, tasmania, 1903, pp. 63. gregory, w.b.: tests of creosoted timber. trans. am. soc. c.e., vol. lxxvi, 1913, pp. 1192-1203. see also _ibid._, vol. lxx, p. 37. grisard, jules, et vandenberghe, maximilien: les bois industriels, indigã¨nes et exotiques; synonymie et description des espã¨ces, propriã©tã©s physiques des bois, qualitã©s, dã©fauts, usages et emplois. paris, 189-. from bul. de la sociã©tã© nationale d'acclimatation de france, vols. xxxviii-xl. hardwoods of western australia. engineering, vol. lxxxiii, jan. 11, 1907, pp. 35-37. hatt, william kendrick: a preliminary program for the timber test work to be undertaken by the bureau of forestry, united states department of agriculture. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. iii, 1903, pp. 308-343. appendix i: method of determining the effect of the rate of application of load on the strength of timber, pp. 325-327; app. ii: a discussion on the effect of moisture on strength and stiffness of timber, together with a plan of procedure for future tests, pp. 328-334. hatt, william kendrick: relation of timber tests to forest products. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1906, c 2 _e_, pp. 6. ----: structural timber. proc. western ry. club, st. louis, mch. 17, 1908. ----: abstract of report on the present status of timber tests in the forest service, united states department of agriculture. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1909, xvl, pp. 10. ---and turner, w.p.: the purdue university impact machine. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. vi, 1906, pp. 462-475. haupt, herman: formulã¦ for the strain upon timber. center of gravity of an ungula and semi-cylinder. jour. franklin inst., vol. xix, 3d series, 1850, pp. 408-413. hearding, w.h.: report upon experiments ... upon the compressive power of pine and hemlock timber. washington, 1872, pp. 12. howe, malverd a.: wood in compression; bearing values for inclined cuts. eng. news, vol. lxviii, 1912, pp. 190-191. hoyer, egbert: lehrbuch der vergleichenden mechanischen technologie. 1878. ihlseng, mangus c.: on the modulus of elasticity of some american woods as determined by vibration. van nostrand's eng. mag., vol. xix, 1878, pp. 8-9. ----: on a mode of measuring the velocity of sounds in woods. am. jour. sci. and arts, vol. xvii, 1879. jaccard, p.: ã�tude anatomique des bois comprimã©s. mitt. d. schw. centralanstalt f. d. forst. versuchswesen. x. bd., 1. hft., zurich, 1910, pp. 53-101. janka, gabriel: untersuchungen ã¼ber die elasticitã¤t und festigkeit der ã¶sterreichischen bauhã¶lzer. i. fichte sã¼dtirols; ii. fichte von nordtirol vom wienerwalde und erzgebirge; iii. fichte aus den karpaten, aus dem bã¶hmerwalde, ternovanerwalde und den zentralalpen. technische qualitã¤t des fichtenholzes im allgemeinen; iv. lã¤rche aus dem wienerwalde, aus schlesien, nordund sã¼dtirol. mitt. a. d. forst. untersuchungswesen oesterreichs, wien, 1900-13. ----: untersuchungen ã¼ber holzqualitã¤t. centralblatt f. d. ges. forstwesen. wien, 1904, pp. 95-115. ----: ueber neuere holztechnologische untersuchungen. oesterr. vierteljahresschrift fã¼r forstwesen, wien, 1906, pp. 248-269. ----: die hã¤rte des holzes. centralblatt f. d. ges. forstwesen, wien, 1906, pp. 193-202; 241-260. janka, gabriel: die einwirkung von sã¼ssund salzwã¤ssern auf die gewerblichen eigenschaften der hauptholzarten. i. teil. untersuchungen u. ergebnisse in mechanisch-technischer hinsicht. mitt. a. d. forst. versuchswesen oesterreichs, 33. hft., wien, 1907. ----: results of trials with timber carried out at the austrian forestry testing-station at mariabrunn. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1906, disc. 2 _e_, pp. 7. ----: ueber die an der k. k. forstlichen versuchsanstalt mariabrunnen gewonnenen resultate der holzfestigkeitsprã¼fungen. zeitschrift d. oesterr. ing. u. arch. ver., wien, aug. 9, 1907. ----: ueber holzhã¤rteprufã¼ng. centralblatt f. d. ges. forstwesen, wien, 1908, pp. 443-456. ----: testing the hardness of wood by means of the ball test. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1912, xxiii_{3}. jenny, k.: untersuchungen ã¼ber die festigkeit der hã¶lzer aus den lã¤ndern der ungarischen krone. budapest, 1873. johnson, j.b.: time tests of timber in endwise compression. paper before section d, am. assn. for adv. of sci., aug., 1898. johnson, walter b.: experiments on the adhesion of iron spikes of various forms when driven into different species of timbers. jour. franklin inst., vol. xix (n.s.), 1837, pp. 281-292. julius, g.a.: western australia timber tests, 1906. the physical characteristics of the hardwoods of western australia. perth, 1906, pp. 36. ----: supplement to the western australia timber tests, 1906. the hardwoods of australia. perth, 1907, pp. 6. karmarsh, carl: handbuch der mechanischen technologie. i. aufl., 1837; v. aufl., 1875; verm. von h. fisher, 1888. kidder, f.e.: experiments on the transverse strength of southern and white pine. van nostrand's eng. mag., vol. xxii, 1880, pp. 166-168. ----: experiments on the strength and stiffness of small spruce beams. _ibid._, vol. xxiv, 1881, pp. 473-477. ----: experiments on the fatigue of small spruce beams. jour. franklin inst., vol. cxiv, 1882, pp. 261-279. kidwell, edgar: the efficiency of built-up wooden beams. trans. am. inst. min. eng., feb., june, 1898. kirkaldy, wm. g.: illustrations of david kirkaldy's system of mechanical testing. london, 1891. kummer, frederick a.: the effects of preservative treatment on the strength of timber. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. iv, 1904, pp. 434-438. labordã�re, p., and anstett, f.: contribution to the study of means for improving the strength of wood for pavements. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1912, xxiii_{4}, pp. 12. lanza, gaetano: an account of certain tests on the transverse strength and stiffness of large spruce beams. trans. am. soc. mech. eng., vol. iv, 1882, pp. 119-135. see also jour. franklin inst., vol. xcv, 1883, pp. 81-94. laslett, t.: properties and characteristics of timber. chatham, 1867. ----: timber and timber trees, native and foreign. (2d ed. revised and enlarged by h. marshall ward.) london and new york, 1894. lea, w.: tables of strength and deflection of timber. london, 1861. ledebur, a.: die verarbeitung des holzes auf mechanischem wege. 1881. lorenz, n. von: analytische untersuchung des begriffes der holzhã¤rte. centralblatt f. d. ges. forstwesen, wien, 1909, pp. 348-387. ludwig, paul: die regelprobe. ein neues verfahren zur hã¤rtebestimmung von materialien. berlin. 1908. macfarland, h.b.: tests of longleaf pine bridge timbers. bul. 149, am. ry. eng. assn., sept., 1912. see also eng. news, dec. 12, 1912, p. 1035. mckay, donald: on the weight and strength of american ship-timber. jour. franklin inst., vol. xxxix (3d series), 1860, p. 322. malette, j.: essais des bois de construction. revue technique, apr. 25, 1905. mann, james: australian timber: its strength, durability, and identification. melbourne, 1900. martin, clarence a.: tests on the relation between cross-bending and direct compressive strength in timber. railroad gazette, mch. 13, 1903. methods of testing metals and alloys ... recommended by the fourth congress of the international association for testing materials, held at brussels, sept. 3-6, 1906. london, 1907, pp. 54. methods of testing wood, pp. 39-49. mikolaschek, carl: untersuchungen ã¼ber die elasticitã¤t und festigkeit der wichtigsten bauund nutzhã¶lzer. mitt. a. d. forstl. versuchswesen oesterreiches, ii. bd., 1. hft., wien, 1879. moeller, joseph: die rohstoffe des tischlerund drechslergewerbes. i. theil: das holz. kassel, 1883, pp. 68-122. molesworth, g.l.: graphic diagrams of strength of teak beams. roorke, 1881. morgan, j.j.: bending strength of yellow pine timber. eng. record, vol. lxvii, 1913, pp. 608-609. moroto, k.: untersuchungen ã¼ber die biegungselasticitã¤t und -festigkeit der japanischen bauhã¶lzer. centralblatt f. d. ges. forstwesen, wien, 1908, pp. 346-355. nordlinger, h.: die technischen eigenschaften der hã¶lzer fã¼r forstund baubeamte, technologen und gewerbetreibende. stuttgart, 1860. ----: druckfestigkeit des holzes. 1882. ----: die gewerblichen eigenschaften der hã¶lzer. stuttgart, 1890. north, a.t.: the grading of timber on the strength basis. address before western society of engineers. lumber world review, may 25, 1914, pp. 27-29. norton, w.a.: results of experiments on the set of bars of wood, iron, and steel, after a transverse stress. van nostrand's eng. mag., vol. xvii, 1877, pp. 531-535. paccinotti e peri: [investigations into the elasticity of timbers.] il cimento, vol. lviii, 1845. palacio, e.: tensile tests of timber. la ingenieria, buenos aires, may 31, 1903, _et seq._ parent,--: expã©riences sur la rã©sistance des bois de chãªne et de sapin. mã©moires de l'acadã©mie des sciences, 1707-08. propositions relatives ã  l'ã©tablissement d'un precã©dã© uniforme pour l'essai des qualitã©s techniques des bois. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1901, annexe, pp. 13-28. rogers, charles g.: a manual of forest engineering for india. vol. i, calcutta, 1900, pp. 50-91. rudeloff, m.: der heutige stand der holzuntersuchungen. mitt. a. d. kã¶niglichen tech. versuchsanstalt, berlin, iv, 1899. ----: principles of a standard method of testing wood. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1906, 23 c, pp. 16. ----: large _vs._ small test-pieces in testing wood. proc. int. soc. test. mat., 1912, xxiii_{1}, pp. 7. sargent, charles sprague: woods of the united states, with an account of their structure, qualities, and uses. new york, 1885. schneider, a.: zusammengesetzte trã¤ger. zeitschrift d. oesterr. ing. u. arch. ver., nov. 24; dec. 9, 1899. schwappach, a.f.: beitrã¤ge zur kenntniss der qualitã¤t des rotbuchenholzes. zeitschrift f. forstund jagdwesen, berlin, 1894, pp. 513-539. ----: untersuchungen ã¼ber raumgewicht und druckfestigkeit des holzes wichtiger waldbã¤ume. berlin, 1897-98. ----: etablissement de mã©thodes uniformes pour l'essai ã¡ la compression des bois. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1901, rapport 23, pp. 28. sebert, h.: notice sur les bois de la nouvelle calã©donie suivie de considerations gã©nerates sur les propriã©tã©s mã©caniques des bois et sur les precã©dã©s employã©s pour les mesurer. paris. sherman, edward c.: crushing tests on water-soaked timbers. eng. news, vol. lxii, 1909, p. 22. snow, charles h.: the principal species of wood: their characteristic properties. new york, 1908. stauffer, ottmar: untersuchungen ã¼ber specifisches trockengewicht, sowie anatomisches verhalten des holzes der birke. mã¼nchen, 1892. stens, d.: ueber die eigenschaftenimprã¤gnierter grubenholzer, insbesondere ã¼ber ihre festigkeit. glã¼ckauf, essen, mch. 6, 1907. strength of wood for pavements. can. eng., toronto, sept. 12, 1912. stã�bschen-kischner: karmarsch-heerins technisches wrã¶terbuch. 3. aufl., 1886. talbot, arthur n.: tests of timber beams. bul. 41, eng. exp. sta., univ. of ill., urbana, 1910. tests of wooden beams made at the massachusetts institute of technology on spruce, white pine, yellow pine, and oak beams of commercial sizes. technology quarterly, boston, vol. vii, 1894. tetmajer, l. v.: zur frage der knickungsfestigkeit der bauhã¶lzer. schweizerische bauzeitung, bd. 11, nr. 17. ----: methoden und resultate der prã¼fung der schweizerischen bauhã¶lzer. mitt. d. anstalt z. prã¼fung v. baumaterialien am eidgenã¶ssischen polytechnicum in zã¼rich. 2. hft., 1884. ----: methoden und resultate der prã¼fung der schweizerischen bauhã¶lzer. mitt. d. materialprã¼fungs-anstalt am schweiz. polytechnikum in zã¼rich. landesaustellungs-ausgabe, 2. hft., zã¼rich, 1896. thelen, rolf: the structural timbers of the pacific coast. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. viii, 1908, pp. 558-567. thurston, r.h.: torsional resistance of materials determined by a new apparatus with automatic registry. jour. franklin inst., vol. lxv, 1873, pp. 254-260. ----: on the strength of american timber. _ibid._, vol. lxxviii, 1879, pp. 217-235. ----: experiments on the strength of yellow pine. _ibid._, vol. lxxix, 1880, pp. 157-163. ----: influence of time on bending strength and elasticity. proc. am. assn. for adv. sci., 1881. also proc. inst. c.e., vol. lxxi. ----: on the effect of prolonged stress upon the strength and elasticity of pine timber. jour. franklin inst., vol. lxxx, 1881, pp. 161-169. thurston, r.h.: on flint's investigations of nicaraguan woods. _ibid._, vol. xciv, 1887, pp. 289-315. tiemann, harry donald: the effect of moisture and other extrinsic factors upon the strength of wood. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. vii, 1907, pp. 582-594. ----: the effect of the speed of testing upon the strength of wood and the standardization of tests for speed. _ibid._, vol. viii, 1908, pp. 541-557. ----: the theory of impact and its application to testing materials. jour. franklin inst., vol. clxviii, 1909, pp. 235-259; 336-364. ----: some results of dead load bending tests of timber by means of a recording deflectometer. proc. am. soc. test. mat., vol. ix, 1909, pp. 534-548. tjaden, m.e.h.: het indrukken van paalkoppen in kespen. de ingenieur, sept. 11, 1909. ----: weerstand van hout loodrecht op de vezelrichting. _ibid._, may, 1911. ----: buigvastheid van hout. _ibid._, may 31, 1913. trautwine, john c.: shearing strength of some american woods. jour. franklin inst., vol. cix, 1880, pp. 105-106. tredgold, thomas: elementary principles of carpentry. london, 1870. turnbull, w.: a practical treatise on the strength and stiffness of timber. london, 1833. untersuchungen ã¼ber den einfluss des blauwerdens auf die festigkeit von kiefernholz. mitt. a. d. kã¶nig. techn. versuchsanstalten, i, 1897. verfahren zur prã¼fung v. metallen und legierungen, von hydraulischen bindemitteln, von holz, von ton-, steinzeugund zementrã¶hren. empfohlen v. dem in brã¼ssel v. 3-6, ix, 1906, abgeh. iv. kongress des internationalen verbandes f. die materialprã¼fungen der technik. wien, 1907. warren, w.h.: australian timbers. sydney, 1892. ----: the strength, elasticity, and other properties of new south wales hardwood timbers. sydney, 1911. ----: the strength, elasticity, and other properties of new south wales hardwood timbers. proc. int. assn. test. mat., 1912, xxiii_{6}, pp. 9. ----: the properties of new south wales hardwood timbers. builder, london, nov. 1, 1912. ----: the hardwood timbers of new south wales, australia. jour. soc. of arts, london, dec. 6, 1912. wellington, a.m.: experiments on impregnated timber. railroad gazette, 1880. wijkander, ----: untersuchung der festigkeitseigenschaften schwedischer holzarten in der materialprã¼fungsanstalt des chalmers'schen institutes ausgefã¼hrt. 1897. wing, charles b.: transverse strength of the douglas fir. eng. news, vol. xxxiii, mch. 14, 1895. part iii. publications of the u.s. government on the mechanical properties of wood, and timber testing miscellaneous house misc. doc. 42, pt. 9, 47th cong., 2d sess., 1884. (vol. ix, tenth census report.) report on the forests of north america (exclusive of mexico). part ii, the woods of the united states. house report no. 1442, 53d cong., 2d sess. investigations and tests of american timber. 1894, pp. 4. war dept. doc. 1. resolutions of the conventions held at munich, dresden, berlin, and vienna, for the purpose of adopting uniform methods for testing construction materials with regard to their mechanical properties. by j. bauschinger. translated by o.m. carter and e.a. gieseler. 1896, pp. 44. war dept. doc. 11. on tests of construction materials. translations from the french and from the german. by o.m. carter and e.a. gieseler. 1896, pp. 84. house doc. no. 181, 55th cong., 3d sess. report upon the forestry investigations of the u.s. department of agriculture, 1877-1898. by b.e. fernow, 1899, pp. 401. contains chapter on the work in timber physics in the division of forestry, by filibert roth, pp. 330-395. forest service cir. 7--the government timber tests [189-], pp. 4. cir. 8--strength of "boxed" or "turpentine" timber. 1892, pp. 4. bul. 6--timber physics. pt. i. preliminary report. 1. need of the investigation. 2. scope and historical development of the science of "timber physics." 3. organization and methods of timber examinations in the division of forestry. by b.e. fernow, 1892, pp. 57. unnumbered cir.--instructions for the collection of test pieces of pines for timber investigations [1893], pp. 4. cir. 9--effect of turpentine gathering on the timber of longleaf pine. by b.e. fernow [1893], p. 1. bul. 8--timber physics. pt. ii. progress report. results of investigations on longleaf pine. 1893, pp. 92. bul. 10--timber: an elementary discussion of the characteristics and properties of wood. by filibert roth. 1895, pp. 88. bul. 12--economical designing of timber trestle bridges. by a.l. johnson, 1896, pp. 57. cir. 12--southern pine, mechanical and physical properties. 1896, pp. 12. cir. 15--summary of mechanical tests on thirty-two species of american woods. 1897, pp. 12. cir. 18--progress in timber physics. 1898, pp. 20. cir. 19--progress in timber physics: bald cypress (_taxodium distichum_). by filibert roth, 1898, pp. 24. y.b. extr. 288--tests on the physical properties of woods. by f.e. olmstead, 1902, pp. 533-538. unnumbered cir.--timber tests. [1903], pp. 15. unnumbered cir.--timber preservation and timber testing at the louisiana purchase exposition. 1904, pp. 6. cir. 32--progress report on the strength of structural timber. by w.k. hatt, 1904, pp. 28. bul. 58--the red gum. by alfred chittenden. includes a discussion of the mechanical properties of red gum wood, by w.k. hatt. 1905, pp. 56. cir. 38--instructions to engineers of timber tests. by w.k. hatt, 1906, pp. 55. revised edition, 1909, pp. 56. cir. 39--experiments on the strength of treated timber. by w.k. hatt, 1906, pp. 31. revised edition, 1908. bul. 70--effect of moisture upon the strength and stiffness of wood. by h.d. tiemann, 1906, pp. 144. cir. 46--holding force of railroad spikes in wooden ties. by w.k. hatt, 1906, pp. 7. cir. 47--strength of packing boxes of various woods. by w.k. hatt, 1906, pp. 7. cir. 108--the strength of wood as influenced by moisture. by h.d. tiemann, 1907, pp. 42. cir. 115--second progress report on the strength of structural timber. by w.k. hatt, 1907, pp. 39. cir. 142--tests of vehicle and implement woods. by h.b. holroyd and h.s. betts, 1908, pp. 29. cir. 146--experiments with railway cross-ties. by h.b. eastman, 1908, pp. 32. cir. 179--utilization of california eucalypts. by h.s. betts and c. stowell smith, 1910, pp. 30. bul. 75--california tanbark oak. part ii, utilization of the wood of tanbark oak, by h.s. betts, 1911, pp. 24-32. bul. 88--properties and uses of douglas fir. by mcgarvey cline and j.b. knapp, 1911, pp. 75. cir. 189--strength values for structural timbers. by mcgarvey cline, 1912, pp. 8. cir. 193--mechanical properties of redwood. by a.l. heim, 1912, pp. 32. bul. 108--tests of structural timbers. by mcgarvey cline and a.l. heim, 1912, pp. 1231. bul. 112--fire-killed douglas fir: a study of its rate of deterioration, usability, and strength. by j.b. knapp, 1912, pp. 18. bul. 115--mechanical properties of western hemlock. by o.p.m. goss, 1913, pp. 45. bul. 122--mechanical properties of western larch. by o.p.m. goss, 1913, pp. 45. cir. 213--mechanical properties of woods grown in the united states. 1913, pp. 4. cir. 214--tests of packing boxes of various forms. by john a. newlin, 1913, pp. 23. review forest service investigations. 1913. [outline of investigations.] vol. i, pp. 17-21. a microscopic study of the mechanical failure of wood, by warren d. brush. vol. ii, pp. 33-38. bul. 67, u.s.d.a.--tests of rocky mountain woods for telephone poles. by norman dew. betts and a.l. heim, 1914, pp. 28. bul. 77, u.s.d.a.--rocky mountain mine timbers. by norman dew. betts, 1914, pp. 34. bul. 86, u.s.d.a.--tests of wooden barrels. by j.a. newlin, 1914, pp. 12. reports of tests on the strength of structural material, made at the watertown arsenal, mass. house ex. doc. no. 12, 47th cong., 1st sess., 1882. strength of wood grown on the pacific slope, pp. 19-93. senate ex. doc. no. 1, 47th cong., 2d sess., 1883. resistance of white and yellow pines to forces of compression in the direction of the fibers, as used for columns, or posts, pp. 239-395. senate ex. doc. no. 5, 48th cong., 1st sess., 1884. tests of california laurel wood by compression, indentation, shearing, transverse tension, pp. 223-236. tests of north american woods (under supervision of prof. c.s. sargent in charge of the forestry division of the tenth census), with 16 photographs of fractures of american woods, pp. 237-347. senate ex. doc. no. 35, 49th cong., 1st sess., 1885. adhesion of nails, spikes, and screws in various woods. experiments on the resistance of cut nails, wire nails (steel), wood screws, lag screws in white pine, yellow pine, chestnut, white oak, and laurel, pp. 448-471. house ex. doc. no. 14, 51st cong., 1st sess., 1890. adhesion of spikes and bolts in railroad ties, pp. 595-617. house ex. doc. no. 161, 52d cong., 1st sess., 1892. adhesion of nails in wood, pp. 744-745. house ex. doc. no. 92, 53d cong., 3d sess., 1895. woods--compression tests (endwise compression), pp. 471-476. house doc. no. 54, 54th cong., 1st sess., 1896. compression tests on douglas fir wood, pp. 536-563. expansion and contraction of oak and pine wood, pp. 567-574. house doc. no. 164, 55th cong., 2d sess., 1898. compression tests of timber posts, pp. 405-411. new posts of yellow pine and spruce, pp. 413-450; old yellow pine posts from boston fire brick co. building, no. 394 federal st., boston, mass., pp. 451-473. house doc. no. 143, 55th cong., 3d sess., 1899. fire-proofed wood (endwise and transverse tests), pp. 676-681. house doc. no. 190, 56th cong., 2d sess., 1901. cypress wood for united states engineer corps; compression and transverse tests, pp. 1121-1126. old white pine and red oak from roof trusses of old south church, boston, mass., pp. 1127-1130. compression of rubber, balata, and wood buffers, pp. 1149-1158. house doc. no. 335, 57th cong., 2d sess., 1903. douglas fir and white oak woods. transverse and shearing tests; also observations on heat conductivity of sticks over wood fires and a stick exposed to low temperature. expansion crosswise the grain of wood after submersion, pp. 519-561. adhesion of lag screws and bolts in wood, pp. 563-578. [transcribers' notes: some tables don't sum to the numbers indicated; no corrections have been made. all numbers are from the original. minor inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained. subscripts are represented by underscore and curly braces e.g., co_{2}. italics are represented by underscores before and after e.g., _italics_. bold is represented by equal signs before and after e.g., =bold=. small caps have been replaced with all caps.] american society of civil engineers instituted 1852 transactions paper no. 1155 the new york tunnel extension of the pennsylvania railroad. the north river tunnels.[a] by b. h. m. hewett and w. l. brown, members, am. soc. c. e. [a] presented at the meeting of june 1st, 1910. introduction. the section of the pennsylvania railroad tunnel work described in this paper is that lying between tenth avenue, new york city, and the large shaft built by the company at weehawken, n. j., and thus comprises the crossing of the north or hudson river, the barrier which has stood for such a long time between the railroads and their possession of terminal stations in new york city. the general plan and section, plate xxviii, shows the work included. this paper is written from the point of view of those engaged by the chief engineer of the railroad company to look after the work of construction in the field. the history of the undertaking is not included, the various phases through which many of the designs and plans passed are not followed, nor are the considerations regarding foundations under the subaqueous portions of the tunnels and the various tests made in connection with this subject set out, as all these matters will be found in other papers on these tunnels. this paper only aims to describe, as briefly as possible, the actual designs which were finally adopted, the actual conditions met on the ground, and the methods of construction adopted by the contractors. for easy reference, and to keep the descriptions of work of a similar character together, the subject will be treated under the four main headings, viz.: shafts, plant, land tunnels, and river tunnels. shafts. it is not intended to give much length to the description of the shafts or the land tunnels, as more interest will probably center in the river tunnels. the shafts did not form part of the regular tunnel contract, but were built under contract by the united engineering and contracting company while the contract plans for the tunnel were being prepared. in this way, when the tunnel contracts were let, the contractor found the shafts ready, and he could get at his work at once. two shafts were provided, one on the new york side and one on the new jersey side. their exact situation is shown on plate xxviii. they were placed as near as possible to the point at which the disappearance of the rock from the tunnels made it necessary to start the shield-driven portion of the work. the details of the shafts will now be described briefly. _the manhattan shaft._--the manhattan shaft is located about 100 ft. north of the tunnel center; there was nothing noticeable about its construction. general figures relating to both shafts are given in table 1. _the weehawken shaft._--the weehawken shaft is shown in fig. 1. this, as will be seen from table 1, was a comparatively large piece of work. the shaft is over the tunnels, and includes both of them. in the original design the wall of the shaft was intended to follow in plan the property line shown in fig. 2, and merely to extend down to the surface of the rock, which, as disclosed by the preliminary borings, was here about 15 ft. below the surface. however, as the excavation proceeded, it was found that this plan would not do, as the depth to the rock surface varied greatly, and was often much lower than expected; the rock itself, moreover, was very treacherous, the cause being that the line of junction between the triassic sandstone, which is here the country rock, and the intrusive trap of the bergen hill ridge, occurs about one-third of the length of the shaft from its western end, causing more or less disintegration of both kinds of rock. therefore it was decided to line the shaft with concrete throughout its entire depth, the shape being changed to a rectangular plan, as shown in the drawings. at the same time that the shaft was excavated, a length of 40 ft. of tunnels at each end of it was taken out, also on account of the treacherous nature of the ground, thus avoiding risk of injury to the shaft when the tunnel contractors commenced work. there was much trouble with floods during the fall of 1903, and numerous heavy falls of ground occurred, in spite of extreme care and much heavy timbering. the greatest care was also taken in placing the concrete lining, and the framing to support the forms was carefully designed and of heavy construction; the forms were of first-class workmanship, and great care was taken to keep them true to line. a smooth surface was given to the concrete by placing a 3-in. layer of mortar at the front of the walls and tamping this dry facing mixture well down with the rest of the concrete. the east and west walls act as retaining walls, while those on the north and south are facing walls, and are tied to the rock with steel rods embedded and grouted into the rock and into the concrete. ample drainage for water at the back of the wall was provided by upright, open-joint, vitrified drains at frequent intervals, with dry-laid stone drains leading to them from all wet spots in the ground. a general view of the finished work is shown in fig. 1, plate xxix, and table 1 gives the most important dates and figures relating to this shaft. table 1.--particulars of shafts on the north river tunnels of the pennsylvania railroad tunnels into new york city. +===========+=====+======+======+==========+========+===========+========+ |location. |depth| width|length|excavation|concrete| date| date| | | in| in| in|(including|in cubic|commenced.|finished.| | |feet.| feet.| feet.| drifts),| yards.| | | | | | | | in cubic| | | | | | | | | yards. | | | | +-----------+-----+------+------+----------+--------+----------+---------+ |manhattan: | 55| 22| 32| 2,010| 209|june 10th,| december| |11th avenue| | | | | | 1903.| 11th,| |and 32d | | | | | | | 1903.| |street. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |weehawken: | 76| at| at| 55,315| 9,810|june 11th,|september| |baldwin | |bottom|bottom| | | 1903.|1st, | |avenue. | |56, at|115.75| | | |1904. | | | | top|at top| | | | | | | | 100.| 154.| | | | | |===========+=====+======+======+==========+========+==========+=========+ +==========+====================+=============+============+===========+ |location. |ground met: |lined with: | cost to | cost per | | | | | railroad |cubic foot.| | | | | company. | | +----------+--------------------+-------------+------------+-----------+ |manhattan:|top 13 ft. filled; |concrete | $12,943.75 | $0.335 | |11th |red mica schist and |reinforced | | | |avenue and|granite. |with steel | | | |32d | |beams down to| | | |street. | |rock. | | | | | | | | | |weehawken:|top 6 ft. filled, 30|concrete with| 166,162,98 | 0.337 | |baldwin |ft. sand and |steel | | | |avenue. |hardpan, decomposed |tie-rods in | | | | |rock (trap and |rock. | | | | |sandstone) below. | | | | +==========+====================+=============+============+===========+ [illustration: final design of weehawken shaft plan longitudinal section transverse section fig. 1.] after the tunnel work was finished, both shafts were provided with stairs leading to the surface, a protective head-house was placed over the new york shaft, and a reinforced concrete fence, 8 ft. high, was built around the weehawken shaft on the company's property line, that is, following the outline of the shaft as originally designed. plant. working sites. before beginning a description of the tunnel work, it may be well to set out in some detail the arrangements made on the surface for conducting the work underground. all the work was carried on from two shafts, one at eleventh avenue and 32d street, new york city--called the manhattan shaft--and one at baldwin avenue, weehawken, n. j.--called the weehawken shaft. [illustration: weehawken shaft. excavation fig. 2.] the characteristics of the two sites were radically different, and called for different methods of handling the transportation problem. the shaft site at manhattan is shown on plate xxx. it will be seen that there was not much room, in fact, the site was too cramped for comfort; the total area, including the space occupied by the old foundry, used for power-houses, offices, etc., was about 3,250 sq. yd. this made it necessary to have two stages, one on the ground level for handling materials into the yard, and an overhead gantry on which the excavated materials were handled off the premises. the yard at weehawken was much larger; it is also shown on plate xxx. its area was about 15,400 sq. yd. in the yard proper, and there was an additional space of about 750 sq. yd. alongside the wharf at the "north slip," on the river front, connected with the main portion of the yard by an overhead trestle. all the cars at manhattan were moved by hand, but at weehawken two electric locomotives with overhead transmission were used. power-house plant. at the manhattan shaft the power-house plant was installed on the ground floor of the old foundry building which occupied the north side of the leased area. this was a brick building, quite old, and in rather a tumble-down condition when the company took possession, and in consequence it required quite a good deal of repair and strengthening work. the first floor of the building was used by the contractor as offices, men's quarters, doctor's offices, and so on, and on the next one above, which was the top floor, were the offices occupied by the railroad company's field engineering staff. on the weehawken side, the plant was housed in a wooden-frame, single-story structure, covered with corrugated iron. it was rectangular in plan, measuring 80 by 130 ft. at both sides of the river the engines were bedded on solid concrete on a rock foundation. the installation of the plant on the manhattan side occupied from may, 1904, to april, 1905, and on the weehawken side from september, 1904, to april, 1905. air pressure was on the tunnels at the new york side on june 25th, 1905, and on the weehawken side on the 29th of the same month. [illustration: plate xxix. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 1. fig. 2.] the plants contained in the two power-houses were almost identical, there being only slight differences in the details of arrangement due to local conditions. a list of the main items of the plant at one power-house is shown in table 2. table 2.--plant at one power-house. +======+======================================================+========+ |no. of| | | |items.|description of item. | cost.| |------+------------------------------------------------------+--------| |three |500-h.p. water-tube sterling boilers | $15,186| |two |feed pumps, george f. blake manufacturing company | 740| |one |henry r. worthington surface condenser | 6,539| |two |electrically-driven circulating pumps on river front | 5,961| |three |low-pressure compressors, ingersoll-sergeant drill | 33,780| | |company | | |one |high-pressure compressor, ingersoll-sergeant drill | 6,665| | |company | | |three |hydraulic power pumps, george f. blake manufacturing | 3,075| | |company | | |two |general electric company's generators coupled to ball | 7,626| | |and wood engines | | |------+------------------------------------------------------+--------| | |total cost of main items of plant | $79,572| |------+------------------------------------------------------+--------| | summary of cost of one plant. |-------------------------------------------------------------+--------+ |total cost of main items of plant | $79,572| | | | |cost of four shields (including installation, demolition, | 103,560| |large additions and renewals, piping, pumps, etc.) | | | | | |cost of piping, connections, drills, derricks, installation | 101,818| |of offices and all miscellaneous plant | | | | | |cost of installation, including preparation of site | 39,534| |-------------------------------------------------------------+--------| |total prime cost of one power-house plant |$324,484| |=============================================================+========| the following is a short description of each item of plant in table 2: _boilers._--at each shaft there were three 500-h.p., water-tube boilers, class f (made by sterling and company, chicago, ill.). they had independent steel stacks, 54 in. in diameter and 100 ft. above grate level; each had 5,000 sq. ft. of heating surface and 116 sq. ft. of grate area. the firing was by hand, and there were shaking grates and four doors to each furnace. under normal conditions of work, two boilers at each plant were able to supply all the steam required. the average working pressure of the steam was 135 lb. per sq. in. the steam piping system was on the loop or by-pass plan. the diameter of the pipes varied from 14 in. in the main header to 10 in. in the body of the loop. the diameter of the exhaust steam main increased from 8 in. at the remote machines to 20 in., and then to 30 in., at the steam separator, which in turn was connected with the condensers. a pipe with an automatic relief valve from the exhaust to the atmosphere was used when the condensers were shut down. all piping was of the standard, flanged extra-heavy type, with bronze-seated gate-valves on the principal lines, and globe-valves on some of the auxiliary ones. there was an 8-in. water leg on the main header fitted with a mason-kelly trap, and other smaller water traps were set at suitable intervals. each boiler was fitted with safety valves, and there were automatic release valves on the high-and low-pressure cylinders of each compressor, as well as on each air receiver. buckwheat coal was used, and was delivered to the bins on the manhattan side by teams and on the weehawken side by railroad cars or in barges, whence it was taken to the power-house by 2-ft. gauge cars. an average of 20 tons of coal in each 24 hours was used by each plant. the water was taken directly from the public service supply main. the daily quantity used was approximately 4,000 gal. for boiler purposes and 4,400 gal. for general plant use. wooden overhead tanks having a capacity of 14,000 gal. at each plant served as a 12-hour emergency supply. _feed pumps._--there were two feed pumps at each plant. they had a capacity of 700 cu. ft. per min., free discharge. the plungers were double, of 6-in. diameter, and 10-in. stroke, the steam cylinders were of 10-in. diameter and 10-in. stroke. an injector of the "metropolitan double-tube" type, with a capacity of 700 cu. ft. per min., was fitted to each boiler for use in emergencies. the feed-water heater was a "no. 9 cochrane," guaranteed to heat 45,000 lb. of water per hour, and had a total capacity of 85.7 cu. ft. it was heated by the exhaust steam from the non-condensing auxiliary plant. _condenser plant._--there were two surface condensers at each plant. each had a cooling surface sufficient to condense 22,500 lb. of steam per hour, with water at a temperature of 70â° fahr. and barometer at 30 in., maintaining a vacuum of 26 in. in the condenser. each was fitted with a blake, horizontal, direct-acting, vacuum pump. _circulating-water pumps._--two circulating-water pumps, supplying salt water directly from the hudson river, were placed on the wharf. they were 8-in. centrifugal pumps, each driven by a 36-h.p., general electric company's direct-current motor (220 volts and 610 rev. per min.), the current being supplied from the contractor's power-house generators. the pumps were run alternately 24 hours each at a time. those on the manhattan side were 1,300 ft. from the power-house, and delivered their water through a 16-in. pipe; those on the weehawken side were 450 ft. away, and delivered through a 14-in. pipe. there was also a direct connection with the city mains, in case of an accident to the salt-water pumps. _low-pressure compressors._--at each plant there were three low-pressure compressors. these were for the supply of compressed air to the working chambers of the subaqueous shield-driven tunnels. they were also used on occasions to supply compressed air to the cylinders of the high-pressure compressors, thus largely increasing the capacity of the latter when hard pressed by an unusual call on account of heavy drilling work in the rock tunnels. they were of a new design, of duplex corliss type, having cross-compound steam cylinders, designed to operate condensing, but capable of working non-condensing; the air cylinders were simple duplex. the steam cylinder valves were of the corliss release type, with vacuum dash-pots. the valves in the air cylinders were mechanically-operated piston valves, with end inlet and discharge. the engines used steam at 135 lb. pressure. the high-and low-pressure steam cylinders were 14 in. and 30 in. in diameter, respectively, with a stroke of 36 in. and a maximum speed of 135 rev. per min. the two air cylinders were 23â½ in. in diameter, and had a combined capacity of 35.1 cu. ft. of free air per revolution, and, when running at 125 rev. per min., each machine had an actual capacity of 4,389 cu. ft. of free air per min., or 263,340 cu. ft. per hour. the air cylinders were covered by water-jackets through which salt water from the circulating pumps flowed. a gauge pressure of 50 lb. of air could be obtained. each compressor was fitted with an automatic speed and air-pressure regulator, designed to vary the cut-off according to the volume of air required, and was provided with an after-cooler fitted with tinned-brass tube and eight tobin-bronze tube-plates having 809 sq. ft. of cooling surface; each one was capable of reducing the temperature of the air delivered by it to within 10â° fahr. of the temperature of the cooling water when its compressor was operated at its fullest capacity. from the after-cooler the air passed into a vertical receiver, 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 12 ft. high, there being one such receiver for each compressor. the receivers were tested to a pressure of 100 lb. per sq. in. the after-coolers were provided with traps to collect precipitated moisture and oil. the coolers and receivers were fitted with safety valves set to blow off at 1 lb. above the working pressure. the air supply was taken from without, and above the power-house roof, but in very cold weather it could be taken from within doors. _high-pressure compressors._--there was one high-pressure compressor at each plant. each consisted of two duplex air cylinders fitted to a cross-compound, corliss-bass, steam engine. the two steam cylinders were 14 and 26 in. in diameter, respectively, and the air cylinders were 14â¼ in. in diameter and had a 36-in. stroke. the air cylinder was water-jacketed with salt water supplied from the circulating water pumps. the capacity was about 1,100 cu. ft. of free air per min. when running at 85 rev. per min. and using intake air at normal pressure, but, when receiving air from the low-pressure compressors at a pressure of 30 lb. per sq. in., the capacity was 3,305 cu. ft. of free air per min.; receiving air at 50 lb. per sq. in., the capacity would have been 4,847 cu. ft. of free air per min. this latter arrangement, however, called for more air than the low-pressure compressors could deliver. with the low-pressure compressor running at 125 rev. per min. (its maximum speed), it could furnish enough air at 43.8 lb. per sq. in. to supply the high-pressure compressor running at 85 rev. per min. (its maximum speed); and, with the high-pressure compressor delivering compressed air at 150 lb., the combined capacity of the arrangement would have been 4,389 cu. ft. of free air per min. the air passed through a receiver, 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 12 ft. high, tested under a water pressure of 225 lb. per sq. in., before being sent through the distributing pipes. _hydraulic power pumps._--at each power-house there were three hydraulic power pumps to operate the tunneling shields. one pump was used for each tunnel, leaving the third as a stand-by. the duplex steam cylinders were 15 in. in diameter, with a 10-in. stroke; the duplex water rams were 2-1/8 in. in diameter with a 10-in. stroke. the pumps were designed to work up to 6,000 lb. per sq. in., but the usual working pressure was about 4,500 lb. the piping, which was extra heavy hydraulic, was connected by heavy cast-steel screw couplings having a hexagonal cross-section in the middle to enable tightening to be done with a bolt wrench. the piping was designed to withstand a pressure of 5,500 lb. per sq. in. _electric generators._--at each plant there were two electric generators supplying direct current for both lighting and power, at 240 volts, through a two-wire system of mains. they were of type m-p, class 6, 100 kw., 400 amperes, 250 rev. per min., 240 volts no load and 250 volts full load. they were connected direct to 10 by 20 by 14-in., center-crank, tandem-compound, engines of 150 h.p. at 250 rev. per min. a switch-board, with all the necessary fuses, switches, and meters, was provided at each plant. _lubrication._--in the lubricating system three distinct systems were used, each requiring its own special grade of oil. the journals and bearings were lubricated with ordinary engine oil by a gravity system; the oil after use passed through a "white star" filter, and was pumped into a tank about 15 ft. above the engine-room floor. the low-pressure air cylinders were lubricated with "high test" oil, having a flash point of 600â° fahr. the oil was forced from a receiving tank into an elevated tank by high-pressure air. when the tank was full the high-pressure air was turned off and the low-pressure air was turned on, in this way the air pressure in the oil tank equalled that in the air cylinder being lubricated, thus allowing a perfect gravity system to exist. the steam cylinders and the high-pressure air cylinders were fed with oil from hand-fed automatic lubricators made by the detroit lubrication company, detroit, mich. "steam cylinder" oil was used for the steam cylinders and "high test" oil (the same as used for the low-pressure air cylinders) for the high-pressure air cylinders. the air cylinder and steam cylinder lubricators were of the same kind, except that no condensers were necessary. the steam cylinder and engine oil was caught on drip pans, and, after being filtered, was used again as engine oil in the bearings. the oil from the air cylinders was not saved, nor was that from the steam cylinders caught at the separator. _cost of operating the power-house plants._--in order to give an idea of the general cost of running these plants, tables 3 and 4 are given as typical of the force employed and the general supplies needed for a 24-hour run of one plant. table 3 gives a typical run during the period of driving the shields, and table 4 is typical of the period of concrete construction. in the latter case the tunnels were under normal air pressure. before the junction of the shields, both plants were running continuously; after the junction, but while the tunnels were still under compressed air, only one power-house plant was operated. table 3.--cost of operating one power-house for 24 hours during excavation and metal lining. ===+===================+====================+============= no.| labor. | rate per day. | amount. ---+-------------------+--------------------+------------ 6 |engineers | $3.00 | $18.00 6 |firemen | 2.50 | 15.00 2 |oilers | 2.00 | 4.00 2 |laborers | 2.00 | 4.00 4 |pumpmen | 2.75 | 11.00 2 |electricians | 3.50 | 7.00 1 |helper | 3.00 | 3.00 ---+-------------------+--------------------+------------ total per day | $62.00 --------------------------------------------+------------ total for 30 days | $1,860.00 --------------------------------------------+------------ supplies. -----------------------+--------------------+------------ coal (14 tons per day) | $3.25 | $45.50 water | 7.00 | 7.00 oil (4 gal. per day) | 0.50 | 2.00 waste (4 lb. per day) | 0.07 | 0.28 other supplies | 1.00 | 1.00 -----------------------+--------------------+------------ total per day | $55.78 --------------------------------------------+------------ total for 30 days | $1,673.00 --------------------------------------------+------------ total cost of labor and supplies for 30 days| $3,533.00 ============================================+============= _stone-crusher plant._--a short description of the stone-crusher plant will be given, as it played an important part in the economy of the concrete work. in order to provide crushed stone for the concrete, the contractor bought (from the contractor who built the bergen hill tunnels) the pile of trap rock excavated from these tunnels, which had been dumped on the piece of waste ground to the north of baldwin avenue, weehawken, n. j. the general layout of the plant is shown on plate xxx. it consisted of a no. 6 and a no. 8 austin crusher, driven by an amex, single-cylinder, horizontal, steam engine of 120 h.p., and was capable of crushing about 225 cu. yd. of stone per 10-hour day. the crushers and conveyors were driven from a countershaft, in turn driven from the engine by an 18-in. belt. table 4.--cost of operating the one plant for 24 hours during concrete lining. ===+===================+====================+============= no.| labor. | rate per day. | amount. ---+-------------------+--------------------+------------ 2 |engineers | $3.00 | $6.00 2 |firemen | 2.50 | 5.00 2 |pumpmen | 3.00 | 6.00 1 |foreman electrician| 6.00 | 6.00 1 |electrician | 3.00 | 3.00 1 |laborer | 2.00 | 2.00 ---+-------------------+--------------------+------------ total per day | $28.00 --------------------------------------------+------------ total for 30 days | $840.00 --------------------------------------------+------------ supplies. -----------------------+--------------------+------------ coal (14 tons per day) | $3.15 | $44.10 oil (4 gal. per day) | 0.50 | 2.00 water | 13.00 | 13.00 other supplies | 2.00 | 2.00 -----------------------+--------------------+------------ total per day | $61.10 --------------------------------------------+------------ total for 30 days | $1,833.00 --------------------------------------------+------------ total cost of labor and supplies for 30 days| $2,673.00 ============================================+============= the process of crushing was as follows: the stone from the pile was loaded by hand into scale-boxes which were lifted by two derricks into the chute above the no. 6 crusher. one derrick had a 34-ft. mast and a 56-ft. boom, and was worked by a lidgerwood steam hoister; the other had a 23-ft. mast and a 45-ft. boom, and was worked by a "general electric" hoist. all the stone passed first through the no. 6 crusher, after which it was lifted by a bucket conveyor to a screen, placed about 60 ft. higher than and above the stone bin. the screen was a steel chute pierced by 2â½-in. circular holes, and was on a slope of about 45â°; in order to prevent the screen from choking, it was necessary to have two men continually scraping the stone over it with hoes. all the stone passing the screen was discharged into a bin below with a capacity of about 220 cu. yd. the stone not passing the screen passed down a diagonal chute to a no. 8 crusher, from which, after crushing, it was carried back by a second bucket conveyor to the bin, into which it was dumped without passing a screen. the no. 8 crusher was arranged so that it could, when necessary, receive stone direct from the stone pile. the cars in which the stone was removed could be run under the bin and filled by opening a sliding door in the bottom of the bin. a track was laid from the bin to connect with the contractor's surface railway in the weehawken shaft yard, and on this track the stone could be transported either to the weehawken shaft direct, for use on that side of the river, or to the wharf, where it could be dumped into scows for transportation to new york. the cars used were 3-cu. yd. side-dump, with flap-doors, and were hauled by two steam dinky locomotives. the average force employed was: 1 foreman @ $3.00 per day. supervising. 24 laborers " 1.75 " " loading scale-boxes for derricks. 4 laborers " 1.75 " " feeding crushers. 2 laborers " 1.75 " " watching screens to prevent clogging. 1 engineer " 4.00 " " driving steam engine. 2 engineers " 3.50 " " on the derricks. 1 night watchman. watching the plant at night. owing to the constant break-down of machinery, chutes, etc., inseparable from stone-crushing work, there was always at work a repair gang consisting of either three carpenters or three machinists, according to the nature of the break-down. the approximate cost of the plant was: machinery $5,850 lumber 3,305 erection labor 3,999 ----- total $13,154 the cost of the crushed stone at weehawken amounted to about $0.91 per cu. yd., and was made up as follows: cost of stone $0.22 labor in operation of plant 0.31 plant supplies 0.11 [b]plant depreciation 0.27 ---- total $0.91 [b] assuming that the scrap value of derricks and engines is one-half the cost, crushers one-third the cost, and other items nothing. the crushed stone at the manhattan shaft cost about $1.04 per cu. yd., the difference of $0.13 from the weehawken cost being made up of the cost of transfer across the river, $0.08, and transport from the dock to the shaft, $0.05. _miscellaneous plant._--the various pieces of plant used directly in the construction work, such as derricks, hauling engines, pumps, concrete mixers, and forms, will be found described or at least mentioned in connection with the methods used in construction. the tunneling shields, however, will be described now, as much of the explanation of the shield-driven work will not be clear unless preceded by a good idea of their design. tunneling shields. during the period in which the original contract drawings were being made, namely, in the latter part of 1903 and the early part of 1904, considerable attention was given to working out detailed studies for a type of shield which would be suitable for dealing with the various kinds of ground through which the shield-driven tunnels had to pass. this was done in order that, when the contract was let, the engineer's ideas of the requirements of the shields should be thoroughly crystallized, and so that the contractor might take advantage of this long-thought-out design, instead of being under the necessity of placing a hurried order for a piece of plant on which so much of the safety as well as of the speed of his work depended. eventually, the contractor took over these designs as they stood, with certain minor modifications, and the shields as built and worked gave entire satisfaction. the chief points held in view were ample strength, easy access to the working face combined with ease and quickness of closing the diaphragm, and general simplicity. a clear idea of the main features of the design can be gathered from fig. 3 and plate xxxi. [a]the interior diameter of the skin was 2 in. greater than the external diameter of the metal lining of the tunnel, which was 23 ft. the skin was made up of three thicknesses of steel plate, a â¾-in. plate outside and inside, with a 5/8-in. plate between; thus the external diameter of the skin was 23 ft. 6â¼ in. the length over all (exclusive of the hood, to be described later) was 15 ft. 11-7/16 in. the maximum overlap of the skin over the erected metal lining was 6 ft. 4â½ in., and the minimum overlap, 2 ft. there were no inside or outside cover-plates, the joints of the various pieces of skin plates being butt-joints covered by the overlap of adjoining plates. all riveting was flush, both inside and outside. the whole circumference of each skin plate was made up of eight pieces, each of which extended the entire length of the shield, the only circumferential joint on the outside being at the junction of the removable cutting edge (or of the hood when the latter was in position) with the shield proper. forward of the back ends of the jacks, the shield was stiffened by an annular girder supporting the skin, and in the space between the stiffeners of which were set the 24 propelling rams used to shove the shield ahead by pressure exerted on the last erected ring of metal lining, as shown on plate xxxi. to assist in taking the thrust of these rams, gusset-plates were placed against the end of each ram cylinder, and were carried forward to form level brackets supporting the cast-steel cutting-edge segments. the stiffening gussets, between which were placed the rams, were also carried forward as level brackets, for the same purpose. the cast-steel segmental cutting edge was attached to the front of the last mentioned plates. the interior structural framing consisted of two floors and three vertical partitions, giving nine openings or pockets for access to the face; these pockets were 2 ft. 7 in. wide, the height varying from 2 ft. 2 in. to 3 ft. 4 in., according to their location. the openings were provided with pivoted segmental doors, which were adopted because they could be shut without having to displace any ground which might be flowing into the tunnel, and while open their own weight tended to close them, being held from doing so by a simple catch. [illustration: proposed shield for subaqueous tunneling general elevation fig. 3.] for passing through the varied assortment of ground before entering on the true sub-river silt, it was decided to adopt the forward detachable extension, or hood, which has so often proved its worth in ground needing timber for its support, as shown in fig. 2, plate xxix. this hood extended 2 ft. 1 in. beyond the cutting edge, and from the top down to the level of the upper platform. additional pieces were provided by which the hood might have been brought down as far as the lower platform, but they were not used. special trapezoidal steel castings formed the junction between the hood and the cutting edge. the hood was in nine sections, built up of two â¾-in. and one 5/8-in. skin plates, as in the main body of the skin, and was supported by bracket plates attached to the forward ends of the ram chambers. the hoods were bolted in place, and were removed and replaced by regular cutting-edge steel castings after the shields had passed the river lines. the floors of the two platforms, of which there were eight, formed by the division of the platforms by the upright framing, could be extended forward 2 ft. 9 in. in front of the cutting edge, or 8 in. in front of the hood. this motion was given by hydraulic jacks. the sliding platform could hold a load of 7,900 lb. per sq. ft., which was equal to the maximum head of ground and water combined. the uses of these platforms will be described under the heading "construction." the weight of the structural portion of each shield was about 135 tons. the remainder of the shield was the hydraulic part, which provided its motive force and gave the power to the segment erector. the hydraulic fittings weighed about 58 tons per shield, so that the total weight of each shield was about 193 tons. the hydraulic apparatus was designed for a maximum pressure of 5,000 lb. per sq. in., a minimum pressure of 2,000 lb., and a test pressure of 6,000 lb. the actual average pressure used was about 3,500 lb. per sq. in. there were 24 shoving rams, with a diameter of 8â½ in. and stroke of 38 in. the main ram was single-acting. the packings could be tightened up from the outside without removing the ram, a thing which is of the greatest convenience, and cannot be done with the differential plunger type. some of the chief figures relating to the shield rams, with a water pressure of 5,000 lb. per sq. in., are: forward force of one ram 275,000 lb. forward force of 24 rams (all) 6,600,000 " forward force of 24 rams 3,300 tons of 2,000 lb. equivalent pressure per square inch of face 105 lb. equivalent pressure per square foot of face 15,200 " pull-back force of one ram 26,400 " pull-back pressure on full area of ram 480 " per sq. in. the rams developed a tendency to bend, under the severe test of shoving the shield all closed, or nearly so, through the river silt, and it is probable that it would have been better to make the pistons 10 in. in diameter instead of 8â½ in. each sliding platform was actuated by two single-acting rams, 3â½ in. in diameter and having a stroke of 2 ft. 9 in. the rams were attached to the rear face of the shield diaphragm inside the box floors, and the cylinders were movable, sliding freely on bearings in the floor. the front ends of the cylinders were fixed to the front ends of the sliding platforms. the cylinder thus supported the front end of the sliding platform, and was designed to carry its half of the load on the platform. some of the leading figures in connection with the platform rams, at a working pressure of 5,000 lb. per sq. in., are: forward force of each pair of rams (in each platform) 96,000 lb. total area of nose of sliding platform 1,060 sq. in. maximum reaction per square inch on nose 90 lb. maximum reaction per square foot on nose 13,040 " each shield was fitted with a single erector mounted on the rear of the diaphragm. the erector consisted of a box-shaped frame mounted on a central shaft revolving on bearings attached to the shield. inside of this frame there was a differential hydraulic plunger, 4 in. and 3 in. in diameter and of 48-in. stroke. to the plunger head were attached two channels sliding inside the box frame, and to the projecting ends of these the grip was attached. at the opposite end of the box frame a counterweight was attached which balanced about 700 lb. of the tunnel segment at 11 ft. radius. the erector was revolved by two single-acting rams fixed horizontally to the back of the shield above the erector pivot through double chains and chain wheels keyed to the erector shaft. the principal figures connected with the erector, assuming a water pressure of 5,000 lb. per sq. in., are: weight of heaviest tunnel segment 2,584 lb. weight of erector plunger and grip 616 " total weight to be handled by the erector ram 3,200 " total force in erector ram moving from center of shield 35,000 " total force in erector ram moving toward center of shield 27,500 " weight at 11-ft. radius which is balanced by counterweight 700 " maximum net weight at 11-ft. radius to be handled by turning rams 1,884 " total force of each rotating ram, at 5,000 lb. per sq. in. 80,000 " load at 11-ft. radius, equivalent to above 3,780 " when the shield was designed, a grip was also designed by which the erector could handle segments without any special lugs being cast on them. a bolt was passed through two opposite bolt holes in the circumferential flanges of a plate. the grip jaws closed over this bolt and locked themselves. the projecting fixed ends of the grip were for taking the direct thrust on the grip caused by the erector ram when placing a segment. it happened, however, that there was delay in delivering these grips, and, when the shield was ready to start, and the grip was not forthcoming, mr. patrick fitzgerald, the contractor's superintendent, overcame this trouble by having another grip made. in this design, also, a self-catching bolt is placed through the segment and the grip catches the bolt. in simplicity and effectiveness in working, this new design eventually proved a decided advance on the original one, and, as a result, all the shields were fitted with the new grip, and the original design was discarded. the great drawback to the original grip was that the plate swung on the lifting bolt, and thus brought a great strain on the bolt when held rigidly at right angles to the erector arm. the original design was able to handle both _a_ and _b_ segments, and key segments, without alteration; in the new design, an auxiliary head had to be swung into position to handle the key, but this objection did not amount to a practical drawback. the operating floor from which the shield was controlled, and at which the valves were situated, was placed above the rams which rotate the erector, and formed a protection for them. the control of the shield rams was divided into four groups: the seven lower rams constituted one group, the upper five, another, and the six remaining on each side, the other two. each group was controlled by its own stop and release valve. individual rams were controlled by stop-cocks. the control of the sliding platform rams was divided into two groups, of which all the rams on the upper floor made one, and all those in the lower floor, the other; here, again, each group had its own stop and release valve, and individual platforms were controlled by stop-cocks arranged in blocks from which the pipes were carried to the rams. the in-and-out movements of the erector ram were controlled by a two-spindle, balanced, stop and release valve, controlled by a hand-wheel. the erector rotating rams were controlled by a similar valve, with four spindles, also operated by a single hand-wheel. both wheels were placed inside the top shield pockets, and within easy reach of the operating platform. the hydraulic pressure was brought through the tunnel by a 2-in. hydraulic pipe. connection with the shield was made by a flexible copper pipe, the 2-in. line being extended as the shield advanced. land tunnels. general. the following is a brief account of the main features of the "land tunnel" work, by which is meant all the part of the structure built without using tunneling shields. the land tunnels consist of about 977 ft. of double tunnel on the new york side and 230 ft. on the new jersey side, or a total of 1,207 lin. ft. of double tunnel. the general design of the cross-section consists of a semi-circular arch, vertical side-walls and a flat invert. the tunnel is adapted for two lines of track, each being contained in its compartment or tunnel. the span of the arch is wider than is absolutely necessary to take the rolling stock, and the extra space is utilized by the provision of a sidewalk or "bench" forming by its upper surface a gangway, out of the way of traffic, for persons walking in the tunnels, and embedded in its mass are a number of vitrified earthenware ducts, for high-and low-tension electric cables. the provision of this bench enables its vertical wall to be brought much nearer to the side of the rolling stock than is usually possible, thus minimizing the effects of a derailment or other accident. refuge niches for trackmen, and ladders to the top of the bench are provided at frequent intervals. in cases where a narrow street limits the width of the structure, as on the new york side, the two tunnels are separated by a medial wall of masonry, thus involving excavation over the entire width of both tunnels, and in such case the tunnels are spoken of as "twin tunnels"; where the exigencies of width are not so severe, the two tunnels are entirely distinct, and are separated by a wall of rock. this type is found on the weehawken side. the arches are of brick, the remainder of the tunnel lining being of concrete. new york land tunnels. the work on the land tunnels on the manhattan side was carried on from the shaft at 11th avenue and 32d street. the plans and designs for these tunnels are shown on plate xxxii. in this short length of about 977 ft. there are no less than nine different kinds of cross-section. the reason for these changes is the fact that the two lines of track are here not straight and parallel to the center line between the tunnels, but are curved, although symmetrical about this center line. the various changes of section are to enable the tunnels to be built in straight lengths, thus avoiding the disadvantages attending the use of curved forms, and at the same time minimizing the quantity of excavation, an item which accounts for from 60 to 70% of the total cost of tunnels of this type. of course, there are corresponding and obvious disadvantages in the adoption of many short lengths of different cross-sections, and these disadvantages were well brought out in the course of the work; on the whole, however, they may be said to have justified their adoption. these new york land tunnels were divided into three contracts, viz.: from station 190 + 15 (the portal to the open work of the terminal station at the east side of tenth avenue, new york city) to station 197 + 60, called "section gy-east." the next contract, called "section gy-west supplementary," extended from station 197 + 60 to station 199 + 20, which is the east side of eleventh avenue. the third contract was called "section gy-west," and extended from station 199 + 20 to station 231 + 78 (the dividing line between the states of new york and new jersey). thus, for nearly all its length, this contract consists of shield-driven tunnel. the portion between stations 199 + 20 and 199 + 91.5, however, was of the land tunnel type, and therefore will be included here. a fourth contract extended from station 231 + 78 to the weehawken shaft at station 263 + 50, and of this all but 230 ft. was of the shield-driven type, only the portion next to the weehawken shaft being of the land tunnel type. the four contracts were let to one contractor (the o'rourke engineering construction company), and the work was carried on simultaneously in all four, so that the division into contracts had no bearing on the methods of work adopted, and these will now be described as a whole and with no further reference to the different sections. excavation. work was started on the new york side on april 18th, 1904, the weehawken shaft being at that date still under construction. as will have been noted in the description of the shafts, the contractor found a shaft already prepared for his use, and cross-drifts at grade and at right angles to the future tunnels, and extending across their entire width. the first essential was to get access to the shield chambers, which were to lie about 330 ft. to the west of the shaft, so that the construction of these enlargements in which the shields for the subaqueous tunnels were to be built might be finished as soon as possible and thus allow the earliest possible start to be made with the shield-driven tunnels. with this in view, two bottom headings, on the center line of each of the two tracks, were driven westward from the western cross-heading at the foot of the shaft. when about 138 ft. had been made in this way, the two headings were brought together and a break-up was made to the crown level of the tunnel, as the depth of rock cover was doubtful. from this break-up a top heading was driven westward to station 200 + 30. while widening the heading out at station 200 + 20 the rock was penetrated on the south side. the exposed wet sand and gravel started to run, and, as a consequence, a change in design was made, the shield chambers (and consequently the start of the shield-driven tunnels) being moved eastward from their original location 133 ft. to their present location. a certain amount of time was necessarily spent in making these changes of design, which involved a rearrangement of the whole layout from the terminal station to the start of the river tunnels. on july 5th, 1904, however, the new design was formally approved. no sooner had this been decided than a strike arose on the work, and this was not settled until august 1st, 1904, but from that time the work progressed without delay. no further reference will be made to the work in the shield chambers, as that will come under the heading of "river tunnels," being of the segmental, cast-iron lined type. a top heading was now driven over the original bottom heading west of the shaft, and at the same time the original cross-drifts from the shaft were amalgamated with and broken down by a heading driven at the crown level of the "intercepting arch" which here cuts across the ordinary run of tunnel at right angles and affords access to the tunnels from the shafts. the excavation of the upper portion of the intercepting arch at its southern end gave some trouble, and caused some anxiety, as the rock cover was penetrated and the wet sand and gravel were exposed. this made it necessary to timber all this section heavily, and the tracks of the new york central railroad directly above were successfully supported. the general way in which this timbering was carried out will be described under the head of "timbering." meanwhile, the excavation of the tunnels west of the intercepting arch was continued until the north and south tunnels were taken out to their full outlines, leaving a core of rock between them. this core was gradually removed, and timbering supporting the rock above the middle wall was put in as excavation went on. the ground, which was entirely of micaceous schist, typical of this part of manhattan, seamed with veins of granite, was rather heavy at the west end, or adjacent to the shield chambers, and required complete segmental timbering across the whole span. one heavy fall of rock in the corewall between the north and south tunnels took place on november 2d, but fortunately did not extend beyond the limits of the permanent work. on november 7th, 1904, the excavation east of the intercepting arch was begun by driving a bottom heading in the south tunnel. this was continued to station 197 + 14 and then was taken up to the crown level and worked as a top heading with the view of keeping track, by making exploratory borings upward from the roof at frequent intervals, of the rock surface, which was here irregular and not known with any degree of certainty. the work was not pressed with any vigor, because all efforts were then being bent toward excavating from the river tunnels as much rock as possible. in section gy-east the conditions were exceptionally variable, as the rock was subject to sudden changes from a soft crumbling mica schist to broad bands of hard granite, and, in addition, the rock surface was very irregular, and, for a good length of this section, was below the crown of the tunnel, a condition which led to the adoption of the cut-and-cover method for part of the work. the irregularity in conditions called for varying methods of procedure, but in general the methods were as shown on plate xxxiii, and described as follows: _in solid rock._--where there was plenty of good rock cover, a top middle heading was driven, which was afterward widened out to the full cross-section of the twin tunnel arches. if necessary, a few lengths of segmental timbering were put in before taking down the bench, which was generally kept some 40 or 50 ft. behind the breast of the heading. after the bench was down, the middle conduit trench was excavated and the trimming done. _in soft rock._--where there was not enough rock cover, or where there was actual soft ground in the roof, wall-plate headings at the springing line level were driven ahead of the remainder of the work. the wall-plates were laid in these, the roof was taken out in short lengths, and segmental timbering spanning from wall-plate to wall-plate was put in. the roof being thus held, the bench excavation proceeded without trouble. where the rock was penetrated and soft ground showed in the roof, poling boards were driven ahead over the crown-bars, as shown in fig. 4. _cut-and-cover work._--after some 225 ft. had been driven from the intercepting arch, it was found that the crown of the tunnel was continually in soft ground. to ascertain the extent of this condition the contractor decided to make soundings as far as tenth avenue, which was done by sinking trial pits and making wash-borings in the street. these soundings showed that there would be soft ground in the crown from station 194 + 75 to station 194 + 25 (at one point to a depth of 12 ft. below the crown), and on each side of this section the cover was insufficient from station 193 + 58 to station 195 + 30. this condition being known, it was decided to adopt cut-and-cover work for this length, the principal reasons being that repairs to sewers, streets, and drains would be no more, and probably less, expensive than with the tunnel method; the underpinning of a heavy brick brewery building adjoining the works on the north side would be facilitated, and the opening in the street, through which muck and materials could be handled, would relieve the congested shaft, through which the large volume of muck from the river tunnels was then being conveyed. on the other hand, the cut-and-cover method was adversely affected by the presence of a heavy timber trestle built down the south side of the street and over which passed all the excavation from the terminal station, amounting to a very heavy traffic. as this trestle had to be supported, it complicated the situation considerably. very little active progress was made between june, 1905, and april, 1906, as the contractor's energies during that time were much taken up with the progress of the shield-driven tunnels. in april, 1906, preparations were made to start a 50-ft. length of open cut, rangers being fixed and sheathing driven; and the sewer which ran down the middle of this street was diverted to the outside of the open-cut length. april and may were occupied in driving the sheathing down to rock, supporting the trestle, underpinning the adjoining brewery, and excavating the soft material above the rock. on june 2d, 1906, rock was reached, and, by july 31st, the excavation was down to subgrade over nearly the whole 50 ft. in the first length. in the meantime another length was opened up, and eventually a third. the surface of the rock now seemed to be rising, and the heavy buildings had been passed, so that tunneling was reverted to for the rest of the work, though many difficulties were caused by soft rock in the roof from time to time. [illustration: method of driving roof lagging in soft ground. fig. 4.] when the excavation for the open-cut work of the terminal station had advanced to the line of tenth avenue, the contractor started a heading from this point and drove westward under tenth avenue until the headings driven eastward from the cut-and-cover portion, were met. this was done to expedite the work under tenth avenue, where the ground was not very good, where there were several important gas and water mains in the street, and where, moreover, the tunnels were of exceptionally large span (24 ft. 6 in.), making a total width of some 60 ft. for the excavation. the excavation for the new york tunnels was practically finished in january, 1908. _drilling and blasting._--the foregoing short description will serve to show in a general way the scheme adopted in making the excavation. a few details on drilling and blasting methods may not be out of place. percussive drills run by air pressure were used. they were ingersoll-sergeant, nos. 3â½, a-86, c-24, and f-24. the air came from the high-pressure compressor previously described. this compressor, without assistance, could supply air for nine drills, but, when fed by compressed air from the lower pressure, its capacity was increased three or four times. the air was compressed to 100 lb. per sq. in. in the power-house, and was delivered at about 80 lb. per sq. in. at the drills. a 3-in. air line was used. the drill steel was 1-1/8-to 1-3/8-in. octagonal. the holes were about 3â¼ in. in diameter at starting and 2-5/8 in. at the full depth of 10 ft. the powder used on the new york side was 40% forcite, the near presence of heavy buildings and lack of much rock cover necessitating light charges and many holes spaced close together. to compensate the contractor for the inevitable excavation done outside the neat lines of the masonry lining, the excavation was paid for to the "standard section line" which was 12 in. outside the neat lines on top and sides and 6 in. outside at the bottom of the cross-section. the actual amount of excavation done was about 11% greater than that paid for. the distance excavated beyond the neat line, because of the very heavy timbering necessary, was about 2.1 ft. instead of the 1 ft. allowed, and at the bottom about 0.85 ft. instead of the 0.50 ft. paid for. for a period of 5 months detailed records were kept of the drilling and blasting. about 12,900 cu. yd. of excavation are included. a sketch and table showing the method of driving the heading, the number and location of the holes drilled, and the amount of powder used, is given in fig. 5. from this and similar figures the information in table 5 is derived. table 5. +========================+=======+=======+=======+======+=======+======| | | feet of hole | pounds of powder | | |drilled per cubic yard | used per cubic yard | | | of excavation. | of excavation. | | +-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------| |portion of excavation. |15-ft. |19-ft. |24-ft. | | | | | | 4-in. | 6-in. | 6-in. |15-ft.|19-ft. |24-ft.| | |span-|span-|span-|4-in. | 6-in. | 6-in.| | | twin | twin | twin | | | | | |tunnel.|tunnel.|tunnel.| | | | |------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------+ |wall-plate heading[c] | 13.0 | 10.97 | 10.97 |3.77 | 2.85 | 2.85 | | | | | | | | | |total heading[c] | 7.87 | 8.17 | 7.81 |2.31 | 2.02 | 1.78 | | | | | | | | | |bench and raker bench[c]| 5.97 | 6.15 | 7.56 |0.94 | 0.93 | 1.13 | | | | | | | | | |trench[c] | 9.82 | 15.96 | 18.10 |1.84 | 2.49 | 2.73 | |------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------+ |average for section[c] | 6.69 | 7.43 | 8.95 |1.28 | 1.30 | 1.45 | |------------------------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+------| |actual amount[d] | 6.82 | 7.27 | 8.95 |1.22 | 1.24 | 1.27 | +========================+=======+=======+=======+======+=======+======+ [c] figures taken from typical cross-sections. [d] this gives the actual amount of drilling done and powder used per cubic yard for the whole period of 5 months of observation, but as this length included 280 ft. of heading and only 220 ft. of bench, the average figures (for powder especially) are too low. table 6 gives the rate and cost of drilling, and the cost of powder. it will be seen that the average rate of drilling was 2.71 ft. per hour per drill or 27.1 ft. per drill per shift. table 7 shows the result of observation as to the time taken in various subdivisions of the drilling operations. these observations were not carried on for a long enough period to give correct results, but the percentages of time spent on each division of the operation are believed to be about right. the headings of this table are self-explanatory. the necessary delays include all time spent in changing bits, making air-line connections, etc. the unnecessary delays are stoppages caused by lack of supplies or insufficient air pressure. by table 6 it will be noticed that the cost of labor for drilling and sharpening steels was about $0.29 per lin. ft. of hole drilled. the total cost, including repairs, supply of air, etc., came to about $0.38, as will be seen from table 8. _timbering._--on the new york side nearly the whole length of the excavation needed timbering, to a greater or less extent, and for the most part required timbering of quite a heavy type. table 6.--rock tunnel excavation under 32d street, east of cut-and-cover section. drilling and blasting.--detailed cost of labor in drilling, also quantity and cost of powder used. +=====================================================================+ | drilling and blasting. | |-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----| |type.|date.|total feet drilled. | no. drill shifts| feet drilled | | | | | | | of (10-hour.) |per man per hour.| | +-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | |1907 |head|bench |total |head-|bench|total |head-|bench|total| | | | ing | | | ing | | | ing | | | |-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ |_ke._|may | 2,971| 5,578| 8,549| 98 | 204 | 302 |3.031|2.734|2.831| | |june | 2,093| 6,194| 8,287| 85 | 223 | 308 |2.462|2.777|2.691| | |july | | 7,627| 7,627| | 268 | 268 | |2.845|2.845| | |aug. | | 2,552| 2,552| | 95 | 95 | |2.688|2.688| | |sept.| | 2,133| 2,133| | 79 | 79 | |2.700|2.700| | +-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | |total| 5,064|24,084|29,148| 183 | 869 |1,052 |2.767|2.77 |2.77 | |-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ |_ki._|may | 6,976| | 6,976| 216 | | 216 |3.229| |3.229| | |june | 4,089| | 4,089| 135 | | 135 |3.029| |3.029| | |july | | 3,733| 3,733| | 140 | 140 | |2.666|2.666| | |aug. | | 6,715| 6,715| | 249 | 249 | |2.769|2.769| | |estim| |14,742|14,742| | 46 | 546 | |2.700|2.700| | +-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | |total|11,065|25,190|36,255| 351 | 935|1,286 |3.152|2.694|2.819| |-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ |_ko._|may | | 1,617| 1,617| | 55| 55 | |2.921|2.921| | |june | | 2,948| 2,948| | 107| 107 | |2.755|2.755| | |july | | 3,734| 3,734| | 131| 131 | |2.850|2.850| | |aug. | | 8,260| 8,260| | 290| 290 | |2.848|2.848| | |estim| | 4,787| 4,787| | 285| 285 | |1.180|1.680| | +-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | |total| |21,346|21,346| | 868| 868 | |2.460|2.460| |-----+-----+------+------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ |grand|total|16,129|70,620|86,749| 534 |2,672|3,206 |3.020|2.710|2.710| +=====+=====+======+======+======+=====+=====+======+=====+=====+=====+ +==================================================+=====================+ | drilling and blasting | powder used. | |-----+----------+------+--------------------------+--------+-------+----+ | | | | cost of labor only. | | | | | | | | drilling and sharpening. | | | | | | | +------+------+-------+----+ | | | | | | | | | per | | | cost | | | | | | | | cubic | | | per | | | | | | | | yard. | | | cubic | | | | | | | | | | |yard at| | | | | | | | | | | 11 | | | | | | | | | | | cents | | | | | | | | | | | per | | | | | | | | | | |pound. | | | +----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ |type.| quantity | |total.| per |actual.|paid| total |actual.|paid| | | of | | |linear| |for |quantity| |for.| | |excavation| | |feet. | | | | | | | | in cubic | | | | | | | | | | | yards. | | | | | | | | | | +----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ | | actual. | paid | $ | $ | $ | |pounds. | $ | $ | | | [e] | for | | | | | | | | | | | [f] | | | | | | | | |-----+----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ |_ke._| 1,736 | 1,664| 2,331| 0.27 | 1.34 |1.40| 1,595 | 0.10 |0.10| | | 809 | 698| 2,440| 0.29 | 3.01 |3.49| 1,960 | 0.27 |0.31| | | 1,022 | 960| 2,031| 0.26 | 1.98 |2.11| 966 | 0.10 |0.11| | | 743 | 716| 640| 0.25 | 0.86 |0.89| 430 | 0.06 |0.07| | | 238 | 238| 533| 0.25 | 2.24 |2.24| 280 | 0.13 |0.13| | |----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ | | 4,548 | 4,276| 7,975| 0.27 | 1.75 |1.87| 5,231 | 0.13 |0.13| |-----+----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ |_ki._| 614 | 527| 1,604| 0.23 | 2.61 |3.04| 1,230 | 0.22 |0.26| | | 357 | 259| 1,234| 0.30 | 3.45 |4.76| 1,036 | 0.32 |0.44| | | 530 | 404| 1,084| 0.29 | 2.04 |2.68| 550 | 0.11 |0.15| | | 925 | 890| 1,901| 0.28 | 2.05 |2.13| 905 | 0.10 |0.11| | | 3,254 | 2,908| 4,570| 0.31 | 1.40 |1.57| 2,470 | 0.08 |0.09| | |----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ | | 5,680 | 4,988|10,393| 0.29 | 1.83 |2.08| 6,191 | 0.12 |0.14| |-----+----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ |_ko._| 250 | 188| 471| 0.29 | 1.88 |2.50| 376 | 0.17 |0.22| | | 496 | 347| 883| 0.29 | 1.78 |2.54| 357 | 0.08 |0.11| | | 626 | 606| 1,003| 0.27 | 1.60 |1.65| 609 | 0.11 |0.11| | | 718 | 709| 2,161| 0.26 | 3.00 |3.04| 918 | 0.14 |0.14| | | 605 | 535| 2,397| 0.50 | 3.96 |4.48| 762 | 0.14 |0.16| | |----------+------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ | | 2,695 | 2,385| 6,915| 0.32 | 2.57 |2.90| 3,022 | 0.12 |0.14| | |---------+-------+------+------+-------+----+--------+-------+----+ | |12,923 |11,649|25,283| 0.29 | 1.96 |2.17|14,444 | 0.12 |0.14| +=====+==========+======+======+======+=======+====+========+=======+====+ the work done during the 5 months when these analyzed cost figures were kept includes 280 ft. of bench and 220 ft. of heading. this excess of bench over heading causes the general average amounts per cubic yard to be too low. [e] actual amount of excavation. [f] amount of excavation paid for. [illustration: 24' 6" span twin tunnels details of method of drilling and blasting in a typical (not exact average) section] +---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------+ | drilling and firing data for | | each sub-division of section | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | sub | volume | no. of | no. | no. |total |linear| total | |divisions|of each |sets of | of | of | lbs. | feet |length | | | sub | holes |holes|times| of | of |drilled| | |division| | in |fired|powder|tunnel| | | |paid for| | set | | per |broken| | | | | | | | hole | | | | | | | | |fired | | | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _a_ | _b_ | _c_ | _d_ | _e_ | _f_ | _g_ | _h_ | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _a_ | 17.775 | {[g] 1 | 6 | 3 | 4.50 | | | | | | {[h] 1 | 9 | 1 | 1.50 | | | | | | {[i] 1 | 6 | 1 | 1.00 | | | | | | {[j] 1 | 6 | 1 | 0.75 | 6.0 | 195 | | | | | | | | | | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _a'_ | 1.00 | 2 | 3-4 | 1 | 0.25 | 5.0 | 21 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _b_ | 5.925 | {[g] 2 | 3-4 | 1 | 1.00 | 4.0 | 35 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _c_ | | {[k] 1 | 3 | 2 | 1.125| | | | | 33.33 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1.125| 5.0 | 186 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _d_ | 6.665 | 2 | 5-6 | 1 | 0.75 | 3.0 | 33 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | | | | | | | | |=========+========+========+=====+=====+======+======+=======| | _e_ | 50.00 | | 5 | 1 | 1.50 | 5.0 | 405 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _f_ | 88.88 |{ 10.5| 4 | 2 | 1.50 | | | | | |{[l] 5.0| 4 | 1 | 1.50 | 4.0 | 682 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _g_ | 22.22 | 5.5| 4 | 2 | 1.00 | 5.0 | 132 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | | | | | | | | |=========+========+========+=====+=====+======+======+=======| | _h_ | 9.77 |{ 5 | 3 | 1 | 0.50 | | | | | |{ 4 | 6 | 1 | 0.50 | 6.0 | 156 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | _i_ | 26.66 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1.00 | 6.0 | 252 | |---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------| | | | | | | | | | | |========+=====+=====+======+======+=======| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |========+=====+=====+======+======+=======| | | | | +---------+--------+--------+-----+-----+------+------+-------+ +---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------+ | drilling and firing data for | | total sections | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | sub |total |length | cu. | cu. | total | total | total| |divisions|length|drilled| yds. | yds. | lbs. of |lbs. of| lbs. | | | of | per | per | per | powder | powder| of | | |simi|linear |linear|linear| per | per |powder| | |lar |foot of| foot | foot | linear | foot | per | | |head|tunnel | of | of | foot of |drilled|cubic | | |ings | |tunnel|tunnel| tunnel | | yard | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _a_ | _i_ | _j_ | _k_ | _l_ | _m_ | _n_ | _o_ | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _a_ | |sigma | | | | | | | | | c + d |b + i | j |c + d + f| m | m | | | | ----|------| -- | ---- | -- | -- | | | | g | g | k | g | j | k | | | 2 | 65.00 | 5.925|10.97 | 17.00 | 0.261 |2.848 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _a'_ | 2 | 8.40 | 0.400|21.00 | 0.70 | 0.166 |1.750 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _b_ | 2 | 17.50 | 2.962| 5.90 | 3.50 | 0.200 |1.181 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _c_ | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 37.20 | 6.666| 5.58 | 6.975 | 0.187 |1.046 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _d_ | 2 | 22.00 | 4.444| 4.95 | 5.500 | 0.250 |1.237 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| |total for| |150.10 |20.397| 7.81 | 33.675 | 0.227 |1.778 | | heading | | | | | | | | |=========+======+=======+======+======+=========+=======+======| | _e_ | 1 | 81.00 |10.000| 8.10 | 13.500 | 0.167 |1.350 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _f_ | | | | | | | | | | 1 |170.50 |22.222| 7.67 | 23.230 | 0.136 |1.046 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _g_ | 1 | 26.40 | 4.444| 5.94 | 4.400 | 0.166 |0.990 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| |total for| |277.90 |36.666| 7.56 | 41.150 | 0.150 |1.133 | | bench | | | | | | | | |=========+======+=======+======+======+=========+=======+======| | _h_ | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 26.00 | 1.628|15.96 | 3.250 | 0.125 |1.995 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| | _i_ | 2 | 84.00 | 4.444|18.90 | 13.333 | 0.158 |3.000 | |---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------| |total of | |110.00 | 6.072|18.10 | 16.583 | 0.151 |2.731 | | trench | | | | | | | | |=========+======+=======+======+======+=========+=======+======| |total for| |548.00 |63.135| 8.95 | 91.408 | 0.172 |1.446 | | whole | | | | | | | | |section | | | | | | | | |=========+======+=======+======+======+=========+=======+======| |powder taken at 0.5 lb. per stick | +---------+------+-------+------+------+---------+-------+------+ [g] 6 cut holes-8 feet (black circle) [h] 9 first side rd. and bottom-7 feet (circle with dot in it) [i] 6 back round-7 feet (circle with line in it) [j] 6 top back round-7 feet (circle with x in it) [k] a' 7 holes-3 feet (open circle) [l] line holes (plus sign) table 7.--analysis of drilling time on section gy-east. +========+======+========+=====+=====+=======+========+========+=======+ | | | | average time taken: | |position|nature| no. of |-----+-----+-------+--------+--------+-------| | in | of | drill | | | | | | | |section.|rock. | shifts |set|dril-|neces|unneces-| taking |loading| | | |observed|ting |ling.| sary | sary | down | and | | | | for | up. | |delays.|delays. |machine.|firing.| | | |average.| | | | | | | |--------+------+--------+-----+-----+-------+--------+--------+-------| | | | |h. m.|h. m.| h. m. | h. m. | h. m. | h. m. | | | | |-----+-----+-------+--------+--------+-------| |heading |quartz| 8 |0:38 |4:52 | 1:40 | | 0:05 | 0:04 | | | | | | | | | | | |heading | hard | 1 |0:15 |8:00 | 1:45 | | | | | | mica | | | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | bench |quartz| 23 |1:23 |5:57 | 2:23 | 0:05 | 0:05 | 0:07 | | | | | | | | | | | | bench |medium| 16 |1:10 |6:08 | 1:50 | 0:12 | 0:07 | 0:07 | | | mica | | | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | center |medium| 10 |0:58 |5:53 | 1:33 | 0:06 | 0:12 | 0:30 | | trench | mica | | | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | center | soft | 9 |1:10 |6:40 | 1:17 | 0:10 | 0:20 | 0:23 | | trench | mica | | | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | |--------+------+--------+-----+-----+-------+--------+--------+-------| |general | | 67 |1:08 |5:58 | 1:53 | 0:07 | 0:09 | 0:12 | |average | | | | | | | | | |--------+------+--------+-----+-----+-------+--------+--------+-------| | per | | |11.3%|59.7%| 18.9% | 1.1% | 1.5% | 2% | |centage | | | | | | | | | +========+======+========+=====+=====+=======+========+========+=======+ +========+======+=========+========+======+======+========+ | | | average time taken: | feet drilled. | |position|nature|---------+--------+------+------+--------| | in | of | | | | | | |section.|rock. | total |mucking.|total.| per | per | | | |drilling.| | |shift.|working | | | | | | | | hour. | | | | | | | | | |--------+------+---------+--------+------+------+--------| | | | h. m. | h. m. |h. m. | | | | | |---------+--------+------+------+--------| |heading |quartz| 7:19 | 2:41 |10:00 | 22.0 | 2.86 | | | | | | | | | |heading | hard | 10:00 | |10:00 | 42.0 | 4.20 | | | mica | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | bench |quartz| 10:00 | |10:00 | 25.9 | 2.59 | | | | | | | | | | bench |medium| 9:34 | 0:26 |10:00 | 22.22| 2.32 | | | mica | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | center |medium| 9:12 | 0:48 |10:00 | 22.0 | 2.39 | | trench | mica | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | center | soft | 10:00 | |10:00 | 26.44| 2.64 | | trench | mica | | | | | | | |schist| | | | | | |--------+------+---------+--------+------+------+--------| |general | | 9:27 | 0:33 |10:00 | 24.1 | 2.54 | |average | | | | | | | |--------+------+---------+--------+------+------+--------| | per | | 94.5% | 5.5% | 100% | | | |centage | | | | | | | +========+======+=========+========+======+======+========+ table 8.--analyzed cost of drilling. +=============+===========================+===========================+ | | cost per foot of hole | cost per drill shift | |item of cost.| drilled. | | | +-------+-----+-----+-------+-----+------+------+-------+ | | 15 ft | 9 ft|24 ft|average|15 ft|19 ft |24 ft |average| | | 4 in | 6 in| 6 in| | 4 in| 6 in | 6 in | | |-------------+-------+-----+-----+-------+-----+------+------+-------+ |drilling | $0.25 |$0.28|$0.31| $0.28 |$6.95| $7.75| $7.60| $7.45 | |labor | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |sharpening | 0.02 | 0.02| 0.01| 0.016| 0.58| 0.42| 0.34| 0.43 | | | | | | | | | | | |drill steel | 0.007|0.007|0.006| 0.007| 0.19| 0.20| 0.15| 0.19 | |(5 in. per | | | | | | | | | |drill shift) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |drill repairs| 0.02 | 0.02| 0.02| 0.02 | 0.61| 0.59| 0.42| 0.54 | | | | | | | | | | | |high-pressure|[m]0.05| 0.04| 0.07| 0.07 | 1.39| 1.86| 1.67| 1.82 | |air | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------+-----+-----+-------+-----+------+------+-------+ |totals | $0.35 |$0.38|$0.41| $0.385|$9.67|$10.82|$10.18|$10.43 | +=============+=======+=====+=====+=======+=====+======+======+=======+ [m] this is an estimated figure, ascertained by taking a proportion of the whole charge for plant running. _general methods._--whenever any considerable support was needed for the ground, segmental timbering was used. in most cases, this was supported by wall-plates at the springing line, and was set with an allowance for settlement, so that it would be clear of the work when the masonry lining was put in. as the twin-tunnel section involved the excavation of the north and south tunnels at the same time, the cross-section of the upper part of the excavation consisted of two quadrants rising from the springing line and connected at the top by a horizontal piece from 19 to 28 ft. in length. this made a rather flat arch to support by timbering. the timber for the segmental work was 12 by 12-in. yellow pine. in light ground the bents were spaced at 5-ft. centers, in heavy ground 2-ft. 6-in. centers. when the soft ground in the roof was struck, posts had to be used in the heading to support the caps. when the bench was removed, the posts were replaced by others down to the bottom of the excavation. these long posts were a great hindrance to all the work, and each replacement of short posts by long ones meant a settlement of the caps; consequently, it was decided to use in the section east of the cut-and-cover, where all the ground was heavy, a temporary inner bent of segmental timber, within and reinforcing the permanent bent, and resting on separate wall-plates. this is shown by fig. 6. these temporary bents were inside the work, and were removed as the arch was built. however, the caps settled considerably in some cases, so that it was not possible to do away with posting entirely. in heavy ground the caps were set about 1 ft. above the neat line of the crown of the brick arch, in some cases they were set only 6 in. above, but the settlement was often more than this, causing great trouble in cutting out the encroaching timber when the arch had to be built. [illustration: details of longitudinal sectional showing method of placing lagging in crown with soft roof typical section looking east fig. 6.] in the tunnels east of the cut-and-cover portion, wall-plate headings were driven (shown by areas marked _a_ on fig. 5), and, when a length of wall-plate had been set, the full-width heading was advanced a foot or two at a time, the timber segmental bents being set up as soon as possible; lagging was then driven over the cap into the soft ground. fig. 6 shows the double set of segmental bents adopted in the 15-ft. 4-in. twin tunnels east of the cut-and-cover section. when the soft ground came down so low as to interfere with the excavation of the wall-plate headings, a small heading was driven into the soft ground on the line of the ends of the caps, and lagging was driven down from this to the wall-plate heading, as illustrated in fig. 4. in the 19-ft. 6-in. tunnels the wall-plate for the inner bent was supported by a side-bench, termed the "raker" bench. this was left in position until the rest of the bench and the middle subgrade conduit trench had been excavated; it was then possible to support the caps by two rows of posts from subgrade level, take out the inner bents, and excavate the raker bench. the 24-ft. 6-in. twin tunnels, which are at the extreme eastern end of this section, adjoining the open-cut work of the terminal station, and under tenth avenue, were driven from the terminal station-west, and the timbering had to be made very secure on account of the pipes and sewers in the street above. detailed records were kept of the amount of timber used and the cost of labor and material expended in timbering. these records cover the same portion of tunnel as that for which the detailed records of drilling costs, previously referred to, were kept. these records are shown in tables 9 and 10. it will be noted that the timber used in blocking, that is, filling up voids outside the main timbering, amounted to more than two-thirds of the total timber, and that the cost of labor in erecting the timbering exceeds the prime cost of the timber by about one-third. the following distinction is made between permanent and temporary timbering: the permanent timbering is that which is concreted in when the masonry is built; the temporary consists of the lower bents and posts, which have to be removed when the masonry is built. _force employed in excavation._--a typical day's working force for drilling, blasting, mucking, and timbering is shown in table 11. where there was any large quantity of soft ground in the roof, the timber gang was much larger than shown in table 11, and was helped by the mucking gang. the drillers did most of the mucking out of the heading before setting up the drills. _excavation of weehawken rock tunnels._--this subject may be dismissed in a few words, as very few features of interest were called into play. the rock was of good quality, being the sandstone typical of this part of the country. little or no timbering was needed, there were no buildings above the tunnel to be taken care of, and large charges of powder could be used. table 9.--supplementary analysis of timbering, rock tunnel excavation under 32d street, east of cut-and-cover section. analyzed cost of timbering, per foot run and per bent. +=============================+================================ | | _ke_ | |--------+------------+--------- | |per foot|per bent, |per cubic | |run of |3 ft, 6 in.,|yard | |tunnel |center to |excavation | | |center | |-----------------------------+--------+------------+--------- |permanent timbering. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | | | | upper bent. | 274 | 685 | 7.8 | blocking. | 294 | 735 | 8.3 | total. | 568 | 1,420 | 16.1 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 23.75| 59.38 | 0.67 | labor. | 37.50| 93.75 | 1.06 | total. | 61.25| 153.13 | 1.73 | | | | |temporary timbering. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | | | | lower bent. | 479 | 11.97 | 13.6 | blocking. | 193 | 483 | 5.5 | total. | 672 | 16.80 | 19.1 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 29.13| 72.81 | 0.82 | erection labor. | 28.85| 72.13 | 0.82 | removal labor. | 8.29| 20.73 | 0.23 | total labor. | 37.14| 92.86 | 1.05 | total. | 66.27| 165.67 | 1.87 | | | | |grand total. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. |1,240 | 3,100 | 35.2 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 52.88| 132.19 | 1.49 | labor. | 74.64| 186.61 | 3.60 | total. | 127.52| 318.80 | |-----------------------------+--------+------------+--------- | | _ki_ | |--------+------------+--------- | |per foot|per bent, |per cubic | |run of |3 ft, 6 in.,|yard | |tunnel |center to |excavation | | |center | |-----------------------------+--------+------------+--------- |permanent timbering. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | | | | upper bent. | 227 | 830 | 5.3 | blocking. | 164 | 601 | 3.8 | total. | 391 | 1,431 | 9.1 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 16.84| 61.56 | 0.39 | labor. | 12.82| 46.88 | 0.30 | total. | 29.66| 108.44 | 0.69 | | | | |temporary timbering. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | | | | lower bent. | 186.33| 681.25 | 4.33 | blocking. | 42.80 156.50 | 0.99 | total. | 229.13| 837.75 | 5.32 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 9.65| 35.31 | 0.22 | erection labor. | 10.38| 37.97 | 0.24 | removal labor. | 9.74| 34.09 | 0.23 | total labor. | 20.12| 72.06 | 0.47 | total. | 29.77| 107.37 | 0.69 | | | | |grand total. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | 6.20| 22.69 | 14.4 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 26.49| 96.87 | 0.61 | labor. | 32.94| 118.94 | 0.77 | total. | 59.43| 215.81 | 1.38 |-----------------------------+--------+---------------------- | | _ko_ | |--------+------------+--------- | |per foot|per bent, |per cubic | |run of |3 ft, 6 in.,|yard | |tunnel |center to |excavation | | |center | |-----------------------------+--------+------------+--------- |permanent timbering. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | | | | upper bent. | 261 | 962 | 4.1 | blocking. | 408 | 1,508 | 6.5 | total. | 669 | 24.70 | 10.5 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 28.00| 103.38 | 0.44 | labor. | 29.79| 110.00 | 0.47 | total. | 57.79| 213.38 | 0.91 | | | | |temporary timbering. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. | | | | lower bent. | 350 | 1,291 | 5.5 | blocking. | 61 | 227 | 1.0 | total. | 411 | 1,518 | 6.5 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 18.45| 68.16 | 0.29 | erection labor. | 20.83| 76.92 | 0.33 | removal labor. | 12.16| 44.59 | 0.19 | total labor. | 32.99| 121.51 | 0.52 | total. | 51.44| 189.67 | 0.81 | | | | |grand total. | | | |lumber in feet, b. m. |1,080 | 3,988 | 17.1 |cost, in dollars. | | | | lumber. | 46.45| 171.54 | 0.73 | labor. | 62.78| 231.50 | 0.99 | total. | 109.23| 403.04 | 1.72 +=============================+========+============+========= table 10.--timbering:--detailed cost of timber, labor, and superintendence. rock tunnel excavation under 32d street, east of cut-and-cover section. +====+=======+======================================+====================+ | | | | excavation | | | | | timber used, in | in cubic | cost of | | | | feet, b. m. | yards | timber | | | |------------------------+-------------+--------------------+ | | | main |blocking| total | | paid | | | | | |date |timber.|timber. |timber.|actual| for. | main |block.|total.| | |-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ | |1907 | _a_ | _b_ | _c_ | _d_ | _e_ | _f_ | _g_ | _h_ | | |-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ |_ke_|may | 18,016| 15,234 | 33,250| 1,736| 1,664| $810| $565|$1,375| | |june | 14,048| 11,528 | 25,576| 809| 698| 680| 457| 1,087| | |july | 20,092| 7,339 | 27,431| 1,022| 960| 900| 300| 1,200| | |august | 6,485| 2,632 | 9,117| 743| 716| 290| 110| 400| | |sept. | 1,632| 2,224 | 3,856| 238| 238| 73| 94| 167| | |removal| | | | | | | | | | |-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ | |total | 60,273| 38,957 | 99,230| 4,548| 4,276|$2,703|$1,526|$4,229| |----+-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ |_ki_|may | | 3,537 | 3,537| 614| 527| | $150| $150| | |june | 300| | 300| 357| 259| $14| | 14| | |july | 7,776| 5,811 | 13,587| 530| 404| 350| 233| 583| | |august | 19,712| 5,702 | 25,414| 925| 890| 887| 220| 1,107| | |sept. | 20,556| 9,218 | 29,774| 1,585| 1,501| 925| 325| 1,250| | |removal| | | | 1,669| 1,407| | | | | |-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ | |total | 48,344| 24,268 | 72,612| 5,680| 4,988|$2,176| $928|$3,104| |----+-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ |_ko_|may | 4,332| 8,788 | 13,120| 250| 188| $175| $366| $561| | |june | 7,132| 10,017 | 17,149| 496| 347| 324| 396| 720| | |july | 3,070| 200 | 3,270| 626| 606| 134| 10| 144| | |august | 10,704| 2,102 | 12,806| 718| 709| 481| 80| 561| | |sept. | 2,400| 245 | 2,645| 396| 324| 108| 8| 116| | |removal| | | | 209| 211| | | | |----|-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ | |total | 27,638| 21,352 |48,990 | 2,695| 2,385|$1,242| $860|$2,102| |----|-------+-------+--------+-------+------+------+------+------+------+ | |grand |136,255| 84,577 |220,832|12,923|11,649|$6,121|$3,314|$9,435| | |total | | | | | | | | | +====+=======+=======+========+=======+======+======+======+======+======+ +====+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+======+=======+=====+=====| | | | | | cost per | cost per | | | | | | cubic yard | cubic yard | | | |cost of| total | (actual). | (paid for). | | | | labor | cost. |-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ | |date | | |timber.|labor. |total.|timber.|labor|total| | |-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ | | | | | _h_ | _i_ | _j_ | _h_ | _i_ | _j_ | | | | | | -- | -- | -- | -- | --| --| | |1907 | _i_ | _j_ | _d_ | _d_ | _d_ | _e_ | _e_ | _e_ | |----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ |_ke_|may | $1,792| $3,167| $0.79 | $1.03 | $1.82| $0.82 |$1.07|$1.90| | |june | 1,576| 2,663| 1.34 | 1.95 | 3.29| 1.55 | 2.25| 3.81| | |july | 1,580| 2,780| 1.16 | 1.55 | 2.72| 1.25 | 1.64| 2.89| | |august | 300| 700| 0.53 | 0.40 | 0.94| 0.57 | 0.41| 0.98| | |sept. | 60| 227| 0.70 | 0.25 | 0.95| 0.70 | 0.25| 0.95| | |removal| 663| 663| | | | | | | | |-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ | |total | $5,971|$10,200| $0.91 | $1.51 | $2.22| $1.00 |$1.40|$2.40| |----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ |_ki_|may | $100| $250| $0.24 | $0.16 | $0.40| $0.28 |$0.19|$0.47| | |june | 44| 58| 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.16| 0.05 | 0.17| 0.22| | |july | 525| 7,108| 1.10 | 0.99 | 2.09| 1.44 | 1.30| 2.74| | |august | 1,018| 2,125| 1.20 | 1.10 | 2.30| 1.24 | 1.14| 2.38| | |sept. | 1,028| 2,278| 0.79 | 0.65 | 1.44| 0.83 | 0.68| 1.51| | |removal| 1,139| 1,139| | 0.68 | 0.68| | 0.81| 0.81| | |-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ | |total | $3,854| $6,958| $0.55 | $0.68 | $1.23| $0.63 |$0.77|$1.40| |----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ |_ko_|may | $303| $864| $2.24 | $1.21 | $3.45| $3.00 |$1.61|$4.61| | |june | 562| 1,282| 1.45 | 1.18 | 2.58| 2.07 | 1.61| 3.68| | |july | 156| 300| 0.23 | 0.25 | 0.48| 0.23 | 0.26| 0.49| | |august | 727| 1,288| 0.78 | 1.01 | 1.79| 0.80 | 1.02| 1.82| | |sept. | 400| 516| 0.29 | 1.01 | 1.30| 0.36 | 1.23| 1.59| | |removal| 535| 535| | 2.56 | 2.56| | 2.54| 2.54| | |-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ | |total | $2,683| $4,785| $0.78 | $1.00 | $1.78| $0.88 |$1.12|$2.00| |----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+ | |grand |$12,508|$21,943| $0.73 | $0.97 | $1.70| $0.81 |$1.07|$1.88| | |total | | | | | | | | | +====+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+======+=======+=====+=====+ +====+===========+======================+ | | | cost, per 1,000 | | | | ft., b. m., of | | | | total timber. | | | |-------+------+-------| | | | total | | | | | date |timber.|labor.|total. | | |-----------+-------+------+-------| | | | _h_ | _i_ | _j_ | | | | -- | --| -- | | | 1907 | _c_ | _c_ | _c_ | |----+-----------+-------+------+-------| |_ke_|may |$41.35 |$53.89| $95.24| | |june | 42.50 | 61.62| 104.12| | |july | 43.74 | 57.60| 101.34| | |august | 43.87 | 32.90| 76.77| | |sept. | 43.31 | 15.56| 58.87| | |removal | | | | | |-----------+-------+------+-------| | |total |$42.62 |$60.19|$102.81| |----+-----------+-------+------+-------| |_ki_|may |$42.41 |$28.27| $70.68| | |june | 46.66 |146.33| 193.33| | |july | 42.91 | 38.64| 81.54| | |august | 43.56 | 40.06| 83.61| | |sept. | 41.98 | 34.53| 76.51| | |removal | | | | | |-----------+-------+------+-------| | |total |$42.75 |$53.09| $95.84| |----+-----------+-------+------+-------| |_ko_|may |$42.76 |$23.10| $65.86| | |june | 41.98 | 32.77| 74.75| | |july | 44.04 | 47.70| 91.74| | |august | 43.80 | 56.77| 100.57| | |sept. | 43.85 |151.23| 195.08| | |removal | | | | | |-----------+-------+------+-------| | |total |$42.91 |$54.75| $97.65| |----+-----------+-------+------+-------| | |grand total|$42.73 |$56.65| $99.38| +====+===========+=======+======+=======+ work was begun on september 1st, 1904, immediately on the completion of the work on the shaft. the north and south tunnels in this case are completely independent, as will be seen from plate xxxiv. the procedure adopted was to drive a top heading on the center line of each tunnel and to break down the bench from this. the drilling was at first supplied with steam power from a temporary plant, as the contractor was at that time installing his permanent plant, which was finished at the end of november, 1904. at this time the rate of advance averaged 3â½ lin. ft. of full section per day of 24 hours. by the end of january the weehawken rock tunnels were completely excavated, and by the middle of april, 1905, the excavation for the shield chambers was finished; the erection of the shields was started at the end of that month. table 11. ==================+=========+========+=============+========+========== grade. |total no.|rate per|drilling and |mucking:|timbering: | | day. |blasting: no.| no. | no. ------------------+---------+--------+-------------+--------+--------- superintendent | 1 | $7.70 | â½ | 1/8 | 3/8 assistant engineer| 1 | 5.80 | â½ | 1/8 | 3/8 electrician | 1 | 3.50 | â½ | 1/8 | 3/8 engineer | 1 | 3.50 | | 1 | signalman | 1 | 2.00 | | 1 | foreman | 3 | 4.00 | 1 | 1 | 1 driller | 5 | 3.00 | 5 | | driller's helper | 5 | 2.00 | 5 | | laborers | 14 | 2.00 | | 14 | timbermen | 3 | 3.00 | | | 3 " helpers | 4 | 2.00 | | | 4 machinist | 1 | 4.00 | 1 | | blacksmith | 2 | 3.50 | 2 | | " helper | 2 | 2.00 | 2 | | nipper | 2 | 2.00 | 2 | | waterboy | 1 | 2.00 | 1 | | ------------------+---------+--------+-------------+--------+-------- total | 47 | | 20â½ | 17-3/8 | 9-1/8 ==================+=========+========+=============+========+========= the general scheme of excavation is shown by plate xxxiii. the bench was kept 50 or 60 ft. behind the face of the heading. the powder used was 60% forcite. the general system of drilling was as shown in fig. 7. the average length of hole drilled per cubic yard of excavation was 2.9 ft., as against 7.70 ft. at manhattan; and the amount of powder used was 1.96 lb. per cu. yd., as against 1.24 lb. at manhattan. there was little timbering. a length of about 30 or 40 ft. adjoining the weehawken shaft was timbered, and also a shattered seam of about 17 ft. in width between stations 262 + 10 and 262 + 27. [illustration: land tunnels typical method of drilling used in the weehawken tunnels fig. 7] the two entirely separate tunnels gave a cross-section which was much more easily timbered than the wide flat span at manhattan, and the segmental timbering was amply strong without posts or other reinforcement. table 12 is a summary of the cost of excavating the land tunnels, based on actual records carefully kept throughout the work. table 12.--cost of excavation of land tunnels, in dollars per cubic yard. ======================================+=========+=========+============= | | |total yardage | | | and |manhattan|weehawken|average cost. --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ cubic yards excavated |43,289 | 8,311 | 51,600 _labor._ | | | surface transport | $0.49| $0.87| $0.55 drilling and blasting | 2.37| 1.55| 2.24 mucking | 2.49| 2.08| 2.42 timbering | 0.87| 0.18| 0.76 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ total labor | $6.22| $4.68| $5.97 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ _material._ | | | drilling | $0.15| $0.15| $0.15 blasting | 0.21| 0.21| 0.21 timber | 0.39| 0.20| 0.36 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ total material | $0.75| $0.56| $0.72 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ plant running | $0.76| $0.65| $0.74 surface labor, repairs and maintenance| 0.15| 0.08| 0.14 field office administration | 1.05| 1.18| 1.07 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ total field charges | $8.96| $7.15| $8.64 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ chief office administration | $0.34| $0.38| $0.34 plant depreciation | 0.66| 1.01| 0.72 street and building repairs | 0.27| | 0.23 --------------------------------------+---------+---------+------------ total average cost per cubic yard | $10.23| $8.54| $9.93 ======================================+=========+=========+============= masonry lining of land tunnels. plates xxxii and xxxiv show in detail the tunnels as they were actually built. it will be seen that in all work, except in the gy-east contract, there was a bench at each side of each tunnel in which the cable conduits were embedded. in gy-east the bank of ducts which came next to the middle wall was carried below subgrade, and the inner benches were omitted. the side-walls and subgrade electric conduits were water-proofed with felt and pitch. the water-proofing was placed on the outside of the side-walls (that is, on the neat line), and the space between the rock and the water-proofing was filled with concrete. this concrete was called the "sand-wall." the general sequence of building the masonry lining is shown in fig. 8. the operations were as follows: 1.--laying concrete for the whole height of the sand-walls, and for the floor and foundations for walls and benches up to the level of the base of the conduits; 2.--water-proofing the side-walls, and, where there was a middle trench containing subgrade conduits, laying and water-proofing these conduits; 3.--building concrete wall for conduits to be laid against, and, where there was a middle trench, filling up with concrete between the conduits; 4.--laying conduits; 5.--laying concrete for benches and middle-wall; 6.--building haunches from top of bench to springing of brick arch; 7.--building brick arch and part of concrete back-filling; 8.--finishing back-filling. the whole work will be generally described under the headings of concrete, brickwork, water-proofing, and electric conduits. _concrete._--the number of types and the obstructions caused by the heavy posting of the timbering made it inadvisable to use built-up traveling forms at the manhattan side, though they were used in the weehawken rock tunnels. the specifications required a facing mixture of mortar to be deposited against the forms simultaneously with the placing of the concrete. this facing mixture was dry, about 2 in. thick, and was kept separate from the concrete during the placing by a steel diaphragm. the diaphragm was removed when the concrete reached the top of each successive layer, and the facing mixture and concrete were then tamped down together. this method was at first followed and gave good results, which was indeed a foregone conclusion, as the weehawken shaft had been built in this way. however, it was found that as good results, in the way of smooth finish, were to be obtained without the facing mixture by spading the concrete back from the forms, so that the stone was forced back and the finer portion of the mixture came against the forms; this method was followed for the rest of the work. all corners were rounded off on a 1-in. radius by mouldings tacked to the forms. the side-bench forms were used about four times, and were carefully scraped, planed, filled at open joints, and oiled with soap grease each time they were set up. when too rough for face work they were used for sand-wall and other rough work. the mixing was done by a no. 4 ransome mixer, driven by 30-h.p. electric motors. the mixer at manhattan was set on an elevated platform at the north end of the intercepting arch; that at weehawken was placed at the entrance to the tunnels. the sand and stone were stored in bins above the mixers, and were led to the hoppers of the mixers through chutes. the hoppers were divided into two sections, which gave the correct quantities of sand and stone, respectively, for one batch. the water was measured in a small tank alongside. a "four-bag" batch was the amount mixed at one time, that is, it consisted of 4 bags of cement, 8â¾ cu. ft. of sand, and 17â½ cu. ft. of broken stone, and was called a 1 : 2â½ : 5 mixture. it measured when mixed about â¾ cu. yd. the cement was furnished to the contractor by the railroad company, which undertook all the purchasing from the manufacturer, as well as the sampling, testing, and storing until the contractor needed it. the railroad company charged the contractor $2 a barrel for this material. the sand was required by the specifications to be coarse, sharp, and silicious, and to contain not more than 0.5% of mica, loam, dirt, or clay. all sand was carefully tested before being used. the stone was to be a sound trap or limestone, passing a 1â½-in. mesh and being retained on 3/8-in. mesh. the contractor was allowed to use a coarser stone than this, namely, one that had passed a 2-in. and was retained on a 1â½-in. mesh. the concrete was to be machine-mixed, except in cases of local necessity. the quantity of water used in the mixture was to be such that the concrete would quake on being deposited, but the engineer was to use his discretion on this point. concrete was to be deposited in such a manner that the aggregates would not separate. it was to be laid in layers, not exceeding 9 in. in thickness, and thoroughly rammed. when placing was suspended, a joint was to be formed in a manner satisfactory to the engineer. before depositing fresh concrete, the entire surface on which it was to be laid was to be cleaned, washed and brushed, and slushed over with neat cement grout. concrete which had begun to set was not to be used, and retempering was not to be allowed. [illustration: manhattan types fig. 8.] the forms were to be substantial and hold their shape until the concrete had set. the face forms were to be of matched and dressed planking, finished to true lines and surfaces; adequate measures were to be taken to prevent concrete from adhering to the forms. warped or distorted forms were to be replaced. plastering the face was not allowed. rock surfaces were to be thoroughly washed and cleaned before the concrete was deposited. these specifications were followed quite closely. a typical working gang, as divided among the various operations, is shown below: _superintendence._ â½ superintendent @ $250 per month â½ assistant engineer " 150 " " 1 assistant superintendent " 150 " " _surface transport._ 1 foreman @ $2.50 per day 1 engineer " 3.00 " " 1 signalman " 2.00 " " 16 laborers " 1.75 " " 3 teams " 7.50 " " _laying._ 1 foreman @ $4.00 per day 8 laborers " 2.00 " " _forms._ 1 foreman @ $4.50 per day 4 carpenters " 3.25 " " 5 helpers " 2.25 " " _tunnel transport._ â¼ foreman @ $3.25 per day â¼ engineer " 3.00 " " â¼ signalman " 2.00 " " 4 laborers " 1.75 " " _mixers._ â¼ foreman @ $3.25 per day 2 laborers " 1.75 " " the superintendent and assistant engineer looked after the brickwork and other work as well as the concrete. the surface transport gang handled all the materials on the surface, including the fetching of the cement from the cement warehouses. the tunnel transport gang handled all materials in the tunnel, but, when the haul became too long, the gang was reinforced with laborers from the laying gang. of the laying gang, two generally did the spading, two the spreading and tamping, and the remaining force dumped the concrete. the general cost of this part of the work is shown in table 13. the figures in table 13 include the various items built into the concrete and some that are certificate extras in connection with the concrete, such as drains, ironwork and iron materials, rods and bars, expanded metal, doors, frames and fittings, etc. _water-proofing._--according to the specifications, the water-proofing was to consist of seven layers of pitch and six layers of felt on the side-walls and a â½-in. layer of mastic, composed of coal-tar and portland cement, to be plastered over the outside of the arches. by the time the work was in hand, some distrust had arisen as to the efficiency of this mastic coating, and a great deal of study was devoted to the problem of how to apply a felt and pitch water-proofing to the arches. the difficulty was that there was no room between the rock and the arch or between the timber and the arch (as the case might be) in which to work. several ingenious schemes of putting the felt on in layers, or in small pieces like shingles, were proposed and discussed, and a full-sized model of the tunnel arch was even built on which to try experiments, but it was finally decided to overcome the difficulty by leaving out the arch water-proofing altogether, and simply building in pipes for grouting through under pressure, in case it was found that the arch was wet. as to the arch built through the length excavated by cut-and-cover on the new york side, it was resolved to water-proof that with felt and pitch exactly as the side-walls were done, the spandrel filling between the arches being raised in a slight ridge along the concrete line between tunnels in order to throw the water over to the sides. the portions of arch not water-proofed were rather wet, and grouting with a 1:1 mixture was done, but only with the effect of stopping large local leaks and distributing a general dampness over the whole surface of the arch. table 13.--cost of concrete in land tunnels, in dollars per cubic yard. =======================================+==========+==========+========== | | | total |manhattan.|weehawken.| yardage. ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- cubic yards placed |14,706â½ | 3,723 |18,429â½ ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- labor. | average cost per cubic yard. ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- surface transport | $0.31 | $1.43 | $0.54 superintendence and general labor at | | | point of work | 0.31 | 1.31 | 0.51 mixing | 0.52 | 0.56 | 0.53 laying | 1.38 | 1.45 | 1.39 tunnel transport | 1.30 | 1.47 | 1.34 cleaning | 0.21 | | 0.17 forms: erecting and removal | 1.58 | 1.51 | 1.56 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- total labor | $5.61 | $7.73 | $6.04 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- material. ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- cement | $2.30 | $2.22 | $2.28 sand | 0.34 | 0.40 | 0.36 stone | 0.91 | 0.61 | 0.85 lumber for forms | 0.47 | 0.45 | 0.47 sundry tunnel supplies | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.16 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- total materials | $4.18 | $3.85 | $4.12 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- plant running | $0.44 | $0.44 | $0.44 surface labor, repairs and maintenance | 0.25 | 1.24 | 0.44 field office administration | 0.50 | 1.72 | 0.75 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- total field charges | $10.98 | $14.98 | $11.79 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- plant depreciation | $0.62 | $1.57 | $0.81 chief office administration | 0.24 | 0.31 | 0.25 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- total average cost per cubic yard | $11.84 | $16.86 | $12.85 ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- cost of miscellaneous items in concrete. ---------------------------------------+----------+----------+--------- |manhattan.|weehawken.| average. cubic yards |14,706â½ | 3,723 |18,429â½ amount, in dollars |$6,184.83 | $1,756.79|$7,941.62 unit cost | 0.42 | 0.47| 0.43 =======================================+==========+==========+========== the 24-ft. 6-in. tunnel adjoining the terminal station-west was water-proofed by a surface-rendering method which, up to the present time, has been satisfactory. generally speaking, the arches of the land tunnels, though not dripping with water, are the dampest parts of the whole structure from tenth avenue to weehawken, and it would seem as if some form of water-proofing over these arches would have been a distinct advantage. there was no difficulty in applying the water-proofing on the side-walls, after a little experience had been gained as to the best methods. the specifications required the sand-wall to be covered with alternate layers of coal-tar pitch and felt, seven layers of the former and six layers of the latter, the felt to be of hydrex brand or other equally satisfactory to the engineer. the pitch was to be straight-run, coal-tar pitch which would soften at 60â° fahr., and melt at 100â° fahr., being a grade in which distillate oils, distilled from it, should have a specified gravity of 1.105. the pitch was to be mopped on the surface to a uniform thickness of 1/16 in., and a covering of felt, previously mopped with pitch, was to be applied immediately. the sheets were to lap not less than 4 in. on cross-joints and 12 in. on longitudinal joints, and had to adhere firmly to the pitch-covered surface. this layer was then to be mopped, and another layer placed, and so on until all the layers were in place. this water-proofing was to extend from the bottom of the cable conduits to the springing of the brick arch. where sub-track conduits were used, these were to be surrounded with their own water-proofing. the work was carried out as specified; the sand-walls were not rendered, but were built smooth enough to apply the water-proofing directly to them. they were dried with gasoline torches before the application of the pitch, and in very wet sections grooves were cut to lead the water away. the first attempts were with the felt laid in horizontal strips. this ended very disastrously, as the pitch could not sustain the weight of the felt, and the whole arrangement slipped down the wall. the felt was then laid vertically, being tacked to a piece of horizontal scantling at the top of the sand-wall and also held by a row of planks braced against it at about half its height. a layer of porous brick was laid as a drain along the base of the water-proofing, covered by a single layer of felt to prevent it from becoming choked with concrete. the water-proofing of the sub-track conduits was troublesome, as the numerous layers and the necessity for preserving the proper laps in both directions between adjacent layers made the whole thing a kind of chinese puzzle. various modifications, to suit local conditions, were made from time to time. conduits outside the general outline of the tunnel are difficult to excavate, to lay, and to water-proof, and should be avoided wherever possible. the usual force in water-proofing consisted of a foreman, at $3.50 per day, and nine laborers at $1.75 per day. these men not only laid the water-proofing, but transported the materials, heated the pitch, and cut up the rolls of felt. in general, two men transported material, one tended the heater, and the other six worked in pairs, two preparing the surface of the concrete sand-wall, two laying pitch, and two laying felt. the cost of the water-proofing operation was about as shown in table 14. table 14.--cost of water-proofing, in dollars per square foot. =======================================+==========+===========+======== |manhattan.| weehawken.| total. ---------------------------------------+----------+-----------+------- square feet covered | 47,042 | 13,964 | 60,736 ---------------------------------------+----------+-----------+------- average cost per square foot. ---------------------------------------+----------+-----------+------- labor | $0.07 | $0.07 | $0.07 material | 0.12 | 0.09 | 0.11 ---------------------------------------+----------+-----------+------- total field charges | $0.19 | $0.16 | $0.18 chief office and plant depreciation | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.02 ---------------------------------------+----------+-----------+------- total average cost | $0.20 | $0.19 | $0.20 =======================================+==========+===========+======== _brickwork in arches._--owing to the heavy timbering, the brickwork at manhattan was interfered with to a considerable extent, and the gang was always kept at work at two or more places. the work was carried up to a point where it was necessary to back-fill, or prop or cut away encroaching timbers, and then the men were moved to another place while this was being done. the centers were set up in sets of seven, spaced 4 ft. apart. two 14-ft. lengths of 3 by 4-in. yellow pine lagging were used with each set of ribs, with 24 by 8-in. block lagging in the crown. all centers were set â¼ in. high, to allow for settlement, except in the 24-ft. 6-in. span, in which they were set â½ in. high. this proved ample, the average settlement of the ribs being 0.01 ft. and of the masonry, 0.003 ft. in the 24-ft. 6-in. span the ribs were strengthened with 6 by 6-in. blocking and 12 by 12-in. posts to subgrade. great trouble was here encountered with encroaching timbering, due to the settlement of the wide flat span. grout pipes were built in, as previously mentioned. each mason laid an average of 0.535 cu. yd. of brickwork per hour, or 4.28 cu. yd. per day. the number of bricks laid per mason per hour was 218, or 1,744 per day. the bricks were of the best quality of vitrified paving brick, and were obtained from the jamestown brick company, of jamestown, n. y. the average size was 8â¾ by 3-15/16 by 2-7/16 in.; the average number per cubic yard of masonry was 408, the arches being from 19 ft. to 24 ft. 6 in. in span and from 22 to 27 in. thick. the joints were 3/16 in. at the face and averaged 9/16 in. through the arch. the proportions for mortar were 1 of cement and 2â½ of sand. one cubic yard of masonry was composed of 73.5% brick and 26.5% mortar. the volume of the ingredients in a four-bag batch was 12.12 cu. ft., and the resulting mixture was 9.54 cu. ft. the number of barrels of cement was 0.915 per cu. yd. of masonry, and about 17.7% of the mortar made was wasted. the average force employed was: _laying._ 1 foreman @ $8.00 per day 4 layers " 6.00 " " 8 tenders " 2.00 " " 2 mixers " 2.00 " " _forms._ 1 foreman @ $4.50 per day 4 carpenters " 3.50 " " 5 helpers " 2.25 " " _transport._ â¼ hoist engineer @ $3.00 per day â¼ signalman " 2.00 " " 4 laborers " 2.00 " " for materials, the following prices prevailed: cement, $2.00 per bbl., sand, $0.90 to $1.00 per cu. yd., brick, $16.00 per thousand, delivered at yard, centers, $26.00 each, lagging, $45.00 per 1,000 ft. b. m. the cost of the brickwork is given in table 15. table 15.--cost of brickwork. ===========================================+==========+==========+====== |manhattan.|weehawken.|total. -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- cubic yards placed | 4,137 | 790 |4,927 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- labor. |average cost per cubic yard. -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- surface transport | $0.35 | $1.19 | $0.48 superintendent and general labor at point | | | of work | 0.17 | 0.04 | 0.16 laying and mixing | 2.58 | 3.20 | 2.60 forms: erection and removal | 2.62 | 0.32 | 2.25 tunnel transport | 1.19 | 1.12 | 1.18 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- total labor | $6.91 | $5.87 | $6.75 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- material. -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- brick | $6.56 | $6.56 | $6.56 cement | 1.76 | 1.75 | 1.76 sand | 0.20 | 0.28 | 0.22 forms | 0.92 | 0.98 | 0.98 overhead conductor pockets | 0.15 | 0.09 | 0.13 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- total material | $9.59 | $9.66 | $9.60 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- plant running | $0.55 | $0.30 | $0.51 surface labor, repairs and maintenance | 0.36 | 1.30 | 0.51 field office administration | 0.55 | 0.88 | 0.60 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- total field charges | $17.96 | $18.01 |$17.97 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- chief office administration | $0.60 | $0.66 | $0.61 plant depreciation | 0.35 | 0.64 | 0.39 -------------------------------------------+----------+----------+----- total average cost per cubic yard | $18.91 | $19.31 |$18.97 ===========================================+==========+==========+====== in table 16 the cost of grout is expressed in terms of barrels of cement used, because in the schedule of prices attached to the contract, that was the unit of payment for grout. table 16.--cost of grout over arches in land tunnels. cost, in dollars per barrel of cement used. ======================================+===============+==========+====== | manhattan. | | |(gy-east only.)|weehawken.|total. --------------------------------------+---------------+----------+----- barrels used | 3,000â½ | 261â½ |3,262 --------------------------------------+---------------+----------+----- average cost per barrel of cement used. --------------------------------------+---------------+----------+----- labor | $0.55 | $0.46 |$0.53 material | 2.30 | 2.25 | 2.28 field office administration | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.08 plant and supplies | 0.10 | 0.07 | 0.09 --------------------------------------+---------------+----------+----- total field charges | $3.03 | $2.84 |$2.98 --------------------------------------+---------------+----------+----- chief office and plant depreciation | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.28 --------------------------------------+---------------+----------+----- total average cost | $3.24 | $3.06 |$3.20 ======================================+===============+==========+====== _vitrified earthenware conduits for electric cables._--the general drawings will show how the ducts were arranged, and that manholes were provided at intervals. they were water-proofed, in the case of those embedded in the bench, by the general water-proofing of the tunnels, which was carried down to the level of the bottom of the banks of ducts; and in the case of those below subgrade, by a special water-proofing of felt and pitch wrapped around the ducts themselves. the portion of wall in front of the ducts was bonded to that behind by bonds, mostly of expanded metal, passing between the ducts. examples of the bonding will be seen in the drawings. the joints between successive lengths of 4-way and 2-way ducts were wrapped with two thicknesses of cotton duck, 6 in. wide, those of single-way ducts were not wrapped, but plastered with cement mortar. the ducts were laid on beds of mortar, and were made to break joints at top and bottom and side to side with the adjacent ducts. they were laid with a wooden mandrel; a square leather washer at the near end acted as a cleanser when the mandrel was pulled through. the specifications required the ducts to be laid at the same time as the concrete and be carried up with it, but this was found to be a very awkward operation, as the tamping of the concrete and the walking of men disturbed the ducts, especially as the bonds lay across them. it was resolved, therefore, to build the portion of the wall behind the ducts first, with the bonds embedded in it at the proper heights and projecting from it, then to lay up the banks of ducts against this wall, bending the bonds down as they were reached, and finally, after all the ducts were in, to lay the concrete in front of and over the top of the ducts. several detailed modifications of this general scheme were followed at one time or another when necessary or advisable. the laying of ducts below subgrade was not complicated by the presence of bonds, the water-proofing caused the trouble here, as before described. the specifications called for a final rodding after completion. a group of the apparatus used in this process is shown in fig. 1, plate xxxv; the various parts are identified by the following key: key to fig. 1, plate xxxv. 1.--4-way duct, for telephone and telegraph cables, 2.--2-way duct, for telephone and telegraph cables, 3.--1-way duct, for highand low-tension cables, 4.--plug for closing open ends of ducts, 5.--plug for closing open ends of ducts in position, 6, 7, and 8.--cutters for removing obstructions, 9.--hedgehog cutter for removing grout in ducts, 10.--rodding mandrel for multiple ducts, 11.--laying mandrel, 12.--rodding mandrel, with jar-link attached, 13.--laying mandrel, 14 and 15.--rubber-disk cleaners, used after final rodding, 16 and 17.--sectional wooden rods used for rodding, 18.--section of iron rods used for rodding, 19.--jar-link, 20.--cotton duck for wrapping joints of multiple ducts, 21.--hook for pulling forward laying mandrel, 22.--top view of trap for recovering lost or broken rods left in ducts. [illustration: plate xxxv. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 1. fig. 2.] ordinary â¾-in. gas pipe was used for the rod, and a cutter with rectangular cross-section and rounded corners was run through ahead of the mandrel: following the cutter came a scraper consisting of several square leather washers, of the size of the ducts, spaced at intervals on a short rod. the mandrel itself was next put through, three or four men being used on the rods. all the ducts in a bank were thus rodded from manhole to manhole. when a duct was rodded it was plugged at each end with a wooden plug. a solid wooden paraffined plug was used at first, but afterward an expansion plug was used. very little trouble was met in rodding the power conduits, except for a few misplaced ducts, or a small mound of mortar or a laying mandrel left in. at such points a cut was made in the concrete and the duct replaced. in the subgrade telephone and telegraph ducts east of the manhattan shaft, much trouble was caused by grout in the ducts. the mandrel and cutters were deflected and broke through the web of the ducts rather than remove this hard grout. trenches had to be cut from the floor to the top of the water-proofing, the latter was then cut and folded back, and the ducts replaced. to do this, a number of ducts had to be taken out to replace the broken ones and get the proper laps. the water-proofing was then patched and the concrete replaced. this grout had not penetrated the water-proofing, but had got in through the ends of the ducts where they had not been properly plugged and protected. the duct gang, both for laying and rodding, generally consisted of 1 foreman, at $3.50 per day, and 9 laborers, at $1.75 per day. when laying: 4 men were laying, 2 men mixing and carrying mortar, and 3 were transporting material. when rodding: 4 men were rodding, 2 men at adjacent manholes were connecting and disconnecting cutters and mandrels, 1 was joining up rods, and 2 men assisting generally. the cost of this work is shown in table 17. transportation and disposal. the track on the surface and in the tunnels was of 20-lb. rails on a 2-ft. gauge. the excavation was handled in scale-boxes carried on flat cars, and the concrete in 1â¼-cu. yd. mining cars dumping either at the side or end. table 17.--cost of conduit work. =========================================+==========+==========+======= |manhattan.|weehawken.| total. -----------------------------------------+----------+----------+------ duct feet | 115,962 | 35,155 |151,117 -----------------------------------------+----------+----------+------ average cost per duct foot. -----------------------------------------+----------+----------+------ labor | $0.035 | $0.032 | $0.034 material | 0.043 | 0.052 | 0.045 -----------------------------------------+----------+----------+------ total field charges | 0.078 | 0.084 | 0.079 -----------------------------------------+----------+----------+------ chief office and plant depreciation | 0.005 | 0.008 | 0.006 -----------------------------------------+----------+----------+------ total average cost | $0.083 | $0.092 | $0.085 =========================================+==========+==========+======= when the haulage was up grade, 6 by 6-in. lidgerwood hoisting engines, with 10-in. single friction drums, and driven by compressed air from the high-pressure lines, were used. down grade, cars were moved and controlled by hand. the muck which came through the shaft at manhattan was dumped into hopper bins on the surface and thence loaded into trucks at convenience. at the open cut, the muck was dumped into trucks direct. the trucking was sublet by the contractor to a sub-contractor, who provided trucks, teams, and trimmers at the pier. at weehawken, arrangements were made with the erie railroad which undertook to take muck which was needed as fill. the tunnel cars, therefore, were dumped directly on flat cars which were brought up to a roughly made platform near the shaft. the hoisting at manhattan was by derrick at tenth avenue and the open cut, and by the elevator at the manhattan shaft. at weehawken, all hoisting was done by the elevator in the shaft. the sand and stone were received at the wharves by scows. at manhattan, these materials were unloaded on trucks by an overhead traveler, and teamed to the shaft, where they were unloaded by derricks into the bins. at weehawken, they were unloaded by an orange-peel grab bucket, loaded into cars on the overhead trestle, transported in these to the top of the shaft, and discharged into the bins. the cement at manhattan was trucked from the company's warehouse, at eleventh avenue and 38th street, to the shaft, where it was put into a supplementary storage shed at the top of the shaft, whence it was removed to the mixer by the elevator when needed. at weehawken, it was taken on flat cars directly from the warehouse to the mixer. lighting. temporarily and for a short time at the start, kerosene flares were used for light until replaced by electric lights, the current for which was furnished by the contractor's generators, which have been described under the head of "power plant." the lamps used along the track were of 16 c.p., and were protected by wire screens; these were single, but, wherever work was going on, groups of four or five, provided with reflectors, were used. pumping. two pumps were installed at the manhattan shaft. they had to handle the water, not only from the rock tunnels, but also from those under the river. one was a deane compound duplex pump, having a capacity of 500 gal. per min., the other, a blake pump, of 150 gal. per min. they were first driven by steam direct from the power-house, but compressed air was used later. when the power-house was shut down, an electrically-driven centrifugal pump was used. this was driven by a general electric shunt-wound motor, type c-07â½, with a speed of 1,250 rev. per min. at 250 volts and 37.5 amperes (10 h.p.) when open, and 22.9 amperes (6 h.p.) when closed, and had a capacity of 450 gal. per min. to send the water to the shaft sump during the construction, small compressed-air cameron pumps, of about 140 gal. per min., were used. at the weehawken shaft two pumps were used; these dealt with the water from the bergen hill tunnels as well as that from the weehawken tunnels. at first a worthington duplex pump having a capacity of about 500 gal. per min. was used. later, this was replaced by a general electric shunt-wound motor, type o-15, with a speed of 925 rev. per min. at 230 volts and 74 amperes (20 h.p.) when open, and 38.5 amperes (10 h.p.) when closed. its capacity was 240 gal. per min. during the progress of the construction, the water was pumped from the working face to the shaft by small cameron pumps similar to those used at manhattan. when the work was finished, a subgrade reversed-grade drain carried the water to the shaft sump by gravity. the work in the manhattan land tunnels was practically finished by may 1st, 1908, though the ventilating arrangements and overhead platform in the intercepting arch were not put in until after the river tunnel concrete was completed, so that the work was not finished until september, 1909. the weehawken land tunnels work was finished in july, 1907, but the benches and ventilating arrangements in the weehawken shaft were not put in until after the completion of the bergen hill tunnels, and so were not finished until august, 1909. the reinforced concrete wall around the weehawken shaft, together with the stairs from the bench level of the shaft to the surface, was let as a separate contract; the work was started on september 15th, 1909, and finished by the end of december, 1909. river tunnels. the river tunnel work, from some points of view, has the most interest. it is interesting because it is the first main line crossing of the formidable obstacle of the hudson river, and also by reason of the long and anxiously discussed point as to whether, in view of the preceding experiences and failures to construct tunnels under that river, foundations were needed under these tunnels to keep them from changing in elevation under the action of heavy traffic. the river tunnels here described start on the east side of the shield chambers on the new york side and end at the east side of the shield chambers on the new jersey side. they thus include the new york and exclude the new jersey shield chambers, the reason for such discrimination being that the new york shield chambers are lined with cast iron while those on the new jersey side are of the typical rock section type, as already described. the design of the tunnels and their accessories will be first described, then will come the construction of the tunnels as far as the completion of the metal lining, followed by a description of the concrete lining and completion of the work. design of metal lining. _new york shield chambers._--the shield chambers may be seen on plate xxxii, previously referred to, which shows the junction of the iron-lined tunnels and the shield chambers. they consist of two iron-lined pieces of tunnel placed side by side, with semi-circular arches and straight side-walls. the segments of the arch are made to break joint with one another by making the side-wall or column castings of two different heights, as shown in fig. 9. the length of each ring is 18 in. the reason for the adoption of this type of construction was the necessity for keeping the width of the permanent structure within the 60-ft. width of the street. the length of this twin structure is 28.5 ft., and the weight of the metal in it is as follows: 19 long-column arch rings at 22,802 lb. 433,238 lb. 19 short-column arch rings at 23,028 lb. 437,532 " ------ total weight 870,770 lb. _general type of river tunnel lining._--the main ruling type adopted for the tunnels under the hudson river, and in the soft water-bearing ground for some distance on the shoreward side of the river lines, consists of two parallel metal-lined tunnels, circular in cross-section, each tunnel being 23 ft. outside diameter, and the two tunnels 37 ft. apart from center to center, as shown on fig. 10. the metal lining is of cast iron (except for a few short lengths of cast steel) and of the usual segmental type, consisting of "rings" of iron, each ring being 2 ft. 6 in. in length, and divided by radial joints into eleven segments, or "plates," with one "key," or closing segment, having joints not radial but narrower at the outside circumference of the metal lining than at the inside. the whole structure is joined, segment to segment, and ring to ring, by mild-steel bolts passing through bolt holes in flanges of all four faces of each segment. the joints between the segments are made water-tight by a caulking of sal-ammoniac and iron borings driven into grooves formed for the purpose on the inner edges of the flanges. the clearances between the bolts and the bolt holes are also made water-tight by using grummets or rings of yarn smeared with red lead, having a snug fit over the shank of the bolt and placed below the washer on either end of each bolt. when passing through ground more or less self-sustaining, the space outside the iron lining (formed by the excavation being necessarily rather larger than the external diameter of the lining itself) was filled with grout of 1:1 portland cement and sand forced by air pressure through grout holes in each segment. these holes were tapped, and were closed with a screw plug before and after grouting. [illustration: details of manhattan shield chambers fig. 9.] having thus stated in a general way the main ruling features of the design, a detailed description of the various modifications of the ruling type will be given. [illustration: typical cross-section of ruling design of metal-lined shield-driven tunnels fig. 10.] the two main divisions of the iron lining are the "ordinary" or lighter type and the heavy type. the details of the ordinary iron are shown in fig. 11, which shows all types of lining. it was on this design that the contract was let, and it was originally intended that this should be the only type of iron used. the dimensions of the iron are clearly shown on the drawing, and it will be seen that the external diameter is 23 ft., the interior diameter, 21 ft. 2 in., the length of each ring, 2 ft. 6 in., and the thickness of the iron skin or web, 1â½ in. the bolt holes in the circumferential flanges are evenly spaced through the circle, so that adjacent rings may be bolted together in any relative position as regards the radial joints, and, as a matter of fact, in the erection of the tunnel lining, all the rings "break joint," with the exception of those at the bore segments, as will be described later. this type of iron, when the original type was modified, came to be known as the ordinary pocketless iron; that is, the weight is of the ordinary or lighter type, in contradistinction to the heavier one, which later supplanted it, and the caulking groove runs along the edges of the flanges and does not form pockets around the bolt holes, as did the groove in a later type. each ring is made up of eleven segments and a key piece. of these, nine have radial joints at both ends, and are called "_a_" segments; two, called "_b_" segments, have a radial joint at one end and a non-radial joint at the other. the non-radial joint is placed next to the key, which is 12.25 in. wide at the outside circumference of the iron and 12.50 in. wide at the inside. the web is not of uniform thickness. the middle part of each _a_ and _b_ segment is 1â½ in. thick; at the distance of 6 in. from the root of each flange, the thickness of web begins to increase, so that at the root it is 2-3/8 in. thick. the web of the key plate is 1â¾ in. thick. the bolts are of mild steel, and are 1â½ in. in diameter; there are 67 in one circumferential joint and 5 in each radial joint. as there are 12 such radial joints, there are altogether 60 bolts in the cross-joints, making a total of 127 bolts per ring. this original type of ordinary iron was modified for a special purpose as follows: it was known that for some distance on either side of the river, and especially at weehawken, the tunnels would pass through a gravel formation, rather open, and containing a heavy head of water. it was thought that, by carrying the caulking groove around the bolt holes, it would be possible to make them more water-proof than by the simple use of the red-leaded grummets. hence the "pocket iron" was adopted for this situation, the name being derived from the pocket-like recess which the caulking groove formed when extended around the bolt hole. the details of this lining are shown on fig. 11, and the iron (except for the pockets) is exactly like the pocketless type. [illustration: details of all types of metal linings used in subaqueous shield-driven tunnels fig. 11.] on the new york side, in both north and south tunnels, two short lengths were built with cast-steel lining. this was done where unusual stresses were expected to come on the lining, namely, at the point where the invert passed from firm ground to soft, and also where the tunnels passed under the heavy river bulkhead wall. the design was precisely the same as for the ordinary pocketless iron, and fig. 11 shows the details. after the tunnels had entered into the actual under-river portion, several phenomena (which will be described later) led to the fear that the tunnels, being lighter than the semi-liquid mud they displaced, might be subject to a buoyant action, and therefore a heavier type of lining was designed. the length of ring, number of bolts, etc., were just the same as for the lighter iron, but the thickness of the web was increased from 1â½ to 2 in., the thickness of the flanges was proportionately increased, and the diameter of the bolts was increased from 1â½ to 1â¾ in. this iron was all of the pocketless type, shown in fig. 11. table 18 gives the weights of the various types of lining. table 18.--weights of tunnel lining, diameter and weights of bolts, etc. +=========+===============+========+========+=======+========+========| |reference|type of lining.| weight | weight |weight | weight |diameter| |no. | | of one | of one |of one | of one | of | | | | "a" | "b" |key, in|complete| bolts, | | | |segment,|segment,|pounds.|ring, in| in | | | | in | in | |pounds. |inches. | | | |pounds. |pounds. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |---------+---------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+--------| |1 |ordinary cast | 2,063 | 2,068 | 480 | 23,183 | 1â½ | | |iron without | | | | | | | |caulking | | | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | |2 |ordinary cast | 2,038 | 2,043 | 469 | 22,897 | 1â½ | | |iron with | | | | | | | |caulking | | | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | |3 |ordinary cast | 2,247 | 2,252 | 522 | 25,249 | 1â½ | | |steel without | | | | | | | |caulking | | | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | |4 |heavy cast iron| 2,579 | 2,584 | 606 | 28,985 | 1â¾ | | |without | | | | | | | |caulking | | | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | +---------+---------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+--------+ +=========+===============+========+=======+=========+ |reference|type of lining.| weight |weight | total | |no. | | of 1 | of |weight of| | | | bolt, |bolts, |one ring | | | |nut, and| nuts, |(segments| | | | 2 | and | and | | | |washers,|washers| bolts), | | | | in | per | in | | | |pounds. | ring, | pounds. | | | | | in | | | | | |pounds.