Woodville Republican. [volume] (Woodville, Miss.) 1833-1844, 1843-09-16

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quietly walking through sGbleTanean pas
sage below nsl The visito' is directed, seThis
way 10 The TunneI q. BY a board on the
other corner Of a street. You desrend vim,
ding stone stairway 100 steps, and enter into
The tunnel, which is lighted with gas, and ar.
ford us a cool, pleasant walk, after four hours
exposure 10 The sun, Tile tunnel has two 4
venues, each wide enough to allow. 10. or l6
persons to walk, abresst, Halfway through.
printing press Is stationed ''By Royal Au-
ihofiiy," which is throwing off sheets on &C.
count of the tunnel. Iiold the man would
purchase two of his sheets. provided he would
allow me to npulf' them myself This npor
learning that 81 knows The ropes" as thew
say al sea, he consented 10. ! have, therefore,.
an account Of the Thames Tunnel, printed
by myself. stending midway between the.
London and Snrry sides Of the river, seventy
feet below its bed, with steamers and ships
passing directly over my headl -.
The tunnel is two miles below London.
Rfidge,a wheIei another bridge which was.
much wanted, would have pIoyed seriously
injurious 10 the Immense commerce of the
metropolis, In 1888, after the failure and a.
abandonment of several plans for tunnellIng
the Thames, one was submitted by Mr.. (now
Sirl J, M. Brunei, which received the conf
dence of capitalists, and in 1926 he commence
ed his operations. But he encountered diff
culties and obstacles for years, at every step
of hisprogress, that would have disheaTteued
and appalled, any man, but one whom The e.
mergency had produced to accomplish this
mighty enterprise. Quicksand beds were a.
mong the most troublesome and perilous OBJ
siacle met with. The top Of the tunnels arch,
about the middle OF the river approaches
within ten feet Of the bottom Of the river
Four times, during its progress the tunnel and
shafts were filled with wnier and the eruption
Of 1927, threatened to destroy the enterprise,
but by the most incredible efforts, all was over
come by its indomitable architect, and in 1885
seven years afterwards, Sir ]. M. Brunei was
enabled to resume the work..
The progress Of this great work was.neces-
sarily very slow. Sometimes, with favorable
Excavations two feet would be accomplished
in twenty-four hours, working as they did,
with changes of hands, day and night; where
excavation was difficult, only two feet would
be do"e in Week. and for the last three
mQnths, so G. eat was the labor and so FORMS
dable the distractions, thai only three feet
and tour inches progress was made! In Au-
gust l84l, fifteen years after the ground was
broken on the London side Of The Thames.
Sir J. Nj. Brunei descendedo shan from the
Mapping side aud passed through small
s'dIifl way through The shield in the Tunnel
Less than two years thereafter, in March 184S,
the MAGNIFICENT WORK WAS COM
.PLETED. The whole expense Of consruc-
ton Is estimated al $4,000 thousand pounds
sterling. The toll is only penny forpassing
through The tunnel, and bul for The "gelting
up stairs il would pay we'll. Until passen-
gers are let down and taken up by an engine
i will not take foot passengers from the brid-
ges, IA. f.,.. s..s'l.'..
The son ofsir ]. M. Brunei, whose life was
in such eminent danger from swallowing a
half crown piece, was with three workmen,
caught BY one Of the inbreaks Of water, and
carried BY the rushing column, through the
tunnel to he shaft and up TO the surface
where he was rescued. The three men who
were with him persisted, On the first passage
of the steamer Great Western, from London
to Bristol, he also met with an accident which
it was supposed would result fatally, but from
which he recovered.
KEEP OUT OF THE KITCHEN.