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“It seems to me it is pretty dangerous work,” put in Will. “Suppose they should strike a break in the rock. Just think with what pressure the water would pour in, and drown them!”

“You may be sure they thought of that before they started excavating. Borings were made to find out what sort of rock they had to go through. First they started boring from a scow anchored in the middle of the river. They had all sorts of trouble, too. Once a string of canal-boats banged up against the scow and broke it from its moorings, smashing the drill. Then, another time, the ice carried the scow off. Finally, they gave it up after drilling down seven or eight hundred feet without coming across anything but an occasional boulder. It seemed as if that river had no bottom at all. At any rate, it was not worth while trying to reach it from so unsteady a base as a scow; so, instead, they began drilling on a slant from each side of the river, at such an angle that the drill holes would meet at a depth of about fifteen hundred feet below the middle of the river. The drills went through rock all the way, and no water was struck. So then they bored another pair of test holes that met at a depth of nine hundred and fifty feet, going through solid rock all the way. That decided them that it would be perfectly safe to run the siphon through at the eleven-hundred-foot level.”

“How do you happen to know so much about the matter?” we inquired.

“Oh, I am just a taxpayer, but I like to know what I am paying for with my taxes; besides, I’m proud of New York’s big undertakings.”

“Jim, we ’ve got to go up and see that work,” said Will. “My, but it would he interesting!”

“There is a good deal to interest you right here, too," continued the stranger. “Do you know the tunnel at this shaft is two hundred and fifty feet below the surface? And it goes right down the {{wdl|Q15063317|island of Manhattan]] at about that same depth, and then it goes under the {{wdl|Q212862|East River}}, dipping down to a depth of over seven hundred and fifty feet, so as to keep in solid rock all the way.”

“But why don’t they put pipes down?”

“There are lots of reasons. They would cost more. Two or three pipes would be necessary because a single pipe to carry all that water would be out of the question, and then there would be the expense of flexible joints, which would have to be strong enough to carry the pressure, and to keep the pipes from breaking under the drag of the tide. Oh, yes, pipes would involve constant care to keep them from breaking or rusting through. I don’t believe you realize what an enormous pressure of water there will be in this rock tunnel. Why, in the down-town section, the pressure will be enough to send the water up to the top of a twenty-five-story building without pumping. In fact, most of the pumping stations around the city now will no longer be necessary.”

We must have spent an hour or more with this chance acquaintance, discussing the wonderful work on this tremendous engineering undertaking. We got so excited over the matter that we started down-town at once to visit Mr. Price, and get a letter of introduction to the chief engineer of the aqueduct. We were eager to go up the Hudson and see for ourselves the work on the great siphon. We thought it would be quite a stunt to go down a thousand feet under ground.

{{c|{{nsl2|{{x-smaller|To be continued.}}|../../Number 10/With Men Who Do Things}}}}

{{rule|8em}}

{{c|{{xx-larger|A GAY VACATION SONG}}

{{larger|BY LOUISE SEYMOUR HASBROUCK}}

{{x-smaller|(To be sung with a hpp, skip, and jump)}} }}

{{nop}} {{c|828}}