The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-03-06 00:00:00

TUNNEL.

COMPLETION OF THE ST. GOTHARD

The Bt. Gothard Tunnel was completed on Sunday
morning. At nine o'clock the last stone fell amidst
great rejoicings. At eleven o'clock many persons
walked through the tunnel. The journey there and
back occupied seven houre.—The Correspondent
of the Daily News in announcing the above f sot, also
gives the following interesting particulars respecting
the Tunnel :

"The great St. Gothard Tunnel, as announced above,
is now completed. Its architect, M. Favrei will not
have lived to see the work which he undertook; but.
the contract which he signed will nevertheless have
been executed within good time in despite of enormous
difficulties. Few people have aily exact idea of the
hardships of tunnelling. In the present instance it
means boring through nine miles and a quarter of solid
rock, from a small place called Geschenen or GiA-
chenen, at the mouth of a wild and picturesque little
river, the Reuss, to another small place called Airola,
on the Ticino, which is the first village where Italian
is spoken as you come out of Switzerland.
"The borings were commenced in 1872, with
machinery worked by compressed air,- and operntions
were carried on from both ends at once—a process
which naturally mands that the plans of the engi-
neers shall have Been drawn with faultless minuteness.
A deviation of one inch in the line within the first
mile would have brought the workmen very far wide
of their mark before the end of the thirty-sixth fur-
long was reached. As it is, the boring has been so
correctly performed that the workmen from Airola
will be shaking hands in a few days with those
of Geschenen. It seems that these tinfortnuates
have been toiling in a temperature scarcely lower than
that in a hothouse, for, though the compressed air
machines are ingeniously contrived to furnish ventila-
tion, it has been found almost impossible to carry
currents of cool air down a shaft over four miles long.
Under the circumstances, the work which the honest
miners have done has been truly heroic; and nobody
will grudge them hearty congratulations when they
have finished their piercing and established a regular
grateful draught of air, which will enable them to
carry on the remainder of their work under pleasanter
conditions.

