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Because
of
this
he
was
naturally
interested
to
observe
one
day
,
in
the
course
of
his
peregrinations
,
that
there
existed
in
two
places
under
the
Chicago
River
--
in
the
first
place
at
La
Salle
Street
,
running
north
and
south
,
and
in
the
second
at
Washington
Street
,
running
east
and
west
--
two
now
soggy
and
rat-infested
tunnels
which
were
never
used
by
anybody
--
dark
,
dank
,
dripping
affairs
only
vaguely
lighted
with
oil-lamp
,
and
oozing
with
water
.
Upon
investigation
he
learned
that
they
had
been
built
years
before
to
accommodate
this
same
tide
of
wagon
traffic
,
which
now
congested
at
the
bridges
,
and
which
even
then
had
been
rapidly
rising
.
Being
forced
to
pay
a
toll
in
time
to
which
a
slight
toll
in
cash
,
exacted
for
the
privilege
of
using
a
tunnel
,
had
seemed
to
the
investors
and
public
infinitely
to
be
preferred
,
this
traffic
had
been
offered
this
opportunity
of
avoiding
the
delay
.
However
,
like
many
another
handsome
commercial
scheme
on
paper
or
bubbling
in
the
human
brain
,
the
plan
did
not
work
exactly
.
These
tunnels
might
have
proved
profitable
if
they
had
been
properly
built
with
long
,
low-per-cent
.
grades
,
wide
roadways
,
and
a
sufficiency
of
light
and
air
;
but
,
as
a
matter
of
fact
,
they
had
not
been
judiciously
adapted
to
public
convenience
.
Norman
Schryhart
's
father
had
been
an
investor
in
these
tunnels
,
and
Anson
Merrill
.
When
they
had
proved
unprofitable
,
after
a
long
period
of
pointless
manipulation
--
cost
,
one
million
dollars
--
they
had
been
sold
to
the
city
for
exactly
that
sum
each
,
it
being
poetically
deemed
that
a
growing
city
could
better
afford
to
lose
so
disturbing
an
amount
than
any
of
its
humble
,
ambitious
,
and
respectable
citizens
.
That
was
a
little
affair
by
which
members
of
council
had
profited
years
before
;
but
that
also
is
another
story
.
After
discovering
these
tunnels
Cowperwood
walked
through
them
several
times
--
for
though
they
were
now
boarded
up
,
there
was
still
an
uninterrupted
footpath
--
and
wondered
why
they
could
not
be
utilized
.
It
seemed
to
him
that
if
the
street-car
traffic
were
heavy
enough
,
profitable
enough
,
and
these
tunnels
,
for
a
reasonable
sum
,
could
be
made
into
a
lower
grade
,
one
of
the
problems
which
now
hampered
the
growth
of
the
North
and
West
Sides
would
be
obviated
.
But
how
?
He
did
not
own
the
tunnels
.
He
did
not
own
the
street-railways
.
The
cost
of
leasing
and
rebuilding
the
tunnels
would
be
enormous
.
Helpers
and
horses
and
extra
drivers
on
any
grade
,
however
slight
,
would
have
to
be
used
,
and
that
meant
an
extra
expense
.
With
street-car
horses
as
the
only
means
of
traction
,
and
with
the
long
,
expensive
grades
,
he
was
not
so
sure
that
this
venture
would
be
a
profitable
one
.
However
,
in
the
fall
of
1880
,
or
a
little
earlier
(
when
he
was
still
very
much
entangled
with
the
preliminary
sex
affairs
that
led
eventually
to
Rita
Sohlberg
)
,
he
became
aware
of
a
new
system
of
traction
relating
to
street-cars
which
,
together
with
the
arrival
of
the
arc-light
,
the
telephone
,
and
other
inventions
,
seemed
destined
to
change
the
character
of
city
life
entirely
.
Recently
in
San
Francisco
,
where
the
presence
of
hills
made
the
movement
of
crowded
street-railway
cars
exceedingly
difficult
,
a
new
type
of
traction
had
been
introduced
--
that
of
the
cable
,
which
was
nothing
more
than
a
traveling
rope
of
wire
running
over
guttered
wheels
in
a
conduit
,
and
driven
by
immense
engines
,
conveniently
located
in
adjacent
stations
or
"
power-houses
.
"
The
cars
carried
a
readily
manipulated
"
grip-lever
,
"
or
steel
hand
,
which
reached
down
through
a
slot
into
a
conduit
and
"
gripped
"
the
moving
cable
.
