12th July 1998 Johnathan Littell (not Jonathan Littell)

Having read about the explorations of drain explorers in UA City, I was keen to explore some of these man made tunnels. A friend of mine who is a city engineer knew of some likely drains on the outskirts of New York, these were relatively new suburbs, mostly built between the wars. My friend works in upstate New York

We drove out to the north of the city, even though it was fall it is still very green here. It was good to be out of the city, breathing some clean air and no sound other than the engine of my friend�s pickup and the tyres on the road. Most people think of New York city when they mention New York. In fact there is a whole state of the same name which extends north to lake Champlain and west to Buffalo and Niagra falls.

�There used to be a whole series of rocket silos up in those hills� My friend said, pointing north at the Catskill Mountains. �This close to New York?� I asked. �Yep, they (the military) spent millions of dollars building them and now they�re all mostly decommissioned and scrapped. There are supposed to be even more up in the Adirondack Mountains.�

We reached the city edge suburb and drove to the �retarded basin� (as my friend put it) where the first drains were located.

The first drain was a rectangular concrete one. It was an interesting feeling standing there at the mouth of the drain. This was the first time that either of us had been in a drain. My friend had never been in a drain, he worked in records, that�s how he found a map showing where some of the drains were.

We kind of stood on the edge of the drain entrance and pulled out our backpacks to check our equipment. The list provided by UA City explorers proved to be a good one. We dug out our flashlights and shone them into the drain. It was mostly dry so we walked into the entrance. It was spooky standing there, but at the same time it was exhilarating.

" Well we may as well do it." I said to break the ice.

We walked into the drain. It was low just in the entrance but got bigger about seven yards in. It was over head height and the entrance was pretty bright. We turned on our flashlights and walked on further. The drain entrance had a bit of graffiti indicating that some people had been in it before. It was a pity that there were no contact details for any of these people. We pulled out a big felt tip pen and wrote our e-mail addresses on the side of the drain about a hundred yards in.

The first corner of the drain was a real psychological barrier. We could see daylight until then, and the drain was still quite well lit. Going around the corner into the dark was very nerve shaking the first time.

We strode on. There was a lot to see, but nothing outstanding. The dark grey walls of the tunnel were rough to the hand. They were bare concrete. This was kind of reassuring. I thought about people who go into caves, they have just dirt or rock over their heads.

We walked on down the drain about 200 yards till we saw light at the other end. We had chosen that one first because it was shown on maps as being short and it had a flat bottom.

The second drain was a round concrete pipe drain, a RCP. My friend and I stood at the entrance to take some pictures. As we did a police cruiser stopped on the street above and the local deputy got out to demand what we were doing.

�Just taking pictures of this drain here.� I said, as if that explained everything.

�What are you doing that for?� The deputy asked.

�Surveying for the City� My friend said and strode over to the edge of the basin to show his id. It was a legitimate city engineer�s id so the cop only gave it a cursory look. He was half telling the truth as he sold copies of the pictures to some engineering students for their engineering project.

�What about you?� The cop asked pointing to me. I was standing calf deep in mud so the cop wasn�t about to come out to me

� Doing research for a book.� I replied.

This cop turned out to be nice though and seemed fascinated that anyone would be interested in �checking the drains for cracks� as my friend stated he was doing. He told us about another drain out in the sticks that he thought we should take a look at. We asked if there was anywhere local to get a bite to eat for lunch and he told us of a small diner his sister worked in then left us to our mud. I�m sure he considered us to be just some more crazy city folk.

We explored the short RCP drain which led to the next drain.

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