Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

362 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. No Settlements of Ground reported. owner. There certainly have been settle- ments, or supposed settlements, along the route, but experts competent to judge have declared that these subsidences were not due in any way to the construc- tion of the tunnels. Again, it is gratifying to record that in the erection of the subways no lives were lost. In a report recently issued by Mr. George W. Jackson, the general manager and chief engineer, refer- ence is made to these points as follows : “ So many misleading, malicious, and vicious re- ports have been circulated about damages being done by this Company’s work, that I feel it my duty to state emphatically that the construction of the entire system has been accomplished without the Company being called upon to defend or pay any claim for damages of any kind. No deaths have occurred that can be attributed to tunnel construction, and not one employee has been disabled to such, an extent as to prevent him from following his usual vocation.” Another interesting fact about this taking is that the capital of £10,000,000, required to build the subterranean freight road, was subscribed privately, no stocks or bonds being offered to the public. As a matter of fact, the work was done so quietly that very few people in Chicago itself realized what had hap- pened until the newspapers announced that a wonderfully complete and up-to-date un- derground railway system had been built under its streets, and would shortly be opened for traffic. This was not because the engineers went about their task in secret and purposely avoided publicity. unique under- The original promoters of the scheme were the owners of a telephone company, known as the Automatic. The most striking features of this telephone are that it does away with operators at Telephones the central station, that a sub- ~ and, Tunnels. scriber calling up another sub- scriber is able to make his own connection, and that when two persons are talking to- gether over the wires it is impossible for a third to “ butt in ” or listen to the conversa- tion. Mr. Albert G. Wheeler, the engineer for this particular Company, who really planned and carried to a successful issue the tunnel subways, when making an application to the City Council for a franchise, made it for the Illinois Tunnel and Telegraph Company, now known as the Illinois Tunnel Company. If anything was said before the City Com- mittee about the subject of handling freight in the tunnels it was merely incidental, and excited no particular interest. The franchise, as granted eventually, specified that the tunnels were to be constructed and used for the transmission of “ sound, signals, and A LOADED FREIGHT TRAIN ROUNDING A SHARP CURVE AT AN INTERSECTION.