| | |---------+---------------+--------+-------+---------| |1 |ordinary cast | 6.62 | 840.7 | 24,024 | | |iron without | | | | | |caulking | | | | | |pockets. | | | | |2 |ordinary cast | 6.62 | 840.7 | 23,738 | | |iron with | | | | | |caulking | | | | | |pockets. | | | | |3 |ordinary cast | 6.62 | 840.7 | 26,090 | | |steel without | | | | | |caulking | | | | | |pockets. | | | | |4 |heavy cast iron| 10.50 |1,333.5| 30,319 | | |without | | | | | |caulking | | | | | |pockets. | | | | +---------+---------------+--------+-------+---------+ weights of various types of lining per linear foot of tunnel. +---------+---------------+--------------+-------------+---------------+ |reference|type of lining.|weights of |weights of |weights of | |no. | |complete rings|bolts, nuts, |segments and | | | |(segments |and washers, |bolts in tunnel| | | |only), in |in pounds. |complete, in | | | |pounds. | |pounds. | |---------+---------------+--------------+-------------+---------------| |1 |ordinary cast | 9,273.0 | 336.3 | 9,609.6 | | |iron without | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | | | | | |2 |ordinary cast | 9,158.8 | 336.3 | 9,495.2 | | |iron with | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | | | | | |3 |ordinary cast | 10,099.6 | 336.3 | 10,436.0 | | |steel without | | | | | |pockets. | | | | | | | | | | |4 |heavy cast iron| 11,594.0 | 533.4 | 12,127.6 | | |without | | | | | |pockets. | | | | +=========+===============+==============+=============+===============+ the weights in table 18 are calculated by assuming cast iron to weigh 450 lb. per cu. ft., and cast steel 490 lb. in actual practice the "ordinary" iron was found to weigh a little more than the weights given, and the "heavy" a little less. the silt in the sub-river portion averaged about 100 lb. per cu. ft., so that the weight of the silt displaced by the tunnel was about 41,548 lb. per lin. ft. _taper rings._--in order to pass around curves (whether horizontal or vertical), or to correct deviation from line or grade, taper rings were used; by this is meant rings which when in place in the tunnels were wider than the standard rings, either at one side (horizontal tapers or "liners"), or at the top ("depressors"), or at the bottom ("elevators"). in the original design a â½-in. taper was called for, that is, the wide side of the ring was â½ in. wider than the narrow side, which was of the standard width of 2 ft. 6 in. as a matter of fact, during construction, not only â½-in., but â¾-in. and 1-in. tapers were often used. these taper rings necessitated each plate having its own unalterable position in the ring, hence each plate of the taper ring was numbered, so that no mistake could be made during erection. the taper rings were made by casting a ring with one circumferential flange much thicker than usual, and then machining off this flange to the taper. this was not only much cheaper than making a special pattern for each plate, but made it possible to see clearly where and what tapers were used in the tunnel. taper rings were provided for all kinds of lining (except the cast steel), and the lack of taper steel rings was felt when building the steel-lined parts of the tunnel, as nothing could be done to remedy deviations from line or grade until the steel section was over and cast iron could again be used. table 19 gives the weights of the different kinds of tapers used. table 19.--weights of cast-iron taper rings, in pounds per complete ring. =================================+====================================== classification. |weight of cast iron per complete ring, | in pounds. ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- ordinary pocketless â½ in. taper| 23,767.7 " " 1 " " | 24,352.4 " pocket â½ " " | 23,481.7 heavy pocketless â½ in. taper | 29,564.8 " " â¾ " " | 29,854.7 " " 1 " " | 30,144.6 =================================+======================================= _cast-steel bore segments and accessories._--the following feature of these tunnels is different from any hitherto built. it was the original intention to carry the rolling load independent of the tunnel, or to assist the support of the silt portion of the structure by a single row of screw-piles, under each tunnel, and extending down to firmer ground than that through which the tunnels were driven. therefore, provision had to be made whereby these piles could be put down through the invert of the tunnel with no exposure of the ground. [illustration: details of bore segments and accessories used in subaqueous shield driven tunnels fig. 12.] this provision was afforded by the "bore segments," which are shown in detail in fig. 12. there are two segments, called no. 1 and no. 2, respectively. these two segments are bolted together in the bottom of two adjacent rings, and thus form a "pile bore." as the piles were to be kept at 15-ft. centers, and as the tunnel rings were 2 ft. 6 in. in length, it will be seen that, between each pair of bore-segment rings, there came four "plain" rings. the plain rings were built up so that the radial joints broke joint from ring to ring, but with the bore-segment rings this could not be done, without unnecessarily adding to the types of segments. the bore segments were made of cast steel, and were quite complicated castings, the principle, however, was quite simple. the segments provided an opening just a little larger than the shaft of the pile, the orifice being 2 ft. 7 in. in diameter at the smallest (lowest) point, while the shaft of the pile was to be 2 ft. 5â¼ in. in order to allow of the entry of the screw-blade or helix of the pile, a slot was formed in the depth of bore segment no. 1, so that, when a pile was put in position above the bore, the blade, when revolved, would enter the slot and thus pass under the metal lining, although the actual orifice was only slightly larger than the pile shaft. the wall of the pile orifice in segment no. 2 was made lower than that in no. 1 so as to allow the blade to enter the slot in segment no. 1. when the pile is not actually in process of being sunk, this lower height in no. 2 is made up with the removable "distance piece." this had a tongue at one end which engaged in a recess cast to take it in segment no. 2 and was held in place by a key piece at the other end of the distance piece. details of the distance piece and key are shown in fig. 12. the flanges around the pile bore were made flat and furnished with twelve tapped holes, six in segment no. 1 and six in segment no. 2, for the purpose of attaching the permanent arrangements in conjunction with which the pile was to be attached to the track system, independently of the tunnel shell, or directly to the tunnel. it was never decided which of these alternatives would be used, for, before this decision was reached, it was agreed that, at any rate for the present, it was better not to put down piles at all. to close the bore, the "bore plug" was used. this is shown on fig. 12. it was of cast steel, and was intended to act as a permanent point of the screw-pile, that is, the blade section was to be attached to the bore plug, the distance piece and key were to be removed, and the pile was to be rotated until the blade had cleared the slot; the distance piece and key were then to be replaced and sinking resumed. the plug was held in place against the pressure of the silt by the two "dogs," while the dogs themselves were attached to the tunnel, as shown in fig. 12. the ends of the dogs, which rested on the flanges of the metal lining of the tunnel, were prevented from being knocked off the flanges (and thus releasing the plug) by steel clips. it was expected that it might be desirable to keep the lower end of the piles open during their sinking, so that the bore plugs were not made permanently closed, but a seating was formed on the inner circumference of the plug, and on the seating was placed the "plug cover," made of cast iron, 18â¾ in. in diameter and 3 in. thick, furnished with a lug for lifting and a 3-in. tapped hole closed by a screw-plug, through which any soundings or samples of ground could be taken prior to sinking the piles. this plug cover was held in place by a heavy steel "yoke" under it, which engaged on the under side of the flange, on top of which the cover was set. the yoke was attached to the cover by a 1â¾-in. tap-bolt, screwed into the yoke and passing through a 2-in. hole bored in the center of the cover. this rather peculiar mode of attaching the cover was adopted so that the cover could be removed by taking off the nut of the yoke, in case it was desired to open the end of the pile during the process of sinking. the plug was a fairly close fit at the bottom of the orifice, that is, at the outside circumference of the tunnel, where the bore was 2 ft. 7 in. in diameter and the plug 2 ft. 6â¾ in., but at the top of the bore-segment there was more clearance, as the plug was cylindrical while the bore tapered outward. to fill this space, it was intended that steel wedges should be used while the shield was being driven, so that they would withstand the crushing action of the thrusting shield, and, when the shield was far enough ahead, that they should be removed and replaced by hardwood wedges. this method was only used in the early weeks of the work; the modification of not using the shield-jacks which thrust against the bore segments was then introduced, and the wooden wedges were put in, when the bore plugs were set in place, and driven down to the stage of splitting. when it was resolved not to sink the screw-piles, the bores had to be closed before putting in the concrete lining. this was done by means of the covers shown in fig. 13. the bore plug and all its attachments were removed, and the flat steel cover, 2 in. thick and with stiffening webs on the under side, was placed over the circular flanges of the pile bore. the cover was attached to the bore segments by twelve 1â½-in. stud-bolts, 6 in. long, in the bolt holes already mentioned as provided on these flanges. when these were in place, with lead grummets under the heads of the bolts, and the grooves caulked, the bore segments were water-tight, except in bore segment no. 2, at the joint of the distance piece; and, to keep water from entering here, this segment was filled to the level of the top of the flanges with 1:1 portland cement mortar. [illustration: subaqueous tunnels cover for bore segments fig. 13.] the weights of the various parts of the bore segments are given in table 20. table 20.--weights of bore segments and accessories, in pounds. ====================+=====+==================================== part. | no. | material. | weight, in pounds. --------------------+-----+---------------+------------------- bore segment no. 1 | 1 | cast steel | 3,004.0 bore segment no. 2 | 1 | " " | 2,628.0 distance piece | 1 | " " | 423.5 key | 1 | " " | 34.3 plug | 1 | " " | 1,192.5 yoke | 1 | " " | 57.3 dogs | 2 | " " | 106.0 slot cover | 1 | rolled steel | 6.4 plug cover | 1 | cast iron | 162.0 dog holders | 2 | rolled steel | 6.4 --------------------+-----+---------------+------------------- complete weight of one pair, without bolts| 7,620.4 ==========================================+==================== _sump segments._--in order to provide sumps to collect the drainage and leakage water in the subaqueous tunnels, special "sump segments" were installed in each tunnel at the lowest point--about station 241 + 00. the details of the design are shown in fig. 14. the segment was built into the tunnel invert as though it were an ordinary "_a_" segment. in building the sump, three lining castings were bolted, one on top of the other, and attached to the flat upper surface of the sump segment; meanwhile, the bolts attaching the sump segment to the adjacent tunnel plates were taken out and the plate and lining segments were forced through the soft mud by hydraulic jacks, the three 6-in. holes in the bottom of the sump segment being opened in order to minimize the resistance. the sump when built appeared as shown in fig. 14, the top connection being made with a special casting, as shown. the capacity of each sump is 500 gal., which is about the quantity of water entering the whole length of each subaqueous tunnel in 24 hours. _cross-passages._--when the contract was let, provision was made for cross-passages between the tubular tunnels, in the form of special castings to be built into the tunnel lining at intervals. however, the idea was given up, and these castings were not made. later, however, after tunnel building had started, the question was raised again, and it was thought that such cross-connections would be very useful to the maintenance forces, that it might be possible to build them safely, and that their subsequent construction would be made much easier if some provision were made for them while the shields were being driven. it was therefore arranged to build, at intervals of about 300 ft., two consecutive rings in each tunnel, at the same station in each tunnel, with their longitudinal flanges together, instead of breaking joint, as was usually done. the keys of these rings were displaced twelve bolt holes from their normal positions toward the other tunnel. this brought the keys about 6 ft. above the bench, so that if they were removed, together with the _b_ plates below them, an opening of about 5 by 7 ft. would be left in a convenient position with regard to the bench. [illustration: details of sumps in subaqueous tunnels at station 241 fig. 14.] nothing more was done until after the tunnels were driven. it was then decided to limit the cross-passages between the tubular tunnels to the landward side of the bulkhead walls. they were arranged as follows: three on the new york side, at stations 203 + 22, 206 + 80, and 209 + 80, and two on the new jersey side, at stations 255 + 46 and 260 + 14. the cross-passages are square in cross-section. table 21.--weights of sump segments. ====================+=====+===============+==================== part. | no. | material. | weight, in pounds. --------------------+-----+---------------+------------------- middle top casting | 1 | cast steel | 880 end top castings | 2 | " " | 1,718 lining castings | 3 | " " | 18,232 sump segment | 1 | cast iron | 3,560 --------------------+-----+---------------+------------------- total weight per sump, exclusive of bolts | 24,390 ==========================================+==================== _turnbuckle reinforcement for cast-iron segments._--during the period of construction, a certain number of cast-iron segments, mostly in the roof, but in some cases at manhattan in the invert, behind the river lines, became cracked owing to uneven pressures of the ground. before the concrete lining was put in, considerable discussion occurred as to the wisest course to pursue with regard to these broken plates. it was finally thought best not to take the plates out, as more harm than good might be done, but to reinforce them with turnbuckles, as shown in fig. 15. the number of broken segments was distributed as follows: north manhattan tunnel 87, chiefly in silt (not under the river), south manhattan tunnel 7, chiefly in silt ( " " " " ), north weehawken tunnel 24, chiefly in sand ( " " " " ), south weehawken tunnel 48, chiefly in silt, under the fowler warehouse. the chief features of the tunnel lining have now been described, and, before giving any account of the methods of work, it will be well to mention briefly the salient features of the concrete lining which is placed within the actual lining. design of concrete lining. this concrete lining will be considered and described in the following order: the new york shield chambers, standard cross-section of concrete lining of shield-driven tunnels, final lines and grades, and how obtained, steel rod reinforcement of concrete, cross-passage lining, special provision for surveys and observations. [illustration: subaqueous tunnels turnbuckles and rods reinforcing tunnel segments fig. 15.] _the new york shield chambers._--the cross-section of the concrete lining of these chambers is shown by plate xxxii, referred to in the land tunnel section. they are of the twin-tunnel double-bench type. the deep space beneath the floor is used as a sump for drainage, and manholes for access to the cable conduits are placed in the benches. [illustration: types of concrete lining of shield-driven tunnels. fig. 16.] _standard cross-section of concrete lining of shield-driven tunnels._--the cross-section of the concrete lining of the tube tunnel is shown in fig. 16. there are two main types, one extending from the shield chambers to the first bore segment, that is, to where the tunnel leaves solid ground and passes into silt, and the other which extends the rest of the way. the first type has a drain in the invert, the second has not. the height from the top of the rail to the soffit of the arch being less than 16 ft. 11 in., overhead pockets for the suspension of electrical conductors were set in the concrete arch on the vertical axis line at 10-ft. centers. these pockets are shown in fig. 16. the benches are utilized for the cable conduits in the usual way. ladders are provided on one side at 25-ft. and on the other side at 50-ft. intervals, to give access from the track level to the top of the benches. refuge niches for trackmen are placed at 25-ft. intervals on the single-way conduits side only, as there is not enough room in front of the 4-way ducts. manholes for giving access to the cable conduits, both power, and telephone and telegraph, are at 400-ft. intervals. _final lines and grades, and how obtained._--it may be well to explain here how the final lines and grades for the track, and therefore for the concrete lining, were obtained and determined. it is first to be premised that the standard cross-section of the tunnel (that is, of the concrete and iron lining combined) is not maintained throughout the tunnel. in other words, the metal lining is of course uniform, or practically so, throughout; the interior surface of the concrete lining is also uniform from end to end, but the metal lining, owing to the difficulty of keeping the shields, and hence the tunnels built within them, exactly on the true line and grade, is not on such lines and grades; the concrete lining is built exactly on the pre-arranged lines and grades, consequently, the relative positions of the concrete and metal linings vary continually along the length of the structure, according to whether the metal lining is higher or lower than it should be, further to the north or to the south, or any combination of these. as before stated, it was strongly desired to encroach as little as possible on the standard 2-ft. concrete arch, and after some discussion it was decided that a thickness of 1 ft. 6 in. was the thinnest it was advisable to allow. this made it possible to permit the metal lining of the tunnel to be 6 in. lower, in respect to the level of the track at any point, than the standard section shows, and also allowed the center line of the track to have an eccentricity of 6 in. either north or south of the center line of the tunnel. this only left to be settled the extent to which the metal lining might be higher in respect to the track than that shown on the standard section. this amount was governed by the desirability of keeping sufficient clearance between the top of the rail and the iron lining in the invert to admit of the attachment of pile foundations and all the accompanying girder-track system which would necessarily be caused by the use of piles, should it ever become apparent after operation was begun, that, after all, it was essential to have the tunnels supported in this way. careful studies were made of the clearance necessary, and it was decided that 4 ft. 9 in. was the minimum allowable depth from the top of the rail to the outside of the iron at the bottom. this meant that the iron lining could be 3 in. higher, with respect to the track level, than that shown on the standard section. all the determining factors for fixing the best possible lines and grades for the track within the completed metal lining were now at hand. in march, 1908, careful surveys of plan and elevation were made of the tunnels at intervals of 25 ft. throughout. the following operations were then performed to fix on the best lines and grades: first, for line: it has been explained that the permissible deviation of the center line of the track on either side of the center line of the tunnel was 6 in. had the metal lining been invariably of the true diameter, it would have been necessary to survey only one side of the tunnel; this would have given a line parallel to the center line, and might have been plotted as such; then, by setting off 6 in. on either side of this line, there would have been obtained a pair of parallel lines within which the center line of the track must lie. owing to variations in the diameter of the tunnel, however, such a method was not permissible, and therefore the following process was used: when running the survey lines through the tunnel (which were the center lines used in driving the shields), offsets were taken to the inner edges of the flanges of the metal lining, both on the north and south sides, at axis level at each 25-ft. interval. on the plat on which the survey lines were laid down, and at each point surveyed, a distance was laid off to north and south equal to the following distances: offset, as measured in the tunnel to north (or south), minus 10.08 ft. this 10.08 ft. (or 10 ft, 1 in.) represents 10 ft. 7 in., the true radius to inside of iron, minus 6 in., the permissible lateral deviation of the track from the axis of the tunnel. the result of this process was two lines, one on either side of the survey lines, not parallel to it or to each other, but approaching each other when the horizontal diameter was less than the true diameter, receding from each other when the diameter was more, and exactly 12 in. apart when the diameter was correct. as long as the center line of the track lay entirely within these two limiting lines, the condition that the concrete arch should not be 6 in. less in thickness than the standard 2 ft. was satisfied, and in order to arrive at the final line, the longest possible tangents that would be within these limits were adopted as the final lines; and, as the survey lines were those used in driving the tunnel shields (that is, the lines to which it was intended that the track should be built), the amount by which the new lines thus obtained deviated from the survey lines was a measure of the deviation of the finally adopted track and concrete line from the original contract lines. next, for grades: the considerations for grade were very similar to those for line. if the vertical diameter of the tunnel had been true at each 25-ft. interval surveyed, it would have been correct to plot the elevations of the crown (or invert) as a longitudinal section of the tunnel, and to have set up over those points others 6 in. above (as the metal lining could have been 6 in. lower than the standard section, which is equivalent to the track being an equal amount higher), and below these crown or invert elevations others 3 in. lower (as the metal lining could be 3 in. higher). then, by joining the points 6 in. above in one line and those 3 in. below in another, there would have been obtained lines of limitation between which the track grades must lie. however, as the tunnel diameter was not uniformly correct, a modification of this method had to be made, as in the case of the line determination, the principle, however, remaining the same. the elevations were taken on the inner edges of the circumferential flanges of the metal lining, not only in the bottom, but also in the top, of the tunnel, at each 25-ft. interval; then, for the upper limit of the track at each such interval the following was plotted: elevation of inner edge of flange at top, minus 16.58 ft. this 16.58 ft. (or 16 ft. 7 in.) was obtained thus: the standard height from the top of the rail to the inner edge of the iron flange is 17 ft. 1 in., but, as the track may be 6 in. above the standard or normal, the minimum height permissible is 16 ft. 7 in. for the lower limit of track at each 25-ft. interval the following was plotted: elevation of inner edge of flange at bottom, plus 3.83 ft. this 3.83 ft. (or 3 ft. 10 in.) was obtained thus: the standard height from the top of the rail to the inner edge of the iron flange is 4 ft. 1 in. (5 ft. to outside of iron, less 11 in. for depth of flange), but, as the track may be 3 in. below the standard, the minimum height permissible is 4 ft, 1 in. less 3 in., or 3 ft. 10 in. by plotting the elevations thus obtained, two lines were obtained which were not parallel but were closer together or further apart according as the actual vertical diameter was less or greater than the standard, and the track grade had to lie within these two lines in order to comply with the requirements indicated above. the results of these operations for the north tunnel are shown on plate xxxvi. the greatest deviations between the lines and grades in the subaqueous tunnels as determined by these means and those as originally laid out in the contract drawings are on the weehawken side, and were caused by the unexpected behavior of the tunnel when the shields were driven "blind" into the silt, causing a rise which could not be overcome, and the thrusting aside of one tunnel by the passage of the neighboring one. had this unfortunate incident not occurred, it is clear that it would have been possible to adhere very closely indeed to the contract lines and grades, although the deviation is small, considering all things. the internal outline of the concrete cross-section is uniform throughout, and is built on the lines and grades thus described. _steel rod reinforcement of concrete._--the original intention had been to line the metal lining of the tube tunnels with plain concrete, but, as the discussion on the foundation question continued, it was felt advisable, while still it was intended to put in the foundations, to guard against any stresses which were likely to come on the structure, by using a system of steel rods embedded circumferentially within the concrete. designs were made on this basis, and even the necessary material prepared, before the decision to omit the piles altogether was reached. however, in order to provide a safeguard for the structure where it is partly or wholly beyond the solid rock, it was decided to use reinforcement, even with the piles omitted. for this purpose the tunnel was considered as a girder, and longitudinal reinforcement was provided at the top and bottom. the top reinforcement extends from a point 25 ft. behind the point where the crown of the tunnel passes out of rock on the new york side to where the crown passes into rock on the new jersey side. the bottom reinforcement extends from where the invert of the tunnel passes out of rock on the new york side to where it passes into rock on the new jersey side. the reinforcement both at top and bottom consists of twenty 1-in. square twisted rods, ten placed symmetrically on either side of the vertical axis, 9 in. apart from center to center and set 4 in. (to their centers) back from the face of the concrete. as a further precaution, circumferentially-placed rods were used on the landward side of the river lines, mainly to assist in preventing the distortion of shape which might occur here, either under present conditions, such as under the fowler warehouse at weehawken, or under any possible different future conditions, such as might be brought about by building some new structure in the vicinity of the tunnels. for purposes of classification of the circumferential reinforcement, the tunnel was divided into two types, "_b_" and "_c_"; (type "_a_" covering the portion which, being wholly in solid rock, was not reinforced at all). type "_b_" covers the part of the tunnels on both sides of the river lying between the point where the top of the tunnel passes out of rock and the point where the invert passes out of rock on the manhattan side, or out of gravel on the weehawken side. the reinforcement consists of twenty 1-in. square longitudinal rods in the crown of the tunnel, as described for the general longitudinal reinforcement, together with 1-in. square circumferential rods at 10-in. centers, and extending over the arch to 2 ft. 3 in. below the horizontal axis. type "_c_" extends from the latter limit of type "_b_" to the river line on each side, and consists of longitudinal reinforcement in both top and bottom, as described before, together with circumferential reinforcement entirely around the tunnel, and formed of 1-in. square twisted rods at 15-in. centers. type "_d_" consists of longitudinal reinforcement only, and extends from river line to river line, thus occupying 72.5% of the length in which concrete is used. the reinforcement consists of twenty 1-in. twisted rods at 9-in. centers in the crown, and twenty 1-in. rods at 9-in. centers in the invert. in addition to the three standard types, "_b_," "_c_," and "_d_," there were two sub-types which were used in type "_d_," and in conjunction with it wherever the thickness of the center of the concrete arch became less than 1 ft. 6 in., measuring to the outside of the metal lining. this thickness was one of the limits used in laying out the lines and grades, and in general the arch was not less than this. there were one or two short lengths, however, where it was less, for, if the arch thickness requirement had been adhered to, it would have resulted in a break of line or grade for the sake of perhaps only a few feet of thin arch, and it was here that the sub-types came into play. sub-type 1 was used where the arch was less than 1 ft. 6 in. thick at the top. the extra reinforcement here consisted of 1-in. square twisted rods, 16 ft. long, laid circumferentially in the crown at 10-in. centers. sub-type 2 was used where the arch was less than 1 ft. 6 in. thick at the side. the extra reinforcement here consisted of 1-in. square twisted rods, 16 ft. long, laid circumferentially, at the side on which the concrete was thin, at 10-in. centers. very little of either of these two sub-types was used. the entire scheme is shown graphically and clearly on plate xxxvii. _cross-passage lining._--there are two main types of cross-passages: lined with steel plates, and unlined. there is only one example of lining with steel plates, namely, the most western one at weehawken. this is built in rock which carried so much water that, in order to keep the tunnels and the passage dry, it was decided to build a concrete-lined passage, without attempting to stop the flow of water, and within this to place a riveted steel lining, not in contact with the concrete, but with a space between the two. this space was drained and the water led back to the shield chamber and thence to the weehawken shaft sump. the interior of the steel lining is covered with concrete. in the passages not lined with steel plates the square concrete lining is rendered on the inside with a water-proof plaster. each of the passages is provided with a steel door. _provisions in concrete lining for surveys and observations._--the long protracted discussion as to the provision for foundations in these tunnels led to many surveys, tests, and observations, which were carried out during the constructive period, and, as it was desired to continue as many of these observations as possible up to and after the time when traffic started, certain provisions were made in the concrete lining whereby these requirements might be fulfilled. the chief points on which information was desired were as follows: the change in elevation of the tunnel, the change in lateral position of the tunnel, the change in shape of the tunnel, the tidal oscillation of the tunnel. a detailed account of these observations will be found in another paper on this work, but it may be said now that it was very desirable to be able to get this information independently of the traffic as far as possible, and therefore provision was made for carrying on the observations from the side benches. for studying the changes in level of the tunnel, a permanent bench-mark is established in each tunnel where it is in the solid rock and therefore not subject to changes of elevation; throughout the tunnel, brass studs are set in the bench at intervals of about 300 ft. a series of levels is run every month from the stable bench-mark on each of these brass plugs, thus obtaining an indication of the change of elevation that the tunnels have undergone during the month. these results are checked on permanent bench-marks in the subaqueous portion of the tunnels. these consist of rods, encased in pipes of larger diameter, which extend down through the tunnel invert into the bed-rock below the tunnel. leakage is kept out by a stuffing-box in the invert. by measuring between a point on these rods where they pass through the invert and the tunnel itself a direct reading of the change of elevation of the tunnel is obtained. these measurements are taken at weekly intervals, and, as the tunnels are subject to tidal influences, being lower at high tide than at low tide, are always taken under the same conditions as to height of water in the river. these permanent bench-marks are at stations 209 + 05 and 256 + 02 (about 100 ft. on the shoreward side of the river line in each case) in the south tunnel, at stations 220 + 00 and 243 + 86, also in the south tunnel, and at station 231 + 78 in the north tunnel. in order to study the lateral change of position, a base line was established on the side bench at each end of each tunnel in the portion built through the solid rock. at intervals of about 300 ft. throughout each tunnel, alignment pockets are formed in the concrete arch, also above the bench, on the south bench of the north tunnel and the north bench of the south tunnel. in each pocket is placed a graduated and verniered brass bar, so that, when the base line is projected on these bars, the lateral movement of the tunnel can be read directly. as it was desirable to have as much cross-connection as possible between the tunnels at the points where the instruments were to be set up, five of the main survey stations were set opposite each of the five cross-passages. then, for the purpose of increasing the cross-connection still further, pipes 6 in. in diameter were put through from one tunnel to the other at axis level at stations 220 + 60, 231 + 78, 234 + 64, 241 + 99, and 251 + 13, and a survey station was put in opposite each one. points were established at station 220 + 00, which is the point of intersection for the curve on the original center line of the tunnel, and also at station 220 + 23, where the intersection of the track center line comes in the north tunnel. as it was desirable to have the survey stations not much more than 300 ft. apart, so as to obtain clear sights, other stations were established so that the distances between survey stations were at about that interval. for studying changes of shape in the tunnel, brass "diameter markers" were inserted at each survey station in the concrete lining at the extremities of the vertical and horizontal axes. these were pieces of brass bar, 3/8 in. in diameter and 6 in. long, set in the concrete and projecting 5/8 in. into the tunnel, so that a tape could be easily held against the marker and read. for obtaining the tidal oscillation of elevation of the tunnel, recording gauges are attached to the invert of the tunnel at each of the five permanent bench-marks referred to above in such a way that the recording pencil of the gauge is actuated by the rod of the permanent bench-mark. a roll of graduated paper is driven by clock-work below the recording pencil which thus marks automatically the relative movement between the moving tunnel and the stable rods. these have shown that in the subaqueous part of the tunnel there is a regular tidal fluctuation of elevation, the tunnel moving down as the tide rises, and rising again when the tide falls. for an average tide of about 5 ft. the tunnel oscillation would be about 1/8 in. before the concrete lining was placed, there was a tidal change in the shape of the tunnel, which flattened about 1/64 in. at high tide. after the concrete lining was placed, this distortion seemed to cease. the general design and plan of the work have been described, and before giving any account of the contractor's methods in carrying it out, table 22, showing the chief quantities of work in the river tunnels, is presented. methods of construction. the following is an account of the methods used by the contractor in carrying out the plans which have already been described. first, it may be well to point out the sequence of events as they developed in this work. these events may be divided into six periods. _1._--excavation and iron lining: june, 1903, to november, 1906; _2._--caulking and grummeting the iron lining: november, 1906, to june, 1907; _3._--surveys, tests and observations: april, 1907, to april, 1908; _4._--building cross-passages and capping pile bores: april, 1908, to november, 1908; _5._--placing the concrete lining: november, 1908, to june, 1909; _6._--cleaning up and various small works: june, 1909, to november, 1909. the tunnels were under an average air pressure of 25 lb. per sq. in. above normal for all except periods 5 and 6, during which times there was no air pressure in the tunnels. all the work will be described in this paper except that under period 3 which will be found in another paper. _period 1.--excavation and iron lining, june, 1903, to november, 1906._--table 23 gives the chief dates in connection with this period. _manhattan shield chambers._--the manhattan shield chamber construction will be first described. the weehawken shield chambers have been described under the land tunnel section, as they are of the regular masonry-lined land tunnels type, whereas the manhattan chambers are of segmental iron lining with a concrete inner lining. during the progress of excavation, the location of the new york shield chambers was moved back 133 ft., as previously described in the "land tunnel" section, and when the location had been finally decided, there was a middle top heading driven all through the length now occupied by the shield chamber. narrow cross-drifts were taken out at right angles to the top heading, and from the ends of these the wall-plate headings were taken out. heavy timbering was used, as the rock cover was only about 6 ft., and the whole span to be covered was 60 ft. the process adopted was to excavate and timber the north side first, place the iron lining, and then excavate the south side, using the iron of the north side as the supports for the north ends of the segmental timbering of the south. the only incident of note was that at 2:00 a.m., on october 20th, 1904, the rock at the west end of the south wall-plate heading was pierced. water soon flooded the workings, and considerable disturbance was caused in the new york central railroad yard above. the cavity on the surface was soon filled in, but to stop the flow of mud and water was quite a troublesome job. table 22.--quantities of work in subaqueous tunnels. ============================+========================================= | type. |----------+--------------+--------------+ description, quantity, |manhattan | cast iron, | cast iron, | length, etc. |shield | ordinary | ordinary | |chambers. | pocketless. | pocket. | ----------------------------+----------+--------------+--------------+ length, in feet. | 59.00| 4,374.99 | 2,146.3 | ----------------------------+----------+--------------+--------------+ excavation, in cubic yards. | | | | total. | 1,884 | 67,344 | 33,038 | per linear foot. | 31.9 | 15.4 | 15.4 | cast-iron tunnel lining, | | | | in pounds. | | | | total. |847,042 |39,643,120 |19,715,405 | per linear foot. | 14,357 | 9,061 | 9,186 | cast-steel tunnel lining, | | | | in pounds. | | | | total. | | 1,544,962 | 757,938 | per linear foot. | | 353.1 | 353.1 | steel bolts and washers, | | | | in pounds. | | | | total. | 23,627 | 1,475,991 | 724,095 | per linear foot. | 400.46| 337.37 | 397.00 | rust joints, in linear feet.| | | | total. | 3,376 | 170,755 | 83,935 | per linear foot. | 57.2 | 39.0 | 39.1 | concrete, in cubic yards. | | | | total. | 766 | 20,030 | 9,827 | per linear foot. | 12.98| 4.58 | 4.58 | steel beams, plates, etc., | | | | in pounds. | | | | total. | 12,346 | 83,774 | 41,098 | per linear foot. | 2,092.5 | 19.1 | 19.1 | steel bolts, hooks, etc., | | | | in pounds. | | | | total. | 1,328 | 36,980 | 18,142 | per linear foot. | 22.5 | 84.5 | 84.5 | expanded metal, in pounds. | | | | total. | 594 | 2,215 | 1,086 | per linear foot. | 10.07| 0.506| 0.506| vitrified conduits, in | | | | duct feet. | | | | total. | 2,560 | 235,903 | 115,728 | per linear foot. | 43.49| 53.92 | 53.92 | ============================+==========+==============+==============+ ============================+========================================== | |--------------+-------------+------------ description, quantity, | cast iron, | cast steel, | length, etc. | heavy | ordinary | total. | pocketless. | pocketless. | ----------------------------+--------------+-------------+------------ length, in feet. | 5,522.05 | 152.66 |12,255.00 ft. ----------------------------+--------------+-------------+------------ excavation, in cubic yards. | | | total. | 85,001 | 2,349 | 189,616 per linear foot. | 15.4 | 15.4 | cu. yd. cast-iron tunnel lining, | | | in pounds. | | | total. |61,559,845 | | 121,765,412 per linear foot. | 11,148 | | lb. cast-steel tunnel lining, | | | in pounds. | | | total. | 2,730,905 |1,549,711 | 6,583,516 per linear foot. | 494.5 | 10,151.4 | lb. steel bolts and washers, | | | in pounds. | | | total. | 2,935,455 | 51,266 | 5,210,434 per linear foot. | 581.59 | 335.82 | lb. rust joints, in linear feet.| | | total. | 218,656 | 5,996 | 482,718 per linear foot. | 39.6 | 39.3 | ft. concrete, in cubic yards. | | | total. | 25,282 | 713 | 56,618 per linear foot. | 4.58 | 4.58 | cu. yd. steel beams, plates, etc., | | | in pounds. | | | total. | 105,738 | 7,432 | 250,388 per linear foot. | 19.1 | 48.7 | lb. steel bolts, hooks, etc., | | | in pounds. | | | total. | 46,675 | 1,471 | 104,596 per linear foot. | 84.5 | 96.4 | lb. expanded metal, in pounds. | | | total. | 2,795 | 62 | 6,752 per linear foot. | 0.506| 0.406| lb. vitrified conduits, in | | | duct feet. | | | total. | 297,752 | 7,757 | 659,700 per linear foot. | 53.92 | 50.81 | duct ft. ============================+==============+=============+============ table 23.--excavation and iron lining. ====================================+================+================| | north | north | | manhattan. | weehawken. | ------------------------------------+----------------+----------------| shaft and preliminary headings. | june 10, '03. | june 11, '03. | begun. | | | shaft and preliminary headings. |december 11, '03|september 1, '04| finished. | | | excavation of shield chamber. begun.| may 24, '04. |january 16, '05.| excavation of shield chamber. |january 21, '05.| march 25, '05. | finished. | | | cast-iron lining of shield chambers.|february 4, '05.| none. | begun. | | | cast-iron lining of shield chambers.| march 13, '05. | none. | finished. | | | excavation of tunnels begun before |october 17, '04.|january 13, '05.| installation of shield. | | | commenced building falsework for | march 6, '05. | march 23, '05. | shield. | | | shield parts received at shaft. | march 11, '05. | march 20, '05. | erection of shield begun. | march 13, '05. | march 27, '05. | erection of shield (structural | march 27, '05. | april 12, '05. | steel). finished. | | | erection of shield (hydraulic | may 11, '05. | may 25, '05. | fittings). finished. | | | first ring of permanent cast-iron | may 12, '05. | may 29, '05. | lining put in. | | | first air lock bulkhead wall. begun.| may 29, '05. | june 15, '05. | first air lock bulkhead wall. | june 7, '05. | june 23, '05. | finished. | | | air pressure first put in tunnel. | june 25, '05. | june 29, '05. | rock disappeared from invert of |december 1, '05.|october 31, '05.| tunnel. | | | first pair of bore segments built in|december 9, '05.|january 12, '06.| tunnel. | | | rip-rap of river bulkhead wall met. |february 8, '06.| none. | first pile met (in river bulkhead |february 18, '06|january 3, '06. | wall at manhattan, and fowler | | | warehouse foundation at weehawken). | | | last pile met. | march 2, '06. |february 5, '06.| first ring erected on river side of | march 3, '06. |february 6, '06.| shore line. | | | removing hood of shield. begun. | march 27, '06. |february 6, '06.| removing hood of shield. finished. | april 1, '06. |february 8, '06.| second air-lock bulkhead wall. | may 12, '06. | march 19, '06. | begun. | | | second air-lock bulkhead wall. | may 21, '06. | march 24, '06. | finished. | | | ------------------------------------+----------------+----------------| tunnel holed through with meeting | september 12, 1906. | tunnel. | | last ring of permanent cast-iron | october 9, 1906. | lining built in. | | ====================================+================+================| ====================================+================+================| | south | south | | manhattan. | weehawken. | ------------------------------------+----------------+----------------| shaft and preliminary headings. |june 10, '03. |june 11, '03. | begun. | | | shaft and preliminary headings. |december 11, |september 1, 04| finished. |'03. | | excavation of shield chamber. begun.|may 24, '04. |january 16, '05.| excavation of shield chamber. |may 13, '05. |april 19, '05. | finished. | | | cast-iron lining of shield chambers.|may 15, '05. |none. | begun. | | | cast-iron lining of shield chambers.|june 14, '05. |none. | finished. | | | excavation of tunnels begun before |january 5, '05. |january 25, '05.| installation of shield. | | | commenced building falsework for |june 19, '05. |april 17, '05. | shield. | | | shield parts received at shaft. |june 22, '05. |april 24, '05. | erection of shield begun. |june 22, '05. |april 24, '05. | erection of shield (structural |june 8, '05. |may 6, '05. | steel). finished. | | | erection of shield (hydraulic |august 27, '05. |june 13, '05. | fittings). finished. | | | first ring of permanent cast-iron |august 27, '05. |june 14, '05. | lining put in. | | | first air lock bulkhead wall. begun.|september 18, |june 21, '05. | |'05 | | first air lock bulkhead wall. |september 23, |july 3, '05. | finished. |'05 | | air pressure first put in tunnel. |october 6, '05. |july 8, '05. | rock disappeared from invert of |february 8, '06.|september 21, 05| tunnel. | | | first pair of bore segments built in|february 16, |december 12, '05| tunnel. |'06. | | rip-rap of river bulkhead wall met. |april 11, '06. |none. | first pile met (in river bulkhead |april 18, '06. |december 4, '06.| wall at manhattan, and fowler | | | warehouse foundation at weehawken). | | | last pile met. |may 1, '06. |january 9 '06. | first ring erected on river side of |may 9, '06. |january 19, '06.| shore line. | | | removing hood of shield. begun. |may 9, '06. |january 19, '06.| removing hood of shield. finished. |may 12, '06. |january 24, '06.| second air-lock bulkhead wall. |july 13, '06. |march 11, '06. | begun. | | | second air-lock bulkhead wall. |july 21, '06. |march 18, '06. | finished. | | | ------------------------------------+----------------+----------------| tunnel holed through with meeting | october 9, 1906. | tunnel. | | last ring of permanent cast-iron | november 18, 1906. | lining built in. | | ====================================+================+================+ the excavation was begun on may 24th, 1904, and finished on may 15th, 1905. the segments were placed by an erector consisting of a timber boom supported by cross-timbers running on car wheels on longitudinal timbers at each side of the tunnel. motion was transmitted to the boom by two sets of tackle, and the heavy (5,000-lb.) segments were easily handled. the erection of the lining was started on february 4th, 1905, and finished on june 14th, 1905. while the shield chambers were being excavated, bottom headings were run along the lines of the river tunnels and continued until the lack of rock cover prevented their being driven further. these were afterward enlarged to the full section as far as possible. the typical working force in the shield chambers was as follows: _ten-hour shifts._ _drilling and blasting._ 1 foreman @ $3.50 6 drillers " 3.00 6 drillers' helpers " 2.00 1 blacksmith " 3.50 1 blacksmith's helper " 2.25 1 powderman " 2.00 1 waterboy " 2.00 1 nipper " 2.00 1 machinist " 3.00 1 machinist's helper " 1.80 _mucking._ 1 or 2 foremen @ $3.00 16 muckers " 2.00 [illustration: plate xxxviii. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxvii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 1. fig. 2.] _erection of shields._--the tunneling shields have been described in some detail in the section of this paper dealing with the contractor's plant. they consist essentially of two parts, the structural steelwork and the hydraulic fittings. the former was made by the riter conley manufacturing company, of pittsburg, pa., and put up by the terry and tench company, of new york city; the hydraulic fittings were made and put in by the watson-stillman company, of new york city. on the new york side, the shields were built inside the iron lining of the shield chambers, hence no falsework was needed, as the necessary hoisting tackle could be slung from the iron lining; at weehawken, however, the erection was done in the bare rock excavation, so that timber falsework had to be used. the assembly and riveting took about 2 weeks for each shield; the riveting was done with pneumatic riveters, using compressed air direct from the tunnel supply. after the structural steel had been finished, the shields, which had hitherto been set on the floor of the chambers in order to give room for working over the top, were jacked up to grade; this involved lifting a weight of 113 tons. while the hydraulic fittings were being put in, the shields were moved forward on a cradle, built of concrete with steel rails embedded, on which the shield was driven for the length in which the tunnel was in solid rock. the installation of the hydraulic fittings took from 4 to 6 weeks per shield. the total weight of each finished shield was about 193 tons. the completed shield, as it appeared in the tunnel, is shown by fig. 1, plate xxxviii. the typical force working on shield erection was as follows: _ten-hour shifts._ _shield erection._ (_terry and tench._) 1 superintendent @ $13.00 per day 4 foremen " 5.50 " " 1 timekeeper " 2.50 " " 2 engineers " 4.50 " " 34 iron workers " 4.50 " " 7 laborers " 2.25 " " _hydraulic work._ (_watson-stillman company._) 4 mechanics @ $4.00 per day _general labor._ (_o'rourke engineering construction company._) 1 inspector @ $4.00 per day 1 foreman " 4.00 " " 8 laborers " 2.00 " " 1 engineer " 2.50 " " after the shield was finished and in position, the first two rings of the lining were erected in the tail of the shield. these first rings were then firmly braced to the rock and the chamber lining; then the shield was shoved ahead by its own jacks, another ring was built, and so on. the description of the actual methods of work in the shield-driven tunnels can now be given; this will be divided generally into the different kinds of conditions met at the working face, for example, full face of rock, mixed face, full face of sand and gravel, under river bulkhead, and full face of silt. the last heading is the one under which by far the longest length of tunnel was driven, and, as not much has hitherto appeared descriptive of the handling of a shield, through this material, considerable space will be devoted to it. _full face of rock._--as was described when dealing with the shield chambers, as much as possible of the rock excavation was done before the shields were installed. on the new york side, about 146 ft. of tunnel was completely excavated, with 71 ft. of bottom headings beyond that, and at weehawken, 58 and 40 ft. of tunnel and heading beyond, respectively. this was chiefly done to avoid handling the rock through the narrow shield doors. test holes were driven ahead at short intervals to make sure that the rock cover was not being lost, but, nevertheless, at weehawken, on february 14th, 1905, a blast broke through the rock and let the mud flow in, filling the tunnel for half its height for a distance of 300 ft. from its face. throughout the rock section the shield traveled on a cradle of concrete in which were embedded either two or three steel rails. in the portion in which the whole of the excavation had been taken out, it was only necessary to trim off projecting corners of rock. in the portion in which only a bottom heading had been driven, the excavation was completed just in front of the shield, the drilling below axis level being done from the heading itself, and above that from the front sliding platforms of the shield. the holes were placed near together and drilled short, and very light charges of powder were used, so as to lessen the chance of knocking the shield about too much. in this work the small shield doors hampered the work greatly, and it might have been well to have provided a larger bottom opening which could have been subdivided or partly closed when soft ground was met; on the other hand, the quantity thus handled was small, owing to the fact that the greater part of the rock was excavated before the shields were installed. the space outside the lining was grouted with a 1:1 mixture of portland cement and sand. large voids were hand-packed with stone before grouting. the details of grouting will be described later. a typical working gang is given herewith. two such gangs were worked per shield per 24 hours, 10 hours per shift. all this work was done under normal air pressure. _general:_ â½ tunnel superintendent @ $200.00 per month 1 assistant tunnel superintendent " 5.00 per day 1 general foreman " 5.00 " " â½ electrician " 3.50 " " â½ electrician's helper " 3.00 " " â½ pipefitter " 3.00 " " â½ pipefitter's helper " 2.75 " " _drilling:_ 1 foreman " 5.00 " " 3 drillers " 4.00 " " 3 drillers' helpers " 3.00 " " 1 nipper " 2.50 " " â½ waterboy " 2.50 " " â½ powderboy " 2.75 " " _mucking:_ 1 foreman " 3.50 " " 8 muckers " 2.75 " " _erecting iron and driving shield:_ 1 erector runner " 4.00 " " 3 iron workers " 3.00 " " the duties of such a gang were as follows: the tunnel superintendent looked after both shifts of one shield. the assistant or "walking boss" had charge of all work in the tunnel on one shift. the general foreman had charge of the labor at the face. the electricians looked after repairs, extensions of the cables, and lamp renewals. the pipefitters worked in both tunnels repairing leaks in pipes between the power-house and the working faces, extending the pipe lines, and attending to shield repairs, and in the latter work the erector runner helped. the drillers stuck to their own jobs, which were not subject to interruption as long as the bottom headings lasted. one waterboy and one powderboy served two tunnels. the muckers helped the iron men put up the rings of lining, as well as doing their own work. the iron men tightened bolts, whenever not actually building up iron. the list does not include the transportation gang, which will be described under its own heading. the rate of progress attained was 4.2 ft. per day per shield where most of the excavation had been done before, and 2.1 ft. where none had been done before. when the shields had got far enough away from the shield chamber, and before rock cover was lost, the first air-lock bulkhead walls were put in. _air-lock bulkhead walls._--the specifications required these walls and all their fittings to be strong enough to stand a pressure of 50 lb. per sq. in. accordingly, all the walls were of concrete, 10 ft. in thickness, except the first two, which were 8 ft. in thickness, and grouted up tight. there were three locks in each bulkhead wall capable of holding men, namely, the top or emergency lock which is set high in order to afford a safe means of getting away in case of a flood; this lock was used continuously for producing the lines and levels into the tunnels. it was very small and cramped for this purpose, and a larger one would have been better, both for lines and emergencies. this lock was directly connected with the overhead platform (also called for in the specifications) which ran the whole length of the tunnels. side by side, on the level of the lower or working platform of the tunnel, were the man lock and the muck lock. in addition a number of pipes were built in to give access to the cables and for passing pipes, rails, etc., in and out. after each tunnel was about 1,200 ft. ahead of the first walls, a second wall was built just like the first, and no others were put in, so that altogether there were eight walls. this second wall not only gave an added safeguard to the tunnel but enabled the air pressure at the working face to be divided between the two walls, and this compression or decompression in stages, separated by a spell of walking exercise, was found to be very good for the health of those working in the air. _mixed face._--when the rock cover became so thin that it was risky to go on without the air pressure, the air pressure was turned on, starting with from 12 to 18 lb., which was enough to stop the water from the gravel on top of the rock. at first, when the surface of the rock was penetrated, the soft face was held up by horizontal boards braced from the shield until the shield was shoved. the braces were then taken out and, as soon as the shield had been shoved, were replaced by others. as the amount of soft ground in the face increased, the system of timbering was gradually changed to one of 2-in. poling boards resting on top of the shield and supported at the face by vertical breast boards, in turn held by 6 by 6-in. walings braced both through the upper doors to the iron lining and from the sliding platforms of the shield. the latter were in their forward position before the shield was shoved, the pressure being turned off and the exhaust valves opened just before the shove began. as the shield went ahead, the platform jacks gradually exhausted and thus held enough pressure on the face to keep it up. fig. 17 is a sketch of this method. in driving through mixed ground a typical working gang was about as follows: _general:_ 1/3 tunnel superintendent @ $300.00 per month 1 assistant tunnel superintendent " 5.00 per day 1 general foreman " 5.00 " " â½ electrician " 3.50 " " â½ electrician's helper " 3.00 " " â½ pipefitter " 3.25 " " â½ pipefitter's helper " 3.00 " " _drilling:_ 1 foreman " 5.00 " " 2 drillers " 3.25 " " 2 drillers' helpers " 3.00 " " _timbering:_ 2 timbermen @ $2.50 per day 2 timbermen's helpers " 2.00 " " _mucking:_ 1 foreman " 3.50 " " 6 muckers " 2.75 " " _erecting iron and driving shield:_ 1 erector runner " 3.25 " " 3 iron workers " 3.00 " " the average rate of progress was 2.6 ft. per day. in this case there were three such gangs, each on an 8-hour shift. _full face of sand and gravel._--this condition of affairs was only met at weehawken. two systems of timbering were used. in the first system, fig. 17, the ground was excavated 2 ft. 6 in. ahead of the cutting edge, the roof being held by longitudinal poling boards, resting on the outside of the skin at their back end and on vertical breast boards at the forward end. when the upper part of the face was dry, it was held by vertical breast boards braced from the sliding platform and through the shield doors to cross-timbers in the tunnel; the lower part, which was always wet, was held by horizontal breast boards braced through the lower shield pockets to cross-timbers in the tunnel. this system worked all right as long as the ground in the top was sandy enough and had sufficient cohesion to allow the polings to be put in, but, when the upper part was in gravel, thus making it impossible to put in the longitudinal polings or the vertical breasting, the second system came in. here the excavation was only carried 1 ft. 3 in. (half a shove) ahead of the cutting edge, and the longitudinal polings were replaced by transverse boards supported by pipes which were placed in the holes provided in the shield to accommodate some telescopic poling struts which had been designed but not made. these pipes acted as cantilevers, and were in two parts, a 2â½-in. pipe wedged tight into the holes and smaller pipes sliding inside them. after a small section of the ground had been excavated, a board was placed against it, one of the pipes was drawn out under it, and wedges were driven between it and the board. these polings were kept below the level of the hood, so that when the shield was shoved they would come inside of it; in addition, they were braced with vertical posts from the sliding platforms. the upper part of the face was held by longitudinal breast boards braced from the sliding platform by vertical "soldier" pieces. the lower part of the face was supported by vertical sheet-piling braced to the tunnel through the lower doors. sometimes two rows of piling were used, but generally one, as shown in fig. 17. notwithstanding the fact that the breasting was only 1 ft. 3 in. ahead of the hood, the shield was moved its full stroke of 2 ft. 6 in., the ground around the cutting edge of the hood being scraped away by men working bars in the place from which the temporary breast boards at the circumference had been removed. the back pressure on the sliding platform jacks, when the exhaust valves were only partly open, offered a good deal of resistance, and held the face as long as the movement of the shield was continuous. [illustration: method of timbering face in mixed ground method of timbering face in sand method of timbering face in sand and gravel fig. 17.] on one occasion, when for some reason the shield was stopped with the shove only partly done, and the exhaust valves had not been shut off, the platforms continued to slide and allowed the face to collapse; the shield platforms and doorways, however, caught the falling sand and gravel and the flow choked itself. as soon as the rock surface was penetrated and the sand and gravel were met, which happened almost at the same time in the two weehawken tunnels, the escape of air increased enormously, and it at once became clear that it was impossible to keep enough air in the two tunnels by the methods then in use, even when working the three compressors, each capable of compressing 4,400 cu. ft. of free air per min. at top speed. when the shields just entered the sand and gravel, the face had been held by light breasting, without any special effort to prevent the escape of air, but when it was found impossible to supply enough air, a large amount of straw and clay was used in front of the boards. this cut down the escape, but, as much air was escaping through the joints of the iron lining, these were plastered with portland cement. even then, the loss was too great, therefore one tunnel was shut down entirely and all the air was sent to the other. this allowed a pressure of 10 lb. to be kept up in the working tunnel, and this, though less than the head, was enough to allow progress to be made. in order to use one tunnel as a drain for the other, the two faces were always kept within 150 ft. of each other by working them alternately. the timbered face was never grouted, though this would have reduced the loss of air, as at the same time it would have decreased the progress very much, and any one who saw the racing engines in the power-house, and realized that a breakdown of one of them would mean the loss of the faces, was ready to admit that the quicker this particular period was cut short, the better. above the sand and gravel lay the silt, and, when it showed in the roof, the escape of air was immediately reduced and the two faces could be worked simultaneously. almost at the same time the piles supporting the large warehouse, known as the fowler building, were met. although the face now took much less timber, the same system of breast boards as had been used in the gravel was kept up, but in skeleton form. they were set 2 ft. 6 in. ahead of the shield, however, instead of 1 ft. 3 in., and the transverse roof poling boards were replaced by longitudinals resting on the shield. the more piles in the face the less timbering was done. the piles were cut into handy lengths with axes and chisels. all timbering was light compared with the weight of the ground, but, as the shove took place as soon as the set was made, it served its purpose. when a face was closed down the whole system was greatly reinforced by braces from the shield, the face of which was closed by the doors. in driving through such a face the typical 8-hour shift gang was about as follows: _general:_ 1/3 tunnel superintendent @ $300.00 per month. 1 assistant tunnel superintendent " 5.00 per day. 1 general foreman " 5.00 " " â½ pipefitter " 3.25 " " â½ pipefitter's helper " 2.75 " " â½ electrician " 3.00 " " â½ electrician's helper " 2.75 " " _timbering:_ 3 timbermen " 2.50 " " 3 timbermen's helpers " 2.00 " " _mucking:_ 1 foreman " 3.50 " " 6 muckers " 2.75 " " _erecting iron and driving shield:_ 1 erector runner " 3.25 " " 1 foreman " 4.00 " " 4 iron workers " 3.00 " " the drillers were not kept on after the rock disappeared; a foreman was added who divided his time between iron erection and mucking. the average rate of progress in sand and gravel without piles was 5.1 ft. per day per shield. when piles and silt were met in the upper part of the face, the speed increased to 7.0 ft. per day. _passing under river bulkhead._--at weehawken no trouble was found in passing under the river wall, as the bulkhead consisted of only cribwork supported on silt, and, though the piles obstructed the motion of the shield, they were easily cut out, and the cribwork itself was well above the top of the shield. on the new york side, however, conditions were not nearly as good. the heavy masonry bulkhead was supported on piles and rip-rap, as shown in fig. 18. the line of the top of the shield was about 6 ft. above the bottom of the rip-rap, the spaces between the stones of which were quite open and allowed a free flow of water directly from the river. as soon, therefore, as the cutting edge of the shield entered the rip-rap there was a blow, the air escaping freely to the ground surface behind the bulkhead and to the river in front of it. clay puddle, or mud made from the excavated silt, was used in large quantities to plug up the interstices between the stone in the working face, the air pressure being slightly greater than that needed to keep out the water holding it in place. the excavation of the rip-rap was a tedious affair, for it had to be removed one stone at a time and the spaces between the newly exposed stones plugged with mud immediately. one man stood ready with the mud while another loosened the stones with a bar. when the shield had advanced its own length in the rip-rap, another point for the escape of the air was exposed at the rear end of the shield. this loss was closed at the leading end of the last ring with mud and cement sacks. [illustration: sketch showing river tunnels passing under river bulkhead wall at manhattan cross-section of river bulkhead wall on axis of north tunnel plan showing piles removed to allow passage of shield fig. 18.] as long as the shield was stationary it was possible, by using these methods and exercising great care and watchfulness, to prevent excessive loss of air; but, while the shield was being shoved ahead, the difficulties were much increased, for the movement of the shield displaced the bags and mud as fast as they were placed, and it was only by shoving slowly and having a large number of men looking out for leaks and stopping them up the instant they developed that excessive loss of air could be prevented. in erecting the iron lining, as each segment was brought into position, it was necessary to clean off the leading surface of the previous ring and the adjacent portion of the tail of the shield; this was always accompanied by a slight "blow," and for some time the air pressure in the tunnel dropped from 25 to 20 lb., that is, from greater than the balancing pressure to less, every time a segment was placed, and on two occasions the "blow" became so great that the tunnel pressure was reduced considerably further, and in consequence the water from the river rushed in and was not stopped until it had risen about 4 ft. in the tunnel invert. on such occasions the surface of the river was greatly disturbed, rising more than 20 ft. in the air in a sort of geyser. a large quantity of grout (about 2,500 bbl. of cement and a similar quantity of sand in the north tunnel and 1,000 bbl. in the south tunnel) was used at this point; it was forced through the tunnel lining immediately behind the shield, greatly reducing the loss of air and helping to bind the rip-rap together. when the shield had traveled 25 ft. through the rip-rap, the piles which support the bulkhead were met. one hundred of these which were spaced at 3-ft. centers in each direction, were cut out of the path of each shield in a distance of 35 ft. the presence of the piles caused considerable extra labor, as each pile had to be cut into several pieces with axes to enable it to be removed through the shield doors, otherwise they presented no difficulties. it was not necessary to timber the face, as the piles supported it most effectively. when the river line had been passed, the "blow" still continued, and as there was no heavy ground above the tunnel the light silt was carried away into the water by the escaping air. at one time the cover over the crown of the tunnel was reduced to such an extent that for a distance of 30 ft. there was less than 10 ft. of very soft silt, and in some places none at all. therefore, the shield was stopped and the air pressure reduced until it was less than the balancing pressure; the blow then ceased, and about 28,000 cement bags filled with mud were dumped into the hole (the location made it impossible to dump them _en masse_ from a scow). they were then weighted down with rip-rap. this sealed the blow, and the work was continued without any further disturbance from this source. just before the blow reached its maximum it was found that two of the piles which had been encountered were directly in the path of one of the proposed screw-piles. it was therefore decided to pull these, and this was done with two 40-ton hydraulic jacks supported by the upper sliding platforms and acting on a horizontal timber which was connected to the piles by tie-rods and chains. the working force here was similar to that employed in the sand and gravel section previously described. _in full face of silt._--a full face of silt was first met under the new york central railroad freight yard on the new york side. up to this point the ground passed through had been either solid rock or a mixed face of rock and gravel. in both of these the full excavation had to be taken out before the shield could be shoved, and the soft ground had needed timbering. when the rock, gravel, and hardpan gave place to a full face of silt, the timber was removed, all the shield doors were opened, and the shield was shoved into the ground without any excavation being done by hand ahead of the diaphragm. as the shield advanced, the silt was forced through the open doors into the tunnel. after the work had gone on in this way for some time, taking in about 90% of the full volume of the tunnel excavation per foot forward, the air pressure was raised from 20 to 22 lb. the result was that the silt in the face got harder and flowed less readily through the shield, and the amount taken in fell to about 65% of the full volume. this manner of shoving at once caused a disturbance on the surface and the railroad tracks above the tunnel were raised, so that the pressure was lowered to 16 lb., then the muck got softer and the full volume of excavation was taken in; after a while the pressure was again raised to 20 lb. the forcing of the shield through the silt resulted in a rising of the bed of the river, the amount that the bed was raised depending on the quantity of material brought into the shield. if the whole volume of excavation was being brought in, the surface of the bed was not affected; when about 50% was being taken in, the surface was raised about 3 ft.; if the shield was being driven blind, the bed was raised about 7 ft. the number of open doors was regulated so as to take in the minimum quantity of muck consistent with causing no surface disturbance. on the average, in the north manhattan tunnel, all the doors were open, but in the south tunnel there were generally only five or six out of the total nine. in front of the bulkhead wall at manhattan the tunnels were under pier no. 72. this structure was supported on wooden piles, some 80 ft. or more in length, which came down below the tunnel invert. the piles which lay directly in the path of the tunnels, with a few exceptions, had been pulled. in driving the tunnels through this section, great care had to be taken not to disturb the piles on either side of the tunnels, as they supported a heavy trestle used in disposing of the excavation from the open cut in the terminal yard. to avoid such disturbance, a large portion of the total excavation had to be taken through the shields. the first shield which passed the river bulkhead was the south one at weehawken. as soon as this line was crossed the silt was found to be much softer than behind the wall, in fact it was like a fluid in many of its properties. the fluidity could be changed by varying the tunnel air pressure; for example, when the air pressure was made equal to the weight of the overlying material (water and silt), the silt was quite stiff, and resembled a rather soft clay; but when the air pressure was from 10 to 15 lb. per sq. in. lower, it became so liquid that it would flow through a 1â½-in. grout hole in the lining, in a thick stream, at the rate of from 10 to 50 gal. per min. as soon as the plug was taken out. this was the point to which the contractor had long looked forward, as he expected to be able to close all his shield doors and drive the rest of the way across without taking in a shovelful of muck, as had just been done under the hudson river, on the south tunnel of the hudson and manhattan railroad company's tunnels between morton street, new york city, and hoboken, n. j. the doors were shut and the shield was shoved; the tunnel at once began to rise rapidly, notwithstanding that the heaviest possible downward leads that the clearance between the iron and the shield would allow were put on. at the same time, the pressures induced in the silt by the shield shouldering the ground aside caused the iron lining to rise about 2 in. as soon as the shield left it, and also distorted it, the horizontal diameter decreasing and the vertical diameter increasing by about as much as 1â¼ in. an anxious discussion followed these phenomena, as the effects had been so utterly unexpected, and a good many different theories were advanced as to the probable cause. it was thought that the hood of the shield might have something to do with the trouble. the shield was stopped, the hood removed, the doors were shut, and the driving continued. the same trouble was found, and it was impossible to keep to grade. work was stopped, and the question was thoroughly debated; finally, on january 31st, 1906, the chief engineer directed that one of the shield doors be opened as an experiment and 50% of the excavation taken in. the effect was instantaneous, the shield began to come down to grade at once, and it soon became necessary to close the door partially and reduce the quantity of muck taken in in order to prevent the tunnel from getting below grade. the other troubles from distortion, etc., ceased at the same time. it was soon found that a powerful aid in the guidance of the shield was thus brought to hand, for, if high, the shield could be brought down by increasing the quantity of muck taken in, if low, by decreasing it. from this time forward, the quantity of muck taken in at each shove was carefully regulated according to the position of the tunnel with regard to grade and the nature of the ground. the quantity varied from nothing to the full volume displaced by the tunnel, and averaged 33% of the latter. to regulate the flow, the bottom middle door was fitted with two steel angles behind which were placed 6 by 6-in. timbers. in this way the opening could be entirely closed or one of any size left. the muck flowed into the tunnel in a thick stream, as shown in fig. 2, plate xxxv, and, by regulating the rate of shove it could be made to flow just as fast as it could be loaded into cars. in driving through the silt, the typical gang per shift of 8 hours per shield was as follows: _general:_ 1/3 tunnel superintendent @ $300 per month 1 assistant tunnel superintendent " 6.00 per day 1 general foreman " 5.00 " " â½ electrician " 3.50 " " â½ electrician's helper " 3.00 " " 1 foreman " 4.00 " " 2 pipefitters " 3.50 " " 2 pipefitters' helpers " 3.25 " " _mucking:_ 1 foreman " 4.00 " " 6 muckers " 3.00 " " _erecting iron and driving shield:_ 1 foreman @ $4.00 per day 1 erector runner " 3.50 " " 4 iron workers " 3.00 " " 3 laborers " 3.00 " " three such shifts were worked per day, and the air pressure averaged 25 lb. per sq. in. the increase in the number of pipefitters was due to the greatly increased speed, and also the steadily increasing length of completed tunnel. the three laborers in the erection gang spent their whole time tightening bolts. the rate of progress in the silt under the river per ring of 2â½ ft. was 3 hours 21 min., exclusive of all time when work was actually suspended. for a considerable part of the time only two 8-hour shifts were worked, owing to a shortage of iron caused by the change in the design of the lining, whereby the original lining was changed to a heavier one, and, as the work was also stopped for experiments and observations, the average of the actual total time, including all the time during which work was suspended, was 5 hours 32 min. per ring, or 10.8 ft. per day. the junction of the shields under the river was made as follows: when the two shields of one tunnel, which had been driven from opposite sides of the river approached within 10 ft. of each other, the shields were stopped, a 10-in. pipe was driven between them, and a final check of lines and levels was made through the pipe. incidentally, also, the first through traffic was established by passing a box of cigars through the pipe from the manhattan shield to that from weehawken. one shield was then started up with all doors closed while the doors on the stationary shield were opened so that the muck driven ahead by the moving shield was taken in through the other one's doors. this was continued until the cutting edges came together. all doors in both shields were then opened and the shield mucked out. the cutting edges were taken off, and the shields moved together again, edge of skin to edge of skin. the removal of the cutting edge necessitated the raising of the pressure to 37 lb. as the sections of the cutting edges were taken off, the space between the skin edges was poled with 3-in. stuff. fig. 1, plate xxxix, is a view of the shields of the north tunnel after being brought together and after parts of the interior frames had been removed. when everything except the skins had been removed, iron lining was built up inside the skins, the gap at the junction was filled with concrete, and long bolts were used from ring to ring on the circumferential joint. finally, the rings inside the shield skins were grouted. [illustration: plate xxxix. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 1. fig. 2.] in order to make clear the nature of the work done in building these shield-driven tunnels in silt, a short description will be attempted, this description falling into three main divisions, namely, shoving the shield, pushing back the jacks, and erecting the iron lining. _shoving the shield._--this part of the work is naturally very important, as the position of the shield determines within pretty narrow limits the position of the iron built within it, hence the shield during its forward movement has to be guided very carefully. on this work certain instructions were issued for the guidance of the foreman in charge of the shield. these instructions were based on results of "checks" of the shield and iron's position by the engineering corps of the company, and comprised, in the main, two requirements, namely, the leads that were to be got, and the quantity of muck to be taken in. the "lead" is the amount that the shield must be advanced further from the iron, on one side or the other, or on the top or bottom, as measured from the front face of the last ring of iron lining to the diaphragm of the shield. these leads are not necessarily true leads from a line at right angles to the center line, as the iron may have, and in fact usually does have, a lead of its own which is known and allowed for when issuing the requirements for the shove. the foreman, knowing what was wanted, arranged the combination of shield jacks which would give the required leads and the amount of opening on the shield door which would give the required amount of muck. to see how the shield was going ahead, a man was stationed at each side at axis level and another in the crown. each man had a graduated rod on which the marks were so distinct that they could be read by anyone standing on the lower platform. these rods were held against the shield diaphragm, and, as it advanced, its distance from the leading end of the last ring could be seen by the man in control of the jack valves. if he found that he was not getting the required leads, he could change the combination of jacks in action. as the time of a shove was often less than 10 min., the man had to be very quick in reading the rods and changing the jacks. if it was found that extensive change in the jack arrangement was wanted, the shove could be stopped by a man stationed at the main hydraulic control valve; but, as any such stoppage affected the quantity of muck taken in, it was not resorted to unless absolutely necessary. if the quantity of muck coming in was not as desired, a stop had to be made to alter the size of the opening, and if, while this was being done, the exhaust valves were not closed quite tight, the silt pressure on the face of the shield would force it back against the iron. this fact was sometimes taken advantage of when a full opening did not let in the desired quantity, for the shield could be shoved, allowed to return, and shoved again. the time taken to shove in silt varied greatly with the quantity of material taken in; for shoving and mucking combined, it averaged 66 min., with an average of 13 cu. yd. of muck disposed of, or about 5 min. per cu. yd. of material. _pushing back the jacks._--this was a simple matter, and merely consisted in making the loose push-back connection to each jack as it had to be sent back. some of the jacks became strained and bent, and had to be taken out and replaced. where there was silt pressure against the face of the shield, the hydraulic pressure had to be kept on until the ring was erected. in such cases, only two or three jacks could be pushed back at a time, and only after a segment had been set in position, and the pressure taken on it, could the next jack be pushed back, and so on around the ring. the time between the finish of the shove (hydraulic pressure turned off) and the placing of the first segment, was occupied in pushing back the bottom jacks and cleaning dirt off the tail of the shield, and averaged about 14 min. _erecting the iron lining._--as soon as the shove was over, the whole force, when in silt, set to work at building up the iron and then tightening the bolts so that the shield could be shoved again. a section of the tunnel with bolting and working platform is shown on plate xl. in the early part of the work, when the ground was being excavated ahead of the shield, the whole force, with the exception of those working in front of the shield, was engaged in erecting the iron, but, as soon as this was done, most of the men returned to the mucking, and only the iron workers continued to tighten up bolts. on the other sections, where the shield was shoved into the silt without excavating ahead, as soon as the shove was completed, the whole force was engaged in the erection of the iron and the tightening of the bolts, until they were so tight that the shield could be shoved again for another ring. the iron was brought into the tunnel on flat cars, two segments to the car, and was lifted from the car and lowered into the invert of the shield by a block and fall and chain sling, as shown in fig. 2, plate xxxix. the bottom three or four segments were pushed around into position with the erector, the head simply bearing against the longitudinal flange without being attached to the segment; the upper segments, however, were, as shown in fig. 2, plate xxxviii, and fig. 1, plate xli, attached to the erector, by using the expanding bar and the erector head designed by mr. patrick fitzgerald, the tunnel superintendent. this was found to be a most convenient arrangement. the single erector attached to the center of the shield was able to erect the iron as fast as it could be brought into the tunnel, and even when the weight of the segments was increased 25% (from 2,060 to 2,580 lb.) it always proved equal to its task, although occasionally one of the chains in the mechanism broke and delayed the work for an hour or so; but the sum of all the delays from this cause and from breaks and leaks in the hydraulic line only averaged 13 min. per ring. the operating valve which was first used was a four-spindle turning valve, but this was replaced by a sliding valve which was found to be much more satisfactory, both in ease of operation and freedom from failure. as the iron was put into place, two of the middle bolts in each longitudinal flange and two in each circumferential one were pulled as tight as possible, and the others put in loosely; then, as soon as the ring was in position, as large a force as could be conveniently worked at one time was engaged in tightening the bolts. the shape of the tunnel depended on the thoroughness of the tightening of the bolts, and the shield was never shoved until the bolts in all the longitudinal flanges had been thoroughly tightened. in addition, all the bolts in the circumferential flanges below the axis were tightened, and at least three of the six in each segment above. after the shield had been shoved ahead, the bolts were found to have slackened, and, where the daily progress was four rings, or more, it was necessary to have a small gang of men always at this work. in order to get at the bolts, special platforms were necessary, and throughout the greater part of the work, a traveling platform was used. this enabled the men to reach handily all parts of the seven leading rings. this platform was supported and moved forward on wheels fixed on brackets to the tunnel, and was pulled forward by connecting chains every time the shield was shoved. in the early part of the work it was not possible to use platforms, because, in order to maintain the correct circular shape of the iron lining, it was necessary to put in temporary horizontal turnbuckles at axis level. these, however, were very convenient for supporting the planks which were used as a temporary bolting platform for the sides of the tunnel, and a temporary platform resting on 6 by 6-in. timbers across the tunnel enabled the bolts in the crown of the tunnel to be reached, while the 6 by 6-in. timbers were left in to support the emergency platform previously described (plate xl), which extended the entire length of the tunnel. the time taken to erect the iron lining became shorter and shorter as the tunnel organization became more perfect and the force better trained, so that, whereas, in the early part of the work, it frequently took 6 hours to erect a ring, in the latter part, when the work was nearing completion, it was a common occurrence to erect a ring in 30 min. the average time in the "heavy iron" section, which included the greater part of the work under the river, was 1 hour 4 min. for the erection of the ring and 40 min. for tightening the bolts after that had been completed, so that the total time spent by the whole gang on erection and bolting averaged 1 hour 44 min. per ring, exclusive of the time spent by the small gang which was always engaged in tightening the bolts. the average time spent in erecting and bolting, for the whole length of the tube tunnels, was 2 hours 15 min. per ring. _tables of progress._--tables 24, 25, 26, and 27 have been prepared to show the time taken in the various operations at each working face. [illustration: plate xli. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 1.] [illustration: plate xli. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 2.] in tables 24, 25, 26, and 27, the following symbols are used: _a_--including assistant superintendents, foremen, and electricians, in driving the shield, erecting iron, mucking, attending to the electric lights, and repairing the pipe line. _b_--drillers, drillers' helpers, drill foremen, and nippers. _c_--all men grouting. _d_--engineers and laborers wholly employed on transport between the first lock and the face. _e_--in rock, one car = 0.60 cu. yd.; in sand or silt = 1.20 cu. yd. in place. _f_--time between completion of mucking and putting in first plate, spent in shoving the jacks back. _g_--in ordinary iron = the whole time spent on erection and bolting. in heavy iron = the time between putting in the first plate and placing the key only. _h_--time between placing the key and starting the next shove, spent by the whole gang in tightening bolts. in addition to this, there was a small gang which spent its whole time at this work. _i_--in table 24 the first pair of bore segments is at ring 207-208. " " 25 " " " " " " " " " 201-202. " " 26 " " " " " " " " " 185-186. " " 27 " " " " " " " " " 171-172. outside diameter of tunnel = 23 ft. 0 in. inside " " " = 21 ft. 2 in. length of ring = 2 ft. 6 in. in the "ordinary iron" section the time is divided between mucking (which included the shoving and pushing back of the jacks) and the erection time (which included the time spent by the whole gang in tightening bolts). in the "heavy iron" section these times are all separated into "mucking," "pushing back jacks," "erecting," and "bolting," and here the bolting time included only that spent on bolts by the whole gang; in addition, there was a small gang engaged solely in tightening bolts. the lost time is the average time lost due to the break-down of hydraulic pipe lines, damaged jacks, and broken erector chains. the erection time is separated for the various kinds of rings, that is, straight ordinary rings, rings containing no. 1 bore segments, rings containing no. 2 bore segments, and taper rings, and it will be seen that, on the average, taper rings took 22 min. (or 24%) more time to erect and to bolt than ordinary ones, and that rings containing no. 2 bore segments took 14 min. (or 15%) more. table 24.--shield-driven tunnel work, manhattan shaft, river tunnel north. table showing the size of the gang, the amount of excavation, and the time per ring taken for the various operations involved in building tunnel through the several kinds of ground encountered; also the extent and nature of all the unavoidable delays. table 24 part 1 =+===========+=======+=============+===+=============+=====+===+==+==| w| | | ave. no. | e| | | of men | i| | description | in gang | g| |-------+-------------+---+-------------+--+--+---+--+--| h| | | |ave| | | | |a | | t| | | |air| | |d |g |i | | | | | | | | |r |r |r | | o| | | |p | |s |i |o | | | f| | | |r | |h |l |u |t |t | | | | |e | |i |l |t |r |o | | | | |s | |e |i |i |a |t | i| | | |s | |l |n |n |n |a | r| section | | |u | |d |g |g |s |l | o| between | length| |r |method of |--+--+---+--| | n| rings |in feet|material |e |excavation |a |b |c |d | | -+-----------+-------+-------------+---|-------------+--+--+---+--+--| | 1-54 | 135.0|rock | |[p] | | | | |14| | 55-80 | 65.0| " |19 |[p] |24| 7|1/3| 1|32| | 81-107 | 65.0|soft rock |18 |[p] |22| 5| | 2|29| o| 108-153 | 117.5|rock |14 |[p] |17|11| | 2|30| r| 154-194 | 102.5|rock and |14 |[p] |23| 6| | 2|31| d| | |earth | | | | | | | i| 195-215 | 52.5|silt |19 |[p]breasting |28| | | 2|30| n| 216-393 | 445.0| " |20 |[q]8 doors |27| | | 4|31| a| 394-429 | 90.0|silt, piles, |24 |[c]breasting |28| | | 4|32| r| | |rip-rap | | | | | | | y| 430-509 | 200.0|silt |23 |[q]1 door |24| | | 3|27| | 510-692 | 457.5| " |23 |[q]3 doors |26| | | 4|30| | 55-692 |1,593.0| |20 | |25| 2| | 3|30| | 216-692 |1,192.5| |22 | |26| | | 4|30| -+-----------+-------+-------------+---+-------------+--+--+---+--+--| | 693-954 | 655.0|silt |24 |[q]1 door |28| | | 6|34| | 955-1,014 | 150.0| " |24 |[q]1 " |28| | | 8|36| |1,015-1,074| 150.0| " |24 |[q]1 " |25| | | 8|33| h|1,075-1,134| 150.0| " |24 |[q]1 " |27| | | 9|36| e|1,135-1,194| 150.0| " |25 |[q]1 " |26| | | 8|34| a|1,195-1,224| 75.0| " |25 |[q]1 " |24| | | 9|33| v|1,225-1,262| 95.0| " |25 |[q]1 " |23| | | 9|32| y|1,263-1,277| 37.5| " |25 |[q]1 " |24| | |10|34| |1,278-1,307| 75.0| " |25 |[q]1 " |21| | |10|31| |1,308-1,326| 47.5| " |28 |[q]1 " |27| | |11|38| | 955-1,326| 930.0| |24 | |26| | | 9|35| | 693-1,326|1,585.0| |24 | |27| | | 8|35| -+-----------+-------+-------------+---+-------------+--+--+---+--+--| a| 216-1,326|2,777.5| |23 | |27| | | 7|34| l| 55-1,326|3,180.0| |22 | |26| | | 6|32| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+=======+=============+===+=============+==+==+===+==+==| table 24 part 2 =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| w| | | |av. | | time for ring | e| | | | | | erection, | i| | | |time | | hrs. and min. | g| |----+-----| | |----+----+----+----+----| h| |av. |time |per | | | | | | | t| |no. |muck-| |t | o | | | | | | |of |ing, |ring,|i | r | | | | | o| |cu. |per | |m | d | b | b | | | f| |yd. |cu. |shov-|e j | i | o | o | t | | | |per |yd. |ing |a | n | r | r | a | m | | |ring| | |f c | a | e | e | p | e | i| | | |and |o k | r | | | e | a | r| section | | | |r s | y | 1 | 2 | r | n | o| between | | |muck-+--------+----+----+----+----+----| n| rings |e | |ing | f | g | g | g | g | g | -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 1-54 | | | |time for|4-00| | |4-21|4-04| | 55-80 |41 |0-31 |21-00|jacks |6-04| | |5-30|5-57| | 81-107 |41 |0-33 |22-30|for |4-26| | | |4-26| o| 108-153 |41 |0-39 |26-31|light |3-10| | |3-30|3-12| r| 154-194 |41 |0-27 |18-34|iron is |2-08| j. | j. |2-40|2-10| d| | | | |included| | | | | | i| 195-215 |41 |0-10 | 6-46|in |3-03|3-30|3-30| |3-09| n| 216-393 |46 |0-05 | 3-53|shoving |2-40|2-56|3-00|3-10|2-50| a| 394-429 |46 |0-18 |17-09|and |3-43|3-39|4-46|4-11|3-56| r| | | | |mucking | | | | | | y| 430-509 |11 |0-10 | 1-42| |3-14|4-12|3-59|3-46|3-34| | 510-692 |30 |0-05 | 1-47| |2-08|2-21|2-32|2-50|2-18| | 55-692 |30 |0-15 | 7-35|[n] |3-02| | |4-31|3-12| | 216-692 |30 |0-07 | 3-42|[n] |2-38|2-59|3-08|1-30|2-50| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 693 954|11 |0-12 | 1-02|[n] |1-52|2-05|2-15|2-29|2-0 | | 955-1,014|12 |0-04 | 0-48|0-16 |0-51|1-18|1-08|0-50|0-58| |1,015-1,074|12 |0-03 | 0-41|0-13 |0-43|0-46|0-55|0-40|0-45| h|1,075-1,134| 8 |0-04 | 0-34|0-12 |1-04|1-01|1-15|1-20|1-08| e|1,135-1,194| 8 |0-04 | 0-33|0-13 |0-53|0-51|0-58|0-46|0-53| a|1,195-1,224| 6 |0-04 | 0-24|0-12 |0-58|0-42|0-53|0-50|0-54| v|1,225-1,262| 5 |0-05 | 0-23|0-10 |0-48|0-49|0-50|0-35|0-47| y|1,263-1,277|10 |0-04 | 0-36|0-11 |0-47|0-50|0-52|0-48|0-52| |1,278-1,307|17 |0-04 | 1-09|0-10 |1-03|1-01|1-06|0-00|1-04| |1,308-1,326|22 |0-05 | 1-39|0-18 |1-25|1-48|1-50|0-50|1-31| | 955-1,326|11 |0-04 | 0-41|0-13 |0-55|0-59|1-03|0-55|0-58| | 693-1,326|12 |0-04 | 0-51|[n] |1-27|1-34|1-41|1-38|1-31| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| a| 216-1,326|19 |0-06 | 1-59|[n] |1-55|2-08|2-16|1-35|2-03| l| 55-1,326|21 |0-10 | 4-13|[n] | | | | |2-22| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| table 24 part 3 =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| w| | bolting time, whole |time| | e| | time on bolts after | | | i| | ring is complete. |lost| total time. | g| |----+----+----+----+----| |-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| h| | | | | | |re| | | | | | t| | o | | | | |pair | | | | | | | r | | | | |ing | | | | | | o| | d | b | b | | | | o | | | | | f| | i | o | o | t | |hy| r | | | | | | | n | r | r | a | m |drau d | b | b | | | | | a | e | e | p | e |lic | i | o | o | t | | i| | r | | | e | a | | n | r | r | a | m | r| section | y | 1 | 2 | r | n |pip-| a | e | e | p | e | o| between |----+----+----+----+----|ing | r | | | e | a | n| rings | h | h | h | h | h | | y | 1 | 2 | r | n | -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 1-54 | excavation partially completed previously. | | 55-80 |} {| |27-4 | | |26-30|26-57| o| 81-107 |} {| |26-56| | | |26-56| r| 108-153 |} {| |29-41| | |30-1 |29-43| d| 154-194 |} {| |20-42| | |21-14|20-44| i| |} {| | | | | | | n| 195-215 |} {| | 9-49|10-16|10-16| | 9-55| a| 216-393 |} bolting time for {|0-09| 6-42| 6-58| 7-02| 7-12| 6-52| r| 394-429 |} light iron is {| |23-79|23-25|24-32|23-57|23-42| y| |} included in {| | | | | | | | 430-509 |} erection. {|0-18| 5-14| 6-12| 5-59| 5-46| 5-34| | 510-692 |} {|0-11| 4-06| 4-19| 4-30| 4-48| 4-16| | 55-692 |} {|0-17|10-54| | |12-23|11-04| | 216-692 |} {|0-25| 6-45| 7-06| 7-15| 5-37| 6-57| -+-----------|} {|----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 693 954|} {|0-13| 3-7 | 3-20| 3-30| 3-44| 3-15| | 955-1,014|0-24|0-21|0-37|0-10|0-25|0 | 2-19| 2-43| 2-49| 2-04| 2-27| |1,015-1,074|0-31|0-30|0-52|0-23|0-34|0-02| 2-10| 2-12| 2-43| 1-59| 2-15| h|1,075-1,134|0-28|0-35|1-40|0-52|0-44|0-03| 2-21| 2-25| 3-44| 3-01| 2-41| e|1,135-1,194|0-32|0-20|0-24|0-18|0-26|0 | 2-11| 1-57| 2-08| 1-50| 2-05| a|1,195-1,224|0-19|0-20|0-34|0-35|0-23|0 | 1-53| 1-38| 2-03| 2-01| 1-53| v|1,225-1,262|0-29|0-29|0-36|0-18|0-30|0 | 1-50| 1-51| 1-59| 1-26| 1-50| y|1,263-1,277|0-23|0-23|0-41|0-23|0-27|0 | 1-57| 2-0 | 2-20| 1-58| 2-06| |1,278-1,307|0-33|0-34|0-51|0-0 |0-36|0 | 2-55| 2-54| 3-16| 0-0 | 2-59| |1,308-1,326|0-49|0-42|0-58|0-25|0-48|0 | 4-11| 4-27| 4-45| 3-12| 4-16| | 955-1,326|0-29|0-27|0-49|0-31|0-32|0 | 2-18| 2-20| 2-46| 2-20| 2-24| | 693-1,326|[o] | | | | |0-06| 2-24| 2-31| 2-38| 2-35| 2-28| -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| a| 216-1,326|[o] | | | | |0-16| | | | | 4-18| l| 55-1,326|[o] | | | | |0-12| | | | | 6-47| l| | | | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| table 24 summary part 1 ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+==+===+==+==| | | | ave. no. | w| | | of men | e| | description | in gang | i| |-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| g| | | |ave.| | | | | | | h| | | |air | | | | | | | t| | | | | | | | | a| | | | | |p | | | d| g | i| | o| | | |r | | | r| r | r| | f| | | |e | | s| i| o | | | | | | |s | | h| l| u | t|t | i| | | |s | | i| l| t | r|o | r| section | | |u | | e| i| i | a|t | o| between |length | |r |method of | l| n| n | n|a | n| rings |in feet| material |e |excavation | d| g| g | s|l | ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| o {| 1-54 | 135.0|rock |0 | [p] | | | | |14| r {| 55-194 | 350.0|earth and rock|16 | [p] |22| 6|1/3| 2|30| d {| 195-393 | 497.5|silt |20 |[p]breasting|27| | | 4|31| i {| 394-440 | 117.5| " |24 |[p]breasting|28| | | 4|32| n {| 441-692 | 630.0| " |23 |[q]3 doors |25| | | 4|29| a {|-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| r {| 216-692 |1,192.5| |22 | |26| | | 4|30| y {|-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| {| 55-692 |1,595.0| |20 | |25| 2| | 3|30| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| hvy| 693-1,326|1,585.0|silt |24 |[q]1 door |27| | | 8|35| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| all| 55-1,326|3,180.0| |22 | |26| | | 6|32| ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+==+===+==+==| table 24 summary part 2 ===+========+========+=======+=======+====+=====+===============+========| w | | | | unavoidable delays | e | | | average time |(not included in average| i o| | | per ring. | time per ring). | g f| | |-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| h |average | time | | | | | | | t i| no. of |mucking,|shoving| | | | | | r| cubic | per | and | erec| | | | | o| yards | cubic |mucking| tion |lost| | | time | n|per ring| yard | [n] | [o] |time|total| items |hrs min| ---+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| o {| | | | 4-14 | | |first bulkhead |172 00| r {| 41 | 0-32 | 21-44 | 4-4 | |25-48|second bulkhead|119 00| d {| 38 | 0-7 | 4-11 | 2-52 |0-9 | 7-12|grouting |200 00| i {| 41 | 0-18 | 11-54 | 4-17 |1-41|17-52|blowout | 73 00| n {| 17 | 0-6 | 2-04 | 2-34 |0-42| 5-20|cradle |100 00| a {|--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| r {| 30 | 0-7 | 3-42 | 2-50 |0-25| 6-57|total |664 00| y {|--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| {| 30 | 0-15 | 7-35 | 3-12 |0-17|11-04|per ring | 0 30| ---+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| hvy| 12 | 0-4 | 0-51 | 1-31 |0-06| 2-28| | | ---+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| all| 21 | 0-10 | 4-13 | 2-22 |0-12| 6-47| | | ===+========+========+=======+=======+====+=====+===============+========| [n] including time for jacks. [o] including bolting time. [p] excavating ahead of shield. [q] shoving shield into silt with ... doors open. table 25.--shield-driven tunnel work, manhattan shaft, river tunnel south. table showing the size of the gang, the amount of excavation, and the time per ring taken for the various operations involved in building tunnel through the several kinds of ground encountered; also the extent and nature of all the unavoidable delays. table 25 part 1 =+===========+=======+==================+===+============+==+==+==+==+==| w| | | ave. no. | e| | | of men | i| | description | in gang | g| |-------+------------------+---+------------+--+--+--+--+--| h| | | |ave| | | | |a | | t| | | |air| | |d |g |i | | | | | | | | |r |r |r | | o| | | |p | |s |i |o | | | f| | | |r | |h |l |u |t |t | | | | |e | |i |l |t |r |o | | | | |s | |e |i |i |a |t | i| | | |s | |l |n |n |n |a | r| section | | |u | |d |g |g |s |l | o| between | length| |r |method of |--+--+--+--| | n| rings |in feet|material |e |excavation |a |b |c |d | | -+-----------+-------+------------------+---+------------+--+--+--+--+--| | 1-68 | 170.0|rock | 0 |[r] |20| 5| 5|2 |32| | 69-95 | 67.5|rock and earth |13 |[r] |22| 8| |2 |32| o| 96-141 | 115.0|rock |10 |[r] |21|13| |2 |36| r|142-191 | 125.0|rock and earth |15 |[r] |24| 7| |2 |33| d|192-203 | 30.0|silt |18 |[r]breasting|23| | |3 |26| i|204-388 | 462.5| " |18 |[s]7 doors |27| | |3 |30| n|389-429 | 102.5|{silt, piles and} |22 |[s]6 doors |24| | |4 |28| a| | |{rip-rap. } | |[r]breasting| | | | | | r|430-504 | 187.5|silt |21 |[s]3 doors |23| | |5 |28| y|505-629 | 312.5| " |22 |[s]4 doors |25| | |6 |31| |630-692 | 157.5| " |23 |[s]2 doors. |24| | |8 |32| |204-692 |1,222.5| |21 | |25| | |5 |30| | 69-692 |1,560.0| |17 | |23|4 | 0|3 |30| -+-----------+-------+------------------+---+------------+--+--+--+--+--| | 693-766 | 185.0|silt |24 |[s]2 doors |21| | |6 |27| | 767-806 | 100.0| " |24 |[s]2 " |22| | |7 |29| h| 807-900 | 235.0| " |24 |[s]1â½ " |23| | |8 |31| e| 901-933 | 82.5| " |25 |[s]1 door |30| | |10|40| a| 934-988 | 137.5| " |25 |[s]1 " |30| | |11|41| v| 989-1,043| 137.5| " |25 |[s]1 " |28| | |11|39| y|1,044-1,053| 25.0| " |26 |[s]1 " |25| | |9 |34| |1,054-1,068| 37.5| " |26 |[s]1 " |26| | |9 |35| |1,069-1,110| 105.0| " |26 |[s]1 " |30| | |11|41| | 693-1,110|1,045.0| |25 | |25| | |8 |33| -+-----------+-------+------------------+---+------------+--+--+--+--+--| a| 204-1,110|2,267.5| |23 | |25| | |6 |31| l| 69-1,110|2,605.0| |20 | |24|2 | |5 |31| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+=======+==================+===+============+==+==+==+==+==| table 25 part 2 =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| w| | | |av. | | time for ring | e| | | | | | erection, | i| | | |time | | hrs. and min. | g| |----+-----| | |----+----+----+----+----| h| |av. |time |per | | | | | | | t| |no. |muck-| |t | o | | | | | | |of |ing, |ring,|i | r | | | | | o| |cu. |per | |m | d | b | b | | | f| |yd. |cu. |shov-|e j | i | o | o | t | | | |per |yd. |ing | a | n | r | r | a | m | | |ring| | |f c | a | e | e | p | e | i| | | |and |o k | r | | | e | a | r| section | | | |r s | y | 1 | 2 | r | n | o| between |----| |muck-+--------+----+----+----+----+----| n| rings | e | |ing | f | g | g | g | g | g | -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 1-68 |41 |0-14 | 9-53|time for|5-27| | |4-32|5-07| | 69-95 |41 |0-24 |16-18|jacks |3-02| | |2-40|3-00| o| 96-141 |70 |0-16 |18-16|for |2-08| | |2-27|2-09| r| 142-191 |52 |0-20 |17-27|light |2-08| j | j |2-04|2-08| d| 192-203 |36 |0-13 | 7-58|iron is |2-27|6-00|2-10|3-15|2-47| i| 204-388 |37 |0-05 | 3-19|included|2-41|2-49|2-54|2-56|2-47| n| 389-429 |40 |0-17 |12-42|in |3-15|2-36|5-03|3-26|3-27| a| | | | |shoving | | | | | | r| 430-504 |20 |0-06 | 1-51|and |2-53|3-17|3-00|2-57|2-59| y| 505-629 |27 |0-05 | 2-20|mucking |2-23|2-40|2-45|2-28|2-30| | 630-692 |22 |0-05 | 1-53| |1-54|2-10|2-22|2-23|2-02| | 204-692 |30 |0-07 | 3-27| [t] |2-34|2-45|2-58|2-35|2-42| | 69-692 |36 |0-11 | 6-40| [t] |2-47| | |3-18|2-52| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 693-766 |22 |0-05 | 1-35| 0-25 |1-18|1-44|1-30|1-40|1-25| | 767-806 |22 |0-05 | 1-19| 0-21 |1-00|0-56|1-37|1-21|1-08| | 807-900 |19 |0-05 | 1-11| 0-17 |0-58|1-13|1-08|1-12|1-04| h| 901-933 |19 |0-04 | 1-13| 0-09 |0-59|1-05|0-59| |1-00| e| 934-988 |16 |0-04 | 0-54| 0-12 |0-49|0-44|0-56| |0-50| a| 989-1,043|13 |0-05 | 0-52| 0-14 |0-51|0-44|0-52|1-14|0-52| v|1,044-1,053|16 |0-07 | 0-40| 0-15 |1-04|1-15|0-50|0-55|1-02| y|1,054-1,068| 8 |0-05 | 0-36| 0-08 |0-57|0-40|1-02| |0-56| |1,069-1,110|14 |0-06 | 1-00| 0-15 |0-48|0-54|1-06|1-31|0-56| | 693-1,110|18 |0-05 | 1-29| [t] |1-01|1-08|1-09|1-19|1-05| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| a| 204-1,110|25 |0-06 | 2-35| [t] |2-09|2-19|2-33|2-19|2-17| l| 69-1,110|29 |0-09 | 4-36| [t] |2-19| | |2-46|2-25| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| table 25 part 3 =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| w| | bolting time, whole |time| | e| | time on bolts after | | | i| | ring is complete. |lost| total time. | g| |----+----+----+----+----| |-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| h| | | | | | |re| | | | | | t| | o | | | | |pair | | | | | | | r | | | | |ing | | | | | | o| | d | b | b | | | | o | | | | | f| | i | o | o | t | |hy| r | | | | | | | n | r | r | a | m |drau d | b | b | | | | | a | e | e | p | e |lic | i | o | o | t | | i| | r | | | e | a | | n | r | r | a | m | r| section | y | 1 | 2 | r | n |pip-| a | e | e | p | e | o| between |----+----+----+----+----|ing | r | | | e | a | n| rings | h | h | h | h | h | | y | 1 | 2 | r | n | -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 1-68 |}excavation partially {| |15-20| | |14-25|15-00| | 69-95 |}completed previously. {| |19-20| | |18-58|19-18| o| 96-141 |} {|0-03|20-27| | |20-46|20-28| r| 142-191 |} {|0-12|19-47| | |19-43|19-47| d| 192-203 |}bolting time for light{|1-20|11-45|15-18|11-28|12-33|12-05| i| 204-388 |}iron is included in {|0-05| 6-05| 6-13| 6-18| 6-20| 6-11| n| 389-429 |}erection. {|0-38|16-35|15-56|18-23|16-46|16-47| a| |} {| | | | | | | r| 430-504 |} {|0-39| 5-23| 5-47| 5-30| 6-27| 5-29| y| 505-629 |} {|0-23| 5-06| 5-23| 5-28| 5-11| 5-13| | 630-692 |} {|0-08| 3-55| 4-11| 4-23| 4-24| 4-03| | 204-692 |} {|0-18| 6-19| 6-30| 6-43| 6-20| 6-27| | 69-692 |} {|0-15| 9-42| | |10-13| 9-47| -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 693-766 |0-43|1-09|0-52|0-50|0-49|0-07| 4-08| 5-00| 4-29| 4-37| 4-21| | 767-806 |0-38|0-24|0-43|0-38|0-42|0-02| 3-20| 3-02| 4-02| 3-41| 3-32| | 807-900 |0-39|0-34|0-56|0-31|0-40|0-06| 3-11| 3-21| 3-38| 3-17| 3-18| h| 901-933 |0-34|0-26|1-47| |0-43|0-05| 3-00| 2-58| 4-13| | 3-10| e| 934-988 |0-28|0-34|0-34| |0-30|0-06| 2-29| 2-30| 2-42| | 2-32| a| 989-1,043|0-33|0-24|0-51|0-35|0-35|0-04| 2-34| 2-18| 2-53| 2-59| 2-37| v|1,044-1,053|0-23|0-38|0-30|0-55|0-36| | 3-22| 3-48| 3-15| 3-45| 3-33| y|1,054-1,068|0-33|0-25|0-35| |0-32| | 2-14| 1-49| 2-21| | 2-12| |1,069-1,110|0-32|0-40|0-48|0-46|0-37|0-05| 2-40| 2-54| 3-14| 3-37| 2-53| | 693-1,110|0-37|0-39|0-52|0-40|0-40|0-05| 3-12| 3-21| 3-35| 3-33| 3-19| -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| a| 204-1,110| [u]| | | | |0-12| 4-56| 5-06| 5-20| 5-06| 5-04| l| 69-1,110| [u]| | | | |0-14| 7--0| | | 7-36| 7-15| l| | | | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| table 25 summary part 1 ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+==+===+==+==| | | | ave. no. | w| | | of men | e| | description | in gang | i| |-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| g| | | |ave.| | | | | | | h| | | |air | | | | | | | t| | | | | | | | | a| | | | | |p | | | d| g | i| | o| | | |r | | | r| r | r| | f| | | |e | | s| i| o | | | | | | |s | | h| l| u | t|t | i| | | |s | | i| l| t | r|o | r| section | | |u | | e| i| i | a|t | o| between |length | |r |method of | l| n| n | n|a | n| rings |in feet| material |e |excavation | d| g| g | s|l | ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| o {| 1-68 | 170.0|rock | 0 | [r] |20| 5| 5| 5|32| r {| 69-191 | 307.5|rock and earth|13 | [r] |22| 9| | 2|33| d {| 192-388 | 492.5|silt |18 |[r]breasting|25| | | 3|28| i {| | | | {|[s]7 doors | | | | | | n {| 389-429 | 102.5|silt piles and|22 |[r]breasting|24| | | 4|28| a {| | |rip-rap | {|[s]6 doors | | | | | | r {| 430-692 | 657.5|silt |22 |[s]3 doors |24| | | 6|30| y {|-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| {| 204-692 |1,222.5| |21 | |25| | | 5|30| {|-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| {| 69-692 |1,560.0| |17 | |23| 4| 0| 3|30| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| hvy| 693-1,110|1,045.0| |25 |[s]1 door |25| | | 8|33| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+--+--| all| 69-1,110|2,605.0| |20 | |24| | | 5|31| ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+==+===+==+==| table 25 summary part 2 ===+========+========+=======+=====+====+=====+==================+=======| w | | | | unavoidable delays | e | | | average time | (not included in average | i o| | | per ring. | time per ring). | g f| | |-------+-----+----+-----+------------------+-------| h |average | time | | | | | | | t i| no. of |mucking,|shoving| | | | | | r| cubic | per | and |erec-| | | | | o| yards | cubic |mucking|tion |lost| | | time | n|per ring| yard | [t] | [u] |time|total|items |hrs min| ---+--------+--------+-------+-----+----+-----+------------------+-------| o {| 41 | 0-14 | 9-53 | 5-07| |15-00|first bulkhead |160 00| r {| 54 | 0-19 | 17-20 | 2-26|0-05|19-51|second bulkhead |157 45| d {| 37 | 0-09 | 5-39 | 2-47|0-63| 9-29|grouting |200 00| i {| | | | | | | | | n {| 40 | 0-17 | 12-42 | 3-27|0-38|16-47|blowout | 69 45| a {| | | | | | | | | r {| 24 | 0-05 | 1-58 | 2-29|0-22| 4-49|waiting-heavy iron| 64 00| y {|--------+--------+-------+-----+----+-----+------------------+-------| {| 30 | 0-07 | 3-27 | 2-42|0-18| 6-27|total |715 30| {|--------+--------+-------+-----+----+-----+------------------+-------| {| 36 | 0-11 | 6-40 | 2-52|0-15| 9-47|per ring | 0 39| ---+--------+--------+-------+-----+----+-----+------------------+-------| hvy| 18 | 0-05 | 1-29 | 1-45|0-06| 3-19| | | ---+--------+--------+-------+-----+----+-----+------------------+-------| all| 29 | 0-09 | 4-36 | 2-25|0-14| 7-15| | | ===+========+========+=======+=====+====+=====+==================+=======| [r] excavating ahead of shield. [s] shoving shield into silt with ... doors open. [t] including time for jacks. [u] including bolting time. table 26.--shield-driven tunnel work, weehawken shaft, river tunnel north. table showing the size of the gang, the amount of excavation, and the time per ring taken for the various operations involved in building tunnel through the several kinds of ground encountered; also the extent and nature of all the unavoidable delays. table 26 part 1 =+===========+=======+=================+===+============+==+===+===+==+==| w| | | ave. no. | e| | | of men | i| | description | in gang | g| |-------+------------ +---+------------+--+---+---+--+--| h| | | |ave| | | | |a | | t| | | |air| | |d |g |i | | | | | | | | |r |r |r | | o| | | |p | |s |i |o | | | f| | | |r | |h |l |u |t |t | | | | |e | |i |l |t |r |o | | | | |s | |e |i |i |a |t | i| | | |s | |l |n |n |n |l | r| section | | |u | |d |g |g |s |e | o| between | length| |r |method of |--+---+---+--+--| n| rings |in feet|material |e |excavation |a |b |c |d | | -+-----------+-------+-----------------+---+------------+--+---+---+--+--| | 1-24 | 60.0|rock | 0 |[x] | 9|.04| 0 | 0|10| | 25-55 | 77.5| " |20 |[x] |14|5 |0.5| 1|21| | 56-72 | 42.5|mixed sand and |10 |[x]breasting|22|2 |.09| 2|26| o| | |rock | | | | | | | | r| 73-165 | 232.5|sand and gravel |10 |[x] " |22|0 |0.1| 2|24| d| 166-184 | 47.5|sand and silt |20{|[x]breasting|22|0 |.38| 3|25| i| | |with piles | {|and cutting}| | | | | | n| 185-253 | 172.5|silt and piles |24{|piles }|23|0 |.71| 3|26| a| 254-293 | 100.0|silt |26 |[y]8 doors |22|0 | 0 | 3|25| r| 294-301 | 20.0| " |27 | |19|0 | 0 | 2|21| y| 302-307 | 15.0| " |27 |[y]8 doors |21|0 | 0 | 2|23| | 308-342 | 87.5| " |28 | |19|0 | 0 | 2|21| | 343-347 | 12.5| " |28 |[y]8 doors |15|0 | 0 | 2|17| | 348-459 | 280.0| " |28 | |20|0 | 0 | 3|28| | 460-494 | 87.5| " |28 |[y]8 doors |21|0 | 0 | 3|24| | 495-513 | 47.5| " |28 | 8 " |23|0 | 0 | 4|27| | 514-605 | 230.0| " |28 | 8 " |25|0 | 0 | 4|29| | 606-624 | 47.5| " |28 | 8 " |24|0 | 0 | 4|28| | 625-640 | 40.0| " |28 | 8 " |38|0 | 0 | 5|43| | 25-640 |1,540.0| |20 | | | | | | | | 185-640 |1,140.0| |26 | |23|0 |0.2| 3|26| -+-----------+-------+-----------------+---+------------+--+---+---+--+--| | 641-647 | 17.5|silt |28 |[y]8 doors |24|0 | 0 | 6|30| | 648-751 | 260.0| " |28 |[y]8 " |22|0 | 0 | 4|26| | 752-795 | 110.0| " |28 |[y]8 " |18|0 | 0 | 7|25| | 796-825 | 75.0| " |28 |[y]8 " |19|0 | 0 |10|28| h| 826-854 | 72.5| " |28 |[y]8 " |17|0 | 0 | 3|20| e| 855-881 | 67.5| " |28 |[y]8 " |23|0 | 0 | 9|32| a| 882-982 | 252.5| " |28 |[y]8 " |20|0 | 0 | 8|28| v| 983-990 | 20.0| " |28 |[y]8 " |21|0 | 0 | 7|28| y| 991-1,049| 147.5| " |28 |[y]8 " |23|0 | 0 | 7|30| |1,050-1,074| 62.5| " |28 |[y]8 " |24|0 | 0 | 9|33| |1,075-1,110| 90.0| " |28 |[y]8 " |25|0 | 0 |10|35| | 641-1,110|1,175.0| |28 | |21|0 | 0 | 7|28| -+-----------+-------+-----------------+---+------------+--+---+---+--+--| a| 185-1,110|2,315.0| |28 | |22|0 |0.1| 5|27| l| 25-1,110|2,715.0| |26 | |21|0.1|0.1| 3|24| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+=======+=================+===+============+==+===+===+==+==| table 26 part 2 =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| w| | | |av. | | time for ring | e| | | | | | erection, | i| | | |time | | hrs. and min. | g| |----+-----| | |----+----+----+----+----| h| |av. |time |per | | | | | | | t| |no. |muck-| |t | s | | | | | | |of |ing, |ring,|i | t | | | | | o| |cu. |per | |m | r | b | b | | | f| |yd. |cu. |shov-|e j | a | o | o | t | | | |per |yd. |ing |a | i | r | r | a | m | | |ring| | |f c | g | e | e | p | e | i| | | |and |o k | h | | | e | a | r| section | | | |r s | t | 1 | 2 | r | n | o| between | | |muck-+--------+----+----+----+----+----| n| rings | e | |ing | f | g | g | g | g | g | -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 1-24 | 46 |0-06 | 4-32|time |6-23| | | |6-23| | 25-55 | 46 |0-51 |39-33|for |4-25| | |5-10|4-29| o| 56-72 | 44 |0-21 |15-05|jacks |2-53| | |3-15|2-55| o| | | | |for | | | | | | r| 73-165 | 39 |0-11 | 6-56|light |2-27| | |2-21|2-26| d| 166-184 | 42 |0-09 | 6-19|iron is |2-31| j | j |6-30|2-37| i| | | | |included| | | | | | n| 185-253 | 43 |0-09 | 6-13|in |1-57|2-44|2-52|2-00|2-15| a| 254-293 | 6 |0-18 | 1-45|shoving |1-58|1-57|2-15|2-45|2-02| r| 294-301 | 0 | | 1-08|and |0-58|1-45|1-50| |1-17| y| 302-307 | 26 |0-09 | 4-03|mucking.|2-20|1-40|1-55|2-57|2-22| | 308-342 | 0 | | 0-36| |2-00|1-34|2-42|1-58|2-02| | 343-347 | 2 |0-36 | 1-11| |2-15|2-20| |2-43|2-33| | 348-459 | 0 | | 0-33| |2-03|2-04|2-09|2-23|2-06| | | | | | | | | | | | | 460-494 | 9 |0-09 | 1-23| |2-49|2-30|2-50|1-50|2-38| | 495-513 | 17 |0-05 | 1-28| |2-35|2-23|1-55|2-10|2-26| | 514-605 | 26 |0-04 | 1-44| |2-12|2-34|2-29|2-15|2-19| | 606-624 | 16 |0-04 | 1-07| |1-54|2-33|2-16|1-35|2-04| | 625-640 | 24 |0-03 | 1-13| |2-14|2-55|2-35|2-46|2-28| | 25-640 | | | | | | | | | | | 185-640 | 16 |0-07 |1-58 | |2-07|2-19|2-26|2-15|2-13| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 641-647 | 19 |0-04 | 0-08| [v] |1-20|2-08|1-65|1-40|1-41| | 648-751 | 14 |0-03 | 0-36| 0-12 |1-21|1-22|1-26|1-55|1-23| | 752-795 | 10 |0-03 | 0-29| 0-14 |0-46|1-25|1-31|2-37|1-10| | 796-825 | 5 |0-08 | 0-40| 0-11 |0-48|1-31|1-34|0-53|1-03| h| 826-854 | 15 |0-03 | 0-48| 0-19 |0-54|1-12|1-02|1-23|1-01| e| 855-881 | 7 |0-05 | 0-33| 0-16 |0-59|0-45|1-15|1-20|1-01| a| 882-982 | 10 |0-02 | 0-20| 0-14 |0-49|1-02|1-01|0-50|0-54| v| 983-990 | 17 |0-02 | 0-34| 0-14 |0-40|0-40|0-48| |0-44| y| 991-1,049| 8 |0-03 | 0-21| 0-11 |0-40|0-48|0-39| |0-41| |1,050-1,074| 7 |0-03 | 0-18| 0-10 |0-43|0-44|0-46|0-40|0-43| |1,075-1,110| 16 |0-02 | 0-33| 0-12 |0-50|1-02|1-06|0-58|0-55| | 641-1,110| 8 |0-04 | 0-30| 0-14 |0-56|1-08|1-12|1-29|1-02| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| a| 185-1,110| 12 |0-07 | 1-20| 0[v] |1-48|2-01|2-11|2-17|1-56| l| 25-1,110|17.1|0-12 | 3-13| [v] | | | | |2-05| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| table 26 part 3 =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| w| | bolting time, whole |time| | e| | time on bolts after | | | i| | ring is complete. |lost| total time. | g| |----+----+----+----+----| |-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| h| | | | | | |re| | | | | | t| | s | | | | |pair | | | | | | | t | | | | |ing | | | | | | o| | r | b | b | | | | s | | | | | f| | a | o | o | t | |hy| t | | | | | | | i | r | r | a | m |drau r | b | b | | | | | g | e | e | p | e |lic | a | o | o | t | | i| | h | | | e | a | | i | r | r | a | m | r| section | t | 1 | 2 | r | n |pip-| g | e | e | p | e | o| between |----+----+----+----+----|ing | h | | | e | a | n| rings | h | h | h | h | h | | t | 1 | 2 | r | n | -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 1-24 | excavation partially | |10-55| | | |10-55| | 25-55 |} completed previously.{| |43-58| | |44-43|44-02| | 56-72 |} {|0-04|18-02| | |18-24|18-04| o| 73-165 |} {|0-09| 9-32| | | 9-26| 9-31| r| 166-184 |} {|0-07| 8-57| | |12-56| 9-03| d| 185-253 |} {|0-15| 8-25| 9-12| 9-20| 8-28| 8-43| i| |} {| | | | | | | n| 254-293 |} bolting time for {|0-14| 3-57| 3-56| 4-14| 4-44| 4-01| a| 294-301 |} light iron is {| | 2-06| 2-53| 2-58| | 2-25| r| 302-307 |} included in {| | 6-23| 5-43| 5-58| 7-00| 6-25| y| 308-342 |} erection. {| | 2-36| 2-10| 3-18| 2-29| 2-38| | 343-347 |} {|0-39| 4-05| 4-10| | 4-43| 4-23| | 348-459 |} {|0-14| 2-50| 2-51| 2-56| 3-10| 2-53| | |} {| | | | | | | | 460-494 |} {|0-27| 4-39| 4-20| 4-40| 3-40| 4-28| | 495-513 |} {| | 4-03| 3-51| 3-23| 3-38| 3-54| | 514-605 |} {| | 3-56| 4-18| 4-13| 3-59| 4-03| | 606-624 |} {| | 3-01| 3-40| 3-23| 2-42| 3-11| | 625-640 |} {| | 3-27| 4-08| 3-48| 3-59| 3-41| | 25-640 |} {| | | | | | | | 185-640 |} {|0-09| 4-14| 4-26| 4-33| 4-22| 4-20| -+-----------+------------------------+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 641-647 |0-40|0-35|1-25|0-55|0-47| | 3-08| 3-51| 4-28| 3-43| 3-36| | 648-751 |0-31|0-29|0-38|0-30|0-32|0-12| 2-52| 2-51| 3-04| 3-25| 2-55| | 752-795 |0-48|0-31|0-44|0-35|0-43|0-05| 2-22| 2-44| 3-03| 4-00| 2-41| h| 796-825 |0-31|1-03|0-49|3-27|0-51| | 2-10| 3-25| 3-14| 5-11| 2-45| e| 826-854 |0-22|0-37|0-38|0-20|0-27|0-06| 2-29| 3-02| 2-53| 2-56| 2-41| a| 855-881 |0-22|0-21|0-45|0-40|0-26|0-45| 2-55| 2-40| 3-34| 3-34| 3-01| v| 882-982 |0-41|0-36|0-36|0-15|0-39|0-12| 2-16| 2-24| 2-23| 1-51| 2-19| y| 983-990 |1-15|0-15|0-28| |0-48| | 2-43| 1-43| 2-04| | 2-20| | 990-1,046|0-41|0-34|0-55| |0-41| | 1-53| 1-54| 2-06| | 1-54| |1,047-1,074|0-35|1-15|0-07|0-35|0-48|0-04| 1-50| 2-31| 2-25| 1-47| 2-03| |1,075-1,110|0-35|0-46|0-58|2-10|0-41|0-21| 2-31| 2-54| 2-10| 4-14| 2-42| | 641-1,110|0-36|0-36|0-44|0-54|6-38|0-11| 2-27| 2-27| 2-51| 3-18| 2-35| -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| a| 185-1,110|[w] | | | | |0-10| 3-18| 3-31| 3-41| 3-47| 3-26| l| 25-1,110|[w] | | | | |0-09| | | | | 5-27| l| | | | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| table 26 summary part 1 ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+===+===+==+==| | | | ave. no. | w| | | of men | e| | description | in gang | i| |-------+--------------+----+------------+--+---+---+--+--| g| | | |ave.| | | | | | | h| | | |air | | | | | | | t| | | | | | | | | a| | | | | |p | | | d | g | i| | o| | | |r | | | r | r | r| | f| | | |e | | s| i | o | | | | | | |s | | h| l | u | t|t | i| | | |s | | i| l | t | r|o | r| section | | |u | | e| i | i | a|t | o| between |length | |r |method of | l| n | n | n|a | n| rings |in feet| material |e |excavation | d| g | g | s|l | ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+---+---+--+--| o {| 1-24 | 60.0|rock | 0 | [x] | 9|.04| 0 | 0|10| r {| 25-55 | 77.5| " |20 | [x] |14|5 |0.5| 1|21| d {| 56-72 | 42.5|mixed sand and|10 |[x]breasting|22|2 |.09| 2|26| i {| | |rock | | | | | | | | n {| 73-165 | 232.5|sand & gravel |10 |[x]breasting|22|0 |.1 | 2|24| a {| 166-184 | 47.5|sand and silt |20 {|[x]breasting|22|0 |.38| 3|25| r {| | |with piles | {|and cutting | | | | | | y {| 185-253 | 172.5|silt w/ piles |24 {|piles |23|0 |.71| 3|26| {| 254-640 | 110.0|silt |26 |[y]doors |22|0 | 0 | 3|25| {|-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+---+---+--+--| {| 25-640 |1,540.0| |20 |[y]doors |21|0.3|.12| 3|24| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+---+---+--+--| hvy| 641-1,110|1,175.0| |28 | |21| 0 | 0 | 7|28| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+---+---+--+--| all| 25-1,110|2,715.0| |26 | |21|0.1|0.1| 3|24| ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+===+===+==+==| table 26 summary part 2 ===+========+========+=======+=======+====+=====+===============+========| w | | | | unavoidable delays | e | | | average time |(not included in average| i o| | | per ring. | time per ring). | g f| | |-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| h |average | time | | | | | | | t i| no. of |mucking,|shoving| | | | | | r| cubic | per | and | erec| | | | | o| yards | cubic |mucking| tion |lost| | | time | n|per ring| yard | [v] | [w] |time|total| items |hrs min| ---+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| o {| 46 | 0-06 | 4-32 |6-23 |0-00|10-55|first bulkhead |132-00 | r {| 46 | 0-51 |39-33 |4-29 |0-00|44-02|second bulkhead|158-50 | d {| 44 | 0-21 |15-05 |2-55 |0-04|18-04|grouting |240-00 | i {| | | | | | |old cave-in |234-00 | n {| 39 | 0-11 | 6-56 |2-26 |0-09| 9-31|shoving tube |128-00 | a {| 42 | 0-09 | 6-19 |2-37 |0-07| 9-03|---------------+--------| r {| | | | | | | total |892-50 | y {| 43 | 0-09 | 6-13 |2-15 |0-05| 8-43|---------------+--------| {| 11 | 0-07 | 1-13 |2-20 |0-08| 3-41| per ring | 0-49 | {|--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| {| 24 | 0-14 | 5-06 |2-24 |0-08| 7-38| | | ---+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| hvy| 8 | 0-04 | 0-44 |1-40 |0-11| 2-35| | | ---+--------+--------+-------+-------+----+-----+---------------+--------| all| 17.1 | 0-12 | 3-13 |3-05 |0-09| 5-27| | | ===+========+========+=======+=======+====+=====+===============+========| [v] including time for jacks. [w] including bolting time. [x] excavating ahead of shield. [y] shoving shield into silt with ... doors open. table 27.--shield-driven tunnel work, weehawken shaft, river tunnel south. table showing the size of the gang, the amount of excavation, and the time per ring taken for the various operations involved in building tunnel through the several kinds of ground encountered; also the extent and nature of all the unavoidable delays. table 27 part 1 =+===========+=======+============+====+============+==+==+===+===+==| w| | | ave. no. | e| | | of men | i| | description | in gang | g| |-------+------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| h| | | |ave | | | | |a | | t| | | |air | | |d |g |i | | | | | | | | |r |r |r | | o| | | |p | |s |i |o | | | f| | | |r | |h |l |u |t |t | | | | |e | |i |l |t |r |o | | | | |s | |e |i |i |a |t | i| | | |s | |l |n |n |n |a | r| section | | |u | |d |g |g |s |l | o| between | length| |r |method of |--+--+---+---| | n| rings |in feet|material |e |excavation |a |b |c |d | | -+-----------+-------+------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| | 1-27 | 67.5|rock | 9 |[c] {|excavation }| | | | | | {|partially }| | | | | | {|completed }| | | | | | {|previously. }| | 28-42 | 37.5| " |12 |[c] |13| 4|1 |1 |19| | 43-58 | 40.0|rock or |12 |[c] |19| 2|2 |2 |25| | | | | | | | | o| 59-153 | 237.5|gravel and |16 |[c]breasting|25| |1 |4 |30| r| | |sand | | | | | | | | d| 154-170 | 42.5|sand and |18 | " |26| |1 |5 |32| i| | |silt w/piles| | | | | | | | n| 171-236 | 165.0|silt with |22 |top half |22| |1 |3 |26| a| | |piles | | r| 237-259 | 57.5|silt |25 |[d]1 door |18| |1 |3 |22| y| 260-302 | 107.5| " |27 |[d]1 door |15| | |2 |17| | 303-350 | 120.0| " |27 |[d]8 doors |15| | |4 |19| | 351-378 | 70.0| " |27.5|[d]8 " |18| | |6 |24| | 379-424 | 115.0| " |27.5|[d]8 " |19| | |4 |23| | 425-522 | 245.0| " |28 |[d]1 door |19| | |4 |23| | 523-625 | 257.5| " |28 |[d]1 " |20| | |4 |24| | 171-625 |1,137.5| |27 | |19| | |4 |23| | 28-625 |1,495.0| |25 | |19|.8|0.8|3.4|24| -+-----------+-------+------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| | 626-649 | 57.5|silt |28 |[d]1 door |16| | | 3 |19| | 650-733 | 210.0| " |28 |[d]8 doors |19| | | 4 |23| | 734-753 | 50.0| " |28 |[d]8 " |24| | | 5 |29| h| 754-844 | 227.5| " |28 |[d]8 " |26| | | 8 |34| e| 845-859 | 37.5| " |28 |[d]8 " |27| | | 9 |36| a| 860-899 | 100.0| " |28 |[d]8 " |24| | | 8 |33| v| 900-935 | 90.0| " |28 |[d]1 door |25| | | 7 |32| y| 936-963 | 70.5| " |28 |[d]1 " |25| | | 8 |33| | 964-1,003| 100.0| " |28 |[d]1 " |25| | |10 |35| |1,004-1,060| 142.5| " |28 |[d]1 " |26| | |10 |36| |1,061-1,110| 125.0| " |28 |[d]1 " |37| | |10 |47| |1,111-1,238| 320.0| " |28 |[d]1 " |30| | | 9 |39| |1,239-1,312| 185.0| " |28 | |39| | | 9 |38| | 626-1,312|1,717.5| " |28 | |35| | | 8 |33| -+-----------+-------+------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| a| 171-1,312|2,855.0| |28 | |23| | | 6 |29| l| 28-1,312|3,212.5| |26 | |21| | | 5 |26| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+=======+============+====+============+==+==+===+===+==| table 27 part 2 =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| w| | | |av. | | time for ring | e| | | | | | erection, | i| | | |time | | hrs. and min. | g| |----+-----| | |----+----+----+----+----| h| |av. |time |per | | | | | | | t| |no. |muck-| |t | o | | | | | | |of |ing, |ring,|i | r | | | | | o| |cu. |per | |m | d | b | b | | | f| |yd. |cu. |shov-|e j | i | o | o | t | | | |per |yd. |ing |a | n | r | r | a | m | | |ring| | |f c | a | e | e | p | e | i| | | |and |o k | r | | | e | a | r| section | | | |r s | y | 1 | 2 | r | n | o| between | | |muck-+--------+----+----+----+----+----| n| rings | e | |ing | f | g | g | g | g | g | -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 1-27 |excavation| | |8-30| | |3-45|8-08| | | partially| | | | | | | | | | completed| | | | | | | | | |previously| | | | | | | | | 28-42 |48.7|0-25 |20-33| |4-23| | |4-00|4-21| | 43-58 |44.2|0-46 |33-44| |4-16| | |5-45|4-44| | | | | | | | | | | | o| 59-153 |39.0|0-12 | 8-06| |2-19| | |4-18|2-23| r| | | | | | | | | | | d| 154-170 |41.6|0-10 | 7-10| |2-00| j. | j. |1-48|1-59| i| | | | | | | | | | | n| 171-236 |42.6|0-10 | 7-23| |2-36|2-55|2-58|1-24|2-35| a| | | | | | | | | | | r| 237-259 |13.8|0-11 | 2-29| |3-01|2-05|1-28|2-00|2-32| y| 260-302 | 0 | | 0-32| |2-34|2-35|3-38|4-28|3-05| | 303-350 | 6.9|0-07 | 0-52| |2-59|2-28|2-37|1-44|2-41| | 351-378 | 0 | | 0-33| |2-05|2-32|2-48|2-00|2-18| | 379-424 | 6.9|0-07 | 0-48| |3-34|2-51|3-18|3-19|3-22| | 425-522 | 6.7|0-06 | 0-45| |3-09|3-51|3-00|3-28|3-16| | 523-625 | 0 | | 0-32| |1-36|1-37|1-47|1-51|1-39| | 171-625 | 9.7|0-11 | 1-44| [a] |2-37|2-41|2-41|2-32|2-38| | 28-625 |17.8|0-14 | 4-14| [a] | | | | |2-41| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+----+----+----+----+----| | 626-649 |12.2|0-12 | 2-23| [a] |2-19|2-30|2-05|1-42|2-16| | 650-733 |13.5| | 0-57| 0-13 |1-42|1-24|1-47|1-48|1-39| | 734-753 | 8.3|0-05 | 0-41| 0-17 |1-06|1-55|0-38|1-20|1-12| h| 754-844 |12.8|0-04 | 0-51| 0-16 |1-19|1-41|1-52|0-50|1-29| e| 845-859 | 5.6|0-07 | 0-39| 0-19 |1-24|1-08|1-10| |1-20| a| 860-899 |16.5|0-02 | 0-39| 0-13 |1-00|1-05|1-13| |1-04| v| 900-935 |11.5|0-03 | 0-29| 0-14 |0-47|1-13|0-52|1-10|0-52| y| 936-963 | 5.9|0-03 | 0-19| 0-15 |0-59|0-47|0-55| |0-56| | 964-1,003| 8.1|0-03 | 0-27| 0-10 |0-51|0-52|1-05| |0-53| |1,004-1,060| 8.7|0-03 | 0-30| 0-15 |1-01|1-09|1-05|0-45|1-03| |1,061-1,110| 6.2|0-03 | 0-19| 0-10 |0-42|0-49|0-54|0-45|0-45| |1,111-1,238|15.6|0-02 | 0-38| 0-16 |0-48|1-06|1-04|1-23|0-56| |1,239-1,312|13.0|0-03 | 0-36| 0-18 |1-04|1-01|1-02|1-15|1-07| | 626-1,312|10.6|0-04 | 0-42| 0-14 |1-06|1-15|1-16|1-18|1-10| -+-----------+----+-----+-----+--------+--|----+----+----+----| a| 171-1,312|10.2|0-07 |1-15 | [a] |2-09|2-13|2-21|2-20|2-13| l| 28-1,312|14.1|0-10 |2-28 | [a] | | | | |2-18| l| | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+=====+=====+========+====+====+====+====+====| table 27 part 3 =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| w| | bolting time, whole |time| | e| | time on bolts after | | | i| | ring is complete. |lost| total time. | g| |----+----+----+----+----| |-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| h| | | | | | |re| | | | | | t| | s | | | | |pair | | | | | | | t | | | | |ing | | | | | | o| | r | b | b | | | | s | | | | | f| | a | o | o | t | |hy| t | | | | | | | i | r | r | a | m |drau r | b | b | | | | | g | e | e | p | e |lic | a | o | o | t | | i| | h | | | e | a | | i | r | r | a | m | r| section | t | 1 | 2 | r | n |pip-| g | e | e | p | e | o| between |----+----+----+----+----|ing | h | | | e | a | n| rings | h | h | h | h | h | | t | 1 | 2 | r | n | -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 1-27 |} {|0-14|21-11| | |16-26|20-49| | |} {| | | | | | | | |} {| | | | | | | | |} {| | | | | | | | 28-42 |} {|0-12|25-08| | |24-45|25-06| | 43-58 |} {|1-15|39-15| | |40-44|39-43| | |} {| | | | | | | o| 59-153 |} {|0-30|10-55| | |12-54|10-59| r| |{ {| | | | | | | d| 154-170 |} {|0-00| 9-10| j. | j. | 8-58| 9-09| i| |} {| | | | | | n| 171-236 |} bolting time for {|0-05|10-04|10-23|10-26| 8-52|10-03| a| |} light iron is {| | | | | | | r| 237-259 |} included in {|0-20| 5-50| 4-54| 4-17| 4-49| 5-21| y| 260-302 |} erection. {|0-08| 3-14| 3-15| 4-18| 5-08| 3-45| | 303-350 |} {|0-07| 3-58| 3-27| 3-36| 2-43| 3-40| | 351-378 |} {|0-17| 2-55| 3-22| 3-38| 2-50| 3-08| | 379-424 |} {|0-25| 4-47| 4-09| 4-31| 4-32| 4-35| | 425-522 |} {|0-16| 4-10| 4-52| 4-01| 4-29| 4-17| | 523-625 |} {|0-12| 2-20| 2-21| 2-31| 2-35| 2-23| | 171-625 |} {|0-13| 4-34| 4-38| 4-38| 4-29| 4-35| | 28-625 |} {|0-16| | | | | 7-11| -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| | 626-649 |1-01|1-04|1-04|0-50|1-01|0-32| 6-15| 6-29| 6-04| 5-27| 6-12| | 650-733 |1-15|0-52|0-55|0-42|1-07|0-32| 4-39| 3-58| 4-24| 4-12| 4-28| | 734-753 |0-38|0-44|1-13|0-20|0-44|0-06| 2-48| 3-43| 2-55| 2-44| 3-00| h| 754-844 |0-39|0-50|0-54|0-40|0-44|0-25| 3-30| 4-08| 4-18| 3-02| 3-45| e| 845-859 |0-45|0-15|0-15| |0-37|0-48| 3-55| 3-09| 3-11| | 3-43| a| 860-899 |0-59|0-32|0-49| |0-52|0-07| 2-58| 2-36| 3-01| | 2-55| v| 900-935 |0-39|0-43|0-32|0-20|0-38|0-04| 2-18| 2-43| 2-11| 2-17| 2-17| y| 936-963 |0-34|0-16|0-41| |0-32|0-37| 2-44| 2-14| 2-47| | 2-39| | 964-1,003|0-32|0-45|0-37| |0-35|0-16| 2-16| 2-30| 2-35| | 2-21| |1,004-1,060|0-54|0-37|0-49|0-40|0-49|0-24| 3-04| 2-55| 3-03| 2-34| 3-01| |1,061-1,110|0-24|0-26|0-39|0-25|0-27|0-00| 1-35| 1-44| 2-02| 1-39| 1-41| |1,111-1,238|0-36|0-34|0-57|1-12|0-41|0-02| 2-20| 2-36| 2-57| 3-31| 2-33| |1,239-1,312|0-39|0-43|1-12|0-59|0-50|0-10| 2-47| 2-48| 3-18| 3-18| 3-01| | 626-1,312|0-45|0-40|0-52|0-54|0-47|0-16| 3-03| 3-07| 3-20| 3-24| 3-09| -+-----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| a| 171-1,312| [c]| | | | |0-15| 3-39| 3-43| 3-51| 3-50| 3-43| l| 28-1,312| [c]| | | | |0-15| | | | | 5-01| l| | | | | | | | | | | | | =+===========+====+====+====+====+====+====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====| table 27 summary part 1 ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+==+===+===+==| | | | ave. no. | w| | | of men | e| | description | in gang | i| |-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| g| | | |ave.| | | | | | | h| | | |air | | | | | | | t| | | | | | | | | a | | | | | |p | | | d| g | i | | o| | | |r | | | r| r | r | | f| | | |e | | s| i| o | | | | | | |s | | h| l| u | t |t | i| | | |s | | i| l| t | r |o | r| section | | |u | | e| i| i | a |t | o| between |length | |r |method of | l| n| n | n |a | n| rings |in feet| material |e |excavation | d| g| g | s |l | ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| {| 28-42 | 37.5|rock |12 |[b]breast |13| 4| 1| 1 |19| o {| 43-58 | 40.0|rock & gravel |12 | " |19| 2| 2| 2 |25| r {| 59-153 | 237.5|gravel & sand |16 | " |25| | 1| 4 |30| d {| 154-170 | 42.5|sand or silt, |18 | " |26| | 1| 5 |32| i {| | | with piles | | | | | | | | n {| 171-236 | 165.0|silt w/ piles |22 | " |22| | 1| 3 |26| a {| 237-259 | 57.5|silt |25 |[c]1 door |18| | 1| 3 |22| r {| 260-625 | 915.0| " |27 | 1 " |18| | | 4 |22| y {|-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| {| 28-625 |1,495.0| |25 | |19|.8|0.8|3.4|24| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| hvy| 626-1,312|1,717.5|silt |28 | |25| | | 8 |33| ---+-----------+-------+--------------+----+------------+--+--+---+---+--| all| 28-1,312|3,212.5| |26 | |21| | | 5 |26| ===+===========+=======+==============+====+============+==+==+===+===+==| table 27 summary part 2 ===+========+========+=======+======+====+=====+===============+========| w | | | | unavoidable delays | e | | | average time |(not included in average| i o| | | per ring. | time per ring). | g f| | |-------+------+----+-----+---------------+--------| h |average | time | | | | | | | t i| no. of |mucking,|shoving| | | | | | r| cubic | per | and | erec-| | | | | o| yards | cubic |mucking| tion |lost| | | time | n|per ring| yard | [z] | [a] |time|total| items |hrs min| ---+--------+--------+-------+------+----+-----+---------------+--------| {| 48.7 | 0-25 | 20-33 | 4-21|0-12|25-06|first bulkhead | 80-00| o {| 44.2 | 0-46 | 33-44 | 4-44|1-15|39-43|second bulkhead| 156-00| r {| 39.0 | 0-12 | 8-06 | 2-23|0-30|10-59|grouting rock | 280-00| d {| 41.6 | 0-10 | 7-10 | 1-59|0-0 | 9-09| sections| | i {| | | | | | |blow-outs | 222-00| n {| 42.6 | 0-10 | 7-23 | 2-35|0-05|10-03|shield repairs | 326-40| a {| 13.8 | 0-11 | 2-29 | 2-32|0-20| 5-21|horz. timbers | 69-30| r {| 3.6 | 0-06 | 0-40 | 2-39|0-14| 3-33| total |1,134-10| y {|--------+--------+-------+------+----+-----+---------------+--------| {| 17.8 | 0-14 | 4-14 | 2-41|0-16| 7-11|per ring | 0-53| ---+--------+--------+-------+------+----+-----+---------------+--------| hvy| 10.6 | 0-4 | 0-56 | 1-57|0-16| 3-09| | | ---+--------+--------+-------+------+----+-----+---------------+--------| all| 14.1 | 0-10 | 2-28 | 2-18|0-15| 5-01| | | ===+========+========+=======+======+====+=====+===============+========| [z] including time for jacks. [a] including bolting time. [b] excavating ahead of shield. [c] shoving shield into silt with ... doors open. the average time taken for each operation at all the working faces is given in table 28. the work has been subdivided into the different kinds of ground encountered. the progress, as shown by the amount of work done each month by each shield, is given in table 29. table 28.--shield-driven tunnel work.--total number of rings erected and shifts worked by all four shields in contracts gy-west and gj, and the average size of gang, amount of excavation and time taken per ring for the various operations involved in building tunnel in each of the several kinds of ground encountered; also the extent and nature of all the unavoidable delays. table 28 part 1 ===+===================+=====+========+======+==+====+====+====+====+====| | | | | |a | ave. no. | w| | | | |v | of men | e| | | | | | in gang | i| | | | |a +----+----+----+----+----+ g| | | | |i | | | | a | | h| | | | |r | | d | g | i | | t| | | |total | | | r | r | r | | | | | | |p | s | i | o | | | o| |total| total |number|r | h | l | u | t | t | f| | | | |e | i | l | t | r | o | | description | no. | no. | of |s | e | i | i | a | t | i| | | | |s | l | n | n | n | a | r| of | of | of |8-hour|u | d | g | g | s | l | o| | | | |r |----+----+----+----+----+ n| material |rings| feet. |shifts|e |unit|unit|unit|unit|unit| ---+-------------------+-----+--------+------+--+----+----+----+----+----+ {|rock. | 165| 412.5| 597 |16| 18 | 9 |0.25| 1 | 28 | o {|rock and earth and | 177| 442.5| 500 |14| 22 | 5 |0.3 | 2 | 30 | r {| rock and gravel.| | | | | | | | | | d {|sand and gravel | 188| 470.0| 241 |13| 24 | |0.6 | 3 | 27 | i {| (unobstructed), nj| | | | | | | | | | n {|sand and silt (with| 171| 427.5| 199 |22| 23 | |1.0 | 3 | 27 | a {| piles.)| | | | | | | | | | r {|silt under r. r. | 396| 990.0| 355 |19| 27 | | | 3 | 30 | y {| tracks, ny| | | | | | | | | | {|rip-rap and silt | 77| 192.5| 193 |23| 26 | | | 4 | 30 | | under bulkhead.| | | | | | | | | | i {| |-----+--------+------+--+----+----+----+----+----| r {|total mixed and | | | | | | | | | | o {| difficult ground.|1,174| 2,935.0|2,085 |17| 22 | 4 |0.3 | 3 | 29 | n {|-------------------+-----+--------+------+--+----+----+----+----+----+ {|silt--ordinary iron|1,302| 3,255.0| 676 |25| 22 | | | 4 | 26 | ---+-------------------+-----+--------+------+--+----+----+----+----+----+ hvy|silt--heavy iron. |2,209| 5,522.5| 791 |26| 25 | | | 8 | 33 | ---+-------------------+-----+--------+------+--+----+----+----+----+----+ |silt--ord and heavy| | | | | | | | | | |iron under river. |3,511| 8,777.5|1,467 |26| 24 | | | 6 | 30 | |-------------------+-----+--------+------+--+----+----+----+----+----+ |grand total. |4,685|11,712.5|3,552 |21| 23 | 2 |0.2 | 4 | 29 | ===+===================+=====+========+======+==+====+====+====+====+====| table 28 part 2 ====+====+=======+========+=======+=======+=============+========| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ave. unavoidable | | | | delay per | | | average time per ring. | working face. | cu. |time|------------------------+-------+-------------+--------| yd. |per |shoving| | | | | time | per |cu. | and | | lost | | items |--------| ring|yd. |mucking|erecting| time | total |not included |ave unit| ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------| in previous |--------| unit|unit|hrs min|hrs min |hrs min|hrs min| figures |hrs min | | | k | l | m | | | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| 51 |0-27| 25 15| 3 41 | 0 02| 28 58|1st bulkhead |136 00 | 45 |0-26| 19 31| 2 55 | 0 11| 22 37| 2d " |147 54 | | | | | | | | | 39 |0-12| 7 31| 2 24 | 0 20| 10 15|grouting |246 00 | | | | | | | | | 43 |0-09| 6 46| 2 24 | 0 09| 9 19|blow-outs | 91 11 | | | | | | | | | 42 |0-06| 4 09| 2 51 | 0 10| 7 10|miscellaneous|230 33 | | | | | | | | | 43 |0-21| 14 47| 3 41 | 1 34| 20 02|total |851 38 | | | | | | | | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| | | | | | | | | 43 |0-18| 11 02| 2 54 | 0 16| 14 12| | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| 12 |0-07| 1 20| 2 35 | 0 14| 4 12| | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| 12 |0-05| 0 58| 1 44 | 0 10| 2 52| | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| | | | | | | | | 12 |0-06| 1 09| 2 05 | 0 12| 3 26| | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| 20 |0-11| 3 33| 2 15 | 0 13| 6 01| | | ----+----+-------+--------+-------+-------+-------------+--------| average delay per ring--0 hrs. 44 min. average rings built by one shield = 1,146â¼. average time per ring. 6 hr 01 min delays. 44 min ---------- total time per ring. 6 hr 45 min note.--the "unavoidable delays" included in this table do not embrace the periods during which the work was at complete or partial standstill due to experiments and observations, shortage of iron due to change of design, and holidays. k-including time for jacks. l-including time spent by the whole gang on bolting; in addition to this there was a small gang which spent its whole time bolting. m-chiefly due to breakdowns of hydraulic lines and erector. _air pressure._--the air pressure varied from 17 to 37 lb. behind the river line it averaged 17 lb. and under the river 26 lb. behind the river lines the pressure was generally kept about equal to the water head at the crown, except where at weehawken, as previously described, this was impossible. in the silt the pressure was much lower than the hydrostatic head at the crown, but if it became necessary to make an excavation ahead of the shield, for example at the junction of the shields, the air pressure required was about equal to the weight of the overlying material, namely, the water and the silt, as the silt, which weighed from 97 to 106 lb. per cu. ft. and averaged 100 lb. per cu. ft., acted like a fluid. table 29.--monthly progress of shield-driven tunnel work. =====+=============================+=============================+ | north manhattan. | south manhattan. | +-----------------------------+----------------------+------+ | number of | station |lin. | number of | station |lin. | | rings | of |ft. | rings | of |ft. | | erected. | leading |for | erected. | leading |for | +-----------+ ring. |month.+-----------+ ring. |month.| |for | to | | |for |to | | | month|month|date | | |month|date | | | -----+-----+-----+----------+------+-----+-----+----------+------+ 1905 | | | | | | | | | may | 26 | 26|200 + 83.7| 63.7 | | | | | june | 26 | 52|201 + 49.0| 65.3 | | | | | july | 28 | 80|202 + 19.2| 70.2 | | | | | aug | 26 | 106|202 + 84.3| 65.1 | | | | | sept | 21 | 127|203 + 36.8| 52.5 | 31 | 31|200 + 96.4| 76.4 | oct | 25 | 152|203 + 99.4| 63.6 | 45 | 76|202 + 09.2|112.8 | nov | 31 | 183|204 + 76.9| 77.5 | 31 | 107|202 + 86.5| 77.3 | dec | 59 | 242|206 + 24.6|147.7 | 34 | 141|208 + 71.8| 85.3 | 1906 | | | | | | | | | jan | 94 | 336|208 + 59.8|235.2 | 27 | 168|304 + 39.4| 67.6 | feb | 78 | 414|210 + 54.9|195.1 | 64 | 232|205 + 99.6|160.2 | mar | 56 | 470|211 + 95.2|140.3 | 96 | 328|208 + 39.9|240.3 | april| 119 | 589|214 + 93.0|297.8 | 84 | 412|210 + 59.1|210.2 | may | 129 | 718|218 + 15.7|322.7 | 70 | 482|212 + 25.3|165.2 | june | 218 | 936|232 + 60.9|545.2 | 140 | 622|215 + 75.5|350.2 | july | 155 |1,091|227 + 48.5|387.6 | 82 | 704|217 + 80.7|205.2 | aug | 145 |1,236|231 + 11.2|362.7 | 134 | 838|221 + 15.8|335.1 | sept | 89 |1,325|233 + 34.1|222.9 | 168 |1,006|225 + 35.8|420.0 | oct | | | | | 105 |1,111|227 + 98.6|262.8 | nov | | | | | 7 |1,118|228 + 16.8| 18.2 | =====+=====+=====+==========+======+=====+=====+==========+======+ =====+=============================+============================+======== | north weehawken. | south weehawken. | +-----------------------------+----------------------------+average | number of | station |lin. | number of | station |lin. |progress | rings | of |ft. | rings | of |ft. |per | erected. | leading |for | erected. | leading |for |shield +-----------+ ring. |month.+-----------+ ring. |month|lin. ft. |for | to | | |for |to | | |per month|month|date | | |month|date | | |month. -----+-----+-----+----------+------+-----+-----+----------+-----+------- 1905 | | | | | | | | | may | | | | | | | | | 15.9 june | 24 | 24|260 + 76.6| 59.3 | 12 | 12|260 + 70.0| 30.0| 38.6 july | 12 | 36|260 + 46.6| 30.0 | 15 | 27|260 + 32.4| 37.6| 34.4 aug | 15 | 51|260 + 09.1| 37.5 | 16 | 43|260 + 07.4| 25.0| 31.9 sept | 1 | 52|260 + 06.6| 2.5 | 18 | 61|259 + 47.2| 60.2| 47.9 oct | 10 | 62|259 + 81.5| 25.1 | 20 | 81|258 + 97.2| 50.0| 62.9 nov | 29 | 91|259 + 09.0| 72.5 | 39 | 120|257 + 99.7| 97.5| 81.2 dec | 46 | 137|257 + 94.0|115.0 | 77 | 197|256 + 07.1|192.6| 135.1 1906 | | | | | | | | | jan | 77 | 214|256 + 01.4|192.6 | 73 | 270|254 + 24.6|182.5| 169.4 feb | 133 | 347|252 + 68.6|332.8 | 165 | 435|250 + 11.7|412.9| 275.2 mar | 142 | 489|249 + 13.3|355.3 | 111 | 546|247 + 34.0|277.7| 253.4 april| 32 | 521|248 + 33.3| 80.0 | 78 | 624|245 + 38.9|195.1| 195.7 may | 121 | 642|245 + 30.6|302.7 | 2 | 626|245 + 33.9| 5.0| 198.9 june | 162 | 804|241 + 25.3|405.3 | 157 | 788|241 + 41.1|392.8| 423.4 july | 113 | 917|238 + 42.4|282.9 | 118 | 901|238 + 45.9|295.2| 292.7 aug | 138 |1,055|234 + 97.1|345.3 | 140 |1,041|234 + 95.8|850.1| 348.3 sept | 55 |1,110|233 + 59.5|137.6 | 177 |1,218|230 + 52.8|443.0| 305.9 oct | 1 |1,111|233 + 57.0| 2.5 | 94 |1,312|228 + 16.8|236.0| 125.3 nov | 9 |1,120|233 + 34.1| 22.9 | | | | | 10.3 -----+-----+-----+----------+------+-----+-----+----------+-----+-------a â½-in. air line was taken direct from the working chamber to the recording gauges in the engine-room, which enabled the engine-room force to keep a constant watch on the air conditions below. to avoid undue rise of pressure, a safety valve was set on the air line at each lock, set to blow off if the air pressure rose above that desired. the compressor plant was ample, except, as before described, when passing the gravel section at weehawken. records were kept of the air supply, and it may be said here that the quantity of free air per man per hour was in general between 1,500 and 5,000 cu. ft., though in the open gravel where the escape was great it was for a time as much as 10,000 cu. ft. for more than half the silt period it was kept between 3,000 and 4,000 cu. ft., but when it seemed proved beyond doubt that any quantity more than 2,000 cu. ft. had no beneficial effect on health, no attempt was made to deliver more, and on two separate occasions for two consecutive weeks it ran as low as 1,000 cu. ft. without any increase in the number of cases of bends. the amount of co_{2} in the air was also measured daily, as the specifications called for not more than 1 part of co_{2} per 1,000 parts of air. the average ranged between 0.8 and 1.5 parts per 1,000, though in exceptional cases it fell as low as 0.3 and rose to 4.0. the air temperature in the tunnels usually ranged from 55â° to 60â° fahr., which was the temperature also of the surrounding silt, though at times, in the earlier parts of the work when grouting extensively in long sections of the tunnel in rock, it varied from 85â° to 110â° fahr. _grouting._--grout of one part of portland cement to one part of sand by volume was forced outside the tunnel lining by air pressure through 1â½-in. tapped and plugged grout holes formed in each segment for this purpose, wherever the ground was not likely to squeeze in upon the metal lining as soon as this was erected. that is to say, it was used everywhere up to the river line; between river lines it was not used except at the new york bulkhead wall in order to fill voids in the rip-rap, and at the point of junction of the shields where the space between the metal lining and the shield skins outside it was grouted. cow bay sand was used, and it had to be screened to remove particles greater than 1/10 in. in diameter, which would choke the valves. for later grouting work, namely, in the top of the concrete lining inside the metal lining, rockaway beach sand was used. this is very fine, and did not need screening; it cost more, but the saving of screening and the non-blocking of valves, etc., resulted in a saving. the grout was mixed in a machine shown in fig. 2, plate xli, which is a view of the grouting operation. the grout pipes were not screwed directly into the tapped hole in the segments, but a pipe containing a nipple and valve was screwed into the grout hole and the grout pipe screwed to the pipe. this prevented the waste of grout, enabled the valve to be closed and the grout pipe disconnected, and the pipe to be left in position until the grout had set. in the full rock section, 20 or 30 rings were put in without grouting; then the shield was stopped, the last two or three rings were detached and pulled ahead by the shield, a masonry stop-wall was built around the outside of the last ring left in, and the whole 20 or 30 rings were grouted at one time. in the landward silt and gravel each ring had to be grouted as soon as the shield had left it, in order to avoid the flattening caused by the weight coming on the crown while the sides were as yet unsupported. the grout was prevented from reaching the tail of the shield by plugging up the space with empty cement bags, assisted by segmental boards held against the face of the leading ring by u-shaped clamps, fitting over the front circumferential flange of the ring and the boards, and tightened by wedges. the air pressure varied between 70 and 100 lb. per sq. in. above normal. the force consisted of one pipe-fitter and one or two laborers employed part of their time. when a considerable length was being grouted at a time, as in the full rock section, many laborers were employed for a short period. transportation and disposal. the transportation and disposal will be described under the following headings: receipt and unloading of materials, surface transportation, tunnel transportation, disposal. _receipt and unloading of materials._--at the manhattan shaft the contractor laid a spur siding into the yard from the freight tracks of the new york central railroad, which immediately adjoins the yard on the west. there was also wharfage on the river front about 1,500 ft. away. at the weehawken shaft there were four sidings from the erie railroad and one from the west shore railroad. access to the river was gained by a trestle direct from the yard, and baldwin avenue adjoined the yard. all the iron lining arrived by railroad. it was unloaded by derricks, and stacked so that it was convenient for use in the tunnel. the manhattan derricks were a pair of steel ones with 39-ft. booms, worked by a 30-h.p., 250-volt, electric motor. there was also a stiff-leg derrick with 50-ft. boom, on a platform near the shaft, which was worked by a 40-h.p., 250-volt motor. at weehawken there were two 45-ft. boom, stiff-leg derricks of 2 tons capacity, one worked by a 42-h.p. lidgerwood boiler and engine, and the other by a 25-h.p., 250-volt, electric motor. these derricks were set on elevated trestles near the erie railroad sidings. there was a 50-ft. stiff-leg derrick with a 70-h.p. lidgerwood boiler and engine near the cement warehouse on the west shore railroad. the storage area for iron lining was 1,800 sq. ft. at manhattan and 63,000 sq. ft. at weehawken; the maximum quantity of lining in storage at any one time was 150 rings at manhattan and 1,200 rings at weehawken. the cement, which was issued and sold by the company to the contractor, was kept in cement warehouses; that at the new york side was at eleventh avenue and 38th street, or some 1,200 ft. from the shaft, to which it was brought by team; that at weehawken was adjacent to the shaft, with a 2-ft. gauge track throughout it and directly connected with the shaft elevator. _surface transportation._--in the early days the excavation was handled in scale-boxes of 1 cu. yd. capacity which were hoisted up the shafts by a derrick, but, when the iron period began, two-cage elevators were put in at each shaft. they were worked by a single, friction-drum, lidgerwood, steam hoisting engine of 40 h.p. all materials of construction were loaded on cars on the surface at the point where they were stored, and hauled on these to the elevators, sent down the shaft, and taken along the tunnels to the desired point without unloading. the narrow-gauge railway on the surface and in the tunnel was of 2-ft. gauge with 20-lb. rails. about 70 flat cars and 50 mining cars were used at each shaft. on the surface at manhattan these were moved by hand, but at weehawken, where distances were greater, two electric locomotives on the overhead trolley system were used. _tunnel transportation._--the mining cars shown in fig. 19 were of 1â¼ cu. yd. capacity. the short wheel base and unbalanced loading caused a good many upsets, but they were compact, easily handled, and could be dumped from either side or end. [illustration: muck car (as used in river tunnels) capacity 5,000 lbs. or 1â¼ cu. yd. fig. 19.] the flat cars shown in fig. 20 were of 3 tons capacity, and could hold two tunnel segments. as the working face was down grade from the shafts, the in-bound cars were run by gravity. for out-bound cars a cable haulage system was used, consisting of double-cylinder, lidgerwood, single friction-drum, hoisting engines (no. 32) of 6 h.p., with cylinders 5 in. in diameter and 6 in. stroke and drums 10 in. in diameter. these were handily moved from point to point, but, as there was no tail rope, several men had to be used to pull the cable back to the face. after the second air-lock bulkhead walls had been built, a continuous-cable system, worked electrically, was put in each tunnel between the first and second air-locks. the engine consisted of an electric motor driving a 3-ft. 6-in. drum hoist around which a â¾-in. steel wire cable passed three times. the cable was led around a sheave, down the tunnel on the right side of the in-bound track, and returned on the left side of the out-bound track. it was then carried around a set of sheaves, where a tension of 1,000 lb. was supplied by a suspended weight which acted on a sheave with a sliding axle on the tension carriage. the cable was supported throughout its length on 8-in. pulleys set in the floor at 50-ft. intervals. all the guide sheaves were 36 in. in diameter. [illustration: flat car for tunnel segments capacity 6,000 lbs. fig. 20.] each car was attached to the cable by a grip at its side. this was fastened and unfastened by hand, but was automatically released just before reaching the turn in the cable near each lock. this system could haul without difficulty an unbalanced load of 10 muck cars, spaced 100 ft. apart, up a 2% grade. the cable operated over about 1,000 ft. of tunnel, the motor being placed at the top of the grade. the driving motor was of the semi-armored, 8-pole, series-wound type, rated at 25 h.p., 635 rev. per min., and using direct current at 220 volts. the speed of handling the cars was limited by their having to pass through the air-locks on a single track. as many as 106 cars have been hauled each way in one 8-hour shift. _disposal._--at manhattan the tunnel muck was carried from the elevator over the upper level of the yard trestle and dumped into bins on the 33d street side, whence it was teamed to the public dump at 30th street and north river. at weehawken the rock excavation was removed by the erie railroad on flat cars on which it was dumped by the tunnel contractor, but all the silt muck was teamed away to some marshy ground where dumping privileges were obtained. the typical forces employed on transportation were as follows: _receipt and unloading of material: surface transportation and disposal._ at manhattan shaft, on 10-hour shifts: 2 engineers on derricks. @ $3.00 per day. 2 foremen. " 3.25 " " 15 laborers loading and unloading iron. " 1.75 " " 7 laborers on disposal. " 1.75 " " 6 teams. " 7.50 " " at weehawken shaft, on 10-hour shifts: 3 engineers on derricks and locomotives. @ $3.00 per day. 16 laborers loading and unloading iron. " 1.75 " " 3 foremen. " 3.50 " " 11 laborers on disposal. " 1.75 " " 6 teams on disposal. " 6.50 " " tunnel transportation (including shaft elevator): shaft elevators and to and from the first air-lock on 10-hour shift: 2 engineers. @ $3.00 per day. 2 signalmen. " 2.00 " " 1 foreman. " 3.00 " " 12 laborers. " 1.75 " " between first lock and working face, on 8-hour shifts, the force varied: from 1 to 3 (average 2) hoist engineers @ $3.00 per day. from 0 to 2 (average 1) lockman " 2.75 " " from 1 to 2 (average 2) trackmen " 3.00 " " from 2 to 7 (average 4) cablemen (pulling back cable) " 3.00 " " _pumping._--the water was taken out of the invert by a 4-in. blow-pipe which was always kept up to a point near the shield and discharged into the sump near the shaft. when the air pressure was removed and the blow-pipe device, consequently, was unavailable, small cameron pumps, driven by compressed air, and having a capacity of about 140 gal. per hour, were used, one being set up wherever it was necessary to keep the invert dry; for example, at points where caulking was in progress. _lighting._--the tunnels were lighted by electricity, the current being supplied, at a pressure of 250 volts, from the dynamos in the contractor's power-house. two 0000 wire cables were used as far as the second air-locks, about 1,650 ft. from the power-house, on each side; and beyond that point, to the junction of the shields (about 1,750 ft.), 00 and 0 wires were used. these cables also carried the current for the cable haulage system. two rows of 16-c.p. lamps, provided with reflectors, were used in each tunnel; one row was along the side just above the axis, with the lights at about 30-ft. intervals; the other along the crown, with the lamps halfway between the side lamps, also at 30-ft. intervals. at points where work was in progress three groups of 5 lights each were used. the tunnels as a whole were well lighted, and in consequence work of all kinds was much helped. _period no. 2._--_caulking and grummeting._--_november, 1906, to june, 1907._--after the metal lining had been built completely across the river in both tunnels, the work of making it water-tight was taken up. this consisted in caulking into the joints between the plates a mixture of sal-ammoniac and iron borings which set up into a hard rusty mass, and in taking out each bolt and placing around the shank under the washer at each end a grummet made of yarn soaked in red lead. these grummets were made by the contractor on the works, and consisted of three or four strands of twisted hemp yarn, known as "lath yarn," making up a rope-like cross-section about â¼ in. in diameter. usually, one of these under each washer was enough, but in wet gravel, or where bolts were obliquely in the bolt-holes, two were used at each end. after pulling the grummets in, all the nuts were pulled up tight by wrenches about 3 ft. long, with two men on one wrench. bolts were not passed as tight unless the nut resisted the weight of an average man on a 2â½-ft. wrench. before putting in the caulking mixture, the joints were carefully scraped out with a special tool, cleaned with cotton waste, and washed with a stream of water. the usual mixture for sides and invert was about 2 lb. of sal-ammoniac and 1 lb. of sulphur to 250 lb. of iron filings or borings. in the arch, 4 lb. of sal-ammoniac and 3 lb. of sulphur to 125 lb. of filings was the mixture. a small hand-hammer was used to drive the caulking tool, but, in the sides and invert, air hammers were used with some advantage. the success of work of this kind depends entirely on the thoroughness with which the mixture is hammered in; and the inspection, which was of an exceedingly monotonous nature, called for the greatest care and watchfulness on the part of the company's forces, especially in the pocket iron, where each bolt had to be removed, the caulking done at the bottom of the pockets put in, the bolts replaced; and the rest of the pockets filled. the results have been satisfactory, as the leakage under normal air and prior to placing the concrete averaged about 0.14 gal. per lin. ft. of tunnel per 24 hours, which is about 0.0035 gal. per lin. ft. of joint per 24 hours. with each linear foot of joint is included the leakage from 1.27 bolts. afterward, when the concrete lining was in, the leakage was found to be about 0.05 to 0.06 gal. per lin. ft. of tunnel per 24 hours, which compares favorably with the records of other lined tunnels. the typical gang employed on this work was as follows: _in pocket iron:_ 1 general foreman @ $5.00 per day. 1 mixer " 3.00 " " 1 nipper " 3.00 " " 5 caulkers " 3.00 " " 10 grummeters " 3.00 " " _in pocketless iron:_ 1 general foreman @ $5.00 per day. 1 mixer " 3.00 " " 1 nipper " 3.00 " " 3 caulkers " 3.00 " " 12 grummeters " 3.00 " " the average amount of caulking and grummeting done per shift with such a gang was (with pocketless grooves), 348 lin. ft. of joint and 445 bolts grummeted; and in pocket iron: 126 lin. ft. of joint and 160 bolts grummeted. the caulking and grummeting work was finished in june, 1907, this completing the second period. _period no. 3._--_experiments, tests, and observations._--_april, 1907, to april, 1908._--the third period, that of tests and observations in connection with the question of foundations, is dealt with in another paper. it occupied from april, 1907, to november, 1908. the results of the information then gathered was that it was not thought advisable to go on with the foundations. _period no. 4._--_capping pile bores, sinking sumps, and building cross-passages._--_april, 1908, to november, 1908._--in order to reduce the leakage from the bore segments to the least possible amount before placing the concrete lining, it was decided to remove the plugs and replace them with flat cover-plates; these have been described before, together with the filling of bore segments no. 2 with mortar to reduce the leakage around the distance piece. during this period the turnbuckles to reinforce the broken plates were put in, and the sump sunk at the lowest point of the tunnel. these sumps have been described in a previous part of this paper; they were put down without trouble. as much as possible of the concrete lining was put in before the lining castings were taken into the tunnel, as the space inside was very restricted. the first lining casting was bolted to the flat flanges of the sump segment, the bolts holding the latter to the adjacent segments were removed, and the whole was forced down with two of the old shield jacks, taking a bearing on the tunnel. the two together exerted a pressure of about 150 tons. the plugs in the bottom of the sump segment were taken out, and pipes were put in, through which the silt squeezed up into the tunnel and relieved the pressure on the sump segment. if the silt did not flow freely, a water-jet was used. the sump was kept plumb by regulating the jacks. in this way the sump was sunk, adding lining sections one by one, and finally putting on the top segment, which was composed of three pieces. the time taken to sink one sump was about 4 days, working one 8-hour shift per day, and not counting the time taken to set up the jacks and bracing. the sinking of each section took from 4 to 6 hours. the air pressure was 25 lb. and the hydrostatic head 41 lb. per sq. in. the force was 1 assistant superintendent at $6.00 per day, 1 foreman at $4.50, and 6 laborers at $3.00 per day. _cross-passages._--it was during this period that the five cross-passages previously mentioned were built. in the case of those in the rock, careful excavation was needed so as to avoid breaking the iron lining. drilling was done from both ends, the holes were closely spaced, and about 2 ft. 6 in. deep, and light charges of powder were used. the heading, 5 by 7 ft. in cross-section, was thus excavated in five lengths, with 24 holes to a length, and about 23 lin. ft. of hole per yard. about 5.3 lb. of powder per cu. yd. was used. the sides, top, and bottom were then drilled at a very sharp angle to the face and the excavation was trimmed to the right size. this widening out took about 7â½ ft. of hole per cu. yd., and 0.9 lb. of powder. in the passages in silt the excavation had to be 12 ft. wide and 13 ft. 8 in. high to give enough room inside the timbers. the plates at one end of the passage were first removed. an air pressure of 17 lb. was carried, which was enough to keep the silt from squeezing in and yet left it soft enough to be chopped with a spade. a top heading, of full width and 6 ft. 8 in. high, was first taken out, and the roof was sheathed with 2-in. boards held by 10 by 10-in. head trees at 3-ft. centers, with 10 by 10-in. side trees. the lower 7 ft. of bench was then taken out, a tight floor of 6 by 6-in. cross-timber was put in, and also longer side trees, the head trees being temporarily held by two longitudinal 10 by 10-in. stringers blocked in place. the bulk of the space between the side trees was filled with 10 by 10-in. posts and blocking. the plates at the other end of the passage were then taken out from the other tunnel. after the excavation was out, the outer reinforced concrete lining was built. rough forms were used, as the interior surfaces of the passages were to be rendered with a water-proofing cement. a few grout pipes were built in, and all voids outside the concrete were grouted. grouting was also done through the regular grout holes of the metal lining around the openings. in the case of the most westerly of the cross-passages at weehawken, which was in badly seamed rock carrying much water, a steel inter-lining, rather smaller than the concrete, was put in. the space between the concrete and the steel was left open, so that water coming through the concrete lining was stopped by the steel plate. this water was led back to the shield chamber in a special drain laid in the bench of the river tunnel and behind the ducts. from the shield chamber the water ran with the rest of the drainage from the weehawken land tunnels to the weehawken shaft sump. [illustration: typical cross-sections showing successive stages in placing concrete in river tunnels fig. 21.] _period no. 5._--_placing the concrete lining._--_november, 1908, to june, 1909._--during the fifth period the concrete lining was put in. this lining was placed in stages, as follows: first, the invert; second, the duct bench; third, the arch; fourth, the ducts; and fifth, the face of the bench. this division can be seen by reference to fig. 21. all the work was started on the landward ends and carried toward the middle of the river from both sides. except where the weehawken force passed the lowest point of the tunnel, which is at station 241 or nearly 900 ft. to the west of the middle of the river, all the work was down grade. before any concrete was placed, the surface of the iron was cleaned with scrapers and wire brushes, and washed with water. any leaks in the caulking and grummeting (finished by june, 1907, and therefore all more than 12 months old) were repaired. all the grout hole plugs were examined, and the plugs in any leaking ones were taken out, smeared with red lead, and replaced. the leakage in the caulking was due to the fact that the tunnel had been settling slightly during the whole 12 months of pile tests, and, therefore, had opened some of the joints. after the caulking had been repaired and the surface thoroughly cleaned, the flanges were covered with neat cement (put on dry or poured on in the form of thick grout) just before the concrete was placed. _invert concrete._--the form used for the landward type of concrete, that is, the one with a middle drain, consisted of a frame made of a pair of trussed steel rails on each side of the tunnel and connected at intervals with 6 by 6-in. cross-timbers; two "wing forms" were hung from this frame by adjustable arms. these wings formed the curved sides of the invert, the lip, and the form for the middle drain. the whole form was supported on three wheels, two on the rear end running on a rail laid on the finished concrete, and the third in front attached to the frame by a carriage and running on a rail temporarily laid on the iron lining. the form was braced from the iron lining by 6 by 6-in. blocks. for the soft-ground type of invert, namely, the one without the middle drain, a form of the same general type was used, except that the form for the middle drain was removed. after the form had been in use for some time, "key pieces" (made of strips of wood about 1 ft. 3 in. in length and 3 by 3 in. in cross-section) were nailed circumferentially on the under side of the wings at 2-ft. intervals. this was done because, at the time, it was not known whether ballasted tracks or some form of rigid concrete track construction would be adopted, and, if the latter, it was desirable not to have the surface smooth. the concrete was received in cars at the rear end of the form and dumped on a temporary platform. it was then loaded into wheel-barrows on the runways, as shown in fig. 22. the concrete was thrown from the barrows into the invert, where it was spaded and tamped. in cases where there was steel-rod reinforcement, the concrete was first brought up to the level of the underside of these rods, which came between the wings; the rods were laid in place, and then more concrete was placed over the rods and brought up to the level of the bottom of the wings. where there was no reinforcement, the concrete was brought up in one lift. [illustration: concrete form standard in river tunnels fig. 22.] after this was finished, the concrete behind the wings was placed, thoroughly spaded and tamped, and, where there were longitudinal reinforcing rods, these were put in at their proper level. where there were circumferential rods, the 16-ft. rods had already been put in when the lower part of the concrete was placed. as the invert was being finished off, the 8-ft. rods were embedded and tied in position. the longitudinal rods were held in place at the leading end of each length of arch by the wooden bulkhead, through which holes were drilled in the proper position. at the rear end they were tied to the rods projecting from the previous length. the quantity of water used in mixing the invert concrete needed very nice adjustment; if too wet, the middle would bulge and rise when the weight of the sides came on it; and, if too dry, it would not pack properly between the flanges of the iron lining. the difficulties as to this were often increased by the flow of accumulated leakage water from the tunnel behind on the concrete while it was being put in. to prevent this, a temporary dam of sand bags was always built across the last length of finished invert concrete before beginning a new length. a sump hole, about 4 by 1 ft. and 1 ft. deep, was left every 800 ft. along the tunnel, and a small cameron pump was put there to pump out the water. the invert forms were left in place about 12 hours after the pour was finished. the average time taken to fill a length of 30 feet was 7 hours, the form was then left 12 hours, and it took 2 hours to set it up anew. the total time for one length, therefore, was 21 hours, equal to 34 ft. per 24 hours. at one place, a 45-ft. form was used, and this gave an average speed of 45 ft. per 24 hours. an attempt was made to build the invert concrete without forms (seeing that a rough finish was desired, as previously explained, to form a key for possible sub-track concrete), but it proved a failure. the typical working force (excluding transport) was as follows: 1 foreman @ $3.25 per shift. 