Working Sites.
Before beginning a description of the tunnel work, it may be well to set out in some detail the arrangements made on the surface for conducting the work underground.
All the work was carried on from two shafts, one at Eleventh Avenue and 32d Street, New York City—called the Manhattan Shaft—and one at Baldwin Avenue, Weehawken, N. J.—called the Weehawken Shaft.
The characteristics of the two sites were radically different, and called for different methods of handling the transportation problem. The shaft site at Manhattan is shown on [Plate XXX]. It will be seen that there was not much room, in fact, the site was too cramped for comfort; the total area, including the space occupied by the old foundry, used for power-houses, offices, etc., was about 3,250 sq. yd. This made it necessary to have two stages, one on the ground level for handling materials into the yard, and an overhead gantry on which the excavated materials were handled off the premises. The yard at Weehawken was much larger; it is also shown on [Plate XXX]. Its area was about 15,400 sq. yd. in the yard proper, and there was an additional space of about 750 sq. yd. alongside the wharf at the "North Slip," on the river front, connected with the main portion of the yard by an overhead trestle.
All the cars at Manhattan were moved by hand, but at Weehawken two electric locomotives with overhead transmission were used.