generous attitude of the Metropolitan Street Railway
Company and its lessee, the New York City Railroad Company, in
extending privileges which have been of great assistance in the
prosecution of the work. In January, 1903, the Interborough Rapid
Transit Company acquired the elevated railway system by lease for 999
years from the Manhattan Railway Company, thus assuring harmonious
operation of the elevated roads and the subway system, including the
Brooklyn extension.

The incorporators of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company were
William H. Baldwin, Jr., Charles T. Barney, August Belmont, E. P.
Bryan, Andrew Freedman, James Jourdan, Gardiner M. Lane, John B.
McDonald, DeLancey Nicoll, Walter G. Oakman, John Peirce, Wm. A. Read,
Cornelius Vanderbilt, George W. Wickersham, and George W. Young.

The incorporators of the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company
were Charles T. Barney, August Belmont, John B. McDonald, Walter G.
Oakman, and William A. Read.

[Illustration: (wings)]

[Illustration: EXTERIOR VIEW OF POWER HOUSE]

CHAPTER I

THE ROUTE OF THE ROAD--PASSENGER STATIONS AND TRACKS

The selection of route for the Subway was governed largely by the
amount which the city was authorized by the Rapid Transit Act to
spend. The main object of the road was to carry to and from their
homes in the upper portions of Manhattan Island the great army of
workers who spend the business day in the offices, shops, and
warehouses of the lower portions, and it was therefore obvious that
the general direction of the routes must be north and south, and that
the line must extend as nearly as possible from one end of the island
to the other.

The routes proposed by the Rapid Transit Board in 1895, after
municipal ownership had been approved by the voters at the fall
election of 1894, contemplated the occupation of Broadway below 34th
Street to the Battery, and extended only to 185th Street on the west
side and 146th Street on the east side of the city. As has been told
in the introductory chapter, this plan was rejected by the Supreme
Court because of the probable cost of going under Broadway. It was
also intimated by the Court, in rejecting the routes, that the road
should extend further north.

It had been clear from the beginning that no routes could be laid out
to which abutting property owners would consent, and that the consent
of the Court as an alternative would be necessary to any routes
chosen. To confor