| Bergen Hill. | Simplon. | |
| Drills set up in heading, percentage of total elapsed time | 50% | 60% |
| Actually drilling the rock, percentage of total elapsed time | 25% | 50% |
| Average advance per round (attack) | 8.5 ft. | 3.8 ft. |
| Average time for each attack | 36 hours. | 5 hours. |
| Average advance per day of 24 hours | 5 ft. | 18 ft.† |
| Depth of holes | 10 ft. | 4.6 ft. |
| Diameter of holes | 2¾ in. | 2¾ in. |
| Linear feet drilled per hour, per drill | 2.7 | 7.0 |
| Linear feet drilled per cubic yard | 5.0 | 6.0 |
| Pounds of dynamite per cubic yard | 3.4 to 5.7 | 8½ |
| Average depth drilled with one sharpening | 12 in. | 6½ in. |
| Total number of men per day of 24 hours* | 450 | 3,300 |
* On Bergen Hill Tunnels, for two full working faces at the Hackensack end, about 3,000 ft. in from portal (March, 1908). At Simplon, two full faces and two headings, at a distance of about 5,000 ft. in from the portal (January, 1900). These both include lining as well as excavation. The lining of the Bergen Hill Tunnels progressed about twice as fast as the excavation; it is inferred that on the Simplon it progressed at about the same rate as the excavation.
† At the Italian end, in Antigoric gneiss, which is stated to be very hard rock.
The figures in Table 3 are for “heading only” in both cases, except for the last item (number of men), the heading in the Simplon Tunnels being about 60 sq. ft., as compared with the heading of Method No 4 (which has been used for comparison), of 210 sq. ft.
[Mucking and Disposal.]—The conditions affecting the disposal of the muck, after blasting, were quite different at the two ends, the grade descending in the direction of the loads at Weehawken and ascending at the Hackensack end. At the Weehawken end the mouth of the tunnels was at the bottom of a shaft some 80 ft. deep, Fig. 2, [Plate XXII], the muck in the tunnel cars being hoisted by elevators to a platform at the top from which it was dumped into standard-gauge cars supplied by the Erie Railroad, as shown by [Fig. 7]; or later hauled to the crusher or storage pile, some 500 ft. distant, on the north side of Baldwin Avenue. At the western end, the cars were hauled directly to the surface through the approach cut, and the material, except that required for concrete and rock packing, was deposited in the embankment across the Hackensack Meadows, a haul of from 1,000 to 3,000 ft. beyond the portal.
All disposal tracks were of 3-ft. gauge, the main running tracks being generally laid with 60-lb. second-hand rails, although some of lighter weight were used.
Except for about 1,000 ft. in each tunnel at the Weehawken end, where the muck was loaded by hand, four steam shovels, operated by compressed air, were used, one at each working face. One of these was a “Marion, Model No. 20,” weighing 38 tons, the others were “Vulcan Little Giant,” of about 30 tons each. All these shovels were on standard-gauge track, and were moved back from 300 to 500 ft. from the working face during blasting.
METHOD OF EMPTYING DUMP CARS AT WEEHAWKEN SHAFT