The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-18 00:00:00

THE GREAT TUNNEL OF THE

ALPS.

To complete a direct line of railroad communica-
tion between Boulogne and Venice and Ancona, and
consequently, between London and the Adriatic, one
only obstacle lies in the way. The chain of Mont
Denis and Mont Genevre, running nearly north-east
and south-west, would cross such a line, and present,
with their elevation of 11,000 feet, an insur-
mountable bar to any direct and continous railway.
From London, as far as Chambery, by the Lyons
railroad, all is smooth enough ; nay, that rail can and
will, and indeed is now about to, push further, as-
cending to Mont Meilland, and St. Maurienne (names
well known to old post travellers who directed their
steps alcng the valley of the Arc, towards Lansle-
bourg), and by an ulterior effort, it will yet reach
higher, as far as Modane, at the foot of the northern
crest of the Graian and Cottian Alps. But once
there all further progress is arrested, and no train can
hope to reach the Italian side to Susa and Turin, and
thence to the eastern coasts of the peninsula, unless a
subterranean wayfare be pierced throw the snow-
capped barrier.
What a magnificent problem is here presented to
the inventive genius of the age ! What splendid re-
sults to be attained by its successful solution ! Such
a problem has been actually under the consideration
of the Sardinian Government since August, 1845. Its
solution is no longer a matter of doubt. The possi-
bility of boring through the heart of Mont Genevre,
and of linking Chambery with Susa, north and south
of that range, is a demonstrated truth. The great
tunnel of the Alps is about to become a reality, under
the auspices of Victor Emmanuel and the Piedmontese
Parliament.

The author of this gigantic scheme is the Chevalier
Henry Maus, Honorary Inspector of the Genie Civil,
the same who devised and executed the great works
on the Liege Railroad. After five years of incessant
study of this question, and many practical experi-
ments and calculations, including the invention of
new machinery for boring the mountain, this officer
made his final report to the Government on the Bth
of February, 1849.

•
A commission was thereupon named on the lath
of July, 1849, consisting of several distinguished en-
gineers, artillery officers, senators, members of the
Government, and a professor of geology, to examine
and give their opinion on the nature and feasibility of
Chevalier Maus' project. That commission, on the
Ist of November last, being then under the presi-
dency of the Minister of Public Works, the Cheva-
lier Paleocapa, decided unanimously and entirely in
favour of the project. Their report, together with
that of Chevalier Maus, has recently been printed for
private distribution, by order of the Sardinian Go-
vernment, illustrated by maps and plans, and all the
various calculations, not only of expense, but of the
mechanical difficulties also, which this great and
striking project presents.
An application far a part of the funds required to
begin the great tunnel will be made to the Chambers
forthwith, and the work, which it is expected will
occupy five years, will cost 14,000,000 f. ; while the
entire railroad of the Alps, connecting the tunnel
with the Chambery railway on the one side and with
that of Susa on the other aide (in length together
36,565 metres, or 201
English miles), will cost
21,000,000 f. more, forming a total expense of
35,000,000 f.
The great tunnel itself will measure 12,290 metres,
of nearly seven English miles in length ; its greatest
height will be 19 feet, and its width 25, admitting, of
course, of a double line of rail. Its northern entrance
is to be at Modane, and the southern entrance at
Bardonneche, on the river Mardovine. This latter
entrance, being the highest point of the intended line
of rail, will be 4,092 feet above the level of the sea,
and yet 2,400 feet below the highest or culminating
point of the great road, or pass, over the Mont Ce-
nis. It is intended to divide the connecting lines of
rail leading to either entrance of the tunnel into eight
inclined planes of about 5,000 metres, or 2i English
miles each, worked like those at Liege, by endless
cables and stationary engines, but in the present case
moved by water power derived from the torrents.
The most remarkable part of the project, however,
is the newly devised machinery and motive power by
which the Chevalier Maus proposes to bore the great
tunnel. It is as ingenious as it is new, presenting some
extraordinary facts in mechanics which could hardly
have been anticipated, but the truth of which has been
tested and 'verified by practical essays made with
working models of the natural size before the Govern-
ment commission already mentioned. But these and
the consideration of the immense results, social, com-
mercial, and political, that may be expected to flow
from such a gigantic undertaking, in comparison
with which the Thames Tunnel and the Britannia-
bridge become secondary objects, may form the sub-
ject of another article.— Times.