| Show wall of solid guard thein FO om doak death few td 0 live to lo I 1 ass vil sf if j j I 1 goes wrong below earths y Stir face 1 IN f 1 10 V 4 lie was tile the oil only nian man tit in the alio forward forin rl lock lian there licup cattle came a sudden blow and ami the tunnel began filling with water uy by WILLIAM NE T IS perhaps the sand I 1 IT hog the human mole who goes about his death defying trade of burrowing into the innards of the earth constructing subways tunnels and M mammoth a foundations who holds first place in a swiftly moving world of high adventure and glamorous drama and we well might his job bo be called the worlds most dangerous game unlike his brother the miner who works work hundreds of feet below ill the surface in gloom and shadow the sandhog must have glaring light at his constant command unlike his brother in trade he can work only in three hour shifts at most and under certain conditions only one hour each day cut into two thirty minute periods picture if you can a gigantic steel tube twenty ity feet in diameter being built through the bowels of the earth a hundred and fifty feet below the surface an enormous cylinder with the front end open and protected only by a movable circular steel cap that precedes construction pushed forward by mighty hydraulic jacks that have a combined thrust of a million and a half pounds hundreds of tons af pf of sand and dirt and water press constantly on the steel walls and seek admittance through any possible opening wall of solid air As the gigantic steel cap is forced forward to make room tor for additional sections of the tha tube tle the muck and silt and sand and water aro are exposed in m a gushing naked circular wall but it does not come tar far into the tube what holds it all back and makes construction possible nothing but bu t a terrific pressure of com compressed compresses presse d air enough pressure must always be kept inside to equal the pressure without be bo it twenty pounds to the inch or fifty it when the cutting cap or shield is hitched forward there comes a leak or a fissure in the naked newly exposed wall before an additional dit ional section can be bolted in place or the air within the locks may escape there Is great danger this is called a blow and with no resisting air to hold it back the tha sand muck slit silt and water will gush in and fill the tube often drowning or smothering to death the men working in that compartment shot from Tun tunnel tiel abw always ys there is constant danger of a blow the most dreaded of all catastrophes that can befall a burrowing sandhog sand hog many men have died caught like rats in a trap others have been literally shot through the earth to the surface where the air escapes above but only one so far as is known own I 1 has ever lived through this awful experience to tell about it that was during the construction of the battery tunnel beneath the east river in new york city there were three men in the head of the tube when the unexpected appeared ipp blow come came first a fissure appeared eared as if by magic in the newly exposed naked wall of sand and mud suddenly there came a deafening report as it broke wide open and the three hapless men were sucked bodily through the opening with the escaping compressed air richard creedon was one of the men and his breath was sucked away by the tar terrific rifle gush of air as he went hurtling through the toot foot length of the fissure I 1 Com companions lose lives his breath came back to him as he was thrust ul ui trough brough tho the bed 0 of the river i 3 icy water revived him ch nd id gasping he was expelled i d abild shot high above the sui ike a straw caught in a typhoon sea he tell fell back with a splash unhurt and swam ashore unaided it was lust just one of those things that happen a miracle but hla his two companions were not so fortunate the body of ono one of 0 thorn them was fished from tile river n quarter of a mile away within an all hour it took n day clay anil and a night to locate and dig alfi tile third mans torn body out of the silt tind find muck of tile tho river bed story of a Sand sandhog hog bobby F inch finch a veteran I 1 who labored five years during tile the construction st recalls a hair raising escape from death in a smaller but similar tunnel being constructed in ill germany when a blow came 1 I was tile the only man inan in tile tho for ward lock ho he enyk says when a sud don den blow camo came and tile tho tube began rapidly filling with swirling wa ter I 1 frantically climbed to a low I 1 shelf as is the water rose and will within in a few minutes it had crept up tip to my neck 1 I held my face right up against tho the ceiling in order to breathe and I 1 stayed in that position lor for more than an hour I 1 move for I 1 swim and it if id fallen oil of id not have had a chance well sir tb water kept rising and I 1 kept pressing higher against tile the belling but there must have been enough air left to ke keep L p the water from completely filling tile tho tube tor for im still living to toll about it 1 I guess that hour was about abou t tho the longest hour ive ever spent until they finally got in to me and pumped the water out A human plug iluff it was when tills this same saino tunnel was about hall half completed that a fissure appeared and sand and silt began dribbling in four men worked feverishly for halt half oil an hour trying to check the leak ionic during that time they managed to hold it back but not for long suddenly with a terrific roar it opened wide the men redoubled their puny efforts to check it they fed sacks of straw kept nearby for such an emergency and bits ot of board into the ever widening maw they throw threw in ili every conceivable Pho movable provable vable object they ripped n off a their torn soaked clothing but everything they stuffed into the crevice was swiftly violently sucked up and out of sight the th fissure grew steadily larger and tho the air from tile the compartment swept suddenly out in one terrific burst A swede named steve was crouching nearest ile ho was sucked mightily into the cavity mud and sand and muck followed the edges of the enormous hole eating away and sucking upward body stuck somewhere in the fissure before it reached the river bed above the mud and sand and muck packed in behind it and the blow was stopped this too wis was nothing short of a miracle only one m man an paid with his life the life of a sandhog sand hog Is at best an uncertain one ills his job la Is indeed the most hazardous a ol 01 all death defying trades natty many precautions needed living in his subterranean chamber under the terrific pressure of compressed air may wreck him physically impair his health to the extent of total disability and leave him a helpless invalid taking these chances he must follow a strict routine in order to work under any conditions at blib hi trade it would prove instantly fatal if he should step immediately into ono one of these chambers so highly charged with air or once safely inside it would be e equally fatal for him to go 90 instantly out into normal utmos atmosphere before a sandhog sand hog can enter a highly charged chamber to go about his business of tunneling he must enter an airtight lock where tho the pressure is slowly raised to equal that in which he will work during this procedure the sensations are at best far from pleasant increasing pressure generates heat it grows almost unendurable some of the men going through this procedure new hands perhaps may topple over unconscious a beu bell syndicate WIM service |
