The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-11-20
The IaOOsnc Tunnel.
WEST Esd lIoosAc Tunnel, }
Nov is 1874
HISTORY or THE GREAT WORK.


Let the IIomers of our age prepare to sing
their iliads of the Eoosac tunnel. The
great work nears completion. Half cen
fury of boring, in the Massachusetts lcgis-
laturc and into the Hoosac mountain, is
about ended. The last bore in the lcgisla-
ture will take place this winter; the boring
into the mountain will end the day upon
which the American people shall assemble
in their churches to give thanks to God for
His manifold blessings. In this age no
achievement is marvellous. Were it other
wise, the Hoosac tunnel would be regarded
rs one of the greatest marvels of our time
| write when only one hundred feet remain
to be opened twenty thousand feet have
been pierced. In ten days the state of
Massachusetts will own a hole which has
cost it ten millions of dollars. What mar
vols human energy, and human muscle
and human hope and human faith and Mas.
sschusetts money have wrought! Their
latest fruit is the tunnel. Ere six months
shall have passed, the agricultural producer
the east will exchange their commodities
by the pathway ofiron through the disem-
bowled mountains.
At this time it is meet and proper that the
story of the tunnel be told. Other and
more elaborate histories may follow and tell
that story fuller than can and fuller than
| desire to, but for the present ! have the
floor
THE FIRST PROJECT.
More than once the state of Massachu-
sets has been on the point of abandoning
the great undertaking. The doubters were
frequently numerous enough to hamper the
work, and sometimes were able to cause its
temporary suspension. Men live and grow
wiser as they grow older in the whole COM
monwealth, doubt if you can find to-day
one poor dozen of men who will admit that
they ever lost faith in the end being reached
The most successful thing in this world,
somebody ha, said, is success. To the men
who never lost faith be accorded all honor.
The history of this great undertaking has
Dceil Dy II
having comparative little financial strength,
and under the supervision of men who great
ly underestimate the magnitude of the I'M
dertaking, it has experienced succession
of ups and DOWNS the after until recently
prepondering, such as mark the history of
scarcely any other public work. The first
authentic record of movement for the
following ofthe mountain was made in 1919:
1t was weak and feeble. In 1925 the pro-
ject was revived; number of r-sighted
men who desired to obtain cheap transport
tation-they were the grangers Of the olden
time-asked the state to make n canal tun-
mel through the Hoosac mountains A
board of commissioners, with Laomi Bald
win as engineer, was appointed to make n
report on the practicability of making a can
al from Boston to the Hudson river at Troy.
These commissioners in 1926 reported in
favor ola route by way of the Deerfield
and Hoosac rivers, including tun-
mel through the Hoosac mountains. But
Just then railroads began to attract attention,
"'" 'i'h euPciioiity WAS iililculutcly re-
cognized The canal project was abandoned,
and the agitation which resulted in the con
struction of the Western (now Boston and
Albany railroad in lS4l, had the effect of
inducing the friends of the tunnel to desist
for time from their efforts to obtain the
public ear. But the tunnel project con-
tnued to haunt the people of Masssachu-
sets. In 1912 the Fitchburg railroad, cx-
tending from Boston to Fichburg. was
opened for traffic. The Vermont and Mas.
sachusetts railroad, extending from Fitch
burg to Greenfield, was chartered in 1914
and completed within two years. The con-
struction of these two lines of railroad again
made the necessity for tunnel apparent
From Greenfield to the east side of tn,
IIoosac mountain the distance is Il littl,
over thirty miles.