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 deg. 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 deg., 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.]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[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]

THE END