Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-12-12
The HOOsac Tunnel.

The dream of Massachusetts, is fulfilled.
For unnumbered ages the Hoosac Mountains
have stood between the eastern and western
portions of the State, in the prehistoric time
probably affordng safe retreat for wild
beasts when pursued by the scarcely less wild
prehistoric man, and in later times erecting its
rocky and rugged front as an effectual barrier
to the efforts of commerce and enterprise to
construct railways and lines of comm unica-
tion from the East to the West. Boston has
oapacious harbor, and is also hundreds of
miles nearer to European ports than her rivals,
and O. sht therefore to be the great entrepot
for foreign trade and the point of export for
the granares of the West. But all these ma
terial advantages went for nought so long as
the Hoosac Mountain reared its hoary head
above the valleys of the Hoosac and the
Deerfeld. Now that barrier which could not be
removed has been pierced, and daylight now
shines through the base Of the hoary monster,
and shortly the passage will be resonant with
the clang of the laden car and the shrek of
the locomotive, and Boston will enter upon
new career Of commercial prosperity. Here
tofore, though Boosting the best harbor in the
country, she has been almost as isolated as il
she were an inland city. She has not gained
this new avenue of communication by any
lottery. She has done it by sheer hard labor,
and through host of discouragements and
vexations which would have paralyzed faint
er-hearted commonwealth. The engineering
difficulties have been great, and courage, skill,
and a dogged perseverance have been necessary
to overcome them, but if these had been the
only difficulties to overcome, the work of
making the tunnel would have been recrea-
ton. To make people believe in its feasibility
and give their voice, influence, and money
toward the project was hard
er task than to bore the hole itself.
In fact there were several large mountains to
be bored through before the Hoosac could be
even approached. There were the financial
and legislative problems, and after these were
solved, the melancholy doubt, whether, after
the hole was put through the mountain, it
would really be worth the time, trouble and
expense it had cost would often be thrown in
the faces of the legislature and those favoring
its construction. This was more than twenty
five years ago.
The first idea of tunneling under the
Hoosac Mountain dates back, however, some
thirty years before. 1t was proposed about
that time to make canal from Boston to the
Hudson River by way of the Deerfield and
Hoosac Rivers. And the Board of Commits
sioners appointed in 1926 to examine the pro-
ject with a very intrepid judgment advised the
cutting of tunnel through the mountain.
In 1S4S a railroad company undertook the
work, but 1t met with obstacles at every
step, aud was nually compelled to abandon IT,
Thus fourteen years were spent in controver-
sizes and quarrels, when the State, in 1862,
decided to take the matter into its own hands.
Under recommendations of commissioners the
work was put under contract. 1t was at first
parceled out for short time TO two or three
parties, but on the oath of Dece mber, 1868, a
contract for the whole work was made with
Messrs. Walter and Francis Stanley, of Can
ada, who agreed to complete the tunnel by
the LIST Of March, 1874, for the sum of 81, ,594,
26S. Under this contract the work has been
vigorously aud successfully prosecuted.
The whole length of the tunnel is 25,O31
feet, Or four and three-quarter miles. 1t is
26 feet wide by a height varying from % to
26 feet, wherever a brick arch is used. Pass
ing through solid rock excavation the section
is reduced to "a wide by 20 high. The tunnel
grade is 26 feet to the mile for nearly the
whole distance, rising from each portal to-
ward the central shaft, and leaving short
length of level Immediately under the shaft
This dip in the grade each way from the center
was made to secure good drainage.
The tunnel has two shafts, one near the
west end, only 3lS feet deep, and the other, or
central shaft, nearly in the middle of the tun-
mel. This is OPS feet in depth. The central
shaft was sunk for two purposes, first, to Sc
cure two facings, one east and one west, and
thus expedite the work, and secondly, to af-
ford ventilation for the tunnel. 1t is matter of
great doubt whether the tunnel, constructed
as it is with grade from each portal to the
center, would ventilate itself at all. Since
this shaft was built, and connection made with
the east end, strong draft is obtained from
it, and the tunnel is readily cleared from
smoke and gases. The central shaft is an ell.
lipse 27 feet long by 15 feet wide. Its position
was established by series of secondary OBJ
servations, the instrument being placed alter.
nately on each side of the shaft, and the posi-
tion transited until exactly determined be-
tween the two principal tunnel submits.
The Hoosac Mountain has two submits,
with wide valley between them. The east
ern summit is g. 100 feet from the east portal
of the tunnel, and ,415 feet above the grade
of the road; and the western summit 6,700
feet from the western portal, and 1,704 feet
above the grade. The submits are 2 40-l0O
miles distant from each other, and the valley
between, at its greatest depression, is sol feet
above grade. A part of the line over the
tunnel is covered with forests, and in some
places the depth of earth over the rock is
quite considerable.