the
outlook for big engineering work that he has remained here, and has become
a citizen.

His First American Success.

He made his first notable success in the construction of the East River
gas tunnel. It was a difficult piece of work, for instead of the river-bed
of solid rock that was supposed to exist, it was found that the bed was
full of fissures through which flowed the mud and water of the river. The
contractors wished to give the bore up and try one fifty feet deeper.
Jacobs refused to do it, and the board of directors of the company, after
listening to his arguments, sided with him.

"Can it be done at the present depth?" he was asked.

"Give me the men and plant, and I'll put it through myself," he answered.

The contractors sued the company and produced a score of experts to prove
that the tunnel could not possibly be built in the way Jacobs wanted it
built.

While the courts were considering the question Jacobs kept right on
digging. He had to encounter difficulties that would have turned most
engineers back. But in the end he pushed the bore through, and the courts,
with this evidence before them, decided against the contractors. He built
the tunnel big enough for trolley-cars in case it might be wanted for that
purpose, and he constructed it so solidly that none of the silt or water
of the East River has been able to filter in.

Another Difficult Task.

In 1877 an attempt was made to tunnel the Hudson River, but the work moved
along fitfully. In July, 1880, an accident that resulted in the death of
twenty men temporarily put an end to it. Two more attempts were made, and
again the work was abandoned. A fourth company revived the scheme, and
made Jacobs the engineer. The work was just in his line, for it gave him
the opportunity to overcome big obstacles and to carry through a project
that would be of big benefit to humanity.

It was an appalling task, for the course was through shifting sand, mud,
and rock, and before it was completed it was necessary to make more than
nine thousand blasts. All these were in the tunnel direct, under the mud
and sand and fifty or sixty feet of river water. Yet the undertaking
resulted in few accidents, for Jacobs knew how to take care of his men,
and he has established a reputation for never sending one where he will
not go himself.

In his early days of wandering in India, China, and Australia he had
learned how to accomplish much by simple means. It was