Chapter III: Part 3

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.

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.

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_]