The New York Subway | Page 8

planned which
could deal with every phase of the situation.
Mr. Belmont without delay took the matter up directly with the Board
of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners, and presented a plan for the
incorporation of a company to procure the security required for the
performance of the contract, to furnish the capital necessary to carry on
the work, and to assume supervision over the whole undertaking.
Application was to be made to the Supreme Court to modify the
requirements with respect to the sureties by striking out a provision
requiring the justification of the sureties in double the amount of
liabilities assumed by each and reducing the minimum amount
permitted to be taken by each surety from $500,000 to $250,000. The
new corporation was to execute as surety a bond for $4,000,000, the
additional amount of $1,000,000 to be furnished by other sureties. A
beneficial interest in the bonds required from the sub-contractors was to
be assigned to the city and, finally, the additional amount of $1,000,000,
in cash or securities, was to be deposited with the city as further
security for the performance of the contract. The plan was approved by
the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners, and pursuant to
the plan, the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company was
organized. The Supreme Court granted the application to modify the

requirements as to the justification of sureties and the contract was
executed February 21, 1900.
As president and active executive head of the Rapid Transit Subway
Construction Company, Mr. Belmont perfected its organization,
collected the staff of engineers under whose direction the work of
building the road was to be done, supervised the letting of sub-contracts,
and completed the financial arrangements for carrying on the work.
The equipment of the road included, under the terms of the contract, the
rolling stock, all machinery and mechanisms for generating electricity
for motive power, lighting, and signaling, and also the power house,
sub-stations, and the real estate upon which they were to be erected.
The magnitude of the task of providing the equipment was not
generally appreciated until Mr. Belmont took the rapid transit problem
in hand. He foresaw from the beginning the importance of that branch
of the work, and early in 1900, immediately after the signing of the
contract, turned his attention to selecting the best engineers and
operating experts, and planned the organization of an operating
company. As early as May, 1900, he secured the services of Mr. E. P.
Bryan, who came to New York from St. Louis, resigning as
vice-president and general manager of the Terminal Railroad
Association, and began a study of the construction work and plans for
equipment, to the end that the problems of operation might be
anticipated as the building and equipment of the road progressed. Upon
the incorporation of the operating company, Mr. Bryan became
vice-president.
In the spring of 1902, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the
operating railroad corporation was formed by the interests represented
by Mr. Belmont, he becoming president and active executive head of
this company also, and soon thereafter Mr. McDonald assigned to it the
lease or operating part of his contract with the city, that company
thereby becoming directly responsible to the city for the equipment and
operation of the road, Mr. McDonald remaining as contractor for its
construction. In the summer of the same year, the Board of Rapid
Transit Railroad Commissioners having adopted a route and plans for

an extension of the subway under the East River to the Borough of
Brooklyn, the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company entered
into a contract with the city, similar in form to Mr. McDonald's contract,
to build, equip, and operate the extension. Mr. McDonald, as contractor
of the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company, assumed the
general supervision of the work of constructing the Brooklyn extension;
and the construction work of both the original subway and the
extension has been carried on under his direction. The work of
construction has been greatly facilitated by the broad minded and
liberal policy of the Rapid Transit Board and its Chief Engineer and
Counsel, and by the coöperation of all the other departments of the City
Government, and also by the 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