Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1853-08-20

iOHIO.--A correspondent OF the Louisville Courier
suggests the boring of railroad tunnel unde1
The Falls Of the Ohio, so as to make the con.
nexion between the North and South complete
In support Of his novel suggestion he says:
There must be some way by which the OBJ
struction made by the Ohio river must be over
/ come for roads going North and South. The
Typographical position of the Falls of the Ohio
il when viewed from every point--New Orleans to
Cleveland, Chicago to Charleston within
the most direct range to form a. connecting link
/ between the great Northern and Southern sys-
TENS Of railroads; besides, nature seems to have
been lavish in her arrangements in favor of pro-
jects of this kind for the great concentration of
| railroads at the Falls On each side of the
river for many miles the hills appear to be lev
eled down SO that easier grades can be obtained !;
material Of every kind abundant; the point
| eqmdistant :amore central and better adapted in
every respect than any other for FIVE hundred
| miles either way. d.
All that is required to secure the ultimate
| tendency Of all the roads to this point going
North and South in the Mississippi Valley for
all time TO come, is the tunneling the Ohio at
| the Falls as bridges and boats will always be
impracticable, and the impossibility of tunnel
ling the river anywhere else. If the tunnel was
| now made it would be no longer questionable
where the Fort Wayne and East Tennessee road
would terminate. Their connection with the
| tunnel railway would be more desirable than all
the inducements that would be held out at other
places; besides all the roads in Ohio and Illinois
would put out lateral branches to connect with
roads that intersected with the tunnel railway,
and in a few years it would become one of the
most important tunnels in the world.
The work is perfectly practicable. A railway
tunnel can be made under the Falls of the Ohio
with as much facility and not more expensive
than tunneling under the mountains, hills and
other Places it would not be as expensive as the
Pettibone tunnel on the Baltimore and Ohio read,
and nothing to compare with the four mile fun-
mel under the Hoosue between Troy and Green
field. The Falls of the Ohio is a solid bed of
limestone, elevated sit were, some twenty feet
above what would be level of the bed of the
river aboye and below, and tunnel can be got
through with grade not exceeding forty feet to
the mile coming out from the centre, with en-
frances not more than half a mile from the river
bank on either side. The tunnel with outside
grades would be about two miles in length, the
stone excavation under the bed of the river some
fourteen hundred yards, long, which two good
steam tunneling machines will drill out in six
months at a cost ofabout two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. The dirt excavation, grading
for the road, masonry at the entrances, &c.,
would cost perhaps two hundred thousand dol
lars, total four hundred and fifty thousand dol
lars. The estimate for bridge was seven
hundred thousand dollars Hydraulic cements
abundant, and gas convenient for light.
RsF The Earl of EHesmere, Lord Gilbert
Grosvenor and the Hon. Capt. Egerton, were
present at the Annual Festival of the Teachers
and Medal Scholars of the Boston Public Schools,
in Faneuil Hall, on the afternoon of the 9th
ult. Lord Ellesmere having been welcomed by
the Mayor, was introduced to the audience, and
spoke as follows:
He should carry back to his home no recol-
lection of this couatry so pleasant as the pres
ent spectacle. He had but one regret, and that
was that his companions who had come from
England were not present on this delightful
occasion. He admired the country and its in
stitutien, and the galantry Of the men was re-
markable. He did not think that in America
there was such a being as an unprotected female.
He believed that if he were lying sick in the re-
motest part of the great West, and should send
for female friend in Boston, she could come to
him alone, without the slightest molestation,
He was pleased to see SO many ladies present
interested in the cause Of education. He asser-
ted that where thers was not female influence
exerted in the education of the young, the ed
ucation they received would be little better than
nothing. Paradise was not paradise until wo-
man was placed there. The facilities for travel
ing were so great at this time that he doubted
not Old England would often visit Young Amer
lea, and he knew that the Old Country would
be proud of her young and vigorous progeny.
After speaking a few moments longer, the Earl
closed his remarks.