Sandhogs go through pressure chamber to
avoid occupational hazard the "bends."
Is' rX - Shi
Gaping cavern dwarfs men who made Deep inside, sandhogs lay new track flush against
it, swallows them up in eerie darkness, mountain of earth that flatcars must haul away.
t
t4 J
toughest
Three Lions Photos
I he sandhog may wonder how he got his name. He spends most
of his working day half -buried in mud, and the only thing he hogs is
fresh air. There's no job muckier than sandhogging and few as
dangerous. Hazards of collapse or seepage are constant, and, because
tunnels are dug under pressure, the peculiar peril of accelerated
decompression (the "bends") is always lurking. Modern machinery
has improved tunnel construction since the pick-and-shovel days, but
none has been found to replace the hardy sandhog who still sloughs
around up to his hips in mud, digging his way to daylight.
job
$m fill
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, lg lW let"
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carefully I
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Workina in nfud and mistv liaht. broad-shouldered sandhogs dig their hole to sire, then
j
ay sections of steel ring (foreground), lock them in place, and dig on.
Family Weekly, October 13, 1957
25