The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-12-04
TFron the New York Nail. Nov s.
-a The EoOSac flannel.

]
I Te many persons the very name
Of the Hoosac Tunnel has been s
great bore-so often and 50 long bai
the thing been a matter of com men
and controversy. And such people
viii probably say they do not care
peppefcOrn whether the tunnel is evel
finished, if only nothing more shal
be said about il. But, on the othel
nand ,Fthere are number OF latter
day vofidlings, porn, we viii say,
some years this side OF Eden and
Babel, who know little about the tun-
ineis history, so far as it antedates
their own birth. To such persons we
may confidently appeal for hearing
lon this antediluvian topic. To begin
lat The end, Irish fashion, if may be
4 ven 70 say that on the first OF ths
present month there remained only
4 1242feet'o earth and rock to be pierced
q order to Complete this long-talked
d tunnel. Aud, as during October,
lie work advanced 80 feet, it is reas-
I nabie to dream that tbs remainder
via be dug through aud blasted oul
Hfore the end OF November, - There
10 a shad5Fof incredi bility hanging
over such 2 statement, no doHot, SSps-
fause the Hoosac Tunnel his so long
been the sport of all sorts ofzPFsdie-
tons. But, this time We tays the
said cid Boston AdUsrtIser 10 fall
hack upon. And, as this paper was
tie speaking trumpet through which
Ar. Bird (of ill-omen) thundered forth
hb propheey that Boston was EvHIg
tobs bqrhed up, just g yean befsre
tb@ Wonderful house-HsrnlnS OF
1S74, It would be ungrateful not 10 put
faithin almost anything tde Boston
Advertiser furetellsi from this time
forth.
Moreover, 1hfs same paper is so
sanglineA OF the e9mpletion- of the
work this month as to indulge in the
bold enterprise OF writing q history
of the HS0sac Funneliwith alhits ups
and dbWns and ins and outs, which
we fad begun in its issue of Nov. 3,
and shall bravely draw upon for the
infor nation OF our own readers. The
freeort is to be one OF all sorts OF mis-
haps, delays, difficulties, and extrava-
ganees, not to mention the hecatOmb
| of disappointed hopes it has piled up.
The original plan Of tunnelfng the
HoOsse Mountain dates back to 1928,
and had nothing 10 do with railway
ing projects. For the idea, then, was
to construct a canal from Boston to
the Hudson River, by way of tapping
our Ere Canal in the interest Of wide
awake Bostonians. Com missiOIers
were appointed, who reported in favar
of making canal through Massa-
ohusetis, via Daerfield and HoOsgc
Rivers, including q tunnel through
the HOosae Mountain. The thing
was declared feasible, and the COM
mission, itseems unlike good many
persons since connected with the
schemel had "no hesitation" in pro-
nouncing in fsvor of the undertaking
Then esme in the railway fever, and
canals we're voted to be of too slow
coach an order to spend much money
upon. 50, the canal project sleeps
the sleep that knows no waking, be-
ing put to sleep by proposed railway
programme to connect Boston via
Springfield with the western line Of
the State. In 1918 the surveys for
this road were made, but the roadwas
not completed until lS4l. Meanwhile
other railways were chartered, among
them being the Troy and Greenfield
Road. This last was to be built by a
company having an authorized capi-
tai Of s., J06, 900. And it was ordered
to be finished within seven years OF
the dste of Incorporation (tS4S). The
charter did not mention anything
about the tunnel, but that wes an un-
derstood part of the project and as the
road was to be forty-five miles long, it
will be noticed that about $4,000 q
mile was estimated to be the cost Of
the road, tunnel and all. The road was
not located until 1880, an extension OF
time having been granted, and it was
not long before the corporators dis
covered that State aid would be not
only good thing to have, but also
indispensable to the success OF their
plans. Hence they began to bore the
public and the Legislature. even be-
fore attempting to bore Hoosac Noun
tain. The engineer employed to look
into the matter reported that the out
side cost of excavation would be ST.
94S, ,00T, and that it would take from
three to five years, according to the
processes employed. An opposition
developed itself in the newspapers,
after the Legislature began to smile
upon the project, and another en-
gineer, whose competency Will not
now be questioned, came to the front
with the assertion that S4,3l8, ,975
would be the lowest possible estimate
for the work, and added that nobody
ever heard of such a project being
completed within gunshot OF the esti-
mates. The battle was very hot and
Parrott, who mad q level head, evil
IDENTIFY, estimated that a tunnel with
out shafts would cost 81, 1856, 900, and
be sixty-three and half years in
building one with two shafts would
cost So, ,256, go and be built in thirty
one wears and one with five shafts
would cost s., $40 200 and get finished
in fifteen years. 1t may be added !
that the Advertiser did the heavy
work in opposing the granting of
State aid. And the Legislature reject |
ed the idea by strong vote.
The matter came up before the Leg
islature again in 1853, and meeting as
before, the opposition Of the press,
and also of the other railway corpOra-
tions, was once more laid over. But |
in 1854 the petitioners carried their |
point; a bill was passed, notwith-
standing all sorts Of opposing combi-
nations, and the first loan act was
signed by Governor Emory WGsh-
burn in April, 1854. The subsequent |
history of the enterprise was one of
delays, disappointment, and misuan-
the history Of which the
Advertiser proposes TO ventilate-
when we may recur to the subject.