2 spaders " 2.00 " " 9 laborers " 1.75 " " the average time taken to lay a 30-ft. length of invert was 7 hours; the two spaders remained one hour extra, smoothing off the surface. for setting the form, the force was: 1 foreman @ $4.50 per shift. 5 carpenters " 3.25 " " 6 carpenters' helpers " 2.25 " " the average time taken to erect a form was 2 hours, 1 carpenter and 1 helper remaining until the concrete was finished. _duct bench concrete._--the duct bench (as described previously) is the portion of the concrete on which the ducts are laid. the exact height of the steps was found by trial, so as to bring the top of the ducts into the proper position with regard to the top and the face of the bench. both kinds of duct bench forms were of the same general type. a drawing of one of them is shown on plate xlii. the form consisted of a skeleton framework running on wheels on a track at the level of the temporary transportation tracks. the vertical faces of the steps were formed by boards supported from the uprights by adjustable arms. the horizontal surfaces were formed by leveling off the concrete with a shovel at the top of the vertical boards. where the sheets of expanded metal used for bonding came at a step, the lower edge of the boards forming the back of the step was placed 1 in. above the one forming the front of it; but, when the expanded metal came in the middle of a step, a slot 1 in. wide was left at that point to accommodate it. a platform was formed on the top of the framework for the form, and on this a car forming a sort of traveling stage was run. there was ample room to maintain traffic on a single track through the form. a photograph of the form is shown in fig. 1, plate xliii. the concrete, for the most part, was received at the form in â¾-cu. yd. dumping buckets. the buckets were lifted by the rope from a small hoisting engine. this rope passed over a pulley attached to the crown of the tunnel and dumped into the traveling stage on the top of the form. in this the concrete was moved along to the point where it was to be deposited, and there it was thrown out by shovels into the form below. for a portion of the period, while the duct bench concrete was being laid, it was not necessary to maintain a track for traffic through the form and, during that period, the concrete for the lower step was placed from below the form, the concrete being first dumped on a temporary stage at the lower track level. owing to the horizontal faces of the steps being uncovered, there was a tendency for the concrete there to rise when concrete was placed in the steps above. for this part of the work, also, it was necessary to see that the concrete was not mixed too wet, for, when that was the case, the concrete in the upper steps was very apt to flow out at the top of the lower one. at the same time, there was the standing objection to the mixture being too dry, namely, the responsibility of getting a sufficient amount of spading and tamping done. particulars of the exact quantity of water used are given later in describing "mixing." fig. 2, plate xliii, illustrates the process of laying. in the section of the tunnel in which there were circumferential reinforcement rods in the duct bench, the rods were in place before the laying commenced, as they had been placed with the invert concrete. the circumferential reinforcing rods in the arch came down into the upper part of the duct bench concrete; these rods were put in position and tied to the iron lining in the crown at the same time as the duct bench concrete was being finished off. openings for the manholes were left in the duct bench at the regular stationing. the average time taken to fill a length of 35 ft. was about 6 hours; the form was then left in position for about 8 hours--usually enough to let the concrete set properly--and then moved ahead; it then took about 3 hours to set it up again ready to continue work. the total time for a length, therefore, was about 17 hours, equal to an average progress of about 49 ft. per day. the average force engaged in duct bench concrete (not including transport) was: 1 foreman @ $3.25 per day. 2 spaders " 2.00 " " 9 laborers " 1.75 " " _arch concrete._--by far the greater part of the arch work was put in with traveling centers before the face of the bench was built, in which case the whole of the arch was built at once. a short length of arch at each end of the tunnel was built after the face of the bench, in which case the haunches or lower 5 ft. were laid first and the upper part of the arch later. the first traveling centers were used on the new york side, and were 50 ft. long. the laggings were of 4-in. yellow pine, built up in panels 10 ft. long and 16 in. wide for the sides, and solely longitudinal lagging 5 ft. long for the key. it was pretty certain that the results to be obtained from forms of such a length would not be satisfactory, and this was pointed out to the contractor, who, however, obtained permission to use them on trial. grout pipes were built in, as it was not likely that the concrete could be packed tightly into the upper part of the lining. [illustration: plate xliii. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 1.] [illustration: plate xliii. trans. am. soc. civ. engrs. vol. lxviii, no. 1155. hewett and brown on pennsylvania r. r. tunnels: north river tunnels. fig. 2.] after about 300 lin. ft. of arch had been built with these forms, a test hole was cut out and large voids were found, and, to confirm this, another hole was cut, and similar conditions observed. the results were so unsatisfactory that orders were given that the use of longitudinal key lagging should be discontinued, and cross or block lagging used instead. these block laggings were 6 in. in length (in the direction of the tunnel) and 2 ft. in width; at the same time, the system of grout pipes was changed. this will be described later under "grouting." it was soon found that with block lagging a better job could be made of packing the concrete up into the keys, but the time taken to "key up" a 50-ft. length was so great that the rest of the arch had set by the time the key was finished. despite a lot of practice, this was the case, even in the unreinforced type. when the reinforcing rods were met, the time for keying up became still greater, and therefore the contractor was directed to shorten the forms to 20-ft. lengths. a typical working force for a 50-ft. length was: 1 foreman @ $3.25 per day. 4 spaders " 2.00 " " 12 laborers " 1.75 " " details of the 20-ft. forms are shown on plate xliv. the lower 4 ft. of lagging was built on swinging arms, which could be loosened to allow the centers to be dropped and moved ahead. the rest of the lagging was built up in panels 10 ft. long and 1 ft. 4 in. high. the ribs rested on a longitudinal timber on each side; these were blocked up from the top step of the duct bench concrete. when the form was set, or when it was released, it was moved ahead on rollers placed under it. the concrete was received at the form in â¾-cu. yd. dumping buckets; from the flat cars on which they were run, these were hoisted to the level of the lower platform of the arch form. at this level the concrete was dumped on a traveling car or stage, and moved in that to the point on the form where it was to be placed. for the lower part of the arch, the concrete was thrown directly into the form from this traveling stage, but, for the upper part, it was first thrown on the upper platform of the arch. the hoisting was done by a small lidgerwood compressed-air hoister, and set up on an overhead platform across the tunnel. the pulley over which the cable from the hoister passed was attached to the iron lining near one end of the form, and the traveling stage ran back from the arch form on a trailer, shown on plate xliv. when it was impossible to hang a pulley--owing to the concrete arch having been built at the point where the trailer stood--an =a=-frame was built on the trailer, and the pulley was attached to that. in laying the lower part of the arch, about 1 ft. of lagging (including the swinging arms) was first set, the other panels being pulled up toward the top of the arch. when that was filled, the next panel above was lowered into place, and the work continued. as the concrete rose toward the key, it was packed up to a radial surface, so that the arch would not be unduly weakened if the sides set before the key was placed. all the time, great care was taken to see that the concrete was carefully packed into the segments of the metal lining. the quantity of water used in the concrete was carefully regulated, more being used in the lower than in the upper parts of the arch. in places where there were no reinforcing rods, the width of the concrete key was the length of the block lagging, namely, 2 ft. where there was circumferential reinforcement, the key had to be more than 5 ft. wide, in order to take the 5-ft. closure rods used in the key. this naturally increased the time of keying very much. on the places where the 5-ft. longitudinal laggings were used, it was impossible to fill the flanges of the metal lining much higher than their undersides. as the concrete used in the key had to be much drier than that used elsewhere, it was not easy to get a good surface. this trouble was overcome by putting a thin layer of mortar on the laggings just before the concrete was put in. the overhead conductor pockets were a great hindrance to the placing of the key concrete, especially where the iron was below true grade. whenever an especially troublesome one was met, a special grout pipe was put in to fill up unavoidable holes by grouting after the concrete had set. all the circumferential reinforcing rods were bent in the tunnel by bending them around a curved form of less diameter than the required bend. this generally left them all right in the middle of their length, but with their end portions too straight; in such cases the ends were bent again. all rods were compared with a template before being passed for use. the arch forms were left up for 48 hours after keying was finished. levels taken after striking the forms showed that no appreciable settlement occurred. an average gang for a 20-ft. length of arch was: 1 foreman @ $3.25 per shift. 2 spaders " 2.00 " " 10 laborers " 1.75 " " table 30 shows the progress attained under various conditions. whenever the face of the bench concrete was constructed before the arch, the latter was built in two separate portions, that is, the bottom 5 ft., or "haunches" of the arch, as they were termed, were built on each side and the rest of the arch later. this involved the use of two separate sets of forms, namely, for the haunch and for the arch. not very much arch was built in this way, and, as the methods were in principle precisely the same as those used when all the arch was built in one operation, no detailed description is needed. no provision was made in the contract for grouting the concrete arch, but it soon became evident that by ordinary methods the top part of the concrete could not be packed solid against the iron segments, especially in the keys. as it was imperative to have the arch perfectly solid, it was determined to fill these unavoidable gaps with a 1:1 portland cement grout, at the same time making every effort to reduce the spaces to a minimum. this made it necessary to build grout pipes into the concrete as it was put in. the first type of grout pipe arrangement is shown as type _a_, in fig. 23. this was used with the longitudinal key laggings; when this method was found to be no good, and cross-laggings were used, the system shown as type _b_, in fig. 23, was adopted, in which vents were provided to let out the air during grouting. the expense of these pipes was high, and the contractor obtained permission to use sheet-iron tubes, which, however, were found to be unsuitable, so that the screwed pipes were used again. the contractor next obtained permission to try dispensing altogether with the vent pipes, and so type _c_, in fig. 23 was evolved. this, of course, was found to be worse than any of the other systems, as the imprisoned air made it impossible to force grout in. several other modifications were made, and are shown in fig. 23. it was then decided to devise as perfect a system as possible, without allowing the question of cost to be the ruling factor, and to use that system throughout. in this system, shown as type _s_, in fig. 23, most of the vent pipes were contained in the concrete, and their size was independent of the thickness of the arch, so that they were easily fixed in position and not subject to disturbance while placing the concrete. this system was used for about 80% of the total length of the tunnel, and proved entirely satisfactory. the machine used for grouting was the same as that used for grouting outside the metal lining. table 30.--average time taken for various operations connected with building concrete arches in subaqueous tunnels. ==========+=============+========+================+=========+=========+ average |type of |length |time, in hours, |time, |time, | time |reinforcement|of |moving and |in hours,|in hours,| in hours, | |section,|erecting forms. |placing |placing | form stood| |in | |concrete |concrete | after | |feet. | |in arch. |in key. | filing. | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------+-------------+--------+----------------+---------+---------+ 70 | { a | } 50 | 20 | 15 | 15.40 | | {day work | } | ______/\______ | | | | | |/ \| | | | { a | } |moving erecting| | | | {day work | } 20 | 2 3 | 8.30 | 2.40 | | | | | | | 53 | { b | } | | | | | {day work | } 20 | 2 3 | 10.40 | 11.20 | | | | | | | 58 | { c | } | | | | | {day work | } 20 | 2 3 | 11.00 | 7.20 | | | | | | | 58 | { d | } | | | | | {day work | } 20 | 2 3 | 9.30 | 4.35 | | | | | | | 53 | { d | } | | | | | {day work | } 20 | 2 3 | 6.15 | 2.05 | | | | | | | 53 | {sub-type | } 20 | 2 3 | 6.00 | 3.00 | | no. 1 | } | | | | | piece work | } | | | | ==========+=============+========+================+=========+=========+ ==========+=========+===========+===========+============ average |time, |total time |total time |remarks. time |in hours,|in hours, |in hours, | in hours, |placing |for moving,|per linear | form stood|concrete |erecting, |foot, | after |in key |and filling|for moving,| filing. |and arch | |erecting, | | | |and filling| ----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------- 70 | 30.40 | 50.40 | 1.01 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 11.10 | 16.10 | 0.50 | | | | | 53 | | | |includes | 22.10 | 27.00 | 1.35 |placing rods | | | | 58 | | | | | 18.20 | 23.20 | 1.16 | do. | | | | 58 | | | | | 14.25 | 19.25 | 0.91 | do. | | | | 53 | | | | | 8.20 | 13.20 | 0.05 | do. | | | | 53 | 9.00 | 14.00 | 0.70 | do. | | | | | | | | ==========+=========+===========+===========+============ [illustration: fig. 23.] the only compressed air available was the high-pressure supply, at about 90 lb.; a reducing valve, to lower this pressure to 30 lb. was used between the air line and the grouting machine. this was thought to be about as high a pressure as the green concrete arch would stand, and, even as it was, at one point a section about 2 ft. by 1 ft. was blown out. a rough traveling stage resting on the bottom step of the duct bench concrete was used as a working platform. in the earlier stages of the work the grouting was carried on in a rather haphazard manner, but, when the last system of grout and vent pipes was adopted; the work was undertaken systematically, and was carried out as follows: two 20-ft. lengths of arch were grouted at one time, and, in order to prevent the grout from flowing along the arch and blocking the pipes in the next lengths, a bulkhead of plaster was made at the end of every second length to confine the grout. after a section had been grouted, test holes were drilled every 50 ft. along the crown to see that all the voids were filled; if not, holes were drilled in the arch, both for grouting and for vents, and the faulty section was re-grouted. an average of â¾ bbl. of cement and an equal quantity of sand was used per linear foot of tunnel. the average amount put in by one machine per shift was 15 bbl., and therefore the average length of tunnel grouted per machine per shift was 20 ft. the typical working force was: 1 foreman @ $3.75 per shift 1 laborer running grout machine " 2.00 " " 2 laborers handling cement and sand. " 1.75 " " 1 laborer tending valve and grout pipes " 1.75 " " after the grouting was finished, the arches were rubbed over with wire brushes to take off discoloration, and rough places at the junctions of adjoining lengths or left by the block laggings were bush-hammered. _face of bench concrete._--the form used for this portion of the work is shown on plate xlv. it consisted of a central framework traveling on wheels, and, from the framework, two vertical forms were suspended, one on each side, and equal in height to the whole height of the bench. adjusting screws were fitted at intervals both at top and bottom, and thus the position of the face forms could be adjusted accurately. the face forms were built very carefully of 3-in. tongued and grooved yellow pine, and one 50-ft. form was used for 3,000 ft. of tunnel without having the face renewed. great care was taken to set these forms true to line and grade, as the appearance of the tunnel would have been ruined by any irregularity. joints between successive lengths were finished with a =v=-groove. the concrete was received at the form in dumping buckets; these were hoisted to the top of the form by a lidgerwood hoister fixed to a trailer. the concrete was placed in the form by shoveling it from the traveling stage down chutes fitted to its side. the quantity of water to be used in the mixture needed careful regulation. the first few batches in the bottom had to be very wet, and were made with less stone than the upper portion, in order that the concrete would pack solidly around the niche box forms and other awkward corners. the forms for the ladders and refuge niches were fastened to the face of the bench forms by bolts which could be loosened before the main form was moved ahead, and in this way the ladder and niche forms were left in position for some time after the main form was removed. at first the forms were kept in place for 36 hours after finishing a length, but, after a little experience, 24 hours was found to be enough. in the summer, when the rise of temperature quickened the set, the time was brought down to 18 hours. the average time taken for a 50-ft. length was: laying concrete 4â½ hours. interval for setting 18 " moving forms ahead and resetting 5 " ------ total 27â½ hours. the typical working gang was: _laying concrete._ 1 foreman @ $3.25 per shift. 2 spaders " 2.00 " " 8 laborers " 1.75 " " _moving and setting forms._ 1 foreman @ $4.00 per shift. 10 laborers " 1.75 " " after the forms were removed, any rough places at the lower edge, where the concrete joins the "lip," were bush-hammered; no other cleaning work was done. _duct laying and rodding._--the design and location of the ducts have already been described. it will have been seen that the duct-bench concrete was laid in steps, on which the ducts were laid, hence the maintenance of the grade and line in the ducts was an easy matter. the only complication was the expanded metal bonds, which were bent up out of the way of the arch forms and straightened out again after the arch forms had passed. the materials, such as ducts, sand, and cement, were brought into the tunnel by the regular transportation gang. the mortar was mixed in a wooden trough about 10 ft. long, 2 ft. 6 in. wide and 8 in. deep. after the single-way ducts had been laid, all the joints were plastered with mortar, in order to prevent any foreign substance from entering the ducts. this was not necessary with the multiple duct, as the joints were wrapped with cotton duck. the ducts were laid on a laying mandrel, and, as soon as possible after the concrete was laid around a set of ducts, they were "rodded" with a rodding mandrel. not many obstructions were met, and these were usually some stray laying mandrel which had been left in by mistake, or collections of mortar where the plastering of the single-way joints had been defective. in the 657,000 duct ft. of conduit in the river tunnels only eight serious obstructions were met. that the work was of exceptionally high quality is shown by the fact that a heavy 3-in. lead cable has been passed through from manhole to manhole (450 ft.) in 6 min., and the company, engaged to lay the cables in these ducts, broke all its previous records for laying, not only for tunnel work, but also in the open. fig. 1, plate xxxv, shows a collection of the tools and arrangements used in laying and rodding ducts. the typical working force was: _laying multiple ducts._ 1 foreman @ $3.50 per shift. 9 laborers " 1.75 " " _laying single-way ducts._ 1 foreman @ $3.50 per shift. 8 laborers " 1.75 " " _rodding multiple ducts._ 1 foreman @ $3.50 per shift. 5 laborers " 1.75 " " _rodding single-way ducts._ 1 foreman @ $3.50 per shift. 5 laborers " 1.75 " " the average progress per 10-hour shift with such gangs was: laying multiple ducts 4,000 duct ft. laying single-way ducts 1,745 " " rodding multiple ducts 4,040 " " rodding single-way ducts 2,532 " " no detailed description need be given of the concreting of the cross-passages, pump chambers, sumps, and other small details, the design of which has been previously shown. the concrete was finished on june 1st, 1909. _period no. 6._--_final cleaning up._--_june, 1909, to november, 1909._--as soon as all the concrete was finished, the work of cleaning up the invert was begun. a large quantity of dã©bris littered the tunnels, and it was economical to remove it as quickly as possible. the remaining forms were first removed, and hoisting engines, supported on cross-timber laid across the benches, were set up in the middle of the tunnel at about 500-ft. intervals. work was carried on day and night, and about 169 ft. of single tunnel was cleared per 10-hour shift. work was begun on may 28th, and finished on july 15th, 1909. for part of the time it was carried on at two points in each tunnel, working toward the two shafts, but when the work in the weehawken shaft, which was being done at the same time, blocked egress from that point, all material was sent out by the manhattan shaft. the total quantity of material removed was 5,350 cu. yd., or about 0.44 cu. yd. per lin. ft. of tunnel. the average force per shift was: _in tunnel._ 3 foremen @ $3.25 per shift 1 hoist engineer " 3.00 " " 1 signalman " 2.00 " " 38 laborers " 1.75 " " _on the surface._ 1 foreman @ $3.25 per shift 1 hoist engineer " 3.00 " " 1 signalman " 2.00 " " 12 laborers " 1.75 " " after the cleaning out had been done, the contractor's main work was finished. however, quite a considerable force was employed, up to november, 1909, in doing various incidental jobs, such as the installation of permanent ventilation conduits and nozzles at the intercepting arch near the manhattan shaft, the erection of a head-house over the manhattan shaft, and collecting and putting in order all the miscellaneous portable plant, which was either sold or returned to store, sorting all waste materials, such as lumber, piping, and scraps of all kinds, and, in general, restoring the sites of the working yards to their original condition. concrete mixing. the plant used in mixing the concrete for the land tunnels was pulled down and re-erected before the concrete work in the river tunnels was begun. at the new york shaft two new bins for sand and stone were built, bringing the total capacity up to 950 cu. yd. two no. 6 ransome mixers, driven electrically by 30-h.p. general electric motors, using current from the contractor's generators, were set up on a special platform in the intercepting arch. at manhattan the sand and stone were received from the bins in chutes at a small hopper built on the permanent upper platform of the intercepting arch. bottom-dumping cars, divided by a partition into two portions, arranged to hold the proper quantities of sand and stone for a 4-bag batch of concrete, were run on a track on this upper platform, filled with the proper quantities of sand and stone, and then run back and dumped into the hoppers of the mixer. after mixing, the batch was run down chutes into the tunnel cars standing on the track below. the water was brought in pipes from the public supply. it was measured in barrels by a graduated scale within the barrels. the water was not put into the mixer until the sand and stone had all run out of the mixer hopper. the mixture was revolved for about 1â½ min., or about 20 complete revolutions. at weehawken shaft the mixing plant was entirely rebuilt. four large bins, two for sand and two for stone, were built in the shaft. together, they held 430 cu. yd. of stone and 400 cu. yd. of sand. the sand and stone were dumped directly into the bins from the cars on the trestle which ran from the wharf to the shaft. the materials were run through chutes directly from the bins to the hoppers of the mixers, where they were measured. two no. 6 ransome mixers, electrically driven, were used here, as at new york, and, as there, the water was led into measuring tanks before being let into the mixer. the quantity of water used in the various parts of the concrete cross-section, for a 4-bag batch consisting of 1 bbl. (380 lb.) of cement, 8.75 cu. ft. of sand, and 17.5 cu. ft. of stone, is given in table 31. table 31.--quantity of water per 4-bag batch of concrete, in u.s. gallons. ==========================+==========+==========+========== portion of cross-section. | maximum. | minimum. | average. --------------------------+----------+----------+--------- invert | 40 | 20 | 26 duct bench | 36 | 21 | 27 arch (excluding key) | 37 | 19 | 25 key of arch | 27 | 15 | 20 face of bench | 31 | 22 | 27 ==========================+==========+==========+========== the maximum quantities were used when the stone was dry and contained more than the usual proportion of fine material, the minimum quantity when the sand was wet after rain. the resulting volumes of one batch, for various kinds of stone, are given in table 32. table 32.--volume of concrete per batch, with various kinds of stone. ========+===========+================+===========+==================| | | resulting | | | description of stone. |volume per | | mixture.|-----------+----------------| barrel of | remarks. | | | |cement, in | | | passed | retained on | cubic | | | screen. | screen. | yards. | | --------+-----------+----------------+-----------+------------------| 1:2â½:5 | 1â½-in. | 3/8-in. | 0.815 | measured in air | 1:2â½:5 | 2â½-in. |run of crusher. | 0.827 | " " " | 1:2â½:5 | - |general average.| 0.808[d]|measured from plan| 1:2â½:5 | 2-in. | 1â½-in. | 0.768[e]| " " " | ========+===========+================+===========+==================| [d] average for whole of river tunnel section. [e] average from 7,400 cu. yd. in land tunnel section. the sand used was practically the same for the whole of the river tunnel section, and was supposed to be equal to "cow bay" sand. the result of the mechanical analysis of the sand is shown on plate xlvi. the stone was all trap rock. for the early part of the work it consisted of stone which would pass a 2-in. ring and be retained on a 1â½-in. ring, in fact, the same as used for the land tunnels. this was found to be too coarse, and for a time it was mixed with an equal quantity of fine gravel or fine crushed stone. as soon as it could be arranged, run-of-crusher stone was used, everything larger than 2â½ in. being excluded. about three-quarters of the river tunnel concrete was put in with run-of-crusher stone. the force was: _at manhattan._ 1 foreman @ $3.00 per shift 4 men on sand and stone cars " 1.75 " " 4 men handling cement " 1.75 " " 2 men dumping mixers " 1.75 " " _at weehawken._ 1 foreman @ $3.00 per shift 2 men hauling cement " 1.75 " " 2 men dumping mixers " 1.75 " " the average quantity of concrete mixed per 10-hour shift was about 117 batches, or about 90 cu. yd. the maximum output of one of the mixers was about 168 batches, or 129 cu. yd. per 10-hour shift. transportation. _surface transportation._--at manhattan the stone and sand were received in scows at the wharf on the river front. for the first part of the work, the wharf at 32d street and north river was used, and while that was in use the material was unloaded from the scows into scale-boxes by a grab-bucket running on an overhead cable, and then teamed to the shaft. for the latter part of the work, the wharf used was at 38th street and north river, where facilities for unloading were given to the contractor by the pennsylvania railroad company which was the permanent lessee of the piers. the material was unloaded into scale-boxes by a grab-bucket operated by a derrick, and teamed to the shaft. when the scale-boxes arrived at the shaft they were lifted from the trucks by derricks and dumped into the bins. at weehawken all the stone and sand, with the exception of the stone crushed on the work, was received by water at the north slip. here it was unloaded by a 2-cu. yd. grab-bucket and dumped into 3-cu. yd. side-tipping cars, which were hauled by a small steam locomotive over the trestle to the shaft, where they were dumped directly into the bins. before beginning the concrete lining, the 2-ft. gauge railway, which had been used for the surface transportation during the driving of the iron-lined tunnels, was taken up and replaced by a 3-ft. gauge track consisting largely of 30-lb. rails. the cars were 3-cu. yd. side-dumping, with automatic swinging sides. two steam locomotives which were being stored at weehawken (part of the plant from another contract), were used for hauling the cars in place of the electric ones used with the 2-ft. gauge railway. _tunnel transport._--the track used in the tunnel was of 2-ft. gauge, laid with the 20-lb. rails previously used in driving the iron-lined tunnels. the mining cars (previously mentioned in describing the driving of the iron-lined tunnels) were used for transporting the invert concrete, although, for most of the work, dumping buckets carried on flat cars were used. several haulage systems were considered for this work, but not one of them was thought to be flexible enough to be used with the constantly changing conditions, and it was eventually decided to move all the cars by hand, because, practically all the work being down grade, the full cars could be run down by gravity and the empty ones pushed back by hand. two men were allotted to each car, and were able to keep the traffic moving in a manner that would have been perhaps impossible with any system of mechanical haulage. this system was apparently justified by the results, for the whole cost of the tunnel transport, over an average haul of about 2,000 ft., was only about 50 cents per cu. yd., which will be found to compare favorably with mechanical haulage on similar work elsewhere, provided full allowance is made for the use of the plant and power. _force employed._--the average force employed on transport, both on the surface and in the tunnel, is shown in table 33. costs. during the work, careful records of the actual cost to the contractor of carrying out this work were kept by the company's forces; these costs include all direct charges, such as labor and materials, and all indirect charges such as head office, plant depreciation, insurance, etc., but do not include the cost of any financing, of which the company had no information. table 33.--average force per shift for transportation in two tunnels. ========+==================+=====+==========+============+===========+ location|grade |rate | work in progress | | | |----------+------------+-----------+ | | | two |two arches, |four arches| | | | inverts |two inverts,| and one | | | | and two |and two duct| face of | | | | duct | benches | bench | | | | benches | | | --------+------------------+-----+----------+------------+-----------+ {|foreman |$3.00| 2 | 2 | 2 | tunnel {|laborer | 1.75| 24 | 28 | 70 | {|switchmen | 2.00| | 2 | 2 | {|hoisting engineers| 3.00| 2 | 4 | 5 | {|foreman | 3.00| 1 | 1 | 2 | surface{|laborers | 1.75| 8 | 8 | 15 | {|teams | 6.50| 1 | 1 | 2 | ========+==================+=====+==========+============+===========+ field engineering staff. the field staff may be considered as divisible into five main divisions: (_a_).--construction, including alignment, (_b_).--cost records, (_c_).--testing of cement and other materials of construction, (_d_).--photography, (_e_).--despatch-boat service. (_a_).--_construction_ (_inspection and alignment_) _staff._--a comparatively large staff was maintained by the company, and to this two causes contributed. in the first place, the contractor maintained no field engineering staff, because, early in the proceedings, it was arranged that the company would carry out all this work, and thus avoid the overlapping, confusion, and lack of definite responsibility which often ensues when two engineering forces are working over the same ground. even had the contractor maintained an engineering force, it would have been necessary for the company to check most of the contractor's work. in the second place, this work gave rise to a number of special surveys, tests, borings, and observations of various kinds, most of which were kept up as a part of the regular routine work, and this necessitated a staff. also, for a whole year, active progressive work was at a standstill while the pile tests were going on. (_b_).--_cost records staff._--a distinct feature was made of keeping as accurately as possible detailed records of the actual cost to the contractor of carrying out the work. a small staff of clerks, retained solely for this purpose, tabulated and recorded the information furnished by the members of the construction staff. about $12,000, altogether, was spent in salaries in this department, and it may be considered an extremely wise investment, for, not only is the information thus obtained of great value and interest in itself, but it also puts the company in an excellent position should any claim or discussion arise with the contractor. (_c_).--_cement-testing department._--as the company furnished the cement to the contractor, it became incumbent to make careful tests of the quality. a cement-testing laboratory was established at the manhattan shaft offices, under the charge of a cement inspector who was furnished with assistants for sampling, shipping, and testing cement. all materials used on the work, such as bricks, sand, stone, water-proofing, etc., were tested here, with the exception of metals, which were under the charge of a metal inspector reporting directly to the head office. this department cost about $10,000 for salaries and $3,000 for apparatus and supplies, or about $13,000, in all. there were 800,000 bbl. of cement tested, and samples from 2,100,000 brick. a large amount of useful information has resulted from the work of this laboratory. (_d_).--_photography._--it was desired to keep a complete photographic record of the progress of the work, and therefore a photographer was appointed, with office room at the manhattan shaft. the photographer took all the progress photographs on the work of the north river division, made photographic reductions of all drawings and plans, made lantern slides of all negatives of a more important nature, and, in addition, during the period of compressed air, analyzed the samples of compressed air, brought into the office for the purpose, for the amount of co_{2} present. about $8,000 was spent on this department. (_e_).--_despatch-boat service._--to provide access to the new jersey side, a despatch boat was purchased. this boat was at first (june, 1904) chartered, and in may, 1905, was bought outright, and ran on regular schedules, day and night. it continued in the service until april, 1909, when it was given up, as the tunnels were so far completed that they provided easy access to new jersey. the cost of the boat (second-hand) was about $3,000. it was then thoroughly overhauled and the cabin remodeled. the monthly cost, when working a 12-hour shift, was $270 for manning, $65 for supplies, and $64 for coal. on two 12-hour shifts, the monthly cost was $533 for manning, $100 for supplies, and $96 for coal. about 100,000 passengers were carried during the boat's period of service, and the total cost was about $37,500. for the major part of the period embraced by this paper, b. h. m. hewett, m. am. soc. c. e., served as general resident engineer, in charge of the field work as a whole. w. l. brown, m. am. soc. c. e., was at first resident engineer of the work constructed from the manhattan shaft, while h. f. d. burke, m. am. soc. c. e., was resident engineer of the work constructed from the weehawken shaft. after the meeting of the shields, mr. burke left to take up another appointment, and from that time mr. brown acted as resident engineer. it may be said, without reflecting in any way on the manufacturers, that the high standard of all the metal materials also testified to the efficient inspection conducted under the direction of mr. j. c. naegeley. it is impossible to close this brief account of these tunnels without recording the invaluable services at all times rendered by the members of the company's field staff. where all worked with one common aim it might seem invidious to single out names, but special credit is due to the following assistant engineers: messrs. h. e. boardman, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e., w. h. lyon, h. u. hitchcock, e. r. peckens, h. j. wild, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e., j. f. sullivan, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e., and r. t. robinson, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. mr. c. e. price was in charge of the cement tests throughout the entire period, and brought to his work not only ability but enthusiasm. mr. h. d. bastow was in charge of the photographic work, and mr. a. l. heyer of the cost account records, in which he was ably seconded by mr. a. p. gehling, who, after mr. heyer's departure, finished the records and brought them into their final shape. the organization of the company's field engineering staff is shown graphically by fig. 24. field organization of the o'rourke engineering construction company for the building of the pennsylvania railroad tunnels into new york city--north river division. sections gy east, gy west supplementary, gy west, and co. general superintendent. | +------------------------+-------+--+ | | | (general, surface and office) (excavation | ---------------+------------ of land | | tunnels) | assistant general superintendent | | | general | | rock supt | +------------+------------+ | | | | | tunnel | field surface despatch supts | office boat tunnel | foreman | civil head captain foremen | engineer carpenter engineer timbermen | inspectors foreman deck hands timbermen | bookkeepers carpenter timbermen's | paymaster carpenters helpers | head carpenters' foremen | storekeeper helpers drillers | storekeepers blacksmiths drillers | timekeepers blacksmiths' foremen | telephone helpers muckers | operators foreman pipe fitters | office boys laborers pipe fitters' | messengers laborers helpers | janitors disposal electricians | trimmers hoist | teamsters engineers | signalmen | muckers | nippers | water boys | | | -------------+--------+-------------------------+--------+----------+ | | | | (shield tunnel driving) (masonry (power (medical | lining-rock plant) supervision) general tunnel superintendent and river | | | tunnels) master chief med assistant superintendents | mechanic officer | | | | | | | +--------+------------+---------+ | foreman | excavation | | general | electrician | | iron lining caulking and | | electricians | general | grummeting | | engineers | foremen foremen | pipefitters | foreman resident foremen erector foremen pipefitters' | machinist doctor drillers runners caulkers helpers | machinists drillers ironmen grummeters electricians | machinists' powdermen boltmen electricians'| helpers foremen helpers | firemen timbermen trackmen | oilers timbermen lockmen | pumpmen foremen transport | hoist engineers muckers foreman | signalmen muckers transport | shieldmen laborers | laborers watchmen | nippers | water boys | general concrete superintendent | tunnel superintendents | +-----------+------------+----------------++-----------+ | | | | | concrete brickwork ducts water-proofing general foremen foremen foremen foremen pipefitters carpenters bricklayers duct-layers waterproofers pipefitters' carpenters' bricklayers' helpers helpers laborers electricians mixer carpenters electricians' foremen carpenters' helpers mixer helpers transport laborers foremen concrete transport laborers laborers watchmen fig. 24. _contractor's organization._--the contracting firm which did the work described in this paper was the o'rourke engineering construction company, of new york city. the president of this company was john f. o'rourke, m. am. soc. c. e., the vice-president was f. j. gubelman, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. the general superintendent was mr. george b. fry, assisted by j. f. sullivan, assoc. m. am. soc. c. e. the duties of general tunnel superintendent fell to mr. patrick fitzgerald. the generally pleasant relations existing between the company and the contractor's forces did much to facilitate its execution. the organization of the contractor's field staff is shown on fig. 25. pennsylvania tunnel and terminal railroad company. north river division. sections gy east, gy west supplementary, gy west, gj, and i, _i. e._, from 10th avenue, manhattan, to the weehawken shaft, field engineering staff organization. general resident engineer | +-----------------+------------+------------+---------+----+ | | | | | | (material testing) (photography) | (cost records) |(office) cement inspector photographer | recording clerk | clerks asst cement | asst recording |messengers inspectors | clerks | (construction) | | (despatch boat) +----------------+ captain | engineers resident engineers deckhands (two during driving of shield-driven messengers tunnels, and one subsequently.) | +---------------------+---+------------------+ | | | (inspection) (alignment) (office) assistant engineers assistant engineers draftsmen chief tunnel chiefs of parties field office inspector instrumentmen clerks tunnel inspectors rodmen cement surface inspectors chainmen warehousemen clerks laborers janitors fig. 25 in conclusion, the writers cannot forego the pleasure of expressing their deep obligation to samuel rea, m. am. soc. c. e., as representing the management of the company, to the chief engineer, charles m. jacobs, m. am. soc. c. e., and to james forgie, m. am. soc. c. e., chief assistant engineer, for their permission to write this paper, and also to all the members of the field office staff for their great and unfailing assistance in its preparation. transcriber's notes: text following a carat character (^) was superscript in the original (example: m^r). the following typographical errors were amended: in page 180 "his nights were for some while like other men's now banlk ..." 'banlk' was changed to 'blank'. in page 343 "if was plain, thus far, that i should have to get into india ..." 'if' was corrected to 'it'. the works of robert louis stevenson swanston edition volume xvi _of this swanston edition in twenty-five volumes of the works of robert louis stevenson two thousand and sixty copies have been printed, of which only two thousand copies are for sale._ _this is no._ ........... [illustration: r. l. s. in apemama island: a devil-priest making incantations] the works of robert louis stevenson volume sixteen london: published by chatto and windus: in association with cassell and company limited: william heinemann: and longmans green and company mdccccxii all rights reserved contents records of a family of engineers page introduction: the surname of stevenson 3 i. domestic annals 12 ii. the service of the northern lights 34 iii. the building of the bell rock 62 additional memories and portraits i. random memories: i. the coast of fife 155 ii. random memories: ii. the education of an engineer 167 iii. a chapter on dreams 177 iv. beggars 190 v. the lantern-bearers 200 later essays i. fontainebleau: village communities of painters 215 ii. a note on realism 234 iii. on some technical elements of style in literature 241 iv. the morality of the profession of letters 260 v. books which have influenced me 272 vi. the day after to-morrow 279 vii. letter to a young gentleman who proposes to embrace the career of art 290 viii. pulvis et umbra 299 ix. a christmas sermon 306 x. father damien: an open letter to the reverend dr. hyde of honolulu 315 xi. my first book--"treasure island" 331 xii. the genesis of "the master of ballantrae" 341 xiii. random memories: _rosa quo locorum_ 345 xiv. reflections and remarks on human life 354 xv. the ideal house 370 lay morals 379 prayers written for family use at vailima 431 records of a family of engineers records of a family of engineers introduction the surname of stevenson from the thirteenth century onwards, the name, under the various disguises of stevinstoun, stevensoun, stevensonne, stenesone, and stewinsoune, spread across scotland from the mouth of the firth of forth to the mouth of the firth of clyde. four times at least it occurs as a place-name. there is a parish of stevenston in cunningham; a second place of the name in the barony of bothwell in lanark; a third on lyne, above drochil castle; the fourth on the tyne, near traprain law. stevenson of stevenson (co. lanark) swore fealty to edward i. in 1296, and the last of that family died after the restoration. stevensons of hirdmanshiels, in midlothian, rode in the bishops' raid of aberlady, served as jurors, stood bail for neighbours--hunter of polwood, for instance--and became extinct about the same period, or possibly earlier. a stevenson of luthrie and another of pitroddie make their bows, give their names, and vanish. and by the year 1700 it does not appear that any acre of scots land was vested in any stevenson.[1] here is, so far, a melancholy picture of backward progress, and a family posting towards extinction. but the law (however administered, and i am bound to aver that, in scotland "it couldna weel be waur") acts as a kind of dredge, and with dispassionate impartiality brings up into the light of day, and shows us for a moment, in the jury-box or on the gallows, the creeping things of the past. by these broken glimpses we are able to trace the existence of many other and more inglorious stevensons, picking a private way through the brawl that makes scots history. they were members of parliament for peebles, stirling, pittenweem, kilrenny, and inverurie. we find them burgesses of edinburgh; indwellers in biggar, perth, and dalkeith. thomas was the forester of newbattle park, gavin was a baker, john a maltman, francis a chirurgeon, and "schir william" a priest. in the feuds of humes and heatleys, cunninghams, montgomeries, mures, ogilvies, and turnbulls, we find them inconspicuously involved, and apparently getting rather better than they gave. schir william (reverend gentleman) was cruellie slaughtered on the links of kincraig in 1532; james ("in the mill-town of roberton"), murdered in 1590; archibald ("in gallowfarren"), killed with shots of pistols and hagbuts in 1608. three violent deaths in about seventy years, against which we can only put the case of thomas, servant to hume of cowden knowes, who was arraigned with his two young masters for the death of the bastard of mellerstanes in 1569. john ("in dalkeith") stood sentry without holyrood while the banded lords were despatching rizzio within. william, at the ringing of perth bell, ran before cowrie house "with ane sword, and, entering to the yearde, saw george craiggingilt with ane twa-handit sword and utheris nychtbouris; at quilk time james boig cryit ower ane wynds, 'awa hame! ye will all be hangit'"--a piece of advice which william took, and immediately "depairtit." john got a maid with child to him in biggar, and seemingly deserted her; she was hanged on the castle hill for infanticide, june 1614; and martin, elder in dalkeith, eternally disgraced the name by signing witness in a witch trial, 1661. these are two of our black sheep.[2] under the restoration, one stevenson was a bailie in edinburgh, and another the lessee of the canonmills. there were at the same period two physicians of the name in edinburgh, one of whom, dr. archibald, appears to have been a famous man in his day and generation. the court had continual need of him; it was he who reported, for instance, on the state of rumbold; and he was for some time in the enjoyment of a pension of a thousand pounds scots (about eighty pounds sterling) at a time when five hundred pounds is described as "an opulent future." i do not know if i should be glad or sorry that he failed to keep favour; but on 6th january 1682 (rather a cheerless new year's present) his pension was expunged.[3] there need be no doubt, at least, of my exultation at the fact that he was knighted and recorded arms. not quite so genteel, but still in public life, hugh was under-clerk to the privy council, and liked being so extremely. i gather this from his conduct in september 1681, when, with all the lords and their servants, he took the woful and soul-destroying test, swearing it "word by word upon his knees." and, behold! it was in vain, for hugh was turned out of his small post in 1684.[4] sir archibald and hugh were both plainly inclined to be trimmers; but there was one witness of the name of stevenson who held high the banner of the covenant--john, "land-labourer,[5] in the parish of daily, in carrick," that "eminently pious man." he seems to have been a poor sickly soul, and shows himself disabled with scrofula, and prostrate and groaning aloud with fever; but the enthusiasm of the martyr burned high within him. "i was made to take joyfully the spoiling of my goods, and with pleasure for his name's sake wandered in deserts and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. i lay four months in the coldest season of the year in a haystack in my father's garden, and a whole february in the open fields not far from camragen, and this i did without the least prejudice from the night air; one night, when lying in the fields near to the carrick-miln, i was all covered with snow in the morning. many nights have i lain with pleasure in the churchyard of old daily, and made a grave my pillow; frequently have i resorted to the old walls about the glen, near to camragen, and there sweetly rested." the visible hand of god protected and directed him. dragoons were turned aside from the bramble-bush where he lay hidden. miracles were performed for his behoof. "i got a horse and a woman to carry the child, and came to the same mountain, where i wandered by the mist before; it is commonly known by the name of kellsrhins: when we came to go up the mountain, there came on a great rain, which we thought was the occasion of the child's weeping, and she wept so bitterly, that all we could do could not divert her from it, so that she was ready to burst. when we got to the top of the mountain, where the lord had been formerly kind to my soul in prayer, i looked round me for a stone, and espying one, i went and brought it. when the woman with me saw me set down the stone, she smiled, and asked what i was going to do with it. i told her i was going to set it up as my ebenezer, because hitherto, and in that place, the lord had formerly helped, and i hoped would yet help. the rain still continuing, the child weeping bitterly, i went to prayer, and no sooner did i cry to god, but the child gave over weeping, and when we got up from prayer, the rain was pouring down on every side, but in the way where we were to go there fell not one drop; the place not rained on was as big as an ordinary avenue." and so great a saint was the natural butt of satan's persecutions. "i retired to the fields for secret prayer about midnight. when i went to pray i was much straitened, and could not get one request, but 'lord pity,' 'lord help'; this i came over frequently; at length the terror of satan fell on me in a high degree, and all i could say even then was--'lord help.' i continued in the duty for some time, notwithstanding of this terror. at length i got up to my feet, and the terror still increased; then the enemy took me by the arm-pits, and seemed to lift me up by my arms. i saw a loch just before me, and i concluded he designed to throw me there by force; and had he got leave to do so, it might have brought a great reproach upon religion."[6] but it was otherwise ordered, and the cause of piety escaped that danger.[7] on the whole, the stevensons may be described as decent, reputable folk, following honest trades--millers, maltsters, and doctors, playing the character parts in the waverley novels with propriety, if without distinction; and to an orphan looking about him in the world for a potential ancestry, offering a plain and quite unadorned refuge, equally free from shame and glory. john, the land-labourer, is the one living and memorable figure, and he, alas! cannot possibly be more near than a collateral. it was on august 12, 1678, that he heard mr. john welsh on the craigdowhill, and "took the heavens, earth, and sun in the firmament that was shining on us, as also the ambassador who made the offer, and _the clerk who raised the psalms_, to witness that i did give myself away to the lord in a personal and perpetual covenant never to be forgotten"; and already, in 1675, the birth of my direct ascendant was registered in glasgow. so that i have been pursuing ancestors too far down; and john the land-labourer is debarred me, and i must relinquish from the trophies of my house his _rare soul-strengthening and comforting cordial_. it is the same case with the edinburgh bailie and the miller of the canonmills, worthy man! and with that public character, hugh the under-clerk, and more than all, with sir archibald, the physician, who recorded arms. and i am reduced to a family of inconspicuous maltsters in what was then the clean and handsome little city on the clyde. the name has a certain air of being norse. but the story of scottish nomenclature is confounded by a continual process of translation and half-translation from the gaelic which in olden days may have been sometimes reversed. roy becomes reid; gow, smith. a great highland clan uses the name of robertson; a sept in appin that of livingstone; maclean in glencoe answers to johnstone at lockerby. and we find such hybrids as macalexander for macallister. there is but one rule to be deduced: that however uncompromisingly saxon a name may appear, you can never be sure it does not designate a celt. my great-grandfather wrote the name _stevenson_ but pronounced it _steenson_, after the fashion of the immortal minstrel in "redgauntlet"; and this elision of a medial consonant appears a gaelic process; and, curiously enough, i have come across no less than two gaelic forms: _john macstophane cordinerius in crossraguel_, 1573, and _william m'steen_ in dunskeith (co. ross), 1605. stevenson, steenson, macstophane, m'steen: which is the original? which the translation? or were these separate creations of the patronymic, some english, some gaelic? the curiously compact territory in which we find them seated--ayr, lanark, peebles, stirling, perth, fife, and the lothians--would seem to forbid the supposition.[8] "stevenson--or according to tradition of one of the proscribed of the clan macgregor, who was born among the willows or in a hill-side sheep-pen--'son of my love,' a heraldic bar sinister, but history reveals a reason for the birth among the willows far other than the sinister aspect of the name": these are the dark words of mr. cosmo innes; but history or tradition, being interrogated, tells a somewhat tangled tale. the heir of macgregor of glenorchy, murdered about 1353 by the argyll campbells, appears to have been the original "son of my love"; and his more loyal clansmen took the name to fight under. it may be supposed the story of their resistance became popular, and the name in some sort identified with the idea of opposition to the campbells. twice afterwards, on some renewed aggression, in 1502 and 1552, we find the macgregors again banding themselves into a sept of "sons of my love"; and when the great disaster fell on them in 1603, the whole original legend re-appears, and we have the heir of alaster of glenstrae born "among the willows" of a fugitive mother, and the more loyal clansmen again rallying under the name of stevenson. a story would not be told so often unless it had some base in fact; nor (if there were no bond at all between the red macgregors and the stevensons) would that extraneous and somewhat uncouth name be so much repeated in the legends of the children of the mist. but i am enabled, by my very lively and obliging correspondent, mr. george a. macgregor stevenson of new york, to give an actual instance. his grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great-grandfather, all used the names of macgregor and stevenson as occasion served; being perhaps macgregor by night and stevenson by day. the great-great-great-grandfather was a mighty man of his hands, marched with the clan in the 'forty-five, and returned with _spolia opima_ in the shape of a sword, which he had wrested from an officer in the retreat, and which is in the possession of my correspondent to this day. his great-grandson (the grandfather of my correspondent), being converted to methodism by some wayside preacher, discarded in a moment his name, his old nature, and his political principles, and with the zeal of a proselyte sealed his adherence to the protestant succession by baptising his next son george. this george became the publisher and editor of the _wesleyan times_. his children were brought up in ignorance of their highland pedigree; and my correspondent was puzzled to overhear his father speak of him as a true macgregor, and amazed to find, in rummaging about that peaceful and pious house, the sword of the hanoverian officer. after he was grown up and was better informed of his descent, "i frequently asked my father," he writes, "why he did not use the name of macgregor; his replies were significant, and give a picture of the man: 'it isn't a good _methodist_ name. you can use it, but it will do you no _good_.' yet the old gentleman, by way of pleasantry, used to announce himself to friends as 'colonel macgregor.'" here, then, are certain macgregors habitually using the name of stevenson, and at last, under the influence of methodism, adopting it entirely. doubtless a proscribed clan could not be particular; they took a name as a man takes an umbrella against a shower; as rob roy took campbell, and his son took drummond. but this case is different; stevenson was not taken and left--it was consistently adhered to. it does not in the least follow that all stevensons are of the clan alpin; but it does follow that some may be. and i cannot conceal from myself the possibility that james stevenson in glasgow, my first authentic ancestor, may have had a highland _alias_ upon his conscience and a claymore in his back parlour. to one more tradition i may allude, that we are somehow descended from a french barber-surgeon who came to st. andrews in the service of one of the cardinal beatons. no details were added. but the very name of france was so detested in my family for three generations, that i am tempted to suppose there may be something in it.[9] footnotes: [1] an error: stevensons owned at this date the barony of dolphingston in haddingtonshire, montgrennan in ayrshire, and several other lesser places. [2] pitcairn's "criminal trials," at large.--[r. l. s.] [3] fountainhall's "decisions," vol. i. pp. 56, 132, 186, 204, 368.--[r. l. s.] [4] _ibid._ pp. 158, 299.--[r. l. s.] [5] working farmer: fr. _laboureur_. [6] this john stevenson was not the only "witness" of the name; other stevensons were actually killed during the persecutions, in the glen of trool, on pentland, etc.; and it is very possible that the author's own ancestor was one of the mounted party embodied by muir of caldwell, only a day too late for pentland. [7] wodrow society's "select biographies," vol. ii.--[r. l. s.] [8] though the districts here named are those in which the name of stevenson is most common, it is in point of fact far more wide-spread than the text indicates, and occurs from dumfries and berwickshire to aberdeen and orkney. [9] mr. j.h. stevenson is satisfied that these speculations as to a possible norse, highland, or french origin are vain. all we know about the engineer family is that it was sprung from a stock of westland whigs settled in the latter part of the seventeenth century in the parish of neilston, as mentioned at the beginning of the next chapter. it may be noted that the ayrshire parish of stevenson, the lands of which are said to have received the name in the twelfth century, lies within thirteen miles south-west of this place. the lands of stevenson in lanarkshire first mentioned in the next century, in the ragman roll, lie within twenty miles east. chapter i domestic annals it is believed that in 1665, james stevenson in nether carsewell, parish of neilston, county of renfrew, and presumably a tenant farmer, married one jean keir; and in 1675, without doubt, there was born to these two a son robert, possibly a maltster in glasgow. in 1710, robert married, for a second time, elizabeth cumming, and there was born to them, in 1720, another robert, certainly a maltster in glasgow. in 1742, robert the second married margaret fulton (margret, she called herself), by whom he had ten children, among whom were hugh, born february 1749, and alan, born june 1752. with these two brothers my story begins. their deaths were simultaneous; their lives unusually brief and full. tradition whispered me in childhood they were the owners of an islet near st. kitts; and it is certain they had risen to be at the head of considerable interests in the west indies, which hugh managed abroad and alan at home, at an age when others are still curveting a clerk's stool. my kinsman, mr. stevenson of stirling, has heard his father mention that there had been "something romantic" about alan's marriage: and, alas! he has forgotten what. it was early at least. his wife was jean, daughter of david lillie, a builder in glasgow, and several times "deacon of the wrights": the date of the marriage has not reached me: but on 8th june 1772, when robert, the only child of the union, was born, the husband and father had scarce passed, or had not yet attained, his twentieth year. here was a youth making haste to give hostages to fortune. but this early scene of prosperity in love and business was on the point of closing. there hung in the house of this young family, and successively in those of my grandfather and father, an oil painting of a ship of many tons burthen. doubtless the brothers had an interest in the vessel; i was told she had belonged to them outright; and the picture was preserved through years of hardship, and remains to this day in the possession of the family, the only memorial of my great-grandsire alan. it was on this ship that he sailed on his last adventure, summoned to the west indies by hugh. an agent had proved unfaithful on a serious scale; and it used to be told me in my childhood how the brothers pursued him from one island to another in an open boat, were exposed to the pernicious dews of the tropics, and simultaneously struck down. the dates and places of their deaths (now before me) would seem to indicate a more scattered and prolonged pursuit: hugh, on the 16th april 1774, in tobago, within sight of trinidad; alan, so late as may 26th, and so far away as "santt kittes," in the leeward islands--both, says the family bible, "of a fiver" (!). the death of hugh was probably announced by alan in a letter, to which we may refer the details of the open boat and the dew. thus, at least, in something like the course of post, both were called away, the one twenty-five, the other twenty-two; their brief generation became extinct, their short-lived house fell with them; and "in these lawless parts and lawless times"--the words are my grandfather's--their property was stolen or became involved. many years later, i understand some small recovery to have been made; but at the moment almost the whole means of the family seem to have perished with the young merchants. on the 27th april, eleven days after hugh stevenson, twenty-nine before alan, died david lillie, the deacon of the wrights; so that mother and son were orphaned in one month. thus, from a few scraps of paper bearing little beyond dates, we construct the outlines of the tragedy that shadowed the cradle of robert stevenson. jean lillie was a young woman of strong sense, well fitted to contend with poverty, and of a pious disposition, which it is like that these misfortunes heated. like so many other widowed scotswomen, she vowed her son should wag his head in a pulpit; but her means were inadequate to her ambition. a charity school, and some time under a mr. m'intyre, "a famous linguist," were all she could afford in the way of education to the would-be minister. he learned no greek; in one place he mentions that the orations of cicero were his highest book in latin; in another that he had "delighted" in virgil and horace; but his delight could never have been scholarly. this appears to have been the whole of his training previous to an event which changed his own destiny and moulded that of his descendants--the second marriage of his mother. there was a merchant-burgess of edinburgh of the name of thomas smith. the smith pedigree has been traced a little more particularly than the stevensons', with a similar dearth of illustrious names. one character seems to have appeared, indeed, for a moment at the wings of history: a skipper of dundee who smuggled over some jacobite big-wig at the time of the 'fifteen, and was afterwards drowned in dundee harbour while going on board his ship. with this exception, the generations of the smiths present no conceivable interest even to a descendant; and thomas, of edinburgh, was the first to issue from respectable obscurity. his father, a skipper out of broughty ferry, was drowned at sea while thomas was still young. he seems to have owned a ship or two--whalers, i suppose, or coasters--and to have been a member of the dundee trinity house, whatever that implies. on his death the widow remained in broughty, and the son came to push his future in edinburgh. there is a story told of him in the family which i repeat here because i shall have to tell later on a similar, but more perfectly authenticated, experience of his stepson, robert stevenson. word reached thomas that his mother was unwell, and he prepared to leave for broughty on the morrow. it was between two and three in the morning, and the early northern daylight was already clear, when he awoke and beheld the curtains at the bed-foot drawn aside and his mother appear in the interval, smile upon him for a moment, and then vanish. the sequel is stereotype: he took the time by his watch, and arrived at broughty to learn it was the very moment of her death. the incident is at least curious in having happened to such a person--as the tale is being told of him. in all else, he appears as a man, ardent, passionate, practical, designed for affairs and prospering in them far beyond the average. he founded a solid business in lamps and oils, and was the sole proprietor of a concern called the greenside company's works--"a multifarious concern it was," writes my cousin, professor swan, "of tinsmiths, coppersmiths, brassfounders, blacksmiths, and japanners." he was also, it seems, a shipowner and underwriter. he built himself "a land"--nos. 1 and 2 baxter's place, then no such unfashionable neighbourhood--and died, leaving his only son in easy circumstances, and giving to his three surviving daughters portions of five thousand pounds and upwards. there is no standard of success in life; but in one of its meanings, this is to succeed. in what we know of his opinions, he makes a figure highly characteristic of the time. a high tory and patriot, a captain--so i find it in my notes--of edinburgh spearmen, and on duty in the castle during the muir and palmer troubles, he bequeathed to his descendants a bloodless sword and a somewhat violent tradition, both long preserved. the judge who sat on muir and palmer, the famous braxfield, let fall from the bench the _obiter dictum_--"i never liked the french all my days, but now i hate them." if thomas smith, the edinburgh spearman, were in court, he must have been tempted to applaud. the people of that land were his abhorrence; he loathed buonaparte like antichrist. towards the end he fell into a kind of dotage; his family must entertain him with games of tin soldiers, which he took a childish pleasure to array and overset; but those who played with him must be upon their guard, for if his side, which was always that of the english against the french, should chance to be defeated, there would be trouble in baxter's place. for these opinions he may almost be said to have suffered. baptised and brought up in the church of scotland, he had, upon some conscientious scruple, joined the communion of the baptists. like other nonconformists, these were inclined to the liberal side in politics, and, at least in the beginning, regarded buonaparte as a deliverer. from the time of his joining the spearmen, thomas smith became in consequence a bugbear to his brethren in the faith. "they that take the sword shall perish with the sword," they told him; they gave him "no rest"; "his position became intolerable"; it was plain he must choose between his political and his religious tenets; and in the last years of his life, about 1812, he returned to the church of his fathers. august 1786 was the date of his chief advancement, when, having designed a system of oil lights to take the place of the primitive coal fires before in use, he was dubbed engineer to the newly-formed board of northern lighthouses. not only were his fortunes bettered by the appointment, but he was introduced to a new and wider field for the exercise of his abilities, and a new way of life highly agreeable to his active constitution. he seems to have rejoiced in the long journeys, and to have combined them with the practice of field sports. "a tall, stout man coming ashore with his gun over his arm"--so he was described to my father--the only description that has come down to me--by a light-keeper old in the service. nor did this change come alone. on the 9th july of the same year, thomas smith had been left for the second time a widower. as he was still but thirty-three years old, prospering in his affairs, newly advanced in the world, and encumbered at the time with a family of children, five in number, it was natural that he should entertain the notion of another wife. expeditious in business, he was no less so in his choice; and it was not later than june 1787--for my grandfather is described as still in his fifteenth year--that he married the widow of alan stevenson. the perilous experiment of bringing together two families for once succeeded. mr. smith's two eldest daughters, jean and janet, fervent in piety, unwearied in kind deeds, were well qualified both to appreciate and to attract the stepmother; and her son, on the other hand, seems to have found immediate favour in the eyes of mr. smith. it is, perhaps, easy to exaggerate the ready-made resemblances; the tired woman must have done much to fashion girls who were under ten; the man, lusty and opinionated, must have stamped a strong impression on the boy of fifteen. but the cleavage of the family was too marked, the identity of character and interest produced between the two men on the one hand, and the three women on the other, was too complete to have been the result of influence alone. particular bonds of union must have pre-existed on each side. and there is no doubt that the man and the boy met with common ambitions, and a common bent, to the practice of that which had not so long before acquired the name of civil engineering. for the profession which is now so thronged, famous, and influential, was then a thing of yesterday. my grandfather had an anecdote of smeaton, probably learned from john clerk of eldin, their common friend. smeaton was asked by the duke of argyll to visit the west highland coast for a professional purpose. he refused, appalled, it seems, by the rough travelling. "you can recommend some other fit person?" asked the duke. "no," said smeaton, "i'm sorry i can't." "what!" cried the duke, "a profession with only one man in it! pray, who taught you?" "why," said smeaton, "i believe i may say i was self-taught, an't please your grace." smeaton, at the date of thomas smith's third marriage, was yet living; and as the one had grown to the new profession from his place at the instrument-maker's, the other was beginning to enter it by the way of his trade. the engineer of to-day is confronted with a library of acquired results; tables and formulã¦ to the value of folios full have been calculated and recorded; and the student finds everywhere in front of him the footprints of the pioneers. in the eighteenth century the field was largely unexplored; the engineer must read with his own eyes the face of nature; he arose a volunteer, from the workshop or the mill, to undertake works which were at once inventions and adventures. it was not a science then--it was a living art; and it visibly grew under the eyes and between the hands of its practitioners. the charm of such an occupation was strongly felt by stepfather and stepson. it chanced that thomas smith was a reformer; the superiority of his proposed lamp and reflectors over open fires of coal secured his appointment; and no sooner had he set his hand to the task than the interest of that employment mastered him. the vacant stage on which he was to act, and where all had yet to be created--the greatness of the difficulties, the smallness of the means intrusted him--would rouse a man of his disposition like a call to battle. the lad introduced by marriage under his roof was of a character to sympathise; the public usefulness of the service would appeal to his judgment, the perpetual need for fresh expedients stimulate his ingenuity. and there was another attraction which, in the younger man at least, appealed to, and perhaps first aroused a profound and enduring sentiment of romance: i mean the attraction of the life. the seas into which his labours carried the new engineer were still scarce charted, the coasts still dark; his way on shore was often far beyond the convenience of any road; the isles in which he must sojourn were still partly savage. he must toss much in boats; he must often adventure on horseback by the dubious bridle-track through unfrequented wildernesses; he must sometimes plant his lighthouse in the very camp of wreckers; and he was continually enforced to the vicissitudes of outdoor life. the joy of my grandfather in this career was strong as the love of woman. it lasted him through youth and manhood, it burned strong in age, and at the approach of death his last yearning was to renew these loved experiences. what he felt himself he continued to attribute to all around him. and to this supposed sentiment in others i find him continually, almost pathetically, appealing: often in vain. snared by these interests, the boy seems to have become almost at once the eager confidant and adviser of his new connection; the church, if he had ever entertained the prospect very warmly, faded from his view; and at the age of nineteen i find him already in a post of some authority, superintending the construction of the lighthouse on the isle of little cumbrae, in the firth of clyde. the change of aim seems to have caused or been accompanied by a change of character. it sounds absurd to couple the name of my grandfather with the word indolence; but the lad who had been destined from the cradle to the church, and who had attained the age of fifteen without acquiring more than a moderate knowledge of latin, was at least no unusual student. and from the day of his charge at little cumbrae he steps before us what he remained until the end, a man of the most zealous industry, greedy of occupation, greedy of knowledge, a stern husband of time, a reader, a writer, unflagging in his task of self-improvement. thenceforward his summers were spent directing works and ruling workmen, now in uninhabited, now in half-savage islands; his winters were set apart, first at the andersonian institution, then at the university of edinburgh to improve himself in mathematics, chemistry, natural history, agriculture, moral philosophy, and logic; a bearded student--although no doubt scrupulously shaved. i find one reference to his years in class which will have a meaning for all who have studied in scottish universities. he mentions a recommendation made by the professor of logic. "the high-school men," he writes, "and _bearded men like myself_, were all attention." if my grandfather were throughout life a thought too studious of the art of getting on, much must be forgiven to the bearded and belated student who looked across, with a sense of difference, at "the high-school men." here was a gulf to be crossed; but already he could feel that he had made a beginning, and that must have been a proud hour when he devoted his earliest earnings to the repayment of the charitable foundation in which he had received the rudiments of knowledge. in yet another way he followed the example of his father-in-law, and from 1794 to 1807, when the affairs of the bell rock made it necessary for him to resign, he served in different corps of volunteers. in the last of these he rose to a position of distinction, no less than captain of the grenadier company, and his colonel, in accepting his resignation, entreated he would do them "the favour of continuing as an honorary member of a corps which has been so much indebted for your zeal and exertions." to very pious women the men of the house are apt to appear worldly. the wife, as she puts on her new bonnet before church, is apt to sigh over that assiduity which enabled her husband to pay the milliner's bill. and in the household of the smiths and stevensons the women were not only extremely pious, but the men were in reality a trifle worldly. religious they both were; conscious, like all scots, of the fragility and unreality of that scene in which we play our uncomprehended parts; like all scots, realising daily and hourly the sense of another will than ours and a perpetual direction in the affairs of life. but the current of their endeavours flowed in a more obvious channel. they had got on so far; to get on further was their next ambition--to gather wealth, to rise in society, to leave their descendants higher than themselves, to be (in some sense) among the founders of families. scott was in the same town nourishing similar dreams. but in the eyes of the women these dreams would be foolish and idolatrous. i have before me some volumes of old letters addressed to mrs. smith and the two girls, her favourites, which depict in a strong light their characters and the society in which they moved. "my very dear and much esteemed friend," writes one correspondent, "this day being the anniversary of our acquaintance, i feel inclined to address you; but where shall i find words to express the fealings of a graitful _heart_, first to the lord who graiciously inclined you on this day last year to notice an afflicted strainger providentially cast in your way far from any earthly friend?... methinks i shall hear him say unto you, 'inasmuch as ye shewed kindness to my afflicted handmaiden, ye did it unto me.'" this is to jean; but the same afflicted lady wrote indifferently to jean, to janet, and to mrs. smith, whom she calls "my edinburgh mother." it is plain the three were as one person, moving to acts of kindness, like the graces, inarmed. too much stress must not be laid on the style of this correspondence; clarinda survived, not far away, and may have met the ladies on the calton hill; and many of the writers appear, underneath the conventions of the period, to be genuinely moved. but what unpleasantly strikes a reader is that these devout unfortunates found a revenue in their devotion. it is everywhere the same tale: on the side of the soft-hearted ladies, substantial acts of help; on the side of the correspondents, affection, italics, texts, ecstasies, and imperfect spelling. when a midwife is recommended, not at all for proficiency in her important art, but because she has "a sister whom i [the correspondent] esteem and respect, and [who] is a spiritual daughter of my hon^d father in the gosple," the mask seems to be torn off, and the wages of godliness appear too openly. capacity is a secondary matter in a midwife, temper in a servant, affection in a daughter, and the repetition of a shibboleth fulfils the law. common decency is at times forgot in the same page with the most sanctified advice and aspiration. thus i am introduced to a correspondent who appears to have been at the time the housekeeper at invermay, and who writes to condole with my grandmother in a season of distress. for nearly half a sheet she keeps to the point with an excellent discretion in language; then suddenly breaks out: "it was fully my intention to have left this at martinmass, but the lord fixes the bounds of our habitation. i have had more need of patience in my situation here than in any other, partly from the very violent, unsteady, deceitful temper of the mistress of the family, and also from the state of the house. it was in a train of repair when i came here two years ago, and is still in confusion. there is above six thousand pounds' worth of furniture come from london to be put up when the rooms are completely finished; and then, woe be to the person who is housekeeper at invermay!" and by the tail of the document, which is torn, i see she goes on to ask the bereaved family to seek her a new place. it is extraordinary that people should have been so deceived in so careless an impostor; that a few sprinkled "god willings" should have blinded them to the essence of this venomous letter; and that they should have been at the pains to bind it in with others (many of them highly touching) in their memorial of harrowing days. but the good ladies were without guile and without suspicion; they were victims marked for the axe, and the religious impostors snuffed up the wind as they drew near. i have referred above to my grandmother; it was no slip of the pen: for by an extraordinary arrangement, in which it is hard not to suspect the managing hand of a mother, jean smith became the wife of robert stevenson. mrs. smith had failed in her design to make her son a minister, and she saw him daily more immersed in business and worldly ambition. one thing remained that she might do: she might secure for him a godly wife, that great means of sanctification; and she had two under her hand, trained by herself, her dear friends and daughters both in law and love--jean and janet. jean's complexion was extremely pale, janet's was florid; my grandmother's nose was straight, my great-aunt's aquiline; but by the sound of the voice, not even a son was able to distinguish one from other. the marriage of a man of twenty-seven and a girl of twenty who have lived for twelve years as brother and sister, is difficult to conceive. it took place, however, and thus in 1799 the family was still further cemented by the union of a representative of the male or worldly element with one of the female and devout. this essential difference remained unbridged, yet never diminished the strength of their relation. my grandfather pursued his design of advancing in the world with some measure of success; rose to distinction in his calling, grew to be the familiar of members of parliament, judges of the court of session, and "landed gentlemen"; learned a ready address, had a flow of interesting conversation, and when he was referred to as "a highly respectable _bourgeois_," resented the description. my grandmother remained to the end devout and unambitious, occupied with her bible, her children, and her house; easily shocked, and associating largely with a clique of godly parasites. i do not know if she called in the midwife already referred to; but the principle on which that lady was recommended, she accepted fully. the cook was a godly woman, the butcher a christian man, and the table suffered. the scene has been often described to me of my grandfather sawing with darkened countenance at some indissoluble joint--"preserve me, my dear, what kind of a reedy, stringy beast is this?"--of the joint removed, the pudding substituted and uncovered; and of my grandmother's anxious glance and hasty, deprecatory comment, "just mismanaged!" yet with the invincible obstinacy of soft natures, she would adhere to the godly woman and the christian man, or find others of the same kidney to replace them. one of her confidants had once a narrow escape; an unwieldy old woman, she had fallen from an outside stair in a close of the old town; and my grandmother rejoiced to communicate the providential circumstance that a baker had been passing underneath with his bread upon his head. "i would like to know what kind of providence the baker thought it!" cried my grandfather. but the sally must have been unique. in all else that i have heard or read of him, so far from criticising, he was doing his utmost to honour and even to emulate his wife's pronounced opinions. in the only letter which has come to my hand of thomas smith's, i find him informing his wife that he was "in time for afternoon church "; similar assurances or cognate excuses abound in the correspondence of robert stevenson; and it is comical and pretty to see the two generations paying the same court to a female piety more highly strung: thomas smith to the mother of robert stevenson--robert stevenson to the daughter of thomas smith. and if for once my grandfather suffered himself to be hurried, by his sense of humour and justice, into that remark about the case of providence and the baker, i should be sorry for any of his children who should have stumbled into the same attitude of criticism. in the apocalyptic style of the housekeeper of invermay, woe be to that person! but there was no fear; husband and sons all entertained for the pious, tender soul the same chivalrous and moved affection. i have spoken with one who remembered her, and who had been the intimate and equal of her sons, and i found this witness had been struck, as i had been, with a sense of disproportion between the warmth of the adoration felt and the nature of the woman, whether as described or observed. she diligently read and marked her bible; she was a tender nurse; she had a sense of humour under strong control; she talked and found some amusement at her (or rather at her husband's) dinner-parties. it is conceivable that even my grandmother was amenable to the seductions of dress; at least i find her husband inquiring anxiously about "the gowns from glasgow," and very careful to describe the toilet of the princess charlotte, whom he had seen in church "in a pelisse and bonnet of the same colour of cloth as the boys' dress jackets, trimmed with blue satin ribbons; the hat or bonnet, mr. spittal said, was a parisian slouch, and had a plume of three white feathers." but all this leaves a blank impression, and it is rather by reading backward in these old musty letters, which have moved me now to laughter and now to impatience, that i glean occasional glimpses of how she seemed to her contemporaries, and trace (at work in her queer world of godly and grateful parasites) a mobile and responsive nature. fashion moulds us, and particularly women, deeper than we sometimes think; but a little while ago, and, in some circles, women stood or fell by the degree of their appreciation of old pictures; in the early years of the century (and surely with more reason) a character like that of my grandmother warmed, charmed, and subdued, like a strain of music, the hearts of the men of her own household. and there is little doubt that mrs. smith, as she looked on at the domestic life of her son and her step-daughter, and numbered the heads in their increasing nursery, must have breathed fervent thanks to her creator. yet this was to be a family unusually tried; it was not for nothing that one of the godly women saluted miss janet smith as "a veteran in affliction"; and they were all before middle life experienced in that form of service. by the 1st of january 1808, besides a pair of still-born twins, five children had been born and still survived to the young couple. by the 11th two were gone; by the 28th a third had followed, and the two others were still in danger. in the letters of a former nurserymaid--i give her name, jean mitchell, _honoris causa_--we are enabled to feel, even at this distance of time, some of the bitterness of that month of bereavement. "i have this day received," she writes to miss janet, "the melancholy news of my dear babys' deaths. my heart is like to break for my dear mrs. stevenson. o may she be supported on this trying occasion! i hope her other three babys will be spared to her. o, miss smith, did i think when i parted from my sweet babys that i never was to see them more?" "i received," she begins her next, "the mournful news of my dear jessie's death. i also received the hair of my three sweet babys, which i will preserve as dear to their memorys and as a token of mr. and mrs. stevenson's friendship and esteem. at my leisure hours, when the children are in bed, they occupy all my thoughts, i dream of them. about two weeks ago, i dreamed that my sweet little jessie came running to me in her usual way, and i took her in my arms. o my dear babys, were mortal eyes permitted to see them in heaven, we would not repine nor grieve for their loss." by the 29th of february, the reverend john campbell, a man of obvious sense and human value, but hateful to the present biographer, because he wrote so many letters and conveyed so little information, summed up this first period of affliction in a letter to miss smith: "your dear sister but a little while ago had a full nursery, and the dear blooming creatures sitting around her table filled her breast with hope that one day they should fill active stations in society and become an ornament in the church below. but ah!" near a hundred years ago these little creatures ceased to be, and for not much less a period the tears have been dried. and to this day, looking in these stitched sheaves of letters, we hear the sound of many soft-hearted women sobbing for the lost. never was such a massacre of the innocents; teething and chincough and scarlet fever and small-pox ran the round; and little lillies, and smiths, and stevensons fell like moths about a candle; and nearly all the sympathetic correspondents deplore and recall the little losses of their own. "it is impossible to describe the heavnly looks of the dear babe the three last days of his life," writes mrs. laurie to mrs. smith. "never--never, my dear aunt, could i wish to eface the rememberance of this dear child. never, never, my dear aunt!" and so soon the memory of the dead and the dust of the survivors are buried in one grave. there was another death in 1812; it passes almost unremarked; a single funeral seemed but a small event to these "veterans in affliction"; and by 1816 the nursery was full again. seven little hopefuls enlivened the house; some were growing up; to the elder girl my grandfather already wrote notes in current hand at the tail of his letters to his wife: and to the elder boys he had begun to print, with laborious care, sheets of childish gossip and pedantic applications. here, for instance, under date of may 26th, 1816, is part of a mythological account of london, with a moral for the three gentlemen, "messieurs alan, robert, and james stevenson," to whom the document is addressed: "there are many prisons here like bridewell, for, like other large towns, there are many bad men here as well as many good men. the natives of london are in general not so tall and strong as the people of edinburgh, because they have not so much pure air, and instead of taking porridge they eat cakes made with sugar and plums. here you have thousands of carts to draw timber, thousands of coaches to take you to all parts of the town, and thousands of boats to sail on the river thames. but you must have money to pay, otherwise you can get nothing. now the way to get money is, become clever men and men of education, by being good scholars." from the same absence, he writes to his wife on a sunday: "it is now about eight o'clock with me, and i imagine you to be busy with the young folks, hearing the questions [_anglicã©_, catechism], and indulging the boys with a chapter from the large bible, with their interrogations and your answers in the soundest doctrine. i hope james is getting his verse as usual, and that mary is not forgetting her little _hymn_. while jeannie will be reading wotherspoon, or some other suitable and instructive book, i presume our friend, aunt mary, will have just arrived with the news of a _throng kirk_ [a crowded church] and a great sermon. you may mention, with my compliments to my mother, that i was at st. paul's to-day, and attended a very excellent service with mr. james lawrie. the text was 'examine and see that ye be in the faith.'" a twinkle of humour lights up this evocation of the distant scene--the humour of happy men and happy homes. yet it is penned upon the threshold of fresh sorrow. james and mary--he of the verse and she of the hymn--did not much more than survive to welcome their returning father. on the 25th, one of the godly women writes to janet: "my dearest beloved madam, when i last parted from you, you was so affected with your affliction [you? or i?] could think of nothing else. but on saturday, when i went to inquire after your health, how was i startled to hear that dear james was gone! ah, what is this? my dear benefactors, doing so much good to many, to the lord, suddenly to be deprived of their most valued comforts? i was thrown into great perplexity, could do nothing but murmur, why these things were done to such a family. i could not rest, but at midnight, whether spoken [or not] it was presented to my mind--'those whom ye deplore are walking with me in white.' i conclude from this the lord saying to sweet mrs. stevenson: 'i gave them to be brought up for me: well done, good and faithful! they are fully prepared, and now i must present them to my father and your father, to my god and your god.'" it would be hard to lay on flattery with a more sure and daring hand. i quote it as a model of a letter of condolence; be sure it would console. very different, perhaps quite as welcome, is this from a lighthouse inspector to my grandfather: "in reading your letter the trickling tear ran down my cheeks in silent sorrow for your departed dear ones, my sweet little friends. well do i remember, and you will call to mind, their little innocent and interesting stories. often have they come round me and taken me by the hand, but alas! i am no more destined to behold them." the child who is taken becomes canonised, and the looks of the homeliest babe seem in the retrospect "heavenly the three last days of his life." but it appears that james and mary had indeed been children more than usually engaging; a record was preserved a long while in the family of their remarks and "little innocent and interesting stories," and the blow and the blank were the more sensible. early the next month robert stevenson must proceed upon his voyage of inspection, part by land, part by sea. he left his wife plunged in low spirits; the thought of his loss, and still more of her concern, was continually present in his mind, and he draws in his letters home an interesting picture of his family relations:- "_windygates inn, monday (postmark july 16th)._ "my dearest jeannie,--while the people of the inn are getting me a little bit of something to eat, i sit down to tell you that i had a most excellent passage across the water, and got to wemyss at mid-day. i hope the children will be very good, and that robert will take a course with you to learn his latin lessons daily; he may, however, read english in company. let them have strawberries on saturdays." "_westhaven, 17th july._ "i have been occupied to-day at the harbour of newport, opposite dundee, and am this far on my way to arbroath. you may tell the boys that i slept last night in mr. steadman's tent. i found my bed rather hard, but the lodgings were otherwise extremely comfortable. the encampment is on the fife side of the tay, immediately opposite to dundee. from the door of the tent you command the most beautiful view of the firth, both up and down, to a great extent. at night all was serene and still, the sky presented the most beautiful appearance of bright stars, and the morning was ushered in with the song of many little birds." "_aberdeen, july 19th._ "i hope, my dear, that you are going out of doors regularly and taking much exercise. i would have you to _make the markets daily_--and by all means to take a seat in the coach once or twice in the week and see what is going on in town. [the family were at the sea-side.] it will be good not to be too great a stranger to the house. it will be rather painful at first, but as it is to be done, i would have you not to be too strange to the house in town. "tell the boys that i fell in with a soldier--his name is henderson--who was twelve years with lord wellington and other commanders. he returned very lately with only eightpence-halfpenny in his pocket, and found his father and mother both in life, though they had never heard from him, nor he from them. he carried my great-coat and umbrella a few miles." "_fraserburgh, july 20th._ "fraserburgh is the same dull place which [auntie] mary and jeannie found it. as i am travelling along the coast which they are acquainted with, you had better cause robert bring down the map from edinburgh: and it will be a good exercise in geography for the young folks to trace my course. i hope they have entered upon the writing. the library will afford abundance of excellent books, which i wish you would employ a little. i hope you are doing me the favour to go much out with the boys, which will do you much good and prevent them from getting so very much over-heated." [_to the boys--printed._] "when i had last the pleasure of writing to you, your dear little brother james and your sweet little sister mary were still with us. but it has pleased god to remove them to another and a better world, and we must submit to the will of providence. i must, however, request of you to think sometimes upon them, and to be very careful not to do anything that will displease or vex your mother. it is therefore proper that you do not roamp [scottish indeed] too much about, and that you learn your lessons. "i went to fraserburgh and visited kinnaird head lighthouse, which i found in good order. all this time i travelled upon good roads, and paid many a toll-man by the way; but from fraserburgh to banff there is no toll-bars, and the road is so bad that i had to walk up and down many a hill, and for want of bridges the horses had to drag the chaise up to the middle of the wheels in water. at banff i saw a large ship of 300 tons lying on the sands upon her beam-ends, and a wreck for want of a good harbour. captain wilson--to whom i beg my compliments---will show you a ship of 300 tons. at the towns of macduff, banff, and portsoy, many of the houses are built of marble, and the rocks on this part of the coast or sea-side are marble. but, my dear boys, unless marble be polished and dressed, it is a very coarse-looking stone, and has no more beauty than common rock. as a proof of this, ask the favour of your mother to take you to thomson's marble works in south leith, and you will see marble in all its stages, and perhaps you may there find portsoy marble! the use i wish to make of this is to tell you that, without education, a man is just like a block of rough, unpolished marble. notice, in proof of this, how much mr. neill and mr. m'gregor [the tutor] know, and observe how little a man knows who is not a good scholar. on my way to fochabers i passed through many thousand acres of fir timber, and saw many deer running in these woods." [_to mrs. stevenson._] "_inverness, july 21st._ "i propose going to church in the afternoon, and as i have breakfasted late, i shall afterwards take a walk, and dine about six o'clock. i do not know who is the clergyman here, but i shall think of you all. i travelled in the mail-coach [from banff] almost alone. while it was daylight i kept the top, and the passing along a country i had never before seen was a considerable amusement. but, my dear, you are all much in my thoughts, and many are the objects which recall the recollection of our tender and engaging children we have so recently lost. we must not, however, repine. i could not for a moment wish any change of circumstances in their case; and in every comparative view of their state, i see the lord's goodness in removing them from an evil world to an abode of bliss; and i must earnestly hope that you may be enabled to take such a view of this affliction as to live in the happy prospect of our all meeting again to part no more--and that under such considerations you are getting up your spirits. i wish you would walk about, and by all means go to town, and do not sit much at home." "_inverness, july 23rd._ "i am duly favoured with your much-valued letter, and i am happy to find that you are so much with my mother, because that sort of variety has a tendency to occupy the mind, and to keep it from brooding too much upon one subject. sensibility and tenderness are certainly two of the most interesting and pleasing qualities of the mind. these qualities are also none of the least of the many endearingments of the female character. but if that kind of sympathy and pleasing melancholy, which is familiar to us under distress, be much indulged, it becomes habitual, and takes such a hold of the mind as to absorb all the other affections, and unfit us for the duties and proper enjoyments of life. resignation sinks into a kind of peevish discontent. i am far, however, from thinking there is the least danger of this in your case, my dear; for you have been on all occasions enabled to look upon the fortunes of this life as under the direction of a higher power, and have always preserved that propriety and consistency of conduct in all circumstances which endears your example to your family in particular, and to your friends. i am therefore, my dear, for you to go out much, and to go to the house up-stairs [he means to go up-stairs in the house, to visit the place of the dead children], and to put yourself in the way of the visits of your friends. i wish you would call on the miss grays, and it would be a good thing upon a saturday to dine with my mother, and take meggy and all the family with you, and let them have their strawberries in town. the tickets of one of the _old-fashioned coaches_ would take you all up, and if the evening were good, they could all walk down, excepting meggy and little david." "_inverness, july 25th, 11 p.m._ "captain wemyss, of wemyss, has come to inverness to go the voyage with me, and as we are sleeping in a double-bedded room, i must no longer transgress. you must remember me the best way you can to the children." "_on board of the lighthouse yacht, july 29th._ "i got to cromarty yesterday about mid-day, and went to church. it happened to be the sacrament there, and i heard a mr. smith at that place conclude the service with a very suitable exhortation. there seemed a great concourse of people, but they had rather an unfortunate day for them at the tent, as it rained a good deal. after drinking tea at the inn, captain wemyss accompanied me on board, and we sailed about eight last night. the wind at present being rather a beating one, i think i shall have an opportunity of standing into the bay of wick, and leaving this letter to let you know my progress and that i am well." "_lighthouse yacht, stornoway, august 4th_ "to-day we had prayers on deck as usual when at sea. i read the 14th chapter, i think, of job. captain wemyss has been in the habit of doing this on board his own ship, agreeably to the articles of war. our passage round the cape [cape wrath] was rather a cross one, and as the wind was northerly, we had a pretty heavy sea, but upon the whole have made a good passage, leaving many vessels behind us in orkney. i am quite well, my dear; and captain wemyss, who has much spirit, and who is much given to observation, and a perfect enthusiast in his profession, enlivens the voyage greatly. let me entreat you to move about much, and take a walk with the boys to leith. i think they have still many places to see there, and i wish you would indulge them in this respect. mr. scales is the best person i know for showing them the sailcloth-weaving, etc., and he would have great pleasure in undertaking this. my dear, i trust soon to be with you, and that through the goodness of god we shall meet all well. "there are two vessels lying here with emigrants for america, each with eighty people on board, at all ages, from a few days to upwards of sixty! their prospects must be very forlorn to go with a slender purse for distant and unknown countries." "_lighthouse yacht, off greenock, aug. 18th._ "it was after _church-time_ before we got here, but we had prayers upon deck on the way up the clyde. this has, upon the whole, been a very good voyage, and captain wemyss, who enjoys it much, has been an excellent companion; we met with pleasure, and shall part with regret." strange that, after his long experience, my grandfather should have learned so little of the attitude and even the dialect of the spiritually-minded; that after forty-four years in a most religious circle, he could drop without sense of incongruity from a period of accepted phrases to "trust his wife was _getting up her spirits_," or think to reassure her as to the character of captain wemyss by mentioning that he had read prayers on the deck of his frigate "_agreeably to the articles of war"_! yet there is no doubt--and it is one of the most agreeable features of the kindly series--that he was doing his best to please, and there is little doubt that he succeeded. almost all my grandfather's private letters have been destroyed. this correspondence has not only been preserved entire, but stitched up in the same covers with the works of the godly women, the reverend john campbell, and the painful mrs. ogle. i did not think to mention the good dame, but she comes in usefully as an example. amongst the treasures of the ladies of my family, her letters have been honoured with a volume to themselves. i read about a half of them myself; then handed over the task to one of stauncher resolution, with orders to communicate any fact that should be found to illuminate these pages. not one was found; it was her only art to communicate by post second-rate sermons at second-hand; and such, i take it, was the correspondence in which my grandmother delighted. if i am right, that of robert stevenson, with his quaint smack of the contemporary "sandford and merton," his interest in the whole page of experience, his perpetual quest, and fine scent of all that seems romantic to a boy, his needless pomp of language, his excellent good sense, his unfeigned, unstained, unwearied human kindliness, would seem to her, in a comparison, dry and trivial and worldly. and if these letters were by an exception cherished and preserved, it would be for one or both of two reasons--because they dealt with and were bitter-sweet reminders of a time of sorrow; or because she was pleased, perhaps touched, by the writer's guileless efforts to seem spiritually-minded. after this date there were two more births and two more deaths, so that the number of the family remained unchanged; in all five children survived to reach maturity and to outlive their parents. chapter ii the service of the northern lights i it were hard to imagine a contrast more sharply defined than that between the lives of the men and women of this family: the one so chambered, so centred in the affections and the sensibilities; the other so active, healthy, and expeditious. from may to november, thomas smith and robert stevenson were on the mail, in the saddle, or at sea; and my grandfather, in particular, seems to have been possessed with a demon of activity in travel. in 1802, by direction of the northern lighthouse board, he had visited the coast of england from st. bees, in cumberland, and round by the scilly islands to some place undecipherable by me; in all a distance of 2500 miles. in 1806 i find him starting "on a tour round the south coast of england, from the humber to the severn." peace was not long declared ere he found means to visit holland, where he was in time to see, in the navy-yard at helvoetsluys, "about twenty of bonaparte's _english flotilla_ lying in a state of decay, the object of curiosity to englishmen." by 1834 he seems to have been acquainted with the coast of france from dieppe to bordeaux; and a main part of his duty as engineer to the board of northern lights was one round of dangerous and laborious travel. in 1786, when thomas smith first received the appointment, the extended and formidable coast of scotland was lighted at a single point--the isle of may, in the jaws of the firth of forth, where, on a tower already a hundred and fifty years old, an open coal-fire blazed in an iron chauffer. the whole archipelago, thus nightly plunged in darkness, was shunned by sea-going vessels, and the favourite courses were north about shetland and west about st. kilda. when the board met, four new lights formed the extent of their intentions--kinnaird head, in aberdeenshire, at the eastern elbow of the coast; north ronaldsay, in orkney, to keep the north and guide ships passing to the south'ard of shetland; island glass, on harris, to mark the inner shore of the hebrides and illuminate the navigation of the minch; and the mull of kintyre. these works were to be attempted against obstacles, material and financial, that might have staggered the most bold. smith had no ship at his command till 1791; the roads in those outlandish quarters where his business lay were scarce passable when they existed, and the tower on the mull of kintyre stood eleven months unlighted while the apparatus toiled and foundered by the way among rocks and mosses. not only had towers to be built and apparatus transplanted, the supply of oil must be maintained, and the men fed, in the same inaccessible and distant scenes; a whole service, with its routine and hierarchy, had to be called out of nothing; and a new trade (that of lightkeeper) to be taught, recruited, and organised. the funds of the board were at the first laughably inadequate. they embarked on their career on a loan of twelve hundred pounds, and their income in 1789, after relief by a fresh act of parliament, amounted to less than three hundred. it must be supposed that the thoughts of thomas smith, in these early years, were sometimes coloured with despair; and since he built and lighted one tower after another, and created and bequeathed to his successors the elements of an excellent administration, it may be conceded that he was not after all an unfortunate choice for a first engineer. war added fresh complications. in 1794 smith came "very near to be taken" by a french squadron. in 1813 robert stevenson was cruising about the neighbourhood of cape wrath in the immediate fear of commodore rogers. the men, and especially the sailors, of the lighthouse service must be protected by a medal and ticket from the brutal activity of the press-gang. and the zeal of volunteer patriots was at times embarrassing. "i set off on foot," writes my grandfather, "for marazion, a town at the head of mount's bay, where i was in hopes of getting a boat to freight. i had just got that length, and was making the necessary inquiry, when a young man, accompanied by several idle-looking fellows, came up to me, and in a hasty tone said, 'sir, in the king's name i seize your person and papers.' to which i replied that i should be glad to see his authority, and know the reason of an address so abrupt. he told me the want of time prevented his taking regular steps, but that it would be necessary for me to return to penzance, as i was suspected of being a french spy. i proposed to submit my papers to the nearest justice of peace, who was immediately applied to, and came to the inn where i was. he seemed to be greatly agitated, and quite at a loss how to proceed. the complaint preferred against me was 'that i had examined the longships lighthouse with the most minute attention, and was no less particular in my inquiries at the keepers of the lighthouse regarding the sunk rocks lying off the land's end, with the sets of the currents and tides along the coast: that i seemed particularly to regret the situation of the rocks called the seven stones, and the loss of a beacon which the trinity board had caused to be fixed on the wolf rock; that i had taken notes of the bearings of several sunk rocks, and a drawing of the lighthouse, and of cape cornwall. further, that i had refused the honour of lord edgecombe's invitation to dinner, offering as an apology that i had some particular business on hand.'" my grandfather produced in answer his credentials and letter of credit; but the justice, after perusing them, "very gravely observed that they were 'musty bits of paper,'" and proposed to maintain the arrest. some more enlightened magistrates at penzance relieved him of suspicion and left him at liberty to pursue his journey,--"which i did with so much eagerness," he adds, "that i gave the two coal lights on the lizard only a very transient look." lighthouse operations in scotland differed essentially in character from those in england. the english coast is in comparison a habitable, homely place, well supplied with towns; the scottish presents hundreds of miles of savage islands and desolate moors. the parliamentary committee of 1834, profoundly ignorant of this distinction, insisted with my grandfather that the work at the various stations should be let out on contract "in the neighbourhood," where sheep and deer, and gulls and cormorants, and a few ragged gillies, perhaps crouching in a bee-hive house, made up the only neighbours. in such situations repairs and improvements could only be overtaken by collecting (as my grandfather expressed it) a few "lads," placing them under charge of a foreman, and despatching them about the coast as occasion served. the particular danger of these seas increased the difficulty. the course of the lighthouse tender lies amid iron-bound coasts, among tide-races, the whirlpools of the pentland firth, flocks of islands, flocks of reefs, many of them uncharted. the aid of steam was not yet. at first in random coasting sloop, and afterwards in the cutter belonging to the service, the engineer must ply and run amongst these multiplied dangers, and sometimes late into the stormy autumn. for pages together my grandfather's diary preserves a record of these rude experiences; of hard winds and rough seas; and of "the try-sail and storm-jib, those old friends which i never like to see." they do not tempt to quotation, but it was the man's element, in which he lived, and delighted to live, and some specimen must be presented. on friday, september 10th, 1830, the _regent_ lying in lerwick bay, we have this entry: "the gale increases, with continued rain." on the morrow, saturday, 11th, the weather appeared to moderate, and they put to sea, only to be driven by evening into levenswick. there they lay, "rolling much," with both anchors ahead and the square yard on deck, till the morning of saturday, 18th. saturday and sunday they were plying to the southward with a "strong breeze and a heavy sea," and on sunday evening anchored in otterswick. "monday, 20th, it blows so fresh that we have no communication with the shore. we see mr. rome on the beach, but we cannot communicate with him. it blows 'mere fire,' as the sailors express it." and for three days more the diary goes on with tales of davits unshipped, high seas, strong gales from the southward, and the ship driven to refuge in kirkwall or deer sound. i have many a passage before me to transcribe, in which my grandfather draws himself as a man of minute and anxious exactitude about details. it must not be forgotten that these voyages in the tender were the particular pleasure and reward of his existence; that he had in him a reserve of romance which carried him delightedly over these hardships and perils; that to him it was "great gain" to be eight nights and seven days in the savage bay of levenswick--to read a book in the much agitated cabin--to go on deck and hear the gale scream in his ears, and see the landscape dark with rain, and the ship plunge at her two anchors--and to turn in at night and wake again at morning, in his narrow berth, to the clamorous and continued voices of the gale. his perils and escapes were beyond counting. i shall only refer to two: the first, because of the impression made upon himself; the second, from the incidental picture it presents of the north islanders. on the 9th october 1794 he took passage from orkney in the sloop _elizabeth_ of stromness. she made a fair passage till within view of kinnaird head, where, as she was becalmed some three miles in the offing, and wind seemed to threaten from the south-east, the captain landed him, to continue his journey more expeditiously ashore. a gale immediately followed, and the _elizabeth_ was driven back to orkney and lost with all hands. the second escape i have been in the habit of hearing related by an eye-witness, my own father, from the earliest days of childhood. on a september night, the _regent_ lay in the pentland firth in a fog and a violent and windless swell. it was still dark, when they were alarmed by the sound of breakers, and an anchor was immediately let go. the peep of dawn discovered them swinging in desperate proximity to the isle of swona[10] and the surf bursting close under their stern. there was in this place a hamlet of the inhabitants, fisher-folk and wreckers; their huts stood close about the head of the beach. all slept; the doors were closed, and there was no smoke, and the anxious watchers on board ship seemed to contemplate a village of the dead. it was thought possible to launch a boat and tow the _regent_ from her place of danger; and with this view a signal of distress was made and a gun fired with a red-hot poker from the galley. its detonation awoke the sleepers. door after door was opened, and in the grey light of the morning fisher after fisher was seen to come forth, yawning and stretching himself, nightcap on head. fisher after fisher, i wrote, and my pen tripped; for it should rather stand wrecker after wrecker. there was no emotion, no animation, it scarce seemed any interest; not a hand was raised; but all callously awaited the harvest of the sea, and their children stood by their side and waited also. to the end of his life, my father remembered that amphitheatre of placid spectators on the beach, and with a special and natural animosity, the boys of his own age. but presently a light air sprang up, and filled the sails, and fainted, and filled them again; and little by little the _regent_ fetched way against the swell, and clawed off shore into the turbulent firth. the purpose of these voyages was to effect a landing on open beaches or among shelving rocks, not for persons only, but for coals and food, and the fragile furniture of light-rooms. it was often impossible. in 1831 i find my grandfather "hovering for a week" about the pentland skerries for a chance to land; and it was almost always difficult. much knack and enterprise were early developed among the seamen of the service; their management of boats is to this day a matter of admiration; and i find my grandfather in his diary depicting the nature of their excellence in one happily descriptive phrase, when he remarks that captain soutar had landed "the small stores and nine casks of oil _with all the activity of a smuggler_." and it was one thing to land, another to get on board again. i have here a passage from the diary, where it seems to have been touch-and-go. "i landed at tarbetness, on the eastern side of the point, in _a mere gale or blast of wind_ from west-south-west, at 2 p.m. it blew so fresh that the captain, in a kind of despair, went off to the ship, leaving myself and the steward ashore. while i was in the lightroom, i felt it shaking and waving, not with the tremor of the bell rock, but with the _waving of a tree_! this the lightkeepers seemed to be quite familiar to, the principal keeper remarking that 'it was very pleasant,' perhaps meaning interesting or curious. the captain worked the vessel into smooth water with admirable dexterity, and i got on board again about 6 p.m. from the other side of the point." but not even the dexterity of soutar could prevail always; and my grandfather must at times have been left in strange berths and with but rude provision. i may instance the case of my father, who was storm-bound three days upon an islet, sleeping in the uncemented and unchimneyed houses of the islanders, and subsisting on a diet of nettlesoup and lobsters. the name of soutar has twice escaped my pen, and i feel i owe him a vignette. soutar first attracted notice as mate of a praam at the bell rock, and rose gradually to be captain of the _regent_. he was active, admirably skilled in his trade, and a man incapable of fear. once, in london, he fell among a gang of confidence-men, naturally deceived by his rusticity and his prodigious accent. they plied him with drink--a hopeless enterprise, for soutar could not be made drunk; they proposed cards, and soutar would not play. at last, one of them, regarding him with a formidable countenance, inquired if he were not frightened? "i'm no' very easy fleyed," replied the captain. and the rooks withdrew after some easier pigeon. so many perils shared, and the partial familiarity of so many voyages, had given this man a stronghold in my grandfather's estimation; and there is no doubt but he had the art to court and please him with much hypocritical skill. he usually dined on sundays in the cabin. he used to come down daily after dinner for a glass of port or whisky, often in his full rig of sou'-wester, oilskins, and long boots; and i have often heard it described how insinuatingly he carried himself on these appearances, artfully combining the extreme of deference with a blunt and seamanlike demeanour. my father and uncles, with the devilish penetration of the boy, were far from being deceived; and my father, indeed, was favoured with an object-lesson not to be mistaken. he had crept one rainy night into an apple-barrel on deck, and from this place of ambush overheard soutar and a comrade conversing in their oilskins. the smooth sycophant of the cabin had wholly disappeared, and the boy listened with wonder to a vulgar and truculent ruffian. of soutar, i may say _tantum vidi_, having met him in the leith docks now more than thirty years ago, when he abounded in the praises of my grandfather, encouraged me (in the most admirable manner) to pursue his footprints, and left impressed for ever on my memory the image of his own bardolphian nose. he died not long after. the engineer was not only exposed to the hazards of the sea; he must often ford his way by land to remote and scarce accessible places, beyond reach of the mail or the post-chaise, beyond even the tracery of the bridle-path, and guided by natives across bog and heather. up to 1807 my grandfather seems to have travelled much on horseback; but he then gave up the idea--"such," he writes with characteristic emphasis and capital letters, "is the plague of baiting." he was a good pedestrian; at the age of fifty-eight i find him covering seventeen miles over the moors of the mackay country in less than seven hours, and that is not bad travelling for a scramble. the piece of country traversed was already a familiar track, being that between loch eriboll and cape wrath; and i think i can scarce do better than reproduce from the diary some traits of his first visit. the tender lay in loch eriboll; by five in the morning they sat down to breakfast on board; by six they were ashore--my grandfather, mr. slight an assistant, and soutar of the jolly nose, and had been taken in charge by two young gentlemen of the neighbourhood and a pair of gillies. about noon they reached the kyle of durness and passed the ferry. by half-past three they were at cape wrath--not yet known by the emphatic abbreviation of "the cape"--and beheld upon all sides of them unfrequented shores, an expanse of desert moor, and the high-piled western ocean. the site of the tower was chosen. perhaps it is by inheritance of blood, but i know few things more inspiriting than this location of a lighthouse in a designated space of heather and air, through which the sea-birds are still flying. by 9 p.m. the return journey had brought them again to the shores of the kyle. the night was dirty, and as the sea was high and the ferry-boat small, soutar and mr. stevenson were left on the far side, while the rest of the party embarked and were received into the darkness. they made, in fact, a safe though an alarming passage; but the ferryman refused to repeat the adventure; and my grandfather and the captain long paced the beach, impatient for their turn to pass, and tormented with rising anxiety as to the fate of their companions. at length they sought the shelter of a shepherd's house. "we had miserable up-putting," the diary continues, "and on both sides of the ferry much anxiety of mind. our beds were clean straw, and but for the circumstance of the boat, i should have slept as soundly as ever i did after a walk through moss and mire of sixteen hours." to go round the lights, even to-day, is to visit past centuries. the tide of tourists that flows yearly in scotland, vulgarising all where it approaches, is still defined by certain barriers. it will be long ere there is a hotel at sumburgh or a hydropathic at cape wrath; it will be long ere any _char-ã -banc_, laden with tourists, shall drive up to barra head or monach, the island of the monks. they are farther from london than st. petersburg, and except for the towers, sounding and shining all night with fog-bells and the radiance of the light-room, glittering by day with the trivial brightness of white paint, these island and moorland stations seem inaccessible to the civilisation of to-day, and even to the end of my grandfather's career the isolation was far greater. there ran no post at all in the long island; from the lighthouse on barra head a boat must be sent for letters as far as tobermory, between sixty and seventy miles of open sea; and the posts of shetland, which had surprised sir walter scott in 1814, were still unimproved in 1833, when my grandfather reported on the subject. the group contained at the time a population of 30,000 souls, and enjoyed a trade which had increased in twenty years sevenfold, to between three and four thousand tons. yet the mails were despatched and received by chance coasting vessels at the rate of a penny a letter; six and eight weeks often elapsed between opportunities, and when a mail was to be made up, sometimes at a moment's notice, the bellman was sent hastily through the streets of lerwick. between shetland and orkney, only seventy miles apart, there was "no trade communication whatever." such was the state of affairs, only sixty years ago, with the three largest clusters of the scottish archipelago; and forty-seven years earlier, when thomas smith began his rounds, or forty-two, when robert stevenson became conjoined with him in these excursions, the barbarism was deep, the people sunk in superstition, the circumstances of their life perhaps unique in history. lerwick and kirkwall, like guam or the bay of islands, were but barbarous ports where whalers called to take up and to return experienced seamen. on the outlying islands the clergy lived isolated, thinking other thoughts, dwelling in a different country from their parishioners, like missionaries in the south seas. my grandfather's unrivalled treasury of anecdote was never written down; it embellished his talk while he yet was, and died with him when he died; and such as have been preserved relate principally to the islands of ronaldsay and sanday, two of the orkney group. these bordered on one of the water-highways of civilisation; a great fleet passed annually in their view, and of the shipwrecks of the world they were the scene and cause of a proportion wholly incommensurable to their size. in one year, 1798, my grandfather found the remains of no fewer than five vessels on the isle of sanday, which is scarcely twelve miles long. "hardly a year passed," he writes, "without instances of this kind; for, owing to the projecting points of this strangely formed island, the lowness and whiteness of its eastern shores, and the wonderful manner in which the scanty patches of land are intersected with lakes and pools of water, it becomes, even in daylight, a deception, and has often been fatally mistaken for an open sea. it had even become proverbial with some of the inhabitants to observe that 'if wrecks were to happen, they might as well be sent to the poor isle of sanday as anywhere else.' on this and the neighbouring islands the inhabitants had certainly had their share of wrecked goods, for the eye is presented with these melancholy remains in almost every form. for example, although quarries are to be met with generally in these islands, and the stones are very suitable for building dykes (_anglicã©_, walls), yet instances occur of the land being enclosed, even to a considerable extent, with ship-timbers. the author has actually seen a park (_anglicã©_, meadow) paled round chiefly with cedar-wood and mahogany from the wreck of a honduras-built ship; and in one island, after the wreck of a ship laden with wine, the inhabitants have been known to take claret to their barley-meal porridge. on complaining to one of the pilots of the badness of his boat's sails, he replied to the author with some degree of pleasantry, 'had it been his will that you camena' here wi' your lights, we might a' had better sails to our boats, and more o' other things.' it may further be mentioned that when some of lord dundas's farms are to be let in these islands a competition takes place for the lease, and it is _bona fide_ understood that a much higher rent is paid than the lands would otherwise give were it not for the chance of making considerably by the agency and advantages attending shipwrecks on the shores of the respective farms." the people of north ronaldsay still spoke norse, or, rather, mixed it with their english. the walls of their huts were built to a great thickness of rounded stones from the sea-beach; the roof flagged, loaded with earth, and perforated by a single hole for the escape of smoke. the grass grew beautifully green on the flat house-top, where the family would assemble with their dogs and cats, as on a pastoral lawn; there were no windows, and in my grandfather's expression, "there was really no demonstration of a house unless it were the diminutive door." he once landed on ronaldsay with two friends. "the inhabitants crowded and pressed so much upon the strangers that the bailiff, or resident factor of the island, blew with his ox-horn, calling out to the natives to stand off and let the gentlemen come forward to the laird; upon which one of the islanders, as spokesman, called out, 'god ha'e us, man! thou needsna mak' sic a noise. it's no' every day we ha'e _three hatted men_ on our isle.'" when the surveyor of taxes came (for the first time, perhaps) to sanday, and began in the king's name to complain of the unconscionable swarms of dogs, and to menace the inhabitants with taxation, it chanced that my grandfather and his friend, dr. patrick neill, were received by an old lady in a ronaldsay hut. her hut, which was similar to the model described, stood on a ness, or point of land jutting into the sea. they were made welcome in the firelit cellar, placed "in _casey_ or straw-worked chairs, after the norwegian fashion, with arms, and a canopy overhead," and given milk in a wooden dish. these hospitalities attended to, the old lady turned at once to dr. neill, whom she took for the surveyor of taxes. "sir," said she, "gin ye'll tell the king that i canna keep the ness free o' the bangers (sheep) without twa hun's, and twa guid hun's too, he'll pass me threa the tax on dugs." this familiar confidence, these traits of engaging simplicity, are characters of a secluded people. mankind--and, above all, islanders--come very swiftly to a bearing, and find very readily, upon one convention or another, a tolerable corporate life. the danger is to those from without, who have not grown up from childhood in the islands, but appear suddenly in that narrow horizon, life-sized apparitions. for these no bond of humanity exists, no feeling of kinship is awakened by their peril; they will assist at a shipwreck, like the fisher-folk of lunga, as spectators, and when the fatal scene is over, and the beach strewn with dead bodies, they will fence their fields with mahogany, and, after a decent grace, sup claret to their porridge. it is not wickedness: it is scarce evil; it is only, in its highest power, the sense of isolation and the wise disinterestedness of feeble and poor races. think how many viking ships had sailed by these islands in the past, how many vikings had landed, and raised turmoil, and broken up the barrows of the dead, and carried off the wines of the living; and blame them, if you are able, for that belief (which may be called one of the parables of the devil's gospel) that a man rescued from the sea will prove the bane of his deliverer. it might be thought that my grandfather, coming there unknown, and upon an employment so hateful to the inhabitants, must have run the hazard of his life. but this were to misunderstand. he came franked by the laird and the clergyman; he was the king's officer; the work was "opened with prayer by the rev. walter trail, minister of the parish"; god and the king had decided it, and the people of these pious islands bowed their heads. there landed, indeed, in north ronaldsay, during the last decade of the eighteenth century, a traveller whose life seems really to have been imperilled. a very little man of a swarthy complexion, he came ashore, exhausted and unshaved, from a long boat passage, and lay down to sleep in the home of the parish schoolmaster. but he had been seen landing. the inhabitants had identified him for a pict, as, by some singular confusion of name, they called the dark and dwarfish aboriginal people of the land. immediately the obscure ferment of a race-hatred, grown into a superstition, began to work in their bosoms, and they crowded about the house and the room-door with fearful whisperings. for some time the schoolmaster held them at bay, and at last despatched a messenger to call my grandfather. he came: he found the islanders beside themselves at this unwelcome resurrection of the dead and the detested; he was shown, as adminicular of testimony, the traveller's uncouth and thick-soled boots; he argued, and finding argument unavailing, consented to enter the room and examine with his own eyes the sleeping pict. one glance was sufficient: the man was now a missionary, but he had been before that an edinburgh shopkeeper with whom my grandfather had dealt. he came forth again with this report, and the folk of the island, wholly relieved, dispersed to their own houses. they were timid as sheep and ignorant as limpets; that was all. but the lord deliver us from the tender mercies of a frightened flock! i will give two more instances of their superstition. when sir walter scott visited the stones of stennis, my grandfather put in his pocket a hundred-foot line, which he unfortunately lost. "some years afterwards," he writes, "one of my assistants on a visit to the stones of stennis took shelter from a storm in a cottage close by the lake; and seeing a box-measuring-line in the bole or sole of the cottage window, he asked the woman where she got this well-known professional appendage. she said: 'o sir, ane of the bairns fand it lang syne at the stanes; and when drawing it out we took fright, and thinking it had belanged to the fairies, we threw it into the bole, and it has layen there ever since.'" this is for the one; the last shall be a sketch by the master hand of scott himself:- "at the village of stromness, on the orkney main island, called pomona, lived, in 1814, an aged dame called bessie millie, who helped out her subsistence by selling favourable winds to mariners. he was a venturous master of a vessel who left the roadstead of stromness without paying his offering to propitiate bessie millie! her fee was extremely moderate, being exactly sixpence, for which she boiled her kettle and gave the bark the advantage of her prayers, for she disclaimed all unlawful acts. the wind thus petitioned for was sure, she said, to arrive, though occasionally the mariners had to wait some time for it. the woman's dwelling and appearance were not unbecoming her pretensions. her house, which was on the brow of the steep hill on which stromness is founded, was only accessible by a series of dirty and precipitous lanes, and for exposure might have been the abode of eolus himself, in whose commodities the inhabitant dealt. she herself was, as she told us, nearly one hundred years old, withered and dried up like a mummy. a clay-coloured kerchief, folded round her neck, corresponded in colour to her corpse-like complexion. two light blue eyes that gleamed with a lustre like that of insanity, an utterance of astonishing rapidity, a nose and chin that almost met together, and a ghastly expression of cunning, gave her the effect of hecate. such was bessie millie, to whom the mariners paid a sort of tribute with a feeling between jest and earnest." ii from about the beginning of the century up to 1807 robert stevenson was in partnership with thomas smith. in the last-named year the partnership was dissolved; thomas smith returning to his business, and my grandfather becoming sole engineer to the board of northern lights. i must try, by excerpts from his diary and correspondence, to convey to the reader some idea of the ardency and thoroughness with which he threw himself into the largest and least of his multifarious engagements in this service. but first i must say a word or two upon the life of lightkeepers, and the temptations to which they are more particularly exposed. the lightkeeper occupies a position apart among men. in sea-towers the complement has always been three since the deplorable business in the eddystone, when one keeper died, and the survivor, signalling in vain for relief, was compelled to live for days with the dead body. these usually pass their time by the pleasant human expedient of quarrelling; and sometimes, i am assured, not one of the three is on speaking terms with any other. on shore stations, which on the scottish coast are sometimes hardly less isolated, the usual number is two, a principal and an assistant. the principal is dissatisfied with the assistant, or perhaps the assistant keeps pigeons, and the principal wants the water from the roof. their wives and families are with them, living cheek by jowl. the children quarrel; jockie hits jimsie in the eye, and the mothers make haste to mingle in the dissension. perhaps there is trouble about a broken dish; perhaps mrs. assistant is more highly born than mrs. principal and gives herself airs; and the men are drawn in and the servants presently follow. "church privileges have been denied the keeper's and the assistant's servants," i read in one case, and the eminently scots periphrasis means neither more nor less than excommunication, "on account of the discordant and quarrelsome state of the families. the cause, when inquired into, proves to be _tittle-tattle_ on both sides." the tender comes round; the foremen and artificers go from station to station; the gossip flies through the whole system of the service, and the stories, disfigured and exaggerated, return to their own birthplace with the returning tender. the english board was apparently shocked by the picture of these dissensions. "when the trinity house can," i find my grandfather writing at beachy head, in 1834, "they do not appoint two keepers, they disagree so ill. a man who has a family is assisted by his family; and in this way, to my experience and present observation, the business is very much neglected. one keeper is, in my view, a bad system. this day's visit to an english lighthouse convinces me of this, as the lightkeeper was walking on a staff with the gout, and the business performed by one of his daughters, a girl of thirteen or fourteen years of age." this man received a hundred a year! it shows a different reading of human nature, perhaps typical of scotland and england, that i find in my grandfather's diary the following pregnant entry: _"the lightkeepers, agreeing ill, keep one another to their duty."