The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-01-02


machines. By the opening of q valve. each
drill Is forced against the face of the rock with
a force of about 200 pounds, turned slightly,
and withdrawn. TWO hundred OF these blows
are giveE every minute with each drill, and,
when holes of the required depth have
been bored, the air Is turned of, and the
machine withdrawn short distance. The
holes are bored In such way as to converge
slightly towards each other, 30 that every blast
will bring down considerable mass OF rock.
At first powder was used In the blasting, but
there were many obvious objections to this.
As soon as any considerable progress had been
made, and subsequently,, gun-cOtlon was tried.
This was afterward displaced by the use Of
nitro-glycerine. The rate of progress has
varied, of course, with the hardness OF the
rock, and has been rom one and m c,,ia, haif II to
plances employed by the Workmen, are gas
house, miniature water-works, and machinery
for supplying their own lungs with air as well
as those Of the perforating 'machinery. Thus
the three essentials Of comfortable life-llgllt,
air and water, are received from the outer
world by machinery.
SIZE OF TIE BORE.
The tunnel Is in the form of o segment Of
cylinder, the bottom being level for the road
bed Of the proposed railway. The height OF
the arch is q feet inches, the width of the
tunnel at the base rs feet 81 inches, and the
width In the broadest part 26 feet q inches.
3 fast as the rock is blasted out itis removed,
and a purity of masons follow close behind the
busy machinery to complete the masonry. The
work has gone on in this way day and night
for more than dozen years, and at last the
two gangs of workmen have met-so we are
told by the telegraph-(ar beneath the sum-
NIT of the Grand Vallon. For some time after
the work was begun. visitors were admitted at
all times, but as the. work progressed, strlcter
rules we're adopted, and permission vas given
to inspect the work only on two fixed days OF
the month. The visitor is takenin charge by
the director Of the workmen, who gives him
long India rubber coat and lighted lamp at
tached to half yard Of wire, and with these
they set out upon their journey.
INTO THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH.
After going some distance the patch OF day
light furnished by the entrance Is lost sight OF,
and the darkness seems positively tangible.
Ahead, through the blackness, glimmer q
number Of lights, and the rumblng sounds Of
the wagons carrying out the debris Is hearu.
Then comes duh, heavy rumble, echoins and
re-echolng through the gallery, and seeming
to shake the mountain from base 10 summit.
1t Is the sound Of an explosion. One follows
another In rapid succession, and, after seven
or eight the wooden doors, which are closed
just before the blast, ARE thrown open, and
clouds OF yellow smoke come pouring through
the tunnel in such density and volume asto be
positively painful At the time of the compile
ton of the tunnel the workmen from the Ital-
iap6sde had bored a miles Into the mountain,
and those from the French side about miles,
the whole distance being kT5 miles.
rouI NILES FROM TIE OUTER WORLD,
and with more than mile. of Alps towering
above their heads, the visitors find the men
and machines at work. The drills make two
hundred revolutions minute, and scatter in
Vulnerable sparks of fire from the rock. After
about ninety holes, three fset IN depth and two
to three inches in. diam eter, are bored, they
are charged with powder and tamped, when
the miners. withdrawing behind the wooden
doors-the slow match Is ignited, and the ex-
plosion takes place. So the labor has continued
without interruption; day AMI night, week
after week, including Sundays, month after
month, year after year. The workmen were
divided into three reliefs, eight. hours being
given to labor and sixteen to rest. The COM
mon laborers received only three francs day,
and the skilled but five francs
THE COMPLETION
of the tunnel itself has been achieved three
or four months sooner than was anticipated
year ago, April, 1871, being the earliest
date assigned for that corsummatlon. 1t will
require ABOUT SIX monlnS more 10 complete
the railroad which is to thread. the tunnel and
make Journey from France to Italy as easy as
that across the German border.
TIE CASUALTIES.
OF course in such work innumerable acci-
dents must happen. 1t has been told that
more than 1000 wor;msn have lost their lives
mp to 1870, but the guides and directors de-
clare that not more than fifty or sixty had
been killed outright, though number oil
others ha1 been seriously wounded. Most of
the accidents have occurred on the railway,
from the falling OF rock and from premature
explosions. One premature explosion killed
FIVE men and wounded nine others, three OF
them fatally; and one rock falling crushed
three meu to death. It Is not improbable,
therefore, that during the twelve years in
which the work has been going on at least
one thousand men have lost their lives. The
cost Of the tunnel has been about ITO, 600
francs.