"The cost of excavating and tunnelling over the 9i
miles was set down in M. Payee's contract at two
millions sterling, which May give one some idea of
what the Submarine Tunnel between Boulogne and
Dover will cost; should it ever be attempted.
Amateurs of speed in travelling will look upon the
completion of the St. Gothard Tunnel as an unmiti-
gated boon. Going from Bale to Milan they will be
spared the jolt by diligence or by sleigh, according to
meson, between Bellinzona and Lugano, and will have
the satisfaction of passing in the dark through one of
the grandest tracts of scenery in Europe. They will
do in twenty-five minutes what used not always to
be aceomplished in twenty-five hours, for there were
times when blinding snowstorms broke suddenly
over that steep and treacherous St Gothard Pass,
making travellers right glad to reach the Monte Rosa
hotel at the top, or the Hospice where the benevolence
of the Canton of Ticoni has provided beds for fifteen
poor travellers. Often wayfarers have lost their way
Italie snow, and have had to huddle helpless by the
road waiting to hear tke tinkling of the bells round the
necks of the Newfoundland dogs which the monks of
the Hospice always sent out in quest of strangers
when the weather was bad. What music so
joyous as that of these bells in the perish-
ing winter cold, unless it were the bark Of
the good dogs themselves as they sniffed the
presence of the stranger, and ran with unerring emu-
racy to extricate him from his scrape Grateful
tourists endowed with Worldly means were often
anxious to buy their four-footed preservers, and were
allowed to do so on a payment of about £l5; or they
could have a puppy for £3. It was safer to buy a
puppy, for the larger dogs, accustomed to the keen-
ness of the mountain air, never throve in other climes;
and even the pups were apt to grow consumptive
after they had been away for a few months from their
snows. A year or two ago an Irish gentleman
who had been saved from certain death by a St.
Gothard dog bought him and took him to Dublin.
The poor beast became attached to his muter, but
soon pined and wasted. xfis master, after trying
every remedy that could restore him to health, at last
had the good sense to decide that that the dog ought
to be taken back to his birthplace, e anmdushtehuanvdeerbtoeeonk
ftrhaem journeyththe
faittoh Goshatghgayrd on purpose. The parting
painful, but the dog has since revived and is doing
well in his business. Recollections like these--
memories of dangers overcome and of pleasant nights
spent on the mountain albergi—endear the St.
-Gothard road to travellers who are fond of meeting
adventures when they journey. At the Monte-
Rosa hotel, or at the Albergo del San Gothardo
facing it, one was sure to get a comfortable bed
in a well-warmed room, a substantial dinner,
and sometimes cheerful company. The visitors'
books in these two hostelries bear ample evi-
dence that joviality is rather the rule than the
exception among travellers, for one can scarcely
read a grumble, whereas there are pages upon pages
devoted to recording the impressions of tourists who
have been delighted with everything they saw and
heard, from the misty outlines of the "always invisi-
ble" St. Gothard to the patter of the large-eyed Italian
serving wenches who bring in the tureens of steaming
macaroni soup, flavoured with Parmesan cheese. The
familiar names of Albert Smith, Thackeray, Leman
Blanchard, Charles Kingsley. and Robert Browning
may be read among the signatures on these scraps.
books, mingling with _those of Alexandre Dumas,
Thbophile Gautier, and George Sand. The French,
however, indulge in a lighter style of contribution
than the English. While the latter rhapsodise over
the scenery, or throw out practical hints about the
precautions which travellers should take to guard
against the imposture of guides and diligence-con-
ductors, the former criticise the culinary department,
and deliver opinions about the wines they have drunk,
The two nations only agree in remarking that when
the wind blows on the St. Gothard road at night it
makes a noise like the howling of a legion of imps, and
effectually scare sleep away.
"This St. Gothard wind, by-the-bye, is called by the
natives at the Swiss end of the road Hut schelm or hat
rogue, because of its playful propensity to whisk off the
hats of travellers and fling them into some abyss or
into the rumbling, foaming waters of the Reuss. Many
a comfortable wide-awake, the pride and solace of its
owner, has been disposed of in this way, without a
warning whiff to announce that the boisterous wind was
coming; therefore experienced tourists used to make
their headdresses fast with guards like small cables,
and, what is more, t'eey took care in walking to
hug the cliff side of the road so as not to run
the risk of being caught amidships themselves by the
rough tornado, which was often strong enough to lift
a lusty man clean off his legs. As everybody knows,
the St. Gothard road used to be until the beginning of
this century a mere bridle path. It had been of old
much frequented by travellers—pilgrims going to
Italy on foot, or merchandisers faring with pack
mules—but it ceased to be so alter the construction of
the fine roads over the Simplon, the Spltigen, and the
Bernardino, In 1820 the Governments of the Can-
tons of Uri and Ticino undertook the expense of
cutting the present road, which is 19 feet wide all
the way through, and the work was finished to the
general satisfaction about twelve years later.
Baedeker's "Gaide " Justly says of it that in conveni-
ence and utility it was second to none of the Alpine
routes, while in magnificence of scenery it is superior
to all others, especially on the south side. The
St. Gothard Pass is generally practicable for
carriages during four or five months from the begin.
ning of June; whilst in winter travellers can be
conveyed over in one-horse sleighs, except when
the snowfalls have been too heavy. At some
points avalanches are to be dreaded, notably
in the gorges just beyond Amsteg, below which
the impetuous Reuss rushes in a series of noisy
waterfalls, and again in the Schiillenen beyond
the Sixth Bridge, where one of the most dangerous
spots is protected by a gallery sixty yards in length.
The Sixth Bridge just mentioned stands just at the
north ride of the new St. Gothard Tunnel ; it stretches
over the Reuss, like most of the others, for the road
winds and rewinds in spirals; the Seventh Bridge, 4
little beyond it, is called Sprengbrticke ; and then we
come to the famous Teufelsbrticke, or Devil's Bridge,
said to have been constructed by an architect who had
made a compact with Beelzebub. As legends
of this sort are common to most mountainous
countries one need not inquire whether it is true
that at this particular place (three miles and a
half from Geschenen) the devil was or was not
cheated of his dues by the architect driving a dog with
a kettle to his tail over the bridge when it was hien-
gurated. Enough that on the Devil's Bridge, when
thst wootium 1.4 al.*, . 60012.4 MAIO* hanntifnl in it wild
desolation is to be obtained. It is not always bad
weather on the St. Gothard, When the snows have
melted and the winter winds ceased blowing, the sun
often shines out for days and days together, tinting all
the mountain crests with pink, and throwing broad
streaks of orange light into those craggy recesses
which from November to May, look so black, At
such times, standing on the Teufelsbriicke and
listening to the cascade of the Reuss which
dashes its waters with a noise of thunder to a
depth of 100 feet below, the traveller, soused
with spray (unless he have a waterproof) may watch
the old and broken Devil's Bridge twenty feet below
where a savage battle was fought between the Aus-
trians and French in August, 1779. Every guide has
the story of this Homeric encounter pat on the end of
his tongue. The Austrians had taken up a strong
position on the bridge, but, being unable to bear up
against the furia francese they blew tip the side arch;
in consequence of which hundreds of wretched French-
men were precipitated like so many frogs into the
abyss underneath. Communications were thus cat
off; but the surviving French, nothing daunted,
actually scaled the right bank of the Reuss—an awful
ascent—and drove the -Austriang„ back. Such
tales of human daring make the pulses thrill, but,
maybe, the tourist who eyes the fearful steeps,
and measures the distance between the now moss-
grown disused bridge and tho rushing waters where so
many brave fellows found a grave, will turn more
gladly to the scene of human enterprise being displayed
a few miles further off, where the tunnel borings
already described are being carried on day and night
with a stolid and magnificent patience. Tunneling is
not quite a neiv art, for just beyond the Teufelsbrticke
we have a tunnel of seventy yards, pierced through
the rock in 1707. It was a great feat with such in-
etruments at were at the disposal of engineers then;
but it must not blind us to the altogether superior
merit of such works as those of M. Fevre; There may
have been engineers of yore, but those of our time are
Goliaths beside them.

" The St. Gothard Tunnel will be a mile and two-
thirds longer than that of the Mount Cents, and con-
swently ,the longest tunnel ever made. From its
central.polnt (3,779 feet above the sealevel) there is a
fall towards Cr'eschenen of 6 per 1,000 feet, and to-
wards Airolo of 1 per 1,000 feet. Altogether it is a
stupendous work, and its utility to the commercial
and travelling classes will be immense. These are
days when time is of value. The shortening of a
journey by some hours is a great consideration,
and effects for the better in a multitude of ware
the actions which are thereby brought into closer
contact. As for the travellers who love scenery, they
may be compensated for the loss of it on the St.
Gothard by the reflection that it is pleasant after all
to doze comfortably whilst one glides through a tunnel

secure horn avalanches, snowstorms, and hv,tschelms,
Fine scenery may still be inspected at leisure in almost
any corner of Switzerland; and hardy pedestrians will
still clamber up the old St, Gothsrd road to Monte
Rosa for amusement, though no longer obliged to do
so from necessity." . .