_ but the scottish system was not alone founded on this cynical opinion. the dignity and the comfort of the northern lightkeeper were both attended to. he had a uniform to "raise him in his own estimation, and in that of his neighbour, which is of consequence to a person of trust. the keepers," my grandfather goes on, in another place, "are attended to in all the detail of accommodation in the best style as shipmasters; and this is believed to have a sensible effect upon their conduct, and to regulate their general habits as members of society." he notes, with the same dip of ink, that "the brasses were not clean, and the persons of the keepers not _trig_"; and thus we find him writing to a culprit: "i have to complain that you are not cleanly in your person, and that your manner of speech is ungentle, and rather inclines to rudeness. you must therefore take a different view of your duties as a lightkeeper." a high ideal for the service appears in these expressions, and will be more amply illustrated further on. but even the scottish lightkeeper was frail. during the unbroken solitude of the winter months, when inspection is scarce possible, it must seem a vain toil to polish the brass hand-rail of the stair, or to keep an unrewarded vigil in the lightroom; and the keepers are habitually tempted to the beginnings of sloth, and must unremittingly resist. he who temporises with his conscience is already lost. i must tell here an anecdote that illustrates the difficulties of inspection. in the days of my uncle david and my father there was a station which they regarded with jealousy. the two engineers compared notes and were agreed. the tower was always clean, but seemed always to bear traces of a hasty cleansing, as though the keepers had been suddenly forewarned. on inquiry, it proved that such was the case, and that a wandering fiddler was the unfailing harbinger of the engineer. at last my father was storm-stayed one sunday in a port at the other side of the island. the visit was quite overdue, and as he walked across upon the monday morning he promised himself that he should at last take the keepers unprepared. they were both waiting for him in uniform at the gate; the fiddler had been there on saturday! my grandfather, as will appear from the following extracts, was much a martinet, and had a habit of expressing himself on paper with an almost startling emphasis. personally, with his powerful voice, sanguine countenance, and eccentric and original locutions, he was well qualified to inspire a salutary terror in the service. "i find that the keepers have, by some means or another, got into the way of cleaning too much with rotten-stone and oil. i take the principal keeper to _task_ on this subject, and make him bring a clean towel and clean one of the brazen frames, which leaves the towel in an odious state. this towel i put up in a sheet of paper, seal, and take with me to confront mr. murdoch, who has just left the station." "this letter"--a stern enumeration of complaints--"to lie a week on the lightroom book-place, and to be put in the inspector's hands when he comes round." "it is the most painful thing that can occur for me to have a correspondence of this kind with any of the keepers; and when i come to the lighthouse, instead of having the satisfaction to meet them with approbation, it is distressing when one is obliged to put on a most angry countenance and demeanour; but from such culpable negligence as you have shown there is no avoiding it. i hold it as a fixed maxim that, when a man or a family put on a slovenly appearance in their houses, stairs, and lanterns, i always find their reflectors, burners, windows, and light in general, ill attended to; and, therefore, i must insist on cleanliness throughout." "i find you very deficient in the duty of the high tower. you thus place your appointment as principal keeper in jeopardy; and i think it necessary, as an old servant of the board, to put you upon your guard once for all at this time. i call upon you to recollect what was formerly and is now said to you. the state of the backs of the reflectors at the high tower was disgraceful, as i pointed out to you on the spot. they were as if spitten upon, and greasy finger-marks upon the back straps. i demand an explanation of this state of things." "the cause of the commissioners dismissing you is expressed in the minute; and it must be a matter of regret to you that you have been so much engaged in smuggling, and also that the reports relative to the cleanliness of the lighthouse, upon being referred to, rather added to their unfavourable opinion." "i do not go into the dwelling-house, but severely chide the lightkeepers for the disagreement that seems to subsist among them." "the families of the two lightkeepers here agree very ill. i have effected a reconciliation for the present." "things are in a very _humdrum_ state here. there is no painting, and in and out of doors no taste or tidiness displayed. robert's wife _greets_ and m'gregor's scolds; and robert is so down-hearted that he says he is unfit for duty. i told him that if he was to mind wives' quarrels, and to take them up, the only way was for him and m'gregor to go down to the point like sir g. grant and lord somerset." "i cannot say that i have experienced a more unpleasant meeting than that of the lighthouse folks this morning, or ever saw a stronger example of unfeeling barbarity than the conduct which the ----s exhibited. these two cold-hearted persons, not contented with having driven the daughter of the poor nervous woman from her father's house, _both_ kept _pouncing_ at her, lest she should forget her great misfortune. write me of their conduct. do not make any communication of the state of these families at kinnaird head, as this would be like _tale-bearing_." there is the great word out. tales and tale-bearing, always with the emphatic capitals, run continually in his correspondence. i will give but two instances:- "write to david [one of the lightkeepers] and caution him to be more prudent how he expresses himself. let him attend his duty to the lighthouse and his family concerns, and give less heed to tale-bearers." "i have not your last letter at hand to quote its date; but, if i recollect, it contains some kind of tales, which nonsense i wish you would lay aside, and notice only the concerns of your family and the important charge committed to you." apparently, however, my grandfather was not himself inaccessible to the tale-bearer, as the following indicates:- "in-walking along with mr. ----, i explain to him that i should be under the necessity of looking more closely into the business here from his conduct at buddonness, which had given an instance of weakness in the moral principle which had staggered my opinion of him. his answer was, 'that will be with regard to the lass?' i told him i was to enter no farther with him upon the subject." "mr. miller appears to be master and man. i am sorry about this foolish fellow. had i known his train, i should not, as i did, have rather forced him into the service. upon finding the windows in the state they were, i turned upon mr. watt, and especially upon mr. stewart. the latter did not appear for a length of time to have visited the lightroom. on asking the cause--did mr. watt and him (_sic_) disagree; he said no; but he had got very bad usage from the assistant, 'who was a very obstreperous man.' i could not bring mr. watt to put in language his objections to miller; all i could get was that, he being your friend, and saying he was unwell, he did not like to complain or to push the man; that the man seemed to have no liking to anything like work; that he was unruly; that, being an educated man, he despised them. i was, however, determined to have out of these _unwilling_ witnesses the language alluded to. i fixed upon mr. stewart as chief; he hedged. my curiosity increased, and i urged. then he said, 'what would i think, just exactly, of mr. watt being called an old b----?' you may judge of my surprise. there was not another word uttered. this was quite enough, as coming from a person i should have calculated upon quite different behaviour from. it spoke a volume of the man's mind and want of principle." "object to the keeper keeping a bull-terrier dog of ferocious appearance. it is dangerous, as we land at all times of the night." "have only to complain of the storehouse floor being spotted with oil. give orders for this being instantly rectified, so that on my return to-morrow i may see things in good order." "the furniture of both houses wants much rubbing. mrs. ----'s carpets are absurd beyond anything i have seen. i want her to turn the fenders up with the bottom to the fireplace: the carpets, when not likely to be in use, folded up and laid as a hearthrug partly under the fender." my grandfather was king in the service to his fingertips. all should go in his way, from the principal lightkeeper's coat to the assistant's fender, from the gravel in the garden-walks to the bad smell in the kitchen, or the oil-spots on the store-room floor. it might be thought there was nothing more calculated to awake men's resentment, and yet his rule was not more thorough than it was beneficent. his thought for the keepers was continual, and it did not end with their lives. he tried to manage their successions; he thought no pains too great to arrange between a widow and a son who had succeeded his father; he was often harassed and perplexed by tales of hardship; and i find him writing, almost in despair, of their improvident habits and the destitution that awaited their families upon a death. "the house being completely furnished, they come into possession without necessaries, and they go out naked. the insurance seems to have failed, and what next is to be tried?" while they lived he wrote behind their backs to arrange for the education of their children, or to get them other situations if they seemed unsuitable for the northern lights. when he was at a lighthouse on a sunday he held prayers and heard the children read. when a keeper was sick, he lent him his horse and sent him mutton and brandy from the ship. "the assistant's wife having been this morning confined, there was sent ashore a bottle of sherry and a few rusks--a practice which i have always observed in this service," he writes. they dwelt, many of them, in uninhabited isles or desert forelands, totally cut off from shops. many of them were, besides, fallen into a rustic dishabitude of life, so that even when they visited a city they could scarce be trusted with their own affairs, as (for example) he who carried home to his children, thinking they were oranges, a bag of lemons. and my grandfather seems to have acted, at least in his early years, as a kind of gratuitous agent for the service. thus i find him writing to a keeper in 1806, when his mind was already pre-occupied with arrangements for the bell rock: "i am much afraid i stand very unfavourably with you as a man of promise, as i was to send several things of which i believe i have more than once got the memorandum. all i can say is that in this respect you are not singular. this makes me no better; but really i have been driven about beyond all example in my past experience, and have been essentially obliged to neglect my own urgent affairs." no servant of the northern lights came to edinburgh but he was entertained at baxter's place to breakfast. there, at his own table, my grandfather sat down delightedly with his broad-spoken, homespun officers. his whole relation to the service was, in fact, patriarchal; and i believe i may say that throughout its ranks he was adored. i have spoken with many who knew him; i was his grandson, and their words may have very well been words of flattery; but there was one thing that could not be affected, and that was the look and light that came into their faces at the name of robert stevenson. in the early part of the century the foreman builder was a young man of the name of george peebles, a native of anstruther. my grandfather had placed in him a very high degree of confidence, and he was already designated to be foreman at the bell rock, when, on christmas-day 1806, on his way home from orkney, he was lost in the schooner _traveller_. the tale of the loss of the _traveller_ is almost a replica of that of the _elizabeth_ of stromness; like the _elizabeth_ she came as far as kinnaird head, was then surprised by a storm, driven back to orkney, and bilged and sank on the island of flotta. it seems it was about the dusk of the day when the ship struck, and many of the crew and passengers were drowned. about the same hour, my grandfather was in his office at the writing-table; and the room beginning to darken, he laid down his pen and fell asleep. in a dream he saw the door open and george peebles come in, "reeling to and fro, and staggering like a drunken man," with water streaming from his head and body to the floor. there it gathered into a wave which, sweeping forward, submerged my grandfather. well, no matter how deep; versions vary; and at last he awoke, and behold it was a dream! but it may be conceived how profoundly the impression was written even on the mind of a man averse from such ideas, when the news came of the wreck on flotta and the death of george. george's vouchers and accounts had perished with himself; and it appeared he was in debt to the commissioners. but my grandfather wrote to orkney twice, collected evidence of his disbursements, and proved him to be seventy pounds ahead. with this sum, he applied to george's brothers, and had it apportioned between their mother and themselves. he approached the board and got an annuity of â£5 bestowed on the widow peebles; and we find him writing her a long letter of explanation and advice, and pressing on her the duty of making a will. that he should thus act executor was no singular instance. but besides this we are able to assist at some of the stages of a rather touching experiment: no less than an attempt to secure charles peebles heir to george's favour. he is despatched, under the character of "a fine young man"; recommended to gentlemen for "advice, as he's a stranger in your place, and indeed to this kind of charge, this being his first outset as foreman"; and for a long while after, the letter-book, in the midst of that thrilling first year of the bell rock, is encumbered with pages of instruction and encouragement. the nature of a bill, and the precautions that are to be observed about discounting it, are expounded at length and with clearness. "you are not, i hope, neglecting, charles, to work the harbour at spring-tides; and see that you pay the greatest attention to get the well so as to supply the keeper with water, for he is a very helpless fellow, and so unfond of hard work that i fear he could do ill to keep himself in water by going to the other side for it."--"with regard to spirits, charles, i see very little occasion for it." these abrupt apostrophes sound to me like the voice of an awakened conscience; but they would seem to have reverberated in vain in the ears of charles. there was trouble in pladda, his scene of operations; his men ran away from him, there was at least a talk of calling in the sheriff. "i fear," writes my grandfather, "you have been too indulgent, and i am sorry to add that men do not answer to be too well treated, a circumstance which i have experienced, and which you will learn as you go on in business." i wonder, was not charles peebles himself a case in point? either death, at least, or disappointment and discharge, must have ended his service in the northern lights; and in later correspondence i look in vain for any mention of his name--charles, i mean, not peebles: for as late as 1839 my grandfather is patiently writing to another of the family: "i am sorry you took the trouble of applying to me about your son, as it lies quite out of my way to forward his views in the line of his profession as a draper." iii a professional life of robert stevenson has been already given to the world by his son david, and to that i would refer those interested in such matters. but my own design, which is to represent the man, would be very ill carried out if i suffered myself or my reader to forget that he was, first of all and last of all, an engineer. his chief claim to the style of a mechanical inventor is on account of the jib or balance crane of the bell rock, which are beautiful contrivances. but the great merit of this engineer was not in the field of engines. he was above all things a projector of works in the face of nature, and a modifier of nature itself. a road to be made, a tower to be built, a harbour to be constructed, a river to be trained and guided in its channel--these were the problems with which his mind was continually occupied; and for these and similar ends he travelled the world for more than half a century, like an artist, note-book in hand. he once stood and looked on at the emptying of a certain oil-tube; he did so watch in hand, and accurately timed the operation; and in so doing offered the perfect type of his profession. the fact acquired might never be of use: it was acquired: another link in the world's huge chain of processes was brought down to figures and placed at the service of the engineer. "the very term mensuration sounds _engineer-like_," i find him writing; and in truth what the engineer most properly deals with is that which can be measured, weighed, and numbered. the time of any operation in hours and minutes, its cost in pounds, shillings, and pence, the strain upon a given point in foot-pounds--these are his conquests, with which he must continually furnish his mind, and which, after he has acquired them, he must continually apply and exercise. they must be not only entries in note-books, to be hurriedly consulted; in the actor's phrase, he must be _stale_ in them; in a word of my grandfather's, they must be "fixed in the mind like the ten fingers and ten toes." these are the certainties of the engineer; so far he finds a solid footing and clear views. but the province of formulas and constants is restricted. even the mechanical engineer comes at last to an end of his figures, and must stand up, a practical man, face to face with the discrepancies of nature and the hiatuses of theory. after the machine is finished, and the steam turned on, the next is to drive it; and experience and an exquisite sympathy must teach him where a weight should be applied or a nut loosened. with the civil engineer, more properly so called (if anything can be proper with this awkward coinage), the obligation starts with the beginning. he is always the practical man. the rains, the winds and the waves, the complexity and the fitfulness of nature, are always before him. he has to deal with the unpredictable, with those forces (in smeaton's phrase) that "are subject to no calculation"; and still he must predict, still calculate them, at his peril. his work is not yet in being, and he must foresee its influence: how it shall deflect the tide, exaggerate the waves, dam back the rain-water, or attract the thunderbolt. he visits a piece of sea-board: and from the inclination and soil of the beach, from the weeds and shell-fish, from the configuration of the coast and the depth of soundings outside, he must deduce what magnitude of waves is to be looked for. he visits a river, its summer water babbling on shallows; and he must not only read, in a thousand indications, the measure of winter freshets, but be able to predict the violence of occasional great floods. nay, and more: he must not only consider that which is, but that which may be. thus i find my grandfather writing, in a report on the north esk bridge: "a less waterway might have sufficed, but _the valleys may come to be meliorated by drainage_." one field drained after another through all that confluence of vales, and we come to a time when they shall precipitate, by so much a more copious and transient flood, as the gush of the flowing drain-pipe is superior to the leakage of a peat. it is plain there is here but a restricted use for formulas. in this sort of practice, the engineer has need of some transcendental sense. smeaton, the pioneer, bade him obey his "feelings"; my father, that "power of estimating obscure forces which supplies a coefficient of its own to every rule." the rules must be everywhere indeed; but they must everywhere be modified by this transcendental coefficient, everywhere bent to the impression of the trained eye and the _feelings_ of the engineer. a sentiment of physical laws and of the scale of nature, which shall have been strong in the beginning and progressively fortified by observation, must be his guide in the last recourse. i had the most opportunity to observe my father. he would pass hours on the beach, brooding over the waves, counting them, noting their least deflection, noting when they broke. on tweedside, or by lyne or manor, we have spent together whole afternoons; to me, at the time, extremely wearisome; to him, as i am now sorry to think, bitterly mortifying. the river was to me a pretty and various spectacle; i could not see--i could not be made to see--it otherwise. to my father it was a chequer-board of lively forces, which he traced from pool to shallow with minute appreciation and enduring interest. "that bank was being undercut," he might say; "why? suppose you were to put a groin out here, would not the _filum fluminis_ be cast abruptly off across the channel? and where would it impinge upon the other shore? and what would be the result? or suppose you were to blast that boulder, what would happen? follow it--use the eyes god has given you--can you not see that a great deal of land would be reclaimed upon this side?" it was to me like school in holidays; but to him, until i had worn him out with my invincible triviality, a delight. thus he pored over the engineer's voluminous handy-book of nature; thus must, too, have pored my grandfather and uncles. but it is of the essence of this knowledge, or this knack of mind, to be largely incommunicable. "it cannot be imparted to another," says my father. the verbal casting-net is thrown in vain over these evanescent, inferential relations. hence the insignificance of much engineering literature. so far as the science can be reduced to formulas or diagrams, the book is to the point; so far as the art depends on intimate study of the ways of nature, the author's words will too often be found vapid. this fact--engineering looks one way, and literature another--was what my grandfather overlooked. all his life long, his pen was in his hand, piling up a treasury of knowledge, preparing himself against all possible contingencies. scarce anything fell under his notice but he perceived in it some relation to his work, and chronicled it in the pages of his journal in his always lucid, but sometimes inexact and wordy, style. the travelling diary (so he called it) was kept in fascicles of ruled paper, which were at last bound up, rudely indexed, and put by for future reference. such volumes as have reached me contain a surprising medley: the whole details of his employment in the northern lights and his general practice; the whole biography of an enthusiastic engineer. much of it is useful and curious; much merely otiose; and much can only be described as an attempt to impart that which cannot be imparted in words. of such are his repeated and heroic descriptions of reefs; monuments of misdirected literary energy, which leave upon the mind of the reader no effect but that of a multiplicity of words and the suggested vignette of a lusty old gentleman scrambling among tangle. it is to be remembered that he came to engineering while yet it was in the egg and without a library, and that he saw the bounds of that profession widen daily. he saw iron ships, steamers, and the locomotive engine, introduced. he lived to travel from glasgow to edinburgh in the inside of a forenoon, and to remember that he himself had "often been twelve hours upon the journey, and his grandfather (lillie) two days"! the profession was still but in its second generation, and had already broken down the barriers of time and space. who should set a limit to its future encroachments? and hence, with a kind of sanguine pedantry, he pursued his design of "keeping up with the day" and posting himself and his family on every mortal subject. of this unpractical idealism we shall meet with many instances; there was not a trade, and scarce an accomplishment, but he thought it should form part of the outfit of an engineer; and not content with keeping an encyclopã¦dic diary himself, he would fain have set all his sons to work continuing and extending it. they were more happily inspired. my father's engineering pocket-book was not a bulky volume; with its store of pregnant notes and vital formulas, it served him through life, and was not yet filled when he came to die. as for robert stevenson and the travelling diary, i should be ungrateful to complain, for it has supplied me with many lively traits for this and subsequent chapters; but i must still remember much of the period of my study there as a sojourn in the valley of the shadow. the duty of the engineer is twofold--to design the work, and to see the work done. we have seen already something of the vociferous thoroughness of the man, upon the cleaning of lamps and the polishing of reflectors. in building, in road-making, in the construction of bridges, in every detail and byway of his employments, he pursued the same ideal. perfection (with a capital p and violently underscored) was his design. a crack for a penknife, the waste of "six-and-thirty shillings," "the loss of a day or a tide," in each of these he saw and was revolted by the finger of the sloven; and to spirits intense as his, and immersed in vital undertakings, the slovenly is the dishonest, and wasted time is instantly translated into lives endangered. on this consistent idealism there is but one thing that now and then trenches with a touch of incongruity, and that is his love of the picturesque. as when he laid out a road on hogarth's line of beauty; bade a foreman be careful, in quarrying, not "to disfigure the island"; or regretted in a report that "the great stone, called the _devil in the hole_, was blasted or broken down to make road-metal, and for other purposes of the work." footnote: [10] this is only a probable hypothesis; i have tried to identify my father's anecdote in my grandfather's diary, and may very well have been deceived.--r. l. s. chapter iii the building of the bell rock off the mouths of the tay and the forth, thirteen miles from fifeness, eleven from arbroath, and fourteen from the red head of angus, lies the inchcape or bell rock. it extends to a length of about fourteen hundred feet, but the part of it discovered at low water to not more than four hundred and twenty-seven. at a little more than half-flood in fine weather the seamless ocean joins over the reef, and at high-water springs it is buried sixteen feet. as the tide goes down, the higher reaches of the rock are seen to be clothed by _conferva rupestris_ as by a sward of grass; upon the more exposed edges, where the currents are most swift and the breach of the sea heaviest, baderlock or henware flourishes; and the great tangle grows at the depth of several fathoms with luxuriance. before man arrived, and introduced into the silence of the sea the smoke and clangour of a blacksmith's shop, it was a favourite resting-place of seals. the crab and lobster haunt in the crevices; and limpets, mussels, and the white buckie abound. according to a tradition, a bell had been once hung upon this rock by an abbot of arbroath,[11] "and being taken down by a sea-pirate, a year thereafter he perished upon the same rock, with ship and goods, in the righteous judgment of god." from the days of the abbot and the sea-pirate no man had set foot upon the inchcape, save fishers from the neighbouring coast, or perhaps--for a moment, before the surges swallowed them--the unfortunate victims of shipwreck. the fishers approached the rock with an extreme timidity; but their harvest appears to have been great, and the adventure no more perilous than lucrative. in 1800, on the occasion of my grandfather's first landing, and during the two or three hours which the ebb-tide and the smooth water allowed them to pass upon its shelves, his crew collected upwards of two hundredweight of old metal: pieces of a kedge anchor and a cabin stove, crow-bars, a hinge and lock of a door, a ship's marking-iron, a piece of a ship's caboose, a soldier's bayonet, a cannon ball, several pieces of money, a shoe-buckle, and the like. such were the spoils of the bell rock. but the number of vessels actually lost upon the reef was as nothing to those that were cast away in fruitless efforts to avoid it. placed right in the fairway of two navigations, and one of these the entrance to the only harbour of refuge between the downs and the moray firth, it breathed abroad along the whole coast an atmosphere of terror and perplexity; and no ship sailed that part of the north sea at night, but what the ears of those on board would be strained to catch the roaring of the seas on the bell rock. from 1794 onward, the mind of my grandfather had been exercised with the idea of a light upon this formidable danger. to build a tower on a sea rock, eleven miles from shore, and barely uncovered at low water of neaps, appeared a fascinating enterprise. it was something yet unattempted, unessayed; and even now, after it has been lighted for more than eighty years, it is still an exploit that has never been repeated.[12] my grandfather was, besides, but a young man, of an experience comparatively restricted, and a reputation confined to scotland; and when he prepared his first models, and exhibited them in merchants' hall, he can hardly be acquitted of audacity. john clerk of eldin stood his friend from the beginning, kept the key of the model room, to which he carried "eminent strangers," and found words of counsel and encouragement beyond price. "mr. clerk had been personally known to smeaton, and used occasionally to speak of him to me," says my grandfather; and again: "i felt regret that i had not the opportunity of a greater range of practice to fit me for such an undertaking; but i was fortified by an expression of my friend mr. clerk in one of our conversations. 'this work,' said he, 'is unique, and can be little forwarded by experience of ordinary masonic operations. in this case smeaton's "narrative" must be the text-book, and energy and perseverance the pratique.'" a bill for the work was introduced into parliament and lost in the lords in 1802-3. john rennie was afterwards, at my grandfather's suggestion, called in council, with the style of chief engineer. the precise meaning attached to these words by any of the parties appears irrecoverable. chief engineer should have full authority, full responsibility, and a proper share of the emoluments; and there were none of these for rennie. i find in an appendix a paper which resumes the controversy on this subject; and it will be enough to say here that rennie did not design the bell rock, that he did not execute it, and that he was not paid for it.[13] from so much of the correspondence as has come down to me, the acquaintance of this man, eleven years his senior, and already famous, appears to have been both useful and agreeable to robert stevenson. it is amusing to find my grandfather seeking high and low for a brace of pistols which his colleague had lost by the way between aberdeen and edinburgh; and writing to messrs. dollond, "i have not thought it necessary to trouble mr. rennie with this order, but _i beg you will see to get two minutes of him as he passes your door_"--a proposal calculated rather from the latitude of edinburgh than from london, even in 1807. it is pretty, too, to observe with what affectionate regard smeaton was held in mind by his immediate successors. "poor old fellow," writes rennie to stevenson, "i hope he will now and then take a peep at us, and inspire you with fortitude and courage to brave all difficulties and dangers to accomplish a work which will, if successful, immortalise you in the annals of fame." the style might be bettered, but the sentiment is charming. smeaton was, indeed, the patron saint of the bell rock. undeterred by the sinister fate of winstanley, he had tackled and solved the problem of the eddystone; but his solution had not been in all respects perfect. it remained for my grandfather to outdo him in daring, by applying to a tidal rock those principles which had been already justified by the success of the eddystone, and to perfect the model by more than one exemplary departure. smeaton had adopted in his floors the principle of the arch; each therefore exercised an outward thrust upon the walls, which must be met and combated by embedded chains. my grandfather's flooring-stones, on the other hand, were flat, made part of the outer wall, and were keyed and dovetailed into a central stone, so as to bind the work together and be positive elements of strength. in 1703 winstanley still thought it possible to erect his strange pagoda, with its open gallery, its florid scrolls and candlesticks: like a rich man's folly for an ornamental water in a park. smeaton followed; then stevenson in his turn corrected such flaws as were left in smeaton's design; and with his improvements, it is not too much to say the model was made perfect. smeaton and stevenson had between them evolved and finished the sea-tower. no subsequent builder has departed in anything essential from the principles of their design. it remains, and it seems to us as though it must remain for ever, an ideal attained. every stone in the building, it may interest the reader to know, my grandfather had himself cut out in the model; and the manner in which the courses were fitted, joggled, trenailed, wedged, and the bond broken, is intricate as a puzzle and beautiful by ingenuity. in 1806 a second bill passed both houses, and the preliminary works were at once begun. the same year the navy had taken a great harvest of prizes in the north sea, one of which, a prussian fishing dogger, flat-bottomed and rounded at the stem and stern, was purchased to be a floating lightship, and re-named the _pharos_. by july 1807 she was overhauled, rigged for her new purpose, and turned into the lee of the isle of may. "it was proposed that the whole party should meet in her and pass the night; but she rolled from side to side in so extraordinary a manner, that even the most seahardy fled. it was humorously observed of this vessel that she was in danger of making a round turn and appearing with her keel uppermost; and that she would even turn a halfpenny if laid upon deck." by two o'clock on the morning of the 15th july this purgatorial vessel was moored by the bell rock. a sloop of forty tons had been in the meantime built at leith, and named the _smeaton_: by the 7th of august my grandfather set sail in her- "carrying with him mr. peter logan, foreman builder, and five artificers selected from their having been somewhat accustomed to the sea, the writer being aware of the distressing trial which the floating light would necessarily inflict upon landsmen from her rolling motion. here he remained till the 10th, and, as the weather was favourable, a landing was effected daily, when the workmen were employed in cutting the large seaweed from the sites of the lighthouse and beacon, which were respectively traced with pickaxes upon the rock. in the meantime the crew of the _smeaton_ was employed in laying down the several sets of moorings within about half a mile of the rock for the convenience of vessels. the artificers, having, fortunately, experienced moderate weather, returned to the workyard of arbroath with a good report of their treatment afloat; when their comrades ashore began to feel some anxiety to see a place of which they had heard so much, and to change the constant operations with the iron and mallet in the process of hewing for an occasional tide's work on the rock, which they figured to themselves as a state of comparative ease and comfort." i am now for many pages to let my grandfather speak for himself, and tell in his own words the story of his capital achievement. the tall quarto of 533 pages from which the following narrative has been dug out is practically unknown to the general reader, yet good judges have perceived its merit, and it has been named (with flattering wit) "the romance of stone and lime" and "the robinson crusoe of civil engineering." the tower was but four years in the building; it took robert stevenson, in the midst of his many avocations, no less than fourteen to prepare the _account_. the title-page is a solid piece of literature of upwards of a hundred words; the table of contents runs to thirteen pages; and the dedication (to that revered monarch, george iv) must have cost him no little study and correspondence. walter scott was called in council, and offered one miscorrection which still blots the page. in spite of all this pondering and filing, there remain pages not easy to construe, and inconsistencies not easy to explain away. i have sought to make these disappear, and to lighten a little the baggage with which my grandfather marches; here and there i have rejointed and rearranged a sentence, always with his own words, and all with a reverent and faithful hand; and i offer here to the reader the true monument of robert stevenson with a little of the moss removed from the inscription, and the portrait of the artist with some superfluous canvas cut away. i operations of 1807 1807 sunday, 16th aug. everything being arranged for sailing to the rock on saturday the 15th, the vessel might have proceeded on the sunday; but understanding that this would not be so agreeable to the artificers it was deferred until monday. here we cannot help observing that the men allotted for the operations at the rock seemed to enter upon the undertaking with a degree of consideration which fully marked their opinion as to the hazardous nature of the undertaking on which they were about to enter. they went in a body to church on sunday, and whether it was in the ordinary course, or designed for the occasion, the writer is not certain, but the service was, in many respects, suitable to their circumstances. monday, 17th aug. the tide happening to fall late in the evening of monday the 17th, the party, counting twenty-four in number, embarked on board of the _smeaton_ about ten o'clock p.m., and sailed from arbroath with a gentle breeze at west. our ship's colours having been flying all day in compliment to the commencement of the work, the other vessels in the harbour also saluted, which made a very gay appearance. a number of the friends and acquaintances of those on board having been thus collected, the piers, though at a late hour, were perfectly crowded, and just as the _smeaton_ cleared the harbour, all on board united in giving three hearty cheers, which were returned by those on shore in such good earnest, that, in the still of the evening, the sound must have been heard in all parts of the town, reechoing from the walls and lofty turrets of the venerable abbey of aberbrothwick. the writer felt much satisfaction at the manner of this parting scene, though he must own that the present rejoicing was, on his part, mingled with occasional reflections upon the responsibility of his situation, which extended to the safety of all who should be engaged in this perilous work. with such sensations he retired to his cabin; but as the artificers were rather inclined to move about the deck than to remain in their confined berths below, his repose was transient, and the vessel being small every motion was necessarily heard. some who were musically inclined occasionally sung; but he listened with peculiar pleasure to the sailor at the helm, who hummed over dibdin's characteristic air:- "they say there's a providence sits up aloft, to keep watch for the life of poor jack." tuesday, 18th aug. the weather had been very gentle all night, and, about four in the morning of the 18th, the _smeaton_ anchored. agreeably to an arranged plan of operations, all hands were called at five o'clock a.m., just as the highest part of the bell rock began to show its sable head among the light breakers, which occasionally whitened with the foaming sea. the two boats belonging to the floating light attended the _smeaton_, to carry the artificers to the rock, as her boat could only accommodate about six or eight sitters. every one was more eager than his neighbour to leap into the boats, and it required a good deal of management on the part of the coxswains to get men unaccustomed to a boat to take their places for rowing and at the same time trimming her properly. the landing-master and foreman went into one boat, while the writer took charge of another, and steered it to and from the rock. this became the more necessary in the early stages of the work, as places could not be spared for more than two, or at most three, seamen to each boat, who were always stationed, one at the bow, to use the boat-hook in fending or pushing off, and the other at the aftermost oar, to give the proper time in rowing, while the middle oars were double-banked, and rowed by the artificers. as the weather was extremely fine, with light airs of wind from the east, we landed without difficulty upon the central part of the rock at half-past five, but the water had not yet sufficiently left it for commencing the work. this interval, however, did not pass unoccupied. the first and last of all the principal operations at the bell rock were accompanied by three hearty cheers from all hands, and, on occasions like the present, the steward of the ship attended, when each man was regaled with a glass of rum. as the water left the rock about six, some began to bore the holes for the great bats or holdfasts, for fixing the beams of the beacon-house, while the smith was fully attended in laying out the site of his forge, upon a somewhat sheltered spot of the rock, which also recommended itself from the vicinity of a pool of water for tempering his irons. these preliminary steps occupied about an hour, and as nothing further could be done during this tide towards fixing the forge, the workmen gratified their curiosity by roaming about the rock, which they investigated with great eagerness till the tide overflowed it. those who had been sick picked dulse (_fucus palmatus_), which they ate with much seeming appetite; others were more intent upon collecting limpets for bait, to enjoy the amusement of fishing when they returned on board of the vessel. indeed, none came away empty-handed, as everything found upon the bell rock was considered valuable, being connected with some interesting association. several coins and numerous bits of shipwrecked iron, were picked up, of almost every description; and, in particular, a marking-iron lettered james--a circumstance of which it was thought proper to give notice to the public, as it might lead to the knowledge of some unfortunate shipwreck, perhaps unheard of till this simple occurrence led to the discovery. when the rock began to be overflowed, the landing-master arranged the crews of the respective boats, appointing twelve persons to each. according to a rule which the writer had laid down to himself, he was always the last person who left the rock. in a short time the bell rock was laid completely under water, and the weather being extremely fine, the sea was so smooth that its place could not be pointed out from the appearance of the surface--a circumstance which sufficiently demonstrates the dangerous nature of this rock, even during the day, and in the smoothest and calmest state of the sea. during the interval between the morning and the evening tides, the artificers were variously employed in fishing and reading; others were busy in drying and adjusting their wet clothes, and one or two amused their companions with the violin and german flute. about seven in the evening the signal bell for landing on the rock was again rung, when every man was at his quarters. in this service it was thought more appropriate to use the bell than to _pipe_ to quarters, as the use of this instrument is less known to the mechanic than the sound of the bell. the landing, as in the morning, was at the eastern harbour. during this tide the seaweed was pretty well cleared from the site of the operations, and also from the tracks leading to the different landing-places; for walking upon the rugged surface of the bell rock, when covered with seaweed, was found to be extremely difficult and even dangerous. every hand that could possibly be occupied was now employed in assisting the smith to fit up the apparatus for his forge. at 9 p.m. the boats returned to the tender, after other two hours' work, in the same order as formerly--perhaps as much gratified with the success that attended the work of this day as with any other in the whole course of the operations. although it could not be said that the fatigues of this day had been great, yet all on board retired early to rest. the sea being calm, and no movement on deck, it was pretty generally remarked in the morning that the bell awakened the greater number on board from their first sleep; and though this observation was not altogether applicable to the writer himself, yet he was not a little pleased to find that thirty people could all at once become so reconciled to a night's quarters within a few hundred paces of the bell rock. wednesday, 19th aug. being extremely anxious at this time to get forward with fixing the smith's forge, on which the progress of the work at present depended, the writer requested that he might be called at daybreak to learn the landing-master's opinion of the weather from the appearance of the rising sun, a criterion by which experienced seamen can generally judge pretty accurately of the state of the weather for the following day. about five o'clock, on coming upon deck, the sun's upper limb or disc had just begun to appear as if rising from the ocean, and in less than a minute he was seen in the fullest splendour; but after a short interval he was enveloped in a soft cloudy sky, which was considered emblematical of fine weather. his rays had not yet sufficiently dispelled the clouds which hid the land from view, and the bell rock being still overflowed, the whole was one expanse of water. this scene in itself was highly gratifying; and, when the morning bell was tolled, we were gratified with the happy forebodings of good weather and the expectation of having both a morning and an evening tide's work on the rock. the boat which the writer steered happened to be the last which approached the rock at this tide; and, in standing up in the stern, while at some distance, to see how the leading boat entered the creek, he was astonished to observe something in the form of a human figure, in a reclining posture, upon one of the ledges of the rock. he immediately steered the boat through a narrow entrance to the eastern harbour, with a thousand unpleasant sensations in his mind. he thought a vessel or boat must have been wrecked upon the rock during the night; and it seemed probable that the rock might be strewed with dead bodies, a spectacle which could not fail to deter the artificers from returning so freely to their work. in the midst of these reveries the boat took the ground at an improper landing-place but, without waiting to push her off, he leapt upon the rock, and making his way hastily to the spot which had privately given him alarm, he had the satisfaction to ascertain that he had only been deceived by the peculiar situation and aspect of the smith's anvil and block, which very completely represented the appearance of a lifeless body upon the rock. the writer carefully suppressed his feelings, the simple mention of which might have had a bad effect upon the artificers, and his haste passed for an anxiety to examine the apparatus of the smith's forge, left in an unfinished state at evening tide. in the course of this morning's work two or three apparently distant peals of thunder were heard, and the atmosphere suddenly became thick and foggy. but as the _smeaton_, our present tender, was moored at no great distance from the rock, the crew on board continued blowing with a horn, and occasionally fired a musket, so that the boats got to the ship without difficulty. thursday, 20th aug. the wind this morning inclined from the north-east, and the sky had a heavy and cloudy appearance, but the sea was smooth, though there was an undulating motion on the surface, which indicated easterly winds, and occasioned a slight surf upon the rock. but the boats found no difficulty in landing at the western creek at half-past seven, and, after a good tide's work, left it again about a quarter from eleven. in the evening the artificers landed at half-past seven, and continued till half-past eight, having completed the fixing of the smith's forge, his vice, and a wooden board or bench, which were also batted to a ledge of the rock, to the great joy of all, under a salute of three hearty cheers. from an oversight on the part of the smith, who had neglected to bring his tinder-box and matches from the vessel, the work was prevented from being continued for at least an hour longer. the smith's shop was, of course, in _open space_: the large bellows were carried to and from the rock every tide, for the serviceable condition of which, together with the tinder-box, fuel, and embers of the former fire, the smith was held responsible. those who have been placed in situations to feel the inconveniency and want of this useful artisan, will be able to appreciate his value in a case like the present. it often happened, to our annoyance and disappointment, in the early state of the work, when the smith was in the middle of a _favourite heat_ in making some useful article, or in sharpening the tools, after the flood-tide had obliged the pickmen to strike work, a sea would come rolling over the rocks, dash out the fire, and endanger his indispensable implement, the bellows. if the sea was smooth, while the smith often stood at work knee-deep in water, the tide rose by imperceptible degrees, first cooling the exterior of the fireplace, or hearth, and then quietly blackening and extinguishing the fire from below. the writer has frequently been amused at the perplexing anxiety of the blacksmith when coaxing his fire and endeavouring to avert the effects of the rising tide. friday, 21st aug. everything connected with the forge being now completed, the artificers found no want of sharp tools, and the work went forward with great alacrity and spirit. it was also alleged that the rock had a more habitable appearance from the volumes of smoke which ascended from the smith's shop and the busy noise of his anvil, the operations of the masons, the movements of the boats, and shipping at a distance--all contributed to give life and activity to the scene. this noise and traffic had, however, the effect of almost completely banishing the herd of seals which had hitherto frequented the rock as a resting-place during the period of low water. the rock seemed to be peculiarly adapted to their habits, for, excepting two or three days at neap-tides, a part of it always dries at low water--at least, during the summer season--and as there was good fishing-ground in the neighbourhood, without a human being to disturb or molest them, it had become a very favourite residence of these amphibious animals, the writer having occasionally counted from fifty to sixty playing about the rock at a time. but when they came to be disturbed every tide, and their seclusion was broken in upon by the kindling of great fires, together with the beating of hammers and picks during low water, after hovering about for a time, they changed their place, and seldom more than one or two were to be seen about the rock upon the more detached outlayers which dry partially, whence they seemed to look with that sort of curiosity which is observable in these animals when following a boat. saturday, 22nd aug. hitherto the artificers had remained on board the _smeaton_, which was made fast to one of the mooring buoys at a distance only of about a quarter of a mile from the rock, and, of course, a very great conveniency to the work. being so near, the seamen could never be mistaken as to the progress of the tide, or state of the sea upon the rock, nor could the boats be much at a loss to pull on board of the vessel during fog, or even in very rough weather; as she could be cast loose from her moorings at pleasure, and brought to the lee side of the rock. but the _smeaton_ being only about forty register tons, her accommodations were extremely limited. it may, therefore, be easily imagined that an addition of twenty-four persons to her own crew must have rendered the situation of those on board rather uncomfortable. the only place for the men's hammocks on board being in the hold, they were unavoidably much crowded: and if the weather had required the hatches to be fastened down, so great a number of men could not possibly have been accommodated. to add to this evil, the _co-boose_ or cooking-place being upon deck, it would not have been possible to have cooked for so large a company in the event of bad weather. the stock of water was now getting short, and some necessaries being also wanted for the floating light, the _smeaton_ was despatched for arbroath; and the writer, with the artificers, at the same time shifted their quarters from her to the floating light. although the rock barely made its appearance at this period of the tides till eight o'clock, yet, having now a full mile to row from the floating light to the rock, instead of about a quarter of a mile from the moorings of the _smeaton_, it was necessary to be earlier astir, and to form different arrangements; breakfast was accordingly served up at seven o'clock this morning. from the excessive motion of the floating light, the writer had looked forward rather with anxiety to the removal of the workmen to this ship. some among them, who had been congratulating themselves upon having become sea-hardy while on board the _smeaton_, had a complete relapse upon returning to the floating light. this was the case with the writer. from the spacious and convenient berthage of the floating light, the exchange to the artificers was, in this respect, much for the better. the boats were also commodious, measuring sixteen feet in length on the keel, so that, in fine weather, their complement of sitters was sixteen persons for each, with which, however, they were rather crowded, but she could not stow two boats of larger dimensions. when there was what is called a breeze of wind, and a swell in the sea, the proper number for each boat could not, with propriety, be rated at more than twelve persons. when the tide-bell rung the boats were hoisted out, and two active seamen were employed to keep them from receiving damage alongside. the floating light being very buoyant, was so quick in her motions that when those who were about to step from her gunwale into a boat, placed themselves upon a cleat or step on the ship's side, with the man or rail ropes in their hands, they had often to wait for some time till a favourable opportunity occurred for stepping into the boat. while in this situation, with the vessel rolling from side to side, watching the proper time for letting go the man-ropes, it required the greatest dexterity and presence of mind to leap into the boats. one who was rather awkward would often wait a considerable period in this position: at one time his side of the ship would be so depressed that he would touch the boat to which he belonged, while the next sea would elevate him so much that he would see his comrades in the boat on the opposite side of the ship, his friends in the one boat calling to him to "jump," while those in the boat on the other side, as he came again and again into their view, would jocosely say, "are you there yet? you seem to enjoy a swing." in this situation it was common to see a person upon each side of the ship for a length of time, waiting to quit his hold. on leaving the rock to-day a trial of seamanship was proposed amongst the rowers, for by this time the artificers had become tolerably expert in this exercise. by inadvertency some of the oars provided had been made of fir instead of ash, and although a considerable stock had been laid in, the workmen, being at first awkward in the art, were constantly breaking their oars; indeed it was no uncommon thing to see the broken blades of a pair of oars floating astern, in the course of a passage from the rock to the vessel. the men, upon the whole, had but little work to perform in the course of a day; for though they exerted themselves extremely hard while on the rock, yet, in the early state of the operations, this could not be continued for more than three or four hours at a time, and as their rations were large--consisting of one pound and a half of beef, one pound of ship biscuit, eight ounces oatmeal, two ounces barley, two ounces butter, three quarts of small beer, with vegetables and salt--they got into excellent spirits when free of sea-sickness. the rowing of the boats against each other became a favourite amusement, which was rather a fortunate circumstance, as it must have been attended with much inconvenience had it been found necessary to employ a sufficient number of sailors for this purpose. the writer, therefore, encouraged this spirit of emulation, and the speed of their respective boats became a favourite topic. premiums for boat-races were instituted, which were contended for with great eagerness, and the respective crews kept their stations in the boats with as much precision as they kept their beds on board of the ship. with these and other pastimes, when the weather was favourable, the time passed away among the inmates of the forecastle and waist of the ship. the writer looks back with interest upon the hours of solitude which he spent in this lonely ship with his small library. this being the first saturday that the artificers were afloat, all hands were served with a glass of rum and water at night, to drink the sailors' favourite toast of "wives and sweethearts." it was customary, upon these occasions, for the seamen and artificers to collect in the galley, when the musical instruments were put in requisition: for, according to invariable practice, every man must play a tune, sing a song, or tell a story. sunday, 23rd aug. having, on the previous evening, arranged matters with the landing-master as to the business of the day, the signal was rung for all hands at half-past seven this morning. in the early state of the spring-tides the artificers went to the rock before breakfast, but as the tides fell later in the day, it became necessary to take this meal before leaving the ship. at eight o'clock all hands were assembled on the quarter-deck for prayers, a solemnity which was gone through in as orderly a manner as circumstances would admit. when the weather permitted, the flags of the ship were hung up as an awning or screen, forming the quarter-deck into a distinct compartment; the pendant was also hoisted at the mainmast, and a large ensign flag was displayed over the stern; and lastly, the ship's companion, or top of the staircase, was covered with the _flag proper_ of the lighthouse service, on which the bible was laid. a particular toll of the bell called all hands to the quarter-deck, when the writer read a chapter of the bible, and, the whole ship's company being uncovered, he also read the impressive prayer composed by the reverend dr. brunton, one of the ministers of edinburgh. upon concluding this service, which was attended with becoming reverence and attention, all on board retired to their respective berths to breakfast, and, at half-past nine, the bell again rung for the artificers to take their stations in their respective boats. some demur having been evinced on board about the propriety of working on sunday, which had hitherto been touched upon as delicately as possible, all hands being called aft, the writer, from the quarter-deck, stated generally the nature of the service, expressing his hopes that every man would feel himself called upon to consider the erection of a lighthouse on the bell rock, in every point of view, as a work of necessity and mercy. he knew that scruples had existed with some, and these had, indeed, been fairly and candidly urged before leaving the shore; but it was expected that, after having seen the critical nature of the rock, and the necessity of the measure, every man would now be satisfied of the propriety of embracing all opportunities of landing on the rock when the state of the weather would permit. the writer further took them to witness that it did not proceed from want of respect for the appointments and established forms of religion that he had himself adopted the resolution of attending the bell rock works on the sunday; but, as he hoped, from a conviction that it was his bounden duty, on the strictest principles of morality. at the same time it was intimated that, if any were of a different opinion, they should be perfectly at liberty to hold their sentiments without the imputation of contumacy or disobedience; the only difference would be in regard to the pay. upon stating this much, he stepped into his boat, requesting all who were so disposed to follow him. the sailors, from their habits, found no scruple on this subject, and all of the artificers, though a little tardy, also embarked, excepting four of the masons, who, from the beginning, mentioned that they would decline working on sundays. it may here be noticed that throughout the whole of the operations it was observable that the men wrought, if possible, with more keenness upon the sundays than at other times, from an impression that they were engaged in a work of imperious necessity, which required every possible exertion. on returning to the floating light, after finishing the tide's work, the boats were received by the part of the ship's crew left on board with the usual attention of handing ropes to the boats and helping the artificers on board; but the four masons who had absented themselves from the work did not appear upon deck. monday, 24th aug. the boats left the floating light at a quarter-past nine o'clock this morning, and the work began at three-quarters past nine; but as the neap-tides were approaching the working time at the rock became gradually shorter, and it was now with difficulty that two and a half hours' work could be got. but so keenly had the workmen entered into the spirit of the beacon-house operations, that they continued to bore the holes in the rock till some of them were knee-deep in water. the operations at this time were entirely directed to the erection of the beacon, in which every man felt an equal interest, as at this critical period the slightest casualty to any of the boats at the rock might have been fatal to himself individually, while it was perhaps peculiar to the writer more immediately to feel for the safety of the whole. each log or upright beam of the beacon was to be fixed to the rock by two strong and massive bats or stanchions of iron. these bats, for the fixture of the principal and diagonal beams and bracing chains, required fifty-four holes, each measuring two inches in diameter and eighteen inches in depth. there had already been so considerable a progress made in boring and excavating the holes that the writer's hopes of getting the beacon erected this year began to be more and more confirmed, although it was now advancing towards what was considered the latter end of the proper working season at the bell rock. the foreman joiner, mr. francis watt, was accordingly appointed to attend at the rock to-day, when the necessary levels were taken for the step or seat of each particular beam of the beacon, that they might be cut to their respective lengths, to suit the inequalities of the rock; several of the stanchions were also tried into their places, and other necessary observations made, to prevent mistakes on the application of the apparatus, and to facilitate the operations when the beams came to be set up, which would require to be done in the course of a single tide. tuesday, 25th aug. we had now experienced an almost unvaried tract of light airs of easterly wind, with clear weather in the fore-part of the day and fog in the evenings. to-day, however, it sensibly changed; when the wind came to the south-west, and blew a fresh breeze. at nine a.m. the bell rung, and the boats were hoisted out, and though the artificers were now pretty well accustomed to tripping up and down the sides of the floating light, yet it required more seamanship this morning than usual. it therefore afforded some merriment to those who had got fairly seated in their respective boats to see the difficulties which attended their companions, and the hesitating manner in which they quitted hold of the man-ropes in leaving the ship. the passage to the rock was tedious, and the boats did not reach it till half-past ten. it being now the period of neap-tides, the water only partially left the rock, and some of the men who were boring on the lower ledges of the site of the beacon stood knee-deep in water. the situation of the smith to-day was particularly disagreeable, but his services were at all times indispensable. as the tide did not leave the site of the forge, he stood in the water, and as there was some roughness on the surface it was with considerable difficulty that, with the assistance of the sailors, he was enabled to preserve alive his fire; and, while his feet were immersed in water, his face was not only scorched but continually exposed to volumes of smoke, accompanied with sparks from the fire, which were occasionally set up owing to the strength and direction of the wind. wednesday, 26th aug the wind had shifted this morning to n.n.w., with rain, and was blowing what sailors call a fresh breeze. to speak, perhaps, somewhat more intelligibly to the general reader, the wind was such that a fishing-boat could just carry full sail. but as it was of importance, specially in the outset of the business, to keep up the spirit of enterprise for landing on all practicable occasions, the writer, after consulting with the landing-master, ordered the bell to be rung for embarking, and at half-past eleven the boats reached the rock, and left it again at a quarter-past twelve, without, however, being able to do much work, as the smith could not be set to work from the smallness of the ebb and the strong breach of sea, which lashed with great force among the bars of the forge. just as we were about to leave the rock the wind shifted to the s.w., and, from a fresh gale, it became what seamen term a hard gale, or such as would have required the fisherman to take in two or three reefs in his sail. it is a curious fact that the respective tides of ebb and flood are apparent upon the shore about an hour and a half sooner than at the distance of three or four miles in the offing. but what seems chiefly interesting here is that the tides around this small sunken rock should follow exactly the same laws as on the extensive shores of the mainland. when the boats left the bell rock to-day it was overflowed by the flood-tide, but the floating light did not swing round to the flood-tide for more than an hour afterwards. under this disadvantage the boats had to struggle with the ebb-tide and a hard gale of wind, so that it was with the greatest difficulty they reached the floating light. had this gale happened in spring-tides when the current was strong we must have been driven to sea in a very helpless condition. the boat which the writer steered was considerably behind the other, one of the masons having unluckily broken his oar. our prospect of getting on board, of course, became doubtful, and our situation was rather perilous, as the boat shipped so much sea that it occupied two of the artificers to bale and clear her of water. when the oar gave way we were about half a mile from the ship, but, being fortunately to windward, we got into the wake of the floating light, at about 250 fathoms astern, just as the landing-master's boat reached the vessel. he immediately streamed or floated a life-buoy astern, with a line which was always in readiness, and by means of this useful implement the boat was towed alongside of the floating light, where, from her rolling motion, it required no small management to get safely on board, as the men were worn out with their exertions in pulling from the rock. on the present occasion the crews of both boats were completely drenched with spray, and those who sat upon the bottom of the boats to bale them were sometimes pretty deep in the water before it could be cleared out. after getting on board, all hands were allowed an extra dram, and, having shifted and got a warm and comfortable dinner, the affair, it is believed, was little more thought of. thursday, 27th aug. the tides were now in that state which sailors term the dead of the neap, and it was not expected that any part of the rock would be seen above water to-day; at any rate, it was obvious, from the experience of yesterday, that no work could be done upon it, and therefore the artificers were not required to land. the wind was at west, with light breezes, and fine clear weather; and as it was an object with the writer to know the actual state of the bell rock at neap-tides, he got one of the boats manned, and, being accompanied by the landing-master, went to it at a quarter-past twelve. the parts of the rock that appeared above water being very trifling, were covered by every wave, so that no landing was made. upon trying the depth of water with a boat-hook, particularly on the sites of the lighthouse and beacon, on the former, at low water, the depth was found to be three feet, and on the central parts of the latter it was ascertained to be two feet eight inches. having made these remarks, the boat returned to the ship at two p.m., and the weather being good, the artificers were found amusing themselves with fishing. the _smeaton_ came from arbroath this afternoon, and made fast to her moorings, having brought letters and newspapers, with parcels of clean linen, etc., for the workmen, who were also made happy by the arrival of three of their comrades from the workyard ashore. from these men they not only received all the news of the workyard, but seemed themselves to enjoy great pleasure in communicating whatever they considered to be interesting with regard to the rock. some also got letters from their friends at a distance, the postage of which for the men afloat was always free, so that they corresponded the more readily. the site of the building having already been carefully traced out with the pick-axe, the artificers this day commenced the excavation of the rock for the foundation or first course of the lighthouse. four men only were employed at this work, while twelve continued at the site of the beacon-house, at which every possible opportunity was embraced, till this essential part of the operations should be completed. wednesday 2nd sept. the floating light's bell rung this morning at half-past four o'clock, as a signal for the boats to be got ready, and the landing took place at half-past five. in passing the _smeaton_ at her moorings near the rock, her boat followed with eight additional artificers who had come from arbroath with her at last trip, but there being no room for them in the floating light's boats, they had continued on board. the weather did not look very promising in the morning, the wind blowing pretty fresh from w.s.w.: and had it not been that the writer calculated upon having a vessel so much at command, in all probability he would not have ventured to land. the _smeaton_ rode at what sailors call a _salvagee_, with a cross-head made fast to the floating buoy. this kind of attachment was found to be more convenient than the mode of passing the hawser through the ring of the buoy when the vessel was to be made fast. she had then only to be steered very close to the buoy, when the salvagee was laid hold of with a boat-hook, and the _bite_ of the hawser thrown over the cross-head. but the salvagee, by this method, was always left at the buoy, and was, of course, more liable to chafe and wear than a hawser passed through the ring, which could be wattled with canvas, and shifted at pleasure. the salvagee and cross method is, however, much practised; but the experience of this morning showed it to be very unsuitable for vessels riding in an exposed situation for any length of time. soon after the artificers landed they commenced work; but the wind coming to blow hard, the _smeaton's_ boat and crew, who had brought their complement of eight men to the rock, went off to examine her riding ropes, and see that they were in proper order. the boat had no sooner reached the vessel than she went adrift, carrying the boat along with her. by the time that she was got round to make a tack towards the rock, she had drifted at least three miles to leeward, with the praam boat astern; and, having both the wind and a tide against her, the writer perceived, with no little anxiety, that she could not possibly return to the rock till long after its being overflowed; for, owing to the anomaly of the tides formerly noticed, the bell rock is completely under water when the ebb abates to the offing. in this perilous predicament, indeed, he found himself placed between hope and despair--but certainly the latter was by much the most predominant feeling of his mind--situate upon a sunken rock in the middle of the ocean, which, in the progress of the flood-tide, was to be laid under water to the depth of at least twelve feet in a stormy sea. there were this morning thirty-two persons in all upon the rock, with only two boats, whose complement, even in good weather, did not exceed twenty-four sitters; but to row to the floating light with so much wind, and in so heavy a sea, a complement of eight men for each boat was as much as could, with propriety, be attempted, so that, in this way, about one-half of our number was unprovided for. under these circumstances, had the writer ventured to despatch one of the boats in expectation of either working the _smeaton_ sooner up towards the rock, or in hopes of getting her boat brought to our assistance, this must have given an immediate alarm to the artificers, each of whom would have insisted upon taking to his own boat, and leaving the eight artificers belonging to the _smeaton_ to their chance. of course a scuffle might have ensued, and it is hard to say, in the ardour of men contending for life, where it might have ended. it has even been hinted to the writer that a party of the _pickmen_ were determined to keep exclusively to their own boat against all hazards. the unfortunate circumstance of the _smeaton_ and her boat having drifted was, for a considerable time, only known to the writer and to the landing-master, who removed to the farther point of the rock, where he kept his eye steadily upon the progress of the vessel. while the artificers were at work, chiefly in sitting or kneeling postures, excavating the rock, or boring with the jumpers, and while their numerous hammers, with the sound of the smith's anvil, continued, the situation of things did not appear so awful. in this state of suspense, with almost certain destruction at hand, the water began to rise upon those who were at work on the lower parts of the sites of the beacon and lighthouse. from the run of sea upon the rock, the forge fire was also sooner extinguished this morning than usual, and the volumes of smoke having ceased, objects in every direction became visible from all parts of the rock. after having had about three hours' work, the men began, pretty generally, to make towards their respective boats for their jackets and stockings, when, to their astonishment, instead of three, they found only two boats, the third being adrift with the _smeaton_. not a word was uttered by any one, but all appeared to be silently calculating their numbers, and looking to each other with evident marks of perplexity depicted in their countenances. the landing-master, conceiving that blame might be attached to him for allowing the boat to leave the rock, still kept at a distance. at this critical moment the author was standing upon an elevated part of smith's ledge, where he endeavoured to mark the progress of the _smeaton_, not a little surprised that her crew did not cut the praam adrift, which greatly retarded her way, and amazed that some effort was not making to bring at least the boat, and attempt our relief. the workmen looked steadfastly upon the writer, and turned occasionally towards the vessel, still far to leeward.[14] all this passed in the most perfect silence, and the melancholy solemnity of the group made an impression never to be effaced from his mind. the writer had all along been considering of various schemes--providing the men could be kept under command--which might be put in practice for the general safety, in hopes that the _smeaton_ might be able to pick up the boats to leeward, when they were obliged to leave the rock. he was, accordingly, about to address the artificers on the perilous nature of their circumstances, and to propose that all hands should unstrip their upper clothing when the higher parts of the rock were laid under water; that the seamen should remove every unnecessary weight and encumbrance from the boats; that a specified number of men should go into each boat, and that the remainder should hang by the gunwales, while the boats were to be rowed gently towards the _smeaton_, as the course to the _pharos_, or floating light, lay rather to windward of the rock. but when he attempted to speak his mouth was so parched that his tongue refused utterance, and he now learned by experience that the saliva is as necessary as the tongue itself for speech. he turned to one of the pools on the rock and lapped a little water, which produced immediate relief. but what was his happiness, when on rising from this unpleasant beverage, some one called out, "a boat! a boat!" and, on looking around, at no great distance, a large boat was seen through the haze making towards the rock. this at once enlivened and rejoiced every heart. the timeous visitor proved to be james spink, the bell rock pilot, who had come express from arbroath with letters. spink had for some time seen the _smeaton_, and had even supposed, from the state of the weather, that all hands were on board of her till he approached more nearly and observed people upon the rock; but not supposing that the assistance of his boat was necessary to carry the artificers off the rock, he anchored on the lee-side and began to fish, waiting, as usual, till the letters were sent for, as the pilot-boat was too large and unwieldy for approaching the rock when there was any roughness or run of the sea at the entrance of the landing creeks. upon this fortunate change of circumstances, sixteen of the artificers were sent, at two trips, in one of the boats, with instructions for spink to proceed with them to the floating light. this being accomplished, the remaining sixteen followed in the two boats belonging to the service of the rock. every one felt the most perfect happiness at leaving the bell rock this morning, though a very hard and dangerous passage to the floating light still awaited us, as the wind by this time had increased to a pretty hard gale, accompanied with a considerable swell of sea. every one was as completely drenched in water as if he had been dragged astern of the boats. the writer, in particular, being at the helm, found, on getting on board, that his face and ears were completely coated with a thin film of salt from the sea spray, which broke constantly over the bows of the boat. after much baling of water and severe work at the oars, the three boats reached the floating light, where some new difficulties occurred in getting on board in safety, owing partly to the exhausted state of the men, and partly to the violent rolling of the vessel. as the tide flowed, it was expected that the _smeaton_ would have got to windward; but, seeing that all was safe, after tacking for several hours and making little progress, she bore away for arbroath, with the praam-boat. as there was now too much wind for the pilot-boat to return to arbroath, she was made fast astern of the floating light, and the crew remained on board till next day, when the weather moderated. there can be very little doubt that the appearance of james spink with his boat on this critical occasion was the means of preventing the loss of lives at the rock this morning. when these circumstances, some years afterwards, came to the knowledge of the board, a small pension was ordered to our faithful pilot, then in his seventieth year; and he still continues to wear the uniform clothes and badge of the lighthouse service. spink is a remarkably strong man, whose _tout ensemble_ is highly characteristic of a north-country fisherman. he usually dresses in a _pã©-jacket_, cut after a particular fashion, and wears a large, flat, blue bonnet. a striking likeness of spink in his pilot-dress, with the badge or insignia on his left arm which is characteristic of the boatmen in the service of the northern lights, has been taken by howe, and is in the writer's possession. thursday, 3rd. sept. the bell rung this morning at five o'clock, but the writer must acknowledge, from the circumstances of yesterday, that its sound was extremely unwelcome. this appears also to have been the feelings of the artificers, for when they came to be mustered, out of twenty-six, only eight, besides the foreman and seamen, appeared upon deck to accompany the writer to the rock. such are the baneful effects of anything like misfortune or accident connected with a work of this description. the use of argument to persuade the men to embark in cases of this kind would have been out of place, as it is not only discomfort, or even the risk of the loss of a limb, but life itself that becomes the question. the boats, notwithstanding the thinness of our ranks, left the vessel at half-past five. the rough weather of yesterday having proved but a summer's gale, the wind came to-day in gentle breezes; yet, the atmosphere being cloudy, it had not a very favourable appearance. the boats reached the rock at six a.m., and the eight artificers who landed were employed in clearing out the bat-holes for the beacon-house, and had a very prosperous tide of four hours' work, being the longest yet experienced by half an hour. the boats left the rock again at ten o'clock, and the weather having cleared up as we drew near the vessel, the eighteen artificers who had remained on board were observed upon deck, but as the boats approached they sought their way below, being quite ashamed of their conduct. this was the only instance of refusal to go to the rock which occurred during the whole progress of the work, excepting that of the four men who declined working upon sunday, a case which the writer did not conceive to be at all analogous to the present. it may here be mentioned, much to the credit of these four men, that they stood foremost in embarking for the rock this morning. saturday, 5th sept. it was fortunate that a landing was not attempted this evening, for at eight o'clock the wind shifted to e.s.e., and at ten it had become a hard gale, when fifty fathoms of the floating light's hempen cable were veered out. the gale still increasing, the ship rolled and laboured excessively, and at midnight eighty fathoms of cable were veered out; while the sea continued to strike the vessel with a degree of force which had not before been experienced. sunday, 6th sept. during the last night there was little rest on board of the _pharos_, and daylight, though anxiously wished for, brought no relief, as the gale continued with unabated violence. the sea struck so hard upon the vessel's bows that it rose in great quantities, or in "green seas," as the sailors termed it, which were carried by the wind as far aft as the quarter-deck, and not unfrequently over the stern of the ship altogether. it fell occasionally so heavily on the skylight of the writer's cabin, though so far aft as to be within five feet of the helm, that the glass was broken to pieces before the dead-light could be got into its place, so that the water poured down in great quantities. in shutting out the water, the admission of light was prevented, and in the morning all continued in the most comfortless state of darkness. about ten o'clock a.m. the wind shifted to n.e., and blew, if possible, harder than before, and it was accompanied by a much heavier swell of sea. in the course of the gale, the part of the cable in the hause-hole had been so often shifted that nearly the whole length of one of her hempen cables, of 120 fathoms, had been veered out, besides the chain-moorings. the cable, for its preservation, was also carefully served or wattled with pieces of canvas round the windlass, and with leather well greased in the hause-hole. in this state things remained during the whole day, every sea which struck the vessel--and the seas followed each other in close succession--causing her to shake, and all on board occasionally to tremble. at each of these strokes of the sea the rolling and pitching of the vessel ceased for a time, and her motion was felt as if she had either broke adrift before the wind or were in the act of sinking; but, when another sea came, she ranged up against it with great force, and this became the regular intimation of our being still riding at anchor. about eleven o'clock, the writer with some difficulty got out of bed, but, in attempting to dress, he was thrown twice upon the floor at the opposite end of the cabin. in an undressed state he made shift to get about half-way up the companion-stairs, with an intention to observe the state of the sea and of the ship upon deck; but he no sooner looked over the companion than a heavy sea struck the vessel, which fell on the quarter-deck, and rushed downstairs in the officers' cabin in so considerable a quantity that it was found necessary to lift one of the scuttles in the floor, to let the water into the limbers of the ship, as it dashed from side to side in such a manner as to run into the lower tier of beds. having been foiled in this attempt, and being completely wetted, he again got below and went to bed. in this state of the weather the seamen had to move about the necessary or indispensable duties of the ship with the most cautious use both of hands and feet, while it required all the art of the landsman to keep within the precincts of his bed. the writer even found himself so much tossed about that it became necessary, in some measure, to shut himself in bed, in order to avoid being thrown upon the floor. indeed, such was the motion of the ship that it seemed wholly impracticable to remain in any other than a lying posture. on deck the most stormy aspect presented itself, while below all was wet and comfortless. about two o'clock p.m. a great alarm was given throughout the ship from the effects of a very heavy sea which struck her, and almost filled the waist, pouring down into the berths below, through every chink and crevice of the hatches and skylights. from the motion of the vessel being thus suddenly deadened or checked, and from the flowing in of the water above, it is believed there was not an individual on board who did not think, at the moment, that the vessel had foundered, and was in the act of sinking. the writer could withstand this no longer, and as soon as she again began to range to the sea he determined to make another effort to get upon deck. in the first instance, however, he groped his way in darkness from his own cabin through the berths of the officers, where all was quietness. he next entered the galley and other compartments occupied by the artificers. here also all was shut up in darkness, the fire having been drowned out in the early part of the gale. several of the artificers were employed in prayer, repeating psalms and other devotional exercises in a full tone of voice; others protesting that, if they should fortunately get once more on shore, no one should ever see them afloat again. with the assistance of the landing-master, the writer made his way, holding on step by step, among the numerous impediments which lay in the way. such was the creaking noise of the bulkheads or partitions, the dashing of the water, and the whistling noise of the winds, that it was hardly possible to break in upon such a confusion of sounds. in one or two instances, anxious and repeated inquiries were made by the artificers as to the state of things upon deck, to which the captain made the usual answer, that it could not blow long in this way, and that we must soon have better weather. the next berth in succession, moving forward in the ship, was that allotted for the seamen. here the scene was considerably different. having reached the middle of this darksome berth without its inmates being aware of any intrusion, the writer had the consolation of remarking that, although they talked of bad weather and the cross accidents of the sea, yet the conversation was carried on in that sort of tone and manner which bespoke an ease and composure of mind highly creditable to them and pleasing to him. the writer immediately accosted the seamen about the state of the ship. to these inquiries they replied that the vessel being light, and having but little hold of the water, no top-rigging, with excellent ground-tackle, and everything being fresh and new, they felt perfect confidence in their situation. it being impossible to open any of the hatches in the fore part of the ship in communicating with the deck, the watch was changed by passing through the several berths to the companion-stair leading to the quarter-deck. the writer, therefore, made the best of his way aft, and, on a second attempt to look out, he succeeded, and saw indeed an astonishing sight. the sea or waves appeared to be ten or fifteen feet in height of unbroken water, and every approaching billow seemed as if it would overwhelm our vessel, but she continued to rise upon the waves and to fall between the seas in a very wonderful manner. it seemed to be only those seas which caught her in the act of rising which struck her with so much violence and threw such quantities of water aft. on deck there was only one solitary individual looking out, to give the alarm in the event of the ship breaking from her moorings. the seaman on watch continued only two hours; he who kept watch at this time was a tall, slender man of a black complexion; he had no greatcoat nor over-all of any kind, but was simply dressed in his ordinary jacket and trousers; his hat was tied under his chin with a napkin, and he stood aft the foremast, to which he had lashed himself with a gasket or small rope round his waist, to prevent his falling upon deck or being washed overboard. when the writer looked up, he appeared to smile, which afforded a further symptom of the confidence of the crew in their ship. this person on watch was as completely wetted as if he had been drawn through the sea, which was given as a reason for his not putting on a greatcoat, that he might wet as few of his clothes as possible, and have a dry shift when he went below. upon deck everything that was movable was out of sight, having either been stowed below, previous to the gale, or been washed overboard. some trifling parts of the quarter boards were damaged by the breach of the sea; and one of the boats upon deck was about one-third full of water, the oyle-hole or drain having been accidentally stopped up, and part of her gunwale had received considerable injury. these observations were hastily made, and not without occasionally shutting the companion, to avoid being wetted by the successive seas which broke over the bows and fell upon different parts of the deck according to the impetus with which the waves struck the vessel. by this time it was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the gale, which had now continued with unabated force for twenty-seven hours, had not the least appearance of going off. in the dismal prospect of undergoing another night like the last, and being in imminent hazard of parting from our cable, the writer thought it necessary to advise with the master and officers of the ship as to the probable event of the vessel's drifting from her moorings. they severally gave it as their opinion that we had now every chance of riding out the gale, which, in all probability, could not continue with the same fury many hours longer; and that even if she should part from her anchor, the storm-sails had been laid to hand, and could be bent in a very short time. they further stated that from the direction of the wind being n.e., she would sail up the firth of forth to leith roads. but if this should appear doubtful, after passing the island and light of may, it might be advisable at once to steer for tyningham sands, on the western side of dunbar, and there run the vessel ashore. if this should happen at the time of high-water, or during the ebbing of the tide, they were of opinion, from the flatness and strength of the floating light, that no danger would attend her taking the ground, even with a very heavy sea. the writer, seeing the confidence which these gentlemen possessed with regard to the situation of things, found himself as much relieved with this conversation as he had previously been with the seeming indifference of the forecastle-men, and the smile of the watch upon deck, though literally lashed to the foremast. from this time he felt himself almost perfectly at ease; at any rate, he was entirely resigned to the ultimate result. about six o'clock in the evening the ship's company was heard moving upon deck, which on the present occasion was rather the cause of alarm. the writer accordingly rang his bell to know what was the matter, when he was informed by the steward that the weather looked considerably better, and that the men upon deck were endeavouring to ship the smoke-funnel of the galley that the people might get some meat. this was a more favourable account than had been anticipated. during the last twenty-one hours he himself had not only had nothing to eat, but he had almost never passed a thought on the subject. upon the mention of a change of weather, he sent the steward to learn how the artificers felt, and on his return he stated that they now seemed to be all very happy, since the cook had begun to light the galley-fire and make preparations for the suet-pudding of sunday, which was the only dish to be attempted for the mess, from the ease with which it could both be cooked and served up. the principal change felt upon the ship as the wind abated was her increased rolling motion, but the pitching was much diminished, and now hardly any sea came farther aft than the foremast: but she rolled so extremely hard as frequently to dip and take in water over the gunwales and rails in the waist. by nine o'clock all hands had been refreshed by the exertions of the cook and steward, and were happy in the prospect of the worst of the gale being over. the usual complement of men was also now set on watch, and more quietness was experienced throughout the ship. although the previous night had been a very restless one, it had not the effect of inducing repose in the writer's berth on the succeeding night; for having been so much tossed about in bed during the last thirty hours, he found no easy spot to turn to, and his body was all sore to the touch, which ill accorded with the unyielding materials with which his bed-place was surrounded. monday, 7th sept. this morning, about eight o'clock, the writer was agreeably surprised to see the scuttle of his cabin skylight removed, and the bright rays of the sun admitted. although the ship continued to roll excessively, and the sea was still running very high, yet the ordinary business on board seemed to be going forward on deck. it was impossible to steady a telescope, so as to look minutely at the progress of the waves and trace their breach upon the bell rock; but the height to which the cross-running waves rose in sprays when they met each other was truly grand, and the continued roar and noise of the sea was very perceptible to the ear. to estimate the height of the sprays at forty or fifty feet would surely be within the mark. those of the workmen who were not much afflicted with sea-sickness came upon deck, and the wetness below being dried up, the cabins were again brought into a habitable state. every one seemed to meet as if after a long absence, congratulating his neighbour upon the return of good weather. little could be said as to the comfort of the vessel, but after riding out such a gale, no one felt the least doubt or hesitation as to the safety and good condition of her moorings. the master and mate were extremely anxious, however, to heave in the hempen cable, and see the state of the clinch or iron ring of the chain-cable. but the vessel rolled at such a rate that the seamen could not possibly keep their feet at the windlass nor work the handspikes, though it had been several times attempted since the gale took off. about twelve noon, however, the vessel's motion was observed to be considerably less, and the sailors were enabled to walk upon deck with some degree of freedom. but, to the astonishment of every one, it was soon discovered that the floating light was adrift! the windlass was instantly manned, and the men soon gave out that there was no strain upon the cable. the mizzen sail, which was bent for the occasional purpose of making the vessel ride more easily to the tide, was immediately set, and the other sails were also hoisted in a short time, when, in no small consternation, we bore away about one mile to the south-westward of the former station, and there let go the best bower anchor and cable in twenty fathoms water, to ride until the swell of the sea should fall, when it might be practicable to grapple for the moorings, and find a better anchorage for the ship. tuesday, 15th sept. this morning, at five a.m., the bell rung as a signal for landing upon the rock, a sound which, after a lapse of ten days, it is believed was welcomed by every one on board. there being a heavy breach of sea at the eastern creek, we landed, though not without difficulty, on the western side, every one seeming more eager than another to get upon the rock; and never did hungry men sit down to a hearty meal with more appetite than the artificers began to pick the dulse from the rocks. this marine plant had the effect of reviving the sickly, and seemed to be no less relished by those who were more hardy. while the water was ebbing, and the men were roaming in quest of their favourite morsel, the writer was examining the effects of the storm upon the forge and loose apparatus left upon the rock. six large blocks of granite which had been landed, by way of experiment, on the 1st instant, were now removed from their places and, by the force of the sea, thrown over a rising ledge into a hole at the distance of twelve or fifteen paces from the place on which they had been landed. this was a pretty good evidence both of the violence of the storm and the agitation of the sea upon the rock. the safety of the smith's forge was always an object of essential regard. the ash-pan of the hearth or fireplace, with its weighty cast-iron back, had been washed from their places of supposed security; the chains of attachment had been broken, and these ponderous articles were found at a very considerable distance in a hole on the western side of the rock; while the tools and picks of the aberdeen masons were scattered about in every direction. it is, however, remarkable that not a single article was ultimately lost. this being the night on which the floating light was advertised to be lighted, it was accordingly exhibited, to the great joy of every one. wednesday, 16th sept. the writer was made happy to-day by the return of the lighthouse yacht from a voyage to the northern lighthouses. having immediately removed on board of this fine vessel of eighty-one tons register, the artificers gladly followed; for, though they found themselves more pinched for accommodation on board of the yacht, and still more so in the _smeaton_, yet they greatly preferred either of these to the _pharos_, or floating light, on account of her rolling motion, though in all respects fitted up for their conveniency. the writer called them to the quarter-deck and informed them that, having been one month afloat, in terms of their agreement they were now at liberty to return to the workyard at arbroath if they preferred this to continuing at the bell rock. but they replied that, in the prospect of soon getting the beacon erected upon the rock, and having made a change from the floating light, they were now perfectly reconciled to their situation, and would remain afloat till the end of the working season. thursday, 17th sept. the wind was at n.e. this morning, and though there were only light airs, yet there was a pretty heavy swell coming ashore upon the rock. the boats landed at half-past seven o'clock a.m., at the creek on the southern side of the rock, marked port hamilton. but as one of the boats was in the act of entering this creek, the seaman at the bow-oar, who had just entered the service, having inadvertently expressed some fear from a heavy sea which came rolling towards the boat, and one of the artificers having at the same time looked round and missed a stroke with his oar, such a preponderance was thus given to the rowers upon the opposite side that when the wave struck the boat it threw her upon a ledge of shelving rocks, where the water left her, and she having _kanted_ to seaward, the next wave completely filled her with water. after making considerable efforts the boat was again got afloat in the proper track of the creek, so that we landed without any other accident than a complete ducking. there being no possibility of getting a shift of clothes, the artificers began with all speed to work, so as to bring themselves into heat, while the writer and his assistants kept as much as possible in motion. having remained more than an hour upon the rock, the boats left it at half-past nine; and, after getting on board, the writer recommended to the artificers, as the best mode of getting into a state of comfort, to strip off their wet clothes and go to bed for an hour or two. no further inconveniency was felt, and no one seemed to complain of the affection called "catching cold." friday, 18th sept. an important occurrence connected with the operations of this season was the arrival of the _smeaton_ at four p.m., having in tow the six principal beams of the beacon-house, together with all the stanchions and other work on board for fixing it on the rock. the mooring of the floating light was a great point gained, but in the erection of the beacon at this late period of the season new difficulties presented themselves. the success of such an undertaking at any season was precarious, because a single day of bad weather occurring before the necessary fixtures could be made might sweep the whole apparatus from the rock. notwithstanding these difficulties, the writer had determined to make the trial, although he could almost have wished, upon looking at the state of the clouds and the direction of the wind, that the apparatus for the beacon had been still in the workyard. saturday, 19th sept. the main beams of the beacon were made up in two separate rafts, fixed with bars and bolts of iron. one of these rafts, not being immediately wanted, was left astern of the floating light, and the other was kept in tow by the _smeaton_, at the buoy nearest to the rock. the lighthouse yacht rode at another buoy with all hands on board that could possibly be spared out of the floating light. the party of artificers and seamen which landed on the rock counted altogether forty in number. at half-past eight o'clock a derrick, or mast of thirty feet in height, was erected and properly supported with guy-ropes, for suspending the block for raising the first principal beam of the beacon; and a winch machine was also bolted down to the rock for working the purchase-tackle. upon raising the derrick, all hands on the rock spontaneously gave three hearty cheers, as a favourable omen of our future exertions in pointing out more permanently the position of the rock. even to this single spar of timber, could it be preserved, a drowning man might lay hold. when the _smeaton_ drifted on the 2nd of this month such a spar would have been sufficient to save us till she could have come to our relief. sunday, 20th sept. the wind this morning was variable, but the weather continued extremely favourable for the operations throughout the whole day. at six a.m. the boats were in motion, and the raft, consisting of four of the six principal beams of the beacon-house, each measuring about sixteen inches square, and fifty feet in length, was towed to the rock, where it was anchored, that it might _ground_ upon it as the water ebbed. the sailors and artificers, including all hands, to-day counted no fewer than fifty-two, being perhaps the greatest number of persons ever collected upon the bell rock. it was early in the tide when the boats reached the rock, and the men worked a considerable time up to their middle in water, every one being more eager than his neighbour to be useful. even the four artificers who had hitherto declined working on sunday were to-day most zealous in their exertions. they had indeed become so convinced of the precarious nature and necessity of the work that they never afterwards absented themselves from the rock on sunday when a landing was practicable. having made fast a piece of very good new line, at about two-thirds from the lower end of one of the beams, the purchase-tackle of the derrick was hooked into the turns of the line, and it was speedily raised by the number of men on the rock and the power of the winch tackle. when this log was lifted to a sufficient height, its foot, or lower end, was _stepped_ into the spot which had been previously prepared for it. two of the great iron stanchions were then set in their respective holes on each side of the beam, when a rope was passed round them and the beam, to prevent it from slipping till it could be more permanently fixed. the derrick, or upright spar used for carrying the tackle to raise the first beam, was placed in such a position as to become useful for supporting the upper end of it, which now became, in its turn, the prop of the tackle for raising the second beam. the whole difficulty of this operation was in the raising and propping of the first beam, which became a convenient derrick for raising the second, these again a pair of shears for lifting the third, and the shears a triangle for raising the fourth. having thus got four of the six principal beams set on end, it required a considerable degree of trouble to get their upper ends to fit. here they formed the apex of a cone, and were all together mortised into a large piece of beechwood, and secured, for the present, with ropes, in a temporary manner. during the short period of one tide all that could further be done for their security was to put a single screw-bolt through the great kneed bats or stanchions on each side of the beams, and screw the nut home. in this manner these four principal beams were erected, and left in a pretty secure state. the men had commenced while there was about two or three feet of water upon the side of the beacon, and as the sea was smooth they continued the work equally long during flood-tide. two of the boats being left at the rock to take off the joiners, who were busily employed on the upper parts till two o'clock p.m., this tide's work may be said to have continued for about seven hours, which was the longest that had hitherto been got upon the rock by at least three hours. when the first boats left the rock with the artificers employed on the lower part of the work during the flood-tide, the beacon had quite a novel appearance. the beams erected formed a common base of about thirty-three feet, meeting at the top, which was about forty-five feet above the rock, and here half a dozen of the artificers were still at work. after clearing the rock the boats made a stop, when three hearty cheers were given, which were returned with equal goodwill by those upon the beacon, from the personal interest which every one felt in the prosperity of this work, so intimately connected with his safety. all hands having returned to their respective ships, they got a shift of dry clothes and some refreshment. being sunday, they were afterwards convened by signal on board of the lighthouse yacht, when prayers were read; for every heart upon this occasion felt gladness, and every mind was disposed to be thankful for the happy and successful termination of the operations of this day. monday, 21st sept. the remaining two principal beams were erected in the course of this tide, which, with the assistance of those set up yesterday, was found to be a very simple operation. tuesday, 22nd sept. the six principal beams of the beacon were thus secured, at least in a temporary manner, in the course of two tides, or in the short space of about eleven hours and a half. such is the progress that may be made when active hands and willing minds set properly to work in operations of this kind. having now got the weighty part of this work over, and being thereby relieved of the difficulty both of landing and victualling such a number of men, the _smeaton_ could now be spared, and she was accordingly despatched to arbroath for a supply of water and provisions, and carried with her six of the artificers who could best be spared. wednesday, 23rd sept. in going out of the eastern harbour, the boat which the writer steered shipped a sea, that filled her about one-third with water. she had also been hid for a short time, by the waves breaking upon the rock, from the sight of the crew of the preceding boat, who were much alarmed for our safety, imagining for a time that she had gone down. the _smeaton_ returned from arbroath this afternoon, but there was so much sea that she could not be made fast to her moorings, and the vessel was obliged to return to arbroath without being able either to deliver the provisions or take the artificers on board. the lighthouse yacht was also soon obliged to follow her example, as the sea was breaking heavily over her bows. after getting two reefs in the mainsail, and the third or storm-jib set, the wind being s.w., she bent to windward, though blowing a hard gale, and got into st. andrews bay, where we passed the night under the lee of fifeness. thursday, 24th sept. at two o'clock this morning we were in st. andrews bay, standing off and on shore, with strong gales of wind at s.w.; at seven we were off the entrance of the tay; at eight stood towards the rock, and at ten passed to leeward of it, but could not attempt a landing. the beacon, however, appeared to remain in good order, and by six p.m. the vessel had again beaten up to st. andrews bay, and got into somewhat smoother water for the night. friday, 25th sept. at seven o'clock bore away for the bell rock, but finding a heavy sea running on it were unable to land. the writer, however, had the satisfaction to observe, with his telescope, that everything about the beacon appeared entire; and although the sea had a most frightful appearance, yet it was the opinion of every one that, since the erection of the beacon, the bell rock was divested of many of its terrors, and had it been possible to have got the boats hoisted out and manned, it might have even been found practicable to land. at six it blew so hard that it was found necessary to strike the topmast and take in a third reef of the mainsail, and under this low canvas we soon reached st. andrews bay, and got again under the lee of the land for the night. the artificers, being sea-hardy, were quite reconciled to their quarters on board of the lighthouse yacht; but it is believed that hardly any consideration would have induced them again to take up their abode in the floating light. saturday, 26th sept. at daylight the yacht steered towards the bell rock, and at eight a.m. made fast to her moorings; at ten, all hands, to the amount of thirty, landed, when the writer had the happiness to find that the beacon had withstood the violence of the gale and the heavy breach of sea, everything being found in the same state in which it had been left on the 21st. the artificers were now enabled to work upon the rock throughout the whole day, both at low and high water, but it required the strictest attention to the state of the weather, in case of their being overtaken with a gale, which might prevent the possibility of getting them off the rock. two somewhat memorable circumstances in the annals of the bell rock attended the operations of this day: one was the removal of mr. james dove, the foreman smith, with his apparatus, from the rock to the upper part of the beacon, where the forge was now erected on a temporary platform, laid on the cross beams or upper framing. the other was the artificers having dined for the first time upon the rock, their dinner being cooked on board of the yacht, and sent to them by one of the boats. but what afforded the greatest happiness and relief was the removal of the large bellows, which had all along been a source of much trouble and perplexity, by their hampering and incommoding the boat which carried the smiths and their apparatus. saturday, 3rd oct. the wind being west to-day, the weather was very favourable for operations at the rock, and during the morning and evening tides, with the aid of torchlight, the masons had seven hours' work upon the site of the building. the smiths and joiners, who landed at half-past six a.m., did not leave the rock till a quarter-past eleven p.m., having been at work, with little intermission, for sixteen hours and three-quarters. when the water left the rock, they were employed at the lower parts of the beacon, and as the tide rose or fell, they shifted the place of their operations. from these exertions, the fixing and securing of the beacon made rapid advancement, as the men were now landed in the morning, and remained throughout the day. but, as a sudden change of weather might have prevented their being taken off at the proper time of tide, a quantity of bread and water was always kept on the beacon. during this period of working at the beacon all the day, and often a great part of the night, the writer was much on board of the tender; but, while the masons could work on the rock, and frequently also while it was covered by the tide, he remained on the beacon; especially during the night, as he made a point of being on the rock to the latest hour, and was generally the last person who stepped into the boat. he had laid this down as part of his plan of procedure; and in this way had acquired, in the course of the first season, a pretty complete knowledge and experience of what could actually be done at the bell rock, under all circumstances of the weather. by this means also his assistants, and the artificers and mariners, got into a systematic habit of proceeding at the commencement of the work, which, it is believed, continued throughout the whole of the operations. sunday, 4th oct. the external part of the beacon was now finished, with its supports and bracing-chains, and whatever else was considered necessary for its stability, in so far as the season would permit; and although much was still wanting to complete this fabric, yet it was in such a state that it could be left without much fear of the consequences of a storm. the painting of the upper part was nearly finished this afternoon and the _smeaton_ had brought off a quantity of brushwood and other articles, for the purpose of heating or charring the lower part of the principal beams, before being laid over with successive coats of boiling pitch, to the height of from eight to twelve feet, or as high as the rise of spring-tides. a small flagstaff having also been erected to-day, a flag was displayed for the first time from the beacon, by which its perspective effect was greatly improved. on this, as on all like occasions at the bell rock, three hearty cheers were given; and the steward served out a dram of rum to all hands, while the lighthouse yacht, _smeaton_, and floating light, hoisted their colours in compliment to the erection. monday, 5th oct. in the afternoon, and just as the tide's work was over, mr. john rennie, engineer, accompanied by his son mr. george, on their way to the harbour works of fraserburgh, in aberdeenshire, paid a visit to the bell rock, in a boat from arbroath. it being then too late in the tide for landing, they remained on board of the lighthouse yacht all night, when the writer, who had now been secluded from society for several weeks, enjoyed much of mr. rennie's interesting conversation, both on general topics, and professionally upon the progress of the bell rock works, on which he was consulted as chief engineer. tuesday, 6th oct. the artificers landed this morning at nine, after which one of the boats returned to the ship for the writer and messrs. rennie, who, upon landing, were saluted with a display of the colours from the beacon and by three cheers from the workmen. everything was now in a prepared state for leaving the rock, and giving up the works afloat for this season, excepting some small articles, which would still occupy the smiths and joiners for a few days longer. they accordingly shifted on board of the _smealon_, while the yacht left the rock for arbroath, with messrs. rennie, the writer, and the remainder of the artificers. but, before taking leave, the steward served out a farewell glass, when three hearty cheers were given, and an earnest wish expressed that everything, in the spring of 1808, might be found in the same state of good order as it was now about to be left. ii operations of 1808 monday, 29th feb. the writer sailed from arbroath at one a.m. in the lighthouse yacht. at seven the floating light was hailed, and all on board found to be well. the crew were observed to have a very healthy-like appearance, and looked better than at the close of the works upon the rock. they seemed only to regret one thing, which was the secession of their cook, thomas elliot--not on account of his professional skill, but for his facetious and curious manner. elliot had something peculiar in his history, and was reported by his comrades to have seen better days. he was, however, happy with his situation on board of the floating light, and having a taste for music, dancing, and acting plays, he contributed much to the amusement of the ship's company in their dreary abode during the winter months. he had also recommended himself to their notice as a good shipkeeper for as it did not answer elliot to go often ashore, he had always given up his turn of leave to his neighbours. at his own desire he was at length paid off, when he had a considerable balance of wages to receive, which he said would be sufficient to carry him to the west indies, and he accordingly took leave of the lighthouse service. tuesday, 1st march. at daybreak the lighthouse yacht, attended by a boat from the floating light, again stood towards the bell rock. the weather felt extremely cold this morning, the thermometer being at 34 degrees, with the wind at east, accompanied by occasional showers of snow, and the marine barometer indicated 29.80. at half-past seven the sea ran with such force upon the rock that it seemed doubtful if a landing could be effected. at half-past eight, when it was fairly above water, the writer took his place in the floating light's boat with the artificers, while the yacht's boat followed, according to the general rule of having two boats afloat in landing expeditions of this kind, that, in case of accident to one boat, the other might assist. in several unsuccessful attempts the boats were beat back by the breach of the sea upon the rock. on the eastern side it separated into two distinct waves, which came with a sweep round to the western side, where they met; and at the instance of their confluence the water rose in spray to a considerable height. watching what the sailors term a _smooth_, we caught a favourable opportunity, and in a very dexterous manner the boats were rowed between the two seas, and made a favourable landing at the western creek. at the latter end of last season, as was formerly noticed, the beacon was painted white, and from the bleaching of the weather and the sprays of the sea the upper parts were kept clean; but within the range of the tide the principal beams were observed to be thickly coated with a green stuff, the _conferva_ of botanists. notwithstanding the intrusion of these works, which had formerly banished the numerous seals that played about the rock, they were now seen in great numbers, having been in an almost undisturbed state for six months. it had now also, for the first time, got some inhabitants of the feathered tribe: in particular the scarth or cormorant, and the large herring-gull, had made the beacon a resting-place, from its vicinity to their fishing-grounds. about a dozen of these birds had rested upon the cross-beams, which, in some places, were coated with their dung; and their flight, as the boats approached, was a very unlooked-for indication of life and habitation on the bell rock, conveying the momentary idea of the conversion of this fatal rock, from being a terror to the mariner, into a residence of man and a safeguard to shipping. upon narrowly examining the great iron stanchions with which the beams were fixed to the rock, the writer had the satisfaction of finding that there was not the least appearance of working or shifting at any of the joints or places of connection; and, excepting the loosening of the bracing-chains, everything was found in the same entire state in which it had been left in the month of october. this, in the estimation of the writer, was a matter of no small importance to the future success of the work. he from that moment saw the practicability and propriety of fitting up the beacon, not only as a place of refuge in case of accident to the boats in landing, but as a residence for the artificers during the working months. while upon the top of the beacon the writer was reminded by the landing-master that the sea was running high, and that it would be necessary to set off while the rock afforded anything like shelter to the boats, which by this time had been made fast by a long line to the beacon, and rode with much agitation, each requiring two men with boat-hooks to keep them from striking each other, or from ranging up against the beacon. but even under these circumstances the greatest confidence was felt by every one, from the security afforded by this temporary erection. for, supposing the wind had suddenly increased to a gale, and that it had been found unadvisable to go into the boats; or, supposing they had drifted or sprung a leak from striking upon the rocks; in any of these possible and not at all improbable cases, those who might thus have been left upon the rock had now something to lay hold of, and, though occupying this dreary habitation of the sea-gull and the cormorant, affording only bread and water, yet _life_ would be preserved, and the mind would still be supported by the hope of being ultimately relieved. wednesday, 25th may. on the 25th of may the writer embarked at arbroath, on board of the _sir joseph banks_, for the bell rock, accompanied by mr. logan senior, foreman builder, with twelve masons, and two smiths, together with thirteen seamen, including the master, mate, and steward. thursday, 26th may. mr. james wilson, now commander of the _pharos_, floating light, and landing-master, in the room of mr. sinclair, who had left the service, came into the writer's cabin this morning at six o'clock, and intimated that there was a good appearance of landing on the rock. everything being arranged, both boats proceeded in company, and at eight a.m. they reached the rock. the lighthouse colours were immediately hoisted upon the flag-staff of the beacon, a compliment which was duly returned by the tender and floating light, when three hearty cheers were given, and a glass of rum was served out to all hands to drink success to the operations of 1808. friday, 27th may. this morning the wind was at east, blowing a fresh gale, the weather being hazy, with a considerable breach of sea setting in upon the rock. the morning bell was therefore rung, in some doubt as to the practicability of making a landing. after allowing the rock to get fully up, or to be sufficiently left by the tide, that the boats might have some shelter from the range of the sea, they proceeded at eight a.m., and upon the whole made a pretty good landing; and after two hours and three-quarters' work returned to the ship in safety. in the afternoon the wind considerably increased, and, as a pretty heavy sea was still running, the tender rode very hard, when mr. taylor, the commander, found it necessary to take in the bowsprit, and strike the fore and main topmasts, that she might ride more easily. after consulting about the state of the weather, it was resolved to leave the artificers on board this evening, and carry only the smiths to the rock, as the sharpening of the irons was rather behind, from their being so much broken and blunted by the hard and tough nature of the rock, which became much more compact and hard as the depth of excavation was increased. besides avoiding the risk of encumbering the boats with a number of men who had not yet got the full command of the oar in a breach of sea, the writer had another motive for leaving them behind. he wanted to examine the site of the building without interruption, and to take the comparative levels of the different inequalities of its area; and as it would have been painful to have seen men standing idle upon the bell rock, where all moved with activity, it was judged better to leave them on board. the boats landed at half-past seven p.m., and the landing-master, with the seamen, was employed during this tide in cutting the seaweeds from the several paths leading to the landing-places, to render walking more safe, for, from the slippery state of the surface of the rock, many severe tumbles had taken place. in the meantime the writer took the necessary levels, and having carefully examined the site of the building and considered all its parts, it still appeared to be necessary to excavate to the average depth of fourteen inches over the whole area of the foundation. saturday, 28th may. the wind still continued from the eastward with a heavy swell; and to-day it was accompanied with foggy weather and occasional showers of rain. notwithstanding this, such was the confidence which the erection of the beacon had inspired that the boats landed the artificers on the rock under very unpromising circumstances, at half-past eight, and they continued at work till half-past eleven, being a period of three hours, which was considered a great tide's work in the present low state of the foundation. three of the masons on board were so afflicted with sea-sickness that they had not been able to take any food for almost three days, and they were literally assisted into the boats this morning by their companions. it was, however, not a little surprising to see how speedily these men revived upon landing on the rock and eating a little dulse. two of them afterwards assisted the sailors in collecting the chips of stone and carrying them out of the way of the pickmen; but the third complained of a pain in his head, and was still unable to do anything. instead of returning to the tender with the boats, these three men remained on the beacon all day, and had their victuals sent to them along with the smiths'. from mr. dove, the foreman smith, they had much sympathy, for he preferred remaining on the beacon at all hazards, to be himself relieved from the malady of sea-sickness. the wind continuing high, with a heavy sea, and the tide falling late, it was not judged proper to land the artificers this evening, but in the twilight the boats were sent to fetch the people on board who had been left on the rock. sunday, 29th may. the wind was from the s.w. to-day, and the signal-bell rung, as usual, about an hour before the period for landing on the rock. the writer was rather surprised, however, to hear the landing-master repeatedly call, "all hands for the rock!" and, coming on deck, he was disappointed to find the seamen only in the boats. upon inquiry, it appeared that some misunderstanding had taken place about the wages of the artificers for sundays. they had preferred wages for seven days statedly to the former mode of allowing a day for each tide's work on sunday, as they did not like the appearance of working for double or even treble wages on sunday, and would rather have it understood that their work on that day arose more from the urgency of the case than with a view to emolument. this having been judged creditable to their religious feelings, and readily adjusted to their wish, the boats proceeded to the rock, and the work commenced at nine a.m. monday, 30th may. mr. francis watt commenced, with five joiners, to fit up a temporary platform upon the beacon, about twenty-five feet above the highest part of the rock. this platform was to be used as the site of the smith's forge, after the beacon should be fitted up as a barrack; and here also the mortar was to be mixed and prepared for the building, and it was accordingly termed the mortar gallery. the landing-master's crew completed the discharging from the _smeaton_ of her cargo of the cast-iron rails and timber. it must not here be omitted to notice that the _smeaton_ took in ballast from the bell rock, consisting of the shivers or chips of stone produced by the workmen in preparing the site of the building, which were now accumulating in great quantities on the rock. these the boats loaded, after discharging the iron. the object in carrying off these chips, besides ballasting the vessel, was to get them permanently out of the way, as they were apt to shift about from place to place with every gale of wind; and it often required a considerable time to clear the foundation a second time of this rubbish. the circumstance of ballasting a ship at the bell rock afforded great entertainment, especially to the sailors; and it was perhaps with truth remarked that the _smeaton_ was the first vessel that had ever taken on board ballast at the bell rock. mr. pool, the commander of this vessel, afterwards acquainted the writer that, when the ballast was landed upon the quay at leith, many persons carried away specimens of it, as part of a cargo from the bell rock; when he added, that such was the interest excited, from the number of specimens carried away, that some of his friends suggested that he should have sent the whole to the cross of edinburgh, where each piece might have sold for a penny. tuesday, 31st may. in the evening the boats went to the rock, and brought the joiners and smiths, and their sickly companions, on board of the tender. these also brought with them two baskets full of fish, which they had caught at high-water from the beacon, reporting, at the same time, to their comrades, that the fish were swimming in such numbers over the rock at high-water that it was completely hid from their sight, and nothing seen but the movement of thousands of fish. they were almost exclusively of the species called the podlie, or young coal-fish. this discovery, made for the first time to-day by the workmen, was considered fortunate, as an additional circumstance likely to produce an inclination among the artificers to take up their residence in the beacon, when it came to be fitted up as a barrack. tuesday, 7th june. at three o'clock in the morning the ship's bell was rung as the signal for landing at the rock. when the landing was to be made before breakfast, it was customary to give each of the artificers and seamen a dram and a biscuit, and coffee was prepared by the steward for the cabins. exactly at four o'clock the whole party landed from three boats, including one of those belonging to the floating light, with a part of that ship's crew, which always attended the works in moderate weather. the landing-master's boat, called the _seaman_, but more commonly called the _lifeboat_, took the lead. the next boat, called the _mason_, was generally steered by the writer; while the floating light's boat, _pharos_, was under the management of the boatswain of that ship. having now so considerable a party of workmen and sailors on the rock, it may be proper here to notice how their labours were directed. preparations having been made last month for the erection of a second forge upon the beacon, the smiths commenced their operations both upon the lower and higher platforms. they were employed in sharpening the picks and irons for the masons, and making bats and other apparatus of various descriptions connected with the fitting of the railways. the landing-master's crew were occupied in assisting the millwrights in laying the railways to hand. sailors, of all other descriptions of men, are the most accommodating in the use of their hands. they worked freely with the boring-irons, and assisted in all the operations of the railways, acting by turns as boatmen, seamen, and artificers. we had no such character on the bell rock as the common labourer. all the operations of this department were cheerfully undertaken by the seamen, who, both on the rock and on shipboard, were the inseparable companions of every work connected with the erection of the bell rock lighthouse. it will naturally be supposed that about twenty-five masons, occupied with their picks in executing and preparing the foundation of the lighthouse, in the course of a tide of about three hours, would make a considerable impression upon an area even of forty-two feet in diameter. but in proportion as the foundation was deepened, the rock was found to be much more hard and difficult to work, while the baling and pumping of water became much more troublesome. a joiner was kept almost constantly employed in fitting the picks to their handles, which, as well as the points to the irons, were very frequently broken. the bell rock this morning presented by far the most busy and active appearance it had exhibited since the erection of the principal beams of the beacon. the surface of the rock was crowded with men, the two forges flaming, the one above the other, upon the beacon, while the anvils thundered with the rebounding noise of their wooden supports, and formed a curious contrast with the occasional clamour of the surges. the wind was westerly, and the weather being extremely agreeable, so soon after breakfast as the tide had sufficiently overflowed the rock to float the boats over it, the smiths, with a number of the artificers, returned to the beacon, carrying their fishing-tackle along with them. in the course of the forenoon, the beacon exhibited a still more extraordinary appearance than the rock had done in the morning. the sea being smooth, it seemed to be afloat upon the water, with a number of men supporting themselves in all the variety of attitude and position: while, from the upper part of this wooden house, the volumes of smoke which ascended from the forges gave the whole a very curious and fanciful appearance. in the course of this tide it was observed that a heavy swell was setting in from the eastward, and the appearance of the sky indicated a change of weather, while the wind was shifting about. the barometer also had fallen from 30 in. to 29.6. it was, therefore, judged prudent to shift the vessel to the s.w. or more distant buoy. her bowsprit was also soon afterwards taken in, the topmasts struck, and everything made _snug_, as seamen term it, for a gale. during the course of the night the wind increased and shifted to the eastward, when the vessel rolled very hard, and the sea often broke over her bows with great force. wednesday, 8th june. although the motion of the tender was much less than that of the floating light--at least, in regard to the rolling motion--yet she _sended_, or pitched, much. being also of a very handsome build, and what seamen term very _clean aft_, the sea often struck her counter with such force that the writer, who possessed the aftermost cabin, being unaccustomed to this new vessel, could not divest himself of uneasiness; for when her stern fell into the sea, it struck with so much violence as to be more like the resistance of a rock than the sea. the water, at the same time, often rushed with great force up the rudder-case, and, forcing up the valve of the water-closet, the floor of his cabin was at times laid under water. the gale continued to increase, and the vessel rolled and pitched in such a manner that the hawser by which the tender was made fast to the buoy snapped, and she went adrift. in the act of swinging round to the wind she shipped a very heavy sea, which greatly alarmed the artificers, who imagined that we had got upon the rock; but this, from the direction of the wind, was impossible. the writer, however, sprung upon deck, where he found the sailors busily employed in rigging out the bowsprit and in setting sail. from the easterly direction of the wind, it was considered most advisable to steer for the firth of forth, and there wait a change of weather. at two p.m. we accordingly passed the isle of may, at six anchored in leith roads, and at eight the writer landed, when he came in upon his friends, who were not a little surprised at his unexpected appearance, which gave an instantaneous alarm for the safety of things at the bell rock. thursday, 9th june. the wind still continued to blow very hard at e. by n., and the _sir joseph banks_ rode heavily, and even drifted with both anchors ahead, in leith roads. the artificers did not attempt to leave the ship last night; but there being upwards of fifty people on board, and the decks greatly lumbered with the two large boats, they were in a very crowded and impatient state on board. but to-day they got ashore, and amused themselves by walking about the streets of edinburgh, some in very humble apparel, from having only the worst of their jackets with them, which, though quite suitable for their work, were hardly fit for public inspection, being not only tattered, but greatly stained with the red colour of the rock. friday, 10th june. to-day the wind was at s.e., with light breezes and foggy weather. at six a.m. the writer again embarked for the bell rock, when the vessel immediately sailed. at eleven p.m., there being no wind, the kedge-anchor was _let go_ off anstruther, one of the numerous towns on the coast of fife, where we waited the return of the tide. saturday, 11th june. at six a.m. the _sir joseph_ got under weigh, and at eleven was again made fast to the southern buoy at the bell rock. though it was now late in the tide, the writer, being anxious to ascertain the state of things after the gale, landed with the artificers to the number of forty-four. everything was found in an entire state; but, as the tide was nearly gone, only half an hour's work had been got when the site of the building was overflowed. in the evening the boats again landed at nine, and, after a good tide's work of three hours with torchlight, the work was left off at midnight. to the distant shipping the appearance of things under night on the bell rock, when the work was going forward, must have been very remarkable, especially to those who were strangers to the operations. mr. john reid, principal lightkeeper, who also acted as master of the floating light during the working months at the rock, described the appearance of the numerous lights situated so low in the water, when seen at the distance of two or three miles, as putting him in mind of milton's description of the fiends in the lower regions, adding, "for it seems greatly to surpass will-o'-the-wisp, or any of those earthly spectres of which we have so often heard." monday 13th june. from the difficulties attending the landing on the rock, owing to the breach of sea which had for days past been around it, the artificers showed some backwardness at getting into the boats this morning; but after a little explanation this was got over. it was always observable that for some time after anything like danger had occurred at the rock, the workmen became much more cautious, and on some occasions their timidity was rather troublesome. it fortunately happened, however, that along with the writer's assistants and the sailors there were also some of the artificers themselves who felt no such scruples, and in this way these difficulties were the more easily surmounted. in matters where life is in danger it becomes necessary to treat even unfounded prejudices with tenderness, as an accident, under certain circumstances, would not only have been particularly painful to those giving directions, but have proved highly detrimental to the work, especially in the early stages of its advancement. at four o'clock fifty-eight persons landed; but the tides being extremely languid, the water only left the higher parts of the rock, and no work could be done at the site of the building. a third forge was, however, put in operation during a short time, for the greater conveniency of sharpening the picks and irons, and for purposes connected with the preparations for fixing the railways on the rock. the weather towards the evening became thick and foggy, and there was hardly a breath of wind to ruffle the surface of the water. had it not, therefore, been for the noise from the anvils of the smiths who had been left on the beacon throughout the day, which afforded a guide for the boats, a landing could not have been attempted this evening, especially with such a company of artificers. this circumstance confirmed the writer's opinion with regard to the propriety of connecting large bells to be rung with machinery in the lighthouse, to be tolled day and night during the continuance of foggy weather. thursday, 23rd june. the boats landed this evening, when the artificers had again two hours' work. the weather still continuing very thick and foggy, more difficulty was experienced in getting on board of the vessels to-night than had occurred on any previous occasion, owing to a light breeze of wind which carried the sound of the bell, and the other signals made on board of the vessels, away from the rock. having fortunately made out the position of the sloop _smeaton_ at the n.e. buoy--to which we were much assisted by the barking of the ship's dog,--we parted with the _smeaton's_ boat, when the boats of the tender took a fresh departure for that vessel, which lay about half a mile to the south-westward. yet such is the very deceiving state of the tides, that, although there was a small binnacle and compass in the landing-master's boat, we had, nevertheless, passed the _sir joseph_ a good way, when, fortunately, one of the sailors catched the sound of a blowing-horn. the only firearms on board were a pair of swivels of one-inch calibre; but it is quite surprising how much the sound is lost in foggy weather, as the report was heard but at a very short distance. the sound from the explosion of gunpowder is so instantaneous that the effect of the small guns was not so good as either the blowing of a horn or the tolling of a bell, which afforded a more constant and steady direction for the pilot. wednesday, 6th july. landed on the rock with the three boats belonging to the tender at five p.m., and began immediately to bale the water out of the foundation-pit with a number of buckets, while the pumps were also kept in action with relays of artificers and seamen. the work commenced upon the higher parts of the foundation as the water left them, but it was now pretty generally reduced to a level. about twenty men could be conveniently employed at each pump, and it is quite astonishing in how short a time so great a body of water could be drawn off. the water in the foundation-pit at this time measured about two feet in depth, on an area of forty-two feet in diameter, and yet it was drawn off in the course of about half an hour. after this the artificers commenced with their picks and continued at work for two hours and a half, some of the sailors being at the same time busily employed in clearing the foundation of chips and in conveying the irons to and from the smiths on the beacon, where they were sharped. at eight o'clock the sea broke in upon us and overflowed the foundation-pit, when the boats returned to the tender. thursday, 7th july. the landing-master's bell rung this morning about four o'clock, and at half-past five, the foundation being cleared, the work commenced on the site of the building. but from the moment of landing, the squad of joiners and millwrights was at work upon the higher parts of the rock in laying the railways, while the anvils of the smith resounded on the beacon, and such columns of smoke ascended from the forges that they were often mistaken by strangers at a distance for a ship on fire. after continuing three hours at work the foundation of the building was again overflowed, and the boats returned to the ship at half-past eight o'clock. the masons and pickmen had, at this period, a pretty long day on board of the tender, but the smiths and joiners were kept constantly at work upon the beacon, the stability and great conveniency of which had now been so fully shown that no doubt remained as to the propriety of fitting it up as a barrack. the workmen were accordingly employed, during the period of high-water, in making preparations for this purpose. the foundation-pit now assumed the appearance of a great platform, and the late tides had been so favourable that it became apparent that the first course, consisting of a few irregular and detached stones for making up certain inequalities in the interior parts of the site of the building, might be laid in the course of the present spring-tides. having been enabled to-day to get the dimensions of the foundation, or first stone, accurately taken, a mould was made of its figure, when the writer left the rock, after the tide's work of this morning, in a fast rowing-boat for arbroath; and, upon landing, two men were immediately set to work upon one of the blocks from mylnefield quarry, which was prepared in the course of the following day, as the stone-cutters relieved each other, and worked both night and day, so that it was sent off in one of the stone-lighters without delay. saturday, 9th july. the site of the foundation-stone was very difficult to work, from its depth in the rock; but being now nearly prepared, it formed a very agreeable kind of pastime at high-water for all hands to land the stone itself upon the rock. the landing-master's crew and artificers accordingly entered with great spirit into this operation. the stone was placed upon the deck of the _hedderwick_ praam-boat, which had just been brought from leith, and was decorated with colours for the occasion. flags were also displayed from the shipping in the offing, and upon the beacon. here the writer took his station with the greater part of the artificers, who supported themselves in every possible position while the boats towed the praam from her moorings and brought her immediately over the site of the building, where her grappling anchors were let go. the stone was then lifted off the deck by a tackle hooked into a lewis bat inserted into it, when it was gently lowered into the water and grounded on the site of the building, amidst the cheering acclamations of about sixty persons. sunday, 10th july. at eleven o'clock the foundation-stone was laid to hand. it was of a square form, containing about twenty cubic feet, and had the figures, or date, of 1808 simply cut upon it with a chisel. a derrick, or spar of timber, having been erected at the edge of the hole and guyed with ropes, the stone was then hooked to the tackle and lowered into its place, when the writer, attended by his assistants--mr. peter logan, mr. francis watt, and mr. james wilson,--applied the square, the level, and the mallet, and pronounced the following benediction: "may the great architect of the universe complete and bless this building," on which three hearty cheers were given, and success to the future operations was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm. tuesday, 26th july. the wind being at s.e. this evening, we had a pretty heavy swell of sea upon the rock, and some difficulty attended our getting off in safety, as the boats got aground in the creek and were in danger of being upset. upon extinguishing the torch-lights, about twelve in number, the darkness of the night seemed quite horrible; the water being also much charged with the phosphorescent appearance which is familiar to every one on shipboard, the waves, as they dashed upon the rock, were in some degree like so much liquid flame. the scene, upon the whole, was truly awful! wednesday, 27th july. in leaving the rock this evening everything, after the torches were extinguished, had the same dismal appearance as last night, but so perfectly acquainted were the landing-master and his crew with the position of things at the rock, that comparatively little inconveniency was experienced on these occasions when the weather was moderate; such is the effect of habit, even in the most unpleasant situations. if, for example, it had been proposed to a person accustomed to a city life, at once to take up his quarters off a sunken reef and land upon it in boats at all hours of the night, the proposition must have appeared quite impracticable and extravagant; but this practice coming progressively upon the artificers, it was ultimately undertaken with the greatest alacrity. notwithstanding this, however, it must be acknowledged that it was not till after much labour and peril, and many an anxious hour, that the writer is enabled to state that the site of the bell rock lighthouse is fully prepared for the first entire course of the building. friday, 12th aug. the artificers landed this morning at half-past ten, and after an hour and a half's work eight stones were laid, which completed the first entire course of the building, consisting of 123 blocks, the last of which was laid with three hearty cheers. saturday, 10th sept. landed at nine a.m., and by a quarter-past twelve noon twenty-three stones had been laid. the works being now somewhat elevated by the lower courses, we got quit of the very serious inconvenience of pumping water to clear the foundation-pit. this gave much facility to the operations, and was noticed with expressions of as much happiness by the artificers as the seamen had shown when relieved of the continual trouble of carrying the smith's bellows off the rock prior to the erection of the beacon. wednesday, 21st sept. mr. thomas macurich, mate of the _smeaton_, and james scott, one of the crew, a young man about eighteen years of age, immediately went into their boat to make fast a hawser to the ring in the top of the floating buoy of the moorings, and were forthwith to proceed to land their cargo, so much wanted, at the rock. the tides at this period were very strong, and the mooring-chain, when sweeping the ground, had caught hold of a rock or piece of wreck by which the chain was so shortened that when the tide flowed the buoy got almost under water, and little more than the ring appeared at the surface. when macurich and scott were in the act of making the hawser fast to the ring, the chain got suddenly disentangled at the bottom, and this large buoy, measuring about seven feet in height and three feet in diameter at the middle, tapering to both ends, being what seamen term a _nun-buoy_, vaulted or sprung up with such force that it upset the boat, which instantly filled with water. mr. macurich, with much exertion, succeeded in getting hold of the boat's gunwale, still above the surface of the water, and by this means was saved; but the young man scott was unfortunately drowned. he had in all probability been struck about the head by the ring of the buoy, for although surrounded with the oars and the thwarts of the boat which floated near him, yet he seemed entirely to want the power of availing himself of such assistance, and appeared to be quite insensible, while pool, the master of the _smeaton_. called loudly to him; and before assistance could be got from the tender, he was carried away by the strength of the current and disappeared. the young man scott was a great favourite in the service, having had something uncommonly mild and complaisant in his manner; and his loss was therefore universally regretted. the circumstances of his case were also peculiarly distressing to his mother, as her husband, who was a seaman, had for three years past been confined to a french prison, and the deceased was the chief support of the family. in order in some measure to make up the loss to the poor woman for the monthly aliment regularly allowed her by her late son, it was suggested that a younger boy, a brother of the deceased, might be taken into the service. this appeared to be rather a delicate proposition, but it was left to the landing-master to arrange according to circumstances; such was the resignation, and at the same time the spirit, of the poor woman, that she readily accepted the proposal, and in a few days the younger scott was actually afloat in the place of his brother. on representing this distressing case to the board, the commissioners were pleased to grant an annuity of â£5 to scott's mother. the _smeaton_, not having been made fast to the buoy, had, with the ebb-tide, drifted to leeward a considerable way eastward of the rock, and could not, till the return of the flood-tide, be worked up to her moorings, so that the present tide was lost, notwithstanding all exertions which had been made both ashore and afloat with this cargo. the artificers landed at six a.m.; but, as no materials could be got upon the rock this morning, they were employed in boring trenail holes and in various other operations, and after four hours' work they returned on board the tender. when the _smeaton_ got up to her moorings, the landing-master's crew immediately began to unload her. there being too much wind for towing the praams in the usual way, they were warped to the rock in the most laborious manner by their windlasses, with successive grapplings and hawsers laid out for this purpose. at six p.m. the artificers landed, and continued at work till half-past ten, when the remaining seventeen stones were laid which completed the third entire course, or fourth of the lighthouse, with which the building operations were closed for the season. iii operations of 1809 wednesday, 24th may. the last night was the first that the writer had passed in his old quarters on board of the floating light for about twelve months, when the weather was so fine and the sea so smooth that even here he felt but little or no motion, excepting at the turn of the tide, when the vessel gets into what the seamen term the _trough of the sea_. at six a.m. mr. watt, who conducted the operations of the railways and beacon-house, had landed with nine artificers. at half-past one p.m. mr. peter logan had also landed with fifteen masons, and immediately proceeded to set up the crane. the sheer-crane or apparatus for lifting the stones out of the praam-boats at the eastern creek had been already erected, and the railways now formed about two-thirds of an entire circle round the building: some progress had likewise been made with the reach towards the western landing-place. the floors being laid, the beacon now assumed the appearance of a habitation. the _smeaton_ was at her moorings, with the _fernie_ praam-boat astern, for which she was laying down moorings, and the tender being also at her station, the bell rock had again put on its former busy aspect. wednesday, 31st may. the landing-master's bell, often no very favourite sound, rung at six this morning; but on this occasion, it is believed, it was gladly received by all on board, as the welcome signal of the return of better weather. the masons laid thirteen stones to-day, which the seamen had landed, together with other building materials. during these twenty-four hours the wind was from the south, blowing fresh breezes, accompanied with showers of snow. in the morning the snow showers were so thick that it was with difficulty the landing-master, who always steered the leading boat, could make his way to the rock through the drift. but at the bell rock neither snow nor rain, nor fog nor wind, retarded the progress of the work, if unaccompanied by a heavy swell or breach of the sea. the weather during the months of april and may had been uncommonly boisterous, and so cold that the thermometer seldom exceeded 40âº, while the barometer was generally about 29.50. we had not only hail and sleet, but the snow on the last day of may lay on the decks and rigging of the ship to the depth of about three inches; and, although now entering upon the month of june, the length of the day was the chief indication of summer. yet such is the effect of habit, and such was the expertness of the landing-master's crew, that, even in this description of weather, seldom a tide's work was lost. such was the ardour and zeal of the heads of the several departments at the rock, including mr. peter logan, foreman builder, mr. francis watt, foreman millwright, and captain wilson, landing-master, that it was on no occasion necessary to address them, excepting in the way of precaution or restraint. under these circumstances, however, the writer not unfrequently felt considerable anxiety, of which this day's experience will afford an example. thursday, 1st june. this morning, at a quarter-past eight, the artificers were landed as usual, and, after three hours and three-quarters' work, five stones were laid, the greater part of this tide having been taken up in completing the boring and trenailing of the stones formerly laid. at noon the writer, with the seamen and artificers, proceeded to the tender, leaving on the beacon the joiners, and several of those who were troubled with sea-sickness--among whom was mr. logan, who remained with mr. watt--counting altogether eleven persons. during the first and middle parts of these twenty-four hours the wind was from the east, blowing what the seamen term "fresh breezes"; but in the afternoon it shifted to e.n.e., accompanied with so heavy a swell of sea that the _smeaton_ and tender struck their topmasts, launched in their bolt-sprits, and "made all snug" for a gale. at four p.m. the _smeaton_ was obliged to slip her moorings, and passed the tender, drifting before the wind, with only the foresail set. in passing, mr. pool hailed that he must run for the firth of forth to prevent the vessel from "riding under." on board of the tender the writer's chief concern was about the eleven men left upon the beacon. directions were accordingly