State of New York organized by the English firm for the purpose of
entering into and carrying out this contract. The main features had been
agreed upon, and work had begun about two months before. The contract
embraced the permanent shafts in Manhattan and Long Island City, the
tunnels between these shafts, and their extension eastward in Long
Island City to East Avenue, including in all about 23,600 ft. of
single-track tunnels. The contract had novel features, and seemed to be
peculiarly suitable for the unknown risks and the unusual magnitude of
the work. A fixed amount was named as contractor's profit. If the actual
cost of the work when completed, including this sum named as
contractor's profit, should be less than a certain estimated amount
named in the contract, the contractor should have one-half of the
saving. If, on the other hand, the actual cost of the completed work,
including the fixed sum for contractor's profit, should exceed the
estimated cost named in the contract, the contractor should pay one-half
the excess and the railroad company the other half; the contractor's
liability was limited, however, to the amount named for profit plus
$1,000,000; or, in other words, his maximum money loss would be
$1,000,000. Any further excess of cost was to be borne wholly by the
railroad company. The management of the work, with some unimportant
restrictions, was placed with the contractor; the relations of the
engineer, as to plans, inspection, etc., were the same as in ordinary
work, and the interest of the contractor to reduce cost was the same in
kind as in ordinary work.

[Illustration: PLATE XIII.--Plan and Profile. East River Tunnels]

On account of the extent of the work embraced in this contract, and the
dangerous exposure to compressed air required in most of it, it was
divided into three residencies; two of these, including also the
cross-town tunnels, have been described; the third, with S. H. Woodard,
M. Am. Soc. C. E., as Resident Engineer, embraced all tunnels from the
easterly end of the work near East Avenue in Long Island City to the
meeting points under the river and also the permanent shafts in Long
Island City. A few months after the execution of the principal contract,
the work to be done was extended eastward 107.5 ft., across East Avenue.
The extensions of the tunnels were built without cast-iron linings and
with an interior cross-section of the same height as the tube tunnels,
but somewhat n