The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-09-07

AOOooS AAuVI III 10 pECb6ut COuQlIlOQ, II
rather q lame railway; but alter the tun.
mel has been opened Il will be one Of tht
most important routes In New EOgland
II places Boston nine miles nearer thC
Hudson than any other road, and wher
completed will attract the most Of west
ern freight, and thus break the monopoly
that has long been enjoyed by the Bostor
u Albany Company.
FOR MANY YEARS
tho work Of drilling through Hoosat
Mountain was all done by muscle, bu,
progress was 30 prOvokingly slow tina,
enormous sums oil money were offered lol
the invention Of machines that would
push the project forward more RAPIDLY
Two or three hundred thousand dollar
were invested In strange and complicated
mechanical devices, for which there Il
nothing 70 show now but lew heaps Of
old iron. Of the many machines that were
tried and found wanting l will only men
ton one, It wasa
GIANT BoRRR,
on which some Yankee had lavished a
quantity Of his inventive genius, which
was intended 10 cut q groove thirteen
inches wide by means Of revolving cut
tiers, around the whole circumference oil
the tunnel. After the channel had been
made deep enough II was the purpose TO
have blasted out the core. This inven-
ton looked very much like q plausible
affair. Every one who saw It was sure
that II could not help but succeed. En-
gineerS even went 10 the trouble OF calcu.
lating how long II would require TO bore
through the mountain with II; and / am
not sure but some Of the miners
committed suicide prematurely, fear.
ing they would be thrown out Of en-
ployment, When this great borer was
tested, however, there was one thing de-
velopGd concerning It that totally de-
stroyed lis uselplness-it wouldn't work.
As borer Is was intrinlscally worthless.
After this, end similar failures; It was not
much wonder that both contractors and
company were pretty thoroughly dis.
coursged. With heavy hearts they lell
back on the slow but sure way OF going
through the mountain by liberal use Of
elbow power.
Shortly after the State adopted the
tunnel as It's child, the civil engineer 10
charge introduced the famous
POWER DRILLING MACHINES,
which were very similar to those used IN
piercing the Alps. These machines,
consisting mainly Of cylinder and
piston, were mounted on trucks, and
when required for use were pushed
against the "headin" and set in motion.
After they had been tested and found 10
bejust the thing for tunneling, the work
with one or two exceptions, progressed
with becoming satisfaction. From the
lowest point In the basin on top OF the
mountain, shaft was sunk, on q line
with the tunnel to the level of the road
bed. An additional labor force was put
to work In this shaft, tunneling both east
and west, to meet the workmen from the
portals, At one time
OVER A THOUSAND MRN
were engaged in this great undertaking.
AS steam could not be used as q motor
IN the mountain, owing to the iouling Of
he air with poisonous gases, the drill.
ng machines were operated by the elias.
ic force Of -
COMPRESSED AIR.
In the compressor buildings, near the
portals and at the shaft, enormous air
pumps were kept running, comprising
he air TO 90 pounds 10 the square inch,
md sending 1t through iron tubes into the
This air served the double
purpose of running the drilling machines
aud Ventilating the tunnel.
While the workmen at the east end and
1t the shaft were shivering the rocks by
means Of their new drills and nitro ely.
cerine, those at the west end were cast
down by the appearance of an unlocked
Tor difficulty in the shape Of
STRETCH OF QUICKsAND
and disintegrated mica slate. This i'm
pediment came nearer killing the project
than anything else. The Opposition in
the Legislature tried to have 1t abandon
ed, arguing that nature never intended
that Hoosac Mountain should DO bored.
For three or four years the miners fought
the difficulty, and in the end only gained
the victory by arching that portion Of the
passage passing through the quicksand
and building first an inverted arch for a
In reality between quarter
and halt mile Of Hoosac Tunnel ia
nothing but brick tube. ..a vito.
II has required what Bostonians would
call nae, r -lE ~
''soME" ENGINEERING 4.
10 the making OF this great mountain
passage. To illustrate with what exact
ness the civil engineers did their work, l
will mention that when the opening was
made from the shaft to the west end, last
spring, 1t was found that there was NO
perCeptible variation whatever In the
lines which the workmen had followed,
and in tho east end there was only q dis.
crepsncy oil hreesixteenths OF an inch.
There Is grade from the portals to the
shalt Of but six inches to the mile, simply
enough to allow the water 10 drain off
a'F THE LENGTH OF TIE TUNNEL.
Persons living near Hoosac Tunnel,
who. Of course, take great pride in telling
strangers all aboutit Try TO palm the thing
Of Tor Ave miles. They do this to avoid
the use oil fractions. By actual measure
ment there arc only q little over four miles
and three quarters Of it, but Tor the sake
Of not being obstinate will condescend to
let the natives have ii for Eve miles this
time, II they will let me count IN" the
long "cu" Ut the west end. To any right.
minded man this proposition will appear
liberal enough. Mt. Gents tunnel, the
longest in the world, is seven miles and a
hall from portal to portal. Hoosac comes
next on the list. When completed, this
enterprise will have cost somewhere in
the immediate neighborhood Of
- THRTRENMTLLIoNs.
1t is hard to see how so much money
could have been crammed In such hole,
and II will require q keener sense Of per.
oeption 10 find how Massachusetts Is ever
going TO get it out. 1t Is hardly probable
NknN ~ Ill 4 4 Al