# Sandhog > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sandhog > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sandhog.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhog > Source revision: 1352554547 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Term for underground construction workers in New York City}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}} [[File:East Side Access tunneling 2012-09-20 2.jpg|thumb|Sandhogs in New York City's [East Side Access](/source/East_Side_Access)]] '''Sandhog''' is the slang term given to urban [miner](/source/miner)s and [construction worker](/source/construction_worker)s who work underground on a variety of excavation projects in New York City,{{cite web|url=http://www.sandhogs147.org/about.aspx|title=The Men Who Make New York Work|publisher=NYC Sandhogs Local 147|accessdate=October 31, 2008}} Los Angeles and later other cities.{{cite web|url=https://www.bart.gov/about/history/history2|title=A History of BART}} Generally these projects involve tunneling, [caisson](/source/Caisson_(engineering)) excavation, road building, or some other type of underground construction or mining projects. The miners work with a variety of tools including using [tunnel boring machine](/source/tunnel_boring_machine)s and [explosives](/source/Explosive_material) to remove material for the project they are building. The term sandhog is an American [colloquialism](/source/colloquialism). Starting with their first job in 1872, the [Brooklyn Bridge](/source/Brooklyn_Bridge), the "hogs" have built a large part of the New York City infrastructure including the [subway tunnels](/source/New_York_City_Subway) and [sewer](/source/sanitary_sewer)s, Water Tunnels No. 1 and No. 2 as well as the currently under construction [Water Tunnel No. 3](/source/New_York_City_Water_Tunnel_No._3), the [Lincoln](/source/Lincoln_Tunnel), [Holland](/source/Holland_Tunnel), [Queens-Midtown](/source/Queens-Midtown_Tunnel), and [Brooklyn-Battery](/source/Brooklyn-Battery_Tunnel) tunnels. In addition, they worked on the foundations for most of the bridges and many of the skyscrapers in the city. Traditionally, these workers have been Irish or Irish American. Some [West Indian](/source/West_Indian)s are now sandhogs. Sandhogging is often a tradition and is passed down through [generation](/source/generation)s of families; since mining projects span decades, it is not uncommon for multi-generations of families to work together on the same job.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE0DF1338F93BA15752C1A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Tunneling Into a World of Danger; Fatal Accident Puts Spotlight on Sandhogs' Perilous Job|last=Fisher|first=Ian|date=November 28, 1993|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=October 31, 2008}} [Warren Beatty](/source/Warren_Beatty) was a rare exception in the 1950s, as a recently arrived to New York individual, who worked as a Sandhog relatively briefly on the third tube of the [Lincoln Tunnel](/source/Lincoln_Tunnel).[https://www.wmagazine.com/story/warren-beatty-is-more-than-his-oscars-2017-flub/amp Interview with Warren Beatty], wmagazine.com. Accessed October 25, 2022. ==Occupational hazards== Sandhogs are subject to numerous [occupational hazard](/source/occupational_hazard)s; the construction of [a water tunnel under New York City](/source/New_York_City_Water_Tunnel_No._3) resulted in the deaths of 23 workers{{cite press release|title=Memorial to Tunnel Workers Who Lost Their Lives During Construction of City Water Tunnel No. 3 Planned for Van Cortlandt Site in the Bronx|agency=New York City Department of Environmental Protection|location=Flushing, New York|date=31 October 2000|access-date=4 April 2023|url=https://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press_releases/00-54pr.shtml}} and one child, who fell into an unsecured shaft,{{cite web|url=https://narratively.com/the-fresh-water-beast-beneath-new-yorks-streets/|title=The Fresh-Water Beast Beneath New York's Streets|last=Reale|first=Nicholas|website=Narratively|date=26 August 2015|access-date=4 April 2023}} over 46 years of excavation.{{cite news|url=https://nypost.com/2016/09/28/the-dangers-sandhogs-face-every-day-for-you-to-commute/|title=The dangers sandhogs face every day for you to commute|newspaper=The New York Post|last=Furfaro|first=Danielle|date=28 September 2016|access-date=4 April 2023}} Historically, work in [pneumatic caissons](/source/pneumatic_caissons) underwater exposed workers to the risk of [decompression sickness](/source/decompression_sickness) upon rapid emergence.