This
invention
solved
the
problem
of
hauling
heavily
laden
street-cars
up
and
down
steep
grades
.
About
the
same
time
he
also
heard
,
in
a
roundabout
way
,
that
the
Chicago
City
Railway
,
of
which
Schryhart
and
Merrill
were
the
principal
owners
,
was
about
to
introduce
this
mode
of
traction
on
its
lines
--
to
cable
State
Street
,
and
attach
the
cars
of
other
lines
running
farther
out
into
unprofitable
districts
as
"
trailers
.
"
At
once
the
solution
of
the
North
and
West
Side
problems
flashed
upon
him
--
cables
.
Outside
of
the
bridge
crush
and
the
tunnels
above
mentioned
,
there
was
one
other
special
condition
which
had
been
for
some
time
past
attracting
Cowperwood
's
attention
.
This
was
the
waning
energy
of
the
North
Chicago
City
Railway
Company
--
the
lack
of
foresight
on
the
part
of
its
directors
which
prevented
them
from
perceiving
the
proper
solution
of
their
difficulties
.
The
road
was
in
a
rather
unsatisfactory
state
financially
--
really
open
to
a
coup
of
some
sort
.
In
the
beginning
it
had
been
considered
unprofitable
,
so
thinly
populated
was
the
territory
they
served
,
and
so
short
the
distance
from
the
business
heart
.
Later
,
however
,
as
the
territory
filled
up
,
they
did
better
;
only
then
the
long
waits
at
the
bridges
occurred
.
The
management
,
feeling
that
the
lines
were
likely
to
be
poorly
patronized
,
had
put
down
poor
,
little
,
light-weight
rails
,
and
run
slimpsy
cars
which
were
as
cold
as
ice
in
winter
and
as
hot
as
stove-ovens
in
summer
.
No
attempt
had
been
made
to
extend
the
down-town
terminus
of
the
several
lines
into
the
business
center
--
they
stopped
just
over
the
river
which
bordered
it
at
the
north
.
(
On
the
South
Side
Mr.
Schryhart
had
done
much
better
for
his
patrons
.
He
had
already
installed
a
loop
for
his
cable
about
Merrill
's
store
.
)
As
on
the
West
Side
,
straw
was
strewn
in
the
bottom
of
all
the
cars
in
winter
to
keep
the
feet
of
the
passengers
warm
,
and
but
few
open
cars
were
used
in
summer
.
The
directors
were
averse
to
introducing
them
because
of
the
expense
.
So
they
had
gone
on
and
on
,
adding
lines
only
where
they
were
sure
they
would
make
a
good
profit
from
the
start
,
putting
down
the
same
style
of
cheap
rail
that
had
been
used
in
the
beginning
,
and
employing
the
same
antique
type
of
car
which
rattled
and
trembled
as
it
ran
,
until
the
patrons
were
enraged
to
the
point
of
anarchy
.
Only
recently
,
because
of
various
suits
and
complaints
inaugurated
,
the
company
had
been
greatly
annoyed
,
but
they
scarcely
knew
what
to
do
,
how
to
meet
the
onslaught
.
Though
there
was
here
and
there
a
man
of
sense
--
such
as
Terrence
Mulgannon
,
the
general
superintendent
;
Edwin
Kaffrath
,
a
director
;
William
Johnson
,
the
constructing
engineer
of
the
company
--
yet
such
other
men
as
Onias
C.
Skinner
,
the
president
,
and
Walter
Parker
,
the
vice-president
,
were
reactionaries
of
an
elderly
character
,
conservative
,
meditative
,
stingy
,
and
,
worst
of
all
,
fearful
or
without
courage
for
great
adventure
.
It
is
a
sad
commentary
that
age
almost
invariably
takes
away
the
incentive
to
new
achievement
and
makes
"
Let
well
enough
alone
"
the
most
appealing
motto
.
Mindful
of
this
,
Cowperwood
,
with
a
now
splendid
scheme
in
his
mind
,
one
day
invited
John
J.
McKenty
over
to
his
house
to
dinner
on
a
social
pretext
.
When
the
latter
,
accompanied
by
his
wife
,
had
arrived
,
and
Aileen
had
smiled
on
them
both
sweetly
,
and
was
doing
her
best
to
be
nice
to
Mrs.
McKenty
,
Cowperwood
remarked
:
"
McKenty
,
do
you
know
anything
about
these
two
tunnels
that
the
city
owns
under
the
river
at
Washington
and
La
Salle
streets
?
"
