Below West 38th Street

February 25, 2014 11:21 AM

The lost cow tunnels of New York: truth or fiction?
posted by MartinWisse (25 comments total)

take note writers of Sleepy Hollow, for the possibility of GHOST COWS
posted by The Whelk at 11:26 AM on February 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

I don't see what the controversy is. Just lie down on 34th street, put your head to the pavement and listen for the moo.

Great article(s). I love stuff like this.
posted by Mchelly at 11:45 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Isn't Harrison Ford too old to be making any more Indiana Jones moovies?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:49 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Academic disputes over the existence of underground beef cattle tunnels are quite vicious. Do you know why?

Because the steaks are so low.
posted by zamboni at 11:50 AM on February 25, 2014 [47 favorites]

Is it just jealousy of Cambridge Mass?

But in terms of the feasibility of cow tunnels: it looks like, at least the ancient Romans were digging them.
posted by rongorongo at 11:51 AM on February 25, 2014

Reminded me of this earlier post. There has got to be all sorts of interesting, half forgotten stuff under New York City, and it's less than 400 years old. I am reminded of the comment a tour guide in Rome made while passing a site where they were excavating some buildings from the Roman Empire, to the effect that Rome had been in the same place for so long that you could start digging anywhere in the city and hit an achaeologically significant find.
posted by TedW at 11:52 AM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I read the main link as "the low cost cow tunnels" and was very confused at the existence of apparently well-known, but quite expensive, cow tunnels undergirding Manhattan.
posted by invitapriore at 11:52 AM on February 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

I was just about to mention the cattle tunnel in Cambridge. It's not far from Porter Square, the possible namesake of the Porterhouse Steak.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:53 AM on February 25, 2014

These tunnels were probably lost because the New Yorkers were told to steer clear.
posted by Twain Device at 11:56 AM on February 25, 2014

Wasn't the evil mood slime flowing through the lost underground tunnel in Ghostbusters 2 colored pink, as in, pink slime?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:03 PM on February 25, 2014

I know the meat packing district is totally bridge and tunnel now, but this seems to be taking it to another level.
posted by The Bellman at 12:06 PM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

apparently well-known, but quite expensive, cow tunnels undergirding Manhattan.

I frequent a club called COW TUNNEL.

You probobly haven't heard of it.

It's pretty underground.
posted by The Whelk at 12:07 PM on February 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

MmmmmmmoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Too bad Westlake has left us. I'd love to see Stan Murch driving a getaway vehicle through one of those.
posted by tilde at 12:09 PM on February 25, 2014

take note writers of Sleepy Hollow, for the possibility of GHOST COWS

Well that would be batshit crazy.


Oh. Right.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:15 PM on February 25, 2014

I somehow misread the post as "low cost tunnels" of New York, which reminded me of the one and only time (two years ago) when Mr. Adams and I drove to NYC from Michigan for a business thing. We decided to drive rather than fly just so we could explore the area on our own once our meetings were done. Driving into NYC via the Lincoln Tunnel, I rummaged through my purse for a couple of singles to pay the toll at the other end (there were no signs announcing the price at the entry end, BTW). Imagine my shock when they wanted twelve dollars at the exit end!! Cripes, I mumbled to my husband, we can go through the Windsor/Detroit Tunnel for three dollars and change, and that takes you to a whole different country!!
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:40 PM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

"Desperate for confirmation, I turned to the digital archive of Sanborn maps, a treasure trove of large-scale American city maps dating from 1867 to the present. Designed to help fire-insurance agents accurately assess risk, they include information about construction materials and building use, as well as all vents, pipes, windows, and doors in a given area.

Oh, that's awesome.
posted by zarq at 12:57 PM on February 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

Having seen cow tools (see the groundbreaking research of G. Larsen [1987]) I find it difficult to believe they would be capable of constructing tunnels. Especially in the notoriously complex terrain of Manhattan.
posted by yoink at 1:09 PM on February 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

They hire chipmunks to do the digging for them. Those guys work for peanuts.
posted by zarq at 1:12 PM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

I thought this said "low cost tunnels", and I thought, fiction.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:24 PM on February 25, 2014

There is no cow level.
posted by captain cosine at 1:34 PM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is relevant to my interests; thank you. I did one of my first FPPs about New York's swill milk scandals. Cows of New York, represent!
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:27 PM on February 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

> we can go through the Windsor/Detroit Tunnel for three dollars and change, and that takes you to a whole different country!!

People would even pay to go to Windsor. Huh.
posted by ardgedee at 2:42 PM on February 25, 2014

Next you're going to try to tell us that the The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel (previously) is a hoax.
posted by pullayup at 3:31 PM on February 25, 2014

Oriole Adams: the toll at the Lincoln Tunnel is one way. You only pay at the Jersey side, to get into Manhattan. Leaving the city is free.
posted by monospace at 4:21 PM on February 25, 2014

What do the two Johns know?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:20 PM on February 25, 2014