Tunnels beneath the city

Dan Rabin · 08 Jul 2002, 04:36 · from urth-v0207.mbox · original

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From: Dan Rabin <wolfe-lists at danrabin.com>
Subject: (urth) Tunnels beneath the city
Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2002 21:36:11 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0207-1312 at digest.urth.net>
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I was recently reminded that Chicago has abandoned tunnels that=20
underly most of the central business district (read about it at=20
<http://www.ameritech.net/users/chicagotunnel/tunnel1.html>,=20
<http://www.irm.org/railwire/rw162a1.html>).  I was struck by the=20
similarity to Viron's tunnels, and especially by the fact that the=20
Chicago system was used to haul away coal ash, and the Viron system=20
for ash from sacrifices.  The Chicago tunnels also have water in them=20
to varying depths, have access to the city hall, and are lined with=20
concrete ("shiprock").  On the other hand, the tunnels were *not*=20
built mainly for the purpose of cooling Chicago :-).

The existence of these tunnels was (it is alleged) largely forgotten=20
after their abandonment after World War II, but a railroad-enthusiast=20
publication by Bruce Moffatt in 1982=20
<http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=3D1&ti=3D1,1&Search_Arg=3D=
F=20
orty+Feet+Below&Search_Code=3DTALL&PID=3D5424&CNT=3D25&SEQ=3D20020708002451=
&SI=20
D=3D1> brought them to the attention of at least that audience, and=20
they made news in 1992 when the Chicago River breached the system=20
owing to a construction accident and flooded many basements in the=20
Loop.

The latter incident was too late to have influenced the writing of=20
_Long Sun_; if Wolfe had these tunnels as a model, he must have known=20
of them beforehand.

Yours railroad-enthusiastically,

   -- Dan Rabin

--=20

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