given that everything about the vessel should be put in the best possible state, to present as little resistance to the wind as possible, that she might have the better chance of riding out the gale. among these preparations the best bower cable was bent, so as to have a second anchor in readiness in case the mooring-hawser should give way, that every means might be used for keeping the vessel within sight of the prisoners on the beacon, and thereby keep them in as good spirits as possible. from the same motive the boats were kept afloat that they might be less in fear of the vessel leaving her station. the landing-master had, however, repeatedly expressed his anxiety for the safety of the boats, and wished much to have them hoisted on board. at seven p.m. one of the boats, as he feared, was unluckily filled with sea from a wave breaking into her, and it was with great difficulty that she could be baled out and got on board, with the loss of her oars, rudder, and loose thwarts. such was the motion of the ship that in taking this boat on board her gunwale was stove in, and she otherwise received considerable damage. night approached, but it was still found quite impossible to go near the rock. consulting, therefore, the safety of the second boat, she also was hoisted on board of the tender. at this time the cabins of the beacon were only partially covered, and had neither been provided with bedding nor a proper fireplace, while the stock of provisions was but slender. in these uncomfortable circumstances the people on the beacon were left for the night, nor was the situation of those on board of the tender much better. the rolling and pitching motion of the ship was excessive; and, excepting to those who had been accustomed to a residence in the floating light, it seemed quite intolerable. nothing was heard but the hissing of the winds and the creaking of the bulkheads or partitions of the ship; the night was, therefore, spent in the most unpleasant reflections upon the condition of the people on the beacon, especially in the prospect of the tender being driven from her moorings. but, even in such a case, it afforded some consolation that the stability of the fabric was never doubted, and that the boats of the floating light were at no great distance, and ready to render the people on the rock the earliest assistance which the weather would permit. the writer's cabin being in the sternmost part of the ship, which had what sailors term a good entry, or was sharp built, the sea, as before noticed, struck her counter with so much violence that the water, with a rushing noise, continually forced its way up the rudder-case, lifted the valve of the water-closet, and overran the cabin floor. in these circumstances daylight was eagerly looked for, and hailed with delight, as well by those afloat as by the artificers upon the rock. friday, 2nd june. in the course of the night the writer held repeated conversations with the officer on watch, who reported that the weather continued much in the same state, and that the barometer still indicated 29.20 inches. at six a.m. the landing-master considered the weather to have somewhat moderated; and, from certain appearances of the sky, he was of opinion that a change for the better would soon take place. he accordingly proposed to attempt a landing at low-water, and either get the people off the rock, or at least ascertain what state they were in. at nine a.m. he left the vessel with a boat well manned, carrying with him a supply of cooked provisions and a tea-kettle full of mulled port wine for the people on the beacon, who had not had any regular diet for about thirty hours, while they were exposed during that period, in a great measure, both to the winds and the sprays of the sea. the boat having succeeded in landing, she returned at eleven a.m. with the artificers, who had got off with considerable difficulty, and who were heartily welcomed by all on board. upon inquiry it appeared that three of the stones last laid upon the building had been partially lifted from their beds by the force of the sea, and were now held only by the trenails, and that the cast-iron sheer-crane had again been thrown down and completely broken. with regard to the beacon, the sea at high-water had lifted part of the mortar gallery or lowest floor, and washed away all the lime-casks and other movable articles from it; but the principal parts of this fabric had sustained no damage. on pressing messrs. logan and watt on the situation of things in the course of the night, mr. logan emphatically said; "that the beacon had an _ill-faured[15] twist_ when the sea broke upon it at high-water, but that they were not very apprehensive of danger." on inquiring as to how they spent the night, it appeared that they had made shift to keep a small fire burning, and by means of some old sails defended themselves pretty well from the sea sprays. it was particularly mentioned that by the exertions of james glen, one of the joiners, a number of articles were saved from being washed off the mortar gallery. glen was also very useful in keeping up the spirits of the forlorn party. in the early part of life he had undergone many curious adventures at sea, which he now recounted somewhat after the manner of the tales of the "arabian nights." when one observed that the beacon was a most comfortless lodging, glen would presently introduce some of his exploits and hardships, in comparison with which the state of things at the beacon bore an aspect of comfort and happiness. looking to their slender stock of provisions, and their perilous and uncertain chance of speedy relief, he would launch out into an account of one of his expeditions in the north sea, when the vessel, being much disabled in a storm, was driven before the wind with the loss of almost all their provisions; and the ship being much infested with rats, the crew hunted these vermin with great eagerness to help their scanty allowance. by such means glen had the address to make his companions, in some measure, satisfied, or at least passive, with regard to their miserable prospects upon this half-tide rock in the middle of the ocean. this incident is noticed, more particularly, to show the effects of such a happy turn of mind, even under the most distressing and ill-fated circumstances. saturday, 17th june. at eight a.m. the artificers and sailors, forty-five in number, landed on the rock, and after four hours' work seven stones were laid. the remainder of this tide, from the threatening appearance of the weather, was occupied in trenailing and making all things as secure as possible. at twelve noon the rock and building were again overflowed, when the masons and seamen went on board of the tender, but mr. watt, with his squad of ten men, remained on the beacon throughout the day. as it blew fresh from the n.w. in the evening, it was found impracticable either to land the building artificers or to take the artificers off the beacon, and they were accordingly left there all night, but in circumstances very different from those of the 1st of this month. the house, being now in a more complete state, was provided with bedding, and they spent the night pretty well, though they complained of having been much disturbed at the time of high-water by the shaking and tremulous motion of their house and by the plashing noise of the sea upon the mortar gallery. here james glen's versatile powers were again at work in cheering up those who seemed to be alarmed, and in securing everything as far as possible. on this occasion he had only to recall to the recollections of some of them the former night which they had spent on the beacon, the wind and sea being then much higher, and their habitation in a far less comfortable state. the wind still continuing to blow fresh from the n.w., at five p.m. the writer caused a signal to be made from the tender for the _smeaton_ and _patriot_ to slip their moorings, when they ran for lunan bay, an anchorage on the east side of the redhead. those on board of the tender spent but a very rough night, and perhaps slept less soundly than their companions on the beacon, especially as the wind was at n.w., which caused the vessel to ride with her stern towards the bell rock; so that, in the event of anything giving way, she could hardly have escaped being stranded upon it. sunday, 18th june. the weather having moderated to-day, the wind shifted to the westward. at a quarter-past nine a.m. the artificers landed from the tender and had the pleasure to find their friends who had been left on the rock quite hearty, alleging that the beacon was the preferable quarters of the two. saturday, 24th june. mr. peter logan, the foreman builder, and his squad, twenty-one in number, landed this morning at three o'clock, and continued at work four hours and a quarter, and after laying seventeen stones returned to the tender. at six a.m. mr. francis watt and his squad of twelve men landed, and proceeded with their respective operations at the beacon and railways, and were left on the rock during the whole day without the necessity of having any communication with the tender, the kitchen of the beacon-house being now fitted up. it was to-day, also, that peter fortune--a most obliging and well-known character in the lighthouse service--was removed from the tender to the beacon as cook and steward, with a stock of provisions as ample as his limited storeroom would admit. when as many stones were built as comprised this day's work, the demand for mortar was proportionally increased, and the task of the mortar-makers on these occasions was both laborious and severe. this operation was chiefly performed by john watt--a strong, active quarrier by profession,--who was a perfect character in his way, and extremely zealous in his department. while the operations of the mortar-makers continued, the forge upon their gallery was not generally in use; but, as the working hours of the builders extended with the height of the building, the forge could not be so long wanted, and then a sad confusion often ensued upon the circumscribed floor of the mortar gallery, as the operations of watt and his assistants trenched greatly upon those of the smiths. under these circumstances the boundary of the smiths was much circumscribed, and they were personally annoyed, especially in blowy weather, with the dust of the lime in its powdered state. the mortar-makers, on the other hand, were often not a little distressed with the heat of the fire and the sparks elicited on the anvil, and not unaptly complained that they were placed between "the devil and the deep sea." sunday, 25th june. the work being now about ten feet in height, admitted of a rope-ladder being distended[16] between the beacon and the building. by this "jacob's ladder," as the seamen termed it, a communication was kept up with the beacon while the rock was considerably under water. one end of it being furnished with tackle-blocks, was fixed to the beams of the beacon, at the level of the mortar gallery, while the further end was connected with the upper course of the building by means of two lewis bats which were lifted from course to course as the work advanced. in the same manner a rope furnished with a travelling pulley was distended for the purpose of transporting the mortar-buckets, and other light articles between the beacon and the building, which also proved a great conveniency to the work. at this period the rope-ladder and tackle for the mortar had a descent from the beacon to the building; by and by they were on a level, and towards the end of the season, when the solid part had attained its full height, the ascent was from the mortar gallery to the building. friday, 30th june. the artificers landed on the rock this morning at a quarter-past six, and remained at work five hours. the cooking apparatus being now in full operation, all hands had breakfast on the beacon at the usual hour, and remained there throughout the day. the crane upon the building had to be raised to-day from the eighth to the ninth course, an operation which now required all the strength that could be mustered for working the guy-tackles; for as the top of the crane was at this time about thirty-five feet above the rock, it became much more unmanageable. while the beam was in the act of swinging round from one guy to another, a great strain was suddenly brought upon the opposite tackle, with the end of which the artificers had very improperly neglected to take a turn round some stationary object, which would have given them the complete command of the tackle. owing to this simple omission, the crane got a preponderancy to one side, and fell upon the building with a terrible crash. the surrounding artificers immediately flew in every direction to get out of its way; but michael wishart, the principal builder, having unluckily stumbled upon one of the uncut trenails, fell upon his back. his body fortunately got between the movable beam and the upright shaft of the crane, and was thus saved; but his feet got entangled with the wheels of the crane and were severely injured. wishart, being a robust young man, endured his misfortune with wonderful firmness; he was laid upon one of the narrow framed beds of the beacon and despatched in a boat to the tender, where the writer was when this accident happened, not a little alarmed on missing the crane from the top of the building, and at the same time seeing a boat rowing towards the vessel with great speed. when the boat came alongside with poor wishart, stretched upon a bed covered with blankets, a moment of great anxiety followed, which was, however, much relieved when, on stepping into the boat, he was accosted by wishart, though in a feeble voice, and with an aspect pale as death from excessive bleeding. directions having been immediately given to the coxswain to apply to mr. kennedy at the workyard to procure the best surgical aid, the boat was sent off without delay to arbroath. the writer then landed at the rock, when the crane was in a very short time got into its place and again put in a working state. monday, 3rd july. the writer having come to arbroath with the yacht, had an opportunity of visiting michael wishart, the artificer who had met with so severe an accident at the rock on the 30th ult., and had the pleasure to find him in a state of recovery. from dr. stevenson's account, under whose charge he had been placed, hopes were entertained that amputation would not be necessary, as his patient still kept free of fever or any appearance of mortification; and wishart expressed a hope that he might, at least, be ultimately capable of keeping the light at the bell rock, as it was not now likely that he would assist further in building the house. saturday, 8th july. it was remarked to-day, with no small demonstration of joy, that the tide, being neap, did not, for the first time, overflow the building at high-water. flags were accordingly hoisted on the beacon-house and crane on the top of the building, which were repeated from the floating light, lighthouse yacht, tender, _smeaton, patriot_, and the two praams. a salute of three guns was also fired from the yacht at high-water, when, all the artificers being collected on the top of the building, three cheers were given in testimony of this important circumstance. a glass of rum was then served out to all hands on the rock and on board of the respective ships. sunday, 16th july. besides laying, boring, trenailing, wedging, and grouting thirty-two stones, several other operations were proceeded with on the rock at low-water, when some of the artificers were employed at the railways and at high-water at the beacon-house. the seamen having prepared a quantity of tarpaulin or cloth laid over with successive coats of hot tar, the joiners had just completed the covering of the roof with it. this sort of covering was lighter and more easily managed than sheet-lead in such a situation. as a further defence against the weather the whole exterior of this temporary residence was painted with three coats of white-lead paint. between the timber framing of the habitable part of the beacon the interstices were to be stuffed with moss as a light substance that would resist dampness and check sifting winds; the whole interior was then to be lined with green baize cloth, so that both without and within the cabins were to have a very comfortable appearance. although the building artificers generally remained on the rock throughout the day, and the millwrights, joiners, and smiths, while their number was considerable, remained also during the night, yet the tender had hitherto been considered as their night quarters. but the wind having in the course of the day shifted to the n.w., and as the passage to the tender, in the boats, was likely to be attended with difficulty, the whole of the artificers, with mr. logan, the foreman, preferred remaining all night on the beacon, which had of late become the solitary abode of george forsyth, a jobbing upholsterer, who had been employed in lining the beacon-house with cloth and in fitting up the bedding. forsyth was a tall, thin, and rather loose-made man, who had an utter aversion at climbing upon the trap-ladders of the beacon, but especially at the process of boating, and the motion of the ship, which he said "was death itself." he therefore pertinaciously insisted with the landing-master in being left upon the beacon, with a small black dog as his only companion. the writer, however, felt some delicacy in leaving a single individual upon the rock, who must have been so very helpless in case of accident. this fabric had, from the beginning, been rather intended by the writer to guard against accident from the loss or damage of a boat, and as a place for making mortar, a smith's shop, and a store for tools during the working months, than as permanent quarters; nor was it at all meant to be possessed until the joiner-work was completely finished, and his own cabin, and that for the foreman, in readiness, when it was still to be left to the choice of the artificers to occupy the tender or the beacon. he, however, considered forsyth's partiality and confidence in the latter as rather a fortunate occurrence. wednesday, 19th july. the whole of the artificers, twenty-three in number, now removed of their own accord from the tender, to lodge in the beacon, together with peter fortune, a person singularly adapted for a residence of this kind, both from the urbanity of his manners and the versatility of his talents. fortune, in his person, was of small stature, and rather corpulent. besides being a good scots cook, he had acted both as groom and house-servant; he had been a soldier, a sutler, a writer's clerk, and an apothecary, from which he possessed the art of writing and suggesting recipes, and had hence, also, perhaps, acquired a turn for making collections in natural history. but in his practice in surgery on the bell rock, for which he received an annual fee of three guineas, he is supposed to have been rather partial to the use of the lancet. in short, peter was the _factotum_ of the beacon-house, where he ostensibly acted in the several capacities of cook, steward, surgeon, and barber, and kept a statement of the rations or expenditure of the provisions with the strictest integrity. in the present important state of the building, when it had just attained the height of sixteen feet, and the upper courses, and especially the imperfect one, were in the wash of the heaviest seas, an express boat arrived at the rock with a letter from mr. kennedy, of the workyard, stating that in consequence of the intended expedition to walcheren, an embargo had been laid on shipping at all the ports of great britain: that both the _smeaton_ and _patriot_ were detained at arbroath, and that but for the proper view which mr. ramsey, the port officer, had taken of his orders, neither the express boat nor one which had been sent with provisions and necessaries for the floating light would have been permitted to leave the harbour. the writer set off without delay for arbroath, and on landing used every possible means with the official people, but their orders were deemed so peremptory that even boats were not permitted to sail from any port upon the coast. in the meantime, the collector of the customs at montrose applied to the board at edinburgh, but could, of himself, grant no relief to the bell rock shipping. at this critical period mr. adam duff, then sheriff of forfarshire, now of the county of edinburgh, and _ex officio_ one of the commissioners of the northern lighthouses, happened to be at arbroath. mr. duff took an immediate interest in representing the circumstances of the case to the board of customs at edinburgh. but such were the doubts entertained on the subject that, on having previously received the appeal from the collector at montrose, the case had been submitted to the consideration of the lords of the treasury, whose decision was now waited for. in this state of things the writer felt particularly desirous to get the thirteenth course finished, that the building might be in a more secure state in the event of bad weather. an opportunity was therefore embraced on the 25th, in sailing with provisions for the floating light, to carry the necessary stones to the rock for this purpose, which were landed and built on the 26th and 27th. but so closely was the watch kept up that a custom-house officer was always placed on board of the _smeaton_ and _patriot_ while they were afloat, till the embargo was especially removed from the lighthouse vessels. the artificers at the bell rock had been reduced to fifteen, who were regularly supplied with provisions, along with the crew of the floating light, mainly through the port officer's liberal interpretation of his orders. tuesday, 1st aug. there being a considerable swell and breach of sea upon the rock yesterday, the stones could not be got landed till the day following, when the wind shifted to the southward and the weather improved. but to-day no less than seventy-eight blocks of stone were landed, of which forty were built, which completed the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth courses. the number of workmen now resident in the beacon-house were augmented to twenty-four, including the landing-master's crew from the tender and the boat's crew from the floating light, who assisted at landing the stones. those daily at work upon the rock at this period amounted to forty-six. a cabin had been laid out for the writer on the beacon, but his apartment had been the last which was finished, and he had not yet taken possession of it; for though he generally spent the greater part of the day, at this time, upon the rock, yet he always slept on board of the tender. friday, 11th aug. the wind was at s.e. on the 11th, and there was so very heavy a swell of sea upon the rock that no boat could approach it. saturday, 12th aug. the gale still continuing from the s.e., the sea broke with great violence both upon the building and the beacon. the former being twenty-three feet in height, the upper part of the crane erected on it having been lifted from course to course as the building advanced, was now about thirty-six feet above the rock. from observations made on the rise of the sea by this crane, the artificers were enabled to estimate its height to be about fifty feet above the rock, while the sprays fell with a most alarming noise upon their cabins. at low-water, in the evening, a signal was made from the beacon, at the earnest desire of some of the artificers, for the boats to come to the rock; and although this could not be effected without considerable hazard, it was, however, accomplished, when twelve of their number, being much afraid, applied to the foreman to be relieved, and went on board of the tender. but the remaining fourteen continued on the rock, with mr. peter logan, the foreman builder. although this rule of allowing an option to every man either to remain on the rock or return to the tender was strictly adhered to, yet, as it would have been extremely inconvenient to have had the men parcelled out in this manner, it became necessary to embrace the first opportunity of sending those who had left the beacon to the workyard, with as little appearance of intention as possible, lest it should hurt their feelings, or prevent others from acting according to their wishes, either in landing on the rock or remaining on the beacon. tuesday, 15th aug. the wind had fortunately shifted to the s.w. this morning, and though a considerable breach was still upon the rock, yet the landing-master's crew were enabled to get one praam-boat, lightly loaded with five stones, brought in safety to the western creek; these stones were immediately laid by the artificers, who gladly embraced the return of good weather to proceed with their operations. the writer had this day taken possession of his cabin in the beacon-house. it was small, but commodious, and was found particularly convenient in coarse and blowing weather, instead of being obliged to make a passage to the tender in an open boat at all times, both during the day and the night, which was often attended with much difficulty and danger. saturday, 19th aug. for some days past the weather had been occasionally so thick and foggy that no small difficulty was experienced in going even between the rock and the tender, though quite at hand. but the floating light's boat lost her way so far in returning on board that the first land she made, after rowing all night, was fifeness, a distance of about fourteen miles. the weather having cleared in the morning, the crew stood off again for the floating light, and got on board in a half-famished and much exhausted state, having been constantly rowing for about sixteen hours. sunday, 20th aug. the weather being very favourable to-day, fifty-three stones were landed, and the builders were not a little gratified in having built the twenty-second course, consisting of fifty-one stones, being the first course which had been completed in one day. this, as a matter of course, produced three hearty cheers. at twelve noon prayers were read for the first time on the bell rock; those present, counting thirty, were crowded into the upper apartment of the beacon, where the writer took a central position, while two of the artificers, joining hands, supported the bible. friday, 25th aug. to-day the artificers laid forty-five stones, which completed the twenty-fourth course, reckoning above the first entire one, and the twenty-sixth above the rock. this finished the solid part of the building, and terminated the height of the outward casing of granite, which is thirty-one feet six inches above the rock or site of the foundation-stone, and about seventeen feet above high water of spring-tides. being a particular crisis in the progress of the lighthouse, the landing and laying of the last stone for the season was observed with the usual ceremonies. from observations often made by the writer, in so far as such can be ascertained, it appears that no wave in the open seas, in an unbroken state, rises more than from seven to nine feet above the general surface of the ocean. the bell rock lighthouse may therefore now be considered at from eight to ten feet above the height of the waves; and, although the sprays and heavy seas have often been observed, in the present state of the building, to rise to the height of fifty feet, and fall with a tremendous noise on the beacon-house, yet such seas were not likely to make any impression on a mass of solid masonry, containing about 1400 tons. wednesday, 30th aug. the whole of the artificers left the rock at mid-day, when the tender made sail for arbroath, which she reached about six p.m. the vessel being decorated with colours, and having fired a salute of three guns on approaching the harbour, the workyard artificers, with a multitude of people, assembled at the harbour, when mutual cheering and congratulations took place between those afloat and those on the quays. the tender had now, with little exception, been six months on the station at the bell rock, and during the last four months few of the squad of builders had been ashore. in particular, mr. peter logan, the foreman, and mr. robert selkirk, principal builder, had never once left the rock. the artificers, having made good wages during their stay, like seamen upon a return voyage, were extremely happy, and spent the evening with much innocent mirth and jollity. in reflecting upon the state of the matters at the bell rock during the working months, when the writer was much with the artificers, nothing can equal the happy manner in which these excellent workmen spent their time. they always went from arbroath to their arduous task cheering, and they generally returned in the same hearty state. while at the rock, between the tides, they amused themselves in reading, fishing, music, playing cards, draughts, etc., or in sporting with one another. in the workyard at arbroath the young men were almost, without exception, employed in the evening at school, in writing and arithmetic, and not a few were learning architectural drawing, for which they had every convenience and facility, and were, in a very obliging manner, assisted in their studies by mr. david logan, clerk of the works. it therefore affords the most pleasing reflections to look back upon the pursuits of about sixty individuals who for years conducted themselves, on all occasions, in a sober and rational manner. iv operations of 1810 thursday, 10th may. the wind had shifted to-day to w.n.w., when the writer, with considerable difficulty, was enabled to land upon the rock for the first time this season, at ten a.m. upon examining the state of the building, and apparatus in general, he had the satisfaction to find everything in good order. the mortar in all the joints was perfectly entire. the building, now thirty feet in height, was thickly coated with _fuci_ to the height of about fifteen feet, calculating from the rock; on the eastern side, indeed, the growth of seaweed was observable to the full height of thirty feet, and even on the top or upper bed of the last-laid course, especially towards the eastern side, it had germinated, so as to render walking upon it somewhat difficult. the beacon-house was in a perfectly sound state, and apparently just as it had been left in the month of november. but the tides being neap, the lower parts, particularly where the beams rested on the rock, could not now be seen. the floor of the mortar gallery having been already laid down by mr. watt and his men on a former visit, was merely soaked with the sprays; but the joisting-beams which supported it had, in the course of the winter, been covered with a fine downy conferva produced by the range of the sea. they were also a good deal whitened with the mute of the cormorant and other sea-fowls, which had roosted upon the beacon in winter. upon ascending to the apartments, it was found that the motion of the sea had thrown open the door of the cook-house: this was only shut with a single latch, that in case of shipwreck at the bell rock the mariner might find ready access to the shelter of this forlorn habitation, where a supply of provisions was kept; and being within two miles and a half of the floating light, a signal could readily be observed, when a boat might be sent to his relief as soon as the weather permitted. an arrangement for this purpose formed one of the instructions on board of the floating light, but happily no instance occurred for putting it in practice. the hearth or fireplace of the cook-house was built of brick in as secure a manner as possible to prevent accident from fire; but some of the plaster-work had shaken loose, from its damp state and the tremulous motion of the beacon in stormy weather. the writer next ascended to the floor which was occupied by the cabins of himself and his assistants, which were in tolerably good order, having only a damp and musty smell. the barrack for the artificers, over all, was next visited; it had now a very dreary and deserted appearance when its former thronged state was recollected. in some parts the water had come through the boarding, and had discoloured the lining of green cloth, but it was, nevertheless, in a good habitable condition. while the seamen were employed in landing a stock of provisions, a few of the artificers set to work with great eagerness to sweep and clean the several apartments. the exterior of the beacon was, in the meantime, examined, and found in perfect order. the painting, though it had a somewhat blanched appearance, adhered firmly both on the sides and roof, and only two or three panes of glass were broken in the cupola, which had either been blown out by the force of the wind or perhaps broken by sea-fowl. having on this occasion continued upon the building and beacon a considerable time after the tide had begun to flow, the artificers were occupied in removing the forge from the top of the building, to which the gangway or wooden bridge gave great facility; and, although it stretched or had a span of forty-two feet, its construction was extremely simple, while the roadway was perfectly firm and steady. in returning from this visit to the rock every one was pretty well soused in spray before reaching the tender at two o'clock p.m., where things awaited the landing party in as comfortable a way as such a situation would admit. friday, 11th may. the wind was still easterly, accompanied with rather a heavy swell of sea for the operations in hand. a landing was, however, made this morning, when the artificers were immediately employed in scraping the seaweed off the upper course of the building, in order to apply the moulds of the first course of the staircase, that the joggle-holes might be marked off in the upper course of the solid. this was also necessary previously to the writer's fixing the position of the entrance door, which was regulated chiefly by the appearance of the growth of the seaweed on the building, indicating the direction of the heaviest seas, on the opposite side of which the door was placed. the landing-master's crew succeeded in towing into the creek on the western side of the rock the praam-boat with the balance-crane, which had now been on board of the praam for five days. the several pieces of this machine, having been conveyed along the railways upon the waggons to a position immediately under the bridge, were elevated to its level, or thirty feet above the rock, in the following manner. a chain-tackle was suspended over a pulley from the cross-beam connecting the tops of the kingposts of the bridge, which was worked by a winch-machine with wheel, pinion, and barrel, round which last the chain was wound. this apparatus was placed on the beacon side of the bridge, at the distance of about twelve feet from the cross-beam and pulley in the middle of the bridge. immediately under the cross-beam a hatch was formed in the roadway of the bridge, measuring seven feet in length and five feet in breadth, made to shut with folding boards like a double door, through which stones and other articles were raised; the folding doors were then let down, and the stone or load was gently lowered upon a waggon which was wheeled on railway trucks towards the lighthouse. in this manner the several castings of the balance-crane were got up to the top of the solid of the building. the several apartments of the beacon-house having been cleaned out and supplied with bedding, a sufficient stock of provisions was put into the store, when peter fortune, formerly noticed, lighted his fire in the beacon for the first time this season. sixteen artificers at the same time mounted to their barrack-room, and all the foremen of the works also took possession of their cabin, all heartily rejoiced at getting rid of the trouble of boating and the sickly motion of the tender. saturday, 12th may. the wind was at e.n.e., blowing so fresh, and accompanied with so much sea, that no stones could be landed to-day. the people on the rock, however, were busily employed in screwing together the balance-crane, cutting out the joggle-holes in the upper course, and preparing all things for commencing the building operations. sunday, 13th may. the weather still continues boisterous, although the barometer has all the while stood at about 30 inches. towards evening the wind blew so fresh at e. by s. that the boats both of the _smeaton_ and tender were obliged to be hoisted in, and it was feared that the _smeaton_ would have to slip her moorings. the people on the rock were seen busily employed, and had the balance-crane apparently ready for use, but no communication could be had with them to-day. monday, 14th may. the wind continued to blow so fresh, and the _smeaton_ rode so heavily with her cargo, that at noon a signal was made for her getting under weigh, when she stood towards arbroath; and on board of the tender we are still without any communication with the people on the rock, where the sea was seen breaking over the top of the building in great sprays, and raging with much agitation among the beams of the beacon. thursday, 17th may. the wind, in the course of the day, had shifted from north to west; the sea being also considerably less, a boat landed on the rock at six p.m., for the first time since the 11th, with the provisions and water brought off by the _patriot_. the inhabitants of the beacon were all well, but tired above measure for want of employment, as the balance-crane and apparatus was all in readiness. under these circumstances they felt no less desirous of the return of good weather than those afloat, who were continually tossed with the agitation of the sea. the writer, in particular, felt himself almost as much fatigued and worn-out as he had been at any period since the commencement of the work. the very backward state of the weather at so advanced a period of the season unavoidably created some alarm, lest he should be overtaken with bad weather at a late period of the season, with the building operations in an unfinished state. these apprehensions were, no doubt, rather increased by the inconveniences of his situation afloat, as the tender rolled and pitched excessively at times. this being also his first off-set for the season, every bone of his body felt sore with preserving a sitting posture while he endeavoured to pass away the time in reading; as for writing, it was wholly impracticable. he had several times entertained thoughts of leaving the station for a few days and going into arbroath with the tender till the weather should improve; but as the artificers had been landed on the rock he was averse to this at the commencement of the season, knowing also that he would be equally uneasy in every situation till the first cargo was landed: and he therefore resolved to continue at his post until this should be effected. friday, 18th may. the wind being now n.w., the sea was considerably run down, and this morning at five o'clock the landing-master's crew, thirteen in number, left the tender; and having now no detention with the landing of artificers, they proceeded to unmoor the _hedderwick_ praam-boat, and towed her alongside of the _smeaton_: and in the course of the day twenty-three blocks of stone, three casks of pozzolano, three of sand, three of lime, and one of roman cement, together with three bundles of trenails and three of wedges, were all landed on the rock and raised to the top of the building by means of the tackle suspended from the cross-beam on the middle of the bridge. the stones were then moved along the bridge on the waggon to the building within reach of the balance-crane, with which they were laid in their respective places on the building. the masons immediately thereafter proceeded to bore the trenail-holes into the course below, and otherwise to complete the one in hand. when the first stone was to be suspended by the balance-crane, the bell on the beacon was rung, and all the artificers and seamen were collected on the building. three hearty cheers were given while it was lowered into its place, and the steward served round a glass of rum, when success was drunk to the further progress of the building. sunday, 20th may. the wind was southerly to-day, but there was much less sea than yesterday, and the landing-master's crew were enabled to discharge and land twenty-three pieces of stone and other articles for the work. the artificers had completed the laying of the twenty-seventh or first course of the staircase this morning, and in the evening they finished the boring, trenailing, wedging, and grouting it with mortar. at twelve o'clock noon the beacon-house bell was rung, and all hands were collected on the top of the building, where prayers were read for the first time on the lighthouse, which forcibly struck every one, and had, upon the whole, a very impressive effect. from the hazardous situation of the beacon-house with regard to fire, being composed wholly of timber, there was no small risk from accident: and on this account one of the most steady of the artificers was appointed to see that the fire of the cooking-house, and the lights in general, were carefully extinguished at stated hours. monday, 4th june. this being the birthday of our much-revered sovereign king george iii, now in the fiftieth year of his reign, the shipping of the lighthouse service were this morning decorated with colours according to the taste of their respective captains. flags were also hoisted upon the beacon-house and balance-crane on the top of the building. at twelve noon a salute was fired from the tender, when the king's health was drunk, with all the honours, both on the rock and on board of the shipping. tuesday, 5th june. as the lighthouse advanced in height, the cubical contents of the stones were less, but they had to be raised to a greater height; and the walls, being thinner, were less commodious for the necessary machinery and the artificers employed, which considerably retarded the work. inconvenience was also occasionally experienced from the men dropping their coats, hats, mallets, and other tools, at high-water, which were carried away by the tide; and the danger to the people themselves was now greatly increased. had any of them fallen from the beacon or building at high-water, while the landing-master's crew were generally engaged with the craft at a distance, it must have rendered the accident doubly painful to those on the rock, who at this time had no boat, and consequently no means of rendering immediate and prompt assistance. in such cases it would have been too late to have got a boat by signal from the tender. a small boat, which could be lowered at pleasure, was therefore suspended by a pair of davits projected from the cook-house, the keel being about thirty feet from the rock. this boat, with its tackle, was put under the charge of james glen, of whose exertions on the beacon mention has already been made, and who, having in early life been a seaman, was also very expert in the management of a boat. a life-buoy was likewise suspended from the bridge, to which a coil of line two hundred fathoms in length was attached, which could be let out to a person falling into the water, or to the people in the boat, should they not be able to work her with the oars. thursday, 7th june. to-day twelve stones were landed on the rock, being the remainder of the _patriot's_ cargo; and the artificers built the thirty-ninth course, consisting of fourteen stones. the bell rock works had now a very busy appearance, as the lighthouse was daily getting more into form. besides the artificers and their cook, the writer and his servant were also lodged on the beacon, counting in all twenty-nine; and at low-water the landing-master's crew, consisting of from twelve to fifteen seamen, were employed in transporting the building materials, working the landing apparatus on the rock, and dragging the stone waggons along the railways. friday, 8th june. in the course of this day the weather varied much. in the morning it was calm, in the middle part of the day there were light airs of wind from the south, and in the evening fresh breezes from the east. the barometer in the writer's cabin in the beacon-house oscillated from 30 inches to 30.42, and the weather was extremely pleasant. this, in any situation, forms one of the chief comforts of life; but, as may easily be conceived, it was doubly so to people stuck, as it were, upon a pinnacle in the middle of the ocean. sunday, 10th june. one of the praam-boats had been brought to the rock with eleven stones, notwithstanding the perplexity which attended the getting of those formerly landed taken up to the building. mr. peter logan, the foreman builder, interposed and prevented this cargo from being delivered; but the landing-master's crew were exceedingly averse to this arrangement, from an idea that "ill luck" would in future attend the praam, her cargo, and those who navigated her, from thus reversing her voyage. it may be noticed that this was the first instance of a praam-boat having been sent from the bell rock with any part of her cargo on board, and was considered so uncommon an occurrence that it became a topic of conversation among the seamen and artificers. tuesday, 12th june. to-day the stones formerly sent from the rock were safely landed, notwithstanding the augury of the seamen in consequence of their being sent away two days before. thursday, 14th june. to-day twenty-seven stones and eleven joggle-pieces were landed, part of which consisted of the forty-seventh course, forming the storeroom floor. the builders were at work this morning by four o'clock, in the hopes of being able to accomplish the laying of the eighteen stones of this course. but at eight o'clock in the evening they had still two to lay, and as the stones of this course were very unwieldy, being six feet in length, they required much precaution and care both in lifting and laying them. it was only on the writer's suggestion to mr. logan that the artificers were induced to leave off, as they had intended to complete this floor before going to bed. the two remaining stones were, however, laid in their places without mortar when the bell on the beacon was rung, and, all hands being collected on the top of the building, three hearty cheers were given on covering the first apartment. the steward then served out a dram to each, when the whole retired to their barrack much fatigued, but with the anticipation of the most perfect repose even in the "hurricane-house," amidst the dashing seas on the bell rock. while the workmen were at breakfast and dinner it was the writer's usual practice to spend his time on the walls of the building, which, notwithstanding the narrowness of the track, nevertheless formed his principal walk when the rock was under water. but this afternoon he had his writing-desk set upon the storeroom floor, when he wrote to mrs. stevenson--certainly the first letter dated from the bell rock _lighthouse_--giving a detail of the fortunate progress of the work, with an assurance that the lighthouse would soon be completed at the rate at which it now proceeded; and, the _patriot_ having sailed for arbroath in the evening, he felt no small degree of pleasure in despatching this communication to his family. the weather still continuing favourable for the operations at the rock, the work proceeded with much energy, through the exertions both of the seamen and artificers. for the more speedy and effectual working of the several tackles in raising the materials as the building advanced in height, and there being a great extent of railway to attend to, which required constant repairs, two additional millwrights were added to the complement on the rock, which, including the writer, now counted thirty-one in all. so crowded was the men's barrack that the beds were ranged five tier in height, allowing only about one foot eight inches for each bed. the artificers commenced this morning at five o'clock, and, in the course of the day, they laid the forty-eighth and forty-ninth courses, consisting each of sixteen blocks. from the favourable state of the weather, and the regular manner in which the work now proceeded, the artificers had generally from four to seven extra hours' work, which, including their stated wages of 3s. 4d., yielded them from 5s. 4d. to about 6s. 10d. per day besides their board; even the postage of their letters was paid while they were at the bell rock. in these advantages the foremen also shared, having about double the pay and amount of premiums of the artificers. the seamen being less out of their element in the bell rock operations than the landsmen, their premiums consisted in a slump sum payable at the end of the season, which extended from three to ten guineas. as the laying of the floors was somewhat tedious, the landing-master and his crew had got considerably beforehand with the building artificers in bringing materials faster to the rock than they could be built. the seamen having, therefore, some spare time, were occasionally employed during fine weather in dredging or grappling for the several mushroom anchors and mooring-chains which had been lost in the vicinity of the bell rock during the progress of the work by the breaking loose and drifting of the floating buoys. to encourage their exertions in this search, five guineas were offered as a premium for each set they should find; and, after much patient application, they succeeded to-day in hooking one of these lost anchors with its chain. it was a general remark at the bell rock, as before noticed, that fish were never plenty in its neighbourhood excepting in good weather. indeed, the seamen used to speculate about the state of the weather from their success in fishing. when the fish disappeared at the rock, it was considered a sure indication that a gale was not far off, as the fish seemed to seek shelter in deeper water from the roughness of the sea during these changes in the weather. at this time the rock, at high-water, was completely covered with podlies, or the fry of the coal-fish, about six or eight inches in length. the artificers sometimes occupied half an hour after breakfast and dinner in catching these little fishes, but were more frequently supplied from the boats of the tender. saturday, 16th june. the landing-master having this day discharged the _smeaton_ and loaded the _hedderwick_ and _dickie_ praam-boats with nineteen stones, they were towed to their respective moorings, when captain wilson, in consequence of the heavy swell of sea, came in his boat to the beacon-house to consult with the writer as to the propriety of venturing the loaded praam-boats with their cargoes to the rock while so much sea was running. after some dubiety expressed on the subject, in which the ardent mind of the landing-master suggested many arguments in favour of his being able to convey the praams in perfect safety, it was acceded to. in bad weather, and especially on occasions of difficulty like the present, mr. wilson, who was an extremely active seaman, measuring about five feet three inches in height, of a robust habit, generally dressed himself in what he called a _monkey jacket_, made of thick duffle cloth, with a pair of dutchman's petticoat trousers, reaching only to his knees, where they were met with a pair of long water-tight boots; with this dress, his glazed hat, and his small brass speaking-trumpet in his hand, he bade defiance to the weather. when he made his appearance in this most suitable attire for the service, his crew seemed to possess additional life, never failing to use their utmost exertions when the captain put on his _storm rigging._ they had this morning commenced loading the praam-boats at four o'clock, and proceeded to tow them into the eastern landing-place, which was accomplished with much dexterity, though not without the risk of being thrown, by the force of the sea, on certain projecting ledges of the rock. in such a case the loss even of a single stone would have greatly retarded the work. for the greater safety in entering the creek it was necessary to put out several warps and guy-ropes to guide the boats into its narrow and intricate entrance; and it frequently happened that the sea made a clean breach over the praams, which not only washed their decks, but completely drenched the crew in water. sunday, 17th june. it was fortunate, in the present state of the weather, that the fiftieth course was in a sheltered spot, within the reach of the tackle of the winch-machine upon the bridge; a few stones were stowed upon the bridge itself, and the remainder upon the building, which kept the artificers at work. the stowing of the materials upon the rock was the department of alexander brebner, mason, who spared no pains in attending to the safety of the stones, and who, in the present state of the work, when the stones were landed faster than could be built, generally worked till the water rose to his middle. at one o'clock to-day the bell rung for prayers, and all hands were collected into the upper barrack-room of the beacon-house, when the usual service was performed. the wind blew very hard in the course of last night from n.e., and to-day the sea ran so high that no boat could approach the rock. during the dinner-hour, when the writer was going to the top of the building as usual, but just as he had entered the door and was about to ascend the ladder, a great noise was heard overhead, and in an instant he was soused in water from a sea which had most unexpectedly come over the walls, though now about fifty-eight feet in height. on making his retreat he found himself completely whitened by the lime, which had mixed with the water while dashing down through the different floors; and, as nearly as he could guess, a quantity equal to about a hogshead had come over the walls, and now streamed out at the door. after having shifted himself, he again sat down in his cabin, the sea continuing to run so high that the builders did not resume their operations on the walls this afternoon. the incident just noticed did not create more surprise in the mind of the writer than the sublime appearance of the waves as they rolled majestically over the rock. this scene he greatly enjoyed while sitting at his cabin window; each wave approached the beacon like a vast scroll unfolding; and in passing discharged a quantity of air, which he not only distinctly felt, but was even sufficient to lift the leaves of a book which lay before him. these waves might be ten or twelve feet in height, and about 250 feet in length, their smaller end being towards the north, where the water was deep, and they were opened or cut through by the interposition of the building and beacon. the gradual manner in which the sea, upon these occasions, is observed to become calm or to subside, is a very remarkable feature of this phenomenon. for example, when a gale is succeeded by a calm, every third or fourth wave forms one of these great seas, which occur in spaces of from three to five minutes, as noted by the writer's watch; but in the course of the next tide they become less frequent, and take off so as to occur only in ten or fifteen minutes; and, singular enough, at the third tide after such gales, the writer has remarked that only one or two of these great waves appear in the course of the whole tide. tuesday, 19th june. the 19th was a very unpleasant and disagreeable day, both for the seamen and artificers, as it rained throughout with little intermission from four a.m. till eleven p.m., accompanied with thunder and lightning, during which period the work nevertheless continued unremittingly and the builders laid the fifty-first and fifty-second courses. this state of weather was no less severe upon the mortar-makers, who required to temper or prepare the mortar of a thicker or thinner consistency, in some measure, according to the state of the weather. from the elevated position of the building, the mortar gallery on the beacon was now much lower, and the lime-buckets were made to traverse upon a rope distended between it and the building. on occasions like the present, however, there was often a difference of opinion between the builders and the mortar-makers. john watt, who had the principal charge of the mortar, was a most active worker, but, being somewhat of an irascible temper, the builders occasionally amused themselves at his expense: for while he was eagerly at work with his large iron-shod pestle in the mortar-tub, they often sent down contradictory orders, some crying, "make it a little stiffer, or thicker, john," while others called out to make it "thinner," to which he generally returned very speedy and sharp replies, so that these conversations at times were rather amusing. during wet weather the situation of the artificers on the top of the building was extremely disagreeable; for although their work did not require great exertion, yet, as each man had his particular part to perform, either in working the crane or in laying the stones, it required the closest application and attention, not only on the part of mr. peter logan, the foreman, who was constantly on the walls, but also of the chief workmen. robert selkirk, the principal builder, for example, had every stone to lay in its place. david cumming, a mason, had the charge of working the tackle of the balance-weight, and james scott, also a mason, took charge of the purchase with which the stones were laid; while the pointing the joints of the walls with cement was intrusted to william reid and william kennedy, who stood upon a scaffold suspended over the walls in rather a frightful manner. the least act of carelessness or inattention on the part of any of these men might have been fatal, not only to themselves, but also to the surrounding workmen, especially if any accident had happened to the crane itself, while the material damage or loss of a single stone would have put an entire stop to the operations until another could have been brought from arbroath. the artificers, having wrought seven and a half hours of extra time to-day, had 3s. 9d. of extra pay, while the foremen had 7s. 6d. over and above their stated pay and board. although, therefore, the work was both hazardous and fatiguing, yet, the encouragement being considerable, they were always very cheerful, and perfectly reconciled to the confinement and other disadvantages of the place. during fine weather, and while the nights were short, the duty on board of the floating light was literally nothing but a waiting on, and therefore one of her boats, with a crew of five men, daily attended the rock, but always returned to the vessel at night. the carpenter, however, was one of those who was left on board of the ship, as he also acted in the capacity of assistant lightkeeper, being, besides, a person who was apt to feel discontent and to be averse to changing his quarters, especially to work with the millwrights and joiners at the rock, who often, for hours together, wrought knee-deep, and not unfrequently up to the middle, in water. mr. watt having about this time made a requisition for another hand, the carpenter was ordered to attend the rock in the floating light's boat. this he did with great reluctance, and found so much fault that he soon got into discredit with his messmates. on this occasion he left the lighthouse service, and went as a sailor in a vessel bound for america--a step which, it is believed, he soon regretted, as, in the course of things, he would, in all probability, have accompanied mr john reid, the principal lightkeeper of the floating light, to the bell rock lighthouse as his principal assistant. the writer had a wish to be of service to this man, as he was one of those who came off to the floating light in the month of september 1807, while she was riding at single anchor after the severe gale of the 7th, at a time when it was hardly possible to make up this vessel's crew; but the crossness of his manner prevented his reaping the benefit of such intentions. friday, 22nd june. the building operations had for some time proceeded more slowly, from the higher parts of the lighthouse requiring much longer time than an equal tonnage of the lower courses. the duty of the landing-master's crew had, upon the whole, been easy of late; for though the work was occasionally irregular, yet the stones being lighter, they were more speedily lifted from the hold of the stone vessel to the deck of the praam-boat, and again to the waggons on the railway, after which they came properly under the charge of the foreman builder. it is, however, a strange, though not an uncommon, feature in the human character, that, when people have least to complain of they are most apt to become dissatisfied, as was now the case with the seamen employed in the bell rock service about their rations of beer. indeed, ever since the carpenter of the floating light, formerly noticed, had been brought to the rock, expressions of discontent had been manifested upon various occasions. this being represented to the writer, he sent for captain wilson, the landing-master, and mr. taylor, commander of the tender, with whom he talked over the subject. they stated that they considered the daily allowance of the seamen in every respect ample, and that, the work being now much lighter than formerly, they had no just ground for complaint; mr. taylor adding that, if those who now complained "were even to be fed upon soft bread and turkeys, they would not think themselves right." at twelve noon the work of the landing-master's crew was completed for the day; but at four o'clock, while the rock was under water, those on the beacon were surprised by the arrival of a boat from the tender without any signal having been made from the beacon. it brought the following note to the writer from the landing-master's crew:- _sir joseph banks tender_ "sir,--we are informed by our masters that our allowance is to be as before, and it is not sufficient to serve us, for we have been at work since four o'clock this morning, and we have come on board to dinner, and there is no beer for us before to-morrow morning, to which a sufficient answer is required before we go from the beacon; and we are, sir, your most obedient servants." on reading this, the writer returned a verbal message, intimating that an answer would be sent on board of the tender, at the same time ordering the boat instantly to quit the beacon. he then addressed the following note to the landing-master:- "_beacon-house, 22nd june 1810, five o'clock p.m._ "sir,--i have just now received a letter purporting to be from the landing-master's crew and seamen on board of the _sir joseph banks_, though without either date or signature; in answer to which i enclose a statement of the daily allowance of provisions for the seamen in this service, which you will post up in the ship's galley, and at seven o'clock this evening i will come on board to inquire into this unexpected and most unnecessary demand for an additional allowance of beer. in the enclosed you will not find any alteration from the original statement, fixed in the galley at the beginning of the season. i have, however, judged this mode of giving your people an answer preferable to that of conversing with them on the beacon.--i am, sir, your most obedient servant, "robert stevenson. "to captain wilson." "_beacon house_, 22_nd june_ 1810.--schedule of the daily allowance of provisions to be served out on board of the _sir joseph banks_ tender: '1-1/2 lb. beef; 1 lb. bread; 8 oz. oatmeal; 2 oz. barley; 2 oz. butter; 3 quarts beer; vegetables and salt no stated allowance. when the seamen are employed in unloading the _smeaton_ and _patriot_, a draught of beer is, as formerly, to be allowed from the stock of these vessels. further, in wet and stormy weather, or when the work commences very early in the morning, or continues till a late hour at night, a glass of spirits will also be served out to the crew as heretofore, on the requisition of the landing-master.' "robert stevenson." on writing this letter and schedule, a signal was made on the beacon for the landing-master's boat, which immediately came to the rock, and the schedule was afterwards stuck up in the tender's galley. when sufficient time had been allowed to the crew to consider of their conduct, a second signal was made for a boat, and at seven o'clock the writer left the bell rock, after a residence of four successive weeks in the beacon-house. the first thing which occupied his attention on board of the tender was to look round upon the lighthouse, which he saw, with some degree of emotion and surprise, now vying in height with the beacon-house; for although he had often viewed it from the extremity of the western railway on the rock, yet the scene, upon the whole, seemed far more interesting from the tender's moorings at the distance of about half a mile. the _smeaton_ having just arrived at her moorings with a cargo, a signal was made for captain pool to come on board of the tender, that he might be at hand to remove from the service any of those who might persist in their discontented conduct. one of the two principal leaders in this affair, the master of one of the praam-boats, who had also steered the boat which brought the letter to the beacon, was first called upon deck, and asked if he had read the statement fixed up in the galley this afternoon, and whether he was satisfied with it. he replied that he had read the paper, but was not satisfied, as it held out no alteration on the allowance, on which he was immediately ordered into the _smeaton's_ boat. the next man called had but lately entered the service, and, being also interrogated as to his resolution, he declared himself to be of the same mind with the praam-master, and was also forthwith ordered into the boat. the writer, without calling any more of the seamen, went forward to the gangway, where they were collected and listening to what was passing upon deck. he addressed them at the hatchway, and stated that two of their companions had just been dismissed the service and sent on board of the _smeaton_ to be conveyed to arbroath. he therefore wished each man to consider for himself how far it would be proper, by any unreasonableness of conduct, to place themselves in a similar situation, especially as they were aware that it was optional in him either to dismiss them or send them on board a man-of-war. it might appear that much inconveniency would be felt at the rock by a change of hands at this critical period, by checking for a time the progress of a building so intimately connected with the best interests of navigation; yet this would be but of a temporary nature, while the injury to themselves might be irreparable. it was now, therefore, required of any man who, in this disgraceful manner, chose to leave the service, that he should instantly make his appearance on deck while the _smeaton's_ boat was alongside. but those below having expressed themselves satisfied with their situation--viz., william brown, george gibb, alexander scott, john dick, robert couper, alexander shephard, james grieve, david carey, william pearson, stuart eaton, alexander lawrence, and john spink--were accordingly considered as having returned to their duty. this disposition to mutiny, which had so strongly manifested itself, being now happily suppressed, captain pool got orders to proceed for arbroath bay, and land the two men he had on board, and to deliver the following letter at the office of the workyard:- "_on board of the tender off the bell rock_, 22_nd june_ 1810, _eight o'clock p.m._ "dear sir,--a discontented and mutinous spirit having manifested itself of late among the landing-master's crew, they struck work to-day and demanded an additional allowance of beer, and i have found it necessary to dismiss d----d and m----e, who are now sent on shore with the _smeaton_. you will therefore be so good as to pay them their wages, including this day only. nothing can be more unreasonable than the conduct of the seamen on this occasion, as the landing-master's crew not only had their allowance on board of the tender, but, in the course of this day, they had drawn no fewer than twenty-four quart pots of beer from the stock of the _patriot_ while unloading her.--i remain, yours truly, "robert stevenson. "to mr. lachlan kennedy, bell rock office, arbroath." on despatching this letter to mr. kennedy, the writer returned to the beacon about nine o'clock, where this afternoon's business had produced many conjectures, especially when the _smeaton_ got under weigh, instead of proceeding to land her cargo. the bell on the beacon being rung, the artificers were assembled on the bridge, when the affair was explained to them. he, at the same time, congratulated them upon the first appearance of mutiny being happily set at rest by the dismissal of its two principal abettors. sunday, 24th june. at the rock, the landing of the materials and the building operations of the light-room store went on successfully, and in a way similar to those of the provision store. to-day it blew fresh breezes; but the seamen nevertheless landed twenty-eight stones, and the artificers built the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth courses. the works were visited by mr. murdoch, junior, from messrs. boulton and watt's works of soho. he landed just as the bell rung for prayers, after which the writer enjoyed much pleasure from his very intelligent conversation; and, having been almost the only stranger he had seen for some weeks, he parted with him, after a short interview, with much regret. thursday, 28th june. last night the wind had shifted to north-east, and, blowing fresh, was accompanied with a heavy surf upon the rock. towards high-water it had a very grand and wonderful appearance. waves of considerable magnitude rose as high as the solid or level of the entrance-door, which, being open to the south-west, was fortunately to the leeward; but on the windward side the sprays flew like lightning up the sloping sides of the building; and although the walls were now elevated sixty-four feet above the rock, and about fifty-two feet from high-water mark, yet the artificers were nevertheless wetted, and occasionally interrupted, in their operations on the top of the walls. these appearances were, in a great measure, new at the bell rock, there having till of late been no building to conduct the seas, or object to compare with them. although, from the description of the eddystone lighthouse, the mind was prepared for such effects, yet they were not expected to the present extent in the summer season; the sea being most awful to-day, whether observed from the beacon or the building. to windward, the sprays fell from the height above noticed in the most wonderful cascades, and streamed down the walls of the building in froth as white as snow. to leeward of the lighthouse the collision or meeting of the waves produced a pure white kind of _drift_: it rose about thirty feet in height, like a fine downy mist, which, in its fall, fell upon the face and hands more like a dry powder than a liquid substance. the effect of these seas, as they raged among the beams and dashed upon the higher parts of the beacon, produced a temporary tremulous motion throughout the whole fabric, which to a stranger must have been frightful. sunday, 1st july. the writer had now been at the bell rock since the latter end of may, or about six weeks, during four of which he had been a constant inhabitant of the beacon without having been once off the rock. after witnessing the laying of the sixty-seventh or second course of the bedroom apartment, he left the rock with the tender and went ashore, as some arrangements were to be made for the future conduct of the works at arbroath, which were soon to be brought to a close; the landing-master's crew having, in the meantime, shifted on board of the _patriot_. in leaving the rock, the writer kept his eyes fixed upon the lighthouse, which had recently got into the form of a house, having several tiers or stories of windows. nor was he unmindful of his habitation in the beacon--now far overtopped by the masonry,--where he had spent several weeks in a kind of active retirement, making practical experiment of the fewness of the positive wants of man. his cabin measured not more than four feet three inches in breadth on the floor; and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the full extension of his arms when he stood on the floor; while its length was little more than sufficient for suspending a cot-bed during the night, calculated for being triced up to the roof through the day, which left free room for the admission of occasional visitants. his folding table was attached with hinges, immediately under the small window of the apartment, and his books, barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools, formed the bulk of his movables. his diet being plain, the paraphernalia of the table were proportionally simple; though everything had the appearance of comfort, and even of neatness, the walls being covered with green cloth formed into panels with red tape, and his bed festooned with curtains of yellow cotton-stuff. if, in speculating upon the abstract wants of man in such a state of exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the sacred volume--whether considered for the striking diversity of its story, the morality of its doctrine, or the important truths of its gospel--would have proved by far the greatest treasure. monday, 2nd july. in walking over the workyard at arbroath this morning, the writer found that the stones of the course immediately under the cornice were all in hand, and that a week's work would now finish the whole, while the intermediate courses lay ready numbered and marked for shipping to the rock. among other subjects which had occupied his attention to-day was a visit from some of the relations of george dall, a young man who had been impressed near dundee in the month of february last; a dispute had arisen between the magistrates of that burgh and the regulating officer as to his right of impressing dall, who was _bonã¢ fide_ one of the protected seamen in the bell rock service. in the meantime, the poor lad was detained, and ultimately committed to the prison of dundee, to remain until the question should be tried before the court of session. his friends were naturally very desirous to have him relieved upon bail. but, as this was only to be done by the judgment of the court, all that could be said was that his pay and allowances should be continued in the same manner as if he had been upon the sick-list. the circumstances of dall's case were briefly these:--he had gone to see some of his friends in the neighbourhood of dundee, in winter, while the works were suspended, having got leave of absence from mr. taylor, who commanded the bell rock tender, and had in his possession one of the protection medals. unfortunately, however, for dall, the regulating officer thought proper to disregard these documents, as, according to the strict and literal interpretation of the admiralty regulations, a seaman does not stand protected unless he is actually on board of his ship, or in a boat belonging to her, or has the admiralty protection in his possession. this order of the board, however, cannot be rigidly followed in practice; and therefore, when the matter is satisfactorily stated to the regulating officer, the impressed man is generally liberated. but in dall's case this was peremptorily refused, and he was retained at the instance of the magistrates. the writer having brought the matter under the consideration of the commissioners of the northern lighthouses, they authorised it to be tried on the part of the lighthouse board, as one of extreme hardship. the court, upon the first hearing, ordered dall to be liberated from prison; and the proceedings never went further. wednesday, 4th july. being now within twelve courses of being ready for building the cornice, measures were taken for getting the stones of it and the parapet-wall of the light-room brought from edinburgh, where, as before noticed, they had been prepared and were in readiness for shipping. the honour of conveying the upper part of the lighthouse, and of landing the last stone of the building on the rock, was considered to belong to captain pool of the _smeaton_, who had been longer in the service than the master of the _patriot_. the _smeaton_ was, therefore, now partly loaded with old iron, consisting of broken railways and other lumber which had been lying about the rock. after landing these at arbroath, she took on board james craw, with his horse and cart, which could now be spared at the workyard, to be employed in carting the stones from edinburgh to leith. alexander davidson and william kennedy, two careful masons, were also sent to take charge of the loading of the stones at greenside, and stowing them on board of the vessel at leith. the writer also went on board, with a view to call at the bell rock and to take his passage up the firth of forth. the wind, however, coming to blow very fresh from the eastward, with thick and foggy weather, it became necessary to reef the mainsail and set the second jib. when in the act of making a tack towards the tender, the sailors who worked the head-sheets were, all of a sudden, alarmed with the sound of the smith's hammer and anvil on the beacon, and had just time to put the ship about to save her from running ashore on the north-western point of the rock, marked "james craw's horse." on looking towards the direction from whence the sound came, the building and beacon-house were seen, with consternation, while the ship was hailed by those on the rock, who were no less confounded at seeing the near approach of the _smeaton_; and, just as the vessel cleared the danger, the smith and those in the mortar gallery made signs in token of their happiness at our fortunate escape. from this occurrence the writer had an experimental proof of the utility of the large bells which were in preparation to be rung by the machinery of the revolving light; for, had it not been for the sound of the smith's anvil, the _smeaton_, in all probability, would have been wrecked upon the rock. in case the vessel had struck, those on board might have been safe, having now the beacon-house as a place of refuge; but the vessel, which was going at a great velocity, must have suffered severely, and it was more than probable that the horse would have been drowned, there being no means of getting him out of the vessel. of this valuable animal and his master we shall take an opportunity of saying more in another place. thursday, 5th july. the weather cleared up in the course of the night, but the wind shifted to the n.e. and blew very fresh. from the force of the wind, being now the period of spring-tides, a very heavy swell was experienced at the rock. at two o'clock on the following morning the people on the beacon were in a state of great alarm about their safety, as the sea had broke up part of the floor of the mortar gallery, which was thus cleared of the lime-casks and other buoyant articles; and, the alarm-bell being rung, all hands were called to render what assistance was in their power for the safety of themselves and the materials. at this time some would willingly have left the beacon and gone into the building; the sea, however, ran so high that there was no passage along the bridge of communication, and, when the interior of the lighthouse came to be examined in the morning, it appeared that great quantities of water had come over the walls--now eighty feet in height--and had run down through the several apartments and out at the entrance door. the upper course of the lighthouse at the workyard of arbroath was completed on the 6th, and the whole of the stones were, therefore, now ready for being shipped to the rock. from the present state of the works it was impossible that the two squads of artificers at arbroath and the bell rock could meet together at this period; and as in public works of this kind, which had continued for a series of years, it is not customary to allow the men to separate without what is termed a "finishing-pint," five guineas were for this purpose placed at the disposal of mr. david logan, clerk of works. with this sum the stone-cutters at arbroath had a merry meeting in their barrack, collected their sweethearts and friends, and concluded their labours with a dance. it was remarked, however, that their happiness on this occasion was not without alloy. the consideration of parting and leaving a steady and regular employment, to go in quest of work and mix with other society, after having been harmoniously lodged for years together in one large "guildhall or barrack," was rather painful. friday, 6th july. while the writer was at edinburgh he was fortunate enough to meet with mrs. dickson, only daughter of the late celebrated mr. smeaton, whose works at the eddystone lighthouse had been of such essential consequence to the operations at the bell rock. even her own elegant accomplishments are identified with her father's work, she having herself made the drawing of the vignette on the title-page of the "narrative of the eddystone lighthouse." every admirer of the works of that singularly eminent man must also feel an obligation to her for the very comprehensive and distinct account given of his life, which is attached to his reports, published, in three volumes quarto, by the society of civil engineers. mrs. dickson, being at this time returning from a tour to the hebrides and western highlands of scotland, had heard of the bell rock works, and from their similarity to those of the eddystone, was strongly impressed with a desire of visiting the spot. but on inquiring for the writer at edinburgh, and finding from him that the upper part of the lighthouse, consisting of nine courses, might be seen in the immediate vicinity, and also that one of the vessels, which, in compliment to her father's memory, had been named the _smeaton_, might also now be seen in leith, she considered herself extremely fortunate; and having first visited the works at greenside, she afterwards went to leith to see the _smeaton_, then loading for the bell rock. on stepping on board, mrs. dickson seemed to be quite overcome with so many concurrent circumstances, tending in a peculiar manner to revive and enliven the memory of her departed father, and, on leaving the vessel, she would not be restrained from presenting the crew with a piece of money. the _smeaton_ had been named spontaneously, from a sense of the obligation which a public work of the description of the bell rock owed to the labours and abilities of mr. smeaton. the writer certainly never could have anticipated the satisfaction which he this day felt in witnessing the pleasure it afforded to the only representative of this great man's family. friday, 20th july. the gale from the n.e. still continued so strong, accompanied with a heavy sea, that the _patriot_ could not approach her moorings; although the tender still kept her station, no landing was made to-day at the rock. at high-water it was remarked that the spray rose to the height of about sixty feet upon the building. the _smeaton_ now lay in leith loaded, but, the wind and weather being so unfavourable for her getting down the firth, she did not sail till this afternoon. it may be here proper to notice that the loading of the centre of the light-room floor, or last principal stone of the building, did not fail, when put on board, to excite an interest among those connected with the work. when the stone was laid upon the cart to be conveyed to leith, the seamen fixed an ensign-staff and flag into the circular hole in the centre of the stone, and decorated their own hats, and that of james craw, the bell rock carter, with ribbons; even his faithful and trusty horse brassey was ornamented with bows and streamers of various colours. the masons also provided themselves with new aprons, and in this manner the cart was attended in its progress to the ship. when the cart came opposite the trinity house of leith, the officer of that corporation made his appearance dressed in his uniform, with his staff of office; and when it reached the harbour, the shipping in the different tiers where the _smeaton_ lay hoisted their colours, manifesting by these trifling ceremonies the interest with which the progress of this work was regarded by the public, as ultimately tending to afford safety and protection to the mariner. the wind had fortunately shifted to the s.w., and about five o'clock this afternoon the smeaton reached the bell rock. friday, 27th july. the artificers had finished the laying of the balcony course, excepting the centre-stone of the light-room floor, which, like the centres of the other floors, could not be laid in its place till after the removal of the foot and shaft of the balance-crane. during the dinner-hour, when the men were off work, the writer generally took some exercise by walking round the walls when the rock was under water; but to-day his boundary was greatly enlarged, for, instead of the narrow wall as a path, he felt no small degree of pleasure in walking round the balcony and passing out and in at the space allotted for the light-room door. in the labours of this day both the artificers and seamen felt their work to be extremely easy compared with what it had been for some days past. sunday, 29th july. captain wilson and his crew had made preparations for landing the last stone, and, as may well be supposed, this was a day of great interest at the bell rock. "that it might lose none of its honours," as he expressed himself, the _hedderwick_ praam-boat, with which the first stone of the building had been landed, was appointed also to carry the last. at seven o'clock this evening the seamen hoisted three flags upon the _hedderwick_, when the colours of the _dickie_ praam-boat, tender, _smeaton_, floating light, beacon-house, and lighthouse were also displayed; and, the weather being remarkably fine, the whole presented a very gay appearance, and, in connection with the associations excited, the effect was very pleasing. the praam which carried the stone was towed by the seamen in gallant style to the rock, and, on its arrival, cheers were given as a finale to the landing department. monday, 30th july. the ninetieth or last course of the building having been laid to-day, which brought the masonry to the height of one hundred and two feet six inches, the lintel of the light-room door, being the finishing-stone of the exterior walls, was laid with due formality by the writer, who, at the same time, pronounced the following benediction: "may the great architect of the universe, under whose blessing this perilous work has prospered, preserve it as a guide to the mariner." friday, 3rd aug. at three p.m., the necessary preparations having been made, the artificers commenced the completing of the floors of the several apartments, and at seven o'clock the centre-stone of the light-room floor was laid, which may be held as finishing the masonry of this important national edifice. after going through the usual ceremonies observed by the brotherhood on occasions of this kind, the writer, addressing himself to the artificers and seamen who were present, briefly alluded to the utility of the undertaking as a monument of the wealth of british commerce, erected through the spirited measures of the commissioners of the northern lighthouses by means of the able assistance of those who now surrounded him. he then took an opportunity of stating that toward those connected with this arduous work he would ever retain the most heartfelt regard in all their interests. saturday, 4th aug. when the bell was rung as usual on the beacon this morning, every one seemed as if he were at a loss what to make of himself. at this period the artificers at the rock consisted of eighteen masons, two joiners, one millwright, one smith, and one mortar-maker, besides messrs. peter logan and francis watt, foremen, counting in all twenty-five; and matters were arranged for proceeding to arbroath this afternoon with all hands. the _sir joseph banks_ tender had by this time been afloat, with little intermission, for six months, during greater part of which the artificers had been almost constantly off at the rock, and were now much in want of necessaries of almost every description. not a few had lost different articles of clothing, which had dropped into the sea from the beacon and building. some wanted jackets; others, from want of hats, wore nightcaps; each was, in fact, more or less curtailed in his wardrobe, and it must be confessed that at best the party were but in a very tattered condition. this morning was occupied in removing the artificers and their bedding on board of the tender; and, although their personal luggage was easily shifted, the boats had, nevertheless, many articles to remove from the beacon-house, and were consequently employed in this service till eleven a.m. all hands being collected, and just ready to embark, as the water had nearly overflowed the rock, the writer, in taking leave, after alluding to the harmony which had ever marked the conduct of those employed on the bell rock, took occasion to compliment the great zeal, attention, and abilities of mr. peter logan and mr. francis watt, foremen; captain james wilson, landing-master; and captain david taylor, commander of the tender, who, in their several departments, had so faithfully discharged the duties assigned to them, often under circumstances the most difficult and trying. the health of these gentlemen was drunk with much warmth of feeling by the artificers and seamen, who severally expressed the satisfaction they had experienced in acting under them; after which the whole party left the rock. in sailing past the floating light, mutual compliments were made by a display of flags between that vessel and the tender; and at five p.m. the latter vessel entered the harbour of arbroath, where the party were heartily welcomed by a numerous company of spectators, who had collected to see the artificers arrive after so long an absence from the port. in the evening the writer invited the foremen and captains of the service, together with mr. david logan, clerk of works at arbroath, and mr. lachlan kennedy, engineer's clerk and bookkeeper, and some of their friends, to the principal inn, where the evening was spent very happily; and after "his majesty's health" and "the commissioners of the northern lighthouses" had been given, "stability to the bell rock lighthouse" was hailed as a standing toast in the lighthouse service. sunday, 5th aug. the author has formerly noticed the uniformly decent and orderly deportment of the artificers who were employed at the bell rock lighthouse, and to-day, it is believed, they very generally attended church, no doubt with grateful hearts for the narrow escapes from personal danger which all of them had more or less experienced during their residence at the rock. tuesday, 14th aug. the _smeaton_ sailed to-day at one p.m., having on board sixteen artificers, with mr. peter logan, together with a supply of provisions and necessaries, who left the harbour pleased and happy to find themselves once more afloat in the bell rock service. at seven o'clock the tender was made fast to her moorings, when the artificers landed on the rock and took possession of their old quarters in the beacon-house, with feelings very different from those of 1807, when the works commenced. the barometer for some days past had been falling from 29.90, and to-day it was 29.50, with the wind at n.e., which, in the course of this day, increased to a strong gale accompanied with a sea which broke with great violence upon the rock. at twelve noon the tender rode very heavily at her moorings, when her chain broke at about ten fathoms from the ship's bows. the kedge-anchor was immediately let go, to hold her till the floating buoy and broken chain should be got on board. but while this was in operation the hawser of the kedge was chafed through on the rocky bottom and parted, when the vessel was again adrift. most fortunately, however, she cast off with her head from the rock, and narrowly cleared it, when she sailed up the firth of forth to wait the return of better weather. the artificers were thus left upon the rock with so heavy a sea running that it was ascertained to have risen to the height of eighty feet on the building. under such perilous circumstances it would be difficult to describe the feelings of those who, at this time, were cooped up in the beacon in so forlorn a situation, with the sea not only raging under them, but occasionally falling from a great height upon the roof of their temporary lodging, without even the attending vessel in view to afford the least gleam of hope in the event of any accident. it is true that they had now the masonry of the lighthouse to resort to, which, no doubt, lessened the actual danger of their situation; but the building was still without a roof, and the deadlights, or storm-shutters, not being yet fitted, the windows of the lower story were stove in and broken, and at high-water the sea ran in considerable quantities out at the entrance door. thursday, 16th aug. the gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the sprays rise to a still greater height, having been carried over the masonry the building, or about ninety feet above the level of the sea. at four o'clock this morning it was breaking into the cook's berth, when he rang the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to their personal safety. the floor of the smith's, or mortar gallery, was now completely burst up by the force of the sea, when the whole of the deals and the remaining articles upon the floor were swept away, such as the cast-iron mortar-tubs, the iron hearth of the forge, the smith's bellows, and even his anvil were thrown down upon the rock. before the tide rose to its full height to-day some of the artificers passed along the bridge into the lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and they reported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the building when great seas struck it in a certain direction, about high-water mark. on this occasion the sprays were again observed to wet the balcony, and even to come over the parapet wall into the interior of the light-room. thursday, 23rd aug. the wind being at w.s.w., and the weather more moderate, both the tender and the _smeaton_ got to their moorings on the 23rd, when hands were employed in transporting the sash-frames from on board of the _smeaton_ to the rock. in the act of setting up one of these frames upon the bridge, it was unguardedly suffered to lose its balance, and in saving it from damage, captain wilson met with a severe bruise in the groin, on the seat of a gun-shot wound received in the early part of his life. this accident laid him aside for several days. monday, 27th aug. the sash-frames of the light-room, eight in number, and weighing each 254 pounds, having been got safely up to the top of the building were ranged on the balcony in the order in which they were numbered for their places on the top of the parapet-wall; and the balance-crane, that useful machine having now lifted all the heavier articles, was unscrewed and lowered, to use the landing-master's phrase, "in mournful silence." sunday, 2nd sept. the steps of the stair being landed, and all the weightier articles of the light-room got up to the balcony, the wooden bridge was now to be removed, as it had a very powerful effect upon the beacon when a heavy sea struck it, and could not possibly have withstood the storms of a winter. everything having been cleared from the bridge, and nothing left but the two principal beams with their horizontal braces, james glen, at high-water, proceeded with a saw to cut through the beams at the end next the beacon, which likewise disengaged their opposite extremity, inserted a few inches into the building. the frame was then gently lowered into the water, and floated off to the _smeaton_ to be towed to arbroath, to be applied as part of the materials in the erection of the lightkeepers' houses. after the removal of the bridge, the aspect of things at the rock was much altered. the beacon-house and building had both a naked look to those accustomed to their former appearance; a curious optical deception was also remarked, by which the lighthouse seemed to incline from the perpendicular towards the beacon. the horizontal rope-ladder before noticed was again stretched to preserve the communication, and the artificers were once more obliged to practise the awkward and straddling manner of their passage between them during 1809. at twelve noon the bell rung for prayers, after which the artificers went to dinner, when the writer passed along the rope-ladder to the lighthouse, and went through the several apartments, which were now cleared of lumber. in the afternoon all hands were summoned to the interior of the house, when he had the satisfaction of laying the upper step of the stair, or last stone of the building. this ceremony concluded with three cheers, the sound of which had a very loud and strange effect within the walls of the lighthouse. at six o'clock mr. peter logan and eleven of the artificers embarked with the writer for arbroath, leaving mr. james glen with the special charge of the beacon and railways, mr. robert selkirk with the building, with a few artificers to fit the temporary windows to render the house habitable. sunday, 14th oct. on returning from his voyage to the northern lighthouses, the writer landed at the bell rock on sunday, the 14th of october, and had the pleasure to find, from the very favourable state of the weather, that the artificers had been enabled to make great progress with the fitting-up of the light-room. friday, 19th oct. the light-room work had proceeded, as usual, to-day under the direction of mr. dove, assisted in the plumber-work by mr. john gibson, and in the brazier-work by mr. joseph fraser; while mr. james slight, with the joiners, were fitting up the storm-shutters of the windows. in these several departments the artificers were at work till seven o'clock p.m., and it being then dark, mr. dove gave orders to drop work in the light-room; and all hands proceeded from thence to the beacon-house, when charles henderson, smith, and henry dickson, brazier, left the work together. being both young men, who had been for several weeks upon the rock, they had become familiar, and even playful, on the most difficult parts about the beacon and building. this evening they were trying to outrun each other in descending from the light-room, when henderson led the way; but they were in conversation with each other till they came to the rope-ladder distended between the entrance-door of the lighthouse and the beacon. dickson, on reaching the cook-room, was surprised at not seeing his companion, and inquired hastily for henderson. upon which the cook replied, "was he before you upon the rope-ladder?" dickson answered, "yes; and i thought i heard something fall." upon this the alarm was given, and links were immediately lighted, with which the artificers descended on the legs of the beacon, as near the surface of the water as possible, it being then about full tide, and the sea breaking to a considerable height upon the building, with the wind at s.s.e. but, after watching till low-water, and searching in every direction upon the rock, it appeared that poor henderson must have unfortunately fallen through the rope-ladder and been washed into the deep water. the deceased had passed along this rope-ladder many hundred times, both by day and night, and the operations in which he was employed being nearly finished, he was about to leave the rock when this melancholy catastrophe took place. the unfortunate loss of henderson cast a deep gloom upon the minds of all who were at the rock, and it required some management on the part of those who had charge to induce the people to remain patiently at their work; as the weather now became more boisterous, and the nights long, they found their habitation extremely cheerless, while the winds were howling about their ears, and the waves lashing with fury against the beams of their insulated habitation. tuesday, 23rd oct. the wind had shifted in the night to n.w., and blew a fresh gale, while the sea broke with violence upon the rock. it was found impossible to land, but the writer, from the boat, hailed mr. dove, and directed the ball to be immediately fixed. the necessary preparations were accordingly made, while the vessel made short tacks on the southern side of the rock, in comparatively smooth water. at noon mr. dove, assisted by mr. james slight, mr. robert selkirk, mr. james glen, and mr. john gibson, plumber, with considerable difficulty, from the boisterous state of the weather, got the gilded ball screwed on, measuring two feet in diameter, and forming the principal ventilator at the upper extremity of the cupola of the lightroom. at mr. hamilton's desire, a salute of seven guns was fired on this occasion, and, all hands being called to the quarter-deck, "stability to the bell rock lighthouse" was not forgotten. tuesday, 30th oct. on reaching the rock it was found that a very heavy sea still ran upon it; but the writer having been disappointed on two former occasions, and, as the erection of the house might now be considered complete, there being nothing wanted externally, excepting some of the storm-shutters for the defence of the windows, he was the more anxious at this time to inspect it. two well-manned boats were therefore ordered to be in attendance; and, after some difficulty, the wind being at n.n.e., they got safely into the western creek, though not without encountering plentiful sprays. it would have been impossible to have attempted a landing to-day, under any other circumstances than with boats perfectly adapted to the purpose, and with seamen who knew every ledge of the rock, and even the length of the sea-weeds at each particular spot, so as to dip their oars into the water accordingly, and thereby prevent them from getting entangled. but what was of no less consequence to the safety of the party, captain wilson, who always steered the boat, had a perfect knowledge of the set of the different waves, while the crew never shifted their eyes from observing his motions, and the strictest silence was preserved by every individual except himself. on entering the house, the writer had the pleasure to find it in a somewhat habitable condition, the lower apartments being closed in with temporary windows, and fitted with proper storm-shutters. the lowest apartment at the head of the staircase was occupied with water, fuel, and provisions, put up in a temporary way until the house could be furnished with proper utensils. the second, or light-room store, was at present much encumbered with various tools and apparatus for the use of the workmen. the kitchen immediately over this had, as yet, been supplied only with a common ship's caboose and plate-iron funnel, while the necessary cooking utensils had been taken from the beacon. the bedroom was for the present used as the joiners' workshop, and the strangers' room, immediately under the light-room, was occupied by the artificers, the beds being ranged in tiers, as was done in the barrack of the beacon. the lightroom, though unprovided with its machinery, being now covered over with the cupola, glazed and painted, had a very complete and cleanly appearance. the balcony was only as yet fitted with a temporary rail, consisting of a few iron stanchions, connected with ropes; and in this state it was necessary to leave it during the winter. having gone over the whole of the low-water works on the rock, the beacon, and lighthouse, and being satisfied that only the most untoward accident in the landing of the machinery could prevent the exhibition of the light in the course of the winter, mr. john reid, formerly of the floating light, was now put in charge of the lighthouse as principal keeper; mr. james slight had charge of the operations of the artificers, while mr. james dove and the smiths, having finished the frame of the light-room, left the rock for the present. with these arrangements the writer bade adieu to the works for the season. at eleven a.m. the tide was far advanced; and there being now little or no shelter for the boats at the rock, they had to be pulled through the breach of sea, which came on board in great quantities, and it was with extreme difficulty that they could be kept in the proper direction of the landing-creek. on this occasion he may be permitted to look back with gratitude on the many escapes made in the course of this arduous undertaking, now brought so near to a successful conclusion. monday, 5th nov. on monday, the 5th, the yacht again visited the rock, when mr. slight and the artificers returned with her to the workyard, where a number of things were still to prepare connected with the temporary fitting up of the accommodation for the lightkeepers. mr. john reid and peter fortune were now the only inmates of the house. this was the smallest number of persons hitherto left in the lighthouse. as four lightkeepers were to be the complement, it was intended that three should always be at the rock. its present inmates, however, could hardly have been better selected for such a situation; mr. reid being a person possessed of the strictest notions of duty and habits of regularity from long service on board of a man-of-war, while mr. fortune had one of the most happy and contented dispositions imaginable. tuesday, 13th nov. from saturday the 10th till tuesday the 13th, the wind had been from n.e. blowing a heavy gale; but to-day, the weather having greatly moderated, captain taylor, who now commanded the _smeaton_, sailed at two o'clock a.m. for the bell rock. at five the floating light was hailed and found to be all well. being a fine moonlight morning, the seamen were changed from the one ship to the other. at eight, the _smeaton_ being off the rock, the boats were manned, and taking a supply of water, fuel, and other necessaries, landed at the western side, when mr. reid and mr. fortune were found in good health and spirits. mr. reid stated that during the late gales, particularly on friday, the 30th, the wind veering from s.e. to n.e., both he and mr. fortune sensibly felt the house tremble when particular seas struck, about the time of high-water; the former observing that it was a tremor of that sort which rather tended to convince him that everything about the building was sound, and reminded him of the effect produced when a good log of timber is struck sharply with a mallet; but, with every confidence in the stability of the building, he nevertheless confessed that, in so forlorn a situation, they were not insensible to those emotions which, he emphatically observed, "made a man look back upon his former life." friday, 1st feb. the day, long wished for, on which the mariner was to see a light exhibited on the bell rock at length arrived. captain wilson, as usual, hoisted the float's lanterns to the topmast on the evening of the 1st of february; but the moment that the light appeared on the rock, the crew, giving three cheers, lowered them, and finally extinguished the lights. footnotes: [11] this is, of course, the tradition commemorated by southey in his ballad of "the inchcape bell." whether true or not, it points to the fact that from the infancy of scottish navigation, the seafaring mind had been fully alive to the perils of this reef. repeated attempts had been made to mark the place with beacons, but all efforts were unavailing (one such beacon having been carried away within eight days of its erection) until robert stevenson conceived and carried out the idea of the stone tower. [12] the particular event which concentrated mr. stevenson's attention on the problem of the bell rock was the memorable gale of december 1799, when, among many other vessels, h.m.s. _york,_ a seventy-four-gun ship, went down with all hands on board. shortly after this disaster mr. stevenson made a careful survey, and prepared his models for a stone tower, the idea of which was at first received with pretty general scepticism. smeaton's eddystone tower could not be cited as affording a parallel, for there the rock is not submerged even at high-water, while the problem of the bell rock was to build a tower of masonry on a sunken reef far distant from land, covered at every tide to a depth of twelve feet or more, and having thirty-two fathoms' depth of water within a mile of its eastern edge. [13] the grounds for the rejection of the bill by the house of lords in 1802-3 had been that the extent of coast over which dues were proposed to be levied would be too great. before going to parliament again, the board of northern lights, desiring to obtain support and corroboration for mr. stevenson's views, consulted first telford, who was unable to give the matter his attention, and then (on stevenson's suggestion) rennie, who concurred in affirming the practicability of a stone tower, and supported the bill when it came again before parliament in 1806. rennie was afterwards appointed by the commissioners as advising engineer, whom stevenson might consult in cases of emergency. it seems certain that the title of chief engineer had in this instance no more meaning than the above. rennie, in point of fact, proposed certain modifications in stevenson's plans, which the latter did not accept; nevertheless rennie continued to take a kindly interest in the work, and the two engineers remained in friendly correspondence during its progress. the official view taken by the board as to the quarter in which lay both the merit and the responsibility of the work may be gathered from a minute of the commissioners at their first meeting held after stevenson died; in which they record their regret "at the death of this zealous, faithful, and able officer, _to whom is due the honour of conceiving and executing the bell rock lighthouse_." the matter is briefly summed up in the "life" of robert stevenson by his son david stevenson (a. & c. black, 1878), and fully discussed, on the basis of official facts and figures, by the same writer in a letter to the _civil engineers' and architects' journal_, 1862. [14] "nothing was said, but i was _looked out of countenance_," he says in a letter. [15] ill-formed--ugly.--[r. l. s.] [16] this is an incurable illusion of my grandfather's; he always writes "distended" for "extended." [r. l. s.] additional memories and portraits additional memories and portraits i random memories i. the coast of fife many writers have vigorously described the pains of the first day or the first night at school; to a boy of any enterprise, i believe, they are more often agreeably exciting. misery--or at least misery unrelieved--is confined to another period, to the days of suspense and the "dreadful looking-for" of departure; when the old life is running to an end, and the new life, with its new interests, not yet begun; and to the pain of an imminent parting, there is added the unrest of a state of conscious pre-existence. the area railings, the beloved shop-window, the smell of semi-suburban tanpits, the song of the church-bells upon a sunday, the thin, high voices of compatriot children in a playing-field--what a sudden, what an overpowering pathos breathes to him from each familiar circumstance! the assaults of sorrow come not from within, as it seems to him, but from without. i was proud and glad to go to school; had i been let alone, i could have borne up like any hero; but there was around me, in all my native town, a conspiracy of lamentation: "poor little boy, he is going away--unkind little boy, he is going to leave us"; so the unspoken burthen followed me as i went, with yearning and reproach. and at length, one melancholy afternoon in the early autumn, and at a place where it seems to me, looking back, it must be always autumn and generally sunday, there came suddenly upon the face of all i saw--the long empty road, the lines of the tall houses, the church upon the hill, the woody hillside garden--a look of such a piercing sadness that my heart died; and seating myself on a door-step, i shed tears of miserable sympathy. a benevolent cat cumbered me the while with consolations--we two were alone in all that was visible of the london road: two poor waifs who had each tasted sorrow--and she fawned upon the weeper, and gambolled for his entertainment, watching the effect, it seemed, with motherly eyes. for the sake of the cat, god bless her! i confessed at home the story of my weakness; and so it comes about that i owed a certain journey, and the reader owes the present paper, to a cat in the london road. it was judged, if i had thus brimmed over on the public highway, some change of scene was (in the medical sense) indicated; my father at the time was visiting the harbour lights of scotland; and it was decided that he should take me along with him around a portion of the shores of fife; my first professional tour, my first journey in the complete character of man, without the help of petticoats. the kingdom of fife (that royal province) may be observed by the curious on the map, occupying a tongue of land between the firths of forth and tay. it may be continually seen from many parts of edinburgh (among the rest, from the windows of my father's house) dying away into the distance and the easterly _haar_ with one smoky seaside town beyond another, or in winter printing on the grey heaven some glittering hill-tops. it has no beauty to recommend it, being a low, sea-salted, wind-vexed promontory; trees very rare, except (as common on the east coast) along the dens of rivers; the fields well cultivated, i understand, but not lovely to the eye. it is of the coast i speak: the interior may be the garden of eden. history broods over that part of the world like the easterly haar. even on the map, its long row of gaelic place-names bear testimony to an old and settled race. of these little towns, posted along the shore as close as sedges, each with its bit of harbour, its old weather-beaten church or public building, its flavour of decayed prosperity and decaying fish, not one but has its legend, quaint or tragic: dunfermline, in whose royal towers the king may be still observed (in the ballad) drinking the blood-red wine; somnolent inverkeithing, once the quarantine of leith; aberdour, hard by the monastic islet of inchcolm, hard by donibristle where the "bonny face was spoiled": burntisland, where, when paul jones was off the coast, the reverend mr. shirra had a table carried between tide-marks, and publicly prayed against the rover at the pitch of his voice and his broad lowland dialect; kinghorn, where alexander "brak's neck-bane" and left scotland to the english wars; kirkcaldy, where the witches once prevailed extremely and sank tall ships and honest mariners in the north sea; dysart, famous--well, famous at least to me for the dutch ships that lay in its harbour, painted like toys and with pots of flowers and cages of song-birds in the cabin-windows, and for one particular dutch skipper who would sit all day in slippers on the break of the poop, smoking a long german pipe; wemyss (pronounced weems) with its bat-haunted caves, where the chevalier johnstone, on his flight from culloden, passed a night of superstitious terrors; leven, a bald, quite modern place, sacred to summer visitors, whence there has gone but yesterday the tall figure and the white locks of the last englishman in delhi, my uncle dr. balfour, who was still walking his hospital rounds, while the troopers from meerut clattered and cried "deen deen" along the streets of the imperial city, and willoughby mustered his handful of heroes at the magazine, and the nameless brave one in the telegraph office was perhaps already fingering his last despatch; and just a little beyond leven, largo law and the smoke of largo town mounting about its feet, the town of alexander selkirk, better known under the name of robinson crusoe. so on the list might be pursued (only for private reasons, which the reader will shortly have an opportunity to guess) by st. monans, and pittenweem, and the two anstruthers, and cellardyke, and crail, where primate sharpe was once a humble and innocent country minister: on to the heel of the land, to fife ness, overlooked by a sea-wood of matted elders and the quaint old mansion of balcomie, itself overlooking but the breach or the quiescence of the deep--the carr rock beacon rising close in front, and as night draws in, the star of the inchcape reef springing up on the one hand, and the star of the may island on the other, and farther off yet a third and a greater on the craggy foreland of st. abb's. and but a little way round the corner of the land, imminent itself above the sea, stands the gem of the province and the light of mediã¦val scotland, st. andrews, where the great cardinal beaton held garrison against the world, and the second of the name and title perished (as you may read in knox's jeering narrative) under the knives of true-blue protestants, and to this day (after so many centuries) the current voice of the professor is not hushed. here it was that my first tour of inspection began, early on a bleak easterly morning. there was a crashing run of sea upon the shore, i recollect, and my father and the man of the harbour light must sometimes raise their voices to be audible. perhaps it is from this circumstance, that i always imagine st. andrews to be an ineffectual seat of learning, and the sound of the east wind and the bursting surf to linger in its drowsy class-rooms and confound the utterance of the professor, until teacher and taught are alike drowned in oblivion, and only the sea-gull beats on the windows and the draught of the sea-air rustles in the pages of the open lecture. but upon all this, and the romance of st. andrews in general, the reader must consult the works of mr. andrew lang; who has written of it but the other day in his dainty prose and with his incommunicable humour, and long ago, in one of his best poems, with grace and local truth and a note of unaffected pathos. mr. lang knows all about the romance, i say, and the educational advantages, but i doubt if he had turned his attention to the harbour lights; and it may be news even to him, that in the year 1863 their case was pitiable. hanging about with the east wind humming in my teeth, and my hands (i make no doubt) in my pockets, i looked for the first time upon that tragi-comedy of the visiting engineer which i have seen so often re-enacted on a more important stage. eighty years ago, i find my grandfather writing: "it is the most painful thing that can occur to me to have a correspondence of this kind with any of the keepers, and when i come to the light house, instead of having the satisfaction to meet them with approbation and welcome their family, it is distressing when one is obliged to put on a most angry countenance and demeanour." this painful obligation has been hereditary in my race. i have myself, on a perfectly amateur and unauthorised inspection of turnberry point, bent my brows upon the keeper on the question of storm-panes; and felt a keen pang of self-reproach, when we went downstairs again and i found he was making a coffin for his infant child; and then regained my equanimity with the thought that i had done the man a service, and when the proper inspector came, he would be readier with his panes. the human race is perhaps credited with more duplicity than it deserves. the visitation of a lighthouse at least is a business of the most transparent nature. as soon as the boat grates on the shore, and the keepers step forward in their uniformed coats, the very slouch of the fellows' shoulders tells their story, and the engineer may begin at once to assume his "angry countenance." certainly the brass of the handrail will be clouded; and if the brass be not immaculate, certainly all will be to match--the reflectors scratched, the spare lamp unready, the storm-panes in the storehouse. if a light is not rather more than middling good, it will be radically bad. mediocrity (except in literature) appears to be unattainable by man. but of course the unfortunate of st. andrews was only an amateur, he was not in the service, he had no uniform coat, he was, i believe, a plumber by his trade, and stood (in the mediã¦val phrase) quite out of the danger of my father; but he had a painful interview for all that, and perspired extremely. from st. andrews we drove over magus muir. my father had announced we were "to post," and the phrase called up in my hopeful mind visions of top-boots and the pictures in rowlandson's "dance of death"; but it was only a jingling cab that came to the inn door, such as i had driven in a thousand times at the low price of one shilling on the streets of edinburgh. beyond this disappointment, i remember nothing of that drive. it is a road i have often travelled, and of not one of these journeys do i remember any single trait. the fact has not been suffered to encroach on the truth of the imagination. i still see magus muir two hundred years ago: a desert place, quite unenclosed; in the midst, the primate's carriage fleeing at the gallop; the assassins loose-reined in pursuit, burley balfour, pistol in hand, among the first. no scene of history has ever written itself so deeply on my mind; not because balfour, that questionable zealot, was an ancestral cousin of my own; not because of the pleadings of the victim and his daughter; not even because of the live bum-bee that flew out of sharpe's 'bacco-box, thus clearly indicating his complicity with satan; nor merely because, as it was after all a crime of a fine religious flavour, it figured in sunday books and afforded a grateful relief from "ministering children" or the "memoirs of mrs. katherine winslowe." the figure that always fixed my attention is that of hackston of rathillet, sitting in the saddle with his cloak about his mouth, and through all that long, bungling, vociferous hurly-burly, revolving privately a case of conscience. he would take no hand in the deed, because he had a private spite against the victim, and "that action" must be sullied with no suggestion of a worldly motive; on the other hand, "that action" in itself was highly justified, he had cast in his lot with "the actors," and he must stay there, inactive, but publicly sharing the responsibility. "you are a gentleman--you will protect me!" cried the wounded old man, crawling towards him. "i will never lay a hand on you," said hackston, and put his cloak about his mouth. it is an old temptation with me to pluck away that cloak and see the face--to open that bosom and to read the heart. with incomplete romances about hackston, the drawers of my youth were lumbered. i read him up in every printed book that i could lay my hands on. i even dug among the wodrow manuscripts, sitting shame-faced in the very room where my hero had been tortured two centuries before, and keenly conscious of my youth in the midst of other and (as i fondly thought) more gifted students. all was vain: that he had passed a riotous nonage, that he was a zealot, that he twice displayed (compared with his grotesque companions) some tincture of soldierly resolution and even of military common sense, and that he figured memorably in the scene on magus muir, so much and no more could i make out. but whenever i cast my eyes backward, it is to see him like a landmark on the plains of history, sitting with his cloak about his mouth, inscrutable. how small a thing creates an immortality! i do not think he can have been a man entirely commonplace; but had he not thrown his cloak about his mouth, or had the witnesses forgot to chronicle the action, he would not thus have haunted the imagination of my boyhood, and to-day he would scarce delay me for a paragraph. an incident, at once romantic and dramatic, which at once awakes the judgment and makes a picture for the eye, how little do we realise its perdurable power! perhaps no one does so but the author, just as none but he appreciates the influence of jingling words; so that he looks on upon life, with something of a covert smile, seeing people led by what they fancy to be thoughts and what are really the accustomed artifices of his own trade, or roused by what they take to be principles and are really picturesque effects. in a pleasant book about a school-class club, colonel fergusson has recently told a little anecdote. a "philosophical society" was formed by some academy boys--among them, colonel fergusson himself, fleeming jenkin, and andrew wilson, the christian buddhist and author of "the abode of snow." before these learned pundits, one member laid the following ingenious problem: "what would be the result of putting a pound of potassium in a pot of porter?" "i should think there would be a number of interesting bi-products," said a smatterer at my elbow; but for me the tale itself has a bi-product, and stands as a type of much that is most human. for this inquirer, who conceived himself to burn with a zeal entirely chemical, was really immersed in a design of a quite different nature: unconsciously to his own recently breeched intelligence, he was engaged in literature. putting, pound, potassium, pot, porter; initial p, mediant t--that was his idea, poor little boy! so with politics and that which excites men in the present, so with history and that which rouses them in the past: there lie, at the root of what appears, most serious unsuspected elements. the triple town of anstruther wester, anstruther easter, and cellardyke, all three royal burghs--or two royal burghs and a less distinguished suburb, i forget which--lies continuously along the seaside, and boasts of either two or three separate parish churches, and either two or three separate harbours. these ambiguities are painful; but the fact is (although it argues me uncultured), i am but poorly posted up on cellardyke. my business lay in the two anstruthers. a tricklet of a stream divides them, spanned by a bridge; and over the bridge at the time of my knowledge, the celebrated shell house stood outpost on the west. this had been the residence of an agreeable eccentric; during his fond tenancy he had illustrated the outer walls, as high (if i remember rightly) as the roof, with elaborate patterns and pictures, and snatches of verse in the vein of _exegi monumentum_; shells and pebbles, artfully contrasted and conjoined, had been his medium; and i like to think of him standing back upon the bridge, when all was finished, drinking in the general effect, and (like gibbon) already lamenting his employment. the same bridge saw another sight in the seventeenth century. mr. thomson, the "curat" of anstruther easter, was a man highly obnoxious to the devout: in the first place, because he was a "curat"; in the second place, because he was a person of irregular and scandalous life; and in the third place, because he was generally suspected of dealings with the enemy of man. these three disqualifications, in the popular literature of the time, go hand in hand; but the end of mr. thomson was a thing quite by itself, and, in the proper phrase, a manifest judgment. he had been at a friend's house in anstruther wester, where (and elsewhere, i suspect) he had partaken of the bottle; indeed, to put the thing in our cold modern way, the reverend gentleman was on the brink of _delirium tremens_. it was a dark night, it seems; a little lassie came carrying a lantern to fetch the curate home; and away they went down the street of anstruther wester, the lantern swinging a bit in the child's hand, the barred lustre tossing up and down along the front of slumbering houses, and mr. thomson not altogether steady on his legs nor (to all appearance) easy in his mind. the pair had reached the middle of the bridge when (as i conceive the scene) the poor tippler started in some baseless fear and looked behind him; the child, already shaken by the minister's strange behaviour, started also; in so doing she would jerk the lantern; and for the space of a moment the lights and the shadows would be all confounded. then it was that to the unhinged toper and the twittering child, a huge bulk of blackness seemed to sweep down, to pass them close by as they stood upon the bridge, and to vanish on the farther side in the general darkness of the night. "plainly the devil come for mr. thomson!" thought the child. what mr. thomson thought himself, we have no ground of knowledge; but he fell upon his knees in the midst of the bridge like a man praying. on the rest of the journey to the manse, history is silent; but when they came to the door, the poor caitiff, taking the lantern from the child, looked upon her with so lost a countenance that her little courage died within her, and she fled home screaming to her parents. not a soul would venture out; all that night the minister dwelt alone with his terrors in the manse; and when the day dawned, and men made bold to go about the streets, they found the devil had come indeed for mr. thomson. this manse of anstruther easter has another and a more cheerful association. it was early in the morning, about a century before the days of mr. thomson, that his predecessor was called out of bed to welcome a grandee of spain, the duke of medina sidonia, just landed in the harbour underneath. but sure there was never seen a more decayed grandee; sure there was never a duke welcomed from a stranger place of exile. half-way between orkney and shetland there lies a certain isle; on the one hand the atlantic, on the other the north sea, bombard its pillared cliffs; sore-eyed, short-living, inbred fishers and their families herd in its few huts; in the graveyard pieces of wreck-wood stand for monuments; there is nowhere a more inhospitable spot. _belle-isle-en-mer_--fair-isle-at-sea--that is a name that has always rung in my mind's ear like music; but the only "fair isle" on which i ever set my foot was this unhomely, rugged turret-top of submarine sierras. here, when his ship was broken, my lord duke joyfully got ashore; here for long months he and certain of his men were harboured; and it was from this durance that he landed at last to be welcomed (as well as such a papist deserved, no doubt) by the godly incumbent of anstruther easter; and after the fair isle, what a fine city must that have appeared! and after the island diet, what a hospitable spot the minister's table! and yet he must have lived on friendly terms with his outlandish hosts. for to this day there still survives a relic of the long winter evenings when the sailors of the great armada crouched about the hearths of the fair-islanders, the planks of their own lost galleon perhaps lighting up the scene, and the gale and the surf that beat about the coast contributing their melancholy voices. all the folk of the north isles are great artificers of knitting: the fair-islanders alone dye their fabrics in the spanish manner. to this day, gloves and nightcaps, innocently decorated, may be seen for sale in the shetland warehouse at edinburgh, or on the fair isle itself in the catechist's house; and to this day, they tell the story of the duke of medina sidonia's adventure. it would seem as if the fair isle had some attraction for "persons of quality." when i landed there myself, an elderly gentleman, unshaved, poorly attired, his shoulders wrapped in a plaid, was seen walking to and fro, with a book in his hand, upon the beach. he paid no heed to our arrival, which we thought a strange thing in itself; but when one of the officers of the _pharos_, passing narrowly by him, observed his book to be a greek testament, our wonder and interest took a higher flight. the catechist was cross-examined; he said the gentleman had been put across some time before in mr. bruce of sumburgh's schooner, the only link between the fair isle and the rest of the world; and that he held services and was doing "good." so much came glibly enough; but when pressed a little further, the catechist displayed embarrassment. a singular diffidence appeared upon his face: "they tell me," said he, in low tones, "that he's a lord." and a lord he was; a peer of the realm pacing that inhospitable beach with his greek testament, and his plaid about his shoulders, set upon doing good, as he understood it, worthy man! and his grandson, a good-looking little boy, much better dressed than the lordly evangelist, and speaking with a silken english accent very foreign to the scene, accompanied me for a while in my exploration of the island. i suppose this little fellow is now my lord, and wonder how much he remembers of the fair isle. perhaps not much; for he seemed to accept very quietly his savage situation; and under such guidance, it is like that this was not his first nor yet his last adventure. ii random memories ii. the education of an engineer anstruther is a place sacred to the muse; she inspired (really to a considerable extent) tennant's vernacular poem "anster fair"; and i have there waited upon her myself with much devotion. this was when i came as a young man to glean engineering experience from the building of the breakwater. what i gleaned, i am sure i do not know; but indeed i had already my own private determination to be an author; i loved the art of words and the appearances of life; and _travellers_, and _headers_, and _rubble_, and _polished ashlar_, and _pierres perdues_, and even the thrilling question of the _string-course_, interested me only (if they interested me at all) as properties for some possible romance or as words to add to my vocabulary. to grow a little catholic is the compensation of years; youth is one-eyed; and in those days, though i haunted the breakwater by day, and even loved the place for the sake of the sunshine, the thrilling seaside air, the wash of waves on the sea-face, the green glimmer of the divers' helmets far below, and the musical chinking of the masons, my one genuine pre-occupation lay elsewhere, and my only industry was in the hours when i was not on duty. i lodged with a certain bailie brown, a carpenter by trade; and there, as soon as dinner was despatched, in a chamber scented with dry rose-leaves, drew in my chair to the table and proceeded to pour forth literature, at such a speed, and with such intimations of early death and immortality, as i now look back upon with wonder. then it was that i wrote "voces fidelium," a series of dramatic monologues in verse; then that i indited the bulk of a covenanting novel--like so many others, never finished. late i sat into the night, toiling (as i thought) under the very dart of death, toiling to leave a memory behind me. i feel moved to thrust aside the curtain of the years, to hail that poor feverish idiot, to bid him go to bed and clap "voces fidelium" on the fire before he goes; so clear does he appear before me, sitting there between his candles in the rose-scented room and the late night; so ridiculous a picture (to my elderly wisdom) does the fool present! but he was driven to his bed at last without miraculous intervention; and the manner of his driving sets the last touch upon this eminently youthful business. the weather was then so warm that i must keep the windows open; the night without was populous with moths. as the late darkness deepened, my literary tapers beaconed forth more brightly; thicker and thicker came the dusty night-fliers, to gyrate for one brilliant instant round the flame and fall in agonies upon my paper. flesh and blood could not endure the spectacle; to capture immortality was doubtless a noble enterprise, but not to capture it at such a cost of suffering; and out would go the candles, and off would i go to bed in the darkness, raging to think that the blow might fall on the morrow, and there was "voces fidelium" still incomplete. well, the moths are all gone, and "voces fidelium" along with them; only the fool is still on hand and practises new follies. only one thing in connection with the harbour tempted me, and that was the diving, an experience i burned to taste of. but this was not to be, at least in anstruther; and the subject involves a change of scene to the sub-arctic town of wick. you can never have dwelt in a country more unsightly than that part of caithness, the land faintly swelling, faintly falling, not a tree, not a hedgerow, the fields divided by single slate stones set upon their edge, the wind always singing in your ears and (down the long road that led nowhere) thrumming in the telegraph wires. only as you approached the coast was there anything to stir the heart. the plateau broke down to the north sea in formidable cliffs, the tall out-stacks rose like pillars ringed about with surf, the coves were over-brimmed with clamorous froth, the sea-birds screamed, the wind sang in the thyme on the cliff's edge; here and there, small ancient castles toppled on the brim; here and there, it was possible to dip into a dell of shelter, where you might lie and tell yourself you were a little warm, and hear (near at hand) the whin-pods bursting in the afternoon sun, and (farther off) the rumour of the turbulent sea. as for wick itself, it is one of the meanest of man's towns, and situate certainly on the baldest of god's bays. it lives for herring, and a strange sight it is to see (of an afternoon) the heights of pulteney blackened by seaward-looking fishers, as when a city crowds to a review--or, as when bees have swarmed, the ground is horrible with lumps and clusters; and a strange sight, and a beautiful, to see the fleet put silently out against a rising moon, the sea-line rough as a wood with sails, and ever and again and one after another, a boat flitting swiftly by the silver disk. this mass of fishers, this great fleet of boats, is out of all proportion to the town itself; and the oars are manned and the nets hauled by immigrants from the long island (as we call the outer hebrides), who come for that season only, and depart again, if "the take" be poor, leaving debts behind them. in a bad year, the end of the herring-fishery is therefore an exciting time; fights are common, riots often possible; an apple knocked from a child's hand was once the signal for something like a war; and even when i was there, a gunboat lay in the bay to assist the authorities. to contrary interests, it should be observed, the curse of babel is here added; the lews men are gaelic speakers, those of caithness have adopted english; an odd circumstance, if you reflect that both must be largely norsemen by descent. i remember seeing one of the strongest instances of this division: a thing like a punch-and-judy box erected on the flat gravestones of the churchyard; from the hutch or proscenium--i know not what to call it--an eldritch-looking preacher laying down the law in gaelic about some one of the name of _powl_, whom i at last divined to be the apostle to the gentiles; a large congregation of the lews men very devoutly listening; and on the outskirts of the crowd, some of the town's children (to whom the whole affair was greek and hebrew) profanely playing tigg. the same descent, the same country, the same narrow sect of the same religion, and all these bonds made very largely nugatory by an accidental difference of dialect! into the bay of wick stretched the dark length of the unfinished breakwater, in its cage of open staging; the travellers (like frames of churches) over-plumbing all; and away at the extreme end, the divers toiling unseen on the foundation. on a platform of loose planks, the assistants turned their air-mills; a stone might be swinging between wind and water; underneath the swell ran gaily; and from time to time, a mailed dragon with a window-glass snout came dripping up the ladder. youth is a blessed season after all; my stay at wick was in the year of "voces fidelium" and the rose-leaf room at bailie brown's; and already i did not care two straws for literary glory. posthumous ambition perhaps requires an atmosphere of roses; and the more rugged excitant of wick east winds had made another boy of me. to go down in the diving-dress, that was my absorbing fancy; and with the countenance of a certain handsome scamp of a diver, bob bain by name, i gratified the whim. it was grey, harsh, easterly weather, the swell ran pretty high, and out in the open there were "skipper's daughters," when i found myself at last on the diver's platform, twenty pounds of lead upon each foot and my whole person swollen with ply and ply of woollen underclothing. one moment, the salt wind was whistling round my night-capped head; the next, i was crushed almost double under the weight of the helmet. as that intolerable burthen was laid upon me, i could have found it in my heart (only for shame's sake) to cry off from the whole enterprise. but it was too late. the attendants began to turn the hurdy-gurdy, and the air to whistle through the tube; some one screwed in the barred window of the vizor; and i was cut off in a moment from my fellow-men; standing there in their midst, but quite divorced from intercourse: a creature deaf and dumb, pathetically looking forth upon them from a climate of his own. except that i could move and feel, i was like a man fallen in a catalepsy. but time was scarce given me to realise my isolation; the weights were hung upon my back and breast, the signal-rope was thrust into my unresisting hand; and setting a twenty-pound foot upon the ladder, i began ponderously to descend. some twenty rounds below the platform, twilight fell. looking up, i saw a low green heaven mottled with vanishing bells of white; looking around, except for the weedy spokes and shafts of the ladder, nothing but a green gloaming, somewhat opaque but very restful and delicious. thirty rounds lower, i stepped off on the _pierres perdues_ of the foundation; a dumb helmeted figure took me by the hand, and made a gesture (as i read it) of encouragement; and looking in at the creature's window, i beheld the face of bain. there we were, hand to hand and (when it pleased us) eye to eye; and either might have burst himself with shouting, and not a whisper come to his companion's hearing. each, in his own little world of air, stood incommunicably separate. bob had told me ere this a little tale, a five minutes' drama at the bottom of the sea, which at that moment possibly shot across my mind. he was down with another, settling a stone of the sea-wall. they had it well adjusted, bob gave the signal, the scissors were slipped, the stone set home; and it was time to turn to something else. but still his companion remained bowed over the block like a mourner on a tomb, or only raised himself to make absurd contortions and mysterious signs unknown to the vocabulary of the diver. there, then, these two stood for a while, like the dead and the living; till there flashed a fortunate thought into bob's mind, and he stooped, peered through the window of that other world, and beheld the face of its inhabitant wet with streaming tears. ah! the man was in pain! and bob, glancing downward, saw what was the trouble: the block had been lowered on the foot of that unfortunate--he was caught alive at the bottom of the sea under fifteen tons of rock. that two men should handle a stone so heavy, even swinging in the scissors, may appear strange to the inexpert. these must bear in mind the great density of the water of the sea, and the surprising results of transplantation to that medium. to understand a little what these are, and how a man's weight, so far from being an encumbrance, is the very ground of his agility, was the chief lesson of my submarine experience. the knowledge came upon me by degrees. as i began to go forward with the hand of my estranged companion, a world of tumbled stones was visible, pillared with the weedy uprights of the staging: overhead, a flat roof of green: a little in front, the sea-wall, like an unfinished rampart. and presently in our upward progress, bob motioned me to leap upon a stone; i looked to see if he were possibly in earnest, and he only signed to me the more imperiously. now the block stood six feet high; it would have been quite a leap to me unencumbered; with the breast and back weights, and the twenty pounds upon each foot, and the staggering load of the helmet, the thing was out of reason. i laughed aloud in my tomb; and to prove to bob how far he was astray, i gave a little impulse from my toes. up i soared like a bird, my companion soaring at my side. as high as to the stone, and then higher, i pursued my impotent and empty flight. even when the strong arm of bob had checked my shoulders, my heels continued their ascent; so that i blew out side-ways like an autumn leaf, and must be hauled in, hand over hand, as sailors haul in the slack of a sail, and propped upon my feet again like an intoxicated sparrow. yet a little higher on the foundation, and we began to be affected by the bottom of the swell, running there like a strong breeze of wind. or so i must suppose; for, safe in my cushion of air, i was conscious of no impact; only swayed idly like a weed, and was now borne helplessly abroad, and now swiftly--and yet with dream-like gentleness--impelled against my guide. so does a child's balloon divagate upon the currents of the air, and touch and slide off again from every obstacle. so must have ineffectually swung, so resented their inefficiency, those light crowds that followed the star of hades, and uttered exiguous voices in the land beyond cocytus. there was something strangely exasperating, as well as strangely wearying, in these uncommanded evolutions. it is bitter to return to infancy, to be supported, and directed, and perpetually set upon your feet, by the hand of some one else. the air besides, as it is supplied to you by the busy millers on the platform, closes the eustachian tubes and keeps the neophyte perpetually swallowing, till his throat is grown so dry that he can swallow no longer. and for all these reasons--although i had a fine, dizzy, muddle-headed joy in my surroundings, and longed, and tried, and always failed, to lay hands on the fish that darted here and there about me, swift as humming-birds--yet i fancy i was rather relieved than otherwise when bain brought me back to the ladder and signed to me to mount. and there was one more experience before me even then. of a sudden, my ascending head passed into the trough of a swell. out of the green, i shot at once into a glory of rosy, almost of sanguine light--the multitudinous seas incarnadined, the heaven above a vault of crimson. and then the glory faded into the hard, ugly daylight of a caithness autumn, with a low sky, a grey sea, and a whistling wind. bob bain had five shillings for his trouble, and i had done what i desired. it was one of the best things i got from my education as an engineer: of which, however, as a way of life, i wish to speak with sympathy. it takes a man into the open air; it keeps him hanging about harbour-sides, which is the richest form of idling; it carries him to wild islands; it gives him a taste of the genial dangers of the sea; it supplies him with dexterities to exercise; it makes demands upon his ingenuity; it will go far to cure him of any taste (if ever he had one) for the miserable life of cities. and when it has done so, it carries him back and shuts him in an office! from the roaring skerry and the wet thwart of the tossing boat, he passes to the stool and desk, and with a memory full of ships, and seas, and perilous headlands, and the shining pharos, he must apply his long-sighted eyes to the pretty niceties of drawing, or measure his inaccurate mind with several pages of consecutive figures. he is a wise youth, to be sure, who can balance one part of genuine life against two parts of drudgery between four walls, and for the sake of the one, manfully accept the other. wick was scarce an eligible place of stay. but how much better it was to hang in the cold wind upon the pier, to go down with bob bain among the roots of the staging, to be all day in a boat coiling a wet rope and shouting orders--not always very wise--than to be warm and dry, and dull, and dead-alive, in the most comfortable office. and wick itself had in those days a note of originality. it may have still, but i misdoubt it much. the old minister of keiss would not preach, in these degenerate times, for an hour and a half upon the clock. the gipsies must be gone from their cavern; where you might see, from the mouth, the women tending their fire, like meg merrilies, and the men sleeping off their coarse potations; and where in winter gales, the surf would beleaguer them closely, bursting in their very door. a traveller to-day upon the thurso coach would scarce observe a little cloud of smoke among the moorlands, and be told, quite openly, it marked a private still. he would not indeed make that journey, for there is now no thurso coach. and even if he could, one little thing that happened to me could never happen to him, or not with the same trenchancy of contrast. we had been upon the road all evening; the coach-top was crowded with lews fishers going home, scarce anything but gaelic had sounded in my ears; and our way had lain throughout over a moorish country very northern to behold. latish at night, though it was still broad day in our sub-arctic latitude, we came down upon the shores of the roaring pentland firth, that grave of mariners; on one hand, the cliffs of dunnet head ran seaward; in front was the little bare white town of castleton, its streets full of blowing sand; nothing beyond, but the north islands, the great deep, and the perennial ice-fields of the pole. and here, in the last imaginable place, there sprang up young outlandish voices and a chatter of some foreign speech; and i saw, pursuing the coach with its load of hebridean fishers--as they had pursued _vetturini_ up the passes of the apennines or perhaps along the grotto under virgil's tomb--two little dark-eyed, white-toothed italian vagabonds, of twelve to fourteen years of age, one with a hurdy-gurdy, the other with a cage of white mice. the coach passed on, and their small italian chatter died in the distance; and i was left to marvel how they had wandered into that country, and how they fared in it, and what they thought of it, and when (if ever) they should see again the silver wind-breaks run among the olives, and the stone-pine stand guard upon etruscan sepulchres. upon any american, the strangeness of this incident is somewhat lost. for as far back as he goes in his own land, he will find some alien camping there; the cornish miner, the french or mexican half-blood, the negro in the south, these are deep in the woods and far among the mountains. but in an old, cold, and rugged country such as mine, the days of immigration are long at an end; and away up there, which was at that time far beyond the northernmost extreme of railways, hard upon the shore of that ill-omened strait of whirlpools, in a land of moors where no stranger came, unless it should be a sportsman to shoot grouse or an antiquary to decipher runes, the presence of these small pedestrians struck the mind as though a bird-of-paradise had risen from the heather or an albatross come fishing in the bay of wick. they were as strange to their surroundings as my lordly evangelist or the old spanish grandee on the fair isle. iii a chapter on dreams the past is all of one texture--whether feigned or suffered--whether acted out in three dimensions, or only witnessed in that small theatre of the brain which we keep brightly lighted all night long, after the jets are down, and darkness and sleep reign undisturbed in the remainder of the body. there is no distinction on the face of our experiences; one is vivid indeed, and one dull, and one pleasant, and another agonising to remember; but which of them is what we call true, and which a dream, there is not one hair to prove. the past stands on a precarious footing; another straw split in the field of metaphysic, and behold us robbed of it. there is scarce a family that can count four generations but lays a claim to some dormant title or some castle and estate: a claim not prosecutable in any court of law, but flattering to the fancy and a great alleviation of idle hours. a man's claim to his own past is yet less valid. a paper might turn up (in proper story-book fashion) in the secret drawer of an old ebony secretary, and restore your family to its ancient honours and reinstate mine in a certain west indian islet (not far from st. kitt's, as beloved tradition hummed in my young ears) which was once ours, and is now unjustly some one else's, and for that matter (in the state of the sugar trade) is not worth anything to anybody. i do not say that these revolutions are likely; only no man can deny that they are possible; and the past, on the other hand, is lost for ever: our old days and deeds, our old selves, too, and the very world in which these scenes were acted, all brought down to the same faint residuum as a last night's dream, to some incontinuous images, and an echo in the chambers of the brain. not an hour, not a mood, not a glance of the eye, can we revoke; it is all gone, past conjuring. and yet conceive us robbed of it, conceive that little thread of memory that we trail behind us broken at the pocket's edge; and in what naked nullity should we be left! for we only guide ourselves, and only know ourselves, by these air-painted pictures of the past. upon these grounds, there are some among us who claim to have lived longer and more richly than their neighbours; when they lay asleep they claim they were still active; and among the treasures of memory that all men review for their amusement, these count in no second place the harvests of their dreams. there is one of this kind whom i have in my eye, and whose case is perhaps unusual enough to be described. he was from a child an ardent and uncomfortable dreamer. when he had a touch of fever at night, and the room swelled and shrank, and his clothes, hanging on a nail, now loomed up instant to the bigness of a church, and now drew away into a horror of infinite distance and infinite littleness, the poor soul was very well aware of what must follow, and struggled hard against the approaches of that slumber which was the beginning of sorrows. but his struggles were in vain; sooner or later the night-hag would have him by the throat, and pluck him, strangling and screaming, from his sleep. his dreams were at times commonplace enough, at times very strange: at times they were almost formless, he would be haunted, for instance, by nothing more definite than a certain hue of brown, which he did not mind in the least while he was awake, but feared and loathed while he was dreaming; at times, again, they took on every detail of circumstance, as when once he supposed he must swallow the populous world, and awoke screaming with the horror of the thought. the two chief troubles of his very narrow existence--the practical and everyday trouble of school tasks and the ultimate and airy one of hell and judgment--were often confounded together into one appalling nightmare. he seemed to himself to stand before the great white throne; he was called on, poor little devil, to recite some form of words, on which his destiny depended; his tongue stuck, his memory was blank, hell gaped for him; and he would awake, clinging to the curtain-rod with his knees to his chin. these were extremely poor experiences, on the whole; and at that time of life my dreamer would have very willingly parted with his power of dreams. but presently, in the course of his growth, the cries and physical contortions passed away, seemingly for ever; his visions were still for the most part miserable, but they were more constantly supported; and he would awake with no more extreme symptom than a flying heart, a freezing scalp, cold sweats, and the speechless midnight fear. his dreams, too, as befitted a mind better stocked with particulars, became more circumstantial, and had more the air and continuity of life. the look of the world beginning to take hold on his attention, scenery came to play a part in his sleeping as well as in his waking thoughts, so that he would take long, uneventful journeys and see strange towns and beautiful places as he lay in bed. and, what is more significant, an odd taste that he had for the georgian costume and for stories laid in that period of english history, began to rule the features of his dreams; so that he masqueraded there in a three-cornered hat, and was much engaged with jacobite conspiracy between the hour for bed and that for breakfast. about the same time, he began to read in his dreams--tales, for the most part, and for the most part after the manner of g. p. r. james, but so incredibly more vivid and moving than any printed book, that he has ever since been malcontent with literature. and then, while he was yet a student, there came to him a dream-adventure which he has no anxiety to repeat; he began, that is to say, to dream in sequence and thus to lead a double life--one of the day, one of the night--one that he had every reason to believe was the true one, another that he had no means of proving to be false. i should have said he studied, or was by way of studying, at edinburgh college, which (it may be supposed) was how i came to know him. well, in his dream-life he passed a long day in the surgical theatre, his heart in his mouth, his teeth on edge, seeing monstrous malformations and the abhorred dexterity of surgeons. in a heavy, rainy, foggy evening he came forth into the south bridge, turned up the high street, and entered the door of a tall _land_, at the top of which he supposed himself to lodge. all night long, in his wet clothes, he climbed the stairs, stair after stair in endless series, and at every second flight a flaring lamp with a reflector. all night long he brushed by single persons passing downward--beggarly women of the street, great, weary, muddy labourers, poor scarecrows of men, pale parodies of women--but all drowsy and weary like himself, and all single, and all brushing against him as they passed. in the end, out of a northern window, he would see day beginning to whiten over the firth, give up the ascent, turn to descend, and in a breath be back again upon the streets, in his wet clothes, in the wet, haggard dawn, trudging to another day of monstrosities and operations. time went, quicker in the life of dreams, some seven hours (as near as he can guess) to one; and it went, besides, more intensely, so that the gloom of these fancied experiences clouded the day, and he had not shaken off their shadow ere it was time to lie down and to renew them. i cannot tell how long it was that he endured this discipline; but it was long enough to leave a great black blot upon his memory, long enough to send him, trembling for his reason, to the doors of a certain doctor; whereupon with a simple draught he was restored to the common lot of man. the poor gentleman has since been troubled by nothing of the sort; indeed, his nights were for some while like other men's, now blank, now chequered with dreams, and these sometimes charming, sometimes appalling, but except for an occasional vividness, of no extraordinary kind. i will just note one of these occasions, ere i pass on to what makes my dreamer truly interesting. it seemed to him that he was in the first floor of a rough hill-farm. the room showed some poor efforts at gentility, a carpet on the floor, a piano, i think, against the wall; but, for all these refinements, there was no mistaking he was in a moorland place, among hillside people, and set in miles of heather. he looked down from the window upon a bare farmyard, that seemed to have been long disused. a great, uneasy stillness lay upon the world. there was no sign of the farm-folk or of any live stock, save for an old, brown, curly dog of the retriever breed, who sat close in against the wall of the house and seemed to be dozing. something about this dog disquieted the dreamer; it was quite a nameless feeling, for the beast looked right enough--indeed, he was so old and dull and dusty and broken-down, that he should rather have awakened pity; and yet the conviction came and grew upon the dreamer that this was no proper dog at all, but something hellish. a great many dozing summer flies hummed about the yard; and presently the dog thrust forth his paw, caught a fly in his open palm, carried it to his mouth like an ape, and looking suddenly up at the dreamer in the window, winked to him with one eye. the dream went on, it matters not how it went; it was a good dream as dreams go; but there was nothing in the sequel worthy of that devilish brown dog. and the point of interest for me lies partly in that very fact: that having found so singular an incident, my imperfect dreamer should prove unable to carry the tale to a fit end and fall back on indescribable noises and indiscriminate horrors. it would be different now; he knows his business better! for, to approach at last the point: this honest fellow had long been in the custom of setting himself to sleep with tales, and so had his father before him; but these were irresponsible inventions, told for the teller's pleasure, with no eye to the crass public or the thwart reviewer: tales where a thread might be dropped, or one adventure quitted for another, on fancy's least suggestion. so that the little people who manage man's internal theatre had not as yet received a very rigorous training; and played upon their stage like children who should have slipped into the house and found it empty, rather than like drilled actors performing a set piece to a huge hall of faces. but presently my dreamer began to turn his former amusement of story-telling to (what is called) account; by which i mean that he began to write and sell his tales. here was he, and here were the little people who did that part of his business, in quite new conditions. the stories must now be trimmed and pared and set upon all-fours, they must run from a beginning to an end and fit (after a manner) with the laws of life; the pleasure, in one word, had become a business; and that not only for the dreamer, but for the little people of his theatre. these understood the change as well as he. when he lay down to prepare himself for sleep, he no longer sought amusement, but printable and profitable tales; and after he had dozed off in his box-seat, his little people continued their evolutions with the same mercantile designs. all other forms of dream deserted him but two: he still occasionally reads the most delightful books, he still visits at times the most delightful places; and it is perhaps worthy of note that to these same places, and to one in particular, he returns at intervals of months and years, finding new field-paths, visiting new neighbours, beholding that happy valley under new effects of noon and dawn and sunset. but all the rest of the family of visions is quite lost to him: the common, mangled version of yesterday's affairs, the raw-head-and-bloody-bones nightmare, rumoured to be the child of toasted cheese--these and their like are gone; and, for the most part, whether awake or asleep, he is simply occupied--he or his little people--in consciously making stories for the market. this dreamer (like many other persons) has encountered some trifling vicissitudes of fortune. when the bank begins to send letters and the butcher to linger at the back gate, he sets to belabouring his brains after a story, for that is his readiest money-winner; and, behold! at once the little people begin to bestir themselves in the same quest, and labour all night long, and all night long set before him truncheons of tales upon their lighted theatre. no fear of his being frightened now; the flying heart and the frozen scalp are things bygone; applause, growing applause, growing interest, growing exultation in his own cleverness (for he takes all the credit), and at last a jubilant leap to wakefulness, with the cry, "i have it, that'll do!" upon his lips: with such and similar emotions he sits at these nocturnal dramas, with such outbreaks, like claudius in the play, he scatters the performance in the midst. often enough the waking is a disappointment: he has been too deep asleep, as i explain the thing; drowsiness has gained his little people, they have gone stumbling and maundering through their parts; and the play, to the awakened mind, is seen to be a tissue of absurdities. and yet how often have these sleepless brownies done him honest service, and given him, as he sat idly taking his pleasure in the boxes, better tales than he could fashion for himself. here is one, exactly as it came to him. it seemed he was the son of a very rich and wicked man, the owner of broad acres and a most damnable temper. the dreamer (and that was the son) had lived much abroad, on purpose to avoid his parent; and when at length he returned to england, it was to find him married again to a young wife, who was supposed to suffer cruelly and to loathe her yoke. because of this marriage (as the dreamer indistinctly understood) it was desirable for father and son to have a meeting; and yet both being proud and both angry, neither would condescend upon a visit. meet they did accordingly, in a desolate, sandy country by the sea; and there they quarrelled, and the son, stung by some intolerable insult, struck down the father dead. no suspicion was aroused; the dead man was found and buried, and the dreamer succeeded to the broad estates, and found himself installed under the same roof with his father's widow, for whom no provision had been made. these two lived very much alone, as people may after a bereavement, sat down to table together, shared the long evenings, and grew daily better friends; until it seemed to him of a sudden that she was prying about dangerous matters, that she had conceived a notion of his guilt, that she watched him and tried him with questions. he drew back from her company as men draw back from a precipice suddenly discovered; and yet so strong was the attraction that he would drift again and again into the old intimacy, and again and again be startled back by some suggestive question or some inexplicable meaning in her eye. so they lived at cross purposes, a life full of broken dialogue, challenging glances, and suppressed passion; until, one day, he saw the woman slipping from the house in a veil, followed her to the station, followed her in the train to the seaside country, and out over the sandhills to the very place where the murder was done. there she began to grope among the bents, he watching her, flat upon his face; and presently she had something in her hand--i cannot remember what it was, but it was deadly evidence against the dreamer--and as she held it up to look at it, perhaps from the shock of the discovery, her foot slipped, and she hung at some peril on the brink of the tall sand-wreaths. he had no thought but to spring up and rescue her; and there they stood face to face, she with that deadly matter openly in her hand--his very presence on the spot another link of proof. it was plain she was about to speak, but this was more than he could bear--he could bear to be lost, but not to talk of it with his destroyer; and he cut her short with trivial conversation. arm in arm, they returned together to the train, talking he knew not what, made the journey back in the same carriage, sat down to dinner, and passed the evening in the drawing-room as in the past. but suspense and fear drummed in the dreamer's bosom. "she has not denounced me yet"--so his thoughts ran: "when will she denounce me? will it be to-morrow?" and it was not to-morrow, nor the next day, nor the next; and their life settled back on the old terms, only that she seemed kinder than before, and that, as for him, the burthen of his suspense and wonder grew daily more unbearable, so that he wasted away like a man with a disease. once, indeed, he broke all bounds of decency, seized an occasion when she was abroad, ransacked her room, and at last, hidden away among her jewels, found the damning evidence. there he stood, holding this thing, which was his life, in the hollow of his hand, and marvelling at her inconsequent behaviour, that she should seek, and keep, and yet not use it; and then the door opened, and behold herself. so, once more, they stood, eye to eye, with the evidence between them; and once more she raised to him a face brimming with some communication; and once more he shied away from speech and cut her off. but before he left the room, which he had turned upside down, he laid back his death-warrant where he had found it; and at that, her face lighted up. the next thing he heard, she was explaining to her maid, with some ingenious falsehood, the disorder of her things. flesh and blood could bear the strain no longer; and i think it was the next morning (though chronology is always hazy in the theatre of the mind) that he burst from his reserve. they had been breakfasting together in one corner of a great, parqueted, sparely-furnished room of many windows; all the time of the meal she had tortured him with sly allusions; and no sooner were the servants gone, and these two protagonists alone together, than he leaped to his feet. she too sprang up, with a pale face; with a pale face, she heard him as he raved out his complaint: why did she torture him so? she knew all, she knew he was no enemy to her; why did she not denounce him at once? what signified her whole behaviour? why did she torture him? and yet again, why did she torture him? and when he had done, she fell upon her knees, and with outstretched hands: "do you not understand?" she cried. "i love you!" hereupon, with a pang of wonder and mercantile delight the dreamer awoke. his mercantile delight was not of long endurance; for it soon became plain that in this spirited tale there were unmarketable elements; which is just the reason why you have it here so briefly told. but his wonder has still kept growing; and i think the reader's will also, if he consider it ripely. for now he sees why i speak of the little people as of substantive inventors and performers. to the end they had kept their secret. i will go bail for the dreamer (having excellent grounds for valuing his candour) that he had no guess whatever at the motive of the woman--the hinge of the whole well-invented plot--until the instant of that highly dramatic declaration. it was not his tale; it was the little people's! and observe: not only was the secret kept, the story was told with really guileful craftsmanship. the conduct of both actors is (in the cant phrase) psychologically correct, and the emotion aptly graduated up to the surprising climax. i am awake now, and i know this trade; and yet i cannot better it. i am awake, and i live by this business; and yet i could not outdo--could not perhaps equal--that crafty artifice (as of some old, experienced carpenter of plays, some dennery or sardou) by which the same situation is twice presented and the two actors twice brought face to face over the evidence, only once it is in her hand, once in his--and these in their due order, the least dramatic first. the more i think of it, the more i am moved to press upon the world my question: who are the little people? they are near connections of the dreamer's, beyond doubt; they share in his financial worries and have an eye to the bank-book; they share plainly in his training; they have plainly learned like him to build the scheme of a considerate story and to arrange emotion in progressive order; only i think they have more talent; and one thing is beyond doubt, they can tell him a story piece by piece, like a serial, and keep him all the while in ignorance of where they aim. who are they, then? and who is the dreamer? well, as regards the dreamer, i can answer that, for he is no less a person than myself;--as i might have told you from the beginning, only that the critics murmur over my consistent egotism;--and as i am positively forced to tell you now, or i could advance but little further with my story. and for the little people, what shall i say they are but just my brownies, god bless them! who do one-half my work for me while i am fast asleep, and in all human likelihood, do the rest for me as well, when i am wide awake and fondly suppose i do it for myself. that part which is done while i am sleeping is the brownies' part beyond contention; but that which is done when i am up and about is by no means necessarily mine, since all goes to show the brownies have a hand in it even then. here is a doubt that much concerns my conscience. for myself--what i call i, my conscious ego, the denizen of the pineal gland unless he has changed his residence since descartes, the man with the conscience and the variable bank-account, the man with the hat and the boots, and the privilege of voting and not carrying his candidate at the general elections--i am sometimes tempted to suppose is no story-teller at all, but a creature as matter of fact as any cheesemonger or any cheese, and a realist bemired up to the ears in actuality; so that, by that account, the whole of my published fiction should be the single-handed product of some brownie, some familiar, some unseen collaborator, whom i keep locked in a back garret, while i get all the praise and he but a share (which i cannot prevent him getting) of the pudding. i am an excellent adviser, something like moliã¨re's servant. i pull back and i cut down; and i dress the whole in the best words and sentences that i can find and make; i hold the pen, too; and i do the sitting at the table, which is about the worst of it; and when all is done, i make up the manuscript and pay for the registration; so that, on the whole, i have some claim to share, though not so largely as i do, in the profits of our common enterprise. i can but give an instance or so of what part is done sleeping and what part awake, and leave the reader to share what laurels there are, at his own nod, between myself and my collaborators; and to do this i will first take a book that a number of persons have been polite enough to read, "the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde." i had long been trying to write a story on this subject, to find a body, a vehicle, for that strong sense of man's double being which must at times come in upon and overwhelm the mind of every thinking creature. i had even written one, "the travelling companion," which was returned by an editor on the plea that it was a work of genius and indecent, and which i burned the other day on the ground that it was not a work of genius, and that "jekyll" had supplanted it. then came one of those financial fluctuations to which (with an elegant modesty) i have hitherto referred in the third person. for two days i went about racking my brains for a plot of any sort; and on the second night i dreamed the scene at the window, and a scene afterward split in two, in which hyde, pursued for some crime, took the powder and underwent the change in the presence of his pursuers. all the rest was made awake, and consciously, although i think i can trace in much of it the manner of my brownies. the meaning of the tale is therefore mine, and had long pre-existed in my garden of adonis, and tried one body after another in vain; indeed, i do most of the morality, worse luck! and my brownies have not a rudiment of what we call a conscience. mine, too, is the setting, mine the characters. all that was given me was the matter of three scenes, and the central idea of a voluntary change becoming involuntary. will it be thought ungenerous, after i have been so liberally ladling out praise to my unseen collaborators, if i here toss them over, bound hand and foot, into the arena of the critics? for the business of the powders, which so many have censured, is, i am relieved to say, not mine at all, but the brownies'. of another tale, in case the reader should have glanced at it, i may say a word: the not very defensible story of "olalla." here the court, the mother, the mother's niche, olalla, olalla's chamber, the meetings on the stair, the broken window, the ugly scene of the bite, were all given me in bulk and detail as i have tried to write them; to this i added only the external scenery (for in my dream i never was beyond the court), the portrait, the characters of felipe and the priest, the moral, such as it is, and the last pages, such as, alas! they are. and i may even say that in this case the moral itself was given me; for it arose immediately on a comparison of the mother and the daughter, and from the hideous trick of atavism in the first. sometimes a parabolic sense is still more undeniably present in a dream; sometimes i cannot but suppose my brownies have been aping bunyan, and yet in no case with what would possibly be called a moral in a tract; never with the ethical narrowness; conveying hints instead of life's larger limitations and that sort of sense which we seem to perceive in the arabesque of time and space. for the most part, it will be seen, my brownies are somewhat fantastic, like their stories hot and hot, full of passion and the picturesque, alive with animating incident; and they have no prejudice against the supernatural. but the other day they gave me a surprise, entertaining me with a love-story, a little april comedy, which i ought certainly to hand over to the author of "a chance acquaintance," for he could write it as it should be written, and i am sure (although i mean to try) that i cannot.