The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-09-15
No. 70.

100 men in gangs of eight relieving
each other day and night, to pierce
passage in eighteen months The
progress Of the work would have been
still more tedious had the laborers con-
fined themselves to the two ends; but
the engineer caused two lateral OPEN
ings to be made, by which means the
rock was attacked in four places at
once. The miners were suspended by
ropes TO the face of the rock until
Judgement was effected to commence
these side openings which now serve
as windows to light the interior OPP
posite one of them is seen the inscrip-
ton lire Haio, 1905. Nap {B1p Haw
by the mouth Of this extraordinary
tunnel, the roaring waterfall of the
Frassinone leaps down, over massive
piles of jagged rocks close to the road
and where the latter is carried across
the Doreria by massivcly built, bus
beautiful, bridge. This portion of tho
Gorge has been painted thousands
of times and affords subject hardly
equalled, if the wild and sublime is
sought FOR.
Avalanches, fearful storms and the
falling Of enormous masses Of rock
are of frequent occurrence in this stu
pendous assure in the Alps. In the
winter of 1928 the snow WINS drifted
to such depth in the gorge immedi-
ately below that of the Condo that the
sledges on which carriages were placed
passed about 100 feet above the road,
And here we come to the little Sarr
dinian village Of Isella, where the trav-
eler undergoes an inhiction that he
soon gets accustomed to, viz, the ex-
animation of baggage The tempests
Of 1884 and 1899 fell with tremendous
violence upon this part of the road,
which they destroyed for space OF
nearly eight miles Every bridge of
stone was swept away; in some in
stances even the material OF which the
bridge was built disappeared, and the
very place where it stood was not to
be recognized 1t was many years
before the road was repaired
Within mile from Isella a marked
change comes over the valley, which
widens and slopes gradually 10 the
plain; the dark frs which heretofore
fringed the edges of the bare preci4
pices, overspread the less frowning
submits and venture to come down
their sides, while from the banks of
the torrent, clusters of chestnut trees
Its rich green foliage source of in
tense delight to the eye at that time
are seen all down the valley, on both
sides, almost joining the line of the
fir trees. Soon the last gallery is
traversed shortly before reaching
Creyolo (another small village, with
square, high, white tower, jutting out
OF the mountain side, where the Do
vecia is crossed for the last time, by
splendid, lofty, double arched stone
bridge The river soon joins the
Tosa, which issues ont of the Val For
mazza and the Val Vedro terminates.
i'll the Val d'Ossola And here we
come out of darkness into light, the
grand gives place to the beautiful; the
roar of torrents, dash of cascades,
sharp broken outlines in the face of
Nature are suddenly lost sight of and
quite forgotten in the delight and oc-
cnpatlon the eye and ear enjoy im
dwelling on the marvellous change
that one short hour creates. High
sloping mountains still border the vast
plain, but, to their submits, they are
clothed with green, dotted with white
villages with always in mountain
ous Italy, the high, square, white bell
towers which often are perched on
some cone or spur of the mountaia,.
and up to them the cine is trollissed
in vineyards over cottages, on terraces
Zone over the other to the number of
fifty, frequently and on all sides the
eye fails not to rest on he fruit of the
south. The balmy atmosphere, chirRs
OF grasshoppers, songs of birds, softer
hues of earth and sky; the gay cos
tunes of the olive faced peasant girls
swarthy compilations of the men, tho
presence, all along the road, of Rom
ish priests and their natural sequence
the fazzdroni, all proclaim the entrance
into Italy. We were obliged to stop
for change of horses in the thoroughly
Italian town of Domo d'Ossola. It's
marrow streets, with colonnades, fancy
colored awnings, shops OVERLOOKING
with displays of maccaroni, sausages,
garlic, wines and vegetables; beggars
IN gay colored head-gear and bare ma
hogany legs-iilthy and Unfortunate