{{cite journal |title=Caisson disease during the construction of the Eads and Brooklyn Bridges: A review|last=Butler|first=W.P.|journal=Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine|year=2004|volume=31|issue=4|pages=445–459|pmid=15686275}} In addition to risk of physical injury, sandhogs laboring alongside [tunnel boring machine](/source/tunnel_boring_machine)s can experience respiratory damage due to dust exposure. == Appearances in media == *In the October 1997 issue of ''[Esquire](/source/Esquire_(magazine))'' magazine, a series of photographs by [David Allee](/source/David_Allee), with a text accompaniment by Thomas Kelly, document the life and work of sandhogs.{{cite magazine |last=Kelly |first=Thomas |date=October 1, 1997 |url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/1997/10/1/a-man-a-mile |title=A Man A Mile |magazine=Esquire |access-date=March 2, 2025}} *In 2006 at [Grand Central Terminal](/source/Grand_Central_Terminal) in New York City there was a large-scale photo and video installation about the sandhogs, "The Sandhog Project", created by artist Gina LeVay.{{cite news |last=Chung |first=Jen |date=January 11, 2006 |url=https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/sandhogs-at-grand-central |title=Sandhogs at Grand Central |website=Gothamist |access-date=March 2, 2025}} *Thomas Kelly's 1997 novel about sandhogs, ''Payback'', was reissued in 2008 as ''Sandhogs'' ({{ISBN|978-1593762360}}) by Soft Skull Press.{{cite web|url= http://softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-59376-236-4|title= softskull.com|url-status= dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110106153206/http://softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-59376-236-4|archivedate= January 6, 2011}} *[David Grann](/source/David_Grann)'s 2003 article about sandhogs, ''City of Water'', appeared in the September 1 issue of ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'' [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/09/01/030901fa_fact_grann "City of Water" (abstract)], ''The New Yorker'', September 1, 2003. and was republished in his collection ''[The Devil and Sherlock Holmes](/source/The_Devil_and_Sherlock_Holmes)''. It has been optioned for a movie. *On September 7, 2008, [The History Channel](/source/History_(U.S._TV_channel)) began "Sandhogs" a series on the sandhogs.{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/minisites/sandhogs |title=Sandhogs - 800 feet below NYC streets |publisher=A&E Television Networks |accessdate=October 31, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224211837/http://www.history.com/minisites/sandhogs/ |archivedate=February 24, 2009 }} * The ''[CSI: NY](/source/CSI%3A_NY)'' episode "A Man a Mile" deals with the death of a sandhog during construction of [Water Tunnel No. 3](/source/New_York_City_Water_Tunnel_No._3).{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} * A 2010 episode of the podcast [Radiolab](/source/Radiolab) titled "Cities" includes interviews with several sandhogs.{{Cite web |title=Cities |url=https://www.radiolab.org/podcast/91732-cities |access-date=2023-06-17 |website=Radiolab Podcasts {{!}} WNYC Studios |language=en}} *The ''[Cold Case](/source/Cold_Case_(TV_series))'' episode "Sandhogs" ([Season 4](/source/Cold_Case_(season_4)), Episode 3) deals with the death of a Sandhog in 1948.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} *A ''[Public Broadcasting System](/source/Public_Broadcasting_System)'' (PBS) sponsored documentary show ''[American Experience](/source/American_Experience)'' 2014 episode "The Rise and Fall of Penn Station" details the work done by the sandhogs in the creation of the rail tunnels connecting New York and New Jersey.[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/penn/ Penn Station] The American Experience *The podcast ''[99% Invisible](/source/99%25_Invisible)'' released an episode on sandhogs in March 2015.[http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/sandhogs/ 99% Invisible] Episode 158: Sandhogs *Chuck Wendig's urban fantasy novel, The Blue Blazes ({{ISBN|9780857663351}}). The protagonist is a former sandhog, and one of the central elements of the plot is [Water Tunnel No. 3](/source/New_York_City_Water_Tunnel_No._3), a sandhog construction project.