--but who would have supposed that a brownie of mine should invent a tale for mr. howells? iv beggars i in a pleasant, airy, up-hill country, it was my fortune when i was young to make the acquaintance of a certain beggar. i call him beggar, though he usually allowed his coat and his shoes (which were open-mouthed, indeed) to beg for him. he was the wreck of an athletic man, tall, gaunt, and bronzed; far gone in consumption, with that disquieting smile of the mortally stricken on his face; but still active afoot, still with the brisk military carriage, the ready military salute. three ways led through this piece of country; and as i was inconstant in my choice, i believe he must often have awaited me in vain. but often enough, he caught me; often enough, from some place of ambush by the roadside, he would spring suddenly forth in the regulation attitude, and launching at once into his inconsequential talk, fall into step with me upon my farther course. "a fine morning, sir, though perhaps a trifle inclining to rain. i hope i see you well, sir. why, no, sir, i don't feel as hearty myself as i could wish, but i am keeping about my ordinary. i am pleased to meet you on the road, sir. i assure you i quite look forward to one of our little conversations." he loved the sound of his own voice inordinately, and though (with something too off-hand to call servility) he would always hasten to agree with anything you said, yet he could never suffer you to say it to an end. by what transition he slid to his favourite subject i have no memory; but we had never been long together on the way before he was dealing, in a very military manner, with the english poets. "shelley was a fine poet, sir, though a trifle atheistical in his opinions. his 'queen mab,' sir, is quite an atheistical work. scott, sir, is not so poetical a writer. with the works of shakespeare i am not so well acquainted, but he was a fine poet. keats--john keats, sir--he was a very fine poet." with such references, such trivial criticism, such loving parade of his own knowledge, he would beguile the road, striding forward up-hill, his staff now clapped to the ribs of his deep, resonant chest, now swinging in the air with the remembered jauntiness of the private soldier; and all the while his toes looking out of his boots, and his shirt looking out of his elbows, and death looking out of his smile, and his big, crazy frame shaken by accesses of cough. he would often go the whole way home with me: often to borrow a book, and that book always a poet. off he would march, to continue his mendicant rounds, with the volume slipped into the pocket of his ragged coat; and although he would sometimes keep it quite a while, yet it came always back again at last, not much the worse for its travels into beggardom. and in this way, doubtless, his knowledge grew and his glib, random criticism took a wider range. but my library was not the first he had drawn upon: at our first encounter, he was already brimful of shelley and the atheistical "queen mab," and "keats--john keats, sir." and i have often wondered how he came by these acquirements, just as i often wondered how he fell to be a beggar. he had served through the mutiny--of which (like so many people) he could tell practically nothing beyond the names of places, and that it was "difficult work, sir," and very hot, or that so-and-so was "a very fine commander, sir." he was far too smart a man to have remained a private; in the nature of things, he must have won his stripes. and yet here he was, without a pension. when i touched on this problem, he would content himself with diffidently offering me advice. "a man should be very careful when he is young, sir. if you'll excuse me saying so, a spirited young gentleman like yourself, sir, should be very careful. i was perhaps a trifle inclined to atheistical opinions myself." for (perhaps with a deeper wisdom than we are inclined in these days to admit) he plainly bracketed agnosticism with beer and skittles. keats--john keats, sir--and shelley were his favourite bards. i cannot remember if i tried him with rossetti; but i know his taste to a hair, and if ever i did, he must have doted on that author. what took him was a richness in the speech; he loved the exotic, the unexpected word; the moving cadence of a phrase; a vague sense of emotion (about nothing) in the very letters of the alphabet: the romance of language. his honest head was very nearly empty, his intellect like a child's; and when he read his favourite authors, he can almost never have understood what he was reading. yet the taste was not only genuine, it was exclusive; i tried in vain to offer him novels; he would none of them, he cared for nothing but romantic language that he could not understand. the case may be commoner than we suppose. i am reminded of a lad who was laid in the next cot to a friend of mine in a public hospital, and who was no sooner installed than he sent out (perhaps with his last pence) for a cheap shakespeare. my friend pricked up his ears; fell at once in talk with his new neighbour, and was ready, when the book arrived, to make a singular discovery. for this lover of great literature understood not one sentence out of twelve, and his favourite part was that of which he understood the least--the inimitable, mouth-filling rodomontade of the ghost in _hamlet_. it was a bright day in hospital when my friend expounded the sense of this beloved jargon: a task for which i am willing to believe my friend was very fit, though i can never regard it as an easy one. i know indeed a point or two, on which i would gladly question mr. shakespeare, that lover of big words, could he revisit the glimpses of the moon, or could i myself climb backward to the spacious days of elizabeth. but, in the second case, i should most likely pretermit these questionings, and take my place instead in the pit at the blackfriars, to hear the actor in his favourite part, playing up to mr. burbage, and rolling out--as i seem to hear him--with a ponderous gusto- "unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd." what a pleasant chance, if we could go there in a party! and what a surprise for mr. burbage, when the ghost received the honours of the evening! as for my old soldier, like mr. burbage and mr. shakespeare, he is long since dead; and now lies buried, i suppose, and nameless and quite forgotten, in some poor city graveyard.--but not for me, you brave heart, have you been buried! for me, you are still afoot, tasting the sun and air, and striding southward. by the groves of comiston and beside the hermitage of braid, by the hunters' tryst, and where the curlews and plovers cry around fairmilehead, i see and hear you, stalwartly carrying your deadly sickness, cheerfully discoursing of uncomprehended poets. ii the thought of the old soldier recalls that of another tramp, his counterpart. this was a little, lean, and fiery man, with the eyes of a dog and the face of a gipsy; whom i found one morning encamped with his wife and children and his grinder's wheel, beside the burn of kinnaird. to this beloved dell i went, at that time, daily; and daily the knife-grinder and i (for as long as his tent continued pleasantly to interrupt my little wilderness) sat on two stones, and smoked, and plucked grass and talked to the tune of the brown water. his children were mere whelps, they fought and bit among the fern like vermin. his wife was a mere squaw; i saw her gather brush and tend the kettle, but she never ventured to address her lord while i was present. the tent was a mere gipsy hovel, like a sty for pigs. but the grinder himself had the fine self-sufficiency and grave politeness of the hunter and the savage; he did me the honours of this dell, which had been mine but the day before, took me far into the secrets of his life, and used me (i am proud to remember) as a friend. like my old soldier, he was far gone in the national complaint. unlike him, he had a vulgar taste in letters; scarce flying higher than the story papers; probably finding no difference, certainly seeking none, between tannahill and burns; his noblest thoughts, whether of poetry or music, adequately embodied in that somewhat obvious ditty, "will ye gang, lassie, gang to the braes o' balquhidder": --which is indeed apt to echo in the ears of scottish children, and to him, in view of his experience, must have found a special directness of address. but if he had no fine sense of poetry in letters, he felt with a deep joy the poetry of life. you should have heard him speak of what he loved; of the tent pitched beside the talking water; of the stars overhead at night; of the blest return of morning, the peep of day over the moors, the awaking birds among the birches; how he abhorred the long winter shut in cities; and with what delight, at the return of the spring, he once more pitched his camp in the living out-of-doors. but we were a pair of tramps; and to you, who are doubtless sedentary and a consistent first-class passenger in life, he would scarce have laid himself so open;--to you, he might have been content to tell his story of a ghost--that of a buccaneer with his pistols as he lived--whom he had once encountered in a seaside cave near buckie; and that would have been enough, for that would have shown you the mettle of the man. here was a piece of experience solidly and livingly built up in words, here was a story created, _teres atque rotundus_. and to think of the old soldier, that lover of the literary bards! he had visited stranger spots than any seaside cave; encountered men more terrible than any spirit; done and dared and suffered in that incredible, unsung epic of the mutiny war; played his part with the field force of delhi, beleaguering and beleaguered; shared in that enduring, savage anger and contempt of death and decency that, for long months together, bedevil'd and inspired the army; was hurled to and fro in the battle-smoke of the assault; was there, perhaps, where nicholson fell; was there when the attacking column, with hell upon every side, found the soldier's enemy--strong drink, and the lives of tens of thousands trembled in the scale, and the fate of the flag of england staggered. and of all this he had no more to say than "hot work, sir," or "the army suffered a great deal, sir," or, "i believe general wilson, sir, was not very highly thought of in the papers." his life was naught to him, the vivid pages of experience quite blank: in words his pleasure lay--melodious, agitated words--printed words, about that which he had never seen and was connatally incapable of comprehending. we have here two temperaments face to face; both untrained, unsophisticated, surprised (we may say) in the egg; both boldly charactered:--that of the artist, the lover and artificer of words; that of the maker, the seeã«r, the lover and forger of experience. if the one had a daughter and the other had a son, and these married, might not some illustrious writer count descent from the beggar-soldier and the needy knife-grinder? iii every one lives by selling something, whatever be his right to it. the burglar sells at the same time his own skill and courage and my silver plate (the whole at the most moderate figure) to a jew receiver. the bandit sells the traveller an article of prime necessity: that traveller's life. and as for the old soldier, who stands for central mark to my capricious figures of eight, he dealt in a specialty; for he was the only beggar in the world who ever gave me pleasure for my money. he had learned a school of manners in the barracks and had the sense to cling to it, accosting strangers with a regimental freedom, thanking patrons with a merely regimental difference, sparing you at once the tragedy of his position and the embarrassment of yours. there was not one hint about him of the beggar's emphasis, the outburst of revolting gratitude, the rant and cant, the "god bless you, kind, kind gentleman," which insults the smallness of your alms by disproportionate vehemence, which is so notably false, which would be so unbearable if it were true. i am sometimes tempted to suppose this reading of the beggar's part a survival of the old days when shakespeare was intoned upon the stage and mourners keened beside the death-bed; to think that we cannot now accept these strong emotions unless they be uttered in the just note of life; nor (save in the pulpit) endure these gross conventions. they wound us, i am tempted to say, like mockery; the high voice of keening (as it yet lingers on) strikes in the face of sorrow like a buffet; and the rant and cant of the staled beggar stirs in us a shudder of disgust. but the fact disproves these amateur opinions. the beggar lives by his knowledge of the average man. he knows what he is about when he bandages his head, and hires and drugs a babe, and poisons life with "poor mary ann" or "long, long ago"; he knows what he is about when he loads the critical ear and sickens the nice conscience with intolerable thanks; they know what they are about, he and his crew, when they pervade the slums of cities, ghastly parodies of suffering, hateful parodies of gratitude. this trade can scarce be called an imposition; it has been so blown upon with exposures; it flaunts its fraudulence so nakedly. we pay them as we pay those who show us, in huge exaggeration, the monsters of our drinking-water; or those who daily predict the fall of britain. we pay them for the pain they inflict, pay them, and wince, and hurry on. and truly there is nothing that can shake the conscience like a beggar's thanks; and that polity in which such protestations can be purchased for a shilling, seems no scene for an honest man. are there, then, we may be asked, no genuine beggars? and the answer is, not one. my old soldier was a humbug like the rest; his ragged boots were, in the stage phrase, properties; whole boots were given him again and again, and always gladly accepted; and the next day, there he was on the road as usual, with toes exposed. his boots were his method; they were the man's trade; without his boots he would have starved; he did not live by charity, but by appealing to a gross taste in the public, which loves the limelight on the actor's face, and the toes out of the beggar's boots. there is a true poverty, which no one sees: a false and merely mimetic poverty, which usurps its place and dress, and lives, and above all drinks, on the fruits of the usurpation. the true poverty does not go into the streets; the banker may rest assured, he has never put a penny in its hand. the self-respecting poor beg from each other; never from the rich. to live in the frock-coated ranks of life, to hear canting scenes of gratitude rehearsed for twopence, a man might suppose that giving was a thing gone out of fashion; yet it goes forward on a scale so great as to fill me with surprise. in the houses of the working classes, all day long there will be a foot upon the stair; all day long there will be a knocking at the doors; beggars come, beggars go, without stint, hardly with intermission, from morning till night; and meanwhile, in the same city and but a few streets off, the castles of the rich stand unsummoned. get the tale of any honest tramp, you will find it was always the poor who helped him; get the truth from any workman who has met misfortunes, it was always next door that he would go for help, or only with such exceptions as are said to prove a rule; look at the course of the mimetic beggar, it is through the poor quarters that he trails his passage, showing his bandages to every window, piercing even to the attics with his nasal song. here is a remarkable state of things in our christian commonwealths, that the poor only should be asked to give. iv there is a pleasant tale of some worthless, phrasing frenchman, who was taxed with ingratitude: "_il faut savoir garder l'indã©pendance du coeur_," cried he. i own i feel with him. gratitude without familiarity, gratitude otherwise than as a nameless element in a friendship, is a thing so near to hatred that i do not care to split the difference. until i find a man who is pleased to receive obligations, i shall continue to question the tact of those who are eager to confer them. what an art it is, to give, even to our nearest friends! and what a test of manners, to receive! how, upon either side, we smuggle away the obligation, blushing for each other; how bluff and dull we make the giver; how hasty, how falsely cheerful, the receiver! and yet an act of such difficulty and distress between near friends, it is supposed we can perform to a total stranger and leave the man transfixed with grateful emotions. the last thing you can do to a man is to burthen him with an obligation, and it is what we propose to begin with! but let us not be deceived: unless he is totally degraded to his trade, anger jars in his inside, and he grates his teeth at our gratuity. we should wipe two words from our vocabulary: gratitude and charity. in real life, help is given out of friendship, or it is not valued; it is received from the hand of friendship, or it is resented. we are all too proud to take a naked gift: we must seem to pay it, if in nothing else, then with the delights of our society. here, then, is the pitiful fix of the rich man; here is that needle's eye in which he stuck already in the days of christ, and still sticks to-day, firmer, if possible, than ever: that he has the money and lacks the love which should make his money acceptable. here and now, just as of old in palestine, he has the rich to dinner, it is with the rich that he takes his pleasure: and when his turn comes to be charitable, he looks in vain for a recipient. his friends are not poor, they do not want; the poor are not his friends, they will not take. to whom is he to give? where to find--note this phrase--the deserving poor? charity is (what they call) centralised; offices are hired; societies founded, with secretaries paid or unpaid: the hunt of the deserving poor goes merrily forward. i think it will take more than a merely human secretary to disinter that character. what! a class that is to be in want from no fault of its own, and yet greedily eager to receive from strangers; and to be quite respectable, and at the same time quite devoid of self-respect; and play the most delicate part of friendship, and yet never be seen; and wear the form of man, and yet fly in the face of all the laws of human nature:--and all this, in the hope of getting a belly-god burgess through a needle's eye! oh, let him stick, by all means: and let his polity tumble in the dust; and let his epitaph and all his literature (of which my own works begin to form no inconsiderable part) be abolished even from the history of man! for a fool of this monstrosity of dulness, there can be no salvation: and the fool who looked for the elixir of life was an angel of reason to the fool who looks for the deserving poor! v and yet there is one course which the unfortunate gentleman may take. he may subscribe to pay the taxes. there were the true charity, impartial and impersonal, cumbering none with obligation, helping all. there were a destination for loveless gifts; there were the way to reach the pocket of the deserving poor, and yet save the time of secretaries! but, alas! there is no colour of romance in such a course; and people nowhere demand the picturesque so much as in their virtues. v the lantern-bearers i these boys congregated every autumn about a certain easterly fisher-village, where they tasted in a high degree the glory of existence. the place was created seemingly on purpose for the diversion of young gentlemen. a street or two of houses, mostly red and many of them tiled; a number of fine trees clustered about the manse and the kirkyard, and turning the chief street into a shady alley; many little gardens more than usually bright with flowers; nets a-drying, and fisher-wives scolding in the backward parts; a smell of fish, a genial smell of seaweed; whiffs of blowing sand at the street-corners; shops with golf-balls and bottled lollipops; another shop with penny pickwicks (that remarkable cigar) and the _london journal_, dear to me for its startling pictures, and a few novels, dear for their suggestive names: such, as well as memory serves me, were the ingredients of the town. these, you are to conceive posted on a spit between two sandy bays, and sparsely flanked with villas--enough for the boys to lodge in with their subsidiary parents, not enough (not yet enough) to cocknify the scene: a haven in the rocks in front: in front of that, a file of grey islets: to the left, endless links and sand wreaths, a wilderness of hiding-holes, alive with popping rabbits and soaring gulls: to the right, a range of seaward crags, one rugged brow beyond another; the ruins of a mighty and ancient fortress on the brink of one; coves between--now charmed into sunshine quiet, now whistling with wind and clamorous with bursting surges; the dens and sheltered hollows redolent of thyme and southernwood, the air at the cliff's edge brisk and clean and pungent of the sea--in front of all, the bass rock, tilted seaward like a doubtful bather, the surf ringing it with white, the solan-geese hanging round its summit like a great and glittering smoke. this choice piece of seaboard was sacred, besides, to the wrecker; and the bass, in the eye of fancy, still flew the colours of king james; and in the ear of fancy the arches of tantallon still rang with horse-shoe iron, and echoed to the commands of bell-the-cat. there was nothing to mar your days, if you were a boy summering in that part, but the embarrassment of pleasure. you might golf if you wanted; but i seem to have been better employed. you might secrete yourself in the lady's walk, a certain sunless dingle of elders, all mossed over by the damp as green as grass, and dotted here and there by the stream-side with roofless walls, the cold homes of anchorites. to fit themselves for life, and with a special eye to acquire the art of smoking, it was even common for the boys to harbour there; and you might have seen a single penny pickwick, honestly shared in lengths with a blunt knife, bestrew the glen with these apprentices. again, you might join our fishing parties, where we sat perched as thick as solan-geese, a covey of little anglers, boy and girl, angling over each other's heads, to the much entanglement of lines and loss of podleys and consequent shrill recrimination--shrill as the geese themselves. indeed, had that been all, you might have done this often; but though fishing be a fine pastime, the podley is scarce to be regarded as a dainty for the table; and it was a point of honour that a boy should eat all that he had taken. or again, you might climb the law, where the whale's jawbone stood landmark in the buzzing wind, and behold the face of many counties, and the smoke and spires of many towns, and the sails of distant ships. you might bathe, now in the flaws of fine weather, that we pathetically call our summer, now in a gale of wind, with the sand scourging your bare hide, your clothes thrashing abroad from underneath their guardian stone, the froth of the great breakers casting you headlong ere it had drowned your knees. or you might explore the tidal rocks, above all in the ebb of springs, when the very roots of the hills were for the nonce discovered; following my leader from one group to another, groping in slippery tangle for the wreck of ships, wading in pools after the abominable creatures of the sea, and ever with an eye cast backward on the march of the tide and the menaced line of your retreat. and then you might go crusoeing, a word that covers all extempore eating in the open air: digging perhaps a house under the margin of the links, kindling a fire of the sea-ware, and cooking apples there--if they were truly apples, for i sometimes suppose the merchant must have played us off with some inferior and quite local fruit, capable of resolving, in the neighbourhood of fire, into mere sand and smoke and iodine; or perhaps pushing to tantallon, you might lunch on sandwiches and visions in the grassy court, while the wind hummed in the crumbling turrets; or clambering along the coast, eat geans[17] (the worst, i must suppose, in christendom) from an adventurous gean tree that had taken root under a cliff, where it was shaken with an ague of east wind, and silvered after gales with salt, and grew so foreign among its bleak surroundings that to eat of its produce was an adventure in itself. there are mingled some dismal memories with so many that were joyous. of the fisher-wife, for instance, who had cut her throat at canty bay; and of how i ran with the other children to the top of the quadrant, and beheld a posse of silent people escorting a cart, and on the cart, bound in a chair, her throat bandaged, and the bandage all bloody--horror!--the fisher-wife herself, who continued thenceforth to hag-ride my thoughts, and even to-day (as i recall the scene) darkens daylight. she was lodged in the little old gaol in the chief street; but whether or no she died there, with a wise terror of the worst, i never inquired. she had been tippling; it was but a dingy tragedy; and it seems strange and hard that, after all these years, the poor crazy sinner should be still pilloried on her cart in the scrap-book of my memory. nor shall i readily forget a certain house in the quadrant where a visitor died, and a dark old woman continued to dwell alone with the dead body; nor how this old woman conceived a hatred to myself and one of my cousins, and in the dread hour of the dusk, as we were clambering on the garden-walls, opened a window in that house of mortality and cursed us in a shrill voice and with a marrowy choice of language. it was a pair of very colourless urchins that fled down the lane from this remarkable experience! but i recall with a more doubtful sentiment, compounded out of fear and exultation, the coil of equinoctial tempests; trumpeting squalls, scouring flaws of rain; the boats with their reefed lugsails scudding for the harbour mouth, where danger lay, for it was hard to make when the wind had any east in it; the wives clustered with blowing shawls at the pier-head, where (if fate was against them) they might see boat and husband and sons--their whole wealth and their whole family--engulfed under their eyes; and (what i saw but once) a troop of neighbours forcing such an unfortunate homeward, and she squalling and battling in their midst, a figure scarcely human, a tragic mã¦nad. these are things that i recall with interest; but what my memory dwells upon the most, i have been all this while withholding. it was a sport peculiar to the place, and indeed to a week or so of our two months' holiday there. maybe it still flourishes in its native spot; for boys and their pastimes are swayed by periodic forces inscrutable to man; so that tops and marbles reappear in their due season, regular like the sun and moon; and the harmless art of knucklebones has seen the fall of the roman empire and the rise of the united states. it may still flourish in its native spot, but nowhere else, i am persuaded; for i tried myself to introduce it on tweedside, and was defeated lamentably; its charm being quite local, like a country wine that cannot be exported. the idle manner of it was this:-toward the end of september, when school-time was drawing near and the nights were already black, we would begin to sally from our respective villas, each equipped with a tin bull's-eye lantern. the thing was so well known that it had worn a rut in the commerce of great britain; and the grocers, about the due time, began to garnish their windows with our particular brand of luminary. we wore them buckled to the waist upon a cricket belt, and over them, such was the rigour of the game, a buttoned top-coat. they smelled noisomely of blistered tin; they never burned aright, though they would always burn our fingers; their use was naught; the pleasure of them merely fanciful; and yet a boy with a bull's-eye under his top-coat asked for nothing more. the fishermen used lanterns about their boats, and it was from them, i suppose, that we had got the hint; but theirs were not bull's-eyes, nor did we ever play at being fishermen. the police carried them at their belts, and we had plainly copied them in that; yet we did not pretend to be policemen. burglars, indeed, we may have had some haunting thoughts of; and we had certainly an eye to past ages when lanterns were more common, and to certain story-books in which we had found them to figure very largely. but take it for all in all, the pleasure of the thing was substantive; and to be a boy with a bull's-eye under his top-coat was good enough for us. when two of these asses met, there would be an anxious "have you got your lantern?" and a gratified "yes!" that was the shibboleth, and very needful too; for, as it was the rule to keep our glory contained, none could recognise a lantern-bearer, unless (like the polecat) by the smell. four or five would sometimes climb into the belly of a ten-man lugger, with nothing but the thwarts above them--for the cabin was usually locked--or choose out some hollow of the links where the wind might whistle overhead. there the coats would be unbuttoned and the bull's-eyes discovered; and in the chequering glimmer, under the huge windy hall of the night, and cheered by a rich steam of toasting tinware, these fortunate young gentlemen would crouch together in the cold sand of the links or on the scaly bilges of the fishing-boat, and delight themselves with inappropriate talk. woe is me that i may not give some specimens--some of their foresights of life, or deep inquiries into the rudiments of man and nature, these were so fiery and so innocent, they were so richly silly, so romantically young. but the talk, at any rate, was but a condiment; and these gatherings themselves only accidents in the career of the lantern-bearer. the essence of this bliss was to walk by yourself in the black night; the slide shut; the top-coat buttoned; not a ray escaping, whether to conduct your footsteps or to make your glory public: a mere pillar of darkness in the dark; and all the while, deep down in the privacy of your fool's heart, to know you had a bull's-eye at your belt, and to exult and sing over the knowledge. ii it is said that a poet has died young in the breast of the most stolid. it may be contended, rather, that this (somewhat minor) bard in almost every case survives, and is the spice of life to his possessor. justice is not done to the versatility and the unplumbed childishness of man's imagination. his life from without may seem but a rude mound of mud; there will be some golden chamber at the heart of it, in which he dwells delighted; and for as dark as his pathway seems to the observer, he will have some kind of a bull's-eye at his belt. it would be hard to pick out a career more cheerless than that of dancer, the miser, as he figures in the "old bailey reports," a prey to the most sordid persecutions, the butt of his neighbourhood, betrayed by his hired man, his house beleaguered by the impish school-boy, and he himself grinding and fuming and impotently fleeing to the law against these pin-pricks. you marvel at first that any one should willingly prolong a life so destitute of charm and dignity; and then you call to memory that had he chosen, had he ceased to be a miser, he could have been freed at once from these trials, and might have built himself a castle and gone escorted by a squadron. for the love of more recondite joys, which we cannot estimate, which, it may be, we should envy, the man had willingly forgone both comfort and consideration. "his mind to him a kingdom was"; and sure enough, digging into that mind, which seems at first a dust-heap, we unearth some priceless jewels. for dancer must have had the love of power and the disdain of using it, a noble character in itself; disdain of many pleasures, a chief part of what is commonly called wisdom; disdain of the inevitable end, that finest trait of mankind; scorn of men's opinions, another element of virtue; and at the back of all, a conscience just like yours and mine, whining like a cur, swindling like a thimble-rigger, but still pointing (there or thereabout) to some conventional standard. here were a cabinet portrait to which hawthorne perhaps had done justice; and yet not hawthorne either, for he was mildly minded, and it lay not in him to create for us that throb of the miser's pulse, his fretful energy of gusto, his vast arms of ambition clutching in he knows not what: insatiable, insane, a god with a muck-rake. thus, at least, looking in the bosom of the miser, consideration detects the poet in the full tide of life, with more, indeed, of the poetic fire than usually goes to epics; and tracing that mean man about his cold hearth, and to and fro in his discomfortable house, spies within him a blazing bonfire of delight. and so with others, who do not live by bread alone, but by some cherished and perhaps fantastic pleasure; who are meat salesmen to the external eye, and possibly to themselves are shakespeares, napoleons, or beethovens; who have not one virtue to rub against another in the field of active life, and yet perhaps, in the life of contemplation, sit with the saints. we see them on the street, and we can count their buttons; but heaven knows in what they pride themselves! heaven knows where they have set their treasure! there is one fable that touches very near the quick of life: the fable of the monk who passed into the woods, heard a bird break into song, hearkened for a trill or two, and found himself on his return a stranger at his convent gates; for he had been absent fifty years, and of all his comrades there survived but one to recognise him. it is not only in the woods that this enchanter carols, though perhaps he is native there. he sings in the most doleful places. the miser hears him and chuckles, and the days are moments. with no more apparatus than an ill-smelling lantern i have evoked him on the naked links. all life that is not merely mechanical is spun out of two strands: seeking for that bird and hearing him. and it is just this that makes life so hard to value, and the delight of each so incommunicable; and just a knowledge of this, and a remembrance of those fortunate hours in which the bird has sung to us, that fills us with such wonder when we turn the pages of the realist. there, to be sure, we find a picture of life in so far as it consists of mud and of old iron, cheap desires and cheap fears, that which we are ashamed to remember and that which we are careless whether we forget; but of the note of that time-devouring nightingale we hear no news. the case of these writers of romance is most obscure. they have been boys and youths; they have lingered outside the window of the beloved, who was then most probably writing to some one else; they have sat before a sheet of paper, and felt themselves mere continents of congested poetry, not one line of which would flow; they have walked alone in the woods, they have walked in cities under the countless lamps; they have been to sea, they have hated, they have feared, they have longed to knife a man, and maybe done it; the wild taste of life has stung their palate. or, if you deny them all the rest, one pleasure at least they have tasted to the full--their books are there to prove it--the keen pleasure of successful literary composition. and yet they fill the globe with volumes, whose cleverness inspires me with despairing admiration, and whose consistent falsity to all i care to call existence, with despairing wrath. if i had no better hope than to continue to revolve among the dreary and petty businesses, and to be moved by the paltry hopes and fears with which they surround and animate their heroes, i declare i would die now. but there has never an hour of mine gone quite so dully yet; if it were spent waiting at a railway junction, i would have some scattering thoughts, i could count some grains of memory, compared to which the whole of one of these romances seems but dross. these writers would retort (if i take them properly) that this was very true; that it was the same with themselves and other persons of (what they call) the artistic temperament that in this we were exceptional, and should apparently be ashamed of ourselves; but that our works must deal exclusively with (what they call) the average man, who was a prodigious dull fellow, and quite dead to all but the paltriest considerations. i accept the issue. we can only know others by ourselves. the artistic temperament (a plague on the expression!) does not make us different from our fellow-men, or it would make us incapable of writing novels; and the average man (a murrain on the word!) is just like you and me, or he would not be average. it was whitman who stamped a kind of birmingham sacredness upon the latter phrase; but whitman knew very well, and showed very nobly, that the average man was full of joys and full of poetry of his own. and this harping on life's dulness and man's meanness is a loud profession of incompetence; it is one of two things: the cry of the blind eye, _i cannot see_, or the complaint of the dumb tongue, _i cannot utter_. to draw a life without delights is to prove i have not realised it. to picture a man without some sort of poetry--well, it goes near to prove my case, for it shows an author may have little enough. to see dancer only as a dirty, old, small-minded, impotently fuming man, in a dirty house, besieged by harrow boys, and probably beset by small attorneys, is to show myself as keen an observer as ... the harrow boys. but these young gentlemen (with a more becoming modesty) were content to pluck dancer by the coat-tails; they did not suppose they had surprised his secret or could put him living in a book: and it is there my error would have lain. or say that in the same romance--i continue to call these books romances, in the hope of giving pain--say that in the same romance, which now begins really to take shape, i should leave to speak of dancer, and follow instead the harrow boys; and say that i came on some such business as that of my lantern-bearers on the links; and described the boys as very cold, spat upon by flurries of rain, and drearily surrounded, all of which they were; and their talk as silly and indecent, which it certainly was. i might upon these lines, and had i zola's genius, turn out, in a page or so, a gem of literary art, render the lantern-light with the touches of a master, and lay on the indecency with the ungrudging hand of love; and when all was done, what a triumph would my picture be of shallowness and dulness! how it would have missed the point! how it would have belied the boys! to the ear of the stenographer, the talk is merely silly and indecent; but ask the boys themselves, and they are discussing (as it is highly proper they should) the possibilities of existence. to the eye of the observer they are wet and cold and drearily surrounded; but ask themselves, and they are in the heaven of a recondite pleasure, the ground of which is an ill-smelling lantern. iii for, to repeat, the ground of a man's joy is often hard to hit. it may hinge at times upon a mere accessory, like the lantern; it may reside, like dancer's, in the mysterious inwards of psychology. it may consist with perpetual failure, and find exercise in the continued chase. it has so little bond with externals (such as the observer scribbles in his note-book) that it may even touch them not; and the man's true life, for which he consents to live, lie altogether in the field of fancy. the clergyman, in his spare hours, may be winning battles, the farmer sailing ships, the banker reaping triumph in the arts: all leading another life, plying another trade from that they chose; like the poet's housebuilder, who, after all, is cased in stone, "by his fireside, as impotent fancy prompts, rebuilds it to his liking." in such a case the poetry runs underground. the observer (poor soul, with his documents!) is all abroad. for to look at the man is but to court deception. we shall see the trunk from which he draws his nourishment; but he himself is above and abroad in the green dome of foliage, hummed through by winds and nested in by nightingales. and the true realism were that of the poets, to climb up after him like a squirrel, and catch some glimpse of the heaven for which he lives. and the true realism, always and everywhere, is that of the poets: to find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. for to miss the joy is to miss all. in the joy of the actors lies the sense of any action. that is the explanation, that the excuse. to one who has not the secret of the lanterns, the scene upon the links is meaningless. and hence the haunting and truly spectral unreality of realistic books. hence, when we read the english realists, the incredulous wonder with which we observe the hero's constancy under the submerging tide of dulness, and how he bears up with his jibbing sweetheart, and endures the chatter of idiot girls, and stands by his whole unfeatured wilderness of an existence, instead of seeking relief in drink or foreign travel. hence in the french, in that meat-market of middle-aged sensuality, the disgusted surprise with which we see the hero drift sidelong, and practically quite untempted, into every description of misconduct and dishonour. in each, we miss the personal poetry, the enchanted atmosphere, that rainbow work of fancy that clothes what is naked and seems to ennoble what is base; in each, life falls dead like dough, instead of soaring away like a balloon into the colours of the sunset; each is true, each inconceivable; for no man lives in external truth, among salts and acids, but in the warm, phantasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the painted windows and the storied walls. of this falsity we have had a recent example from a man who knows far better--tolstoi's "powers of darkness." here is a piece full of force and truth, yet quite untrue. for before mikita was led into so dire a situation he was tempted, and temptations are beautiful at least in part; and a work which dwells on the ugliness of crime and gives no hint of any loveliness in the temptation, sins against the modesty of life, and, even when tolstoi writes it, sinks to melodrama. the peasants are not understood; they saw their life in fairer colours; even the deaf girl was clothed in poetry for mikita, or he had never fallen. and so, once again, even an old bailey melodrama, without some brightness of poetry and lustre of existence, falls into the inconceivable and ranks with fairy tales. iv in nobler books we are moved with something like the emotions of life; and this emotion is very variously provoked. we are so moved when levine labours on the field, when andrã© sinks beyond emotion, when richard feverel and lucy desborough meet beside the river, when antony, "not cowardly, puts off his helmet," when kent has infinite pity on the dying lear, when, in dostoieffsky's "despised and rejected," the uncomplaining hero drains his cup of suffering and virtue. these are notes that please the great heart of man. not only love, and the fields, and the bright face of danger, but sacrifice and death and unmerited suffering humbly supported, touch in us the vein of the poetic. we love to think of them, we long to try them, we are humbly hopeful that we may prove heroes also. we have heard, perhaps, too much of lesser matters. here is the door, here is the open air. _itur in antiquam silvam._ footnote: [17] wild cherries. later essays later essays i fontainebleau village communities of painters i the charm of fontainebleau is a thing apart. it is a place that people love even more than they admire. the vigorous forest air, the silence, the majestic avenues of highway, the wilderness of tumbled boulders, the great age and dignity of certain groves--these are but ingredients, they are not the secret of the philtre. the place is sanative; the air, the light, the perfumes, and the shapes of things concord in happy harmony. the artist may be idle and not fear the "blues." he may dally with his life. mirth, lyric mirth, and a vivacious classical contentment are of the very essence of the better kind of art; and these, in that most smiling forest, he has the chance to learn or to remember. even on the plain of biã¨re, where the angelus of millet still tolls upon the ear of fancy, a larger air, a higher heaven, something ancient and healthy in the face of nature, purify the mind alike from dulness and hysteria. there is no place where the young are more gladly conscious of their youth, or the old better contented with their age. the fact of its great and special beauty further recommends this country to the artist. the field was chosen by men in whose blood there still raced some of the gleeful or solemn exultation of great art--millet who loved dignity like michelangelo, rousseau whose modern brush was dipped in the glamour of the ancients. it was chosen before the day of that strange turn in the history of art, of which we now perceive the culmination in impressionistic tales and pictures--that voluntary aversion of the eye from all speciously strong and beautiful effects--that disinterested love of dulness which has set so many peter bells to paint the river-side primrose. it was then chosen for its proximity to paris. and for the same cause, and by the force of tradition, the painter of to-day continues to inhabit and to paint it. there is in france scenery incomparable for romance and harmony. provence, and the valley of the rhone from vienne to tarascon, are one succession of masterpieces waiting for the brush. the beauty is not merely beauty; it tells, besides, a tale to the imagination, and surprises while it charms. here you shall see castellated towns that would befit the scenery of dreamland; streets that glow with colour like cathedral windows; hills of the most exquisite proportions; flowers of every precious colour, growing thick like grass. all these, by the grace of railway travel, are brought to the very door of the modern painter; yet he does not seek them; he remains faithful to fontainebleau, to the eternal bridge of grez, to the watering-pot cascade in cernay valley. even fontainebleau was chosen for him; even in fontainebleau he shrinks from what is sharply charactered. but one thing, at least, is certain: whatever he may choose to paint and in whatever manner, it is good for the artist to dwell among graceful shapes. fontainebleau, if it be but quiet scenery, is classically graceful; and though the student may look for different qualities, this quality, silently present, will educate his hand and eye. but, before all its other advantages--charm, loveliness, or proximity to paris--comes the great fact that it is already colonised. the institution of a painters' colony is a work of time and tact. the population must be conquered. the innkeeper has to be taught, and he soon learns, the lesson of unlimited credit; he must be taught to welcome as a favoured guest a young gentleman in a very greasy coat, and with little baggage beyond a box of colours and a canvas; and he must learn to preserve his faith in customers who will eat heartily and drink of the best, borrow money to buy tobacco, and perhaps not pay a stiver for a year. a colour merchant has next to be attracted. a certain vogue must be given to the place, lest the painter, most gregarious of animals, should find himself alone. and no sooner are these first difficulties overcome than fresh perils spring up upon the other side; and the bourgeois and the tourist are knocking at the gate. this is the crucial moment for the colony. if these intruders gain a footing, they not only banish freedom and amenity; pretty soon, by means of their long purses, they will have undone the education of the innkeeper; prices will rise and credit shorten; and the poor painter must fare farther on and find another hamlet. "not here, o apollo!" will become his song. thus trouville and, the other day, st. raphael were lost to the arts. curious and not always edifying are the shifts that the french student uses to defend his lair; like the cuttlefish, he must sometimes blacken the waters of his chosen pool; but at such a time and for so practical a purpose mrs. grundy must allow him licence. where his own purse and credit are not threatened, he will do the honours of his village generously. any artist is made welcome, through whatever medium he may seek expression; science is respected; even the idler, if he prove, as he so rarely does, a gentleman, will soon begin to find himself at home. and when that essentially modern creature, the english or american girl-student, began to walk calmly into his favourite inns as if into a drawing-room at home, the french painter owned himself defenceless; he submitted or he fled. his french respectability, quite as precise as ours, though covering different provinces of life, recoiled aghast before the innovation. but the girls were painters; there was nothing to be done; and barbizon, when i last saw it and for the time at least, was practically ceded to the fair invader. paterfamilias, on the other hand, the common tourist, the holiday shopman, and the cheap young gentleman upon the spree, he hounded from his villages with every circumstance of contumely. this purely artistic society is excellent for the young artist. the lads are mostly fools; they hold the latest orthodoxy in its crudeness; they are at that stage of education, for the most part, when a man is too much occupied with style to be aware of the necessity for any matter; and this, above all for the englishman, is excellent. to work grossly at the trade, to forget sentiment, to think of his material and nothing else, is, for a while at least, the king's highway of progress. here, in england, too many painters and writers dwell dispersed, unshielded, among the intelligent bourgeois. these, when they are not merely indifferent, prate to him about the lofty aims and moral influence of art. and this is the lad's ruin. for art is, first of all and last of all, a trade. the love of words and not a desire to publish new discoveries, the love of form and not a novel reading of historical events, mark the vocation of the writer and the painter. the arabesque, properly speaking, and even in literature, is the first fancy of the artist; he first plays with his material as a child plays with a kaleidoscope; and he is already in a second stage when he begins to use his pretty counters for the end of representation. in that, he must pause long and toil faithfully; that is his apprenticeship; and it is only the few who will really grow beyond it, and go forward, fully equipped, to do the business of real art--to give life to abstractions and significance and charm to facts. in the meanwhile, let him dwell much among his fellow-craftsmen. they alone can take a serious interest in the childish tasks and pitiful successes of these years. they alone can behold with equanimity this fingering of the dumb keyboard, this polishing of empty sentences, this dull and literal painting of dull and insignificant subjects. outsiders will spur him on. they will say, "why do you not write a great book? paint a great picture?" if his guardian angel fail him, they may even persuade him to the attempt, and, ten to one, his hand is coarsened and his style falsified for life. and this brings me to a warning. the life of the apprentice to any art is both unstrained and pleasing; it is strewn with small successes in the midst of a career of failure, patiently supported; the heaviest scholar is conscious of a certain progress; and if he come not appreciably nearer to the art of shakespeare, grows letter-perfect in the domain of a-b, ab. but the time comes when a man should cease prelusory gymnastic, stand up, put a violence upon his will, and, for better or worse, begin the business of creation. this evil day there is a tendency continually to postpone: above all with painters. they have made so many studies that it has become a habit; they make more, the walls of exhibitions blush with them; and death finds these aged students still busy with their horn-book. this class of man finds a congenial home in artist villages; in the slang of the english colony at barbizon we used to call them "snoozers." continual returns to the city, the society of men further advanced, the study of great works, a sense of humour or, if such a thing is to be had, a little religion or philosophy, are the means of treatment. it will be time enough to think of curing the malady after it has been caught; for to catch it is the very thing for which you seek that dream-land of the painters' village. "snoozing" is a part of the artistic education; and the rudiments must be learned stupidly, all else being forgotten, as if they were an object in themselves. lastly, there is something, or there seems to be something, in the very air of france that communicates the love of style. precision, clarity, the cleanly and crafty employment of material, a grace in the handling, apart from any value in the thought, seem to be acquired by the mere residence; or, if not acquired, become at least the more appreciated. the air of paris is alive with this technical inspiration. and to leave that airy city and awake next day upon the borders of the forest is but to change externals. the same spirit of dexterity and finish breathes from the long alleys and the lofty groves, from the wildernesses that are still pretty in their confusion, and the great plain that contrives to be decorative in its emptiness. ii in spite of its really considerable extent, the forest of fontainebleau is hardly anywhere tedious. i know the whole western side of it with what, i suppose, i may call thoroughness; well enough at least to testify that there is no square mile without some special character and charm. such quarters, for instance, as the long rocher, the bas-brã©au, and the reine blanche might be a hundred miles apart; they have scarce a point in common beyond the silence of the birds. the two last are really conterminous; and in both are tall and ancient trees that have outlived a thousand political vicissitudes. but in the one the great oaks prosper placidly upon an even floor; they beshadow a great field; and the air and the light are very free below their stretching boughs. in the other the trees find difficult footing; castles of white rock lie tumbled one upon another, the foot slips, the crooked viper slumbers, the moss clings in the crevice; and above it all the great beech goes spiring and casting forth her arms, and, with a grace beyond church architecture, canopies this rugged chaos. meanwhile, dividing the two cantons, the broad white causeway of the paris road runs in an avenue; a road conceived for pageantry and for triumphal marches, an avenue for an army; but, its days of glory over, it now lies grilling in the sun between cool groves, and only at intervals the vehicle of the cruising tourist is seen far away and faintly audible along its ample sweep. a little upon one side, and you find a district of sand and birch and boulder; a little upon the other lies the valley of apremont, all juniper and heather; and close beyond that you may walk into a zone of pine trees. so artfully are the ingredients mingled. nor must it be forgotten that, in all this part, you come continually forth upon a hill-top, and behold the plain, northward and westward, like an unrefulgent sea; nor that all day long the shadows keep changing; and at last, to the red fires of sunset, night succeeds, and with the night a new forest, full of whisper, gloom, and fragrance. there are few things more renovating than to leave paris, the lamplit arches of the carrousel, and the long alignment of the glittering streets, and to bathe the senses in this fragrant darkness of the wood. in this continual variety the mind is kept vividly alive. it is a changeful place to paint, a stirring place to live in. as fast as your foot carries you, you pass from scene to scene, each vigorously painted in the colours of the sun, each endeared by that hereditary spell of forests on the mind of man, who still remembers and salutes the ancient refuge of his race. and yet the forest has been civilised throughout. the most savage corners bear a name, and have been cherished like antiquities; in the most remote, nature has prepared and balanced her effects as if with conscious art; and man, with his guiding arrows of blue paint, has countersigned the picture. after your farthest wandering, you are never surprised to come forth upon the vast avenue of highway, to strike the centre point of branching alleys, or to find the aqueduct trailing, thousand-footed, through the brush. it is not a wilderness; it is rather a preserve. and, fitly enough, the centre of the maze is not a hermit's cavern. in the midst, a little mirthful town lies sunlit, humming with the business of pleasure; and the palace, breathing distinction and peopled by historic names, stands smokeless among gardens. perhaps the last attempt at savage life was that of the harmless humbug who called himself the hermit. in a great tree, close by the highroad, he had built himself a little cabin after the manner of the swiss family robinson; thither he mounted at night, by the romantic aid of a rope ladder; and if dirt be any proof of sincerity, the man was savage as a sioux. i had the pleasure of his acquaintance; he appeared grossly stupid, not in his perfect wits, and interested in nothing but small change; for that he had a great avidity. in the course of time he proved to be a chicken-stealer, and vanished from his perch; and perhaps from the first he was no true votary of forest freedom, but an ingenious, theatrically-minded beggar, and his cabin in the tree was only stock-in-trade to beg withal. the choice of his position would seem to indicate so much; for if in the forest there are no places still to be discovered, there are many that have been forgotten, and that lie unvisited. there, to be sure, are the blue arrows waiting to reconduct you, now blazed upon a tree, now posted in the corner of a rock. but your security from interruption is complete; you might camp for weeks, if there were only water, and not a soul suspect your presence; and if i may suppose the reader to have committed some great crime and come to me for aid, i think i could still find my way to a small cavern, fitted with a hearth and chimney, where he might lie perfectly concealed. a confederate landscape-painter might daily supply him with food; for water, he would have to make a nightly tramp as far as to the nearest pond; and at last, when the hue and cry began to blow over, he might get gently on the train at some side station, work round by a series of junctions, and be quietly captured at the frontier. thus fontainebleau, although it is truly but a pleasure-ground, and although, in favourable weather, and in the more celebrated quarters, it literally buzzes with the tourist, yet has some of the immunities and offers some of the repose of natural forests. and the solitary, although he must return at night to his frequented inn, may yet pass the day with his own thoughts in the companionable silence of the trees. the demands of the imagination vary; some can be alone in a back garden looked upon by windows; others, like the ostrich, are content with a solitude that meets the eye; and others, again, expand in fancy to the very borders of their desert, and are irritably conscious of a hunter's camp in an adjacent county. to these last, of course, fontainebleau will seem but an extended tea-garden: a rosherville on a by-day. but to the plain man it offers solitude: an excellent thing in itself, and a good whet for company. iii i was for some time a consistent barbizonian; _et ego in arcadia vixi_; it was a pleasant season; and that noiseless hamlet lying close among the borders of the wood is for me, as for so many others, a green spot in memory. the great millet was just dead, the green shutters of his modest house were closed; his daughters were in mourning. the date of my first visit was thus an epoch in the history of art: in a lesser way, it was an epoch in the history of the latin quarter. the _petit cã©nacle_ was dead and buried; murger and his crew of sponging vagabonds were all at rest from their expedients; the tradition of their real life was nearly lost; and the petrified legend of the _vie de bohãªme_ had become a sort of gospel, and still gave the cue to zealous imitators. but if the book be written in rose-water, the imitation was still further expurgated; honesty was the rule; the innkeepers gave, as i have said, almost unlimited credit; they suffered the seediest painter to depart, to take all his belongings, and to leave his bill unpaid; and if they sometimes lost, it was by english and americans alone. at the same time, the great influx of anglo-saxons had begun to affect the life of the studious. there had been disputes; and, in one instance at least, the english and the americans had made common cause to prevent a cruel pleasantry. it would be well if nations and races could communicate their qualities; but in practice when they look upon each other, they have an eye to nothing but defects. the anglo-saxon is essentially dishonest; the french is devoid by nature of the principle that we call "fair play." the frenchman marvelled at the scruples of his guest, and, when that defender of innocence retired overseas and left his bills unpaid, he marvelled once again; the good and evil were, in his eyes, part and parcel of the same eccentricity; a shrug expressed his judgment upon both. at barbizon there was no master, no pontiff in the arts. palizzi bore rule at grez--urbane, superior rule--his memory rich in anecdotes of the great men of yore, his mind fertile in theories; sceptical, composed, and venerable to the eye; and yet beneath these outworks, all twittering with italian superstition, his eye scouting for omens, and the whole fabric of his manners giving way on the appearance of a hunchback. cernay had pelouse, the admirable, placid pelouse, smilingly critical of youth, who, when a full-blown commercial traveller suddenly threw down his samples, bought a colour-box, and became the master whom we have all admired. marlotte, for a central figure, boasted olivier de penne. only barbizon, since the death of millet, was a headless commonwealth. even its secondary lights, and those who in my day made the stranger welcome, have since deserted it. the good lachã¨vre has departed, carrying his household gods; and long before that gaston lafenestre was taken from our midst by an untimely death. he died before he had deserved success; it may be, he would never have deserved it; but his kind, comely, modest countenance still haunts the memory of all who knew him. another--whom i will not name--has moved farther on, pursuing the strange odyssey of his decadence. his days of royal favour had departed even then; but he still retained, in his narrower life at barbizon, a certain stamp of conscious importance, hearty, friendly, filling the room, the occupant of several chairs; nor had he yet ceased his losing battle, still labouring upon great canvases that none would buy, still waiting the return of fortune. but these days also were too good to last; and the former favourite of two sovereigns fled, if i heard the truth, by night. there was a time when he was counted a great man, and millet but a dauber; behold, how the whirligig of time brings in his revenges! to pity millet is a piece of arrogance; if life be hard for such resolute and pious spirits, it is harder still for us, had we the wit to understand it; but we may pity his unhappier rival, who, for no apparent merit, was raised to opulence and momentary fame, and, through no apparent fault, was suffered step by step to sink again to nothing. no misfortune can exceed the bitterness of such back-foremost progress, even bravely supported as it was; but to those also who were taken early from the easel, a regret is due. from all the young men of this period, one stood out by the vigour of his promise; he was in the age of fermentation, enamoured of eccentricities. "_il faut faire de la peinture nouvelle_," was his watchword; but if time and experience had continued his education, if he had been granted health to return from these excursions to the steady and the central, i must believe that the name of hills had become famous. siron's inn, that excellent artists' barrack, was managed upon easy principles. at any hour of the night, when you returned from wandering in the forest, you went to the billiard-room and helped yourself to liquors, or descended to the cellar and returned laden with beer or wine. the sirons were all locked in slumber; there was none to check your inroads; only at the week's end a computation was made, the gross sum was divided, and a varying share set down to every lodger's name under the rubric: _estrats_. upon the more long-suffering the larger tax was levied; and your bill lengthened in a direct proportion to the easiness of your disposition. at any hour of the morning, again, you could get your coffee or cold milk, and set forth into the forest. the doves had perhaps wakened you, fluttering into your chamber; and on the threshold of the inn you were met by the aroma of the forest. close by were the great aisles, the mossy boulders, the interminable field of forest shadow. there you were free to dream and wander. and at noon, and again at six o'clock, a good meal awaited you on siron's table. the whole of your accommodation, set aside that varying item of the _estrats_, cost you five francs a day; your bill was never offered you until you asked it; and if you were out of luck's way, you might depart for where you pleased and leave it pending. iv theoretically, the house was open to all comers; practically, it was a kind of club. the guests protected themselves, and, in so doing, they protected siron. formal manners being laid aside, essential courtesy was the more rigidly exacted; the new arrival had to feel the pulse of the society; and a breach of its undefined observances was promptly punished. a man might be as plain, as dull, as slovenly, as free of speech as he desired; but to a touch of presumption or a word of hectoring these free barbizonians were as sensitive as a tea-party of maiden ladies. i have seen people driven forth from barbizon; it would be difficult to say in words what they had done, but they deserved their fate. they had shown themselves unworthy to enjoy these corporate freedoms; they had pushed themselves; they had "made their head"; they wanted tact to appreciate the "fine shades" of barbizonian etiquette. and, once they were condemned, the process of extrusion was ruthless in its cruelty; after one evening with the formidable bodmer, the bailly of our commonwealth, the erring stranger was beheld no more; he rose exceeding early the next day, and the first coach conveyed him from the scene of his discomfiture. these sentences of banishment were never, in my knowledge, delivered against an artist; such would, i believe, have been illegal; but the odd and pleasant fact is this, that they were never needed. painters, sculptors, writers, singers, i have seen all of these in barbizon; and some were sulky, and some blatant and inane; but one and all entered at once into the spirit of the association. this singular society is purely french, a creature of french virtues, and possibly of french defects. it cannot be imitated by the english. the roughness, the impatience, the more obvious selfishness, and even the more ardent friendships of the anglo-saxon, speedily dismember such a commonwealth. but this random gathering of young french painters, with neither apparatus nor parade of government, yet kept the life of the place upon a certain footing, insensibly imposed their etiquette upon the docile, and by caustic speech enforced their edicts against the unwelcome. to think of it is to wonder the more at the strange failure of their race upon the larger theatre. this inbred civility--to use the word in its completest meaning--this natural and facile adjustment of contending liberties, seems all that is required to make a governable nation and a just and prosperous country. our society, thus purged and guarded, was full of high spirits, of laughter, and of the initiative of youth. the few elder men who joined us were still young at heart, and took the key from their companions. we returned from long stations in the fortifying air, our blood renewed by the sunshine, our spirits refreshed by the silence of the forest; the babel of loud voices sounded good; we fell to eat and play like the natural man; and in the high inn chamber, panelled with indifferent pictures and lit by candles guttering in the night air, the talk and laughter sounded far into the night. it was a good place and a good life for any naturally-minded youth; better yet for the student of painting, and perhaps best of all for the student of letters. he, too, was saturated in this atmosphere of style; he was shut out from the disturbing currents of the world, he might forget that there existed other and more pressing interests than that of art. but, in such a place, it was hardly possible to write; he could not drug his conscience, like the painter, by the production of listless studies; he saw himself idle among many who were apparently, and some who were really, employed; and what with the impulse of increasing health and the continual provocation of romantic scenes, he became tormented with the desire to work. he enjoyed a strenuous idleness, full of visions, hearty meals, long, sweltering walks, mirth among companions; and, still floating like music through his brain, foresights of great works that shakespeare might be proud to have conceived, headless epics, glorious torsos of dramas, and words that were alive with import. so in youth, like moses from the mountain, we have sights of that house beautiful of art which we shall never enter. they are dreams and unsubstantial; visions of style that repose upon no base of human meaning; the last heart-throbs of that excited amateur who has to die in all of us before the artist can be born. but they come to us in such a rainbow of glory that all subsequent achievement appears dull and earthly in comparison. we were all artists; almost all in the age of illusion, cultivating an imaginary genius, and walking to the strains of some deceiving ariel; small wonder, indeed, if we were happy! but art, of whatever nature, is a kind mistress; and though these dreams of youth fall by their own baselessness, others succeed, graver and more substantial; the symptoms change, the amiable malady endures; and still, at an equal distance, the house beautiful shines upon its hill-top. v grez lies out of the forest, down by the bright river. it boasts a mill, an ancient church, a castle, and a bridge of many sterlings. and the bridge is a piece of public property; anonymously famous; beaming on the incurious dilettante from the walls of a hundred exhibitions. i have seen it in the salon; i have seen it in the academy; i have seen it in the last french exposition, excellently done by bloomer; in a black-and-white by mr. a. henley, it once adorned this essay in the pages of the _magazine of art_. long-suffering bridge! and if you visit grez to-morrow, you shall find another generation, camped at the bottom of chevillon's garden under their white umbrellas, and doggedly painting it again. the bridge taken for granted, grez is a less inspiring place than barbizon. i give it the palm over cernay. there is something ghastly in the great empty village square of cernay, with the inn tables standing in one corner, as though the stage were set for rustic opera, and in the early morning all the painters breaking their fast upon white wine under the windows of the villagers. it is vastly different to awake in grez, to go down the green inn-garden, to find the river streaming through the bridge, and to see the dawn begin across the poplared level. the meals are laid in the cool arbour, under fluttering leaves. the splash of oars and bathers, the bathing costumes out to dry, the trim canoes beside the jetty, tell of a society that has an eye to pleasure. there is "something to do" at grez. perhaps, for that very reason, i can recall no such enduring ardours, no such glories of exhilaration, as among the solemn groves and uneventful hours of barbizon. this "something to do" is a great enemy to joy; it is a way out of it; you wreak your high spirits on some cut-and-dry employment, and behold them gone! but grez is a merry place after its kind: pretty to see, merry to inhabit. the course of its pellucid river, whether up or down, is full of gentle attractions for the navigator: islanded reed-mazes where, in autumn, the red berries cluster; the mirrored and inverted images of trees; lilies, and mills, and the foam and thunder of weirs. and of all noble sweeps of roadway, none is nobler, on a windy dusk, than the highroad to nemours between its lines of talking poplar. but even grez is changed. the old inn, long shored and trussed and buttressed, fell at length under the mere weight of years, and the place as it was is but a fading image in the memory of former guests. they, indeed, recall the ancient wooden stair; they recall the rainy evening, the wide hearth, the blaze of the twig fire, and the company that gathered round the pillar in the kitchen. but the material fabric is now dust; soon, with the last of its inhabitants, its very memory shall follow; and they, in their turn, shall suffer the same law, and, both in name and lineament, vanish from the world of men. "for remembrance of the old house' sake," as pepys once quaintly put it, let me tell one story. when the tide of invasion swept over france, two foreign painters were left stranded and penniless in grez; and there, until the war was over, the chevillons ungrudgingly harboured them. it was difficult to obtain supplies; but the two waifs were still welcome to the best, sat down daily with the family to table, and at the due intervals were supplied with clean napkins, which they scrupled to employ. madame chevillon observed the fact and reprimanded them. but they stood firm; eat they must, but having no money they would soil no napkins. vi nemours and moret, for all they are so picturesque, have been little visited by painters. they are, indeed, too populous; they have manners of their own, and might resist the drastic process of colonisation. montigny has been somewhat strangely neglected; i never knew it inhabited but once, when will h. low installed himself there with a barrel of _piquette_, and entertained his friends in a leafy trellis above the weir, in sight of the green country and to the music of the falling water. it was a most airy, quaint, and pleasant place of residence, just too rustic to be stagey; and from my memories of the place in general, and that garden trellis in particular--at morning, visited by birds, or at night, when the dew fell and the stars were of the party--i am inclined to think perhaps too favourably of the future of montigny. chailly-en-biã¨re has outlived all things, and lies dustily slumbering in the plain--the cemetery of itself. the great road remains to testify of its former bustle of postilions and carriage bells; and, like memorial tablets, there still hang in the inn room the paintings of a former generation, dead or decorated long ago. in my time, one man only, greatly daring, dwelt there. from time to time he would walk over to barbizon, like a shade revisiting the glimpses of the moon, and after some communication with flesh and blood return to his austere hermitage. but even he, when i last revisited the forest, had come to barbizon for good, and closed the roll of the chaillyites. it may revive--but i much doubt it. achã¨res and recloses still wait a pioneer; bourron is out of the question, being merely grez over again, without the river, the bridge, or the beauty; and of all the possible places on the western side, marlotte alone remains to be discussed. i scarcely know marlotte, and, very likely for that reason, am not much in love with it. it seems a glaring and unsightly hamlet. the inn of mother antonie is unattractive; and its more reputable rival, though comfortable enough, is commonplace. marlotte has a name; it is famous; if i were the young painter i would leave it alone in its glory. vii these are the words of an old stager; and though time is a good conservative in forest places, much may be untrue to-day. many of us have passed arcadian days there and moved on, but yet left a portion of our souls behind us buried in the woods. i would not dig for these reliquiã¦; they are incommunicable treasures that will not enrich the finder; and yet there may lie, interred below great oaks or scattered along forest paths, stores of youth's dynamite and dear remembrances. and as one generation passes on and renovates the field of tillage for the next, i entertain a fancy that when the young men of to-day go forth into the forest they shall find the air still vitalised by the spirits of their predecessors, and, like those "unheard melodies" that are the sweetest of all, the memory of our laughter shall still haunt the field of trees. those merry voices that in woods call the wanderer farther, those thrilling silences and whispers of the groves, surely in fontainebleau they must be vocal of me and my companions? we are not content to pass away entirely from the scenes of our delight; we would leave, if but in gratitude, a pillar and a legend. one generation after another fall like honey-bees upon this memorable forest, rifle its sweets, pack themselves with vital memories, and when the theft is consummated depart again into life richer, but poorer also. the forest, indeed, they have possessed, from that day forward it is theirs indissolubly, and they will return to walk in it at night in the fondest of their dreams, and use it for ever in their books and pictures. yet when they made their packets, and put up their notes and sketches, something, it should seem, had been forgotten. a projection of themselves shall appear to haunt unfriended these scenes of happiness, a natural child of fancy, begotten and forgotten unawares. over the whole field of our wanderings such fetches are still travelling like indefatigable bagmen; but the imps of fontainebleau, as of all beloved spots, are very long of life, and memory is piously unwilling to forget their orphanage. if anywhere about that wood you meet my airy bantling, greet him with tenderness. he was a pleasant lad, though now abandoned. and when it comes to your own turn to quit the forest, may you leave behind you such another; no antony or werther, let us hope, no tearful whipster, but, as becomes this not uncheerful and most active age in which we figure, the child of happy hours. no art, it may be said, was ever perfect, and not many noble, that has not been mirthfully conceived. and no man, it may be added, was ever anything but a wet blanket and a cross to his companions who boasted not a copious spirit of enjoyment. whether as man or artist, let the youth make haste to fontainebleau, and once there let him address himself to the spirit of the place; he will learn more from exercise than from studies, although both are necessary; and if he can get into his heart the gaiety and inspiration of the woods he will have gone far to undo the evil of his sketches. a spirit once well strung up to the concert-pitch of the primeval out-of-doors will hardly dare to finish a study and magniloquently ticket it a picture. the incommunicable thrill of things, that is the tuning-fork by which we test the flatness of our art. here it is that nature teaches and condemns, and still spurs up to further effort and new failure. thus it is that she sets us blushing at our ignorant and tepid works; and the more we find of these inspiring shocks the less shall we be apt to love the literal in our productions. in all sciences and senses the letter kills; and to-day, when cackling human geese express their ignorant condemnation of all studio pictures, it is a lesson most useful to be learnt. let the young painter go to fontainebleau, and while he stupefies himself with studies that teach him the mechanical side of his trade, let him walk in the great air, and be a servant of mirth, and not pick and botanise, but wait upon the moods of nature. so he will learn--or learn not to forget--the poetry of life and earth, which, when he has acquired his track, will save him from joyless reproduction. ii a note on realism style is the invariable mark of any master; and for the student who does not aspire so high as to be numbered with the giants, it is still the one quality in which he may improve himself at will. passion, wisdom, creative force, the power of mystery or colour, are allotted in the hour of birth, and can be neither learned nor simulated. but the just and dexterous use of what qualities we have, the proportion of one part to another and to the whole, the elision of the useless, the accentuation of the important, and the preservation of a uniform character from end to end--these, which taken together constitute technical perfection, are to some degree within the reach of industry and intellectual courage. what to put in and what to leave out; whether some particular fact be organically necessary or purely ornamental; whether, if it be purely ornamental, it may not weaken or obscure the general design; and finally, whether, if we decide to use it, we should do so grossly and notably, or in some conventional disguise: are questions of plastic style continually re-arising. and the sphinx that patrols the highways of executive art has no more unanswerable riddle to propound. in literature (from which i must draw my instances) the great change of the past century has been effected by the admission of detail. it was inaugurated by the romantic scott; and at length, by the semi-romantic balzac and his more or less wholly unromantic followers, bound like a duty on the novelist. for some time it signified and expressed a more ample contemplation of the conditions of man's life; but it has recently (at least in france) fallen into a merely technical and decorative stage, which it is, perhaps, still too harsh to call survival. with a movement of alarm, the wiser or more timid begin to fall a little back from these extremities; they begin to aspire after a more naked, narrative articulation; after the succinct, the dignified, and the poetic; and as a means to this, after a general lightening of this baggage of detail. after scott we beheld the starveling story--once, in the hands of voltaire, as abstract as a parable--begin to be pampered upon facts. the introduction of these details developed a particular ability of hand; and that ability, childishly indulged, has led to the works that now amaze us on a railway journey. a man of the unquestionable force of m. zola spends himself on technical successes. to afford a popular flavour and attract the mob, he adds a steady current of what i may be allowed to call the rancid. that is exciting to the moralist; but what more particularly interests the artist is this tendency of the extreme of detail, when followed as a principle, to degenerate into mere _feux-de-joie_ of literary tricking. the other day even m. daudet was to be heard babbling of audible colours and visible sounds. this odd suicide of one branch of the realists may serve to remind us of the fact which underlies a very dusty conflict of the critics. all representative art, which can be said to live, is both realistic and ideal; and the realism about which we quarrel is a matter purely of externals. it is no especial cultus of nature and veracity, but a mere whim of veering fashion, that has made us turn our back upon the larger, more various, and more romantic art of yore. a photographic exactitude in dialogue is now the exclusive fashion; but even in the ablest hands it tells us no more--i think it even tells us less--than moliã¨re, wielding his artificial medium, has told to us and to all time of alceste or orgon, dorine or chrysale. the historical novel is forgotten. yet truth to the conditions of man's nature and the conditions of man's life, the truth of literary art, is free of the ages. it may be told us in a carpet comedy, in a novel of adventure, or a fairy tale. the scene may be pitched in london, on the sea-coast of bohemia, or away on the mountains of beulah. and by an odd and luminous accident, if there is any page of literature calculated to awake the envy of m. zola, it must be that "troilus and cressida" which shakespeare, in a spasm of unmanly anger with the world, grafted on the heroic story of the siege of troy. this question of realism, let it then be clearly understood, regards not in the least degree the fundamental truth, but only the technical method, of a work of art. be as ideal or as abstract as you please, you will be none the less veracious; but if you be weak, you run the risk of being tedious and inexpressive; and if you be very strong and honest, you may chance upon a masterpiece. a work of art is first cloudily conceived in the mind; during the period of gestation it stands more clearly forward from these swaddling mists, puts on expressive lineaments, and becomes at length that most faultless, but also, alas! that incommunicable product of the human mind, a perfected design. on the approach to execution all is changed. the artist must now step down, don his working clothes, and become the artisan. he now resolutely commits his airy conception, his delicate ariel, to the touch of matter; he must decide, almost in a breath, the scale, the style, the spirit, and the particularity of execution of his whole design. the engendering idea of some works is stylistic; a technical pre-occupation stands them instead of some robuster principle of life. and with these the execution is but play; for the stylistic problem is resolved beforehand, and all large originality of treatment wilfully foregone. such are the verses, intricately designed, which we have learnt to admire, with a certain smiling admiration, at the hands of mr. lang and mr. dobson; such, too, are those canvases where dexterity or even breadth of plastic style takes the place of pictorial nobility of design. so, it may be remarked, it was easier to begin to write "esmond" than "vanity fair," since, in the first, the style was dictated by the nature of the plan; and thackeray, a man probably of some indolence of mind, enjoyed and got good profit of this economy of effort. but the case is exceptional. usually in all works of art that have been conceived from within outwards, and generously nourished from the author's mind, the moment in which he begins to execute is one of extreme perplexity and strain. artists of indifferent energy and an imperfect devotion to their own ideal make this ungrateful effort once for all; and, having formed a style, adhere to it through life. but those of a higher order cannot rest content with a process which, as they continue to employ it, must infallibly degenerate towards the academic and the cut-and-dried. every fresh work in which they embark is the signal for a fresh engagement of the whole forces of their mind; and the changing views which accompany the growth of their experience are marked by still more sweeping alterations in the manner of their art. so that criticism loves to dwell upon and distinguish the varying periods of a raphael, a shakespeare, or a beethoven. it is, then, first of all, at this initial and decisive moment when execution is begun, and thenceforth only in a less degree, that the ideal and the real do indeed, like good and evil angels, contend for the direction of the work. marble, paint, and language, the pen, the needle, and the brush, all have their grossnesses, their ineffable impotences, their hours, if i may so express myself, of insubordination. it is the work and it is a great part of the delight of any artist to contend with these unruly tools, and now by brute energy, now by witty expedient, to drive and coax them to effect his will. given these means, so laughably inadequate, and given the interest, the intensity, and the multiplicity of the actual sensation whose effect he is to render with their aid, the artist has one main and necessary resource which he must, in every case and upon any theory, employ. he must, that is, suppress much and omit more. he must omit what is tedious or irrelevant, and suppress what is tedious and necessary. but such facts as, in regard to the main design, subserve a variety of purposes, he will perforce and eagerly retain. and it is the mark of the very highest order of creative art to be woven exclusively of such. there, any fact that is registered is contrived a double or a treble debt to pay, and is at once an ornament in its place and a pillar in the main design. nothing would find room in such a picture that did not serve, at once, to complete the composition, to accentuate the scheme of colour, to distinguish the planes of distance, and to strike the note of the selected sentiment; nothing would be allowed in such a story that did not, at the same time, expedite the progress of the fable, build up the characters, and strike home the moral or the philosophical design. but this is unattainable. as a rule, so far from building the fabric of our works exclusively with these, we are thrown into a rapture if we think we can muster a dozen or a score of them, to be the plums of our confection. and hence, in order that the canvas may be filled or the story proceed from point to point, other details must be admitted. they must be admitted, alas! upon a doubtful title; many without marriage robes. thus any work of art, as it proceeds towards completion, too often--i had almost written always--loses in force and poignancy of main design. our little air is swamped and dwarfed among hardly relevant orchestration; our little passionate story drowns in a deep sea of descriptive eloquence or slipshod talk. but again, we are rather more tempted to admit those particulars which we know we can describe; and hence those most of all which, having been described very often, have grown to be conventionally treated in the practice of our art. these we choose, as the mason chooses the acanthus to adorn his capital, because they come naturally to the accustomed hand. the old stock incidents and accessories, tricks of workmanship and schemes of composition (all being admirably good, or they would long have been forgotten) haunt and tempt our fancy; offer us ready-made but not perfectly appropriate solutions for any problem that arises; and wean us from the study of nature and the uncompromising practice of art. to struggle, to face nature, to find fresh solutions, and give expression to facts which have not yet been adequately or not yet elegantly expressed, is to run a little upon the danger of extreme self-love. difficulty sets a high price upon achievement; and the artist may easily fall into the error of the french naturalists, and consider any fact as welcome to admission if it be the ground of brilliant handiwork; or, again, into the error of the modern landscape-painter, who is apt to think that difficulty overcome and science well displayed can take the place of what is, after all, the one excuse and breath of art--charm. a little further, and he will regard charm in the light of an unworthy sacrifice to prettiness, and the omission of a tedious passage as an infidelity to art. we have now the matter of this difference before us. the idealist, his eye singly fixed upon the greater outlines, loves rather to fill up the interval with detail of the conventional order, briefly touched, soberly suppressed in tone, courting neglect. but the realist, with a fine intemperance, will not suffer the presence of anything so dead as a convention; he shall have all fiery, all hot-pressed from nature, all charactered and notable, seizing the eye. the style that befits either of these extremes, once chosen, brings with it its necessary disabilities and dangers. the immediate danger of the realist is to sacrifice the beauty and significance of the whole to local dexterity, or, in the insane pursuit of completion, to immolate his readers under facts; but he comes in the last resort, and as his energy declines, to discard all design, abjure all choice, and, with scientific thoroughness, steadily to communicate matter which is not worth learning. the danger of the idealist is, of course, to become merely null and lose all grip of fact, particularity, or passion. we talk of bad and good. everything, indeed, is good which is conceived with honesty and executed with communicative ardour. but though on neither side is dogmatism fitting, and though in every case the artist must decide for himself, and decide afresh and yet afresh for each succeeding work and new creation; yet one thing may be generally said, that we of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, breathing as we do the intellectual atmosphere of our age, are more apt to err upon the side of realism than to sin in quest of the ideal. upon that theory it may be well to watch and correct our own decisions, always holding back the hand from the least appearance of irrelevant dexterity, and resolutely fixed to begin no work that is not philosophical, passionate, dignified, happily mirthful, or at the last and least, romantic in design. iii on some technical elements of style in literature there is nothing more disenchanting to man than to be shown the springs and mechanism of any art. all our arts and occupations lie wholly on the surface; it is on the surface that we perceive their beauty, fitness, and significance; and to pry below is to be appalled by their emptiness and shocked by the coarseness of the strings and pulleys. in a similar way, psychology itself, when pushed to any nicety, discovers an abhorrent baldness, but rather from the fault of our analysis than from any poverty native to the mind. and perhaps in ã¦sthetics the reason is the same: those disclosures which seem fatal to the dignity of art seem so perhaps only in the proportion of our ignorance; and those conscious and unconscious artifices which it seems unworthy of the serious artist to employ were yet, if we had the power to trace them to their springs, indications of a delicacy of the sense finer than we conceive, and hints of ancient harmonies in nature. this ignorance at least is largely irremediable. we shall never learn the affinities of beauty, for they lie too deep in nature and too far back in the mysterious history of man. the amateur, in consequence, will always grudgingly receive details of method, which can be stated but can never wholly be explained; nay, on the principle laid down in hudibras, that "still the less they understand, the more they admire the sleight-of-hand," many are conscious at each new disclosure of a diminution in the ardour of their pleasure. i must therefore warn that well-known character, the general reader, that i am here embarked upon a most distasteful business: taking down the picture from the wall and looking on the back; and, like the inquiring child, pulling the musical cart to pieces. 1. _choice of words_.--the art of literature stands apart from among its sisters, because the material in which the literary artist works is the dialect of life; hence, on the one hand, a strange freshness and immediacy of address to the public mind, which is ready prepared to understand it; but hence, on the other, a singular limitation. the sister arts enjoy the use of a plastic and ductile material, like the modeller's clay; literature alone is condemned to work in mosaic with finite and quite rigid words. you have seen these blocks, dear to the nursery: this one a pillar, that a pediment, a third a window or a vase. it is with blocks of just such arbitrary size and figure that the literary architect is condemned to design the palace of his art. nor is this all; for since these blocks, or words, are the acknowledged currency of our daily affairs, there are here possible none of those suppressions by which other arts obtain relief, continuity and vigour; no hieroglyphic touch, no smoothed impasto, no inscrutable shadow, as in painting; no blank wall, as in architecture; but every word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph must move in a logical progression, and convey a definite conventional import. now, the first merit which attracts in the pages of a good writer, or the talk of a brilliant conversationalist, is the apt choice and contrast of the words employed. it is, indeed, a strange art to take these blocks, rudely conceived for the purpose of the market or the bar, and by tact of application touch them to the finest meanings and distinctions, restore to them their primal energy, wittily shift them to another issue, or make of them a drum to rouse the passions. but though this form of merit is without doubt the most sensible and seizing, it is far from being equally present in all writers. the effect of words in shakespeare, their singular justice, significance, and poetic charm, is different, indeed, from the effect of words in addison or fielding. or, to take an example nearer home, the words in carlyle seem electrified into an energy of lineament, like the faces of men furiously moved; whilst the words in macaulay, apt enough to convey his meaning, harmonious enough in sound, yet glide from the memory like undistinguished elements in a general effect. but the first class of writers have no monopoly of literary merit. there is a sense in which addison is superior to carlyle; a sense in which cicero is better than tacitus, in which voltaire excels montaigne: it certainly lies not in the choice of words; it lies not in the interest or value of the matter; it lies not in force of intellect, of poetry, or of humour. the three first are but infants to the three second; and yet each, in a particular point of literary art, excels his superior in the whole. what is that point? 2. _the web_.--literature, although it stands apart by reason of the great destiny and general use of its medium in the affairs of men, is yet an art like other arts. of these we may distinguish two great classes: those arts, like sculpture, painting, acting, which are representative, or, as used to be said very clumsily, imitative; and those, like architecture, music, and the dance, which are self-sufficient, and merely presentative. each class, in right of this distinction, obeys principles apart; yet both may claim a common ground of existence, and it may be said with sufficient justice that the motive and end of any art whatever is to make a pattern; a pattern, it may be, of colours, of sounds, of changing attitudes, geometrical figures, or imitative lines; but still a pattern. that is the plane on which these sisters meet; it is by this that they are arts; and if it be well they should at times forget their childish origin, addressing their intelligence to virile tasks, and performing unconsciously that necessary function of their life, to make a pattern, it is still imperative that the pattern shall be made. music and literature, the two temporal arts, contrive their pattern of sounds in time; or, in other words, of sounds and pauses. communication may be made in broken words, the business of life be carried on with substantives alone; but that is not what we call literature; and the true business of the literary artist is to plait or weave his meaning, involving it around itself; so that each sentence, by successive phrases, shall first come into a kind of knot, and then, after a moment of suspended meaning, solve and clear itself. in every properly constructed sentence there should be observed this knot or hitch; so that (however delicately) we are led to foresee, to expect, and then to welcome the successive phrases. the pleasure may be heightened by an element of surprise, as, very grossly, in the common figure of the antithesis, or, with much greater subtlety, where an antithesis is first suggested and then deftly evaded. each phrase, besides, is to be comely in itself; and between the implication and the evolution of the sentence there should be a satisfying equipoise of sound; for nothing more often disappoints the ear than a sentence solemnly and sonorously prepared, and hastily and weakly finished. nor should the balance be too striking and exact, for the one rule is to be infinitely various; to interest, to disappoint, to surprise, and yet still to gratify; to be ever changing, as it were, the stitch, and yet still to give the effect of an ingenious neatness. the conjurer juggles with two oranges, and our pleasure in beholding him springs from this, that neither is for an instant overlooked or sacrificed. so with the writer. his pattern, which is to please the supersensual ear, is yet addressed, throughout and first of all, to the demands of logic. whatever be the obscurities, whatever the intricacies of the argument, the neatness of the fabric must not suffer, or the artist has been proved unequal to his design. and, on the other hand, no form of words must be selected, no knot must be tied among the phrases, unless knot and word be precisely what is wanted to forward and illuminate the argument; for to fail in this is to swindle in the game. the genius of prose rejects the _cheville_ no less emphatically than the laws of verse; and the _cheville_, i should perhaps explain to some of my readers, is any meaningless or very watered phrase employed to strike a balance in the sound. pattern and argument live in each other; and it is by the brevity, clearness, charm, or emphasis of the second, that we judge the strength and fitness of the first. style is synthetic; and the artist, seeking, so to speak, a peg to plait about, takes up at once two or more elements or two or more views of the subject in hand; combines, implicates, and contrasts them; and while, in one sense, he was merely seeking an occasion for the necessary knot, he will be found, in the other, to have greatly enriched the meaning, or to have transacted the work of two sentences in the space of one. in the change from the successive shallow statements of the old chronicler to the dense and luminous flow of highly synthetic narrative, there is implied a vast amount of both philosophy and wit. the philosophy we clearly see, recognising in the synthetic writer a far more deep and stimulating view of life, and a far keener sense of the generation and affinity of events. the wit we might imagine to be lost; but it is not so, for it is just that wit, these perpetual nice contrivances, these difficulties overcome, this double purpose attained, these two oranges kept simultaneously dancing in the air, that, consciously or not, afford the reader his delight. nay, and this wit, so little recognised, is the necessary organ of that philosophy which we so much admire. that style is therefore the most perfect, not, as fools say, which is the most natural, for the most natural is the disjointed babble of the chronicler; but which attains the highest degree of elegant and pregnant implication unobtrusively; or if obtrusively, then with the greatest gain to sense and vigour. even the derangement of the phrases from their (so-called) natural order is luminous for the mind; and it is by the means of such designed reversal that the elements of a judgment may be most pertinently marshalled, or the stages of a complicated action most perspicuously bound into one. the web, then, or the pattern: a web at once sensuous and logical, an elegant and pregnant texture: that is style, that is the foundation of the art of literature. books indeed continue to be read, for the interest of the fact or fable, in which this quality is poorly represented, but still it will be there. and, on the other hand, how many do we continue to peruse and reperuse with pleasure whose only merit is the elegance of texture? i am tempted to mention cicero; and since mr. anthony trollope is dead, i will. it is a poor diet for the mind, a very colourless and toothless "criticism of life"; but we enjoy the pleasure of a most intricate and dexterous pattern, every stitch a model at once of elegance and of good sense; and the two oranges, even if one of them be rotten, kept dancing with inimitable grace. up to this moment i have had my eye mainly upon prose; for though in verse also the implication of the logical texture is a crowning beauty, yet in verse it may be dispensed with. you would think that here was a death-blow to all i have been saying; and far from that, it is but a new illustration of the principle involved. for if the versifier is not bound to weave a pattern of his own, it is because another pattern has been formally imposed upon him by the laws of verse. for that is the essence of a prosody. verse may be rhythmical; it may be merely alliterative; it may, like the french, depend wholly on the (quasi) regular recurrence of the rhyme; or, like the hebrew, it may consist in the strangely fanciful device of repeating the same idea. it does not matter on what principle the law is based, so it be a law. it may be pure convention; it may have no inherent beauty; all that we have a right to ask of any prosody is, that it shall lay down a pattern for the writer, and that what it lays down shall be neither too easy nor too hard. hence it comes that it is much easier for men of equal facility to write fairly pleasing verse than reasonably interesting prose; for in prose the pattern itself has to be invented, and the difficulties first created before they can be solved. hence, again, there follows the peculiar greatness of the true versifier: such as shakespeare, milton, and victor hugo, whom i place beside them as versifier merely, not as poet. these not only knit and knot the logical texture of the style with all the dexterity and strength of prose; they not only fill up the pattern of the verse with infinite variety and sober wit; but they give us, besides, a rare and special pleasure, by the art, comparable to that of counterpoint, with which they follow at the same time, and now contrast, and now combine, the double pattern of the texture and the verse. here the sounding line concludes; a little further on, the well-knit sentence; and yet a little further, and both will reach their solution on the same ringing syllable. the best that can be offered by the best writer of prose is to show us the development of the idea and the stylistic pattern proceed hand in hand, sometimes by an obvious and triumphant effort, sometimes with a great air of ease and nature. the writer of verse, by virtue of conquering another difficulty, delights us with a new series of triumphs. he follows three purposes where his rival followed only two; and the change is of precisely the same nature as that from melody to harmony. or if you prefer to return to the juggler, behold him now, to the vastly increased enthusiasm of the spectators, juggling with three oranges instead of two. thus it is: added difficulty, added beauty; and the pattern, with every fresh element, becoming more interesting in itself. yet it must not be thought that verse is simply an addition; something is lost as well as something gained; and there remains plainly traceable, in comparing the best prose with the best verse, a certain broad distinction of method in the web. tight as the versifier may draw the knot of logic, yet for the ear he still leaves the tissue of the sentence floating somewhat loose. in prose, the sentence turns upon a pivot, nicely balanced, and fits into itself with an obtrusive neatness like a puzzle. the ear remarks and is singly gratified by this return and balance; while in verse it is all diverted to the measure. to find comparable passages is hard; for either the versifier is hugely the superior of the rival, or, if he be not, and still persist in his more delicate enterprise, he falls to be as widely his inferior. but let us select them from the pages of the same writer, one who was ambidexter; let us take, for instance, rumour's prologue to the second part of _henry iv._, a fine flourish of eloquence in shakespeare's second manner, and set it side by side with falstaff's praise of sherris, act iv., scene 1; or let us compare the beautiful prose spoken throughout by rosalind and orlando, compare, for example, the first speech of all, orlando's speech to adam, with what passage it shall please you to select--the seven ages from the same play, or even such a stave of nobility as othello's farewell to war; and still you will be able to perceive, if you have any ear for that class of music, a certain superior degree of organisation in the prose; a compacter fitting of the parts; a balance in the swing and the return as of a throbbing pendulum. we must not, in things temporal, take from those who have little, the little that they have; the merits of prose are inferior, but they are not the same; it is a little kingdom, but an independent. 3. _rhythm of the phrase._--some way back, i used a word which still awaits an application. each phrase, i said, was to be comely; but what is a comely phrase? in all ideal and material points, literature, being a representative art, must look for analogies to painting and the like; but in what is technical and executive, being a temporal art, it must seek for them in music. each phrase of each sentence, like an air or a recitative in music, should be so artfully compounded out of long and short, out of accented and unaccented, as to gratify the sensual ear. and of this the ear is the sole judge. it is impossible to lay down laws. even in our accentual and rhythmic language no analysis can find the secret of the beauty of a verse; how much less, then, of those phrases, such as prose is built of, which obey no law but to be lawless and yet to please? the little that we know of verse (and for my part i owe it all to my friend professor fleeming jenkin) is, however, particularly interesting in the present connection. we have been accustomed to describe the heroic line as five iambic feet, and to be filled with pain and confusion whenever, as by the conscientious schoolboy, we have heard our own description put in practice. "all nã¬ght | the dreã d | less ã n | gel ã¹n | pursã¹ed,"[18] goes the schoolboy; but though we close our ears, we cling to our definition, in spite of its proved and naked insufficiency. mr. jenkin was not so easily pleased, and readily discovered that the heroic line consists of four groups, or, if you prefer the phrase, contains four pauses: "all night | the dreadless | angel | unpursued." four groups, each practically uttered as one word: the first, in this case, an iamb; the second, an amphibrachys; the third, a trochee; and the fourth an amphimacer; and yet our schoolboy, with no other liberty but that of inflicting pain, had triumphantly scanned it as five iambs. perceive, now, this fresh richness of intricacy in the web; this fourth orange, hitherto unremarked, but still kept flying with the others. what had seemed to be one thing it now appears is two; and, like some puzzle in arithmetic, the verse is made at the same time to read in fives and to read in fours. but again, four is not necessary. we do not, indeed, find verses in six groups, because there is not room for six in the ten syllables; and we do not find verses of two, because one of the main distinctions of verse from prose resides in the comparative shortness of the group; but it is even common to find verses of three. five is the one forbidden number; because five is the number of the feet; and if five were chosen, the two patterns would coincide, and that opposition which is the life of verse would instantly be lost. we have here a clue to the effect of polysyllables, above all in latin, where they are so common and make so brave an architecture in the verse; for the polysyllable is a group of nature's making. if but some roman would return from hades (martial, for choice), and tell me by what conduct of the voice these thundering verses should be uttered--"_aut lacedã¦monium tarentum_," for a case in point--i feel as if i should enter at last into the full enjoyment of the best of human verses. but, again, the five feet are all iambic, or supposed to be; by the mere count of syllables the four groups cannot be all iambic; as a question of elegance, i doubt if any one of them requires to be so; and i am certain that for choice no two of them should scan the same. the singular beauty of the verse analysed above is due, so far as analysis can carry us, part, indeed, to the clever repetition of l, d and n, but part to this variety of scansion in the groups. the groups which, like the bar in music, break up the verse for utterance, fall uniambically; and in declaiming a so-called iambic verse, it may so happen that we never utter one iambic foot. and yet to this neglect of the original beat there is a limit. "athens, the eye of greece, mother of arts,"[19] is, with all its eccentricities, a good heroic line; for though it scarcely can be said to indicate the beat of the iamb, it certainly suggests no other measure to the ear. but begin "mother athens, eye of greece," or merely "mother athens," and the game is up, for the trochaic beat has been suggested. the eccentric scansion of the groups is an adornment; but as soon as the original beat has been forgotten, they cease implicitly to be eccentric. variety is what is sought; but if we destroy the original mould, one of the terms of this variety is lost, and we fall back on sameness. thus, both as to the arithmetical measure of the verse, and the degree of regularity in scansion, we see the laws of prosody to have one common purpose: to keep alive the opposition of two schemes simultaneously followed; to keep them notably apart, though still coincident; and to balance them with such judicial nicety before the reader, that neither shall be unperceived and neither signally prevail. the rule of rhythm in prose is not so intricate. here, too, we write in groups, or phrases, as i prefer to call them, for the prose phrase is greatly longer and is much more nonchalantly uttered than the group in verse; so that not only is there a greater interval of continuous sound between the pauses, but, for that very reason, word is linked more readily to word by a more summary enunciation. still, the phrase is the strict analogue of the group, and successive phrases, like successive groups, must differ openly in length and rhythm. the rule of scansion in verse is to suggest no measure but the one in hand; in prose, to suggest no measure at all. prose must be rhythmical, and it may be as much so as you will; but it must not be metrical. it may be anything, but it must not be verse. a single heroic line may very well pass and not disturb the somewhat larger stride of the prose style; but one following another will produce an instant impression of poverty, flatness, and disenchantment. the same lines delivered with the measured utterance of verse would perhaps seem rich in variety. by the more summary enunciation proper to prose, as to a more distant vision, these niceties of difference are lost. a whole verse is uttered as one phrase; and the ear is soon wearied by a succession of groups identical in length. the prose writer, in fact, since he is allowed to be so much less harmonious, is condemned to a perpetually fresh variety of movement on a larger scale, and must never disappoint the ear by the trot of an accepted metre. and this obligation is the third orange with which he has to juggle, the third quality which the prose writer must work into his pattern of words. it may be thought perhaps that this is a quality of ease rather than a fresh difficulty; but such is the inherently rhythmical strain of the english language, that the bad writer--and must i take for example that admired friend of my boyhood, captain reid?--the inexperienced writer, as dickens in his earlier attempts to be impressive, and the jaded writer, as any one may see for himself, all tend to fall at once into the production of bad blank verse. and here it may be pertinently asked, why bad? and i suppose it might be enough to answer that no man ever made good verse by accident, and that no verse can ever sound otherwise than trivial when uttered with the delivery of prose. but we can go beyond such answers. the weak side of verse is the regularity of the beat, which in itself is decidedly less impressive than the movement of the nobler prose; and it is just into this weak side, and this alone, that our careless writer falls. a peculiar density and mass, consequent on the nearness of the pauses, is one of the chief good qualities of verse; but this our accidental versifier, still following after the swift gait and large gestures of prose, does not so much as aspire to imitate. lastly, since he remains unconscious that he is making verse at all, it can never occur to him to extract those effects of counterpoint and opposition which i have referred to as the final grace and justification of verse, and, i may add, of blank verse in particular. 4. _contents of the phrase._--here is a great deal of talk about rhythm--and naturally; for in our canorous language rhythm is always at the door. but it must not be forgotten that in some languages this element is almost, if not quite, extinct, and that in our own it is probably decaying. the even speech of many educated americans sounds the note of danger. i should see it go with something as bitter as despair, but i should not be desperate. as in verse no element, not even rhythm, is necessary; so, in prose also, other sorts of beauty will arise and take the place and play the part of those that we outlive. the beauty of the expected beat in verse, the beauty in prose of its larger and more lawless melody, patent as they are to english hearing, are already silent in the ears of our next neighbours; for in france the oratorical accent and the pattern of the web have almost or altogether succeeded to their places; and the french prose writer would be astounded at the labours of his brother across the channel, and how a good quarter of his toil, above all _invita minerva_, is to avoid writing verse. so wonderfully far apart have races wandered in spirit, and so hard it is to understand the literature next door! yet french prose is distinctly better than english; and french verse, above all while hugo lives, it will not do to place upon one side. what is more to our purpose, a phrase or a verse in french is easily distinguishable as comely or uncomely. there is then another element of comeliness hitherto overlooked in this analysis: the contents of the phrase. each phrase in literature is built of sounds, as each phrase in music consists of notes. one sound suggests, echoes, demands, and harmonises with another; and the art of rightly using these concordances is the final art in literature. it used to be a piece of good advice to all young writers to avoid alliteration; and the advice was sound, in so far as it prevented daubing. none the less for that, was it abominable nonsense, and the mere raving of those blindest of the blind who will not see? the beauty of the contents of a phrase, or of a sentence, depends implicitly upon alliteration and upon assonance. the vowel demands to be repeated; the consonant demands to be repeated; and both cry aloud to be perpetually varied. you may follow the adventures of a letter through any passage that has particularly pleased you; find it, perhaps, denied a while, to tantalise the ear; find it fired again at you in a whole broadside; or find it pass into congenerous sounds, one liquid or labial melting away into another. and you will find another and much stranger circumstance. literature is written by and for two senses: a sort of internal ear, quick to perceive "unheard melodies"; and the eye, which directs the pen and deciphers the printed phrase. well, even as there are rhymes for the eye, so you will find that there are assonances and alliterations; that where an author is running the open a, deceived by the eye and our strange english spelling, he will often show a tenderness for the flat a; and that where he is running a particular consonant, he will not improbably rejoice to write it down even when it is mute or bears a different value. here, then, we have a fresh pattern--a pattern, to speak grossly, of letters--which makes the fourth preoccupation of the prose writer, and the fifth of the versifier. at times it is very delicate and hard to perceive, and then perhaps most excellent and winning (i say perhaps); but at times again the elements of this literal melody stand more boldly forward and usurp the ear. it becomes, therefore, somewhat a matter of conscience to select examples; and as i cannot very well ask the reader to help me, i shall do the next best by giving him the reason or the history of each selection. the two first, one in prose, one in verse, i chose without previous analysis, simply as engaging passages that had long re-echoed in my ear. "i cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat."[20] down to "virtue," the current s and r are both announced and repeated unobtrusively, and by way of a grace-note that almost inseparable group pvf is given entire.[21] the next phrase is a period of repose, almost ugly in itself, both s and r still audible, and b given as the last fulfilment of pvf. in the next four phrases, from "that never" down to "run for," the mask is thrown off, and, but for a slight repetition of the f and v, the whole matter turns, almost too obtrusively, on s and r; first s coming to the front, and then r. in the concluding phrase all these favourite letters, and even the flat a, a timid preference for which is just perceptible, are discarded at a blow and in a bundle; and to make the break more obvious, every word ends with a dental, and all but one with t, for which we have been cautiously prepared since the beginning. the singular dignity of the first clause, and this hammer-stroke of the last, go far to make the charm of this exquisite sentence. but it is fair to own that s and r are used a little coarsely. "in xanadu did kubla khan (kandl) a stately pleasure dome decree, (kdlsr) where alph the sacred river ran, (kandlsr) through caverns measureless to man, (kanlsr) down to a sunless sea."[22] (ndls) here i have put the analysis of the main group alongside the lines; and the more it is looked at, the more interesting it will seem. but there are further niceties. in lines two and four, the current s is most delicately varied with z. in line three, the current flat a is twice varied with the open a, already suggested in line two, and both times ("where" and "sacred") in conjunction with the current r. in the same line f and v (a harmony in themselves, even when shorn of their comrade p) are admirably contrasted. and in line four there is a marked subsidiary m, which again was announced in line two. i stop from weariness, for more might yet be said. my next example was recently quoted from shakespeare as an example of the poet's colour sense. now, i do not think literature has anything to do with colour, or poets anyway the better of such a sense; and i instantly attacked this passage, since "purple" was the word that had so pleased the writer of the article, to see if there might not be some literary reason for its use. it will be seen that i succeeded amply; and i am bound to say i think the passage exceptional in shakespeare--exceptional, indeed, in literature; but it was not i who chose it. "the barge she sat in, like a burnished throne burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold, purple the sails and so pur*fumã¨d that *per the winds were lovesick with them."[23] it may be asked why i have put the f of perfumã¨d in capitals; and i reply, because this change from p to f is the completion of that from b to p, already so adroitly carried out. indeed, the whole passage is a monument of curious ingenuity; and it seems scarce worth while to indicate the subsidiary s, l and w. in the same article, a second passage from shakespeare was quoted, once again as an example of his colour sense: "a mole cinque-spotted like the crimson drops i' the bottom of a cowslip."[24] it is very curious, very artificial, and not worth while to analyse at length: i leave it to the reader. but before i turn my back on shakespeare, i should like to quote a passage, for my own pleasure, and for a very model of every technical art:- "but in the wind and tempest of her frown, w. p. v. f. (st) (ow)[25] distinction with a loud and powerful fan, w. p. f. (st) (ow) l puffing at all, winnowes the light away; w. p. f. l and what hath mass and matter by itself w. f. l. m. a. lies rich in virtue and unmingled."[26] v. l. m. from these delicate and choice writers i turned with some curiosity to a player of the big drum--macaulay. i had in hand the two-volume edition, and i opened at the beginning of the second volume. here was what i read:- "the violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of the maladministration which has produced them. it is therefore not strange that the government of scotland, having been during many years greatly more corrupt than the government of england, should have fallen with a far heavier ruin. the movement against the last king of the house of stuart was in england conservative, in scotland destructive. the english complained not of the law, but of the violation of the law." this was plain-sailing enough; it was our old friend pvf, floated by the liquids in a body; but as i read on, and turned the page, and still found pvf with his attendant liquids, i confess my mind misgave me utterly. this could be no trick of macaulay's; it must be the nature of the english tongue. in a kind of despair, i turned half-way through the volume; and coming upon his lordship dealing with general cannon, and fresh from claverhouse and killiekrankie, here, with elucidative spelling, was my reward:- "meanwhile the disorders of kannon's kamp went on inkreasing. he kalled a kouncil of war to konsider what kourse it would be advisable to take. but as soon as the kouncil had met a preliminary kuestion was raised. the army was almost eksklusively a highland army. the recent viktory had been won eksklusively by highland warriors. great chie_f_s who had brought siks or se_v_en hundred _f_ighting men into the _f_ield, did not think it _f_air that they should be out_v_oted by gentlemen _f_rom ireland and _f_rom the low kountries, who bore indeed king james's kommission, and were kalled kolonels and kaptains, but who were kolonels without regiments and kaptains without kompanies." a moment of fv in all this world of k's! it was not the english language, then, that was an instrument of one string, but macaulay that was an incomparable dauber. it was probably from this barbaric love of repeating the same sound, rather than from any design of clearness, that he acquired his irritating habit of repeating words; i say the one rather than the other, because such a trick of the ear is deeper seated and more original in man than any logical consideration. few writers, indeed, are probably conscious of the length to which they push this melody of letters. one, writing very diligently, and only concerned about the meaning of his words and the rhythm of his phrases, was struck into amazement by the eager triumph with which he cancelled one expression to substitute another. neither changed the sense; both being mono-syllables, neither could affect the scansion; and it was only by looking back on what he had already written that the mystery was solved: the second word contained an open a, and for nearly half a page he had been riding that vowel to the death. in practice, i should add, the ear is not always so exacting; and ordinary writers, in ordinary moments, content themselves with avoiding what is harsh, and here and there, upon a rare occasion, buttressing a phrase, or linking two together, with a patch of assonance or a momentary jingle of alliteration. to understand how constant is this preoccupation of good writers, even where its results are least obtrusive, it is only necessary to turn to the bad. there, indeed, you will find cacophony supreme, the rattle of incongruous consonants only relieved by the jaw-breaking hiatus, and whole phrases not to be articulated by the powers of man. _conclusion_.--we may now briefly enumerate the elements of style. we have, peculiar to the prose writer, the task of keeping his phrases large, rhythmical and pleasing to the ear, without ever allowing them to fall into the strictly metrical: peculiar to the versifier, the task of combining and contrasting his double, treble, and quadruple pattern, feet and groups, logic and metre--harmonious in diversity: common to both, the task of artfully combining the prime elements of language into phrases that shall be musical in the mouth; the task of weaving their argument into a texture of committed phrases and of rounded periods--but this particularly binding in the case of prose: and, again common to both, the task of choosing apt, explicit, and communicative words. we begin to see now what an intricate affair is any perfect passage; how many faculties, whether of taste or pure reason, must be held upon the stretch to make it; and why, when it is made, it should afford us so complete a pleasure. from the arrangement of according letters, which is altogether arabesque and sensual, up to the architecture of the elegant and pregnant sentence, which is a vigorous act of the pure intellect, there is scarce a faculty in man but has been exercised. we need not wonder, then, if perfect sentences are rare, and perfect pages rarer. footnotes: [18] milton. [19] milton. [20] milton. [21] as pvf will continue to haunt us through our english examples, take, by way of comparison, this latin verse, of which it forms a chief adornment, and do not hold me answerable for the all too roman freedom of the sense: "hanc volo, quã¦ facilis, quã¦ palliolata vagatur." [22] coleridge. [23] antony and cleopatra. [24] cymbeline. [25] the v is in "of." [26] troilus and cressida. iv the morality of the profession of letters the profession of letters has been lately debated in the public prints; and it has been debated, to put the matter mildly, from a point of view that was calculated to surprise high-minded men, and bring a general contempt on books and reading. some time ago, in particular, a lively, pleasant, popular writer[27] devoted an essay, lively and pleasant like himself, to a very encouraging view of the profession. we may be glad that his experience is so cheering, and we may hope that all others, who deserve it, shall be as handsomely rewarded; but i do not think we need be at all glad to have this question, so important to the public and ourselves, debated solely on the ground of money. the salary in any business under heaven is not the only, nor indeed the first, question. that you should continue to exist is a matter for your own consideration; but that your business should be first honest, and second useful, are points in which honour and morality are concerned. if the writer to whom i refer succeeds in persuading a number of young persons to adopt this way of life with an eye set singly on the livelihood, we must expect them in their works to follow profit only, and we must expect in consequence, if he will pardon me the epithets, a slovenly, base, untrue, and empty literature. of that writer himself i am not speaking: he is diligent, clean, and pleasing; we all owe him periods of entertainment, and he has achieved an amiable popularity which he has adequately deserved. but the truth is, he does not, or did not when he first embraced it, regard his profession from this purely mercenary side. he went into it, i shall venture to say, if not with any noble design, at least in the ardour of a first love; and he enjoyed its practice long before he paused to calculate the wage. the other day an author was complimented on a piece of work, good in itself and exceptionally good for him, and replied in terms unworthy of a commercial traveller, that as the book was not briskly selling he did not give a copper farthing for its merit. it must not be supposed that the person to whom this answer was addressed received it as a profession of faith; he knew, on the other hand, that it was only a whiff of irritation; just as we know, when a respectable writer talks of literature as a way of life, like shoemaking, but not so useful, that he is only debating one aspect of a question, and is still clearly conscious of a dozen others more important in themselves and more central to the matter in hand. but while those who treat literature in this penny-wise and virtue-foolish spirit are themselves truly in possession of a better light, it does not follow that the treatment is decent or improving, whether for themselves or others. to treat all subjects in the highest, the most honourable, and the pluckiest spirit, consistent with the fact, is the first duty of a writer. if he be well paid, as i am glad to hear he is, this duty becomes the more urgent, the neglect of it the more disgraceful. and perhaps there is no subject on which a man should speak so gravely as that industry, whatever it may be, which is the occupation or delight of his life; which is his tool to earn or serve with; and which, if it be unworthy, stamps himself as a mere incubus of dumb and greedy bowels on the shoulders of labouring humanity. on that subject alone even to force the note might lean to virtue's side. it is to be hoped that a numerous and enterprising generation of writers will follow and surpass the present one; but it would be better if the stream were stayed, and the roll of our old, honest english books were closed, than that esurient bookmakers should continue and debase a brave tradition, and lower, in their own eyes, a famous race. better that our serene temples were deserted than filled with trafficking and juggling priests. there are two just reasons for the choice of any way of life: the first is inbred taste in the chooser; the second some high utility in the industry selected. literature, like any other art, is singularly interesting to the artist; and, in a degree peculiar to itself among the arts, it is useful to mankind. these are the sufficient justifications for any young man or woman who adopts it as the business of his life. i shall not say much about the wages. a writer can live by his writing. if not so luxuriously as by other trades, then less luxuriously. the nature of the work he does all day will more affect his happiness than the quality of his dinner at night. whatever be your calling, and however much it brings you in the year, you could still, you know, get more by cheating. we all suffer ourselves to be too much concerned about a little poverty; but such considerations should not move us in the choice of that which is to be the business and justification of so great a portion of our lives; and like the missionary, the patriot, or the philosopher, we should all choose that poor and brave career in which we can do the most and best for mankind. now nature, faithfully followed, proves herself a careful mother. a lad, for some liking to the jingle of words, betakes himself to letters for his life; by-and-by, when he learns more gravity, he finds that he has chosen better than he knew; that if he earns little, he is earning it amply; that if he receives a small wage, he is in a position to do considerable services; that it is in his power, in some small measure, to protect the oppressed and to defend the truth. so kindly is the world arranged, such great profit may arise from a small degree of human reliance on oneself, and such, in particular, is the happy star of this trade of writing, that it should combine pleasure and profit to both parties, and be at once agreeable, like fiddling, and useful, like good preaching. this is to speak of literature at its highest; and with the four great elders who are still spared to our respect and admiration, with carlyle, ruskin, browning, and tennyson before us, it would be cowardly to consider it at first in any lesser aspect. but while we cannot follow these athletes, while we may none of us, perhaps, be very vigorous, very original, or very wise, i still contend that, in the humblest sort of literary work, we have it in our power either to do great harm or great good. we may seek merely to please; we may seek, having no higher gift, merely to gratify the idle nine-days' curiosity of our contemporaries; or we may essay, however feebly, to instruct. in each of these we shall have to deal with that remarkable art of words which, because it is the dialect of life, comes home so easily and powerfully to the minds of men; and since that is so, we contribute, in each of these branches, to build up the sum of sentiments and appreciations which goes by the name of public opinion or public feeling. the total of a nation's reading, in these days of daily papers, greatly modifies the total of the nation's speech; and the speech and reading, taken together, form the efficient educational medium of youth. a good man or woman may keep a youth some little while in clearer air; but the contemporary atmosphere is all-powerful in the end on the average of mediocre characters. the copious corinthian baseness of the american reporter or the parisian _chroniqueur_, both so lightly readable, must exercise an incalculable influence for ill; they touch upon all subjects, and on all with the same ungenerous hand; they begin the consideration of all, in young and unprepared minds, in an unworthy spirit; on all, they supply some pungency for dull people to quote. the mere body of this ugly matter overwhelms the rarer utterances of good men; the sneering, the selfish, and the cowardly are scattered in broad sheets on every table, while the antidote, in small volumes, lies unread upon the shelf. i have spoken of the american and the french, not because they are so much baser, but so much more readable, than the english; their evil is done more effectively, in america for the masses, in french for the few that care to read; but with us as with them, the duties of literature are daily neglected, truth daily perverted and suppressed, and grave subjects daily degraded in the treatment. the journalist is not reckoned an important officer; yet judge of the good he might do, the harm he does; judge of it by one instance only: that when we find two journals on the reverse sides of politics each, on the same day, openly garbling a piece of news for the interest of its own party, we smile at the discovery (no discovery now!) as over a good joke and pardonable stratagem. lying so open is scarce lying, it is true; but one of the things that we profess to teach our young is a respect for truth; and i cannot think this piece of education will be crowned with any great success, so long as some of us practise and the rest openly approve of public falsehood. there are two duties incumbent upon any man who enters on the business of writing: truth to the fact and a good spirit in the treatment. in every department of literature, though so low as hardly to deserve the name, truth to the fact is of importance to the education and comfort of mankind, and so hard to preserve, that the faithful trying to do so will lend some dignity to the man who tries it. our judgments are based upon two things, first, upon the original preferences of our soul; but, second, upon the mass of testimony to the nature of god, man, and the universe which reaches us, in divers manners, from without. for the most part these divers manners are reducible to one, all that we learn of past times and much that we learn of our own reaching us through the medium of books or papers, and even he who cannot read learning from the same source at second-hand and by the report of him who can. thus the sum of the contemporary knowledge or ignorance of good and evil is, in large measure, the handiwork of those who write. those who write have to see that each man's knowledge is, as near as they can make it, answerable to the facts of life; that he shall not suppose himself an angel or a monster; nor take this world for a hell; nor be suffered to imagine that all rights are concentred in his own caste or country, or all veracities in his own parochial creed. each man should learn what is within him, that he may strive to mend; he must be taught what is without him, that he may be kind to others. it can never be wrong to tell him the truth; for, in his disputable state, weaving as he goes his theory of life, steering himself, cheering or reproving others, all facts are of the first importance to his conduct; and even if a fact shall discourage or corrupt him, it is still best that he should know it; for it is in this world as it is, and not in a world made easy by educational suppressions, that he must win his way to shame or glory. in one word, it must always be foul to tell what is false; and it can never be safe to suppress what is true. the very fact that you omit may be the fact which somebody was wanting, for one man's meat is another man's poison, and i have known a person who was cheered by the perusal of "candide." every fact is a part of that great puzzle we must set together; and none that comes directly in a writer's path but has some nice relations, unperceivable by him, to the totality and bearing of the subject under hand. yet there are certain classes of fact eternally more necessary than others, and it is with these that literature must first bestir itself. they are not hard to distinguish, nature once more easily leading us; for the necessary, because the efficacious, facts are those which are most interesting to the natural mind of man. those which are coloured, picturesque, human, and rooted in morality, and those, on the other hand, which are clear, indisputable, and a part of science, are alone vital in importance, seizing by their interest, or useful to communicate. so far as the writer merely narrates, he should principally tell of these. he should tell of the kind and wholesome and beautiful elements of our life; he should tell unsparingly of the evil and sorrow of the present, to move us with instances; he should tell of wise and good people in the past, to excite us by example; and of these he should tell soberly and truthfully, not glossing faults, that we may neither grow discouraged with ourselves nor exacting to our neighbours. so the body of contemporary literature, ephemeral and feeble in itself, touches in the minds of men the springs of thought and kindness, and supports them (for those who will go at all are easily supported) on their way to what is true and right. and if, in any degree, it does so now, how much more might it do so if the writers chose! there is not a life in all the records of the past but, properly studied, might lend a hint and a help to some contemporary. there is not a juncture in to-day's affairs but some useful word may yet be said of it. even the reporter has an office, and, with clear eyes and honest language, may unveil injustices and point the way to progress. and for a last word: in all narration there is only one way to be clever, and that is to be exact. to be vivid is a secondary quality which must presuppose the first; for vividly to convey a wrong impression is only to make failure conspicuous. but a fact may be viewed on many sides; it may be chronicled with rage, tears, laughter, indifference, or admiration, and by each of these the story will be transformed to something else. the newspapers that told of the return of our representatives from berlin, even if they had not differed as to the facts, would have sufficiently differed by their spirit; so that the one description would have been a second ovation, and the other a prolonged insult. the subject makes but a trifling part of any piece of literature, and the view of the writer is itself a fact more important because less disputable than the others. now this spirit in which a subject is regarded, important in all kinds of literary work, becomes all-important in works of fiction, meditation, or rhapsody; for there it not only colours but itself chooses the facts; not only modifies but shapes the work. and hence, over the far larger proportion of the field of literature, the health or disease of the writer's mind or momentary humour forms not only the leading feature of his work, but is, at bottom, the only thing he can communicate to others. in all works of art, widely speaking, it is first of all the author's attitude that is narrated, though in the attitude there be implied a whole experience and a theory of life. an author who has begged the question and reposes in some narrow faith cannot, if he would, express the whole or even many of the sides of this various existence; for, his own life being maim, some of them are not admitted in his theory, and were only dimly and unwillingly recognised in his experience. hence the smallness, the triteness, and the inhumanity in works of merely sectarian religion; and hence we find equal although unsimilar limitations in works inspired by the spirit of the flesh or the despicable taste for high society. so that the first duty of any man who is to write is intellectual. designedly or not, he has so far set himself up for a leader of the minds of men; and he must see that his own mind is kept supple, charitable, and bright. everything but prejudice should find a voice through him; he should see the good in all things; where he has even a fear that he does not wholly understand, there he should be wholly silent; and he should recognise from the first that he has only one tool in his workshop and that tool is sympathy.