Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1863-06-12
Tunneiind of the Alps A Railroad over
the SimpIOn.
TURIN. ITALY. March 20

IURlN, Italy, .NIaTcnl OU.
! The great engineering enterprise of tun-
heling the Alps has been some five years
in progress, and the distance penetrated,
including the operations on both sides, is
only about one mile, leaving eleven more
to BE Bored But the calculations of Mr..
Fell, the English engineer, who has this
Alpine work in charge, are that, although
he has accomplished but ore mile in FIVE
years, he will be able, by his improved ma
.cbinery, to complete the remaining distance
of eleven miles, IN ten years. The engines
are worked by compressed air, and there is
no offensive smell or danger Of suffocation
The two rows of iron pipes through which
the air is forced are seen for son distance
by the road on the Savoy side of the Alps
Another project for crossing the Alps over
the Simpon has just been submitted to the
Emperor of the French NJ Lehaitre ex-
hbited model last week In the Diana Gal
lory of the Tuilleries of his great project,
showing all the grades and cuts and tunnels
and galleries Of the route. The whole line
of this railroad over the mountains from
Douro dOssela, in Italy, to Brigues, in
| the Valais, was introduced into the FULLER
les reduced to the scale Of two thousand
feet The survey of this great work was
commenced on the 1st August last. and
completed on the 18th
About forty agents. divided into two
brigades, one turning to the north and the
other to the sou of the Alps under the
leadership of two engineers, have during
the four months, explored the mosotsin.
aud tracd the plan OF the fufn' ralIway
which is to lass over rocks. cross ,osre.{s
fill up the valleys, gorg's anu prer'rfc /,
before which science does no hesitate The
stimulus Of having great work TO accomp
lish has alone sustained the picked men to
whom the task was confded. They set up
shelters and encampments in woods hither
to unexplored. carrying on their backs
beds, clothing and provisions as they had
often to live two or three leagues from any
dwelling. It was frequently necessary TO
lower by ropes down the precipices the
men who bad to prepare the plans amid
empty space, and the snow and avalanches
more than once threatened TO stop them
sum,narIy IN their work The result has
been 70 put before h. Emperor eighty ki
/ lometars q. iron way il, t.e IL =. &c A!9-
! forty f5ur OF which viii be coverea eSs-y,
twenty thre. in tunnels and twenty ont
galleries Al these passages are venllla
ted either by shafts for the tunnels, or af-
eral openings for the galleries Thess
openings, cut at different points into ar
cades, have. a startling appearance. They
are veritable promenades athousand metres
above the sea, offering the same security as
those OF the Rue de Rivoli. which they re-
semblc, but presenting more picturesque
and varied panorama. The execution Of he
plan, according to the authors, would oc-
cupy less than five Yeas At the end OF
this month the complete project of crossing
the Alps by the Simplon will be officially
submitted to the Governments of France
Itoly and Switzerland. The estimated cost
of this great project, including the hxed
and rolling material, the interest OF the cap.
tai employed, ETC., is seventy-two million
/ francs