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} *The final episode of season 4 of [The Strain](/source/The_Strain_(TV_series)) refers to sandhogs as the builders of [Water Tunnel No. 3](/source/New_York_City_Water_Tunnel_No._3), where the scenes were filmed. * [Scorpion](/source/Scorpion_(TV_series)) Season 3 Episode 14,[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6198392/] IMDB: Scorpion Season 3 Episode 14 (Jan 2017) where Walter refers to the workers as mole rats, as he felt the sandhogs nickname 'is illogical', and Toby corrects him to sandhogs.[https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=scorpion-2014&episode=s03e14] Scorpion s03e14 Episode Script * On September 12, 1956, [NBC](/source/NBC)'s [Screen Directors Playhouse](/source/Screen_Directors_Playhouse) aired the final episode of the program, a teleplay directed by [Allan Dwan](/source/Allan_Dwan) and starring [William Bendix](/source/William_Bendix) and [Dennis Harper](/source/Dennis_Harper). The title alludes to the high air pressure necessary to keep the river from flooding the work site. The episode tells the story of a father and son working as "Sandhoggers" constructing a tunnel below the [Hudson River](/source/Hudson_River). * On January 23, 1949, [Box 13](/source/Box_13) episode "Three to Die" aired. It starred [Alan Ladd](/source/Alan_Ladd) as Dan Holiday. Dan goes undercover as a sandhog where construction on a new tunnel under the city's river has been plagued with deadly sabotage. == Literature == * [Colum McCann](/source/Colum_McCann)'s "This Side of Brightness," Picador, New York 1998, {{ISBN|0-312-42197-4}}. * Jimmy Breslin "Table Money," Tickner & Fields, New York 1986, {{ISBN|9780899193120}}. * [E. L. Doctorow](/source/E._L._Doctorow)'s "[Ragtime (novel)](/source/Ragtime_(novel))": Chapter 13, Random House, 1975, {{ISBN|0-394-46901-1}} == Movies == * In the 1943 romantic comedy ''[No Time for Love](/source/No_Time_for_Love_(1943_film))'', photographer [Claudette Colbert](/source/Claudette_Colbert) is on assignment to take pictures of a tunnel project under the Hudson River and falls for sandhog [Fred MacMurray](/source/Fred_MacMurray). * In the 1996 film ''[Daylight](/source/Daylight_(1996_film))'', directed by [Rob Cohen](/source/Rob_Cohen) and starring [Sylvester Stallone](/source/Sylvester_Stallone), there are references to "sandhogs" as well as detailed history on how these men lived under the pressures of building the Holland Tunnel.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116040/] *In 2006 film ''[Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York](/source/Disaster_Zone%3A_Volcano_in_New_York)'', directed by [Robert Lee](/source/Robert_Lee_(director)) and starring [Pascale Hutton](/source/Pascale_Hutton), there is reference to "sandhog" when Hutton says that she is one. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463948/] * In 2007 Edward Burns also narrated the film [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1317480/ The Greatest Tunnel Ever Built] for [The History Channel](/source/History_(U.S._TV_channel)). == References == {{reflist}} == Further reading == *{{cite magazine |last=Armagnac |first=Alden P. |date=September 1947 |title=Sandhogs' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=miQDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+1947+%22piped+through+the+rockies%22&pg=PA82 |magazine=[Popular Science](/source/Popular_Science)}} *{{cite book |last=Chase |first=Borden |date=1941 |title=Sandhog; the way of life of the tunnel builders |location=Evanston, Ill. |publisher=Row, Peterson and Co. |oclc=1525997}} *{{cite book |last=Delaney |first=Paul E. |date=1983 |title=Sandhogs : a history of the tunnel workers of New York |oclc=11517630}} *{{cite book |last=LeVay |first=Gina |date=2009 |title=Sandhogs |location=Brooklyn, NY |publisher=PowerHouse Books |isbn=978-1576875230}} ==External links== {{Wiktionary}} *[http://www.sandhogs147.org New York City Sandhogs Local 147] *[https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050615_LENS_FEATURE/blocker.html The Sandhogs], a New York Times interactive feature Category:Construction in the United States Category:Mining terminology --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandhog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhog) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhog?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.