The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-13
THE SUBMARINE TUNNEL.

The preliminary work on this great Anglo
French enterprise is already begun, and In
,ess than year the experimental boring will
have proceeded far enough to show If
this daring engineering work can be success
fully accomplished.
The idea of uniting France and
England by submarine tunnel was
Arst preached in 1902 by French
engineer, Mr.. Matthew, who submitted MS
plans to the First Consul Bonaparte. THIS
took place Immediately after the conclusion OF
the peace OF ,Amiens, and in one OF his inter-
views with Fox, Bonaparte said to the bri'lSn
statesman, "This is one of the great things
we can do together" Blu THE war winch
broke out soon after put an end to the pro-
iect, and nothing more was heard OF
it till 1888, when another french
engineer. Mr.. Thome de Gamond, who has
devoted his large fortune and thirty-hve years
Of his life to the study of that subject pub
lshed the results of his soundings Of the chan
mel, and of his geological investigations OF
it's bottom, maps and drawings of which were
exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867
Mr.. de Gamond's plan was to construct
thirteen gigantic water-tight tubes at proper
distances from each other across the channel,
which tubes would be carried to the required
depth below the bottom of the sea. From
these thirteen "wells" the tunnel would be
excavated right and left for about one mile
each way, the tubes or wells giving the neces-
sary outlet for extracting the rock and ven
ilating the shaft.
About halfway between the two shores, an
immense tower was to be built, which would
communicate with the center of the tunnel,
and through which the passengers would
have a clear view of the sky. The point
where this tower was to be located is the
rocky shoal of Varnes, where stone and iron
piers would have been built around it, and
powerful elevators would have been used to
raise and lower wagons laden with merchan-
disc. The estimated cost of this colossal
work was twenty five millions of dollars.
In 1872 company Of engineers and capt.
salists was formed in London for the purpose
Of testing the practicability of this scheme.
It was proposed to sink near Dover and
Calais two shafts about three hundred and
fifty feet in depth, and to run galleries for
about mile beneath the sea- in order to
form an idea of the difficulties to be over
come in the construction of the entire tunnel.
This plan was subsequently modified in
accordance with the suggestions of one
French and two British engineers, MI. A.
Lavalley, Mr.. Low and Sir John Hawkshaw,
whereby somewhat different line was
adopted, and the intermediate tubes
and the central tower were dispensed with
BY this new plan, which was ratified by
the International Committee, presided over
by Lord Richard Grosvenor and Mr.. Michel
Chevalier, the subterranean railroad would
start from Soulful oreland, east of Dover,
and terminate at Songatte, near Calais. By
following this line the tunnel would pass
through very thick and compact chalk bed,
the thickness of which varies from 525 feet near
the English shore to over 86l feet on the
coast of France. This chalk can be easily
perforated by the improved modern appa-
ratus so successfully employed in boring
the Mont Gents tunnel The submarine
tunnel would commence about six miles
inland on each side of the channel,
IN order to obtain the required
inclined plane, and its submarine length
would be little over seventeen miles. The
total cost Of the work is estimated at fifty
millions of dollars and that of the preliminary
exploration at $500, 900, of which the French
''Compagnie du Nord, has subscribed $780,
900, Rothschild Brothers, of Paris, 500, 900,
and the French members of the committee
100000. The balance Of 100000 has al
ready been paid in by the British promoters
Of the project. The average depth of the
channel along the proposed line is less than
200 feet, and the tunnel will run at the depth
Of $40 feet below the level of the sea- or 40 feet
below the bottom Of the channel-a thickness
far greater than can ever be required to bear
fhe superintendent pressure of the sea-
The experimental boring about to be COM
menced will consist of two shafts three hundred
and forty feet deep, and thirty feet in diameter,
1t points near the French and English coast,
from which will be bored horizontal galleries
10 . distance sufficient to demonstrate the
feasibility of the scheme
Anticipating the future, distinguished
French savant exclaims: Before ten years We
will travel under the sea quite as easily and
safely as we now do on terra Jfrma. Ere long,
We shall doubtless 60 from Paris or London
10 New York without crossing the Atlantic,
by railroad starting from both places, and
going through Asia and Behring's Straits to
ahe New World. Would to God that the Re-
public of Nations might progress as rapidly as
Ahe Republic of Science"
A NEW GAME.