[28] the second duty, far harder to define, is moral. there are a thousand different humours in the mind, and about each of them, when it is uppermost, some literature tends to be deposited. is this to be allowed? not certainly in every case, and yet perhaps in more than rigorists would fancy. it were to be desired that all literary work, and chiefly works of art, issued from sound, human, healthy, and potent impulses, whether grave or laughing, humorous, romantic, or religious. yet it cannot be denied that some valuable books are partially insane; some, mostly religious, partially inhuman; and very many tainted with morbidity and impotence. we do not loathe a masterpiece although we gird against its blemishes. we are not, above all, to look for faults but merits. there is no book perfect, even in design; but there are many that will delight, improve, or encourage the reader. on the one hand, the hebrew psalms are the only religious poetry on earth; yet they contain sallies that savour rankly of the man of blood. on the other hand, alfred de musset had a poisoned and a contorted nature; i am only quoting that generous and frivolous giant, old dumas, when i accuse him of a bad heart; yet, when the impulse under which he wrote was purely creative, he could give us works like "carmosine" or "fantasio," in which the last note of the romantic comedy seems to have been found again to touch and please us. when flaubert wrote "madame bovary," i believe he thought chiefly of a somewhat morbid realism; and behold! the book turned in his hands into a masterpiece of appalling morality. but the truth is, when books are conceived under a great stress, with a soul of nine-fold power nine times heated and electrified by effort, the conditions of our being are seized with such an ample grasp, that, even should the main design be trivial or base, some truth and beauty cannot fail to be expressed. out of the strong comes forth sweetness; but an ill thing poorly done is an ill thing top and bottom. and so this can be no encouragement to knock-knee'd, feeble-wristed scribes, who must take their business conscientiously or be ashamed to practise it. man is imperfect; yet, in his literature, he must express himself and his own views and preferences; for to do anything else is to do a far more perilous thing than to risk being immoral: it is to be sure of being untrue. to ape a sentiment, even a good one, is to travesty a sentiment; that will not be helpful. to conceal a sentiment, if you are sure you hold it, is to take a liberty with truth. there is probably no point of view possible to a sane man but contains some truth and, in the true connection, might be profitable to the race. i am not afraid of the truth, if any one could tell it me, but i am afraid of parts of it impertinently uttered. there is a time to dance and a time to mourn; to be harsh as well as to be sentimental; to be ascetic as well as to glorify the appetites; and if a man were to combine all these extremes into his work, each in its place and proportion, that work would be the world's masterpiece of morality as well as of art. partiality is immorality; for any book is wrong that gives a misleading picture of the world and life. the trouble is that the weakling must be partial; the work of one proving dank and depressing; of another, cheap and vulgar; of a third, epileptically sensual; of a fourth, sourly ascetic. in literature as in conduct, you can never hope to do exactly right. all you can do is to make as sure as possible; and for that there is but one rule. nothing should be done in a hurry that can be done slowly. it is no use to write a book and put it by for nine or even ninety years; for in the writing you will have partly convinced yourself; the delay must precede any beginning; and if you meditate a work of art, you should first long roll the subject under the tongue to make sure you like the flavour, before you brew a volume that shall taste of it from end to end; or if you propose to enter on the field of controversy, you should first have thought upon the question under all conditions, in health as well as in sickness, in sorrow as well as in joy. it is this nearness of examination necessary for any true and kind writing, that makes the practice of the art a prolonged and noble education for the writer. there is plenty to do, plenty to say, or to say over again, in the meantime. any literary work which conveys faithful facts or pleasing impressions is a service to the public. it is even a service to be thankfully proud of having rendered. the slightest novels are a blessing to those in distress, not chloroform itself a greater. our fine old sea-captain's life was justified when carlyle soothed his mind with "the king's own" or "newton forster." to please is to serve; and so far from its being difficult to instruct while you amuse, it is difficult to do the one thoroughly without the other. some part of the writer or his life will crop out in even a vapid book; and to read a novel that was conceived with any force is to multiply experience and to exercise the sympathies. every article, every piece of verse, every essay, every _entrefilet_, is destined to pass, however swiftly, through the minds of some portion of the public, and to colour, however transiently, their thoughts. when any subject falls to be discussed, some scribbler on a paper has the invaluable opportunity of beginning its discussion in a dignified and human spirit; and if there were enough who did so in our public press neither the public nor the parliament would find it in their minds to drop to meaner thoughts. the writer has the chance to stumble, by the way, on something pleasing, something interesting, something encouraging, were it only to a single reader. he will be unfortunate, indeed, if he suit no one. he has the chance, besides, to stumble on something that a dull person shall be able to comprehend; and for a dull person to have read anything and, for that once, comprehended it, makes a marking epoch in his education. here then is work worth doing and worth trying to do well. and so, if i were minded to welcome any great accession to our trade, it should not be from any reason of a higher wage, but because it was a trade which was useful in a very great and in a very high degree; which every honest tradesman could make more serviceable to mankind in his single strength; which was difficult to do well and possible to do better every year; which called for scrupulous thought on the part of all who practised it, and hence became a perpetual education to their nobler natures; and which, pay it as you please, in the large majority of the best cases will still be underpaid. for surely, at this time of day in the nineteenth century, there is nothing that an honest man should fear more timorously than getting and spending more than he deserves. footnotes: [27] mr. james payn. [28] a footnote, at least, is due to the admirable example set before all young writers in the width of literary sympathy displayed by mr. swinburne. he runs forth to welcome merit, whether in dickens or trollope, whether in villon, milton, or pope. this is, in criticism, the attitude we should all seek to preserve, not only in that, but in every branch of literary work. v books which have influenced me the editor[29] has somewhat insidiously laid a trap for his correspondents, the question put appearing at first so innocent, truly cutting so deep. it is not, indeed, until after some reconnaissance and review that the writer awakes to find himself engaged upon something in the nature of autobiography, or, perhaps worse, upon a chapter in the life of that little, beautiful brother whom we once all had, and whom we have all lost and mourned, the man we ought to have been, the man we hoped to be. but when word has been passed (even to an editor), it should, if possible, be kept; and if sometimes i am wise and say too little, and sometimes weak and say too much, the blame must lie at the door of the person who entrapped me. the most influential books, and the truest in their influence, are works of fiction. they do not pin the reader to a dogma, which he must afterwards discover to be inexact; they do not teach him a lesson, which he must afterwards unlearn. they repeat, they rearrange, they clarify the lessons of life; they disengage us from ourselves, they constrain us to the acquaintance of others; and they show us the web of experience, not as we can see it for ourselves, but with a singular change--that monstrous, consuming _ego_ of ours being, for the nonce, struck out. to be so, they must be reasonably true to the human comedy; and any work that is so serves the turn of instruction. but the course of our education is answered best by those poems and romances where we breathe a magnanimous atmosphere of thought and meet generous and pious characters. shakespeare has served me best. few living friends have had upon me an influence so strong for good as hamlet or rosalind. the last character, already well beloved in the reading, i had the good fortune to see, i must think, in an impressionable hour, played by mrs. scott siddons. nothing has ever more moved, more delighted, more refreshed me; nor has the influence quite passed away. kent's brief speech over the dying lear had a great effect upon my mind, and was the burthen of my reflections for long, so profoundly, so touchingly generous did it appear in sense, so overpowering in expression. perhaps my dearest and best friend outside of shakespeare is d'artagnan--the elderly d'artagnan of the "vicomte de bragelonne." i know not a more human soul, nor, in his way, a finer; i shall be very sorry for the man who is so much of a pedant in morals that he cannot learn from the captain of musketeers. lastly, i must name the "pilgrim's progress," a book that breathes of every beautiful and valuable emotion. but of works of art little can be said; their influence is profound and silent, like the influence of nature; they mould by contact; we drink them up like water, and are bettered, yet know not how. it is in books more specifically didactic that we can follow out the effect, and distinguish and weigh and compare. a book which has been very influential upon me fell early into my hands, and so may stand first, though i think its influence was only sensible later on, and perhaps still keeps growing, for it is a book not easily outlived: the "essais" of montaigne. that temperate and genial picture of life is a great gift to place in the hands of persons of to-day; they will find in these smiling pages a magazine of heroism and wisdom, all of an antique strain; they will have their "linen decencies" and excited orthodoxies fluttered, and will (if they have any gift of reading) perceive that these have not been fluttered without some excuse and ground of reason; and (again if they have any gift of reading) they will end by seeing that this old gentleman was in a dozen ways a finer fellow, and held in a dozen ways a nobler view of life, than they or their contemporaries. the next book, in order of time, to influence me was the new testament, and in particular the gospel according to st. matthew. i believe it would startle and move any one if they could make a certain effort of imagination and read it freshly like a book, not droningly and dully like a portion of the bible. any one would then be able to see in it those truths which we are all courteously supposed to know and all modestly refrain from applying. but upon this subject it is perhaps better to be silent. i come next to whitman's "leaves of grass," a book of singular service, a book which tumbled the world upside down for me, blew into space a thousand cobwebs of genteel and ethical illusion, and, having thus shaken my tabernacle of lies, set me back again upon a strong foundation of all the original and manly virtues. but it is, once more, only a book for those who have the gift of reading. i will be very frank--i believe it is so with all good books, except, perhaps, fiction. the average man lives, and must live, so wholly in convention, that gunpowder charges of the truth are more apt to discompose than to invigorate his creed. either he cries out upon blasphemy and indecency, and crouches the closer round that little idol of part-truths and part-conveniences which is the contemporary deity, or he is convinced by what is new, forgets what is old, and becomes truly blasphemous and indecent himself. new truth is only useful to supplement the old; rough truth is only wanted to expand, not to destroy, our civil and often elegant conventions. he who cannot judge had better stick to fiction and the daily papers. there he will get little harm, and, in the first at least, some good. close upon the back of my discovery of whitman, i came under the influence of herbert spencer. no more persuasive rabbi exists, and few better. how much of his vast structure will bear the touch of time, how much is clay and how much brass, it were too curious to inquire. but his words, if dry, are always manly and honest; there dwells in his pages a spirit of highly abstract joy, plucked naked like an algebraic symbol, but still joyful; and the reader will find there a _caput-mortuum_ of piety, with little indeed of its loveliness, but with most of its essentials; and these two qualities make him a wholesome, as his intellectual vigour makes him a bracing, writer. i should be much of a hound if i lost my gratitude to herbert spencer. "goethe's life," by lewes, had a great importance for me when it first fell into my hands--a strange instance of the partiality of man's good and man's evil. i know no one whom i less admire than goethe; he seems a very epitome of the sins of genius, breaking open the doors of private life, and wantonly wounding friends, in that crowning offence of "werther," and in his own character a mere pen-and-ink napoleon, conscious of the rights and duties of superior talents as a spanish inquisitor was conscious of the rights and duties of his office. and yet in his fine devotion to his art, in his honest and serviceable friendship for schiller, what lessons are contained! biography, usually so false to its office, does here for once perform for us some of the work of fiction, reminding us, that is, of the truly mingled tissue of man's nature, and how huge faults and shining virtues cohabit and persevere in the same character. history serves us well to this effect, but in the originals, not in the pages of the popular epitomiser, who is bound, by the very nature of his task, to make us feel the difference of epochs instead of the essential identity of man, and even in the originals only to those who can recognise their own human virtues and defects in strange forms, often inverted and under strange names, often interchanged. martial is a poet of no good repute, and it gives a man new thoughts to read his works dispassionately, and find in this unseemly jester's serious passages the image of a kind, wise, and self-respecting gentleman. it is customary, i suppose, in reading martial, to leave out these pleasant verses; i never heard of them, at least, until i found them for myself; and this partiality is one among a thousand things that help to build up our distorted and hysterical conception of the great roman empire. this brings us by a natural transition to a very noble book--the "meditations" of marcus aurelius. the dispassionate gravity, the noble forgetfulness of self, the tenderness of others, that are there expressed and were practised on so great a scale in the life of its writer, make this book a book quite by itself. no one can read it and not be moved. yet it scarcely or rarely appeals to the feelings--those very mobile, those not very trusty parts of man. its address lies further back: its lesson comes more deeply home; when you have read, you carry away with you a memory of the man himself; it is as though you had touched a loyal hand, looked into brave eyes, and made a noble friend; there is another bond on you thenceforward, binding you to life and to the love of virtue. wordsworth should perhaps come next. every one has been influenced by wordsworth, and it is hard to tell precisely how. a certain innocence, a rugged austerity of joy, a sight of the stars, "the silence that is in the lonely hills," something of the cold thrill of dawn, cling to his work and give it a particular address to what is best in us. i do not know that you learn a lesson; you need not--mill did not--agree with any one of his beliefs; and yet the spell is cast. such are the best teachers; a dogma learned is only a new error--the old one was perhaps as good; but a spirit communicated is a perpetual possession. these best teachers climb beyond teaching to the plane of art; it is themselves, and what is best in themselves, that they communicate. i should never forgive myself if i forgot "the egoist." it is art, if you like, but it belongs purely to didactic art, and from all the novels i have read (and i have read thousands) stands in a place by itself. here is a nathan for the modern david; here is a book to send the blood into men's faces. satire, the angry picture of human faults, is not great art; we can all be angry with our neighbour; what we want is to be shown, not his defects, of which we are too conscious, but his merits, to which we are too blind. and "the egoist" is a satire; so much must be allowed; but it is a satire of a singular quality, which tells you nothing of that obvious mote, which is engaged from first to last with that invisible beam. it is yourself that is hunted down; these are your own faults that are dragged into the day and numbered, with lingering relish, with cruel cunning and precision. a young friend of mr. meredith's (as i have the story) came to him in an agony. "this is too bad of you," he cried. "willoughby is me!" "no, my dear fellow," said the author, "he is all of us." i have read "the egoist" five or six times myself, and i mean to read it again; for i am like the young friend of the anecdote--i think willoughby an unmanly but a very serviceable exposure of myself. i suppose, when i am done, i shall find that i have forgotten much that was most influential, as i see already i have forgotten thoreau, and hazlitt, whose paper "on the spirit of obligations" was a turning-point in my life, and penn, whose little book of aphorisms had a brief but strong effect on me, and mitford's "tales of old japan," wherein i learned for the first time the proper attitude of any rational man to his country's laws--a secret found, and kept, in the asiatic islands. that i should commemorate all is more than i can hope or the editor could ask. it will be more to the point, after having said so much upon improving books, to say a word or two about the improvable reader. the gift of reading, as i have called it, is not very common, nor very generally understood. it consists, first of all, in a vast intellectual endowment--a free grace, i find i must call it--by which a man rises to understand that he is not punctually right, nor those from whom he differs absolutely wrong. he may hold dogmas; he may hold them passionately; and he may know that others hold them but coldly, or hold them differently, or hold them not at all. well, if he has the gift of reading, these others will be full of meat for him. they will see the other side of propositions and the other side of virtues. he need not change his dogma for that, but he may change his reading of that dogma, and he must supplement and correct his deductions from it. a human truth, which is always very much a lie, hides as much of life as it displays. it is men who hold another truth, or, as it seems to us, perhaps, a dangerous lie, who can extend our restricted field of knowledge, and rouse our drowsy consciences. something that seems quite new, or that seems insolently false or very dangerous, is the test of a reader. if he tries to see what it means, what truth excuses it, he has the gift, and let him read. if he is merely hurt, or offended, or exclaims upon his author's folly, he had better take to the daily papers; he will never be a reader. and here, with the aptest illustrative force, after i have laid down my part-truth, i must step in with its opposite. for, after all, we are vessels of a very limited content. not all men can read all books; it is only in a chosen few that any man will find his appointed food; and the fittest lessons are the most palatable, and make themselves welcome to the mind. a writer learns this early, and it is his chief support; he goes on unafraid, laying down the law; and he is sure at heart that most of what he says is demonstrably false, and much of a mingled strain, and some hurtful, and very little good for service; but he is sure besides that when his words fall into the hands of any genuine reader, they will be weighed and winnowed, and only that which suits will be assimilated; and when they fall into the hands of one who cannot intelligently read, they come there quite silent and inarticulate, falling upon deaf ears, and his secret is kept as if he had not written. footnote: [29] of _the british weekly_. vi the day after to-morrow history is much decried; it is a tissue of errors, we are told, no doubt correctly; and rival historians expose each other's blunders with gratification. yet the worst historian has a clearer view of the period he studies than the best of us can hope to form of that in which we live. the obscurest epoch is to-day; and that for a thousand reasons of inchoate tendency, conflicting report, and sheer mass and multiplicity of experience; but chiefly, perhaps, by reason of an insidious shifting of landmarks. parties and ideas continually move, but not by measurable marches on a stable course; the political soil itself steals forth by imperceptible degrees, like a travelling glacier, carrying on its bosom not only political parties but their flag-posts and cantonments; so that what appears to be an eternal city founded on hills is but a flying island of laputa. it is for this reason in particular that we are all becoming socialists without knowing it; by which i would not in the least refer to the acute case of mr. hyndman and his horn-blowing supporters, sounding their trumps of a sunday within the walls of our individualist jericho--but to the stealthy change that has come over the spirit of englishmen and english legislation. a little while ago, and we were still for liberty; "crowd a few more thousands on the bench of government," we seemed to cry; "keep her head direct on liberty, and we cannot help but come to port." this is over; _laisser faire_ declines in favour; our legislation grows authoritative, grows philanthropical, bristles with new duties and new penalties, and casts a spawn of inspectors, who now begin, note-book in hand, to darken the face of england. it may be right or wrong, we are not trying that; but one thing it is beyond doubt: it is socialism in action, and the strange thing is that we scarcely know it. liberty has served us a long while, and it may be time to seek new altars. like all other principles, she has been proved to be self-exclusive in the long run. she has taken wages besides (like all other virtues) and dutifully served mammon; so that many things we were accustomed to admire as the benefits of freedom and common to all were truly benefits of wealth, and took their value from our neighbours' poverty. a few shocks of logic, a few disclosures (in the journalistic phrase) of what the freedom of manufacturers, landlords, or shipowners may imply for operatives, tenants or seamen, and we not unnaturally begin to turn to that other pole of hope, beneficent tyranny. freedom, to be desirable, involves kindness, wisdom, and all the virtues of the free; but the free man as we have seen him in action has been, as of yore, only the master of many helots; and the slaves are still ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-taught, ill-housed, insolently treated, and driven to their mines and workshops by the lash of famine. so much, in other men's affairs, we have begun to see clearly; we have begun to despair of virtue in these other men, and from our seat in parliament begin to discharge upon them, thick as arrows, the host of our inspectors. the landlord has long shaken his head over the manufacturer; those who do business on land have lost all trust in the virtues of the shipowner; the professions look askance upon the retail traders and have even started their co-operative stores to ruin them; and from out the smoke-wreaths of birmingham a finger has begun to write upon the wall the condemnation of the landlord. thus, piece by piece, do we condemn each other, and yet not perceive the conclusion, that our whole estate is somewhat damnable. thus, piece by piece, each acting against his neighbour, each sawing away the branch on which some other interest is seated, do we apply in detail our socialistic remedies, and yet not perceive that we are all labouring together to bring in socialism at large. a tendency so stupid and so selfish is like to prove invincible; and if socialism be at all a practicable rule of life, there is every chance that our grandchildren will see the day and taste the pleasures of existence in something far liker an ant-heap than any previous human polity. and this not in the least because of the voice of mr. hyndman or the horns of his followers; but by the mere glacier movement of the political soil, bearing forward on its bosom, apparently undisturbed, the proud camps of whig and tory. if mr. hyndman were a man of keen humour, which is far from my conception of his character, he might rest from his troubling and look on: the walls of jericho begin already to crumble and dissolve. that great servile war, the armageddon of money and numbers, to which we looked forward when young, becomes more and more unlikely; and we may rather look to see a peaceable and blindfold evolution, the work of dull men immersed in political tactics and dead to political results. the principal scene of this comedy lies, of course, in the house of commons; it is there, besides, that the details of this new evolution (if it proceed) will fall to be decided; so that the state of parliament is not only diagnostic of the present but fatefully prophetic of the future. well, we all know what parliament is, and we are all ashamed of it. we may pardon it some faults, indeed, on the ground of irish obstruction--a bitter trial, which it supports with notable good humour. but the excuse is merely local; it cannot apply to similar bodies in america and france; and what are we to say of these? president cleveland's letter may serve as a picture of the one; a glance at almost any paper will convince us of the weakness of the other. decay appears to have seized on the organ of popular government in every land; and this just at the moment when we begin to bring to it, as to an oracle of justice, the whole skein of our private affairs to be unravelled, and ask it, like a new messiah, to take upon itself our frailties and play for us the part that should be played by our own virtues. for that, in few words, is the case. we cannot trust ourselves to behave with decency; we cannot trust our consciences; and the remedy proposed is to elect a round number of our neighbours, pretty much at random, and say to these: "be ye our conscience; make laws so wise, and continue from year to year to administer them so wisely, that they shall save us from ourselves and make us righteous and happy, world without end. amen." and who can look twice at the british parliament and then seriously bring it such a task? i am not advancing this as an argument against socialism; once again, nothing is further from my mind. there are great truths in socialism, or no one, not even mr. hyndman, would be found to hold it; and if it came, and did one-tenth part of what it offers, i for one should make it welcome. but if it is to come, we may as well have some notion of what it will be like; and the first thing to grasp is that our new polity will be designed and administered (to put it courteously) with something short of inspiration. it will be made, or will grow, in a human parliament; and the one thing that will not very hugely change is human nature. the anarchists think otherwise, from which it is only plain that they have not carried to the study of history the lamp of human sympathy. given, then, our new polity, with its new waggon-load of laws, what headmarks must we look for in the life? we chafe a good deal at that excellent thing, the income-tax, because it brings into our affairs the prying fingers, and exposes us to the tart words, of the official. the official, in all degrees, is already something of a terror to many of us. i would not willingly have to do with even a police-constable in any other spirit than that of kindness. i still remember in my dreams the eye-glass of a certain _attachã©_ at a certain embassy--an eye-glass that was a standing indignity to all on whom it looked; and my next most disagreeable remembrance is of a bracing, republican postman in the city of san francisco. i lived in that city among working folk, and what my neighbours accepted at the postman's hands--nay, what i took from him myself--it is still distasteful to recall. the bourgeois, residing in the upper parts of society, has but few opportunities of tasting this peculiar bowl; but about the income-tax, as i have said, or perhaps about a patent, or in the halls of an embassy at the hands of my friend of the eye-glass, he occasionally sets his lips to it; and he may thus imagine (if he has that faculty of imagination, without which most faculties are void) how it tastes to his poorer neighbours who must drain it to the dregs. in every contact with authority, with their employer, with the police, with the school board officer, in the hospital, or in the workhouse, they have equally the occasion to appreciate the light-hearted civility of the man in office; and as an experimentalist in several out-of-the-way provinces of life, i may say it has but to be felt to be appreciated. well, this golden age of which we are speaking will be the golden age of officials. in all our concerns it will be their beloved duty to meddle, with what tact, with what obliging words, analogy will aid us to imagine. it is likely these gentlemen will be periodically elected; they will therefore have their turn of being underneath, which does not always sweeten men's conditions. the laws they will have to administer will be no clearer than those we know to-day, and the body which is to regulate their administration no wiser than the british parliament. so that upon all hands we may look for a form of servitude most galling to the blood--servitude to many and changing masters, and for all the slights that accompany the rule of jack-in-office. and if the socialistic programme be carried out with the least fulness, we shall have lost a thing, in most respects not much to be regretted, but as a moderator of oppression, a thing nearly invaluable--the newspaper. for the independent journal is a creature of capital and competition; it stands and falls with millionaires and railway bonds and all the abuses and glories of to-day; and as soon as the state has fairly taken its bent to authority and philanthropy, and laid the least touch on private property, the days of the independent journal are numbered. state railways may be good things and so may state bakeries; but a state newspaper will never be a very trenchant critic of the state officials. but again, these officials would have no sinecure. crime would perhaps be less, for some of the motives of crime we may suppose would pass away. but if socialism were carried out with any fulness, there would be more contraventions. we see already new sins springing up like mustard--school board sins, factory sins, merchant shipping act sins--none of which i would be thought to except against in particular, but all of which, taken together, show us that socialism can be a hard master even in the beginning. if it go on to such heights as we hear proposed and lauded, if it come actually to its ideal of the ant-heap, ruled with iron justice, the number of new contraventions will be out of all proportion multiplied. take the case of work alone. man is an idle animal. he is at least as intelligent as the ant; but generations of advisers have in vain recommended him the ant's example. of those who are found truly indefatigable in business, some are misers; some are the practisers of delightful industries, like gardening; some are students, artists, inventors, or discoverers, men lured forward by successive hopes; and the rest are those who live by games of skill or hazard--financiers, billiard-players, gamblers, and the like. but in unloved toils, even under the prick of necessity, no man is continually sedulous. once eliminate the fear of starvation, once eliminate or bound the hope of riches, and we shall see plenty of skulking and malingering. society will then be something not wholly unlike a cotton plantation in the old days; with cheerful, careless, demoralised slaves, with elected overseers, and, instead of the planter, a chaotic popular assembly. if the blood be purposeful and the soil strong, such a plantation may succeed, and be, indeed, a busy ant-heap, with full granaries and long hours of leisure. but even then i think the whip will be in the overseer's hands, and not in vain. for, when it comes to be a question of each man doing his own share or the rest doing more, prettiness of sentiment will be forgotten. to dock the skulker's food is not enough; many will rather eat haws and starve on petty pilferings than put their shoulder to the wheel for one hour daily. for such as these, then, the whip will be in the overseer's hand; and his own sense of justice and the superintendence of a chaotic popular assembly will be the only checks on its employment. now, you may be an industrious man and a good citizen, and yet not love, nor yet be loved by, dr. fell the inspector. it is admitted by private soldiers that the disfavour of a sergeant is an evil not to be combated; offend the sergeant, they say, and in a brief while you will either be disgraced or have deserted. and the sergeant can no longer appeal to the lash. but if these things go on, we shall see, or our sons shall see, what it is to have offended an inspector. this for the unfortunate. but with the fortunate also, even those whom the inspector loves, it may not be altogether well. it is concluded that in such a state of society, supposing it to be financially sound, the level of comfort will be high. it does not follow: there are strange depths of idleness in man, a too-easily-got sufficiency, as in the case of the sago-eaters, often quenching the desire for all besides; and it is possible that the men of the richest ant-heaps may sink even into squalor. but suppose they do not; suppose our tricksy instrument of human nature, when we play upon it this new tune, should respond kindly; suppose no one to be damped and none exasperated by the new conditions, the whole enterprise to be financially sound--a vaulting supposition--and all the inhabitants to dwell together in a golden mean of comfort: we have yet to ask ourselves if this be what man desire, or if it be what man will even deign to accept for a continuance. it is certain that man loves to eat, it is not certain that he loves that only or that best. he is supposed to love comfort; it is not a love, at least, that he is faithful to. he is supposed to love happiness; it is my contention that he rather loves excitement. danger, enterprise, hope, the novel, the aleatory, are dearer to man than regular meals. he does not think so when he is hungry, but he thinks so again as soon as he is fed; and on the hypothesis of a successful ant-heap, he would never go hungry. it would be always after dinner in that society, as, in the land of the lotos-eaters, it was always afternoon; and food, which, when we have it not, seems all-important, drops in our esteem, as soon as we have it, to a mere pre-requisite of living. that for which man lives is not the same thing for all individuals nor in all ages; yet it has a common base; what he seeks and what he must have is that which will seize and hold his attention. regular meals and weather-proof lodgings will not do this long. play in its wide sense, as the artificial induction of sensation, including all games and all arts, will, indeed, go far to keep him conscious of himself; but in the end he wearies for realities. study or experiment, to some rare natures, is the unbroken pastime of a life. these are enviable natures; people shut in the house by sickness often bitterly envy them; but the commoner man cannot continue to exist upon such altitudes: his feet itch for physical adventure; his blood boils for physical dangers, pleasures, and triumphs; his fancy, the looker after new things, cannot continue to look for them in books and crucibles, but must seek them on the breathing stage of life. pinches, buffets, the glow of hope, the shock of disappointment, furious contention with obstacles: these are the true elixir for all vital spirits, these are what they seek alike in their romantic enterprises and their unromantic dissipations. when they are taken in some pinch closer than the common, they cry, "catch me here again!" and sure enough you catch them there again--perhaps before the week is out. it is as old as "robinson crusoe"; as old as man. our race has not been strained for all these ages through that sieve of dangers that we call natural selection, to sit down with patience in the tedium of safety; the voices of its fathers call it forth. already in our society as it exists, the bourgeois is too much cottoned about for any zest in living; he sits in his parlour out of reach of any danger, often out of reach of any vicissitude but one of health; and there he yawns. if the people in the next villa took pot-shots at him, he might be killed indeed, but so long as he escaped he would find his blood oxygenated and his views of the world brighter. if mr. mallock, on his way to the publishers, should have his skirts pinned to a wall by a javelin, it would not occur to him--at least for several hours--to ask if life were worth living; and if such peril were a daily matter, he would ask it never more; he would have other things to think about, he would be living indeed--not lying in a box with cotton, safe, but immeasurably dull. the aleatory, whether it touch life, or fortune, or renown--whether we explore africa or only toss for halfpence--that is what i conceive men to love best, and that is what we are seeking to exclude from men's existences. of all forms of the aleatory, that which most commonly attends our working men--the danger of misery from want of work--is the least inspiriting: it does not whip the blood, it does not evoke the glory of contest; it is tragic, but it is passive; and yet, in so far as it is aleatory, and a peril sensibly touching them, it does truly season the men's lives. of those who fail, i do not speak--despair should be sacred; but to those who even modestly succeed, the changes of their life bring interest: a job found, a shilling saved, a dainty earned, all these are wells of pleasure springing afresh for the successful poor; and it is not from these but from the villa-dweller that we hear complaints of the unworthiness of life. much, then, as the average of the proletariat would gain in this new state of life, they would also lose a certain something, which would not be missed in the beginning, but would be missed progressively and progressively lamented. soon there would be a looking back: there would be tales of the old world humming in young men's ears, tales of the tramp and the pedlar, and the hopeful emigrant. and in the stall-fed life of the successful ant-heap--with its regular meals, regular duties, regular pleasures, an even course of life, and fear excluded--the vicissitudes, delights, and havens of to-day will seem of epic breadth. this may seem a shallow observation; but the springs by which men are moved lie much on the surface. bread, i believe, has always been considered first, but the circus comes close upon its heels. bread we suppose to be given amply; the cry for circuses will be the louder, and if the life of our descendants be such as we have conceived, there are two beloved pleasures on which they will be likely to fall back: the pleasures of intrigue and of sedition. in all this i have supposed the ant-heap to be financially sound. i am no economist, only a writer of fiction; but even as such, i know one thing that bears on the economic question--i know the imperfection of man's faculty for business. the anarchists, who count some rugged elements of common-sense among what seem to me their tragic errors, have said upon this matter all that i could wish to say, and condemned beforehand great economical polities. so far it is obvious that they are right; they may be right also in predicting a period of communal independence, and they may even be right in thinking that desirable. but the rise of communes is none the less the end of economic equality, just when we were told it was beginning. communes will not be all equal in extent, nor in quality of soil, nor in growth of population; nor will the surplus produce of all be equally marketable. it will be the old story of competing interests, only with a new unit; and, as it appears to me, a new, inevitable danger. for the merchant and the manufacturer, in this new world, will be a sovereign commune; it is a sovereign power that will see its crops undersold, and its manufactures worsted in the market. and all the more dangerous that the sovereign power should be small. great powers are slow to stir; national affronts, even with the aid of newspapers, filter slowly into popular consciousness; national losses are so unequally shared, that one part of the population will be counting its gains while another sits by a cold hearth. but in the sovereign commune all will be centralised and sensitive. when jealousy springs up, when (let us say) the commune of poole has overreached the commune of dorchester, irritation will run like quicksilver throughout the body politic; each man in dorchester will have to suffer directly in his diet and his dress; even the secretary, who drafts the official correspondence, will sit down to his task embittered, as a man who has dined ill and may expect to dine worse; and thus a business difference between communes will take on much the same colour as a dispute between diggers in the lawless west, and will lead as directly to the arbitrament of blows. so that the establishment of the communal system will not only reintroduce all the injustices and heart-burnings of economic inequality, but will, in all human likelihood, inaugurate a world of hedgerow warfare. dorchester will march on poole, sherborne on dorchester, wimborne on both; the waggons will be fired on as they follow the highway, the trains wrecked on the lines, the ploughman will go armed into the field of tillage; and if we have not a return of ballad literature, the local press at least will celebrate in a high vein the victory of cerne abbas or the reverse of toller porcorum. at least this will not be dull; when i was younger, i could have welcomed such a world with relief; but it is the new-old with a vengeance, and irresistibly suggests the growth of military powers and the foundation of new empires. vii letter to a young gentleman who proposes to embrace the career of art with the agreeable frankness of youth, you address me on a point of some practical importance to yourself and (it is even conceivable) of some gravity to the world: should you or should you not become an artist? it is one which you must decide entirely for yourself; all that i can do is to bring under your notice some of the materials of that decision; and i will begin, as i shall probably conclude also, by assuring you that all depends on the vocation. to know what you like is the beginning of wisdom and of old age. youth is wholly experimental. the essence and charm of that unquiet and delightful epoch is ignorance of self as well as ignorance of life. these two unknowns the young man brings together again and again, now in the airiest touch, now with a bitter hug; now with exquisite pleasure, now with cutting pain; but never with indifference, to which he is a total stranger, and never with that near kinsman of indifference, contentment. if he be a youth of dainty senses or a brain easily heated, the interest of this series of experiments grows upon him out of all proportion to the pleasure he receives. it is not beauty that he loves, nor pleasure that he seeks, though he may think so; his design and his sufficient reward is to verify his own existence and taste the variety of human fate. to him, before the razor-edge of curiosity is dulled, all that is not actual living and the hot chase of experience wears a face of a disgusting dryness difficult to recall in later days; or if there be any exception--and here destiny steps in--it is in those moments when, wearied or surfeited of the primary activity of the senses, he calls up before memory the image of transacted pains and pleasures. thus it is that such an one shies from all cut-and-dry professions, and inclines insensibly toward that career of art which consists only in the tasting and recording of experience. this, which is not so much a vocation for art as an impatience of all other honest trades, frequently exists alone; and, so existing, it will pass gently away in the course of years. emphatically, it is not to be regarded; it is not a vocation, but a temptation; and when your father the other day so fiercely and (in my view) so properly discouraged your ambition, he was recalling not improbably some similar passage in his own experience. for the temptation is perhaps nearly as common as the vocation is rare. but again we have vocations which are imperfect; we have men whose minds are bound up, not so much in any art, as in the general _ars artium_ and common base of all creative work; who will now dip into painting, and now study counterpoint, and anon will be inditing a sonnet: all these with equal interest, all often with genuine knowledge. and of this temper, when it stands alone, i find it difficult to speak; but i should counsel such an one to take to letters, for in literature (which drags with so wide a net) all his information may be found some day useful, and if he should go on as he has begun, and turn at last into the critic, he will have learned to use the necessary tools. lastly we come to those vocations which are at once decisive and precise; to the men who are born with the love of pigments, the passion of drawing, the gift of music, or the impulse to create with words, just as other and perhaps the same men are born with the love of hunting, or the sea, or horses, or the turning-lathe. these are predestined; if a man love the labour of any trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him. he may have the general vocation too: he may have a taste for all the arts, and i think he often has; but the mark of his calling is this laborious partiality for one, this inextinguishable zest in its technical successes, and (perhaps above all) a certain candour of mind, to take his very trifling enterprise with a gravity that would befit the cares of empire, and to think the smallest improvement worth accomplishing at any expense of time and industry. the book, the statue, the sonata, must be gone upon with the unreasoning good faith and the unflagging spirit of children at their play. _is it worth doing?_--when it shall have occurred to any artist to ask himself that question, it is implicitly answered in the negative. it does not occur to the child as he plays at being a pirate on the dining-room sofa, nor to the hunter as he pursues his quarry; and the candour of the one and the ardour of the other should be united in the bosom of the artist. if you recognise in yourself some such decisive taste, there is no room for hesitation: follow your bent. and observe (lest i should too much discourage you) that the disposition does not usually burn so brightly at the first, or rather not so constantly. habit and practice sharpen gifts; the necessity of toil grows less disgusting, grows even welcome, in the course of years; a small taste (if it be only genuine) waxes with indulgence into an exclusive passion. enough, just now, if you can look back over a fair interval, and see that your chosen art has a little more than held its own among the thronging interests of youth. time will do the rest, if devotion help it; and soon your every thought will be engrossed in that beloved occupation. but even with devotion, you may remind me, even with unfaltering and delighted industry, many thousand artists spend their lives, if the result be regarded, utterly in vain: a thousand artists, and never one work of art. but the vast mass of mankind are incapable of doing anything reasonably well, art among the rest. the worthless artist would not improbably have been a quite incompetent baker. and the artist, even if he does not amuse the public, amuses himself; so that there will always be one man the happier for his vigils. this is the practical side of art: its inexpugnable fortress for the true practitioner. the direct returns--the wages of the trade--are small, but the indirect--the wages of the life--are incalculably great. no other business offers a man his daily bread upon such joyful terms. the soldier and the explorer have moments of a worthier excitement, but they are purchased by cruel hardships and periods of tedium that beggar language. in the life of the artist there need be no hour without its pleasure. i take the author, with whose career i am best acquainted; and it is true he works in a rebellious material, and that the act of writing is cramped and trying both to the eyes and the temper; but remark him in his study when matter crowds upon him and words are not wanting--in what a continual series of small successes time flows by; with what a sense of power, as of one moving mountains, he marshals his petty characters; with what pleasures, both of the ear and eye, he sees his airy structure growing on the page; and how he labours in a craft to which the whole material of his life is tributary, and which opens a door to all his tastes, his loves, his hatreds, and his convictions, so that what he writes is only what he longed to utter. he may have enjoyed many things in this big, tragic playground of the world; but what shall he have enjoyed more fully than a morning of successful work? suppose it ill-paid: the wonder is it should be paid at all. other men pay, and pay dearly, for pleasures less desirable. nor will the practice of art afford you pleasure only; it affords besides an admirable training. for the artist works entirely upon honour. the public knows little or nothing of those merits in the quest of which you are condemned to spend the bulk of your endeavours. merits of design, the merit of first-hand energy, the merit of a certain cheap accomplishment which a man of the artistic temper easily acquires--these they can recognise, and these they value. but to those more exquisite refinements of proficiency and finish, which the artist so ardently desires and so keenly feels, for which (in the vigorous words of balzac) he must toil "like a miner buried in a landslip," for which, day after day, he recasts and revises and rejects--the gross mass of the public must be ever blind. to those lost pains, suppose you attain the highest pitch of merit, posterity may possibly do justice; suppose, as is so probable, you fail by even a hair's breadth of the highest, rest certain they shall never be observed. under the shadow of this cold thought, alone in his studio, the artist must preserve from day to day his constancy to the ideal. it is this which makes his life noble; it is by this that the practice of his craft strengthens and matures his character; it is for this that even the serious countenance of the great emperor was turned approvingly (if only for a moment) on the followers of apollo, and that sternly gentle voice bade the artist cherish his art. and here there fall two warnings to be made. first, if you are to continue to be a law to yourself, you must beware of the first signs of laziness. this idealism in honesty can only be supported by perpetual effort; the standard is easily lowered, the artist who says "_it will do_," is on the downward path; three or four pot-boilers are enough at times (above all at wrong times) to falsify a talent, and by the practice of journalism a man runs the risk of becoming wedded to cheap finish. this is the danger on the one side; there is not less upon the other. the consciousness of how much the artist is (and must be) a law to himself debauches the small heads. perceiving recondite merits very hard to attain, making or swallowing artistic formulã¦, or perhaps falling in love with some particular proficiency of his own, many artists forget the end of all art: to please. it is doubtless tempting to exclaim against the ignorant bourgeois; yet it should not be forgotten, it is he who is to pay us, and that (surely on the face of it) for services that he shall desire to have performed. here also, if properly considered, there is a question of transcendental honesty. to give the public what they do not want, and yet expect to be supported: we have there a strange pretension, and yet not uncommon, above all with painters. the first duty in this world is for a man to pay his way; when that is quite accomplished, he may plunge into what eccentricity he likes; but emphatically not till then. till then, he must pay assiduous court to the bourgeois who carries the purse. and if in the course of these capitulations he shall falsify his talent, it can never have been a strong one, and he will have preserved a better thing than talent--character. or if he be of a mind so independent that he cannot stoop to this necessity, one course is yet open: he can desist from art, and follow some more manly way of life. i speak of a more manly way of life; it is a point on which i must be frank. to live by a pleasure is not a high calling; it involves patronage, however veiled; it numbers the artist, however ambitious, along with dancing girls and billiard-markers. the french have a romantic evasion for one employment, and call its practitioners the daughters of joy. the artist is of the same family, he is of the sons of joy, chose his trade to please himself, gains his livelihood by pleasing others, and has parted with something of the sterner dignity of man. journals but a little while ago declaimed against the tennyson peerage; and this son of joy was blamed for condescension when he followed the example of lord lawrence and lord cairns and lord clyde. the poet was more happily inspired; with a better modesty he accepted the honour; and anonymous journalists have not yet (if i am to believe them) recovered the vicarious disgrace to their profession. when it comes to their turn, these gentlemen can do themselves more justice; and i shall be glad to think of it; for to my barbarian eyesight, even lord tennyson looks somewhat out of place in that assembly. there should be no honours for the artist; he has already, in the practice of his art, more than his share of the rewards of life; the honours are pre-empted for other trades, less agreeable and perhaps more useful. but the devil in these trades of pleasing is to fail to please. in ordinary occupations, a man offers to do a certain thing or to produce a certain article with a merely conventional accomplishment, a design in which (we may almost say) it is difficult to fail. but the artist steps forth out of the crowd and proposes to delight: an impudent design, in which it is impossible to fail without odious circumstances. the poor daughter of joy, carrying her smiles and finery quite unregarded through the crowd, makes a figure which it is impossible to recall without a wounding pity. she is the type of the unsuccessful artist. the actor, the dancer, and the singer must appear like her in person, and drain publicly the cup of failure. but though the rest of us escape this crowning bitterness of the pillory, we all court in essence the same humiliation. we all profess to be able to delight. and how few of us are! we all pledge ourselves to be able to continue to delight. and the day will come to each, and even to the most admired, when the ardour shall have declined and the cunning shall be lost, and he shall sit by his deserted booth ashamed. then shall he see himself condemned to do work for which he blushes to take payment. then (as if his lot were not already cruel) he must lie exposed to the gibes of the wreckers of the press, who earn a little bitter bread by the condemnation of trash which they have not read, and the praise of excellence which they cannot understand. and observe that this seems almost the necessary end at least of writers. "les blancs et les bleus" (for instance) is of an order of merit very different from "le vicomte de bragelonne"; and if any gentleman can bear to spy upon the nakedness of "castle dangerous," his name i think is ham: let it be enough for the rest of us to read of it (not without tears) in the pages of lockhart. thus in old age, when occupation and comfort are most needful, the writer must lay aside at once his pastime and his breadwinner. the painter indeed, if he succeed at all in engaging the attention of the public, gains great sums and can stand to his easel until a great age without dishonourable failure. the writer has the double misfortune to be ill-paid while he can work, and to be incapable of working when he is old. it is thus a way of life which conducts directly to a false position. for the writer (in spite of notorious examples to the contrary) must look to be ill-paid. tennyson and montã©pin make handsome livelihoods; but we cannot all hope to be tennyson, and we do not all perhaps desire to be montã©pin. if you adopt an art to be your trade, weed your mind at the outset of all desire of money. what you may decently expect, if you have some talent and much industry, is such an income as a clerk will earn with a tenth or perhaps a twentieth of your nervous output. nor have you the right to look for more; in the wages of the life, not in the wages of the trade, lies your reward; the work is here the wages. it will be seen i have little sympathy with the common lamentations of the artist class. perhaps they do not remember the hire of the field labourer; or do they think no parallel will lie? perhaps they have never observed what is the retiring allowance of a field officer; or do they suppose their contributions to the arts of pleasing more important than the services of a colonel? perhaps they forget on how little millet was content to live; or do they think, because they have less genius, they stand excused from the display of equal virtues? but upon one point there should be no dubiety: if a man be not frugal, he has no business in the arts. if he be not frugal, he steers directly for that last tragic scene of _le vieux saltimbanque_; if he be not frugal, he will find it hard to continue to be honest. some day, when the butcher is knocking at the door, he may be tempted, he may be obliged, to turn out and sell a slovenly piece of work. if the obligation shall have arisen through no wantonness of his own, he is even to be commended; for words cannot describe how far more necessary it is that a man should support his family, than that he should attain to--or preserve--distinction in the arts. but if the pressure comes through his own fault, he has stolen, and stolen under trust, and stolen (which is the worst of all) in such a way that no law can reach him. and now you may perhaps ask me whether--if the dã©butant artist is to have no thought of money, and if (as is implied) he is to expect no honours from the state--he may not at least look forward to the delights of popularity? praise, you will tell me, is a savoury dish. and in so far as you may mean the countenance of other artists, you would put your finger on one of the most essential and enduring pleasures of the career of art. but in so far as you should have an eye to the commendations of the public or the notice of the newspapers, be sure you would but be cherishing a dream. it is true that in certain esoteric journals the author (for instance) is duly criticised, and that he is often praised a great deal more than he deserves, sometimes for qualities which he prided himself on eschewing, and sometimes by ladies and gentlemen who have denied themselves the privilege of reading his work. but if a man be sensitive to this wild praise, we must suppose him equally alive to that which often accompanies and always follows it--wild ridicule. a man may have done well for years, and then he may fail; he will hear of his failure. or he may have done well for years, and still do well, but the critics may have tired of praising him, or there may have sprung up some new idol of the instant, some "dust a little gilt," to whom they now prefer to offer sacrifice. here is the obverse and the reverse of that empty and ugly thing called popularity. will any man suppose it worth the gaining? viii pulvis et umbra we look for some reward of our endeavours and are disappointed; not success, not happiness, not even peace of conscience, crowns our ineffectual efforts to do well. our frailties are invincible, our virtues barren; the battle goes sore against us to the going down of the sun. the canting moralist tells us of right and wrong; and we look abroad, even on the face of our small earth, and find them change with every climate, and no country where some action is not honoured for a virtue and none where it is not branded for a vice; and we look in our experience, and find no vital congruity in the wisest rules, but at the best a municipal fitness. it is not strange if we are tempted to despair of good. we ask too much. our religions and moralities have been trimmed to flatter us, till they are all emasculate and sentimentalised, and only please and weaken. truth is of a rougher strain. in the harsh face of life, faith can read a bracing gospel. the human race is a thing more ancient than the ten commandments; and the bones and revolutions of the kosmos, in whose joints we are but moss and fungus, more ancient still. i of the kosmos in the last resort, science reports many doubtful things, and all of them appalling. there seems no substance to this solid globe on which we stamp: nothing but symbols and ratios. symbols and ratios carry us and bring us forth and beat us down; gravity, that swings the incommensurable suns and worlds through space, is but a figment varying inversely as the squares of distances; and the suns and worlds themselves, imponderable figures of abstraction, nh_{3} and h_{2}o. consideration dares not dwell upon this view; that way madness lies; science carries us into zones of speculation, where there is no habitable city for the mind of man. but take the kosmos with a grosser faith, as our senses give it us. we behold space sown with rotatory islands, suns and worlds and the shards and wrecks of systems: some, like the sun, still blazing; some rotting, like the earth; others, like the moon, stable in desolation. all of these we take to be made of something we call matter: a thing which no analysis can help us to conceive; to whose incredible properties no familiarity can reconcile our minds. this stuff, when not purified by the lustration of fire, rots uncleanly into something we call life; seized through all its atoms with a pediculous malady; swelling in tumours that become independent, sometimes even (by an abhorrent prodigy) locomotory; one splitting into millions, millions cohering into one, as the malady proceeds through varying stages. this vital putrescence of the dust, used as we are to it, yet strikes us with occasional disgust, and the profusion of worms in a piece of ancient turf, or the air of a marsh darkened with insects, will sometimes check our breathing so that we aspire for cleaner places. but none is clean: the moving sand is infected with lice; the pure spring, where it bursts out of the mountain, is a mere issue of worms; even in the hard rock the crystal is forming. in two main shapes this eruption covers the countenance of the earth: the animal and the vegetable: one in some degree the inversion of the other: the second rooted to the spot; the first coming detached out of its natal mud, and scurrying abroad with the myriad feet of insects or towering into the heavens on the wings of birds: a thing so inconceivable that, if it be well considered, the heart stops. to what passes with the anchored vermin, we have little clue: doubtless they have their joys and sorrows, their delights and killing agonies: it appears not how. but of the locomotory, to which we ourselves belong, we can tell more. these share with us a thousand miracles: the miracles of sight, of hearing, of the projection of sound, things that bridge space; the miracles of memory and reason, by which the present is conceived, and, when it is gone, its image kept living in the brains of man and brute; the miracle of reproduction, with its imperious desires and staggering consequences. and to put the last touch upon this mountain mass of the revolting and the inconceivable, all these prey upon each other, lives tearing other lives in pieces, cramming them inside themselves, and by that summary process, growing fat: the vegetarian, the whale, perhaps the tree, not less than the lion of the desert; for the vegetarian is only the eater of the dumb. meanwhile our rotary island loaded with predatory life, and more drenched with blood, both animal and vegetable, than ever mutinied ship, scuds through space with unimaginable speed, and turns alternate cheeks to the reverberation of a blazing world, ninety million miles away. ii what a monstrous spectre is this man, the disease of the agglutinated dust, lifting alternate feet or lying drugged with slumber; killing, feeding, growing, bringing forth small copies of himself; grown upon with hair like grass, fitted with eyes that move and glitter in his face; a thing to set children screaming;--and yet looked at nearlier, known as his fellows know him, how surprising are his attributes! poor soul, here for so little, cast among so many hardships, filled with desires so incommensurate and so inconsistent, savagely surrounded, savagely descended, irremediably condemned to prey upon his fellow lives: who should have blamed him had he been of a piece with his destiny and a being merely barbarous? and we look and behold him instead filled with imperfect virtues: infinitely childish, often admirably valiant, often touchingly kind; sitting down, amidst his momentary life, to debate of right and wrong and the attributes of the deity; rising up to do battle for an egg or die for an idea; singling out his friends and his mate with cordial affection; bringing forth in pain, rearing with long-suffering solicitude, his young. to touch the heart of his mystery, we find in him one thought, strange to the point of lunacy: the thought of duty; the thought of something owing to himself, to his neighbour, to his god: an ideal of decency, to which he would rise if it were possible; a limit of shame, below which, if it be possible, he will not stoop. the design in most men is one of conformity; here and there, in picked natures, it transcends itself and soars on the other side, arming martyrs with independence; but in all, in their degrees, it is a bosom thought:--not in man alone, for we trace it in dogs and cats whom we know fairly well, and doubtless some similar point of honour sways the elephant, the oyster, and the louse, of whom we know so little:--but in man, at least, it sways with so complete an empire that merely selfish things come second, even with the selfish: that appetites are starved, fears are conquered, pains supported; that almost the dullest shrinks from the reproof of a glance, although it were a child's; and all but the most cowardly stand amid the risks of war; and the more noble, having strongly conceived an act as due to their ideal, affront and embrace death. strange enough if, with their singular origin and perverted practice, they think they are to be rewarded in some future life: stranger still, if they are persuaded of the contrary, and think this blow, which they solicit, will strike them senseless for eternity. i shall be reminded what a tragedy of misconception and misconduct man at large presents: of organised injustice, cowardly violence and treacherous crime; and of the damning imperfections of the best. they cannot be too darkly drawn. man is indeed marked for failure in his efforts to do right. but where the best consistently miscarry, how tenfold more remarkable that all should continue to strive: and surely we should find it both touching and inspiriting, that in a field from which success is banished, our race should not cease to labour. if the first view of this creature, stalking in his rotatory isle, be a thing to shake the courage of the stoutest, on this nearer sight he startles us with an admiring wonder. it matters not where we look, under what climate we observe him, in what stage of society, in what depth of ignorance, burthened with what erroneous morality; by camp-fires in assiniboia, the snow powdering his shoulders, the wind plucking his blanket, as he sits, passing the ceremonial calumet and uttering his grave opinions like a roman senator; in ships at sea, a man inured to hardship and vile pleasures, his brightest hope a fiddle in a tavern and a bedizened trull who sells herself to rob him, and he, for all that, simple, innocent, cheerful, kindly like a child, constant to toil, brave to drown, for others; in the slums of cities, moving among indifferent millions to mechanical employments, without hope of change in the future, with scarce a pleasure in the present, and yet true to his virtues, honest up to his lights, kind to his neighbours, tempted perhaps in vain by the bright gin-palace, perhaps long-suffering with the drunken wife that ruins him; in india (a woman this time) kneeling with broken cries and streaming tears, as she drowns her child in the sacred river; in the brothel, the discard of society, living mainly on strong drink, fed with affronts, a fool, a thief, the comrade of thieves, and even here keeping the point of honour and the touch of pity, often repaying the world's scorn with service, often standing firm upon a scruple, and at a certain cost, rejecting riches:--everywhere some virtue cherished or affected, everywhere some decency of thought and carriage, everywhere the ensign of man's ineffectual goodness:--ah! if i could show you this! if i could show you these men and women, all the world over, in every stage of history, under every abuse of error, under every circumstance of failure, without hope, without help, without thanks, still obscurely fighting the lost fight of virtue, still clinging, in the brothel or on the scaffold, to some rag of honour, the poor jewel of their souls! they may seek to escape, and yet they cannot; it is not alone their privilege and glory, but their doom; they are condemned to some nobility; all their lives long, the desire of good is at their heels, the implacable hunter. of all earth's meteors, here at least is the most strange and consoling: that this ennobled lemur, this hair-crowned bubble of the dust, this inheritor of a few years and sorrows, should yet deny himself his rare delights, and add to his frequent pains, and live for an ideal, however misconceived. nor can we stop with man. a new doctrine, received with screams a little while ago by canting moralists, and still not properly worked into the body of our thoughts, lights us a step farther into the heart of this rough but noble universe. for nowadays the pride of man denies in vain his kinship with the original dust. he stands no longer like a thing apart. close at his heels we see the dog, prince of another genus: and in him, too, we see dumbly testified the same cultus of an unattainable ideal, the same constancy in failure. does it stop with the dog? we look at our feet where the ground is blackened with the swarming ant; a creature so small, so far from us in the hierarchy of brutes, that we can scarce trace and scarce comprehend his doings; and here also, in his ordered polities and rigorous justice, we see confessed the law of duty and the fact of individual sin. does it stop, then, with the ant? rather this desire of welldoing and this doom of frailty run through all the grades of life: rather is this earth, from the frosty top of everest to the next margin of the internal fire, one stage of ineffectual virtues and one temple of pious tears and perseverance. the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together. it is the common and the god-like law of life. the browsers, the biters, the barkers, the hairy coats of field and forest, the squirrel in the oak, the thousand-footed creeper in the dust, as they share with us the gift of life, share with us the love of an ideal: strive like us--like us are tempted to grow weary of the struggle--to do well; like us receive at times unmerited refreshment, visitings of support, returns of courage; and are condemned like us to be crucified between that double law of the members and the will. are they like us, i wonder, in the timid hope of some reward, some sugar with the drug? do they, too, stand aghast at unrewarded virtues, at the sufferings of those whom, in our partiality, we take to be just, and the prosperity of such as, in our blindness, we call wicked? it may be, and yet god knows what they should look for. even while they look, even while they repent, the foot of man treads them by thousands in the dust, the yelping hounds burst upon their trail, the bullet speeds, the knives are heating in the den of the vivisectionist; or the dew falls, and the generation of a day is blotted out. for these are creatures, compared with whom our weakness is strength, our ignorance wisdom, our brief span eternity. and as we dwell, we living things, in our isle of terror and under the imminent hand of death, god forbid it should be man the erected, the reasoner, the wise in his own eyes--god forbid it should be man that wearies in welldoing, that despairs of unrewarded effort, or utters the language of complaint. let it be enough for faith, that the whole creation groans in mortal frailty, strives with unconquerable constancy: surely not all in vain. ix a christmas sermon by the time this paper appears, i shall have been talking for twelve months;[30] and it is thought i should take my leave in a formal and seasonable manner. valedictory eloquence is rare, and death-bed sayings have not often hit the mark of the occasion. charles second, wit and sceptic, a man whose life had been one long lesson in human incredulity, an easy-going comrade, a manoeuvring king--remembered and embodied all his wit and scepticism along with more than his usual good humour in the famous "i am afraid, gentlemen, i am an unconscionable time a-dying." i an unconscionable time a-dying--there is the picture ("i am afraid, gentlemen,") of your life and of mine. the sands run out, and the hours are "numbered and imputed," and the days go by; and when the last of these finds us, we have been a long time dying, and what else? the very length is something, if we reach that hour of separation undishonoured; and to have lived at all is doubtless (in the soldierly expression) to have served. there is a tale in tacitus of how the veterans mutinied in the german wilderness; of how they mobbed germanicus, clamouring to go home; and of how, seizing their general's hand, these old, war-worn exiles passed his finger along their toothless gums. _sunt lacrymã¦ rerum_: this was the most eloquent of the songs of simeon. and when a man has lived to a fair age, he bears his marks of service. he may have never been remarked upon the breach at the head of the army; at least he shall have lost his teeth on the camp bread. the idealism of serious people in this age of ours is of a noble character. it never seems to them that they have served enough; they have a fine impatience of their virtues. it were perhaps more modest to be singly thankful that we are no worse. it is not only our enemies, those desperate characters--it is we ourselves who know not what we do;--thence springs the glimmering hope that perhaps we do better than we think: that to scramble through this random business with hands reasonably clean, to have played the part of a man or woman with some reasonable fulness, to have often resisted the diabolic, and at the end to be still resisting it, is for the poor human soldier to have done right well. to ask to see some fruit of our endeavour is but a transcendental way of serving for reward; and what we take to be contempt of self is only greed of hire. and again if we require so much of ourselves, shall we not require much of others? if we do not genially judge our own deficiencies, is it not to be feared we shall be even stern to the trespasses of others? and he who (looking back upon his own life) can see no more than that he has been unconscionably long a-dying, will he not be tempted to think his neighbour unconscionably long of getting hanged? it is probable that nearly all who think of conduct at all, think of it too much; it is certain we all think too much of sin. we are not damned for doing wrong, but for not doing right; christ would never hear of negative morality; _thou shall_ was ever his word, with which he superseded _thou shall not_. to make our idea of morality centre on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto. if a thing is wrong for us, we should not dwell upon the thought of it; or we shall soon dwell upon it with inverted pleasure. if we cannot drive it from our minds--one thing of two: either our creed is in the wrong and we must more indulgently remodel it; or else, if our morality be in the right, we are criminal lunatics and should place our persons in restraint. a mark of such unwholesomely divided minds is the passion for interference with others: the fox without the tail was of this breed, but had (if his biographer is to be trusted) a certain antique civility now out of date. a man may have a flaw, a weakness, that unfits him for the duties of life, that spoils his temper, that threatens his integrity, or that betrays him into cruelty. it has to be conquered; but it must never be suffered to engross his thoughts. the true duties lie all upon the further side, and must be attended to with a whole mind so soon as this preliminary clearing of the decks has been effected. in order that he may be kind and honest, it may be needful he should become a total abstainer; let him become so then, and the next day let him forget the circumstance. trying to be kind and honest will require all his thoughts; a mortified appetite is never a wise companion; in so far as he has had to mortify an appetite, he will still be the worse man; and of such an one a great deal of cheerfulness will be required in judging life, and a great deal of humility in judging others. it may be argued again that dissatisfaction with our life's endeavour springs in some degree from dulness. we require higher tasks, because we do not recognise the height of those we have. trying to be kind and honest seems an affair too simple and too inconsequential for gentlemen of our heroic mould; we had rather set ourselves to something bold, arduous, and conclusive; we had rather found a schism or suppress a heresy, cut off a hand or mortify an appetite. but the task before us, which is to co-endure with our existence, is rather one of microscopic fineness, and the heroism required is that of patience. there is no cutting of the gordian knots of life; each must be smilingly unravelled. to be honest, to be kind--to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation--above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself--here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy. he has an ambitious soul who would ask more; he has a hopeful spirit who should look in such an enterprise to be successful. there is indeed one element in human destiny that not blindness itself can controvert: whatever else we are intended to do, we are not intended to succeed; failure is the fate allotted. it is so in every art and study; it is so above all in the continent art of living well. here is a pleasant thought for the year's end or for the end of life: only self-deception will be satisfied, and there need be no despair for the despairer. ii but christmas is not only the mile-mark of another year, moving us to thoughts of self-examination: it is a season, from all its associations, whether domestic or religious, suggesting thoughts of joy. a man dissatisfied with his endeavours is a man tempted to sadness. and in the midst of the winter, when his life runs lowest and he is reminded of the empty chairs of his beloved, it is well he should be condemned to this fashion of the smiling face. noble disappointment, noble self-denial, are not to be admired, not even to be pardoned, if they bring bitterness. it is one thing to enter the kingdom of heaven maim; another to maim yourself and stay without. and the kingdom of heaven is of the childlike, of those who are easy to please, who love and who give pleasure. mighty men of their hands, the smiters and the builders and the judges, have lived long and done sternly and yet preserved this lovely character; and among our carpet interests and twopenny concerns, the shame were indelible if _we_ should lose it. gentleness and cheerfulness, these come before all morality; they are the perfect duties. and it is the trouble with moral men that they have neither one nor other. it was the moral man, the pharisee, whom christ could not away with. if your morals make you dreary, depend upon it they are wrong. i do not say "give them up," for they may be all you have; but conceal them like a vice, lest they should spoil the lives of better and simpler people. a strange temptation attends upon man: to keep his eye on pleasures, even when he will not share in them; to aim all his morals against them. this very year a lady (singular iconoclast!) proclaimed a crusade against dolls; and the racy sermon against lust is a feature of the age. i venture to call such moralists insincere. at any excess or perversion of a natural appetite, their lyre sounds of itself with relishing denunciations; but for all displays of the truly diabolic--envy, malice, the mean lie, the mean silence, the calumnious truth, the backbiter, the petty tyrant, the peevish poisoner of family life--their standard is quite different. these are wrong, they will admit, yet somehow not so wrong; there is no zeal in their assault on them, no secret element of gusto warms up the sermon; it is for things not wrong in themselves that they reserve the choicest of their indignation. a man may naturally disclaim all moral kinship with the reverend mr. zola or the hobgoblin old lady of the dolls; for these are gross and naked instances. and yet in each of us some similar element resides. the sight of a pleasure in which we cannot or else will not share moves us to a particular impatience. it may be because we are envious, or because we are sad, or because we dislike noise and romping--being so refined, or because--being so philosophic--we have an overweighing sense of life's gravity: at least, as we go on in years, we are all tempted to frown upon our neighbour's pleasures. people are nowadays so fond of resisting temptations; here is one to be resisted. they are fond of self-denial; here is a propensity that cannot be too peremptorily denied. there is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbours good. one person i have to make good: myself. but my duty to my neighbour is much more nearly expressed by saying that i have to make him happy--if i may. iii happiness and goodness, according to canting moralists, stand in the relation of effect and cause. there was never anything less proved or less probable: our happiness is never in our own hands; we inherit our constitution; we stand buffet among friend and enemies; we may be so built as to feel a sneer or an aspersion with unusual keenness, and so circumstanced as to be unusually exposed to them; we may have nerves very sensitive to pain, and be afflicted with a disease very painful. virtue will not help us, and it is not meant to help us. it is not even its own reward, except for the self-centred and--i had almost said--the unamiable. no man can pacify his conscience; if quiet be what he want, he shall do better to let that organ perish from disuse. and to avoid the penalties of the law, and the minor _capitis diminutio_ of social ostracism, is an affair of wisdom--of cunning, if you will--and not of virtue. in his own life, then, a man is not to expect happiness, only to profit by it gladly when it shall arise; he is on duty here; he knows not how or why, and does not need to know; he knows not for what hire, and must not ask. somehow or other, though he does not know what goodness is, he must try to be good; somehow or other, though he cannot tell what will do it, he must try to give happiness to others. and no doubt there comes in here a frequent clash of duties. how far is he to make his neighbour happy? how far must he respect that smiling face, so easy to cloud, so hard to brighten again? and how far, on the other side, is he bound to be his brother's keeper and the prophet of his own morality? how far must he resent evil? the difficulty is that we have little guidance; christ's sayings on the point being hard to reconcile with each other, and (the most of them) hard to accept. but the truth of his teaching would seem to be this: in our own person and fortune, we should be ready to accept and to pardon all; it is _our_ cheek we are to turn, _our_ coat that we are to give away to the man who has taken _our_ cloak. but when another's face is buffeted, perhaps a little of the lion will become us best. that we are to suffer others to be injured, and stand by, is not conceivable, and surely not desirable. revenge, says bacon, is a kind of wild justice; its judgments at least are delivered by an insane judge; and in our own quarrel we can see nothing truly and do nothing wisely. but in the quarrel of our neighbour, let us be more bold. one person's happiness is as sacred as another's; when we cannot defend both, let us defend one with a stout heart. it is only in so far as we are doing this, that we have any right to interfere: the defence of b is our only ground of action against a. a has as good a right to go to the devil as we to go to glory; and neither knows what he does. the truth is that all these interventions and denunciations and militant mongerings of moral half-truths, though they be sometimes needful, though they are often enjoyable, do yet belong to an inferior grade of duties. ill-temper and envy and revenge find here an arsenal of pious disguises; this is the playground of inverted lusts. with a little more patience and a little less temper, a gentler and wiser method might be found in almost every case; and the knot that we cut by some fine heady quarrel-scene in private life, or, in public affairs, by some denunciatory act against what we are pleased to call our neighbour's vices, might yet have been unwoven by the hand of sympathy. iv to look back upon the past year, and see how little we have striven, and to what small purpose; and how often we have been cowardly and hung back, or temerarious and rushed unwisely in; and how every day and all day long we have transgressed the law of kindness;--it may seem a paradox, but in the bitterness of these discoveries a certain consolation resides. life is not designed to minister to a man's vanity. he goes upon his long business most of the time with a hanging head, and all the time like a blind child. full of rewards and pleasures as it is--so that to see the day break or the moon rise, or to meet a friend, or to hear the dinner-call when he is hungry, fills him with surprising joys--this world is yet for him no abiding city. friendships fall through, health fails, weariness assails him; year after year he must thumb the hardly varying record of his own weakness and folly. it is a friendly process of detachment. when the time comes that he should go, there need be few illusions left about himself. _here lies one who meant well, tried a little, failed much:_--surely that may be his epitaph, of which he need not be ashamed. nor will he complain at the summons which calls a defeated soldier from the field: defeated, ay, if he were paul or marcus aurelius!--but if there is still one inch of fight in his old spirit, undishonoured. the faith which sustained him in his lifelong blindness and lifelong disappointment will scarce even be required in this last formality of laying down his arms. give him a march with his old bones; there, out of the glorious sun-coloured earth, out of the day and the dust and the ecstasy--there goes another faithful failure! from a recent book of verse, where there is more than one such beautiful and manly poem, i take this memorial piece: it says better than i can, what i love to think; let it be our parting word:- "a late lark twitters from the quiet skies; and from the west, where the sun, his day's work ended, lingers as in content, there falls on the old, grey city an influence luminous and serene, a shining peace. "the smoke ascends in a rosy-and-golden haze. the spires shine, and are changed. in the valley shadows rise. the lark sings on. the sun, closing his benediction, sinks, and the darkening air thrills with a sense of the triumphing night- night, with her train of stars and her great gift of sleep. "so be my passing! my task accomplished and the long day done, my wages taken, and in my heart some late lark singing, let me be gathered to the quiet west, the sundown splendid and serene, death."[31] footnotes: [30] _i.e._ in the pages of _scribner's magazine_ (1888). [31] from "a book of verses," by william ernest henley. d. nutt, 1888. x father damien an open letter to the reverend dr. hyde of honolulu sydney, _february_ 25, 1890. sir,--it may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited, and conversed; on my side, with interest. you may remember that you have done me several courtesies, for which i was prepared to be grateful. but there are duties which come before gratitude, and offences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. your letter to the reverend h. b. gage is a document which, in my sight, if you had filled me with bread when i was starving, if you had sat up to nurse my father when he lay a-dying, would yet absolve me from the bonds of gratitude. you know enough, doubtless, of the process of canonisation to be aware that, a hundred years after the death of damien, there will appear a man charged with the painful office of the _devil's advocate_. after that noble brother of mine, and of all frail clay, shall have lain a century at rest, one shall accuse, one defend him. the circumstance is unusual that the devil's advocate should be a volunteer, should be a member of a sect immediately rival, and should make haste to take upon himself his ugly office ere the bones are cold; unusual, and of a taste which i shall leave my readers free to qualify; unusual, and to me inspiring. if i have at all learned the trade of using words to convey truth and to arouse emotion, you have at last furnished me with a subject. for it is in the interest of all mankind, and the cause of public decency in every quarter of the world, not only that damien should be righted, but that you and your letter should be displayed at length, in their true colours, to the public eye. to do this properly, i must begin by quoting you at large: i shall then proceed to criticise your utterance from several points of view, divine and human, in the course of which i shall attempt to draw again, and with more specification, the character of the dead saint whom it has pleased you to vilify: so much being done, i shall say farewell to you for ever. "honolulu, _august_ 2, 1889. "rev. h. b. gage. "dear brother,--in answer to your inquiries about father damien, i can only reply that we who knew the man are surprised at the extravagant newspaper laudations, as if he was a most saintly philanthropist. the simple truth is, he was a coarse, dirty man, headstrong and bigoted. he was not sent to molokai, but went there without orders; did not stay at the leper settlement (before he became one himself), but circulated freely over the whole island (less than half the island is devoted to the lepers), and he came often to honolulu. he had no hand in the reforms and improvements inaugurated, which were the work of our board of health, as occasion required and means were provided. he was not a pure man in his relations with women, and the leprosy of which he died should be attributed to his vices and carelessness. others have done much for the lepers, our own ministers, the government physicians, and so forth, but never with the catholic idea of meriting eternal life.--yours, etc., "c. m. hyde."[32] to deal fitly with a letter so extraordinary, i must draw at the outset on my private knowledge of the signatory and his sect. it may offend others; scarcely you, who have been so busy to collect, so bold to publish, gossip on your rivals. and this is perhaps the moment when i may best explain to you the character of what you are to read: i conceive you as a man quite beyond and below the reticences of civility: with what measure you mete, with that shall it be measured you again; with you, at last, i rejoice to feel the button off the foil and to plunge home. and if in aught that i shall say i should offend others, your colleagues, whom i respect and remember with affection, i can but offer them my regret; i am not free, i am inspired by the consideration of interests far more large; and such pain as can be inflicted by anything from me must be indeed trifling when compared with the pain with which they read your letter. it is not the hangman, but the criminal, that brings dishonour on the house. you belong, sir, to a sect--i believe my sect, and that in which my ancestors laboured--which has enjoyed, and partly failed to utilise, an exceptional advantage in the islands of hawaii. the first missionaries came; they found the land already self-purged of its old and bloody faith; they were embraced, almost on their arrival, with enthusiasm; what troubles they supported came far more from whites than from hawaiians; and to these last they stood (in a rough figure) in the shoes of god. this is not the place to enter into the degree or causes of their failure, such as it is. one element alone is pertinent, and must here be plainly dealt with. in the course of their evangelical calling, they--or too many of them--grew rich. it may be news to you that the houses of missionaries are a cause of mocking on the streets of honolulu. it will at least be news to you, that when i returned your civil visit, the driver of my cab commented on the size, the taste, and the comfort of your home. it would have been news certainly to myself, had any one told me that afternoon that i should live to drag such matter into print. but you see, sir, how you degrade better men to your own level; and it is needful that those who are to judge betwixt you and me, betwixt damien and the devil's advocate, should understand your letter to have been penned in a house which could raise, and that very justly, the envy and the comments of the passers-by. i think (to employ a phrase of yours which i admire) it "should be attributed" to you that you have never visited the scene of damien's life and death. if you had, and had recalled it, and looked about your pleasant rooms, even your pen perhaps would have been stayed. your sect (and remember, as far as any sect avows me, it is mine) has not done ill in a worldly sense in the hawaiian kingdom. when calamity befell their innocent parishioners, when leprosy descended and took root in the eight islands, a _quid pro quo_ was to be looked for. to that prosperous mission, and to you, as one of its adornments, god had sent at last an opportunity. i know i am touching here upon a nerve acutely sensitive. i know that others of your colleagues look back on the inertia of your church, and the intrusive and decisive heroism of damien, with something almost to be called remorse. i am sure it is so with yourself; i am persuaded your letter was inspired by a certain envy, not essentially ignoble, and the one human trait to be espied in that performance. you were thinking of the lost chance, the past day; of that which should have been conceived and was not; of the service due and not rendered. _time was_, said the voice in your ear, in your pleasant room, as you sat raging and writing; and if the words written were base beyond parallel, the rage, i am happy to repeat--it is the only compliment i shall pay you--the rage was almost virtuous. but, sir, when we have failed, and another has succeeded; when we have stood by, and another has stepped in; when we sit and grow bulky in our charming mansions, and a plain, uncouth peasant steps into the battle, under the eyes of god, and succours the afflicted, and consoles the dying, and is himself afflicted in his turn, and dies upon the field of honour--the battle cannot be retrieved as your unhappy irritation has suggested. it is a lost battle, and lost for ever. one thing remained to you in your defeat--some rags of common honour; and these you have made haste to cast away. common honour; not the honour of having done anything right, but the honour of not having done aught conspicuously foul; the honour of the inert: that was what remained to you. we are not all expected to be damiens; a man may conceive his duty more narrowly, he may love his comforts better; and none will cast a stone at him for that. but will a gentleman of your reverend profession allow me an example from the fields of gallantry? when two gentlemen compete for the favour of a lady, and the one succeeds and the other is rejected, and (as will sometimes happen) matter damaging to the successful rival's credit reaches the ear of the defeated, it is held by plain men of no pretensions that his mouth is, in the circumstance, almost necessarily closed. your church and damien's were in hawaii upon a rivalry to do well: to help, to edify, to set divine examples. you having (in one huge instance) failed, and damien succeeded, i marvel it should not have occurred to you that you were doomed to silence; that when you had been outstripped in that high rivalry, and sat inglorious in the midst of your well-being, in your pleasant room--and damien, crowned with glories and horrors, toiled and rotted in that pigsty of his under the cliffs of kalawao--you, the elect who would not, were the last man on earth to collect and propagate gossip on the volunteer who would and did. i think i see you--for i try to see you in the flesh as i write these sentences--i think i see you leap at the word pigsty, a hyperbolical expression at the best. "he had no hand in the reforms," he was "a coarse, dirty man"; these were your own words; and you may think it possible that i am come to support you with fresh evidence. in a sense, it is even so. damien has been too much depicted with a conventional halo and conventional features; so drawn by men who perhaps had not the eye to remark or the pen to express the individual; or who perhaps were only blinded and silenced by generous admiration, such as i partly envy for myself--such as you, if your soul were enlightened, would envy on your bended knees. it is the least defect of such a method of portraiture that it makes the path easy for the devil's advocate, and leaves for the misuse of the slanderer a considerable field of truth. for the truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest weapon of the enemy. the world, in your despite, may perhaps owe you something, if your letter be the means of substituting once for all a credible likeness for a wax abstraction. for, if that world at all remember you, on the day when damien of molokai shall be named saint, it will be in virtue of one work: your letter to the reverend h. b. gage. you may ask on what authority i speak. it was my inclement destiny to become acquainted, not with damien, but with dr. hyde. when i visited the lazaretto damien was already in his resting grave. but such information as i have, i gathered on the spot in conversation with those who knew him well and long: some indeed who revered his memory; but others who had sparred and wrangled with him, who beheld him with no halo, who perhaps regarded him with small respect, and through whose unprepared and scarcely partial communications the plain, human features of the man shone on me convincingly. these gave me what knowledge i possess; and i learnt it in that scene where it could be most completely and sensitively understood--kalawao, which you have never visited, about which you have never so much as endeavoured to inform yourself; for, brief as your letter is, you have found the means to stumble into that confession. "_less than one-half_ of the island," you say, "is devoted to the lepers." molokai--"_molokai ahina_," the "grey," lofty, and most desolate island--along all its northern side plunges a front of precipice into a sea of unusual profundity. this range of cliff is, from east to west, the true end and frontier of the island. only in one spot there projects into the ocean a certain triangular and rugged down, grassy, stony, windy, and rising in the midst into a hill with a dead crater: the whole bearing to the cliff that overhangs it somewhat the same relation as a bracket to a wall. with this hint you will now be able to pick out the leper station on a map; you will be able to judge how much of molokai is thus cut off between the surf and precipice, whether less than a half, or less than a quarter, or a fifth, or a tenth--or say, a twentieth; and the next time you burst into print you will be in a position to share with us the issue of your calculations. i imagine you to be one of those persons who talk with cheerfulness of that place which oxen and wain-ropes could not drag you to behold. you, who do not even know its situation on the map, probably denounce sensational descriptions, stretching your limbs the while in your pleasant parlour on beretania street. when i was pulled ashore there one early morning, there sat with me in the boat two sisters, bidding farewell (in humble imitation of damien) to the lights and joys of human life. one of these wept silently; i could not withhold myself from joining her. had you been there, it is my belief that nature would have triumphed even in you; and as the boat drew but a little nearer, and you beheld the stairs crowded with abominable deformations of our common manhood, and saw yourself landing in the midst of such a population as only now and then surrounds us in the horror of a nightmare--what a haggard eye you would have rolled over your reluctant shoulder towards the house on beretania street! had you gone on; had you found every fourth face a blot upon the landscape; had you visited the hospital and seen the butt-ends of human beings lying there almost unrecognisable, but still breathing, still thinking, still remembering; you would have understood that life in the lazaretto is an ordeal from which the nerves of a man's spirit shrink, even as his eye quails under the brightness of the sun; you would have felt it was (even to-day) a pitiful place to visit and a hell to dwell in. it is not the fear of possible infection. that seems a little thing when compared with the pain, the pity, and the disgust of the visitor's surroundings, and the atmosphere of affliction, disease, and physical disgrace in which he breathes. i do not think i am a man more than usually timid; but i never recall the days and nights i spent upon that island promontory (eight days and seven nights), without heartfelt thankfulness that i am somewhere else. i find in my diary that i speak of my stay as a "grinding experience": i have once jotted in the margin, "_harrowing_ is the word"; and when the _mokolii_ bore me at last towards the outer world, i kept repeating to myself, with a new conception of their pregnancy, those simple words of the song- "'tis the most distressful country that ever yet was seen." and observe: that which i saw and suffered from was a settlement purged, bettered, beautified; the new village built, the hospital and the bishop-home excellently arranged; the sisters, the doctor, and the missionaries, all indefatigable in their noble tasks. it was a different place when damien came there, and made his great renunciation, and slept that first night under a tree amidst his rotting brethren: alone with pestilence; and looking forward (with what courage, with what pitiful sinkings of dread, god only knows) to a lifetime of dressing sores and stumps. you will say, perhaps, i am too sensitive, that sights as painful abound in cancer hospitals and are confronted daily by doctors and nurses. i have long learned to admire and envy the doctors and the nurses. but there is no cancer hospital so large and populous as kalawao and kalaupapa; and in such a matter every fresh case, like every inch of length in the pipe of an organ, deepens the note of the impression; for what daunts the onlooker is that monstrous sum of human suffering by which he stands surrounded. lastly, no doctor or nurse is called upon to enter once for all the doors of that gehenna; they do not say farewell, they need not abandon hope, on its sad threshold; they but go for a time to their high calling, and can look forward as they go to relief, to recreation, and to rest. but damien shut-to with his own hand the doors of his own sepulchre. i shall now extract three passages from my diary at kalawao. _a_. "damien is dead and already somewhat ungratefully remembered in the field of his labours and sufferings. 'he was a good man, but very officious,' says one. another tells me he had fallen (as other priests so easily do) into something of the ways and habits of thought of a kanaka; but he had the wit to recognise the fact, and the good sense to laugh at" [over] "it. a plain man it seems he was; i cannot find he was a popular." _b_. "after ragsdale's death" [ragsdale was a famous luna, or overseer, of the unruly settlement] "there followed a brief term of office by father damien which served only to publish the weakness of that noble man. he was rough in his ways, and he had no control. authority was relaxed; damien's life was threatened, and he was soon eager to resign." _c_. "of damien i begin to have an idea. he seems to have been a man of the peasant class, certainly of the peasant type: shrewd; ignorant and bigoted, yet with an open mind, and capable of receiving and digesting a reproof if it were bluntly administered; superbly generous in the least thing as well as in the greatest, and as ready to give his last shirt (although not without human grumbling) as he had been to sacrifice his life; essentially indiscreet and officious, which made him a troublesome colleague; domineering in all his ways, which made him incurably unpopular with the kanakas, but yet destitute of real authority, so that his boys laughed at him and he must carry out his wishes by the means of bribes. he learned to have a mania for doctoring; and set up the kanakas against the remedies of his regular rivals: perhaps (if anything matter at all in the treatment of such a disease) the worst thing that he did, and certainly the easiest. the best and worst of the man appear very plainly in his dealings with mr. chapman's money; he had originally laid it out" [intended to lay it out] "entirely for the benefit of catholics, and even so not wisely; but after a long, plain talk, he admitted his error fully and revised the list. the sad state of the boys' home is in part the result of his lack of control; in part, of his own slovenly ways and false ideas of hygiene. brother officials used to call it 'damien's chinatown.' 'well,' they would say, 'your chinatown keeps growing.' and he would laugh with perfect good-nature, and adhere to his errors with perfect obstinacy. so much i have gathered of truth about this plain, noble human brother and father of ours; his imperfections are the traits of his face, by which we know him for our fellow; his martyrdom and his example nothing can lessen or annul; and only a person here on the spot can properly appreciate their greatness." i have set down these private passages, as you perceive, without correction; thanks to you, the public has them in their bluntness. they are almost a list of the man's faults, for it is rather these that i was seeking: with his virtues, with the heroic profile of his life, i and the world were already sufficiently acquainted. i was besides a little suspicious of catholic testimony; in no ill sense, but merely because damien's admirers and disciples were the least likely to be critical. i know you will be more suspicious still; and the facts set down above were one and all collected from the lips of protestants who had opposed the father in his life. yet i am strangely deceived, or they build up the image of a man, with all his weaknesses, essentially heroic, and alive with rugged honesty, generosity, and mirth. take it for what it is, rough private jottings of the worst sides of damien's character, collected from the lips of those who had laboured with and (in your own phrase) "knew the man";--though i question whether damien would have said that he knew you. take it, and observe with wonder how well you were served by your gossips, how ill by your intelligence and sympathy; in how many points of fact we are at one, and how widely our appreciations vary. there is something wrong here; either with you or me. it is possible, for instance, that you, who seem to have so many ears in kalawao, had heard of the affair of mr. chapman's money, and were singly struck by damien's intended wrong-doing. i was struck with that also, and set it fairly down; but i was struck much more by the fact that he had the honesty of mind to be convinced. i may here tell you that it was a long business; that one of his colleagues sat with him late into the night, multiplying arguments and accusations; that the father listened as usual with "perfect good-nature and perfect obstinacy"; but at the last, when he was persuaded--"yes," said he, "i am very much obliged to you; you have done me a service; it would have been a theft." there are many (not catholics merely) who require their heroes and saints to be infallible; to these the story will be painful; not to the true lovers, patrons, and servants of mankind. and i take it, this is a type of our division; that you are one of those who have an eye for faults and failures; that you take a pleasure to find and publish them; and that, having found them, you make haste to forget the overvailing virtues and the real success which had alone introduced them to your knowledge. it is a dangerous frame of mind. that you may understand how dangerous, and into what a situation it has already brought you, we will (if you please) go hand-in-hand through the different phrases of your letter, and candidly examine each from the point of view of its truth, its appositeness, and its charity. damien was _coarse_. it is very possible. you make us sorry for the lepers who had only a coarse old peasant for their friend and father. but you, who were so refined, why were you not there, to cheer them with the lights of culture? or may i remind you that we have some reason to doubt if john the baptist were genteel; and in the case of peter, on whose career you doubtless dwell approvingly in the pulpit, no doubt at all he was a "coarse, headstrong" fisherman! yet even in our protestant bibles peter is called saint. damien was _dirty_. he was. think of the poor lepers annoyed with this dirty comrade! but the clean dr. hyde was at his food in a fine house. damien was _headstrong_. i believe you are right again; and i thank god for his strong head and heart. damien was _bigoted_. i am not fond of bigots myself, because they are not fond of me. but what is meant by bigotry, that we should regard it as a blemish in a priest? damien believed his own religion with the simplicity of a peasant or a child; as i would i could suppose that you do. for this, i wonder at him some way off; and had that been his only character, should have avoided him in life. but the point of interest in damien, which has caused him to be so much talked about and made him at last the subject of your pen and mine, was that, in him, his bigotry, his intense and narrow faith, wrought potently for good, and strengthened him to be one of the world's heroes and exemplars. damien _was not sent to molokai, but went there without orders_. is this a misreading? or do you really mean the words for blame? i have heard christ, in the pulpits of our church, held up for imitation on the ground that his sacrifice was voluntary. does dr. hyde think otherwise? damien _did not stay at the settlement, etc_. it is true he was allowed many indulgences. am i to understand that you blame the father for profiting by these, or the officers for granting them? in either case, it is a mighty spartan standard to issue from the house on beretania street; and i am convinced you will find yourself with few supporters. damien _had no hand in the reforms, etc_. i think even you will admit that i have already been frank in my description of the man i am defending; but before i take you up upon this head, i will be franker still, and tell you that perhaps nowhere in the world can a man taste a more pleasurable sense of contrast than when he passes from damien's "chinatown" at kalawao to the beautiful bishop-home at kalaupapa. at this point, in my desire to make all fair for you, i will break my rule and adduce catholic testimony. here is a passage from my diary about my visit to the chinatown, from which you will see how it is (even now) regarded by its own officials: "we went round all the dormitories, refectories, etc.--dark and dingy enough, with a superficial cleanliness, which he" [mr. dutton, the lay brother] "did not seek to defend. 'it is almost decent,' said he; 'the sisters will make that all right when we get them here.'" and yet i gathered it was already better since damien was dead, and far better than when he was there alone and had his own (not always excellent) way. i have now come far enough to meet you on a common ground of fact; and i tell you that, to a mind not prejudiced by jealousy, all the reforms of the lazaretto, and even those which he most vigorously opposed, are properly the work of damien. they are the evidence of his success; they are what his heroism provoked from the reluctant and the careless. many were before him in the field; mr. meyer, for instance, of whose faithful work we hear too little: there have been many since; and some had more worldly wisdom, though none had more devotion, than our saint. before his day, even you will confess, they had effected little. it was his part, by one striking act of martyrdom, to direct all men's eyes on that distressful country. at a blow, and with the price of his life, he made the place illustrious and public. and that, if you will consider largely, was the one reform needful; pregnant of all that should succeed. it brought money; it brought (best individual addition of them all) the sisters; it brought supervision, for public opinion and public interest landed with the man at kalawao. if ever any man brought reforms, and died to bring them, it was he. there is not a clean cup or towel in the bishop-home, but dirty damien washed it. damien _was not a pure man in his relations with women, etc_. how do you know that? is this the nature of the conversation in that house on beretania street which the cabman envied, driving past?--racy details of the misconduct of the poor peasant priest, toiling under the cliffs of molokai? many have visited the station before me; they seem not to have heard the rumour. when i was there i heard many shocking tales, for my informants were men speaking with the plainness of the laity; and i heard plenty of complaints of damien. why was this never mentioned? and how came it to you in the retirement of your clerical parlour? but i must not even seem to deceive you. this scandal, when i read it in your letter, was not new to me. i had heard it once before; and i must tell you how. there came to samoa a man from honolulu; he in a public-house on the beach volunteered the statement that damien had "contracted the disease from having connection with the female lepers"; and i find a joy in telling you how the report was welcomed in a public-house. a man sprang to his feet; i am not at liberty to give his name, but from what i heard i doubt if you would care to have him to dinner in beretania street. "you miserable little ----" (here is a word i dare not print, it would so shock your ears). "you miserable little ----," he cried, "if the story were a thousand times true, can't you see you are a million times a lower ---for daring to repeat it?" i wish it could be told of you that when the report reached you in your house, perhaps after family worship, you had found in your soul enough holy anger to receive it with the same expressions; ay, even with that one which i dare not print; it would not need to have been blotted away, like uncle toby's oath, by the tears of the recording angel; it would have been counted to you for your brightest righteousness. but you have deliberately chosen the part of the man from honolulu, and you have played it with improvements of your own. the man from honolulu--miserable, leering creature--communicated the tale to a rude knot of beach-combing drinkers in a public-house, where (i will so far agree with your temperance opinions) man is not always at his noblest; and the man from honolulu had himself been drinking--drinking, we may charitably fancy, to excess. it was to your "dear brother, the reverend h. b. gage," that you chose to communicate the sickening story; and the blue ribbon which adorns your portly bosom forbids me to allow you the extenuating plea that you were drunk when it was done. your "dear brother"--a brother indeed--made haste to deliver up your letter (as a means of grace, perhaps) to the religious papers; where, after many months, i found and read and wondered at it; and whence i have now reproduced it for the wonder of others. and you and your dear brother have, by this cycle of operations, built up a contrast very edifying to examine in detail. the man whom you would not care to have to dinner, on the one side; on the other, the reverend dr. hyde and the reverend h. b. gage: the apia bar-room, the honolulu manse. but i fear you scarce appreciate how you appear to your fellow-men; and to bring it home to you, i will suppose your story to be true. i will suppose--and god forgive me for supposing it--that damien faltered and stumbled in his narrow path of duty; i will suppose that, in the horror of his isolation, perhaps in the fever of incipient disease, he, who was doing so much more than he had sworn, failed in the letter of his priestly oath--he, who was so much a better man than either you or me, who did what we have never dreamed of daring--he too tasted of our common frailty. "o, iago, the pity of it!" the least tender should be moved to tears; the most incredulous to prayer. and all that you could do was to pen your letter to the reverend h. b. gage! is it growing at all clear to you what a picture you have drawn of your own heart? i will try yet once again to make it clearer. you had a father: suppose this tale were about him, and some informant brought it to you, proof in hand: i am not making too high an estimate of your emotional nature when i suppose you would regret the circumstance? that you would feel the tale of frailty the more keenly since it shamed the author of your days? and that the last thing you would do would be to publish it in the religious press? well, the man who tried to do what damien did is my father, and the father of the man in the apia bar, and the father of all who love goodness; and he was your father too, if god had given you grace to see it. footnote: [32] from the sydney _presbyterian_, october 26, 1889. xi my first book--"treasure island" it was far indeed from being my first book, for i am not a novelist alone. but i am well aware that my paymaster, the great public, regards what else i have written with indifference, if not aversion; if it call upon me at all, it calls on me in the familiar and indelible character; and when i am asked to talk of my first book, no question in the world but what is meant is my first novel. sooner or later, somehow, anyhow, i was bound to write a novel. it seems vain to ask why. men are born with various manias: from my earliest childhood it was mine to make a plaything of imaginary series of events; and as soon as i was able to write, i became a good friend to the papermakers. reams upon reams must have gone to the making of "rathillet," "the pentland rising,"[33] "the king's pardon" (otherwise "park whitehead"), "edward daven," "a country dance," and "a vendetta in the west"; and it is consolatory to remember that these reams are now all ashes, and have been received again into the soil. i have named but a few of my ill-fated efforts, only such indeed as came to a fair bulk ere they were desisted from; and even so they cover a long vista of years. "rathillet" was attempted before fifteen, "the vendetta" at twenty-nine, and the succession of defeats lasted unbroken till i was thirty-one. by that time i had written little books and little essays and short stories; and had got patted on the back and paid for them--though not enough to live upon. i had quite a reputation, i was the successful man; i passed my days in toil, the futility of which would sometimes make my cheek to burn--that i should spend a man's energy upon this business, and yet could not earn a livelihood: and still there shone ahead of me an unattained ideal: although i had attempted the thing with vigour not less than ten or twelve times, i had not yet written a novel. all--all my pretty ones--had gone for a little, and then stopped inexorably like a schoolboy's watch. i might be compared to a cricketer of many years' standing who should never have made a run. anybody can write a short story--a bad one, i mean--who has industry and paper and time enough; but not every one may hope to write even a bad novel. it is the length that kills. the accepted novelist may take his novel up and put it down, spend days upon it in vain, and write not any more than he makes haste to blot. not so the beginner. human nature has certain rights; instinct--the instinct of self-preservation--forbids that any man (cheered and supported by the consciousness of no previous victory) should endure the miseries of unsuccessful literary toil beyond a period to be measured in weeks. there must be something for hope to feed upon. the beginner must have a slant of wind, a lucky vein must be running, he must be in one of those hours when the words come and the phrases balance of themselves--_even to begin_. and having begun, what a dread looking forward is that until the book shall be accomplished! for so long a time the slant is to continue unchanged, the vein to keep running, for so long a time you must keep at command the same quality of style: for so long a time your puppets are to be always vital, always consistent, always vigorous! i remember i used to look, in those days, upon every three-volume novel with a sort of veneration, as a feat--not, possibly, of literature--but at least of physical and moral endurance and the courage of ajax. in the fated year i came to live with my father and mother at kinnaird, above pitlochry. then i walked on the red moors and by the side of the golden burn; the rude, pure air of our mountains inspirited, if it did not inspire, us, and my wife and i projected a joint volume of bogey stories, for which she wrote "the shadow on the bed," and i turned out "thrawn janet" and a first draft of "the merry men." i love my native air, but it does not love me; and the end of this delightful period was a cold, a fly-blister and a migration by strathardle and glenshee to the castleton of braemar. there it blew a good deal and rained in a proportion; my native air was more unkind than man's ingratitude, and i must consent to pass a good deal of my time between four walls in a house lugubriously known as the late miss m^cgregor's cottage. and now admire the finger of predestination. there was a schoolboy in the late miss m^cgregor's cottage, home from the holidays, and much in want of "something craggy to break his mind upon." he had no thought of literature; it was the art of raphael that received his fleeting suffrages; and with the aid of pen and ink and a shilling box of watercolours, he had soon turned one of the rooms into a picture-gallery. my more immediate duty towards the gallery was to be showman; but i would sometimes unbend a little, join the artist (so to speak) at the easel, and pass the afternoon with him in a generous emulation, making coloured drawings. on one of these occasions, i made the map of an island; it was elaborately and (i thought) beautifully coloured; the shape of it took my fancy beyond expression; it contained harbours that pleased me like sonnets; and, with the unconsciousness of the predestined, i ticketed my performance "treasure island." i am told there are people who do not care for maps, and find it hard to believe. the names, the shapes of the woodlands, the courses of the roads and rivers, the prehistoric footsteps of man still distinctly traceable up hill and down dale, the mills and the ruins, the ponds and the ferries, perhaps the _standing stone_ or the _druidic circle_ on the heath; here is an inexhaustible fund of interest for any man with eyes to see or twopence-worth of imagination to understand with! no child but must remember laying his head in the grass, staring into the infinitesimal forest and seeing it grow populous with fairy armies. somewhat in this way, as i paused upon my map of "treasure island," the future character of the book began to appear there visibly among imaginary woods; and their brown faces and bright weapons peeped out upon me from unexpected quarters, as they passed to and fro, fighting and hunting treasure, on these few square inches of a flat projection. the next thing i knew i had some papers before me and was writing out a list of chapters. how often have i done so, and the thing gone on further! but there seemed elements of success about this enterprise. it was to be a story for boys: no need of psychology or fine writing; and i had a boy at hand to be a touchstone. women were excluded. i was unable to handle a brig (which the _hispaniola_ should have been), but i thought i could make shift to sail her as a schooner without public shame. and then i had an idea for john silver from which i promised myself funds of entertainment: to take an admired friend of mine (whom the reader very likely knows and admires as much as i do), to deprive him of all his finer qualities and higher graces of temperament, to leave him with nothing but his strength, his courage, his quickness, and his magnificent geniality, and to try to express these in terms of the culture of a raw tarpaulin. such psychical surgery is, i think, a common way of "making character"; perhaps it is, indeed, the only way. we can put in the quaint figure that spoke a hundred words with us yesterday by the wayside; but do we know him? our friend with his infinite variety and flexibility, we know--but can we put him in? upon the first, we must engraft secondary and imaginary qualities, possibly all wrong; from the second, knife in hand, we must cut away and deduct the needless arborescence of his nature, but the trunk and the few branches that remain we may at least be fairly sure of. on a chill september morning, by the cheek of a brisk fire, and the rain drumming on the window, i began "the sea cook," for that was the original title. i have begun (and finished) a number of other books, but i cannot remember to have sat down to one of them with more complacency. it is not to be wondered at, for stolen waters are proverbially sweet. i am now upon a painful chapter. no doubt the parrot once belonged to robinson crusoe. no doubt the skeleton is conveyed from poe. i think little of these, they are trifles and details; and no man can hope to have a monopoly of skeletons or make a corner in talking birds. the stockade, i am told, is from "masterman ready." it may be, i care not a jot. these useful writers had fulfilled the poet's saying: departing, they had left behind them footprints on the sands of time, footprints which perhaps another--and i was the other! it is my debt to washington irving that exercises my conscience, and justly so, for i believe plagiarism was rarely carried further. i chanced to pick up the "tales of a traveller" some years ago with a view to an anthology of prose narrative, and the book flew up and struck me: billy bones, his chest, the company in the parlour, the whole inner spirit, and a good deal of the material detail of my first chapters--all were there, all were the property of washington irving. but i had no guess of it then as i sat writing by the fireside, in what seemed the spring-tides of a somewhat pedestrian inspiration; nor yet day by day, after lunch, as i read aloud my morning's work to the family. it seemed to me original as sin; it seemed to belong to me like my right eye. i had counted on one boy, i found i had two in my audience. my father caught fire at once with all the romance and childishness of his original nature. his own stories, that every night of his life he put himself to sleep with, dealt perpetually with ships, roadside inns, robbers, old sailors, and commercial travellers before the era of steam. he never finished one of these romances; the lucky man did not require to finish them! but in "treasure island" he recognised something kindred to his own imagination; it was _his_ kind of picturesque; and he not only heard with delight the daily chapter, but set himself acting to collaborate. when the time came for billy bones's chest to be ransacked, he must have passed the better part of a day preparing, on the back of a legal envelope, an inventory of its contents, which i exactly followed; and the name of "flint's old ship"--the _walrus_--was given at his particular request. and now who should come dropping in, _ex machinã¢_, but dr. japp, like the disguised prince who is to bring down the curtain upon peace and happiness in the last act; for he carried in his pocket, not a horn or a talisman, but a publisher. even the ruthlessness of a united family recoiled before the extreme measure of inflicting on our guest the mutilated members of "the sea cook"; at the same time, we would by no means stop our readings; and accordingly the tale was begun again at the beginning, and solemnly re-delivered for the benefit of dr. japp. from that moment on, i have thought highly of his critical faculty; for when he left us he carried away the manuscript in his portmanteau to submit to his friend (since then my own) mr. henderson, who accepted it for his periodical, _young folks_. here, then, was everything to keep me up, sympathy, help, and now a positive engagement. i had chosen besides a very easy style. compare it with the almost contemporary "merry men"; one reader may prefer the one style, one the other--'tis an affair of character, perhaps of mood; but no expert can fail to see that the one is much more difficult, and the other much easier to maintain. it seems as though a full-grown experienced man of letters might engage to turn out "treasure island" at so many pages a day, and keep his pipe alight. but alas! this was not my case. fifteen days i stuck to it, and turned out fifteen chapters; and then, in the early paragraphs of the sixteenth, ignominiously lost hold. my mouth was empty; there was not one word of "treasure island" in my bosom; and here were the proofs of the beginning already waiting me at the "hand and spear"! then i corrected them, living for the most part alone, walking on the heath at weybridge in dewy autumn mornings, a good deal pleased with what i had done, and more appalled than i can depict to you in words at what remained for me to do. i was thirty-one; i was the head of a family; i had lost my health; i had never yet paid my way, never yet made â£200 a year; my father had quite recently bought back and cancelled a book that was judged a failure: was this to be another and last fiasco? i was indeed very close on despair; but i shut my mouth hard, and during the journey to davos, where i was to pass the winter, had the resolution to think of other things and bury myself in the novels of m. du boisgobey. arrived at my destination, down i sat one morning to the unfinished tale; and behold! it flowed from me like small-talk; and in a second tide of delighted industry, and again at the rate of a chapter a day, i finished "treasure island." it had to be transcribed almost exactly; my wife was ill; the schoolboy remained alone of the faithful; and john addington symonds (to whom i timidly mentioned what i was engaged on) looked on me askance. he was at that time very eager i should write on the characters of theophrastus: so far out may be the judgments of the wisest men. but symonds (to be sure) was scarce the confidant to go to for sympathy on a boy's story. he was large-minded; "a full man," if there was one; but the very name of my enterprise would suggest to him only capitulations of sincerity and solecisms of style. well! he was not far wrong. "treasure island"--it was mr. henderson who deleted the first title, "the sea cook"--appeared duly in the story paper, where it figured in the ignoble midst, without woodcuts, and attracted not the least attention. i did not care. i liked the tale myself, for much the same reason as my father liked the beginning; it was my kind of picturesque. i was not a little proud of john silver, also; and to this day rather admire that smooth and formidable adventurer. what was infinitely more exhilarating, i had passed a landmark; i had finished a tale, and written "the end" upon my manuscript, as i had not done since "the pentland rising," when i was a boy of sixteen not yet at college. in truth it was so by a set of lucky accidents; had not dr. japp come on his visit, had not the tale flowed from me with singular ease, it must have been laid aside like its predecessors, and found a circuitous and unlamented way to the fire. purists may suggest it would have been better so. i am not of that mind. the tale seems to have given much pleasure, and it brought (or was the means of bringing) fire and food and wine to a deserving family in which i took an interest. i need scarcely say i mean my own. but the adventures of "treasure island" are not yet quite at an end. i had written it up to the map. the map was the chief part of my plot. for instance, i had called an islet "skeleton island," not knowing what i meant, seeking only for the immediate picturesque, and it was to justify this name that i broke into the gallery of mr. poe and stole flint's pointer. and in the same way, it was because i had made two harbours that the _hispaniola_ was sent on her wanderings with israel hands. the time came when it was decided to republish, and i sent in my manuscript, and the map along with it, to messrs. cassell. the proofs came, they were corrected, but i heard nothing of the map. i wrote and asked; was told it had never been received, and sat aghast. it is one thing to draw a map at random, set a scale in one corner of it at a venture, and write up a story to the measurements. it is quite another to have to examine a whole book, make an inventory of all the allusions contained in it, and with a pair of compasses, painfully design a map to suit the data. i did it; and the map was drawn again in my father's office, with embellishments of blowing whales and sailing ships, and my father himself brought into service a knack he had of various writing, and elaborately _forged_ the signature of captain flint, and the sailing directions of billy bones. but somehow it was never _treasure island_ to me. i have said the map was the most of the plot. i might almost say it was the whole. a few reminiscences of poe, defoe, and washington irving, a copy of johnson's "buccaneers," the name of the dead man's chest from kingsley's "at last," some recollections of canoeing on the high seas, and the map itself, with its infinite, eloquent suggestion, made up the whole of my materials. it is, perhaps, not often that a map figures so largely in a tale, yet it is always important. the author must know his countryside, whether real or imaginary, like his hand; the distances, the points of the compass, the place of the sun's rising, the behaviour of the moon, should all be beyond cavil. and how troublesome the moon is! i have come to grief over the moon in "prince otto," and, so soon as that was pointed out to me, adopted a precaution which i recommend to other men--i never write now without an almanac. with an almanac and the map of the country, and the plan of every house, either actually plotted on paper or already and immediately apprehended in the mind, a man may hope to avoid some of the grossest possible blunders. with the map before him, he will scarce allow the sun to set in the east, as it does in "the antiquary." with the almanac at hand, he will scarce allow two horsemen, journeying on the most urgent affair, to employ six days, from three of the monday morning till late in the saturday night, upon a journey of, say, ninety or a hundred miles, and before the week is out, and still on the same nags, to cover fifty in one day, as may be read at length in the inimitable novel of "rob roy." and it is certainly well, though far from necessary, to avoid such "croppers." but it is my contention--my superstition, if you like--that who is faithful to his map, and consults it, and draws from it his inspiration, daily and hourly, gains positive support, and not mere negative immunity from accident. the tale has a root there; it grows in that soil; it has a spine of its own behind the words. better if the country be real, and he has walked every foot of it and knows every milestone. but even with imaginary places, he will do well in the beginning to provide a map; as he studies it, relations will appear that he had not thought upon; he will discover obvious, though unsuspected, shortcuts and footprints for his messengers; and even when a map is not all the plot, as it was in "treasure island," it will be found to be a mine of suggestion. footnote: [33] _ne pas confondre_. not the slim green pamphlet with the imprint of andrew elliot, for which (as i see with amazement from the book-lists) the gentlemen of england are willing to pay fancy prices; but its predecessor, a bulky historical romance without a spark of merit and now deleted from the world.--[r. l. s.] xii the genesis of "the master of ballantrae" i was walking one night in the verandah of a small house in which i lived, outside the hamlet of saranac. it was winter; the night was very dark; the air extraordinary clear and cold, and sweet with the purity of forests. from a good way below, the river was to be heard contending with ice and boulders: a few lights appeared, scattered unevenly among the darkness, but so far away as not to lessen the sense of isolation. for the making of a story here were fine conditions. i was besides moved with the spirit of emulation, for i had just finished my third or fourth perusal of "the phantom ship." "come," said i to my engine, "let us make a tale, a story of many years and countries, of the sea and the land, savagery, and civilisation; a story that shall have the same large features, and may be treated in the same summary elliptic method as the book you have been reading and admiring." i was here brought up with a reflection exceedingly just in itself, but which, as the sequel shows, i failed to profit by. i saw that marryat, not less than homer, milton, and virgil, profited by the choice of a familiar and legendary subject; so that he prepared his readers on the very title-page; and this set me cudgelling my brains, if by any chance i could hit upon some similar belief to be the centre-piece of my own meditated fiction. in the course of this vain search there cropped up in my memory a singular case of a buried and resuscitated fakir, which i had been often told by an uncle of mine, then lately dead, inspector-general john balfour. on such a fine frosty night, with no wind and the thermometer below zero, the brain works with much vivacity; and the next moment i had seen the circumstance transplanted from india and the tropics to the adirondack wilderness and the stringent cold of the canadian border. here then, almost before i had begun my story, i had two countries, two of the ends of the earth involved: and thus though the notion of the resuscitated man failed entirely on the score of general acceptation, or even (as i have since found) acceptability, it fitted at once with my design of a tale of many lands; and this decided me to consider further of its possibilities. the man who should thus be buried was the first question: a good man, whose return to life would be hailed by the reader and the other characters with gladness? this trenched upon the christian picture and was dismissed. if the idea, then, was to be of any use at all for me, i had to create a kind of evil genius to his friends and family, take him through many disappearances, and make this final restoration from the pit of death, in the icy american wilderness, the last and the grimmest of the series. i need not tell my brothers of the craft that i was now in the most interesting moment of an author's life; the hours that followed that night upon the balcony, and the following nights and days, whether walking abroad or lying wakeful in my bed, were hours of unadulterated joy. my mother, who was then living with me alone, perhaps had less enjoyment; for, in the absence of my wife, who is my usual helper in these times of parturition, i must spur her up at all seasons to hear me relate and try to clarify my unformed fancies. and while i was groping for the fable and the character required, behold i found them lying ready and nine years old in my memory. pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine years old. was there ever a more complete justification of the rule of horace? here, thinking of quite other things, i had stumbled on the solution or perhaps i should rather say (in stagewright phrase) the curtain or final tableau of a story conceived long before on the moors between pitlochry and strathardle, conceived in highland rain, in the blend of the smell of heather and bog-plants, and with a mind full of the athole correspondence and the memories of the dumlicide justice. so long ago, so far away it was, that i had first evoked the faces and the mutual tragic situation of the men of durrisdeer. my story was now world-wide enough: scotland, india, and america being all obligatory scenes. but of these india was strange to me except in books; i had never known any living indian save a parsee, a member of my club in london, equally civilised, and (to all seeing) equally occidental with myself. it was plain, thus far, that i should have to get into india and out of it again upon a foot of fairy lightness; and i believe this first suggested to me the idea of the chevalier burke for a narrator. it was at first intended that he should be scottish, and i was then filled with fears that he might prove only the degraded shadow of my own alan breck. presently, however, it began to occur to me it would be like my master to curry favour with the prince's irishmen; and that an irish refugee would have a particular reason to find himself in india with his countryman, the unfortunate lally. irish, therefore, i decided he should be, and then, all of a sudden, i was aware of a tall shadow across my path, the shadow of barry lyndon. no man (in lord foppington's phrase) of a nice morality could go very deep with my master: in the original idea of this story conceived in scotland, this companion had been besides intended to be worse than the bad elder son with whom (as it was then meant) he was to visit scotland; if i took an irishman, and a very bad irishman, in the midst of the eighteenth century, how was i to evade barry lyndon? the wretch besieged me, offering his services; he gave me excellent references; he proved that he was highly fitted for the work i had to do; he, or my own evil heart, suggested it was easy to disguise his ancient livery with a little lace and a few frogs and buttons, so that thackeray himself should hardly recognise him. and then of a sudden there came to me memories of a young irishman, with whom i was once intimate, and had spent long nights walking and talking with, upon a very desolate coast in a bleak autumn: i recalled him as a youth of an extraordinary moral simplicity--almost vacancy; plastic to any influence, the creature of his admirations: and putting such a youth in fancy into the career of a soldier of fortune, it occurred to me that he would serve my turn as well as mr. lyndon, and, in place of entering into competition with the master, would afford a slight though a distinct relief. i know not if i have done him well, though his moral dissertations always highly entertained me: but i own i have been surprised to find that he reminded some critics of barry lyndon after all.... xiii random memories: _rosa quo locorum_ i through what little channels, by what hints and premonitions, the consciousness of the man's art dawns first upon the child, it should be not only interesting but instructive to inquire. a matter of curiosity to-day, it will become the ground of science to-morrow. from the mind of childhood there is more history and more philosophy to be fished up than from all the printed volumes in a library. the child is conscious of an interest, not in literature but in life. a taste for the precise, the adroit or the comely in the use of words, comes late; but long before that he has enjoyed in books a delightful dress rehearsal of experience. he is first conscious of this material--i had almost said this practical--pre-occupation; it does not follow that it really came the first. i have some old fogged negatives in my collection that would seem to imply a prior stage. "the lord is gone up with a shout, and god with the sound of a trumpet"--memorial version, i know not where to find the text--rings still in my ear from my first childhood, and perhaps with something of my nurse's accent. there was possibly some sort of image written in my mind by these loud words, but i believe the words themselves were what i cherished. i had about the same time, and under the same influence--that of my dear nurse--a favourite author: it is possible the reader has not heard of him--the rev. robert murray m'cheyne. my nurse and i admired his name exceedingly, so that i must have been taught the love of beautiful sounds before i was breeched; and i remember two specimens of his muse until this day:- "behind the hills of naphtali the sun went slowly down, leaving on mountain, tower, and tree, a tinge of golden brown." there is imagery here, and i set it on one side. the other--it is but a verse--not only contains no image, but is quite unintelligible even to my comparatively instructed mind, and i know not even how to spell the outlandish vocable that charmed me in my childhood: "jehovah tschidkenu is nothing to her ";[34] i may say, without flippancy, that he was nothing to me either, since i had no ray of a guess of what he was about; yet the verse, from then to now, a longer interval than the life of a generation, has continued to haunt me. i have said that i should set a passage distinguished by obvious and pleasing imagery, however faint; for the child thinks much in images, words are very live to him, phrases that imply a picture eloquent beyond their value. rummaging in the dusty pigeon-holes of memory, i came once upon a graphic version of the famous psalm, "the lord is my shepherd": and from the places employed in its illustration, which are all in the immediate neighbourhood of a house then occupied by my father, i am able to date it before the seventh year of my age, although it was probably earlier in fact. the "pastures green" were represented by a certain suburban stubble-field, where i had once walked with my nurse, under an autumnal sunset, on the banks of the water of leith: the place is long ago built up; no pastures now, no stubble-fields; only a maze of little streets and smoking chimneys and shrill children. here, in the fleecy person of a sheep, i seemed to myself to follow something unseen, unrealised, and yet benignant; and close by the sheep in which i was incarnated--as if for greater security--rustled the skirts of my nurse. "death's dark vale" was a certain archway in the warriston cemetery: a formidable yet beloved spot, for children love to be afraid,--in measure as they love all experience of vitality. here i beheld myself some paces ahead (seeing myself, i mean, from behind) utterly alone in that uncanny passage: on the one side of me a rude, knobby shepherd's staff, such as cheers the heart of the cockney tourist, on the other a rod like a billiard cue, appeared to accompany my progress: the staff sturdily upright, the billiard cue inclined confidentially, like one whispering, towards my ear. i was aware--i will never tell you how--that the presence of these articles afforded me encouragement. the third and last of my pictures illustrated the words:- "my table thou hast furnishã¨d in presence of my foes: my head thou dost with oil anoint, and my cup overflows": and this was perhaps the most interesting of the series. i saw myself seated in a kind of open stone summer-house at table; over my shoulder a hairy, bearded, and robed presence anointed me from an authentic shoe-horn; the summer-house was part of the green court of a ruin, and from the far side of the court black and white imps discharged against me ineffectual arrows. the picture appears arbitrary, but i can trace every detail to its source, as mr. brock analysed the dream of alan armadale. the summer-house and court were muddled together out of billings' "antiquities of scotland"; the imps conveyed from bagster's "pilgrim's progress"; the bearded and robed figure from any one of a thousand bible pictures; and the shoe-horn was plagiarised from an old illustrated bible, where it figured in the hand of samuel anointing saul, and had been pointed out to me as a jest by my father. it was shown me for a jest, remark; but the serious spirit of infancy adopted it in earnest. children are all classics; a bottle would have seemed an intermediary too trivial--that divine refreshment of whose meaning i had no guess; and i seized on the idea of that mystic shoe-horn with delight, even as, a little later, i should have written flagon, chalice, hanaper, beaker, or any word that might have appealed to me at the moment as least contaminate with mean associations. in this string of pictures i believe the gist of the psalm to have consisted; i believe it had no more to say to me; and the result was consolatory. i would go to sleep dwelling with restfulness upon these images; they passed before me, besides, to an appropriate music; for i had already singled out from that rude psalm the one lovely verse which dwells in the minds of all, not growing old, not disgraced by its association with long sunday tasks, a scarce conscious joy in childhood, in age a companion thought:- "in pastures green thou leadest me, the quiet waters by." the remainder of my childish recollections are all of the matter of what was read to me, and not of any manner in the words. if these pleased me, it was unconsciously; i listened for news of the great vacant world upon whose edge i stood; i listened for delightful plots that i might re-enact in play, and romantic scenes and circumstances that i might call up before me, with closed eyes, when i was tired of scotland, and home and that weary prison of the sick-chamber in which i lay so long in durance. "robinson crusoe"; some of the books of that cheerful, ingenious, romantic soul, mayne reid; and a work rather gruesome and bloody for a child, but very picturesque, called "paul blake"; these are the three strongest impressions i remember: "the swiss family robinson" came next, _longo intervallo_. at these i played, conjured up their scenes, and delighted to hear them rehearsed unto seventy times seven. i am not sure but what "paul blake" came after i could read. it seems connected with a visit to the country, and an experience unforgettable. the day had been warm; h---and i had played together charmingly all day in a sandy wilderness across the road; then came the evening with a great flash of colour and a heavenly sweetness in the air. somehow my playmate had vanished, or is out of the story, as the sagas say, but i was sent into the village on an errand; and, taking a book of fairy tales, went down alone through a fir-wood, reading as i walked. how often since then has it befallen me to be happy even so; but that was the first time: the shock of that pleasure i have never since forgot, and if my mind serves me to the last, i never shall, for it was then that i knew i loved reading. ii to pass from hearing literature to reading it is to take a great and dangerous step. with not a few, i think a large proportion of their pleasure then comes to an end; "the malady of not marking" overtakes them; they read thenceforward by the eye alone and hear never again the chime of fair words or the march of the stately period. _non ragioniam_ of these. but to all the step is dangerous; it involves coming of age; it is even a kind of second weaning. in the past all was at the choice of others; they chose, they digested, they read aloud for us and sang to their own tune the books of childhood. in the future we are to approach the silent, inexpressive type alone, like pioneers; and the choice of what we are to read is in our own hands thenceforward. for instance, in the passages already adduced, i detect and applaud the ear of my old nurse; they were of her choice, and she imposed them on my infancy, reading the works of others as a poet would scarce dare to read his own; gloating on the rhythm, dwelling with delight on assonances and alliterations. i know very well my mother must have been all the while trying to educate my taste upon more secular authors; but the vigour and the continual opportunities of my nurse triumphed, and after a long search, i can find in these earliest volumes of my autobiography no mention of anything but nursery rhymes, the bible, and mr. m'cheyne. i suppose all children agree in looking back with delight on their school readers. we might not now find so much pathos in "bingen on the rhine," "a soldier of the legion lay dying in algiers," or in "the soldier's funeral," in the declamation of which i was held to have surpassed myself. "robert's voice," said the master on this memorable occasion, "is not strong, but impressive": an opinion which i was fool enough to carry home to my father; who roasted me for years in consequence. i am sure one should not be so deliciously tickled by the humorous pieces:- "what, crusty? cries will in a taking, who would not be crusty with half a year's baking?" i think this quip would leave us cold. the "isles of greece" seem rather tawdry too; but on the "address to the ocean," or on "the dying gladiator," "time has writ no wrinkle." "'tis the morn, but dim and dark, whither flies the silent lark?"