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 cooeperation 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 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.