Long Island: Our Story (TM)
Dear Long Islander,
This rock came from a water tunnel that is being dug 670 feet below the
surface of Maspeth, Queens. It is part of the ancient bedrock that lies
beneath Long Island and was formed in a series of continental collisions.
The rock includes granite and schist and is specked with mica, garnet and
ruby (the low quality stone used in emery boards, not jewelry).
Much of the rock in the tunnel was formed about 450 million years ago when
an island chain collided with the continent that would become North America.
At the time, the continent was lcoated in the tropics, and the present-day
East Coast was facing south and was located below the Equator. Later, a
thick wedge of sediment from the eroding Appalachian Mountains was deposited
on the bedrock base. The final step in the formation of Long Island came
22,000 years ago when a glacier deposited a series of ridges that gave the
Island its elevated central spine and distinctive north and south forks.
Copy right 1997 Newsday. All right reserved.
Masbeth, Queens is where the first English speaking reverand in New
Amsterdam, Reverand Doughty, had a settlement until hostilities caused him
and them to seek refuge behind the wall at New Amsterdam. It's said that his
preaching "caused" the construction of the first Dutch church in New
Amsterdam, as the administrators were worried the Dutch would all be swayed
by him.
One of the oldest streets in Brooklyn is also named after him and the
Explorer's Club used to meet there. The Hessians kept a police station there
in the American Revolution. The earliest ferry there left from the former
Marshal de Truy's property that became Thomas Hall's and Isaac Allerton's
Warehouse.
George Myers
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Myers" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 19 April 2004 Monday 09:02
Subject: Re: Sewer Treatment History
> The correct term is "sand hog" and for over thirty years have been
tunneling
> a new water tunnel, of which I have a piece of the rock from down there
> supplied by "Newsday". They have lost about 30 lives. One Harvard accepted
> worker decided not to go to school and continue to work thre and has
> published a sucessful work of detective fiction.
>
> In lower Manhattan, zoning has changed and the upper floors of many
formerly
> commercial properties are being turned into residences, which require more
> water. The tunnel's surface distribution point has been controversial, a
> parcel in the South Street Histoic District, currently a parking lot, and
> where Isaac Allerton had his English warehouse in Dutch New Amsterdam, was
> going to be condemned for that use by the former Mayor Dinkins'
> administration. The alternative, is alongside of Police Headquarters, 1
> Police Plaza, currently a paved park used for "free parking" by the
police,
> to have oriinally been named after a Catholic notable in Manhattan, Mother
> Cabrini, first US saint?
>
> George Myers
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron May" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: 18 April 2004 Sunday 14:36
> Subject: Re: Sewer Treatment History
>
>
> > It is my understanding that sand dogs have been tunneling under New York
> City
> > for more than 100 years to create a new sewer system that will operated
> for
> > centuries. Any truth to that rumor?
> >
> > Ron May
> > Legacy 106, Inc.
> >
>
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