-does the reader recall the moment when his eye first fell upon these lines in the fourth reader; and "surprised with joy, impatient as the wind," he plunged into the sequel? and there was another piece, this time in prose, which none can have forgotten; many like me must have searched dickens with zeal to find it again, and in its proper context, and have perhaps been conscious of some inconsiderable measure of disappointment, that it was only tom pinch who drove, in such a pomp of poetry, to london. but in the reader we are still under guides. what a boy turns out for himself, as he rummages the bookshelves, is the real test and pleasure. my father's library was a spot of some austerity: the proceedings of learned societies, some latin divinity, cyclopã¦dias, physical science, and, above all, optics, held the chief place upon the shelves, and it was only in holes and corners that anything really legible existed as by accident. the "parent's assistant," "rob roy," "waverley," and "guy mannering," the "voyages of captain woods rogers," fuller's and bunyan's "holy wars," "the reflections of robinson crusoe," "the female bluebeard," g. sand's "mare au diable"--(how came it in that grave assembly!), ainsworth's "tower of london," and four old volumes of _punch_--these were the chief exceptions. in these latter, which made for years the chief of my diet, i very early fell in love (almost as soon as i could spell) with the snob papers. i knew them almost by heart, particularly the visit to the pontos; and i remember my surprise when i found, long afterwards, that they were famous, and signed with a famous name; to me, as i read and admired them, they were the works of mr. punch. time and again i tried to read "rob roy," with whom of course i was acquainted from the "tales of a grandfather"; time and again the early part, with rashleigh and (think of it!) the adorable diana, choked me off; and i shall never forget the pleasure and surprise with which, lying on the floor one summer evening, i struck of a sudden into the first scene with andrew fairservice. "the worthy dr. lightfoot"--"mistrysted with a bogle"--"a wheen green trash"--"jenny, lass, i think i ha'e her": from that day to this the phrases have been unforgotten. i read on, i need scarce say; i came to glasgow, i bided tryst on glasgow bridge, i met rob roy and the bailie in the tolbooth, all with transporting pleasure; and then the clouds gathered once more about my path; and i dozed and skipped until i stumbled half asleep into the clachan of aberfoyle, and the voices of iverach and galbraith recalled me to myself. with that scene and the defeat of captain thornton the book concluded; helen and her sons shocked even the little schoolboy of nine or ten with their unreality; i read no more, or i did not grasp what i was reading; and years elapsed before i consciously met diana and her father among the hills, or saw rashleigh dying in the chair. when i think of that novel and that evening, i am impatient with all others; they seem but shadows and impostors; they cannot satisfy the appetite which this awakened; and i dare be known to think it the best of sir walter's by nearly as much as sir walter is the best of novelists. perhaps mr. lang is right, and our first friends in the land of fiction are always the most real. and yet i had read before this "guy mannering," and some of "waverley," with no such delighted sense of truth and humour, and i read immediately after the greater part of the waverley novels, and was never moved again in the same way or to the same degree. one circumstance is suspicious: my critical estimate of the waverley novels has scarce changed at all since i was ten. "rob roy," "guy mannering," and "redgauntlet" first; then, a little lower, "the fortunes of nigel"; then, after a huge gulf, "ivanhoe" and "anne of geierstein": the rest nowhere; such was the verdict of the boy. since then "the antiquary," "st. ronan's well," "kenilworth," and "the heart of midlothian" have gone up in the scale; perhaps "ivanhoe" and "anne of geierstein" have gone a trifle down; diana vernon has been added to my admirations in that enchanted world of "rob roy"; i think more of the letters in "redgauntlet" and peter peebles, that dreadful piece of realism, i can now read about with equanimity, interest, and i had almost said pleasure, while to the childish critic he often caused unmixed distress. but the rest is the same; i could not finish "the pirate" when i was a child, i have never finished it yet; "peveril of the peak" dropped half way through from my schoolboy hands, and though i have since waded to an end in a kind of wager with myself, the exercise was quite without enjoyment. there is something disquieting in these considerations. i still think the visit to ponto's the best part of the "book of snobs": does that mean that i was right when i was a child, or does it mean that i have never grown since then, that the child is not the man's father, but the man? and that i came into the world with all my faculties complete, and have only learned sinsyne to be more tolerant of boredom?... footnote: [34] "jehovah tsidkenu," translated in the authorised version as "the lord our righteousness" (jeremiah xxiii. 6 and xxxiii. 16). xiv reflections and remarks on human life i. justice and justification.--(1) it is the business of this life to make excuses for others, but none for ourselves. we should be clearly persuaded of our own misconduct, for that is the part of knowledge in which we are most apt to be defective. (2) even justice is no right of a man's own, but a thing, like the king's tribute, which shall never be his, but which he should strive to see rendered to another. none was ever just to me; none ever will be. you may reasonably aspire to be chief minister or sovereign pontiff: but not to be justly regarded in your own character and acts. you know too much to be satisfied. for justice is but an earthly currency, paid to appearances; you may see another superficially righted; but be sure he has got too little or too much; and in your own case rest content with what is paid you. it is more just than you suppose; that your virtues are misunderstood is a price you pay to keep your meannesses concealed. (3) when you seek to justify yourself to others, you may be sure you will plead falsely. if you fail, you have the shame of the failure; if you succeed, you will have made too much of it, and be unjustly esteemed upon the other side. (4) you have perhaps only one friend in the world, in whose esteem it is worth while for you to right yourself. justification to indifferent persons is, at best, an impertinent intrusion. let them think what they please; they will be the more likely to forgive you in the end. (5) it is a question hard to be resolved, whether you should at any time criminate another to defend yourself. i have done it many times, and always had a troubled conscience for my pains. ii. parent and child.--(1) the love of parents for their children is, of all natural affections, the most ill-starred. it is not a love for the person, since it begins before the person has come into the world, and founds on an imaginary character and looks. thus it is foredoomed to disappointment; and because the parent either looks for too much, or at least for something inappropriate, at his offspring's hands, it is too often insufficiently repaid. the natural bond, besides, is stronger from parent to child than from child to parent; and it is the side which confers benefits, not which receives them, that thinks most of a relation. (2) what do we owe our parents? no man can _owe_ love; none can _owe_ obedience. we owe, i think, chiefly pity; for we are the pledge of their dear and joyful union, we have been the solicitude of their days and the anxiety of their nights, we have made them, though by no will of ours, to carry the burthen of our sins, sorrows, and physical infirmities; and too many of us grow up at length to disappoint the purpose of their lives and requite their care and piety with cruel pangs. (3) _mater dolorosa_. it is the particular cross of parents that when the child grows up and becomes himself instead of that pale ideal they had preconceived, they must accuse their own harshness or indulgence for this natural result. they have all been like the duck and hatched swan's eggs, or the other way about; yet they tell themselves with miserable penitence that the blame lies with them; and had they sat more closely, the swan would have been a duck, and home-keeping, in spite of all. (4) a good son, who can fulfil what is expected of him, has done his work in life. he has to redeem the sins of many, and restore the world's confidence in children. iii. dialogue on character and destiny between two puppets.--at the end of chapter xxxiii. count spada and the general of the jesuits were left alone in the pavilion, while the course of the story was turned upon the doings of the virtuous hero. profiting by this moment of privacy, the jesuit turned with a very warning countenance upon the peer. "have a care, my lord," said he, raising a finger. "you are already no favourite with the author; and for my part, i begin to perceive from a thousand evidences that the narrative is drawing near a close. yet a chapter or two at most, and you will be overtaken by some sudden and appalling judgment." "i despise your womanish presentiments," replied spada, "and count firmly upon another volume; i see a variety of reasons why my life should be prolonged to within a few pages of the end; indeed, i permit myself to expect resurrection in a sequel, or second part. you will scarce suggest that there can be any end to the newspaper; and you will certainly never convince me that the author, who cannot be entirely without sense, would have been at so great pains with my intelligence, gallant exterior, and happy and natural speech, merely to kick me hither and thither for two or three paltry chapters and then drop me at the end like a dumb personage. i know you priests are often infidels in secret. pray, do you believe in an author at all?" "many do not, i am aware," replied the general softly; "even in the last chapter we encountered one, the self-righteous david hume, who goes so far as to doubt the existence of the newspaper in which our adventures are now appearing; but it would neither become my cloth, nor do credit to my great experience, were i to meddle with these dangerous opinions. my alarm for you is not metaphysical, it is moral in its origin: you must be aware, my poor friend, that you are a very bad character--the worst indeed that i have met with in these pages. the author hates you, count; and difficult as it may be to connect the idea of immortality--or, in plain terms, of a sequel--with the paper and printer's ink of which your humanity is made, it is yet more difficult to foresee anything but punishment and pain for one who is justly hateful in the eyes of his creator." "you take for granted many things that i shall not easily be persuaded to allow," replied the villain. "do you really so far deceive yourself in your imagination as to fancy that the author is a friend to good? read; read the book in which you figure; and you will soon disown such crude vulgarities. lelio is a good character; yet only two chapters ago we left him in a fine predicament. his old servant was a model of the virtues, yet did he not miserably perish in that ambuscade upon the road to poitiers? and as for the family of the bankrupt merchant, how is it possible for greater moral qualities to be alive with more irremediable misfortunes? and yet you continue to misrepresent an author to yourself, as a deity devoted to virtue and inimical to vice? pray, if you have no pride in your own intellectual credit for yourself, spare at least the sensibilities of your associates." "the purposes of the serial story," answered the priest, "are, doubtless for some wise reason, hidden from those who act in it. to this limitation we must bow. but i ask every character to observe narrowly his own personal relations to the author. there, if nowhere else, we may glean some hint of his superior designs. now i am myself a mingled personage, liable to doubts, to scruples, and to sudden revulsions of feeling; i reason continually about life, and frequently the result of my reasoning is to condemn or even to change my action. i am now convinced, for example, that i did wrong in joining in your plot against the innocent and most unfortunate lelio. i told you so, you will remember, in the chapter which has just been concluded and though i do not know whether you perceived the ardour and fluency with which i expressed myself, i am still confident in my own heart that i spoke at that moment not only with the warm approval, but under the direct inspiration, of the author of the tale. i know, spada, i tell you i _know_, that he loved me as i uttered these words; and yet at other periods of my career i have been conscious of his indifference and dislike. you must not seek to reason me from this conviction; for it is supplied me from higher authority than that of reason, and is indeed a part of my experience. it may be an illusion that i drove last night from saumur; it may be an illusion that we are now in the garden chamber of the chã¢teau; it may be an illusion that i am conversing with count spada; you may be an illusion, count, yourself; but of three things i will remain eternally persuaded, that the author exists not only in the newspaper but in my own heart, that he loves me when i do well, and that he hates and despises me when i do otherwise." "i too believe in the author," returned the count. "i believe likewise in a sequel, written in finer style and probably cast in a still higher rank of society than the present story; although i am not convinced that we shall then be conscious of our pre-existence here. so much of your argument is, therefore, beside the mark; for to a certain point i am as orthodox as yourself. but where you begin to draw general conclusions from your own private experience, i must beg pointedly and finally to differ. you will not have forgotten, i believe, my daring and single-handed butchery of the five secret witnesses? nor the sleight of mind and dexterity of language with which i separated lelio from the merchant's family? these were not virtuous actions; and yet, how am i to tell you? i was conscious of a troubled joy, a glee, a hellish gusto in my author's bosom, which seemed to renew my vigour with every sentence, and which has indeed made the first of these passages accepted for a model of spirited narrative description, and the second for a masterpiece of wickedness and wit. what result, then, can be drawn from two experiences so contrary as yours and mine? for my part, i lay it down as a principle, no author can be moral in a merely human sense. and, to pursue the argument higher, how can you, for one instant, suppose the existence of free-will in puppets situated as we are in the thick of a novel which we do not even understand? and how, without free-will upon our parts, can you justify blame or approval on that of the author? we are in his hands; by a stroke of the pen, to speak reverently, he made us what we are; by a stroke of the pen he can utterly undo and transmute what he has made. in the very next chapter, my dear general, you may be shown up for an impostor, or i be stricken down in the tears of penitence and hurried into the retirement of a monastery!" "you use an argument old as mankind, and difficult of answer," said the priest. "i cannot justify the free-will of which i am usually conscious; nor will i ever seek to deny that this consciousness is interrupted. sometimes events mount upon me with such swiftness and pressure that my choice is overwhelmed, and even to myself i seem to obey a will external to my own; and again i am sometimes so paralysed and impotent between alternatives that i am tempted to imagine a hesitation on the part of my author. but i contend, upon the other hand, for a limited free-will in the sphere of consciousness; and as it is in and by my consciousness that i exist to myself, i will not go on to inquire whether that free-will is valid as against the author, the newspaper, or even the readers of the story. and i contend, further, for a sort of empire or independence of our own characters when once created, which the author cannot or at least does not choose to violate. hence lelio was conceived upright, honest, courageous, and headlong; to that first idea all his acts and speeches must of necessity continue to answer; and the same, though with such different defects and qualities, applies to you, count spada, and to myself. we must act up to our characters; it is these characters that the author loves or despises; it is on account of them that we must suffer or triumph, whether in this work or in a sequel. such is my belief." "it is pure calvinistic election, my dear sir, and, by your leave, a very heretical position for a churchman to support," replied the count. "nor can i see how it removes the difficulty. i was not consulted as to my character; i might have chosen to be lelio; i might have chosen to be yourself; i might even have preferred to figure in a different romance, or not to enter into the world of literature at all. and am i to be blamed or hated, because some one else wilfully and inhumanely made me what i am, and has continued ever since to encourage me in what are called my vices? you may say what you please, my dear sir, but if that is the case, i had rather be a telegram from the seat of war than a reasonable and conscious character in a romance; nay, and i have a perfect right to repudiate, loathe, curse, and utterly condemn the ruffian who calls himself the author." "you have, as you say, a perfect right," replied the jesuit; "and i am convinced that it will not affect him in the least." "he shall have one slave the fewer for me," added the count. "i discard my allegiance once for all." "as you please," concluded the other; "but at least be ready, for i perceive we are about to enter on the scene." and, indeed, just at that moment, chapter xxxiv. being completed, chapter xxxv., "the count's chastisement," began to appear in the columns of the newspaper. iv. solitude and society.--(1) a little society is needful to show a man his failings; for if he lives entirely by himself, he has no occasion to fall, and like a soldier in time of peace, becomes both weak and vain. but a little solitude must be used, or we grow content with current virtues and forget the ideal. in society we lose scrupulous brightness of honour; in solitude we lose the courage necessary to face our own imperfections. (2) as a question of pleasure, after a man has reached a certain age, i can hardly perceive much room to choose between them: each is in a way delightful, and each will please best after an experience of the other. (3) but solitude for its own sake should surely never be preferred. we are bound by the strongest obligations to busy ourselves amid the world of men, if it be only to crack jokes. the finest trait in the character of st. paul was his readiness to be damned for the salvation of anybody else. and surely we should all endure a little weariness to make one face look brighter or one hour go more pleasantly in this mixed world. (4) it is our business here to speak, for it is by the tongue that we multiply ourselves most influentially. to speak kindly, wisely, and pleasantly is the first of duties, the easiest of duties, and the duty that is most blessed in its performance. for it is natural, it whiles away life, it spreads intelligence; and it increases the acquaintance of man with man. (5) it is, besides, a good investment, for while all other pleasures decay, and even the delight in nature, grandfather william is still bent to gossip. (6) solitude is the climax of the negative virtues. when we go to bed after a solitary day we can tell ourselves that we have not been unkind nor dishonest nor untruthful; and the negative virtues are agreeable to that dangerous faculty we call the conscience. that they should ever be admitted for a part of virtue is what i cannot explain. i do not care two straws for all the _nots_. (7) the positive virtues are imperfect; they are even ugly in their imperfection: for man's acts, by the necessity of his being, are coarse and mingled. the kindest, in the course of a day of active kindnesses, will say some things rudely, and do some things cruelly; the most honourable, perhaps, trembles at his nearness to a doubtful act. (8) hence the solitary recoils from the practice of life, shocked by its unsightlinesses. but if i could only retain that superfine and guiding delicacy of the sense that grows in solitude, and still combine with it that courage of performance which is never abashed by any failure, but steadily pursues its right and human design in a scene of imperfection, i might hope to strike in the long-run a conduct more tender to others and less humiliating to myself. v. selfishness and egoism.--an unconscious, easy, selfish person shocks less, and is more easily loved, than one who is laboriously and egotistically unselfish. there is at least no fuss about the first; but the other parades his sacrifices, and so sells his favours too dear. selfishness is calm, a force of nature: you might say the trees were selfish. but egoism is a piece of vanity; it must always take you into its confidence; it is uneasy, troublesome, seeking; it can do good, but not handsomely; it is uglier, because less dignified, than selfishness itself. but here i perhaps exaggerate to myself, because i am the one more than the other, and feel it like a hook in my mouth, at every step i take. do what i will, this seems to spoil all. vi. right and wrong.--it is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in the retrospect. we should have been cut-throats to do otherwise. and there's an end. we ought to know distinctly that we are damned for what we do wrong; but when we have done right, we have only been gentlemen, after all. there is nothing to make a work about. vii. discipline of conscience.--(1) never allow your mind to dwell on your own misconduct: that is ruin. the conscience has morbid sensibilities; it must be employed but not indulged, like the imagination or the stomach. (2) let each stab suffice for the occasion; to play with this spiritual pain turns to penance; and a person easily learns to feel good by dallying with the consciousness of having done wrong. (3) shut your eyes hard against the recollection of your sins. do not be afraid, you will not be able to forget them. (4) you will always do wrong: you must try to get used to that, my son. it is a small matter to make a work about, when all the world is in the same case. i meant when i was a young man to write a great poem; and now i am cobbling little prose articles and in excellent good spirits, i thank you. so, too, i meant to lead a life that should keep mounting from the first; and though i have been repeatedly down again below sea-level, and am scarce higher than when i started, i am as keen as ever for that enterprise. our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail, in good spirits. (5) there is but one test of a good life: that the man shall continue to grow more difficult about his own behaviour. that is to be good: there is no other virtue attainable. the virtues we admire in the saint and the hero are the fruits of a happy constitution. you, for your part, must not think you will ever be a good man, for these are born and not made. you will have your own reward, if you keep on growing better than you were--how do i say? if you do not keep on growing worse. (6) a man is one thing, and must be exercised in all his faculties. whatever side of you is neglected, whether it is the muscles, or the taste for art, or the desire for virtue, that which is cultivated will suffer in proportion. ---was greatly tempted, i remember, to do a very dishonest act, in order that he might pursue his studies in art. when he consulted me, i advised him not (putting it that way for once), because his art would suffer. (7) it might be fancied that if we could only study all sides of our being in an exact proportion, we should attain wisdom. but in truth a chief part of education is to exercise one set of faculties _ã  outrance_--one, since we have not the time so to practise all; thus the dilettante misses the kernel of the matter; and the man who has wrung forth the secret of one part of life knows more about the others than he who has tepidly circumnavigated all. (8) thus, one must be your profession, the rest can only be your delights; and virtue had better be kept for the latter, for it enters into all, but none enters by necessity into it. you will learn a great deal of virtue by studying any art; but nothing of any art in the study of virtue. (9) the study of conduct has to do with grave problems; not every action should be higgled over; one of the leading virtues therein is to let oneself alone. but if you make it your chief employment, you are sure to meddle too much. this is the great error of those who are called pious. although the war of virtue be unending except with life, hostilities are frequently suspended, and the troops go into winter quarters; but the pious will not profit by these times of truce; where their conscience can perceive no sin, they will find a sin in that very innocency; and so they pervert, to their annoyance, those seasons which god gives to us for repose and a reward. (10) the nearest approximation to sense in all this matter lies with the quakers. there must be no _will_-worship; how much more, no _will_-repentance! the damnable consequence of set seasons, even for prayer, is to have a man continually posturing to himself, till his conscience is taught as many tricks as a pet monkey, and the gravest expressions are left with a perverted meaning. (11) for my part, i should try to secure some part of every day for meditation, above all in the early morning and the open air; but how that time was to be improved i should leave to circumstance and the inspiration of the hour. nor if i spent it in whistling or numbering my footsteps, should i consider it misspent for that. i should have given my conscience a fair field; when it has anything to say, i know too well it can speak daggers; therefore, for this time, my hard taskmaster has given me a holyday, and i may go in again rejoicing to my breakfast and the human business of the day. viii. gratitude to god.--(1) to the gratitude that becomes us in this life, i can set no limit. though we steer after a fashion, yet we must sail according to the winds and currents. after what i have done, what might i not have done? that i have still the courage to attempt my life, that i am not now overladen with dishonours, to whom do i owe it but to the gentle ordering of circumstances in the great design? more has not been done to me than i can bear; i have been marvellously restrained and helped; not unto us, o lord! (2) i cannot forgive god for the suffering of others; when i look abroad upon his world and behold its cruel destinies, i turn from him with disaffection; nor do i conceive that he will blame me for the impulse. but when i consider my own fates, i grow conscious of his gentle dealing: i see him chastise with helpful blows, i feel his stripes to be caresses; and this knowledge is my comfort that reconciles me to the world. (3) all those whom i now pity with indignation, are perhaps not less fatherly dealt with than myself. i do right to be angry: yet they, perhaps, if they lay aside heat and temper, and reflect with patience on their lot, may find everywhere, in their worst trials, the same proofs of a divine affection. (4) while we have little to try us, we are angry with little; small annoyances do not bear their justification on their faces; but when we are overtaken by a great sorrow or perplexity, the greatness of our concern sobers us so that we see more clearly and think with more consideration. i speak for myself; nothing grave has yet befallen me but i have been able to reconcile my mind to its occurrence, and see in it, from my own little and partial point of view, an evidence of a tender and protecting god. even the misconduct into which i have been led has been blessed to my improvement. if i did not sin, and that so glaringly that my conscience is convicted on the spot, i do not know what i should become, but i feel sure i should grow worse. the man of very regular conduct is too often a prig, if he be not worse--a rabbi. i, for my part, want to be startled out of my conceits; i want to be put to shame in my own eyes; i want to feel the bridle in my mouth, and be continually reminded of my own weakness and the omnipotence of circumstances. (5) if i from my spy-hole, looking with purblind eyes upon the least part of a fraction of the universe, yet perceive in my own destiny some broken evidences of a plan and some signals of an overruling goodness; shall i then be so mad as to complain that all cannot be deciphered? shall i not rather wonder, with infinite and grateful surprise, that in so vast a scheme i seem to have been able to read, however little, and that that little was encouraging to faith? ix. blame.--what comes from without and what from within, how much of conduct proceeds from the spirit or how much from circumstances, what is the part of choice and what the part of the selection offered, where personal character begins or where, if anywhere, it escapes at all from the authority of nature, these are questions of curiosity and eternally indifferent to right and wrong. our theory of blame is utterly sophisticated and untrue to man's experience. we are as much ashamed of a pimpled face that came to us by natural descent as by one that we have earned by our excesses, and rightly so; since the two cases, in so much as they unfit us for the easier sort of pleasing and put an obstacle in the path of love, are exactly equal in their consequence. we look aside from the true question. we cannot blame others at all; we can only punish them; and ourselves we blame indifferently for a deliberate crime, a thoughtless brusquerie, or an act done without volition in an ecstasy of madness. we blame ourselves from two considerations: first, because another has suffered; and second, because, in so far as we have again done wrong, we can look forward with the less confidence to what remains of our career. shall we repent this failure? it is there that the consciousness of sin most cruelly affects us; it is in view of this that a man cries out, in exaggeration, that his heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. we all tacitly subscribe this judgment: woe unto him by whom offences shall come! we accept palliations for our neighbours; we dare not, in sight of our own soul, accept them for ourselves. we may not be to blame; we may be conscious of no free will in the matter, of a possession, on the other hand, or an irresistible tyranny of circumstance,--yet we know, in another sense, we are to blame for all. our right to live, to eat, to share in mankind's pleasures, lies precisely in this: that we must be persuaded we can on the whole live rather beneficially than hurtfully to others. remove this persuasion, and the man has lost his right. that persuasion is our dearest jewel, to which we must sacrifice the life itself to which it entitles us. for it is better to be dead than degraded. x. marriage.--(1) no considerate man can approach marriage without deep concern. i, he will think, who have made hitherto so poor a business of my own life, am now about to embrace the responsibility of another's. henceforth, there shall be two to suffer from my faults; and that other is the one whom i most desire to shield from suffering. in view of our impotence and folly, it seems an act of presumption to involve another's destiny with ours. we should hesitate to assume command of an army or a trading-smack; shall we not hesitate to become surety for the life and happiness, now and henceforward, of our dearest friend? to be nobody's enemy but one's own, although it is never possible to any, can least of all be possible to one who is married. (2) i would not so much fear to give hostages to fortune, if fortune ruled only in material things; but fortune, as we call those minor and more inscrutable workings of providence, rules also in the sphere of conduct. i am not so blind but that i know i might be a murderer or even a traitor to-morrow; and now, as if i were not already too feelingly alive to my misdeeds, i must choose out the one person whom i most desire to please, and make her the daily witness of my failures, i must give a part in all my dishonours to the one person who can feel them more keenly than myself. (3) in all our daring, magnanimous human way of life, i find nothing more bold than this. to go into battle is but a small thing by comparison. it is the last act of committal. after that, there is no way left, not even suicide, but to be a good man. (4) she will help you, let us pray. and yet she is in the same case; she, too, has daily made shipwreck of her own happiness and worth; it is with a courage no less irrational than yours, that she also ventures on this new experiment of life. two who have failed severally, now join their fortunes with a wavering hope. (5) but it is from the boldness of the enterprise that help springs. to take home to your hearth that living witness whose blame will most affect you, to eat, to sleep, to live with your most admiring and thence most exacting judge, is not this to domesticate the living god? each becomes a conscience to the other, legible like a clock upon the chimney-piece. each offers to his mate a figure of the consequence of human acts. and while i may still continue by my inconsiderate or violent life to spread far-reaching havoc throughout man's confederacy, i can do so no more, at least, in ignorance and levity; one face shall wince before me in the flesh; i have taken home the sorrows i create to my own hearth and bed; and though i continue to sin, it must be now with open eyes. xi. idleness and industry.--i remember a time when i was very idle; and lived and profited by that humour. i have no idea why i ceased to be so, yet i scarce believe i have the power to return to it; it is a change of age. i made consciously a thousand little efforts, but the determination from which these arose came to me while i slept and in the way of growth. i have had a thousand skirmishes to keep myself at work upon particular mornings, and sometimes the affair was hot; but of that great change of campaign, which decided all this part of my life, and turned me from one whose business was to shirk into one whose business was to strive and persevere,--it seems as though all that had been done by some one else. the life of goethe affected me; so did that of balzac; and some very noble remarks by the latter in a pretty bad book, the "cousine bette." i daresay i could trace some other influences in the change. all i mean is, i was never conscious of a struggle, nor registered a vow, nor seemingly had anything personally to do with the matter. i came about like a well-handled ship. there stood at the wheel that unknown steersman whom we call god. xii. courage.--courage is the principal virtue, for all the others presuppose it. if you are afraid, you may do anything. courage is to be cultivated, and some of the negative virtues may be sacrificed in the cultivation. xiii. results of action.--the result is the reward of actions, not the test. the result is a child born; if it be beautiful and healthy, well: if club-footed or crook-back, perhaps well also. we cannot direct ... [1878?] xv the ideal house two things are necessary in any neighbourhood where we propose to spend a life: a desert and some living water. there are many parts of the earth's face which offer the necessary combination of a certain wildness with a kindly variety. a great prospect is desirable, but the want may be otherwise supplied; even greatness can be found on the small scale; for the mind and the eye measure differently. bold rocks near hand are more inspiriting than distant alps, and the thick fern upon a surrey heath makes a fine forest for the imagination, and the dotted yew trees noble mountains. a scottish moor with birches and firs grouped here and there upon a knoll, or one of those rocky sea-side deserts of provence overgrown with rosemary and thyme and smoking with aroma, are places where the mind is never weary. forests, being more enclosed, are not at first sight so attractive, but they exercise a spell; they must, however, be diversified with either heath or rock, and are hardly to be considered perfect without conifers. even sand-hills, with their intricate plan, and their gulls and rabbits, will stand well for the necessary desert. the house must be within hail of either a little river or the sea. a great river is more fit for poetry than to adorn a neighbourhood; its sweep of waters increases the scale of the scenery and the distance of one notable object from another; and a lively burn gives us, in the space of a few yards, a greater variety of promontory and islet, of cascade, shallow goil, and boiling pool, with answerable changes both of song and colour, than a navigable stream in many hundred miles. the fish, too, make a more considerable feature of the brook-side, and the trout plumping in the shadow takes the ear. a stream should, besides, be narrow enough to cross, or the burn hard by a bridge, or we are at once shut out of eden. the quantity of water need be of no concern, for the mind sets the scale, and can enjoy a niagara fall of thirty inches. let us approve the singer of "shallow rivers, by whose falls melodious birds sing madrigals." if the sea is to be our ornamental water, choose an open seaboard with a heavy beat of surf; one much broken in outline, with small havens and dwarf headlands; if possible a few islets; and as a first necessity, rocks reaching out into deep water. such a rock on a calm day is a better station than the top of teneriffe or chimborazo. in short, both for the desert and the water, the conjunction of many near and bold details is bold scenery for the imagination and keeps the mind alive. given these two prime luxuries, the nature of the country where we are to live is, i had almost said, indifferent; after that, inside the garden, we can construct a country of our own. several old trees, a considerable variety of level, several well-grown hedges to divide our garden into provinces, a good extent of old well-set turf, and thickets of shrubs and evergreens to be cut into and cleared at the new owner's pleasure, are the qualities to be sought for in your chosen land. nothing is more delightful than a succession of small lawns, opening one out of the other through tall hedges; these have all the charm of the old bowling-green repeated, do not require the labour of many trimmers, and afford a series of changes. you must have much lawn against the early summer, so as to have a great field of daisies, the year's morning frost; as you must have a wood of lilacs, to enjoy to the full the period of their blossoming. hawthorn is another of the spring's ingredients; but it is even best to have a rough public lane at one side of your enclosure which, at the right season, shall become an avenue of bloom and odour. the old flowers are the best and should grow carelessly in corners. indeed, the ideal fortune is to find an old garden, once very richly cared for, since sunk into neglect, and to tend, not repair, that neglect; it will thus have a smack of nature and wildness which skilful dispositions cannot overtake. the gardener should be an idler, and have a gross partiality to the kitchen plots: an eager or toilful gardener mis-becomes the garden landscape; a tasteful gardener will be ever meddling, will keep the borders raw, and take the bloom off nature. close adjoining, if you are in the south, an olive-yard, if in the north, a swarded apple-orchard reaching to the stream, completes your miniature domain; but this is perhaps best entered through a door in the high fruit-wall; so that you close the door behind you on your sunny plots, your hedges and evergreen jungle, when you go down to watch the apples falling in the pool. it is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves. nor must the ear be forgotten: without birds, a garden is a prison-yard. there is a garden near marseilles on a steep hill-side, walking by which, upon a sunny morning, your ear will suddenly be ravished with a burst of small and very cheerful singing: some score of cages being set out there to sun the occupants. this is a heavenly surprise to any passer-by; but the price paid, to keep so many ardent and winged creatures from their liberty, will make the luxury too dear for any thoughtful pleasure-lover. there is only one sort of bird that i can tolerate caged, though even then i think it hard, and that is what is called in france the bec-d'argent. i once had two of these pigmies in captivity; and in the quiet, bare house upon a silent street where i was then living, their song, which was not much louder than a bee's, but airily musical, kept me in a perpetual good humour. i put the cage upon my table when i worked, carried it with me when i went for meals, and kept it by my head at night: the first thing in the morning, these _maestrini_ would pipe up. but these, even if you can pardon their imprisonment, are for the house. in the garden the wild birds must plant a colony, a chorus of the lesser warblers that should be almost deafening, a blackbird in the lilacs, a nightingale down the lane, so that you must stroll to hear it, and yet a little farther, tree-tops populous with rooks. your house should not command much outlook; it should be set deep and green, though upon rising ground, or, if possible, crowning a knoll, for the sake of drainage. yet it must be open to the east, or you will miss the sunrise; sunset occurring so much later, you can go up a few steps and look the other way. a house of more than two stories is a mere barrack; indeed the ideal is of one story, raised upon cellars. if the rooms are large, the house may be small: a single room, lofty, spacious, and lightsome, is more palatial than a castleful of cabinets and cupboards. yet size in a house, and some extent and intricacy of corridor, is certainly delightful to the flesh. the reception room should be, if possible, a place of many recesses, which are "petty retiring places for conference"; but it must have one long wall with a divan: for a day spent upon a divan, among a world of cushions, is as full of diversion as to travel. the eating-room, in the french mode, should be _ad hoc_: unfurnished, but with a buffet, the table, necessary chairs, one or two of canaletto's etchings, and a tile fire-place for the winter. in neither of these public places should there be anything beyond a shelf or two of books; but the passages may be one library from end to end, and the stair, if there be one, lined with volumes in old leather, very brightly carpeted, and leading half-way up, and by way of landing, to a windowed recess with a fire-place; this window, almost alone in the house, should command a handsome prospect. husband and wife must each possess a studio; on the woman's sanctuary i hesitate to dwell, and turn to the man's. the walls are shelved waist-high for books, and the top thus forms a continuous table running round the wall. above are prints, a large map of the neighbourhood, a corot and a claude or two. the room is very spacious, and the five tables and two chairs are but as islands. one table is for actual work, one close by for references in use; one, very large, for mss. or proofs that wait their turn; one kept clear for an occasion; and the fifth is the map table, groaning under a collection of large-scale maps and charts. of all books these are the least wearisome to read and the richest in matter; the course of roads and rivers, the contour lines and the forests in the maps--the reefs, soundings, anchors, sailing marks and little pilot-pictures in the charts--and, in both, the bead-roll of names, make them of all printed matter the most fit to stimulate and satisfy the fancy. the chair in which you write is very low and easy, and backed into a corner; at one elbow the fire twinkles; close at the other, if you are a little inhumane, your cage of silver-bills are twittering into song. joined along by a passage, you may reach the great sunny, glass-roofed, and tiled gymnasium, at the far end of which, lined with bright marble, is your plunge and swimming bath, fitted with a capacious boiler. the whole loft of the house from end to end makes one undivided chamber; here are set forth tables on which to model imaginary or actual countries in putty or plaster, with tools and hardy pigments; a carpenter's bench; and a spared corner for photography, while at the far end a space is kept clear for playing soldiers. two boxes contain the two armies of some five hundred horse and foot; two others the ammunition of each side, and a fifth the foot-rules and the three colours of chalk, with which you lay down, or, after a day's play, refresh the outlines of the country; red or white for the two kinds of road (according as they are suitable or not for the passage of ordnance), and blue for the course of the obstructing rivers. here i foresee that you may pass much happy time; against a good adversary a game may well continue for a month; for with armies so considerable three moves will occupy an hour. it will be found to set an excellent edge on this diversion if one of the players shall, every day or so, write a report of the operations in the character of army correspondent. i have left to the last the little room for winter evenings. this should be furnished in warm positive colours, and sofas and floor thick with rich furs. the hearth, where you burn wood of aromatic quality on silver dogs, tiled round about with bible pictures; the seats deep and easy; a single titian in a gold frame; a white bust or so upon a bracket; a rack for the journals of the week; a table for the books of the year; and close in a corner the three shelves full of eternal books that never weary: shakespeare, moliã¨re, montaigne, lamb, sterne, de musset's comedies (the one volume open at _carmosine_ and the other at _fantasio_); the "arabian nights," and kindred stories, in weber's solemn volumes; borrow's "bible in spain," the "pilgrim's progress," "guy mannering," and "rob roy," "monte cristo," and the "vicomte de bragelonne," immortal boswell sole among biographers, chaucer, herrick, and the "state trials." the bedrooms are large, airy, with almost no furniture, floors of varnished wood, and at the bed-head, in case of insomnia, one shelf of books of a particular and dippable order, such as "pepys," the "paston letters," burt's "letters from the highlands," or the "newgate calendar." ... [1884?] lay morals _the following chapters of a projected treatise on ethics were drafted at edinburgh in the spring of 1879. they are unrevised, and must not be taken as representing, either as to matter or form, their author's final thoughts; but they contain much that is essentially characteristic of his mind._ lay morals chapter i the problem of education is twofold: first to know, and then to utter. every one who lives any semblance of an inner life thinks more nobly and profoundly than he speaks; and the best of teachers can impart only broken images of the truth which they perceive. speech which goes from one to another between two natures, and, what is worse, between two experiences, is doubly relative. the speaker buries his meaning; it is for the hearer to dig it up again; and all speech, written or spoken, is in a dead language until it finds a willing and prepared hearer. such, moreover, is the complexity of life, that when we condescend upon details in our advice, we may be sure we condescend on error; and the best of education is to throw out some magnanimous hints. no man was ever so poor that he could express all he has in him by words, looks, or actions; his true knowledge is eternally incommunicable, for it is a knowledge of himself; and his best wisdom comes to him by no process of the mind, but in a supreme self-dictation, which keeps varying from hour to hour in its dictates with the variation of events and circumstances. a few men of picked nature, full of faith, courage, and contempt for others, try earnestly to set forth as much as they can grasp of this inner law; but the vast majority, when they come to advise the young, must be content to retail certain doctrines which have been already retailed to them in their own youth. every generation has to educate another which it has brought upon the stage. people who readily accept the responsibility of parentship, having very different matters in their eye, are apt to feel rueful when their responsibility falls due. what are they to tell the child about life and conduct, subjects on which they have themselves so few and such confused opinions? indeed, i do not know; the least said, perhaps, the soonest mended; and yet the child keeps asking, and the parent must find some words to say in his own defence. where does he find them? and what are they when found? as a matter of experience, and in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand, he will instil into his wide-eyed brat three bad things; the terror of public opinion, and, flowing from that as a fountain, the desire of wealth and applause. besides these, or what might be deduced as corollaries from these, he will teach not much else of any effective value: some dim notions of divinity, perhaps, and book-keeping, and how to walk through a quadrille. but, you may tell me, the young people are taught to be christians. it may be want of penetration, but i have not yet been able to perceive it. as an honest man, whatever we teach, and be it good or evil, it is not the doctrine of christ. what he taught (and in this he is like all other teachers worthy of the name) was not a code of rules, but a ruling spirit; not truths, but a spirit of truth; not views, but a view. what he showed us was an attitude of mind. towards the many considerations on which conduct is built, each man stands in a certain relation. he takes life on a certain principle. he has a compass in his spirit which points in a certain direction. it is the attitude, the relation, the point of the compass, that is the whole body and gist of what he has to teach us; in this, the details are comprehended; out of this the specific precepts issue, and by this, and this only, can they be explained and applied. and thus, to learn aright from any teacher, we must first of all, like a historical artist, think ourselves into sympathy with his position and, in the technical phrase, create his character. a historian confronted with some ambiguous politician, or an actor charged with a part, have but one pre-occupation; they must search all round and upon every side, and grope for some central conception which is to explain and justify the most extreme details; until that is found, the politician is an enigma, or perhaps a quack, and the part a tissue of fustian sentiment and big words; but once that is found, all enters into a plan, a human nature appears, the politician or the stage-king is understood from point to point, from end to end. this is a degree of trouble which will be gladly taken by a very humble artist; but not even the terror of eternal fire can teach a business man to bend his imagination to such athletic efforts. yet without this, all is vain; until we understand the whole, we shall understand none of the parts; and otherwise we have no more than broken images and scattered words; the meaning remains buried; and the language in which our prophet speaks to us is a dead language in our ears. take a few of christ's sayings and compare them with our current doctrines. "_ye cannot_," he says, "_serve god and mammon_." cannot? and our whole system is to teach us how we can! "_the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light._" are they? i had been led to understand the reverse: that the christian merchant, for example, prospered exceedingly in his affairs; that honesty was the best policy; that an author of repute had written a conclusive treatise "how to make the best of both worlds." of both worlds indeed! which am i to believe then--christ or the author of repute? "_take no thought for the morrow._" ask the successful merchant; interrogate your own heart; and you will have to admit that this is not only a silly but an immoral position. all we believe, all we hope, all we honour in ourselves or our contemporaries, stands condemned in this one sentence, or, if you take the other view, condemns the sentence as unwise and inhumane. we are not then of the "same mind that was in christ." we disagree with christ. either christ meant nothing, or else he or we must be in the wrong. well says thoreau, speaking of some texts from the new testament, and finding a strange echo of another style which the reader may recognise: "let but one of these sentences be rightly read from any pulpit in the land, and there would not be left one stone of that meeting-house upon another." it may be objected that these are what are called "hard sayings"; and that a man, or an education, may be very sufficiently christian although it leave some of these sayings upon one side. but this is a very gross delusion. although truth is difficult to state, it is both easy and agreeable to receive, and the mind runs out to meet it ere the phrase be done. the universe, in relation to what any man can say of it, is plain, patent, and staringly comprehensible. in itself, it is a great and travailing ocean, unsounded, unvoyageable, an eternal mystery to man; or, let us say, it is a monstrous and impassable mountain, one side of which, and a few near slopes and foothills, we can dimly study with these mortal eyes. but what any man can say of it, even in his highest utterance, must have relation to this little and plain corner, which is no less visible to us than to him. we are looking on the same map; it will go hard if we cannot follow the demonstration. the longest and most abstruse flight of a philosopher becomes clear and shallow, in the flash of a moment, when we suddenly perceive the aspect and drift of his intention. the longest argument is but a finger pointed; once we get our own finger rightly parallel, and we see what the man meant, whether it be a new star or an old street-lamp. and briefly, if a saying is hard to understand, it is because we are thinking of something else. but to be a true disciple is to think of the same things as our prophet, and to think of different things in the same order. to be of the same mind with another is to see all things in the same perspective; it is not to agree in a few indifferent matters near at hand and not much debated; it is to follow him in his farthest flights, to see the force of his hyperboles, to stand so exactly in the centre of his vision that whatever he may express, your eyes will light at once on the original, that whatever he may see to declare, your mind will at once accept. you do not belong to the school of any philosopher, because you agree with him that theft is, on the whole, objectionable, or that the sun is overhead at noon. it is by the hard sayings that discipleship is tested. we are all agreed about the middling and indifferent parts of knowledge and morality; even the most soaring spirits too often take them tamely upon trust. but the man, the philosopher or the moralist, does not stand upon these chance adhesions; and the purpose of any system looks towards those extreme points where it steps valiantly beyond tradition and returns with some covert hint of things outside. then only can you be certain that the words are not words of course, nor mere echoes of the past; then only are you sure that if he be indicating anything at all, it is a star and not a street-lamp; then only do you touch the heart of the mystery; since it was for these that the author wrote his book. now, every now and then, and indeed surprisingly often, christ finds a word that transcends all commonplace morality; every now and then he quits the beaten track to pioneer the unexpressed, and throws out a pregnant and magnanimous hyperbole; for it is only by some bold poetry of thought that men can be strung up above the level of everyday conceptions to take a broader look upon experience or accept some higher principle of conduct. to a man who is of the same mind that was in christ, who stands at some centre not too far from his, and looks at the world and conduct from some not dissimilar or, at least, not opposing attitude--or, shortly, to a man who is of christ's philosophy--every such saying should come home with a thrill of joy and corroboration; he should feel each one below his feet as another sure foundation in the flux of time and chance; each should be another proof that in the torrent of the years and generations, where doctrines and great armaments and empires are swept away and swallowed, he stands immovable, holding by the eternal stars. but, alas! at this juncture of the ages it is not so with us; on each and every such occasion our whole fellowship of christians falls back in disapproving wonder and implicitly denies the saying. christians! the farce is impudently broad. let us stand up in the sight of heaven and confess. the ethics that we hold are those of benjamin franklin. _honesty is the best policy_, is perhaps a hard saying; it is certainly one by which a wise man of these days will not too curiously direct his steps; but i think it shows a glimmer of meaning to even our most dimmed intelligences; i think we perceive a principle behind it; i think, without hyperbole, we are of the same mind that was in benjamin franklin. chapter ii but, i may be told, we teach the ten commandments, where a world of morals lies condensed, the very pith and epitome of all ethics and religion; and a young man with these precepts engraved upon his mind must follow after profit with some conscience and christianity of method. a man cannot go very far astray who neither dishonours his parents, nor kills, nor commits adultery, nor steals, nor bears false witness; for these things, rightly thought out, cover a vast field of duty. alas! what is a precept? it is at best an illustration; it is case law at the best which can be learned by precept. the letter is not only dead, but killing; the spirit which underlies, and cannot be uttered, alone is true and helpful. this is trite to sickness; but familiarity has a cunning disenchantment; in a day or two she can steal all beauty from the mountain tops; and the most startling words begin to fall dead upon the ear after several repetitions. if you see a thing too often, you no longer see it; if you hear a thing too often, you no longer hear it. our attention requires to be surprised; and to carry a fort by assault, or to gain a thoughtful hearing from the ruck of mankind, are feats of about equal difficulty and must be tried by not dissimilar means. the whole bible has thus lost its message for the common run of hearers; it has become mere words of course; and the parson may bawl himself scarlet and beat the pulpit like a thing possessed, but his hearers will continue to nod; they are strangely at peace; they know all he has to say; ring the old bell as you choose, it is still the old bell and it cannot startle their composure. and so with this byword about the letter and the spirit. it is quite true, no doubt; but it has no meaning in the world to any man of us. alas! it has just this meaning, and neither more nor less: that while the spirit is true, the letter is eternally false. the shadow of a great oak lies abroad upon the ground at noon, perfect, clear, and stable like the earth. but let a man set himself to mark out the boundary with cords and pegs, and were he never so nimble and never so exact, what with the multiplicity of the leaves and the progression of the shadow as it flees before the travelling sun, long ere he has made the circuit the whole figure will have changed. life may be compared, not to a single tree, but to a great and complicated forest; circumstance is more swiftly changing than a shadow, language much more inexact than the tools of a surveyor; from day to day the trees fall and are renewed; the very essences are fleeting as we look; and the whole world of leaves is swinging tempest-tossed among the winds of time. look now for your shadows. o man of formulã¦, is this a place for you? have you fitted the spirit to a single case? alas, in the cycle of the ages when shall such another be proposed for the judgment of man? now when the sun shines and the winds blow, the wood is filled with an innumerable multitude of shadows, tumultuously tossed and changing; and at every gust the whole carpet leaps and becomes new. can you or your heart say more? look back now, for a moment, on your own brief experience of life; and although you lived it feelingly in your own person, and had every step of conduct burned in by pains and joys upon your memory, tell me what definite lesson does experience hand on from youth to manhood, or from both to age? the settled tenor which first strikes the eye is but the shadow of a delusion. this is gone; that never truly was; and you yourself are altered beyond recognition. times and men and circumstances change about your changing character, with a speed of which no earthly hurricane affords an image. what was the best yesterday, is it still the best in this changed theatre of a to-morrow? will your own past truly guide you in your own violent and unexpected future? and if this be questionable, with what humble, with what hopeless eyes, should we not watch other men driving beside us on their unknown careers, seeing with unlike eyes, impelled by different gales, doing and suffering in another sphere of things? and as the authentic clue to such a labyrinth and change of scene, do you offer me these two score words? these five bald prohibitions? for the moral precepts are no more than five; the first four deal rather with matters of observance than of conduct; the tenth, _thou shall not covet_, stands upon another basis, and shall be spoken of ere long. the jews, to whom they were first given, in the course of years began to find these precepts insufficient; and made an addition of no less than six hundred and fifty others! they hoped to make a pocket-book of reference on morals, which should stand to life in some such relation, say, as hoyle stands in to the scientific game of whist. the comparison is just, and condemns the design; for those who play by rule will never be more than tolerable players; and you and i would like to play our game in life to the noblest and the most divine advantage. yet if the jews took a petty and huckstering view of conduct, what view do we take ourselves, who callously leave youth to go forth into the enchanted forest, full of spells and dire chimeras, with no guidance more complete than is afforded by these five precepts? _honour thy father and thy mother_. yes, but does that mean to obey? and if so, how long and how far? _thou shall not kill_. yet the very intention and purport of the prohibition may be best fulfilled by killing. _thou shall not commit adultery_. but some of the ugliest adulteries are committed in the bed of marriage and under the sanction of religion and law. _thou shalt not bear false witness_. how? by speech or by silence also? or even by a smile? _thou shalt not steal._ ah, that indeed! but what is _to steal_? to steal? it is another word to be construed; and who is to be our guide? the police will give us one construction, leaving the world only that least minimum of meaning without which society would fall in pieces; but surely we must take some higher sense than this; surely we hope more than a bare subsistence for mankind; surely we wish mankind to prosper and go on from strength to strength, and ourselves to live rightly in the eye of some more exacting potentate than a policeman. the approval or the disapproval of the police must be eternally indifferent to a man who is both valorous and good. there is extreme discomfort, but no shame, in the condemnation of the law. the law represents that modicum of morality which can be squeezed out of the ruck of mankind; but what is that to me, who aim higher and seek to be my own more stringent judge? i observe with pleasure that no brave man has ever given a rush for such considerations. the japanese have a nobler and more sentimental feeling for this social bond into which we all are born when we come into the world, and whose comforts and protection we all indifferently share throughout our lives:--but even to them, no more than to our western saints and heroes, does the law of the state supersede the higher law of duty. without hesitation and without remorse, they transgress the stiffest enactments rather than abstain from doing right. but the accidental superior duty being thus fulfilled, they at once return in allegiance to the common duty of all citizens; and hasten to denounce themselves; and value at an equal rate their just crime and their equally just submission to its punishment. the evading of the police will not long satisfy an active conscience or a thoughtful head. but to show you how one or the other may trouble a man, and what a vast extent of frontier is left unridden by this invaluable eighth commandment, let me tell you a few pages out of a young man's life. he was a friend of mine; a young man like others; generous, flighty, as variable as youth itself, but always with some high motives and on the search for higher thoughts of life. i should tell you at once that he thoroughly agrees with the eighth commandment. but he got hold of some unsettling works, the new testament among others, and this loosened his views of life and led him into many perplexities. as he was the son of a man in a certain position, and well off, my friend had enjoyed from the first the advantages of education, nay, he had been kept alive through a sickly childhood by constant watchfulness, comforts, and change of air; for all of which he was indebted to his father's wealth. at college he met other lads more diligent than himself, who followed the plough in summer-time to pay their college fees in winter; and this inequality struck him with some force. he was at that age of a conversible temper, and insatiably curious in the aspects of life; and he spent much of his time scraping acquaintance with all classes of manand woman-kind. in this way he came upon many depressed ambitions, and many intelligences stunted for want of opportunity; and this also struck him. he began to perceive that life was a handicap upon strange, wrong-sided principles; and not, as he had been told, a fair and equal race. he began to tremble that he himself had been unjustly favoured, when he saw all the avenues of wealth, and power, and comfort closed against so many of his superiors and equals, and held unwearyingly open before so idle, so desultory, and so dissolute a being as himself. there sat a youth beside him on the college benches who had only one shirt to his back, and, at intervals sufficiently far apart, must stay at home to have it washed. it was my friend's principle to stay away as often as he dared; for i fear he was no friend to learning. but there was something that came home to him sharply, in this fellow who had to give over study till his shirt was washed, and the scores of others who had never an opportunity at all. _if one of these could take his place_, he thought; and the thought tore away a bandage from his eyes. he was eaten by the shame of his discoveries, and despised himself as an unworthy favourite and a creature of the back-stairs of fortune. he could no longer see without confusion one of these brave young fellows battling up-hill against adversity. had he not filched that fellow's birthright? at best was he not coldly profiting by the injustice of society, and greedily devouring stolen goods? the money, indeed, belonged to his father, who had worked, and thought, and given up his liberty to earn it; but by what justice could the money belong to my friend, who had, as yet, done nothing but help to squander it? a more sturdy honesty, joined to a more even and impartial temperament, would have drawn from these considerations a new force of industry, that this equivocal position might be brought as swiftly as possible to an end, and some good services to mankind justify the appropriation of expense. it was not so with my friend, who was only unsettled and discouraged, and filled full of that trumpeting anger with which young men regard injustices in the first blush of youth; although in a few years they will tamely acquiesce in their existence, and knowingly profit by their complications. yet all this while he suffered many indignant pangs. and once, when he put on his boots, like any other unripe donkey, to run away from home, it was his best consolation that he was now, at a single plunge, to free himself from the responsibility of this wealth that was not his, and to battle equally against his fellows in the warfare of life. some time after this, falling into ill-health, he was sent at great expense to a more favourable climate; and then i think his perplexities were thickest. when he thought of all the other young men of singular promise, upright, good, the prop of families, who must remain at home to die, and with all their possibilities be lost to life and mankind; and how he, by one more unmerited favour, was chosen out from all these others to survive; he felt as if there were no life, no labour, no devotion of soul and body, that could repay and justify these partialities. a religious lady, to whom he communicated these reflections, could see no force in them whatever. "it was god's will," said she. but he knew it was by god's will that joan of arc was burnt at rouen, which cleared neither bedford nor bishop cauchon; and again, by god's will that christ was crucified outside jerusalem, which excused neither the rancour of the priests nor the timidity of pilate. he knew, moreover, that although the possibility of this favour he was now enjoying issued from his circumstances, its acceptance was the act of his own will; and he had accepted it greedily, longing for rest and sunshine. and hence this allegation of god's providence did little to relieve his scruples. i promise you he had a very troubled mind. and i would not laugh if i were you, though while he was thus making mountains out of what you think molehills, he were still (as perhaps he was) contentedly practising many other things that to you seem black as hell. every man is his own judge and mountain-guide through life. there is an old story of a mote and a beam, apparently not true, but worthy perhaps of some consideration. i should, if i were you, give some consideration to these scruples of his, and if i were he, i should do the like by yours; for it is not unlikely that there may be something under both. in the meantime you must hear how my invalid acted. like many invalids, he supposed that he would die. now should he die, he saw no means of repaying this huge loan which, by the hands of his father, mankind had advanced him for his sickness. in that case it would be lost money. so he determined that the advance should be as small as possible; and, so long as he continued to doubt his recovery, lived in an upper room, and grudged himself all but necessaries. but so soon as he began to perceive a change for the better, he felt justified in spending more freely, to speed and brighten his return to health, and trusted in the future to lend a help to mankind, as mankind, out of its treasury, had lent a help to him. i do not say but that my friend was a little too curious and partial in his view; nor thought too much of himself and too little of his parents; but i do say that here are some scruples which tormented my friend in his youth, and still, perhaps, at odd times give him a prick in the midst of his enjoyments, and which after all have some foundation in justice, and point, in their confused way, to some honourable honesty within the reach of man. and at least, is not this an unusual gloss upon the eighth commandment? and what sort of comfort, guidance, or illumination did that precept afford my friend throughout these contentions? "thou shall not steal." with all my heart! but _am_ i stealing? the truly quaint materialism of our view of life disables us from pursuing any transaction to an end. you can make no one understand that his bargain is anything more than a bargain, whereas in point of fact it is a link in the policy of mankind, and either a good or an evil to the world. we have a sort of blindness which prevents us from seeing anything but sovereigns. if one man agrees to give another so many shillings for so many hours' work, and then wilfully gives him a certain proportion of the price in bad money and only the remainder in good, we can see with half an eye that this man is a thief. but if the other spends a certain proportion of the hours in smoking a pipe of tobacco, and a certain other proportion in looking at the sky, or the clock, or trying to recall an air, or in meditation on his own past adventures, and only the remainder in downright work such as he is paid to do, is he, because the theft is one of time and not of money,--is he any the less a thief? the one gave a bad shilling, the other an imperfect hour; but both broke the bargain, and each is a thief. in piecework, which is what most of us do, the case is none the less plain for being even less material. if you forge a bad knife, you have wasted some of mankind's iron, and then, with unrivalled cynicism, you pocket some of mankind's money for your trouble. is there any man so blind who cannot see that this is theft? again, if you carelessly cultivate a farm, you have been playing fast and loose with mankind's resources against hunger; there will be less bread in consequence, and for lack of that bread somebody will die next winter: a grim consideration. and you must not hope to shuffle out of blame because you got less money for your less quantity of bread; for although a theft be partly punished, it is none the less a theft for that. you took the farm against competitors; there were others ready to shoulder the responsibility and be answerable for the tale of loaves; but it was you who took it. by the act you came under a tacit bargain with mankind to cultivate that farm with your best endeavour; you were under no superintendence, you were on parole; and you have broke your bargain, and to all who look closely, and yourself among the rest if you have moral eyesight, you are a thief. or take the case of men of letters. every piece of work which is not as good as you can make it, which you have palmed off imperfect, meagrely thought, niggardly in execution, upon mankind who is your paymaster on parole and in a sense your pupil, every hasty or slovenly or untrue performance, should rise up against you in the court of your own heart and condemn you for a thief. have you a salary? if you trifle with your health, and so render yourself less capable for duty, and still touch, and still greedily pocket the emolument--what are you but a thief? have you double accounts? do you by any time-honoured juggle, deceit, or ambiguous process, gain more from those who deal with you than if you were bargaining and dealing face to face in front of god?--what are you but a thief? lastly, if you fill an office, or produce an article, which, in your heart of hearts, you think a delusion and a fraud upon mankind, and still draw your salary and go through the sham manoeuvres of this office, or still book your profits and keep on flooding the world with these injurious goods?--though you were old, and bald, and the first at church, and a baronet, what are you but a thief? these may seem hard words and mere curiosities of the intellect, in an age when the spirit of honesty is so sparingly cultivated that all business is conducted upon lies and so-called customs of the trade, that not a man bestows two thoughts on the utility or honourableness of his pursuit. i would say less if i thought less. but looking to my own reason and the right of things, i can only avow that i am a thief myself, and that i passionately suspect my neighbours of the same guilt. where did you hear that it was easy to be honest? do you find that in your bible? easy? it is easy to be an ass and follow the multitude like a blind, besotted bull in a stampede; and that, i am well aware, is what you and mrs. grundy mean by being honest. but it will not bear the stress of time nor the scrutiny of conscience. even before the lowest of all tribunals,--before a court of law, whose business it is, not to keep men right, or within a thousand miles of right, but to withhold them from going so tragically wrong that they will pull down the whole jointed fabric of society by their misdeeds--even before a court of law, as we begin to see in these last days, our easy view of following at each other's tails, alike to good and evil, is beginning to be reproved and punished, and declared no honesty at all, but open theft and swindling; and simpletons who have gone on through life with a quiet conscience may learn suddenly, from the lips of a judge, that the custom of the trade may be a custom of the devil. you thought it was easy to be honest. did you think it was easy to be just and kind and truthful? did you think the whole duty of aspiring man was as simple as a hornpipe? and you could walk through life like a gentleman and a hero, with no more concern than it takes to go to church or to address a circular? and yet all this time you had the eighth commandment! and, what makes it richer, you would not have broken it for the world! the truth is, that these commandments by themselves are of little use in private judgment. if compression is what you want, you have their whole spirit compressed into the golden rule; and yet there expressed with more significance, since the law is there spiritually and not materially stated. and in truth, four out of these ten commands, from the sixth to the ninth, are rather legal than ethical. the police-court is their proper home. a magistrate cannot tell whether you love your neighbour as yourself, but he can tell more or less whether you have murdered, or stolen, or committed adultery, or held up your hand and testified to that which was not; and these things, for rough practical tests, are as good as can be found. and perhaps, therefore, the best condensation of the jewish moral law is in the maxims of the priests, "neminem lã¦dere" and "suum cuique tribunere." but all this granted, it becomes only the more plain that they are inadequate in the sphere of personal morality; that while they tell the magistrate roughly when to punish, they can never direct an anxious sinner what to do. only polonius, or the like solemn sort of ass, can offer us a succinct proverb by way of advice, and not burst out blushing in our faces. we grant them one and all and for all that they are worth; it is something above and beyond that we desire. christ was in general a great enemy to such a way of teaching; we rarely find him meddling with any of these plump commands but it was to open them out, and lift his hearers from the letter to the spirit. for morals are a personal affair; in the war of righteousness every man fights for his own hand; all the six hundred precepts of the mishna cannot shake my private judgment; my magistracy of myself is an indefeasible charge, and my decisions absolute for the time and case. the moralist is not a judge of appeal, but an advocate who pleads at my tribunal. he has to show not the law, but that the law applies. can he convince me? then he gains the cause. and thus you find christ giving various counsels to varying people, and often jealously careful to avoid definite precept. is he asked, for example, to divide a heritage? he refuses: and the best advice that he will offer is but a paraphrase of that tenth commandment which figures so strangely among the rest. _take heed, and beware of covetousness._ if you complain that this is vague, i have failed to carry you along with me in my argument. for no definite precept can be more than an illustration, though its truth were resplendent like the sun, and it was announced from heaven by the voice of god. and life is so intricate and changing, that perhaps not twenty times, or perhaps not twice in the ages, shall we find that nice consent of circumstances to which alone it can apply. chapter iii although the world and life have in a sense become commonplace to our experience, it is but in an external torpor; the true sentiment slumbers within us; and we have but to reflect on ourselves or our surroundings to rekindle our astonishment. no length of habit can blunt our first surprise. of the world i have but little to say in this connection; a few strokes shall suffice. we inhabit a dead ember swimming wide in the blank of space, dizzily spinning as it swims, and lighted up from several million miles away by a more horrible hell-fire than was ever conceived by the theological imagination. yet the dead ember is a green, commodious dwelling-place; and the reverberation of this hell-fire ripens flower and fruit and mildly warms us on summer eves upon the lawn. far off on all hands other dead embers, other flaming suns, wheel and race in the apparent void; the nearest is out of call, the farthest so far that the heart sickens in the effort to conceive the distance. shipwrecked seamen on the deep, though they bestride but the truncheon of a boom, are safe and near at home compared with mankind on its bullet. even to us who have known no other, it seems a strange, if not an appalling, place of residence. but far stranger is the resident, man, a creature compact of wonders that, after centuries of custom, is still wonderful to himself. he inhabits a body which he is continually outliving, discarding, and renewing. food and sleep, by an unknown alchemy, restore his spirits and the freshness of his countenance. hair grows on him like grass; his eyes, his brain, his sinews, thirst for action; he joys to see and touch and hear, to partake the sun and wind, to sit down and intently ponder on his astonishing attributes and situation, to rise up and run, to perform the strange and revolting round of physical functions. the sight of a flower, the note of a bird, will often move him deeply; yet he looks unconcerned on the impassable distances and portentous bonfires of the universe. he comprehends, he designs, he tames nature, rides the sea, ploughs, climbs the air in a balloon, makes vast inquiries, begins interminable labours, joins himself into federations and populous cities, spends his days to deliver the ends of the earth or to benefit unborn posterity; and yet knows himself for a piece of unsurpassed fragility and the creature of a few days. his sight, which conducts him, which takes notice of the farthest stars, which is miraculous in every way and a thing defying explanation or belief, is yet lodged in a piece of jelly, and can be extinguished with a touch. his heart, which all through life so indomitably, so athletically labours, is but a capsule, and may be stopped with a pin. his whole body, for all its savage energies, its leaping and its winged desires, may yet be tamed and conquered by a draught of air or a sprinkling of cold dew. what he calls death, which is the seeming arrest of everything, and the ruin and hateful transformation of the visible body, lies in wait for him outwardly in a thousand accidents, and grows up in secret diseases from within. he is still learning to be a man when his faculties are already beginning to decline; he has not yet understood himself or his position before he inevitably dies. and yet this mad, chimerical creature can take no thought of his last end, lives as though he were eternal, plunges with his vulnerable body into the shock of war, and daily affronts death with unconcern. he cannot take a step without pain or pleasure. his life is a tissue of sensations, which he distinguishes as they seem to come more directly from himself or his surroundings. he is conscious of himself as a joyer or a sufferer, as that which craves, chooses, and is satisfied; conscious of his surroundings as it were of an inexhaustible purveyor, the source of aspects, inspirations, wonders, cruel knocks and transporting caresses. thus he goes on his way, stumbling among delights and agonies. matter is a far-fetched theory, and materialism is without a root in man. to him everything is important in the degree to which it moves him. the telegraph wires and posts, the electricity speeding from clerk to clerk, the clerks, the glad or sorrowful import of the message, and the paper on which it is finally brought to him at home, are all equally facts, all equally exist for man. a word or a thought can wound him as acutely as a knife of steel. if he thinks he is loved, he will rise up and glory to himself, although he be in a distant land and short of necessary bread. does he think he is not loved?--he may have the woman at his beck, and there is not a joy for him in all the world. indeed, if we are to make any account of this figment of reason, the distinction between material and immaterial, we shall conclude that the life of each man as an individual is immaterial, although the continuation and prospects of mankind as a race turn upon material conditions. the physical business of each man's body is transacted for him; like a sybarite, he has attentive valets in his own viscera; he breathes, he sweats, he digests without an effort, or so much as a consenting volition; for the most part he even eats, not with a wakeful consciousness, but as it were between two thoughts. his life is centred among other and more important considerations; touch him in his honour or his love, creatures of the imagination which attach him to mankind or to an individual man or woman; cross him in his piety which connects his soul with heaven; and he turns from his food, he loathes his breath, and with a magnanimous emotion cuts the knots of his existence and frees himself at a blow from the web of pains and pleasures. it follows that man is twofold at least; that he is not a rounded and autonomous empire; but that in the same body with him there dwell other powers, tributary but independent. if i now behold one walking in a garden curiously coloured and illuminated by the sun, digesting his food, with elaborate chemistry, breathing, circulating blood, directing himself by the sight of his eyes, accommodating his body by a thousand delicate balancings to the wind and the uneven surface of the path, and all the time, perhaps, with his mind engaged about america, or the dog-star, or the attributes of god--what am i to say, or how am i to describe the thing i see? is that truly a man, in the rigorous meaning of the word? or is it not a man and something else? what, then, are we to count the centre-bit and axle of a being so variously compounded? it is a question much debated. some read his history in a certain intricacy of nerve and the success of successive digestions; others find him an exiled piece of heaven blown upon and determined by the breath of god; and both schools of theorists will scream like scalded children at a word of doubt. yet either of these views, however plausible, is beside the question; either may be right; and i care not; i ask a more particular answer, and to a more immediate point. what is the man? there is something that was before hunger and that remains behind after a meal. it may or may not be engaged in any given act or passion, but when it is, it changes, heightens, and sanctifies. thus it is not engaged in lust, where satisfaction ends the chapter; and it is engaged in love, where no satisfaction can blunt the edge of the desire, and where age, sickness, or alienation may deface what was desirable without diminishing the sentiment. this something, which is the man, is a permanence which abides through the vicissitudes of passion, now overwhelmed and now triumphant, now unconscious of itself in the immediate distress of appetite or pain, now rising unclouded above all. so, to the man, his own central self fades and grows clear again amid the tumult of the senses, like a revolving pharos in the night. it is forgotten; it is hid, it seems, for ever; and yet in the next calm hour he shall behold himself once more, shining and unmoved among changes and storm. mankind, in the sense of the creeping mass that is born and eats, that generates and dies, is but the aggregate of the outer and lower sides of man. this inner consciousness, this lantern alternately obscured and shining, to and by which the individual exists and must order his conduct, is something special to himself and not common to the race. his joys delight, his sorrows wound him, according as _this_ is interested or indifferent in the affair: according as they arise in an imperial war or in a broil conducted by the tributary chieftains of the mind. he may lose all, and _this_ not suffer; he may lose what is materially a trifle, and _this_ leap in his bosom with a cruel pang. i do not speak of it to hardened theorists: the living man knows keenly what it is i mean. "perceive at last that thou hast in thee something better and more divine than the things which cause the various effects, and, as it were, pull thee by the strings. what is that now in thy mind? is it fear, or suspicion, or desire, or anything of that kind?" thus far marcus aurelius, in one of the most notable passages in any book. here is a question worthy to be answered. what is in thy mind? what is the utterance of your inmost self when, in a quiet hour, it can be heard intelligibly? it is something beyond the compass of your thinking, inasmuch as it is yourself; but is it not of a higher spirit than you had dreamed betweenwhiles, and erect above all base considerations? this soul seems hardly touched with our infirmities; we can find in it certainly no fear, suspicion, or desire; we are only conscious--and that as though we read it in the eyes of some one else--of a great and unqualified readiness. a readiness to what? to pass over and look beyond the objects of desire and fear, for something else. and this something else? this something which is apart from desire and fear, to which all the kingdoms of the world and the immediate death of the body are alike indifferent and beside the point, and which yet regards conduct--by what name are we to call it? it may be the love of god; or it may be an inherited (and certainly well concealed) instinct to preserve self and propagate the race; i am not, for the moment, averse to either theory; but it will save time to call it righteousness. by so doing i intend no subterfuge to beg a question; i am indeed ready, and more than willing, to accept the rigid consequence, and lay aside, as far as the treachery of the reason will permit, all former meanings attached to the word righteousness. what is right is that for which a man's central self is ever ready to sacrifice immediate or distant interests; what is wrong is what the central self discards or rejects as incompatible with the fixed design of righteousness. to make this admission is to lay aside all hope of definition. that which is right upon this theory is intimately dictated to each man by himself, but can never be rigorously set forth in language, and never, above all, imposed upon another. the conscience has, then, a vision like that of the eyes, which is incommunicable, and for the most part illuminates none but its possessor. when many people perceive the same or any cognate facts, they agree upon a word as symbol; and hence we have such words as _tree_, _star_, _love_, _honour_, or _death_; hence also we have this word _right_, which, like the others, we all understand, most of us understand differently, and none can express succinctly otherwise. yet even on the straitest view, we can make some steps towards comprehension of our own superior thoughts. for it is an incredible and most bewildering fact that a man, through life, is on variable terms with himself; he is aware of tiffs and reconciliations; the intimacy is at times almost suspended, at times it is renewed again with joy. as we said before, his inner self or soul appears to him by successive revelations, and is frequently obscured. it is from a study of these alternations that we can alone hope to discover, even dimly, what seems right and what seems wrong to this veiled prophet of ourself. all that is in the man in the larger sense, what we call impression as well as what we call intuition, so far as my argument looks, we must accept. it is not wrong to desire food, or exercise, or beautiful surroundings, or the love of sex, or interest which is the food of the mind. all these are craved; all these should be craved; to none of these in itself does the soul demur; where there comes an undeniable want, we recognise a demand of nature. yet we know that these natural demands may be superseded, for the demands which are common to mankind make but a shadowy consideration in comparison to the demands of the individual soul. food is almost the first pre-requisite; and yet a high character will go without food to the ruin and death of the body rather than gain it in a manner which the spirit disavows. pascal laid aside mathematics; origen doctored his body with a knife; every day some one is thus mortifying his dearest interests and desires, and, in christ's words, entering maim into the kingdom of heaven. this is to supersede the lesser and less harmonious affections by renunciation; and though by this ascetic path we may get to heaven, we cannot get thither a whole and perfect man. but there is another way, to supersede them by reconciliation, in which the soul and all the faculties and senses pursue a common route and share in one desire. thus, man is tormented by a very imperious physical desire; it spoils his rest, it is not to be denied; the doctors will tell you, not i, how it is a physical need, like the want of food or slumber. in the satisfaction of this desire, as it first appears, the soul sparingly takes part; nay, it oft unsparingly regrets and disapproves the satisfaction. but let the man learn to love a woman as far as he is capable of love; and for this random affection of the body there is substituted a steady determination, a consent of all his powers and faculties, which supersedes, adopts, and commands the other. the desire survives, strengthened, perhaps, but taught obedience, and changed in scope and character. life is no longer a tale of betrayals and regrets; for the man now lives as a whole; his consciousness now moves on uninterrupted like a river; through all the extremes and ups and downs of passion, he remains approvingly conscious of himself. now to me this seems a type of that rightness which the soul demands. it demands that we shall not live alternately with our opposing tendencies in continual see-saw of passion and disgust, but seek some path on which the tendencies shall no longer oppose, but serve each other to a common end. it demands that we shall not pursue broken ends, but great and comprehensive purposes, in which soul and body may unite like notes in a harmonious chord. that were indeed a way of peace and pleasure, that were indeed a heaven upon earth. it does not demand, however, or, to speak in measure, it does not demand of me, that i should starve my appetites for no purpose under heaven but as a purpose in itself; or, in a weak despair, pluck out the eye that i have not yet learned to guide and enjoy with wisdom. the soul demands unity of purpose, not the dismemberment of man; it seeks to roll up all his strength and sweetness, all his passion and wisdom, into one, and make of him a perfect man exulting in perfection. to conclude ascetically is to give up, and not to solve, the problem. the ascetic and the creeping hog, although they are at different poles, have equally failed in life. the one has sacrificed his crew; the other brings back his seamen in a cock-boat, and has lost the ship. i believe there are not many sea-captains who would plume themselves on either result as a success. but if it is righteousness thus to fuse together our divisive impulses and march with one mind through life, there is plainly one thing more unrighteous than all others, and one declension which is irretrievable and draws on the rest. and this is to lose consciousness of oneself. in the best of times, it is but by flashes, when our whole nature is clear, strong and conscious, and events conspire to leave us free, that we enjoy communion with our soul. at the worst, we are so fallen and passive that we may say shortly we have none. an arctic torpor seizes upon men. although built of nerves, and set adrift in a stimulating world, they develop a tendency to go bodily to sleep; consciousness becomes engrossed among the reflex and mechanical parts of life; and soon loses both the will and power to look higher considerations in the face. this is ruin; this is the last failure in life; this is temporal damnation; damnation on the spot and without the form of judgment. "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and _lose himself_?" it is to keep a man awake, to keep him alive to his own soul and its fixed design of righteousness, that the better part of moral and religious education is directed; not only that of words and doctors, but the sharp ferule of calamity under which we are all god's scholars till we die. if, as teachers, we are to say anything to the purpose, we must say what will remind the pupil of his soul; we must speak that soul's dialect; we must talk of life and conduct as his soul would have him think of them. if, from some conformity between us and the pupil, or perhaps among all men, we do in truth speak in such a dialect and express such views, beyond question we shall touch in him a spring; beyond question he will recognise the dialect as one that he himself has spoken in his better hours; beyond question he will cry, "i had forgotten, but now i remember; i too have eyes, and i had forgot to use them! i too have a soul of my own, arrogantly upright, and to that i will listen and conform." in short, say to him anything that he has once thought, or been upon the point of thinking, or show him any view of life that he has once clearly seen, or been upon the point of clearly seeing; and you have done your part and may leave him to complete the education for himself. now the view taught at the present time seems to me to want greatness; and the dialect in which alone it can be intelligibly uttered is not the dialect of my soul. it is a sort of postponement of life; nothing quite is, but something different is to be; we are to keep our eyes upon the indirect from the cradle to the grave. we are to regulate our conduct not by desire, but by a politic eye upon the future; and to value acts as they will bring us money or good opinion; as they will bring us, in one word, _profit_. we must be what is called respectable, and offend no one by our carriage; it will not do to make oneself conspicuous--who knows? even in virtue? says the christian parent! and we must be what is called prudent and make money; not only because it is pleasant to have money, but because that also is a part of respectability, and we cannot hope to be received in society without decent possessions. received in society! as if that were the kingdom of heaven! there is dear mr. so-and-so;--look at him!--so much respected--so much looked up to--quite the christian merchant! and we must cut our conduct as strictly as possible after the pattern of mr. so-and-so; and lay our whole lives to make money and be strictly decent. besides these holy injunctions, which form by far the greater part of a youth's training in our christian homes, there are at least two other doctrines. we are to live just now as well as we can, but scrape at last into heaven, where we shall be good. we are to worry through the week in a lay, disreputable way, but, to make matters square, live a different life on sunday. the train of thought we have been following gives us a key to all these positions, without stepping aside to justify them on their own ground. it is because we have been disgusted fifty times with physical squalls and fifty times torn between conflicting impulses, that we teach people this indirect and tactical procedure in life, and to judge by remote consequences instead of the immediate face of things. the very desire to act as our own souls would have us, coupled with a pathetic disbelief in ourselves, moves us to follow the example of others; perhaps, who knows? they may be on the right track; and the more our patterns are in number, the better seems the chance; until, if we be acting in concert with a whole civilised nation, there are surely a majority of chances that we must be acting right. and again, how true it is that we can never behave as we wish in this tormented sphere, and can only aspire to different and more favourable circumstances, in order to stand out and be ourselves wholly and rightly! and yet once more, if in the hurry and pressure of affairs and passions you tend to nod and become drowsy, here are twenty-four hours of sunday set apart for you to hold counsel with your soul and look around you on the possibilities of life. this is not, of course, all that is to be, or even should be, said for these doctrines. only, in the course of this chapter, the reader and i have agreed upon a few catchwords, and been looking at morals on a certain system; it was a pity to lose an opportunity of testing the catchwords, and seeing whether, by this system as well as by others, current doctrines could show any probable justification. if the doctrines had come too badly out of the trial, it would have condemned the system. our sight of the world is very narrow; the mind but a pedestrian instrument; there's nothing new under the sun, as solomon says, except the man himself; and though that changes the aspect of everything else, yet he must see the same things as other people, only from a different side. and now, having admitted so much, let us turn to criticism. if you teach a man to keep his eyes upon what others think of him, unthinkingly to lead the life and hold the principles of the majority of his contemporaries, you must discredit in his eyes the one authoritative voice of his own soul. he may be a docile citizen; he will never be a man. it is ours, on the other hand, to disregard this babble and chattering of other men better and worse than we are, and to walk straight before us by what light we have. they may be right; but so, before heaven, are we. they may know; but we know also, and by that knowledge we must stand or fall. there is such a thing as loyalty to a man's own better self; and from those who have not that, god help me, how am i to look for loyalty to others? the most dull, the most imbecile, at a certain moment turn round, at a certain point will hear no further argument, but stand unflinching by their own dumb, irrational sense of right. it is not only by steel or fire, but through contempt and blame, that the martyr fulfils the calling of his dear soul. be glad if you are not tried by such extremities. but although all the world ranged themselves in one line to tell you "this is wrong," be you your own faithful vassal and the ambassador of god--throw down the glove and answer "this is right." do you think you are only declaring yourself? perhaps in some dim way, like a child who delivers a message not fully understood, you are opening wider the straits of prejudice and preparing mankind for some truer and more spiritual grasp of truth; perhaps, as you stand forth for your own judgment, you are covering a thousand weak ones with your body; perhaps, by this declaration alone, you have avoided the guilt of false witness against humanity and the little ones unborn. it is good, i believe, to be respectable, but much nobler to respect oneself and utter the voice of god. god, if there be any god, speaks daily in a new language by the tongues of men; the thoughts and habits of each fresh generation and each new-coined spirit throw another light upon the universe and contain another commentary on the printed bibles; every scruple, every true dissent, every glimpse of something new, is a letter of god's alphabet; and though there is a grave responsibility for all who speak, is there none for those who unrighteously keep silence and conform? is not that also to conceal and cloak god's counsel? and how should we regard the man of science who suppressed all facts that would not tally with the orthodoxy of the hour? wrong? you are as surely wrong as the sun rose this morning round the revolving shoulder of the world. not truth, but truthfulness, is the good of your endeavour. for when will men receive that first part and prerequisite of truth, that, by the order of things, by the greatness of the universe, by the darkness and partiality of man's experience, by the inviolate secrecy of god, kept close in his most open revelations, every man is, and to the end of the ages must be, wrong? wrong to the universe; wrong to mankind; wrong to god. and yet in another sense, and that plainer and nearer, every man of men, who wishes truly, must be right. he is right to himself, and in the measure of his sagacity and candour. that let him do in all sincerity and zeal, not sparing a thought for contrary opinions; that, for what it is worth, let him proclaim. be not afraid; although he be wrong, so also is the dead, stuffed dagon he insults. for the voice of god, whatever it is, is not that stammering, inept tradition which the people holds. these truths survive in travesty, swamped in a world of spiritual darkness and confusion; and what a few comprehend and faithfully hold, the many, in their dead jargon, repeat, degrade, and misinterpret. so far of respectability: what the covenanters used to call "rank conformity": the deadliest gag and wet blanket that can be laid on men. and now of profit. and this doctrine is perhaps the more redoubtable, because it harms all sorts of men; not only the heroic and self-reliant, but the obedient, cowlike squadrons. a man, by this doctrine, looks to consequences at the second, or third, or fiftieth turn. he chooses his end, and for that, with wily turns and through a great sea of tedium, steers this mortal bark. there may be political wisdom in such a view; but i am persuaded there can spring no great moral zeal. to look thus obliquely upon life is the very recipe for moral slumber. our intention and endeavour should be directed, not on some vague end of money or applause, which shall come to us by a ricochet in a month or a year, or twenty years, but on the act itself; not on the approval of others, but on the rightness of that act. at every instant, at every step in life, the point has to be decided, our soul has to be saved, heaven has to be gained or lost. at every step our spirits must applaud, at every step we must set down the foot and sound the trumpet. "this have i done," we must say; "right or wrong, this have i done, in unfeigned honour of intention, as to myself and god." the profit of every act should be this, that it was right for us to do it. any other profit than that, if it involved a kingdom or the woman i love, ought, if i were god's upright soldier, to leave me untempted. it is the mark of what we call a righteous decision, that it is made directly and for its own sake. the whole man, mind and body, having come to an agreement, tyrannically dictates conduct. there are two dispositions eternally opposed: that in which we recognise that one thing is wrong and another right, and that in which, not seeing any clear distinction, we fall back on the consideration of consequences. the truth is, by the scope of our present teaching, nothing is thought very wrong and nothing very right, except a few actions which have the disadvantage of being disrespectable when found out; the more serious part of men inclining to think all things _rather wrong_, the more jovial to suppose them _right enough for practical purposes_. i will engage my head, they do not find that view in their own hearts; they have taken it up in a dark despair; they are but troubled sleepers talking in their sleep. the soul, or my soul at least, thinks very distinctly upon many points of right and wrong, and often differs flatly with what is held out as the thought of corporate humanity in the code of society or the code of law. am i to suppose myself a monster? i have only to read books, the christian gospels for example, to think myself a monster no longer; and instead i think the mass of people are merely speaking in their sleep. it is a commonplace, enshrined, if i mistake not, even in school copy-books, that honour is to be sought and not fame. i ask no other admission; we are to seek honour, upright walking with our own conscience every hour of the day, and not fame, the consequence, the far-off reverberation of our footsteps. the walk, not the rumour of the walk, is what concerns righteousness. better disrespectable honour than dishonourable fame. better useless or seemingly hurtful honour, than dishonour ruling empires and filling the mouths of thousands. for the man must walk by what he sees, and leave the issue with god who made him and taught him by the fortune of his life. you would not dishonour yourself for money; which is at least tangible; would you do it, then, for a doubtful forecast in politics, or another person's theory in morals? so intricate is the scheme of our affairs, that no man can calculate the bearing of his own behaviour even on those immediately around him, how much less upon the world at large or on succeeding generations! to walk by external prudence and the rule of consequences would require, not a man, but god. all that we know to guide us in this changing labyrinth is our soul with its fixed design of righteousness, and a few old precepts which commend themselves to that. the precepts are vague when we endeavour to apply them; consequences are more entangled than a wisp of string, and their confusion is unrestingly in change; we must hold to what we know and walk by it. we must walk by faith, indeed, and not by knowledge. you do not love another because he is wealthy or wise or eminently respectable: you love him because you love him; that is love, and any other only a derision and grimace. it should be the same with all our actions. if we were to conceive a perfect man, it should be one who was never torn between conflicting impulses, but who, on the absolute consent of all his parts and faculties, submitted in every action of his life to a self-dictation as absolute and unreasoned as that which bids him love one woman and be true to her till death. but we should not conceive him as sagacious, ascetical, playing off his appetites against each other, turning the wing of public respectable immorality instead of riding it directly down, or advancing toward his end through a thousand sinister compromises and considerations. the one man might be wily, might be adroit, might be wise, might be respectable, might be gloriously useful; it is the other man who would be good. the soul asks honour and not fame; to be upright, not to be successful; to be good, not prosperous; to be essentially, not outwardly, respectable. does your soul ask profit? does it ask money? does it ask the approval of the indifferent herd? i believe not. for my own part, i want but little money, i hope; and i do not want to be decent at all, but to be good. chapter iv we have spoken of that supreme self-dictation which keeps varying from hour to hour in its dictates with the variation of events and circumstances. now, for us, that is ultimate. it may be founded on some reasonable process, but it is not a process which we can follow or comprehend. and moreover the dictation is not continuous, or not continuous except in very lively and well-living natures; and betweenwhiles we must brush along without it. practice is a more intricate and desperate business than the toughest theorising; life is an affair of cavalry, where rapid judgment and prompt action are alone possible and right. as a matter of fact, there is no one so upright but he is influenced by the world's chatter; and no one so headlong but he requires to consider consequences and to keep an eye on profit. for the soul adopts all affections and appetites without exception, and cares only to combine them for some common purpose which shall interest all. now respect for the opinion of others, the study of consequences and the desire of power and comfort, are all undeniably factors in the nature of man; and the more undeniably since we find that, in our current doctrines, they have swallowed up the others and are thought to conclude in themselves all the worthy parts of man. these, then, must also be suffered to affect conduct in the practical domain, much or little according as they are forcibly or feebly present to the mind of each. now a man's view of the universe is mostly a view of the civilised society in which he lives. other men and women are so much more grossly and so much more intimately palpable to his perceptions, that they stand between him and all the rest; they are larger to his eye than the sun, he hears them more plainly than thunder; with them, by them, and for them, he must live and die. and hence the laws that affect his intercourse with his fellow-men, although merely customary and the creatures of a generation, are more clearly and continually before his mind than those which bind him into the eternal system of things, support him in his upright progress on this whirling ball, or keep up the fire of his bodily life. and hence it is that money stands in the first rank of considerations and so powerfully affects the choice. for our society is built with money for mortar; money is present in every joint of circumstance; it might be named the social atmosphere, since, in society, it is by that alone men continue to live, and only through that or chance that they can reach or affect one another. money gives us food, shelter, and privacy; it permits us to be clean in person, opens for us the doors of the theatre, gains us books for study or pleasure, enables us to help the distresses of others, and puts us above necessity so that we can choose the best in life. if we love, it enables us to meet and live with the loved one, or even to prolong her health and life; if we have scruples, it gives us an opportunity to be honest; if we have any bright designs, here is what will smooth the way to their accomplishment. penury is the worst slavery, and will soon lead to death. but money is only a means; it presupposes a man to use it. the rich can go where he pleases, but perhaps please himself nowhere. he can buy a library or visit the whole world, but perhaps has neither patience to read nor intelligence to see. the table may be loaded and the appetite wanting; the purse may be full and the heart empty. he may have gained the world and lost himself; and with all his wealth around him, in a great house and spacious and beautiful demesne, he may live as blank a life as any tattered ditcher. without an appetite, without an aspiration, void of appreciation, bankrupt of desire and hope, there, in his great house, let him sit and look upon his fingers. it is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire. although neither is to be despised, it is always better policy to learn an interest than to make a thousand pounds; for the money will soon be spent, or perhaps you may feel no joy in spending it; but the interest remains imperishable and ever new. to become a botanist, a geologist, a social philosopher, an antiquary, or an artist, is to enlarge one's possessions in the universe by an incalculably higher degree, and by a far surer sort of property, than to purchase a farm of many acres. you had perhaps two thousand a year before the transaction; perhaps you have two thousand five hundred after it. that represents your gain in the one case. but in the other, you have thrown down a barrier which concealed significance and beauty. the blind man has learned to see. the prisoner has opened up a window in his cell and beholds enchanting prospects; he will never again be a prisoner as he was; he can watch clouds and changing seasons, ships on the river, travellers on the road, and the stars at night; happy prisoner! his eyes have broken gaol! and again he who has learned to love an art or science has wisely laid up riches against the day of riches; if prosperity come, he will not enter poor into his inheritance; he will not slumber and forget himself in the lap of money, or spend his hours in counting idle treasures, but be up and briskly doing; he will have the true alchemic touch, which is not that of midas, but which transmutes dead money into living delight and satisfaction. _ã�tre et pas avoir_--to be, not to possess--that is the problem of life. to be wealthy, a rich nature is the first requisite and money but the second. to be of a quick and healthy blood, to share in all honourable curiosities, to be rich in admiration and free from envy, to rejoice greatly in the good of others, to love with such generosity of heart that your love is still a dear possession in absence or unkindness--these are the gifts of fortune which money cannot buy and without which money can buy nothing. for what can a man possess, or what can he enjoy, except himself? if he enlarge his nature, it is then that he enlarges his estates. if his nature be happy and valiant, he will enjoy the universe as if it were his park and orchard. but money is not only to be spent; it has also to be earned. it is not merely a convenience or a necessary in social life; but it is the coin in which mankind pays his wages to the individual man. and from this side, the question of money has a very different scope and application. for no man can be honest who does not work. service for service. if the farmer buys corn, and the labourer ploughs and reaps, and the baker sweats in his hot bakery, plainly you who eat must do something in your turn. it is not enough to take off your hat, or to thank god upon your knees for the admirable constitution of society and your own convenient situation in its upper and more ornamental stories. neither is it enough to buy the loaf with a sixpence; for then you are only changing the point of the inquiry; and you must first have _bought the sixpence_. service for service: how have you bought your sixpences? a man of spirit desires certainty in a thing of such a nature; he must see to it that there is some reciprocity between him and mankind; that he pays his expenditure in service; that he has not a lion's share in profit and a drone's in labour; and is not a sleeping partner and mere costly incubus on the great mercantile concern of mankind. services differ so widely with different gifts, and some are so inappreciable to external tests, that this is not only a matter for the private conscience, but one which even there must be leniently and trustfully considered. for remember how many serve mankind who do no more than meditate; and how many are precious to their friends for no more than a sweet and joyous temper. to perform the function of a man of letters it is not necessary to write; nay, it is perhaps better to be a living book. so long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, i would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend. the true services of life are inestimable in money, and are never paid. kind words and caresses, high and wise thoughts, humane designs, tender behaviour to the weak and suffering, and all the charities of man's existence, are neither bought nor sold. yet the dearest and readiest, if not the most just, criterion of a man's services, is the wage that mankind pays him, or, briefly, what he earns. there at least there can be no ambiguity. st. paul is fully and freely entitled to his earnings as a tentmaker, and socrates fully and freely entitled to his earnings as a sculptor, although the true business of each was not only something different, but something which remained unpaid. a man cannot forget that he is not superintended, and serves mankind on parole. he would like, when challenged by his own conscience, to reply: "i have done so much work, and no less, with my own hands and brain, and taken so much profit, and no more, for my own personal delight." and though st. paul, if he had possessed a private fortune, would probably have scorned to waste his time in making tents, yet of all sacrifices to public opinion none can be more easily pardoned than that by which a man, already spiritually useful to the world, should restrict the field of his chief usefulness to perform services more apparent, and possess a livelihood that neither stupidity nor malice could call in question. like all sacrifices to public opinion and mere external decency, this would certainly be wrong; for the soul should rest contented with its own approval and indissuadably pursue its own calling. yet, so grave and delicate is the question, that a man may well hesitate before he decides it for himself; he may well fear that he sets too high a valuation on his own endeavours after good; he may well condescend upon a humbler duty, where others than himself shall judge the service and proportion the wage. and yet it is to this very responsibility that the rich are born. they can shuffle off the duty on no other; they are their own paymasters on parole; and must pay themselves fair wages and no more. for i suppose that in the course of ages, and through reform and civil war and invasion, mankind was pursuing some other and more general design than to set one or two englishmen of the nineteenth century beyond the reach of needs and duties. society was scarce put together, and defended with so much eloquence and blood, for the convenience of two or three millionaires and a few hundred other persons of wealth and position. it is plain that if mankind thus acted and suffered during all these generations, they hoped some benefit, some ease, some well-being, for themselves and their descendants; that if they supported law and order, it was to secure fair-play for all; that if they denied themselves in the present, they must have had some designs upon the future. now a great hereditary fortune is a miracle of man's wisdom and mankind's forbearance; it has not only been amassed and handed down, it has been suffered to be amassed and handed down; and surely in such a consideration as this, its possessor should find only a new spur to activity and honour, that with all this power of service he should not prove unserviceable, and that this mass of treasure should return in benefits upon the race. if he had twenty, or thirty, or a hundred thousand at his banker's, or if all yorkshire or all california were his to manage or to sell, he would still be morally penniless, and have the world to begin like whittington, until he had found some way of serving mankind. his wage is physically in his own hand; but, in honour, that wage must still be earned. he is only steward on parole of what is called his fortune. he must honourably perform his stewardship. he must estimate his own services and allow himself a salary in proportion, for that will be one among his functions. and while he will then be free to spend that salary, great or little, on his own private pleasures, the rest of his fortune he but holds and disposes under trust for mankind; it is not his, because he has not earned it; it cannot be his, because his services have already been paid; but year by year it is his to distribute, whether to help individuals whose birthright and outfit have been swallowed up in his, or to further public works and institutions. at this rate, short of inspiration, it seems hardly possible to be both rich and honest; and the millionaire is under a far more continuous temptation to thieve than the labourer who gets his shilling daily for despicable toils. are you surprised? it is even so. and you repeat it every sunday in your churches. "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god." i have heard this and similar texts ingeniously explained away and brushed from the path of the aspiring christian by the tender greatheart of the parish. one excellent clergyman told us that the "eye of a needle" meant a low, oriental postern through which camels could not pass till they were unloaded--which is very likely just; and then went on, bravely confounding the "kingdom of god" with heaven, the future paradise, to show that of course no rich person could expect to carry his riches beyond the grave--which, of course, he could not and never did. various greedy sinners of the congregation drank in the comfortable doctrine with relief. it was worth the while having come to church that sunday morning! all was plain. the bible, as usual, meant nothing in particular; it was merely an obscure and figurative school-copybook; and if a man were only respectable, he was a man after god's own heart. alas! i fear not. and though this matter of a man's services is one for his own conscience, there are some cases in which it is difficult to restrain the mind from judging. thus i shall be very easily persuaded that a man has earned his daily bread; and if he has but a friend or two to whom his company is delightful at heart, i am more than persuaded at once. but it will be very hard to persuade me that any one has earned an income of a hundred thousand. what he is to his friends, he still would be if he were made penniless to-morrow; for as to the courtiers of luxury and power, i will neither consider them friends, nor indeed consider them at all. what he does for mankind there are most likely hundreds who would do the same, as effectually for the race and as pleasurably to themselves, for the merest fraction of this monstrous wage. why it is paid, i am, therefore, unable to conceive, and as the man pays it himself, out of funds in his detention, i have a certain backwardness to think him honest. at least, we have gained a very obvious point: that _what a man spends upon himself he shall have earned by services to the race_. thence flows a principle for the outset of life, which is a little different from that taught in the present day. i am addressing the middle and the upper classes; those who have already been fostered and prepared for life at some expense; those who have some choice before them, and can pick professions; and above all, those who are what is called independent, and need do nothing unless pushed by honour or ambition. in this particular the poor are happy; among them, when a lad comes to his strength, he must take the work that offers, and can take it with an easy conscience. but in the richer classes the question is complicated by the number of opportunities and a variety of considerations. here, then, this principle of ours comes in helpfully. the young man has to seek, not a road to wealth, but an opportunity of service; not money, but honest work. if he has some strong propensity, some calling of nature, some overweening interest in any special field of industry, inquiry, or art, he will do right to obey the impulse; and that for two reasons: the first external, because there he will render the best services; the second personal, because a demand of his own nature is to him without appeal whenever it can be satisfied with the consent of his other faculties and appetites. if he has no such elective taste, by the very principle on which he chooses any pursuit at all he must choose the most honest and serviceable, and not the most highly remunerated. we have here an external problem, not from or to ourself, but flowing from the constitution of society; and we have our own soul with its fixed design of righteousness. all that can be done is to present the problem in proper terms and leave it to the soul of the individual. now the problem to the poor is one of necessity: to earn wherewithal to live, they must find remunerative labour. but the problem to the rich is one of honour: having the wherewithal, they must find serviceable labour. each has to earn his daily bread: the one, because he has not yet got it to eat; the other, who has already eaten it, because he has not yet earned it. of course, what is true of bread is true of luxuries and comforts, whether for the body or the mind. but the consideration of luxuries leads us to a new aspect of the whole question, and to a second proposition no less true, and maybe no less startling, than the last. at the present day, we, of the easier classes, are in a state of surfeit and disgrace after meat. plethora has filled us with indifference; and we are covered from head to foot with the callosities of habitual opulence. born into what is called a certain rank, we live, as the saying is, up to our station. we squander without enjoyment, because our fathers squandered. we eat of the best, not from delicacy, but from brazen habit. we do not keenly enjoy or eagerly desire the presence of a luxury; we are unaccustomed to its absence. and not only do we squander money from habit, but still more pitifully waste it in ostentation. i can think of no more melancholy disgrace for a creature who professes either reason or pleasure for his guide, than to spend the smallest fraction of his income upon that which he does not desire; and to keep a carriage in which you do not wish to drive, or a butler of whom you are afraid, is a pathetic kind of folly. money, being a means of happiness, should make both parties happy when it changes hands; rightly disposed, it should be twice blessed in its employment; and buyer and seller should alike have their twenty shillings' worth of profit out of every pound. benjamin franklin went through life an altered man, because he once paid too dearly for a penny whistle. my concern springs usually from a deeper source, to wit, from having bought a whistle when i did not want one. i find i regret this, or would regret it if i gave myself the time, not only on personal but on moral and philanthropical considerations. for, first, in a world where money is wanting to buy books for eager students and food and medicine for pining children, and where a large majority are starved in their most immediate desires, it is surely base, stupid, and cruel to squander money when i am pushed by no appetite and enjoy no return of genuine satisfaction. my philanthropy is wide enough in scope to include myself; and when i have made myself happy, i have at least one good argument that i have acted rightly; but where that is not so, and i have bought and not enjoyed, my mouth is closed, and i conceive that i have robbed the poor. and, second, anything i buy or use which i do not sincerely want or cannot vividly enjoy, disturbs the balance of supply and demand, and contributes to remove industrious hands from the production of what is useful or pleasurable and to keep them busy upon ropes of sand and things that are a weariness to the flesh. that extravagance is truly sinful, and a very silly sin to boot, in which we impoverish mankind and ourselves. it is another question for each man's heart. he knows if he can enjoy what he buys and uses; if he cannot, he is a dog in the manger; nay, if he cannot, i contend he is a thief, for nothing really belongs to a man which he cannot use. proprietor is connected with propriety; and that only is the man's which is proper to his wants and faculties. a youth, in choosing a career, must not be alarmed by poverty. want is a sore thing, but poverty does not imply want. it remains to be seen whether with half his present income, or a third, he cannot, in the most generous sense, live as fully as at present. he is a fool who objects to luxuries; but he is also a fool who does not protest against the waste of luxuries on those who do not desire and cannot enjoy them. it remains to be seen, by each man who would live a true life to himself and not a merely specious life to society, how many luxuries he truly wants and to how many he merely submits as to a social propriety; and all these last he will immediately forswear. let him do this, and he will be surprised to find how little money it requires to keep him in complete contentment and activity of mind and senses. life at any level among the easy classes is conceived upon a principle of rivalry, where each man and each household must ape the tastes and emulate the display of others. one is delicate in eating, another in wine, a third in furniture or works of art or dress; and i, who care nothing for any of these refinements, who am perhaps a plain athletic creature and love exercise, beef, beer, flannel shirts and a camp bed, am yet called upon to assimilate all these other tastes and make these foreign occasions of expenditure my own. it may be cynical: i am sure i shall be told it is selfish; but i will spend my money as i please and for my own intimate personal gratification, and should count myself a nincompoop indeed to lay out the colour of a halfpenny on any fancied social decency or duty. i shall not wear gloves unless my hands are cold, or unless i am born with a delight in them. dress is my own affair, and that of one other in the world; that, in fact, and for an obvious reason, of any woman who shall chance to be in love with me. i shall lodge where i have a mind. if i do not ask society to live with me, they must be silent; and even if i do, they have no further right but to refuse the invitation. there is a kind of idea abroad that a man must live up to his station, that his house, his table, and his toilette, shall be in a ratio of equivalence, and equally imposing to the world. if this is in the bible, the passage has eluded my inquiries. if it is not in the bible, it is nowhere but in the heart of the fool. throw aside this fancy. see what you want, and spend upon that; distinguish what you do not care about, and spend nothing upon that. there are not many people who can differentiate wines above a certain and that not at all a high price. are you sure you are one of these? are you sure you prefer cigars at sixpence each to pipes at some fraction of a farthing? are you sure you wish to keep a gig? do you care about where you sleep, or are you not as much at your ease in a cheap lodging as in an elizabethan manor-house? do you enjoy fine clothes? it is not possible to answer these questions without a trial; and there is nothing more obvious to my mind, than that a man who has not experienced some ups and downs, and been forced to live more cheaply than in his father's house, has still his education to begin. let the experiment be made, and he will find to his surprise that he has been eating beyond his appetite up to that hour; that the cheap lodging, the cheap tobacco, the rough country clothes, the plain table, have not only no power to damp his spirits, but perhaps give him as keen pleasure in the using as the dainties that he took, betwixt sleep and waking, in his former callous and somnambulous submission to wealth. the true bohemian, a creature lost to view under the imaginary bohemians of literature, is exactly described by such a principle of life. the bohemian of the novel, who drinks more than is good for him and prefers anything to work, and wears strange clothes, is for the most part a respectable bohemian, respectable in disrespectability, living for the outside, and an adventurer. but the man i mean lives wholly to himself, does what he wishes, and not what is thought proper, buys what he wants for himself and not what is thought proper, works at what he believes he can do well and not what will bring him in money or favour. you may be the most respectable of men, and yet a true bohemian. and the test is this: a bohemian, for as poor as he may be, is always open-handed to his friends; he knows what he can do with money and how he can do without it, a far rarer and more useful knowledge; he has had less, and continued to live in some contentment; and hence he cares not to keep more, and shares his sovereign or his shilling with a friend. the poor, if they are generous, are bohemian in virtue of their birth. do you know where beggars go? not to the great houses where people sit dazed among their thousands, but to the doors of poor men who have seen the world; and it was the widow who had only two mites, who cast half her fortune into the treasury. but a young man who elects to save on dress or on lodging, or who in any way falls out of the level of expenditure which is common to his level in society, falls out of society altogether. i suppose the young man to have chosen his career on honourable principles; he finds his talents and instincts can be best contented in a certain pursuit; in a certain industry, he is sure that he is serving mankind with a healthy and becoming service; and he is not sure that he would be doing so, or doing so equally well, in any other industry within his reach. then that is his true sphere in life; not the one in which he was born to his father, but the one which is proper to his talents and instincts. and suppose he does fall out of society, is that a cause of sorrow? is your heart so dead that you prefer the recognition of many to the love of a few? do you think society loves you? put it to the proof. decline in material expenditure, and you will find they care no more for you than for the khan of tartary. you will lose no friends. if you had any, you will keep them. only those who were friends to your coat and equipage will disappear; the smiling faces will disappear as by enchantment; but the kind hearts will remain steadfastly kind. are you so lost, are you so dead, are you so little sure of your own soul and your own footing upon solid fact, that you prefer before goodness and happiness the countenance of sundry diners-out, who will flee from you at a report of ruin, who will drop you with insult at a shadow of disgrace, who do not know you and do not care to know you but by sight, and whom you in your turn neither know nor care to know in a more human manner? is it not the principle of society, openly avowed, that friendship must not interfere with business; which being paraphrased, means simply that a consideration of money goes before any consideration of affection known to this cold-blooded gang, that they have not even the honour of thieves, and will rook their nearest and dearest as readily as a stranger? i hope i would go as far as most to serve a friend; but i declare openly i would not put on my hat to do a pleasure to society. i may starve my appetites and control my temper for the sake of those i love; but society shall take me as i choose to be, or go without me. neither they nor i will lose; for where there is no love, it is both laborious and unprofitable to associate. but it is obvious that if it is only right for a man to spend money on that which he can truly and thoroughly enjoy, the doctrine applies with equal force to the rich and to the poor, to the man who has amassed many thousands as well as to the youth precariously beginning life. and it may be asked, is not this merely preparing misers, who are not the best of company? but the principle was this: that which a man has not fairly earned, and, further, that which he cannot fully enjoy, does not belong to him, but is a part of mankind's treasure which he holds as steward on parole. to mankind, then, it must be made profitable; and how this should be done is, once more, a problem which each man must solve for himself, and about which none has a right to judge him. yet there are a few considerations which are very obvious and may here be stated. mankind is not only the whole in general, but every one in particular. every man or woman is one of mankind's dear possessions; to his or her just brain, and kind heart, and active hands, mankind intrusts some of its hopes for the future; he or she is a possible wellspring of good acts and source of blessings to the race. this money which you do not need, which, in a rigid sense, you do not want, may therefore be returned not only in public benefactions to the race, but in private kindnesses. your wife, your children, your friends stand nearest to you, and should be helped the first. there at least there can be little imposture, for you know their necessities of your own knowledge. and consider, if all the world did as you did, and according to their means extended help in the circle of their affections, there would be no more crying want in times of plenty and no more cold, mechanical charity given with a doubt and received with confusion. would not this simple rule make a new world out of the old and cruel one which we inhabit? [_after two more sentences the fragment breaks off._] prayers written for family use at vailima prayers written for family use at vailima _for success_ lord, behold our family here assembled. we thank thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle. let peace abound in our small company. purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. if it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another. as the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of thee this help and mercy for christ's sake. _for grace_ grant that we here before thee may be set free from the fear of vicissitude and the fear of death, may finish what remains before us of our course without dishonour to ourselves or hurt to others, and, when the day comes, may die in peace. deliver us from fear and favour: from mean hopes and cheap pleasures. have mercy on each in his deficiency; let him be not cast down; support the stumbling on the way, and give at last rest to the weary. _at morning_ the day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. help us to play the man, help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonoured, and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. _evening_ we come before thee, o lord, in the end of thy day with thanksgiving. our beloved in the far parts of the earth, those who are now beginning the labours of the day what time we end them, and those with whom the sun now stands at the point of noon, bless, help, console, and prosper them. our guard is relieved, the service of the day is over, and the hour come to rest. we resign into thy hands our sleeping bodies, our cold hearths and open doors. give us to awake with smiles, give us to labour smiling. as the sun returns in the east, so let our patience be renewed with dawn; as the sun lightens the world, so let our loving-kindness make bright this house of our habitation. _another for evening_ lord, receive our supplications for this house, family, and country. protect the innocent, restrain the greedy and the treacherous, lead us out of our tribulation into a quiet land. look down upon ourselves and upon our absent dear ones. help us and them; prolong our days in peace and honour. give us health, food, bright weather, and light hearts. in what we meditate of evil, frustrate our will; in what of good, further our endeavours. cause injuries to be forgot and benefits to be remembered. let us lie down without fear and awake and arise with exultation. for his sake, in whose words we now conclude. _in time of rain_ we thank thee, lord, for the glory of the late days and the excellent face of thy sun. we thank thee for good news received. we thank thee for the pleasures we have enjoyed and for those we have been able to confer. and now, when the clouds gather and the rain impends over the forest and our house, permit us not to be cast down; let us not lose the savour of past mercies and past pleasures; but, like the voice of a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memory survive in the hour of darkness. if there be in front of us any painful duty, strengthen us with the grace of courage; if any act of mercy, teach us tenderness and patience. _another in time of rain_ lord, thou sendest down rain upon the uncounted millions of the forest, and givest the trees to drink exceedingly. we are here upon this isle a few handfuls of men, and how many myriads upon myriads of stalwart trees! teach us the lesson of the trees. the sea around us, which this rain recruits, teems with the race of fish; teach us, lord, the meaning of the fishes. let us see ourselves for what we are, one out of the countless number of the clans of thy handiwork. when we would despair, let us remember that these also please and serve thee. _before a temporary separation_ to-day we go forth separate, some of us to pleasure, some of us to worship, some upon duty. go with us, our guide and angel; hold thou before us in our divided paths the mark of our low calling, still to be true to what small best we can attain to. help us in that, our maker, the dispenser of events--thou, of the vast designs, in which we blindly labour, suffer us to be so far constant to ourselves and our beloved. _for friends_ for our absent loved ones we implore thy loving-kindness. keep them in life, keep them in growing honour; and for us, grant that we remain worthy of their love. for christ's sake, let not our beloved blush for us, nor we for them. grant us but that, and grant us courage to endure lesser ills unshaken, and to accept death, loss, and disappointment as it were straws upon the tide of life. _for the family_ aid us, if it be thy will, in our concerns. have mercy on this land and innocent people. help them who this day contend in disappointment with their frailties. bless our family, bless our forest house, bless our island helpers. thou who hast made for us this place of ease and hope, accept and inflame our gratitude; help us to repay, in service one to another, the debt of thine unmerited benefits and mercies, so that when the period of our stewardship draws to a conclusion, when the windows begin to be darkened, when the bond of the family is to be loosed, there shall be no bitterness of remorse in our farewells. help us to look back on the long way that thou hast brought us, on the long days in which we have been served not according to our deserts but our desires; on the pit and the miry clay, the blackness of despair, the horror of misconduct, from which our feet have been plucked out. for our sins forgiven or prevented, for our shame unpublished, we bless and thank thee, o god. help us yet again and ever. so order events, so strengthen our frailty, as that day by day we shall come before thee with this song of gratitude, and in the end we be dismissed with honour. in their weakness and their fear, the vessels of thy handiwork so pray to thee, so praise thee. amen. _sunday_ we beseech thee, lord, to behold us with favour, folk of many families and nations gathered together in the peace of this roof, weak men and women subsisting under the covert of thy patience. be patient still; suffer us yet a while longer;--with our broken purposes of good, with our idle endeavours against evil, suffer us a while longer to endure, and (if it may be) help us to do better. bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. be with our friends, be with ourselves. go with each of us to rest; if any awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns, return to us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with morning faces and with morning hearts--eager to labour--eager to be happy, if happiness shall be our portion--and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to endure it. we thank thee and praise thee; and in the words of him to whom this day is sacred, close our oblation. _for self-blame_ lord, enlighten us to see the beam that is in our own eye, and blind us to the mote that is in our brother's. let us feel our offences with our hands, make them great and bright before us like the sun, make us eat them and drink them for our diet. blind us to the offences of our beloved, cleanse them from our memories, take them out of our mouths for ever. let all here before thee carry and measure with the false balances of love, and be in their own eyes and in all conjunctures the most guilty. help us at the same time with the grace of courage, that we be none of us cast down when we sit lamenting amid the ruins of our happiness or our integrity: touch us with fire from the altar, that we may be up and doing to rebuild our city: in the name and by the method of him in whose words of prayer we now conclude. _for self-forgetfulness_ lord, the creatures of thy hand, thy disinherited children, come before thee with their incoherent wishes and regrets: children we are, children we shall be, till our mother the earth hath fed upon our bones. accept us, correct us, guide us, thy guilty innocents. dry our vain tears, wipe out our vain resentments, help our yet vainer efforts. if there be any here, sulking as children will, deal with and enlighten him. make it day about that person, so that he shall see himself and be ashamed. make it heaven about him, lord, by the only way to heaven, forgetfulness of self, and make it day about his neighbours, so that they shall help, not hinder him. _for renewal of joy_ we are evil, o god, and help us to see it and amend. we are good, and help us to be better. look down upon thy servants with a patient eye, even as thou sendest sun and rain; look down, call upon the dry bones, quicken, enliven; re-create in us the soul of service, the spirit of peace; renew in us the sense of joy. end of vol. xvi printed by cassell & company, limited, la belle sauvage, london, e.c. 